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Top News
Slack has filed an anti-competitive complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission. “The complaint details Microsoft’s illegal and anti-competitive practice of abusing its market dominance to extinguish competition in breach of European Union competition law,” said Slack in a statement.
The federal government just reached a $1.95 billion deal with Pfizer to acquire 100 million doses of its vaccine candidate against the coronavirus if the Food and Drug Administration agrees to it. The vaccine would be free to Americans, though health care providers could charge to administer it. AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Novavax have already separately received large contracts.
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Massive Fundings
Dexterity Robotics, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based robot-as-a-service startup looking to address warehouse fulfillment and logistics needs, has raised $56 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins, and Obvious Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Misfits Market, a 2.5-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based subscription-based e-commerce platform that sells “ugly” produce, along with a growing number of other things, like chocolates, just raised $85 million in Series B funding. Valor Equity Partners led the round, joined by Greenoaks Capital, Third Kind Venture Capital, and Sound Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
MissFresh, a five-year-old, Hong Kong-based grocery delivery service focused on delivering fresh produce, has closed on a whopping $495 million round, from earlier backer Tencent, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Abu Dhabi Capital Group, and Tiger Global Management, among others. The company reportedly raised a similar size round, $450 million, in the fall of 2018. DealStreetAsia has more here.
Olema Oncology, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based biopharmaceutical company that's developing therapies for women’s cancers, has raised $54 million in Series B funding. BVF Partners, Logos Capital and Janus Henderson Investors co-led the round. They were joined by Cormorant Asset Management, RA Capital Management, Wellington Management Company, Surveyor Capital, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, and Foresite Capital. More here.
Scalable Capital, a six-year-old, Munich, Germany-based retail investment platform, has raised €50 million in Series D funding from BlackRock, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, and Tengelmann Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
AB Tasty, an 11-year-old, Paris, France-based e-commerce user experience optimization startup, has raised $40 million in funding led by Credit Mutuel Innovation; it was joined by Korelya Capital, Omnes, Partech and XAnge. The company has now raised $64 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Branch, a two-year-old, Columbus, Oh.-based startup that bundles home and auto insurance, raised a $24 million in Series A funding. Greycroft and HSCM Bermuda co-led the round, joined by SignalFire, SCOR Global P&C, and Elefund. More here.
Chowbus, a four-year-old, Chicago-based food delivery app specific to Asian restaurants and grocery stores, has raised $33 million in Series A funding. Altos Ventures and Left Lane Capital led the round, joined by Hyde Park Angels, Fika Ventures, FJ Labs, and Silicon Valley Bank. TechCrunch has more here.
Elevation Oncology, a year-old, New York-based cancer drug biotech startup that just emerged from stealth mode, has raised $32.5 million in Series A funding. Aisling Capital led the round, Vertex Ventures HC, Qiming Venture Partners USA, Driehaus Capital Management, and BVF Partners. Xconomy has more here.
Forge Biologics, a new, Cleveland, Oh.-based viral vector gene therapy company, has raised $40 million in Series A funding. Xontogeny led the round, joined by Drive Capital. FierceBiotech has more here.
Mobalytics, a three-year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based personal performance analytics tool for competitive gamers, has raised raising an $11 million Series A round, led by Almaz Capital. Other investors in the round include Cabra VC, with HP Tech Ventures, General Catalyst, GGV Capital, RRE Ventures, Axiomatic and T1 Esports. TechCrunch has more here.
Propeller Aero, a six-year-old, Sydney, Australia-based company that makes 3D mapping and worksite analytics hardware and software, has raised $18 million in Series B funding co-led by Blackbird and Costanoa Ventures. DealStreetAsia has more here.
Selina Finance, a year-old, London-based lender that invites small business owners and others to borrow against their homes, has raised £42 million in funding ($53 million), including £12 million in equity and £30 million in debt to distribute as loans. Backers include Picus Capital and Global Founders Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Tasso, an eight-year-old, Seattle-based startup that specializes in remote, self-sampled blood collection, just raised $17 million in Series A funding. Hambrecht Ducera Growth Ventures led the round, joined by Foresite Capital, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Vertical Venture Partners, Techstars, and Cedars-Sinai. The Seattle Times has more here.
