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July 23, 2020
Thursday! No column today as were juggling a number of things, including a prolonged, panicked search for Brodie the Terrier-ist, who disappeared into a neighbor's property where he was later discovered looking altogether uninterested in being found. (We're titling this one "Unbowed and unbroken.")
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Top News
The blockbuster antitrust hearing featuring CEOs from Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google that's supposed to happen Monday, looks like it will be postponed, says CNBC; a memorial service for Representative John Lewis is being held the same day.
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Massive Fundings
The Not Company, a five-year-old, Chile-based maker of plant-based meat and dairy substitutes, is reportedly on the cusp of closing an $85 million round of funding that will value the company at $250 million. Previous investors include Bezos Expeditions, The Craftory, IndieBio, and SOS Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Quantexa, a four-year-old, London-based company that uses machine learning to fight financial crime, has raised $64.7 million in Series C funding. Evolution Equity Partners led the round, joined by ABN AMRO, Dawn Capital, AlbionVC, HSBC and Accenture. Sifted has more here.
Talkdesk, a nine-year-old, San Francisco-based cloud-based contact center, just announced $143 million in new funding from Franklin Templeton, Skip Capital, Willoughby Capital, Top Tier Capital Partners, and Lead Edge Capital. Earlier backers investors Viking Global Investors and Threshold Ventures also joined the round, which reportedly values the company at north of $3 billion. Bloomberg has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
CalypsoAI, a two-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based startup aiming to help teams rapidly develop, test, and deploy artificial intelligence and data science systems that are secure, has raised $13 million in Series A funding. Paladin Capital Group led the round, joined by Frontline Ventures, 8VC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Manta Ray Ventures, and Pallas Ventures. More here.
Cowboy, a three-year-old, Brussels, Belgium-based electric bike maker and service company, has raised €23 million in Series B funding from Index Ventures, Exor Seeds, HCVC, Isomer Capital, and Future Positive Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
CreatorIQ, a 6.5-year-old, Culver City, Ca.-based maker of influencer marketing software, has raised $24 million in Series C funding. Kayne Anderson led the round, joined by TVC Capital and Unilever Ventures. Built in L.A. has more here.
CyCognito, a 3.5-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based network security analysis platform whose bot network probes potential attack vectors, has raised $30 million in Series B funding. Accel led the round, joined by earlier investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sorenson Ventures and UpWest. VentureBeat has more here.
IObeya, a nine-year-old, France-based work collaboration company that helps digitize management planning processes like lean and agile, has raised $17 million in Series A funding led by Red River West, with participation from Atlantic Bridge Capital and Fortino Capital Partners. It has now raised a total of $20 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Riiid, a six-year-old, Korea-based startup that makes customized test prep apps, has raised $41.8 million pre-series D financing round, bringing its total funding to date to $70.2 million. Investors in the round include the Korea Development Bank, NVESTOR, and Intervest, as well as earlier investor IMM Investment. VentureBeat has more here.
Sea Machines Robotics, a six-year-old, Boston-based company that makes a line of autonomous control and navigation systems for commercial boats and ships, has raised $15 million in Series B funding. Accomplice led the round, joined by Toyota AI Ventures, Brunswick, Geekdom Fund, NextGen Venture Partners, Eniac VC, and LaunchCapital. VentureBeat has more here.
Sidecar Health, a two-year-old, El Segundo, Ca.-based startup that enables its users to comparison shop among 170,000 medical services and prescription drugs, has raised $20 million in funding led by Cathay Innovation, with participation from Comcast Ventures, Kauffman Fellows and 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki. More here.
Vesigen Therapeutics, a 14-month-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based intracellular drug delivery startup that spun out of Harvard University, has raised $28.5 million in Series A funding. Bayer and Morningside Ventures co-led the round, joined by Linden Lake Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments. FierceBiotech has more here.
Wave.tv, a 3.5-year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based sports media startup that uses content from mainstream and niche sports leagues and organizations to program themed media brands across platforms like Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok, has raised $32 million in equity and debt funding led by CoVenture and GPS Partners. The WSJ has the story here.
GridRaster, a six-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based startup that provides the underlying compute and network stack to power high-end VR/AR experiences on mobile, has raised $2.5 million in funding led by Blackhorn Ventures. Earlier backers MaC VC and Exfinity Venture Partners also joined the round. More here.
The Helper Bees, a five-year-old, Austin, Tx.-based telehealth services platform that matches seniors to the right caregivers and that helps them process insurance claims and payments, has raised $6 million in Series A funding. Silverton Partners led the round, joined by Austin Impact Capital and Techstars. Crunchbase News has more here.
Mira, a 4.5-year-old, L.A.-based augmented reality startup, has raised $10 million led by Sequoia Capital and Happiness Ventures. The company has raised $13 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Quorum Chat, a 14-month-old, Dublin, Ireland-based mobile chat startup, has raised $2 million in seed funding co-led by Adjacent and LocalGlobe. Earlier backers Amaranthine and Y Combinator also joined the round. The Irish Times has more here.
Safehub, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based earthquake damage analytics startup, has raised $5 million in seed funding co-led by Fusion Fund and Ubiquity Ventures. More here.
StuffThatWorks, a two-year-old, Israel-based startup that has built a platform for people look up various health conditions, then contribute their own experiences and treatment approaches while researching what others have done, has raised $9 million in seed funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, 83North, and Ofek Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Vive Organic, a five-year-old, Venice, Ca.-based maker of cold-pressed wellness shots, closed a $7 million Series A funding round led by plant-centric food and beverage investment fund Powerplant Ventures. It was joined by Blueberry Ventures and individual investors. More here.
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New Funds
Longwood Fund, a 10-year-old, Boston, Ma.-based early-stage life sciences venture firm, says it has raised $170 million in capital commitments for its fifth fund. More here.
Abby Levy, a former SVP at SoulCycle and the president for roughly 15 months at Thrive Global (the wellness company founded by Arianna Huffington), is raising looking to raise up to $40 million for a venture fund under the brand Primetime Partners. The outfit's focus is on "transforming the quality of living for older adults," and according to an SEC filing first flagged by Axios, it has already secured $32 million in capital commitments.
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Exits
Amazon may "join its global rivals Google and Facebook in backing one of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s ventures," reports TechCrunch. The juggernaut is reportedly in preliminary talks to acquire a 9.9% stake in 14-year-old Reliance Retail, which is the largest retail chain in India, serving more than 3.5 million customers each week through nearly 10,000 physical stores in more than 6,500 cities and towns in the country. More here.
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IPOs
Hims, the three-year-old, San Francisco-based, venture-backed online provider of mens’ healthcare and consumer products, ranging from hair loss treatments to Viagra, is exploring going public through a merger with a blank-check acquisition company that could value it at more than $1 billion, according to The Business of Fashion. It says Hims is already working with investment bank LionTree Advisors on negotiating a potential sale to a SPAC. More here.
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People
A former Microsoft honcho has been arrested for allegedly defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program and embezzling $231,000.
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Lawsuit!
Tesla has accused Rivian Automotive of an “alarming pattern” of poaching its employees and stealing trade secrets.The electric automaker alleged in a new lawsuit that four of its former workers took highly sensitive proprietary information as they left to work for Detroit-based rival, and it apparently suspects there are at least two more culprits. Bloomberg has more here.
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