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Top News
The European Union’s top court ruled today that an agreement that allows big tech companies to transfer data to the United States is invalid.
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CRV Just Closed Its Newest Fund With the Same Amount as Its Last: "We're Making a Statement"
CRV, the early-stage venture firm that is this year celebrating its 50th anniversary, has just closed its newest fund with $600 million in capital commitments. The firm asserts that it garnered the pledges entirely during the pandemic, saying it kicked off its fundraising efforts in April.
Just as notably, says general partner Jon Auerbach — who joined the firm’s Boston office 13 years ago and two years ago headed the Bay Area, where CRV has two offices — the fund is the “exact size of our last fund, because we wanted to make a statement. We want to send the message that discipline wins.”
We spent some time on the phone with Auerbach yesterday to learn more about the fund, which, like previous funds, will focus on seed and Series A stage startups but will differ slightly in that longtime general partner Devdutt Yellurkar will not be making active investments from it.
Check sizes have been growing in recent years, which is the reason competitors often give for raising larger funds. Why not raise more?
We could have closed on more, but we want to remain small and focused and we’re making a bet that that there will be a return to some level of normalcy. We also think that given the team and the opportunity we’re chasing — early-stage software — this fund size gives us the flexibility to scale up when we want to but also maintain [the ability to see an impact from smaller checks].
What percentage of your deals are seed and Series A versus slightly later stage?
Almost all is seed and A. Our biggest check in our last fund was just over $20 million, into Postman, a company in the API space that started in India with which our partner Devdutt built a relationship over four years. Our average check size across the life of an investment is $13 million.
Postman just closed on a big round last month.
Yes. One of the things we’re most proud of is that three breakout companies have raised money [since COVID-19 took hold in the U.S.]. [Cloud-based collaboration software maker] Airtable raised a big round, Postman, and DoorDash. What impacts COVID has economically is a mystery going forward, but you’re seeing a flight to quality, with some massive beneficiaries that have managed to command incredible attention.
What did you see in DoorDash early on?
We led the seed round and we made two bets there. One was that [cofounder and CEO] Tony [Xu] and his team were aiming to build a last-mile software logistics company, whether delivering food or something else. The second was on the societal shift globally toward working couples who weren’t as interested in cooking but cared a lot about food.
DoorDash has raised a lot of money, but some wonder whether the funding has gotten ahead of the company, especially given that it’s gaining so much traction right now during circumstances that we all hope will change.
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Massive Fundings
BioAtla, a 13-year-old, San Diego, Ca.-based cancer drug developer, raised $72.5 million in Series D funding. Soleus Capital and HBM Healthcare Investments co-led the round, joined by Cormorant Asset Management, Farallon Capital, Pappas Capital, Janus Henderson, Boxer Capital, and Pfizer Ventures. BioSpace has more here.
Bolt, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based checkout technology platform, raised $50 million in Series C funding. WestCap led the round, joined by earlier backers Activant Capital, Tribe Capital, Glynn Capital, and Human Capital. Forbes has more here.
Cityblock, a three-year-old, Brooklyn, N,Y.-based spin-out of the Alphabet subsidiary Sidewalk Labs that's building out healthcare services for low-income communities, has raised $53.5 million in Series B+ funding. Kinnevik led the round, joined by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Alphabet, as well as existing investors. The company last raised $63 million in Series B funding in April 2019. MedCity News has more here.
Imvax, a five-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based clinical-stage biotechnology company working to commercialize an autologous tumor cell vaccine raised $112 million in Series C funding. HP WILD Holding led the round, joined by Ziff Capital Partners, Magnetar Capital, and TLP Investment Partners. FierceBiotech has more here.
Qumulo, an eight-year-old, Seattle-based storage startup helping companies store vast amounts of data, has raised $125 million in Series E funding at post-money valuation of $1.2 billion. BlackRock led the round, joined by Highland Capital Partners, Madrona Venture Group, Kleiner Perkins, and Amity Ventures. It has now raised $351 million altogether, says TechCrunch. More here.
Udemy, the 11-year-old, San Francisco-based online learning platform aimed at professionals and at students, is reportedly raising new funding at a $3 billion valuation, just six months after locking in $50 million at a $2 billion valuation. The Information has the story here.
Vedantu, a nine-year-old, Bangalore, India-based online tutoring platform, has raised $100 million in Series D funding led by Coatue at a post-money valuation of $600 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Activ Surgical, a 3.5-year-old, Boston-based maker of hardware-agnostic surgical software that allows surgical systems to collaborate with surgeons, has raised $15 million. ARTIS Ventures led the round, joined by LRVHealth, DNS Capital, GreatPoint Ventures, Tao Capital Partners, and Rising Tide VC. TechCrunch has more here.
Applicaster, an 11-year-old, New York-based startup that simplifies the creation, delivery and management of over-the-top video applications, has raised $11 million in funding led by Viola Growth. Other investors in the round include 83 North, Pitango, Saban Ventures, Planven Investments and La Maison. Crunchbase News has more here.
Biose Industrie, a 69-year-old, France-based contract development and manufacturing company that's focused on live biotherapeutic products, has raised €30 million ($34 million) in funding led by Cathay Capital. More here.
Drover, a five-year-old, London-based car subscription company, raised £20.5 million ($25.8 million) in funding led by Target Global, RTP Global and Autotech Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Meditopia, a five-year-old, Istanbul- and Berlin-based meditation app that's gaining traction in non-English speaking markets, has raised $15 million in Series A funding co-led by Creandum and Highland Europe. TechCrunch has more here.
