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August 11, 2020
Hope you've had a happy Tuesday.:)
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Massive Fundings
Atomwise, an eight-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that uses artificial intelligence to help scientists discover new medicines, has raised $123 million to expand and build its own pipeline of experimental drugs, led by B Capital and Sanabil Investments (which is itself wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia). TechCrunch has more here.
Coda, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based maker of online document collaboration software, has raised $80 million in Series C funding led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from earlier backers Greylock, Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst, among others. The company's post-money valuation is $636 million, it tells Forbes. More here.
Dyne Therapeutics, a 3.5-year-old, Waltham, Ma.-based biotechnology company that's developing therapies for inherited muscle diseases, has raised $115 million in funding led by Vida Ventures and Surveyor Capital, which were joined by Wellington Management Company, Logos Capital, Franklin Templeton, Atlas Venture, Forbion, and MPM Capital. More here.
HMD Global, a 3.5-year-old, Espoo, Finland-based mobile phone company made up of the mobile phone business that Nokia sold to Microsoft in 2014, then bought back in 2016, has raised $230 million in funding led by Google, Qualcomm and Nokia Technologies. CNBC has more here.
Parsable, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based platform focused on connecting frontline workers in industrial settings, raised $60 million in a Series D funding. Activate Capital and Glade Brook Capital Partners co-led the round, joined by Alumni Ventures Group, Cisco Investments, Downing Ventures, Evolv Ventures, Princeville Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Future Fund and B37 Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Pattern, a seven-year-old, Salt Lake City, Ut.-based reseller that helps large and small brands optimize their sales on marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Google Shopping, has raised $52 in funding. Ainge Advisory and KSV Global co-led the round. TechCrunch has more here.
Trumid, a six-year-old, New York-based bond trading platform, has raised $200 million in new funding at a valuation of more than $1 billion led by Dragoneer, with participation from BlackRock, TPG, funds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price Group, and others. Bloomberg has more here.
Waterdrop, a four-year-old, Beijing, China-based insurance tech startup that's backed by Tencent Holdings and which is expanding to become a healthcare crowdfunding platform, has raised $200 million in funding that values the company at $2 billion, says Bloomberg. It says the company is also mulling an IPO. More here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
AREVO, a seven-year-old, Milpitas, Ca.-based 3D printing company whose founder, Sonny Vu, had sold his wearables technology company Misfit to Fossil Group in 2015, just raised $25 million in Series B funding. Defy Partners and GGV Capital co-led the round, joined by Khosla Ventures and Alabaster. TechCrunch has more here.
GoSite, a seven-year-old, San Diego, Ca.-based startup whose software helps small businesses set up an online presence, has raised $16 million in Series A funding. Longley Capital led the round, joined by Stage 2 Capital, Ankona Capital, Serra Ventures, and SaaS Ventures. The San Diego Union-Tribune has more here.
Lumeon, a 15-year-old, Boston-based digital health startup that specializes in care pathway orchestration, has raised $30 million in Series D funding led by new investors Optum Ventures and Endeavour Vision, with participation from current investors LSP, MTIP, IPF Partners, Gilde and Amadeus Capital Partners. American Inno has more here.
Nurx, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based digital provider of healthcare and prescription services focused on women's services, has raised $22.5 million in fresh funding. Trustbridge led the round, joined by Comcast Ventures and Wittington Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Perimeter 81, a two-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based security software company, has raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Insight Partners. SiliconAngle has more here.
Springbig, a three-year-old, Boca Raton, Fla.-based cannabis dispensary marketing platform, has raised $11.5 million in Series B funding led by San Diego-based TVC Capital. Key Investment Partners also joined the round, along with earlier backers Argonautic Ventures, Halley Venture Capital and SaleXCapital. More here.
Smaller Fundings
Brella Insurance, a year-old, New York-based provider of supplemental health insurance, has raised an additional $1.5 million. Investors include Digitalis, Operator Partners, and angel investor Ron Bouganim. More here.
Clearstep Health, a two-year-old, Chicago-based platform that tries to match patients to the best in-network care for them, has raised $1.3 million in pre-seed funding from RRE Ventures, Newark Venture Partners, and OCA Ventures. More here.
The Demex Group, a months-old, Washington D.C.-based startup planning to creating financial products that help counterparties in different sectors of the economy to transfer weather and climate risks, raised $4.2 million in seed funding. Anthemis and IA Capital Group were the investors. More here.
JetClosing, a four-year-old, Seattle-based startup that spun out of Pioneer Square Labs (PSL) and which digitizes the home closing process for buyers, sellers, and realtors, has raised $9 million in Series B funding led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, with PSL and Trilogy Equity also participating. GeekWire has more here.
Parabola, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based startup whose drag-and-drop productivity tool aims to help anyone to automate manual data tasks, has raised $8 million in Series A funding. Matrix Partners led the round, joined by Thrive Capital and founder-investor Elad Gil. TechCrunch has more here.