Angle Health, a year-old, San Francisco-based health insurance carrier, raised $4 million in seed funding led by Blumberg Capital, with participation from Y Combinator, Correlation Ventures, TSVC, and Liquid 2 Ventures. Crunchbase News has more here.
Cooks Venture, a two-year-old, New York-based startup that's raising heirloom chickens (it was founded by Blue Apron cofounder Matthew Wadiak), has raised $10 million in Series A funding. SJF Ventures and Cultivian Sandbox led the round. TechCrunch has more here.
Episode Six, a five-year-old, Austin, Tx.-based maker of a payments API, has raised $7 million in Series A funding. HSBC led the round, joined by Mastercard and SBI Investment Co. More here.
Kudo, a four-year-old, New York-based startup that makes a video chatting and conferencing tool with built-in support for language translators, has raised $6 million in funding. Felicis Ventures led the round, joined by ID8 Investments, Global Founders Capital, Advancit Capital and AirAngels. TechCrunch has more here.
Mercado Labs, a three-year-old, Dallas, Tx.-based supply chain platform maker, raised $2.5 million. Investors included Supply Chain Ventures, LiveOak Venture Partners, Schematic Ventures, Story Ventures, and Amplifier. The round follows a $3.2 million round of seed funding that the startup raised in November. Dallas Morning News has more here.
ODILO, a nine-year-old, Madrid, Spain-based company that helps its customers to offer their own customized learning experiences to their employees, students, and others, has raised $10 million. Swanlaab Venture Factory led the round, joined by Endeavor Catalyst, CDTI, KIBO VC, JME VC and Active VP. More here.
Partipost, a 3.5-year-old, Singapore-based marketing startup that lets anyone with a social media profile sign up for influencer campaigns, has raised $3.5 million in new funding. The round was led by SPH Ventures, with participation from Quest Ventures and other investors. TechCrunch has more here.
RealView Imaging, a 12-year-old, Israel-based company whose hologram systems aim to provide surgeons with a comprehensive view of a patient's organs, just raised $10 million in Series C funding led by the crowdfunding platform, OurCrowd. Geektime has more here.
Solfácil, a two-year-old, São Paulo, Brazil-based solar energy financing platform, has raised $4 million in funding led Valor Capital Group. More here.
Tubulis, a year-old, Munich, Germany-based firm developing antibody-drug conjugates, has raised €10.7 million ($12.3 million) in Series A funding. BioMedPartners and High-Tech Gründerfonds co-led the round, joined by Seventure Partners, coparion, Bayern Kapital, and OCCIDENT. More here.
Not-Saying-How-Much-Fundings
Dance, a seven-month-old, Berlin, Germany-based e-bike subscription company that was founded by creators of SoundCloud and Jimdo, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by BlueYard, with participation from numerous notable individual investors, including Supercell founder Ilkka Paananen and AlleyCorp founder Kevin Ryan. TechCrunch has more here.
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New Funds
One Peak Partners, a six-year-old, London-based tech investment firm, says it has closed its second growth fund at its hard cap of €443 million, taking the firm’s assets under management to approximately €700 million in total. Tech.eu has more here.
Alice Lloyd George, a former associate, then principal, at RRE Ventures, is raising her own fund, Rogue Capital Partners, and targeting $40 million for it, shows an SEC filing.
WRVI Capital, a San Francisco-based early-stage venture firm run by industry veterans Lip-Bu Tan, Michael Marks, Nicholas Brathwaite, and Sriram Viswanathan, is looking to raise $500 million for its newest vehicle, shows an SEC filing. More here.
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Essential Reads
Apple, which once claimed its computers don’t get viruses, has in recent years begun to embrace security researchers and hackers in a way it hadn’t before. That's not necessarily a good thing.
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