NowRx, a five-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based pharmacy startup that's planning to leverage last-mile logistics algorithms combined with micro-fulfillment centers to expedite deliveries, has raised $20 million in Series B funding through crowdfunding via SeedInvest. VentureBeat has more here.
Openpath, a four-year-old, Culver City, Ca.-based developer of software-based security systems for office access, has raised $36 million in Series C funding. Greycroft led the round, joined by Okta, Lincoln Properties, Allegion, and Sentre. TechCrunch has more here.
Privacera, a four-year-old, Fremont, Ca.-based cloud data governance and security platform, has raised $13.5 million in Series A funding from Accel and earlier backers Cervin Ventures, Point72, and Alchemist Accelerator. More here.
Qualio, an eight-year-old, San Francisco-based compliance platform for life sciences companies, has raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Storm Ventures. More here.
Voi Technology, a two-year-old, Stockholm-based electric scooter company, has €26.3 million in new funding led by VNV Global, with participation from 20 earlier investors and a small number of new shareholders. EU Startups has more here.
Hummingbird RegTech, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based maker of anti-money laundering compliance technology, has raised $8.2 million in Series A funding. Flourish Ventures led the round, joined by Stripe alums Lachy Groom and Jon Zieger, Homebrew, Designer Fund, and TTV Capital. More here.
Joshin, a 2.5-year-old, Minneapolis, Mn.-based disability care app that connects users with vetted caregivers, has raised $1.6 million in funding. Anthemis led the round, joined by M25 and Sure Ventures. More here.
PocketList, a 1.5-year-old, L.A.-based housing platform for renters, raised $2.8 million in seed funding led by Craft Ventures, with additional participation from Abstract VC, Wonder Ventures, and Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff. TechCrunch has more here.
Sorare, a 2.5-year-old, Paris, France-based startup behind a global fantasy football game, raised $4 million in seed funding led by e.ventures, with participation from Fabric Ventures, Semantic Ventures, professional footballer André Schürrle, and earlier investors. EU Startups has more here.
Uwill, a months-old, Needham, Ma.-based mental health startup aimed at college students, has raised $3.3 million in seed funding led by Run-DMC’s Darryl McDaniels. Bright Horizons CEO Stephen Kramer and Princeton Review founder John Katzman also joined the round. American Inno has more here.
Not-Saying-How-Much Fundings
Gemist, a nearly two-year-old, L.A.-based online jewelry brand that allows consumers to customize jewelry and accessories online then receive no-cost replicas of the pieces offline before completing the purchase, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from De Beers Group Ventures. More here.
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LP News
The University of Michigan today revealed that it allocated $170 million to alternatives and public equity from its $12.6 billion endowment pool last fall and early winter. Among the venture firms to receive commitments: Eclipse Ventures (and specifically an SPV that Eclipse put together); the sixth India-focused venture fund out of Accel (it closed with $550 million back in December); and Andreessen Horowitz's third bio fund (which closed with $750 million in February). Pensions & Investments has more here.
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Exits
Uber has acquired Routematch, an Atlanta-based company that sells software to transit agencies. Uber didn't share terms of the deal, but it's part of an effort by Uber to offer more SaaS-related services to cities. TechCrunch doesn't think this one is a minor “acqui-hire,” noting that the 170-person company will continue, and that CEO Pepper Harward will remain in place. More here.
Uber has reportedly held talks about raising $500 million for its digital brokerage unit, Uber Freight, in a deal that would value the business at around $4 billion. Led by Otto cofounder Lior Ron, Uber Freight connects truck drivers with shipping companies and competes against the likes of DHL International, notes Bloomberg; it has the scoop here.
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People
The Trump campaign has demoted Brad Parscale, who famously led its Facebook political ad blitz in 2016.
Netflix is promoting chief content officer Ted Sarandos to co-CEO, the company said today. Sarandos, who joined the company 20 year ago, joins current CEO Reed Hastings in the role. More here.
Sandhya Venkatachalam has joined Khosla Ventures as a partner, reports Axios. She previously launched an AI-focused VC firm called Deep Ventures and co-founded Centerview Capital.
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Essential Reads
Facebook's Instagram today confirmed it’s preparing to soon launch its TikTok competitor, known as Reels, in the U.S. early next month.
According to security expert Brian Krebs, there are strong indications that yesterday's Twitter attack -- which impacted 130 accounts altogether -- was perpetrated by individuals who’ve traditionally specialized in hijacking social media accounts via “SIM swapping.” More here.
Instacart is now waging a legal battle with Uber's Cornershop grocery service as both look to seize on growing demand for food deliveries. Today, Instacart filed a lawsuit against Cornershop, a new grocery delivery competitor in the US, over allegedly stealing thousands of its copyrighted and licensed images, along with product descriptions and pricing data. CNN Business has more here.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. today confirmed it has suspended processing new orders from Huawei to comply with U.S. export regulations, though it still anticipates 20% revenue growth this year. As the Nikkei notes, under the U.S.'s tightened control rule, "non-U.S. chip companies must apply for licenses to use American technology and tools to supply to Huawei . . . TSMC and other chipmakers were not allowed to process new orders from Huawei or its chip design arm HiSilicon after May 15 without a license and must ship any orders already in the pipeline before Sept. 14."
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Detours
The dolls that inspired Dior.
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