Simpplr, a six-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based maker of intranet software, has raised $10 million in Series B funding. Norwest Venture Partners led the round, joined by Salesforce Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.
Till, a 3.5-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based startup that aims to help renters set up customized payment schedules, has raised $8 million in seed funding from Route 66 Ventures, MetaProp and NextGen Venture Partners. HousingWire has more here.
Valence, a months-old, L.A.-based online professional network for Black talent, has raised $5.25 million in Series A funding led by GGV Capital, with participation from earlier backer Upfront Ventures. Other investors in the round include Maveron, the SoftBank Opportunity Fund and Silicon Valley Bank. TechCrunch has more here
WayScript, a two-year-old, New York-based company with a platform to turn scripts into internal business applications, has raised $5 million in seed funding. Greycroft led the round, joined by Tectonic Ventures and Contour Venture Partners. Crunchbase News has more here.
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New Funds
Industry Ventures, the 20-year-old, San Francisco-based investment firm, says it has closed a new direct investment fund with $180 million in capital commitments. The firm, which also has stakes in 80 seed and early-stage fund managers, makes direct investments into early- and mid-stage tech companies and has backed more than 100 tech directly and through SPVs to date, including seven that later went public, including Fastly, Guardant Health, and Uber. More here.
S2G Ventures, a six-year-old, Chicago-based venture firm focused on sustainable food and climate change, said today that it plans to invest $100 million in startups that are working to improve the health of the world's oceans and to create sustainable seafood. (It isn't clear from reports whether that capital is already committed.) Founded a $125 million fund, S2G Ventures is led by Chuck Templeton, the founder of OpenTable. American Inno has more here.
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IPOs
Airbnb plans to file IPO paperwork with the SEC later this month, laying the groundwork for a potential listing before the end of the year, according to the WSJ's sources. More here.
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Exits
SlideShare has a new owner, with LinkedIn selling the presentation-sharing service to Scribd for an undisclosed price. According to LinkedIn, Scribd will take over operation of the SlideShare business on September 24. TechCrunch has more here.
Sur La Table, the bankrupt upscale cookware chain, sold for almost $90 million and a promise to keep at least 50 stores open, according to court papers. A joint venture between e-commerce investment firm CSC Generation and Marquee Brands topped an opening bid from affiliates of Fortress Investment Group at auction last week, according to the papers. Bloomberg has more here.
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People
Blake Bartlett, a partner at OpenView for the past seven years, has a new house in L.A., according to Variety. He paid $8.3 million for the former Los Feliz estate of Megan Ellison, the filmmaker and producer and daughter of Oracle founder Larry Ellison. (The house also once belonged to Michael “Flea” Balzary of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.)
Pinterest’s former chief operating officer has filed a lawsuit accusing the company of gender discrimination. Françoise Brougher, who says she was abruptly fired from the company in April, is suing the company to hold it “accountable for discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination in violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act, and the Labor Code,” according to her filing.
Stripe has hired Dhivya Suryadevara as its new chief financial officer, the same role she held at carmaker General Motors. Stripe has also recently hired Mike Clayville, formerly of Amazon Web Services, as its chief revenue officer, and Trish Walsh from Voya Financial, as its general counsel. Asked on Twitter whether Suryadevara's hire means was Stripe is prepping an IPO, cofounder John Collison replied: "no."
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Data
Fewer airline passengers, but a higher rate of illegal guns in carry-on bags: “Even more concerning is that 80 percent of the firearms coming into the checkpoint are loaded, and it’s just an accident waiting to happen,” a Transportation Security Administration administrator tells the New York Times.
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Essential Reads
Two weeks after being sued by Tesla for poaching its employees, Detroit-based automaker Rivian has fired back, asking a judge to dismiss Tesla's lawsuit on the grounds that two of the three claims in the case fail to state sufficient allegations of trade-secret theft and poaching talent, and that Tesla was merely looking to malign Rivian's reputation and hurt its recruiting efforts. TechCrunch has more here.
SoftBank recorded a profit of nearly $12 billion in the April-June quarter, thanks to a sell-off of Sprint Corp that helped it bounce back from the worst year in its history. The company even posted an investment gain of ¥296.6 billion ($2.8 billion) at its $100 billion Vision Fund in the latest quarter, following a global rally in tech stocks. It's the first gain for the fund since the same quarter a year ago, and it pushes it narrowly into the black, says the WSJ.
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Retail Therapy
What the world's most expensive coronavirus face mask looks like, commissioned by an American (of course). “Money maybe doesn’t buy everything, but if it can buy a very expensive COVID-19 mask, and the guy wants to wear it and walk around and get the attention, he should be happy with that,” says the owner of the Israeli jewelry store that made it.
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