PitchBook News - Robinhood changes mind on UK launch

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The Daily Pitch: VC

July 22, 2020

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Robinhood scraps UK launch

Baiju Bhatt co-founded Robinhood with Vlad Tenev in 2013; the company launched a waiting list for its UK product in November. (Steve Jennings/Getty Images)

Fintech company Robinhood has indefinitely postponed the UK launch of its stock trading app, according to reports.

The online brokerage platform operator reportedly told more than 250,000 UK customers on a waiting list that it's focusing instead on its core business in the US. Robinhood's decision comes despite receiving approval to operate from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority. It's believed that the expansion would have been the Menlo Park-based company's first outside the US.

A few months ago, Robinhood struggled with several platform outages. It also received criticism in June after a customer who reportedly believed he had lost $730,000 as a result of options trades committed suicide.

Last week, Robinhood extended its Series F by an extra $320 million, bumping its valuation to $8.6 billion. The company raised $600 million total for the round.

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Vista's Jamf goes public in supersized IPO

Jamf, which helps enterprises manage Apple devices, has raised $468 million for itself and majority owner Vista Equity Partners by selling 18 million shares for $26 apiece in an initial public offering, with both those figures marking increases from the Minneapolis-based company's earlier plans. The pricing results in an initial market cap just north of $3 billion.

A portfolio company of Vista since 2017, Jamf originally planned to offer 16 million shares for between $17 and $19 each, then upsized its expected range to $21 to $23 earlier this week. Jamf will book net proceeds of $319.7 million in the offering after all underwriting discounts and commissions.

Datto, another software company backed by Vista, reportedly filed for a confidential IPO of its own last week that could result in a valuation of more than $1 billion.

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2012 Vintage Global Venture Funds with more than $250M
	VC Deals
	Innovium tops $1B valuation with mega-round
	Insurance startup Hippo hits $1.5B valuation
	Gett picks up $100M
	Forge Biologics launches, collects $40M Series A
	Oncology startup collects $32.5M
	Taranis tallies $30M for Series C
	Portfolio Companies
	Former Carta executive sues company over pay inequity
	SoundCloud founders launch e-bike subscription service
	Exits
	SoftBank seeks $1B sale of Treasure Data
	Fundraising
	Forerunner Ventures raises $500M for fifth flagship fund
	Shamrock secures $400M
	Investors
	Corigin commits $2.5M to Black and Latinx GPs

The Daily Benchmark

2012 Vintage Global Venture Funds with more than $250M

Median IRR

17.12%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

18.57%

1.88x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Lightspeed Venture Partners IX

Canaan IX

Khosla Ventures Seed B

*IRR: net of fees

11 Funds in Benchmark »

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VC Deals

Innovium tops $1B valuation with mega-round

Innovium, a developer of products for data centers, has raised $170 million from investors including Premji Invest, DFJ Growth and BlackRock. The funding gives the San Jose-based company a valuation north of $1 billion. Existing investors Greylock, Capricorn, WRVI, Qualcomm Ventures, Redline, S-Cubed Capital and DAG also participated in the funding.

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Insurance startup Hippo hits $1.5B valuation

Palo Alto-based Hippo has raised $150 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. FinTLV, Ribbit Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group and Innovius Capital participated in the round alongside existing investors. The home insurance startup will use the Series E to expand its geographic footprint in the US and to support a proposed acquisition of a national insurance carrier.

Select Additional Investors:

Horizons Ventures, RPM Ventures, Standard Industries, Zeev Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Fifth Wall, Pipeline Capital

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Gett picks up $100M

Gett, the developer of a ridehailing app for businesses, has raised $100 million in new funding. Founded in 2010 and based in Tel Aviv, Gett has been backed by investors including Volkswagen and Kreos Capital. The company secured $200 million in debt and equity at a post-money valuation of $1.5 billion in May 2019 and had been planning an initial public offering this year, according to TechCrunch. Gett is still weighing an IPO "in the future," Gett CEO Dave Waiser wrote in a post on the company's website.

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Forge Biologics launches, collects $40M Series A

Forge Biologics, a developer of gene therapy for patients with rare diseases, has closed a $40 million Series A led by Xontogeny, with support from Drive Capital. Xontogeny CEO Chris Garabedian will join the Columbus, Ohio-based startup's board.

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Oncology startup collects $32.5M

Aisling Capital has led a $32.5 million Series A for Elevation Oncology, a clinical-stage biotech startup working to develop treatments for genomically defined cancers. Vertex Ventures HC, Qiming Venture Partners USA, Driehaus Capital Management and BVF Partners also participated in the funding for the New York-based company.

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Taranis tallies $30M for Series C

Tel Aviv-based Taranis-Visual has raised $30 million in a Series C led by Vertex Growth, K3 Ventures and Hitachi. Taranis is an agricultural intelligence startup that deploys drones to take high-resolution photos of crops and uses AI to analyze the images for potential problems. Viola Group, OurCrowd and Finistere Ventures were among the other investors in the round, which takes the company's total funding to $60 million.

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Portfolio Companies

Former Carta executive sues company over pay inequity

A former vice president of marketing at Carta has sued the company, claiming she was paid less than her male colleagues, was unfairly passed over for a promotion and faced other forms of gender discrimination, according to Bloomberg. Emily Kramer, the executive who filed the suit, reportedly played a key role in overseeing research at Carta that highlighted pay gaps between men and women in Silicon Valley.

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SoundCloud founders launch e-bike subscription service

The co-founders of audio streaming site SoundCloud and German website hosting company Jimdo have launched Dance, an e-bike subscription service in Berlin. The startup is backed by VC firm BlueYard, as well as Supercell founder Ilkka Paananen, La Famiglia VC founding partner Jeannette zu Fürstenberg, AlleyCorp founder Kevin P. Ryan and others. Dance aims to make e-bikes more attractive by removing the upfront cost and providing theft insurance and repair services.

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Exits

SoftBank seeks $1B sale of Treasure Data

SoftBank has hired Goldman Sachs to explore a sale of Treasure Data, the creator of a platform for managing customer data on internet-of-things devices, with hopes of fetching $1 billion for the California-based business, according to Bloomberg. Arm, a British semiconductor company owned by SoftBank, reportedly purchased Treasure Data for roughly $600 million in 2018. Earlier this month, Arm announced plans to spin Treasure Data out into a standalone company owned by SoftBank.

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Fundraising

Forerunner Ventures raises $500M for fifth flagship fund

Early-stage investor Forerunner Ventures has brought in $500 million for its fifth namesake fund, according to an SEC filing. The vehicle's predecessor raised $360 million in 2018. Based in San Francisco, Forerunner's notable investments include Warby Parker, Birchbox, Glossier and Dollar Shave Club.

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Shamrock secures $400M

Shamrock Capital has closed its second content fund with $400 million in commitments. Based in Los Angeles, the firm will use the capital to acquire intellectual property rights for television shows, music, video games and other forms of entertainment. Shamrock raised $250 million in 2016 for a previous vehicle focused on entertainment IP.

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Investors

Corigin commits $2.5M to Black and Latinx GPs

Corigin Ventures has announced it will invest $2.5 million as a limited partner in funds headed by Black and Latinx investors over the next 12 months. The money will come from Corigin's partners and is separate from its funds. The New York-based venture capital firm also aims to back more companies led by underrepresented founders and hire more diverse investment professionals.

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View 58 investments »