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August 12, 2020
Wednesday! Hello.:)
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Top News
As U.S. companies line up to talk with TikTok's parent company about striking a deal to keep the service online stateside, ByteDance is similarly engaging in early discussions with Reliance Industries, the India-based parent firm of telecom giant Jio Platforms. It's apparently looking for ways to save the popular video app’s fate in India, where it was banned in late June and where it has its biggest user base. TechCrunch has the story here.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi today threatened to temporarily shut down service in California if the ride-share giant loses a fight over a state law that reclassifies contractors as employees. Uber and its rival Lyft both have about a week left to appeal a preliminary injunction granted by a California judge on Monday that will prohibit the companies from classifying their drivers as independent workers. CNBC has more here.
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Sarah Cooper Lands a Netflix Special
For writer-comedian Sarah Cooper, the pandemic hasn’t been so terrible. In fact, by making the best of a lousy situation — in this case, opening a TikTok account while sheltering in place and lip syncing to the often-bizarre ramblings of Donald Trump to underscore their absurdity — she has become an outlet for a country that has often found itself asking while watching a Trump presser: “Is this real, what I’m seeing?”
Now, in addition to the millions of online followers she has amassed since March, Cooper — a Jamaican American who once worked at Google — has landed a Netflix comedy special.
Titled “Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine,” the writer and producer Natasha Lyonne is set to direct the production, and it will be executive produced by the comic-actor Maya Rudolph (who will herself be increasingly busy, reprising her role on “Saturday Night Live” as Senator Kamala Harris).
It’s just the latest — and biggest — feather in the cap of Cooper, who lives in New York with a software engineer husband whom she has kiddingly described as running out of patience with her Trump schtick. He “has to hear Donald Trump’s voice over and over again,” as she told Vanity Fair this summer. “I think he’s probably going to jump out the window at some point.”
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Massive Fundings
Blend, an eight-year-old, San Francisco-based digital lending startup that helps bank offer faster digital mortgage applications, as well as focuses on auto loans, deposit account openings and homeowners’ insurance, has raised $75 million in Series F funding at a post-money valuation of $1.7 billion. Canapi Ventures led the investment, which brings Blend’s total venture raised to $365 million. Earlier backers Temasek, General Atlantic, 8VC, Greylock, and Emergence also participated in the round. HousingWire has more here.
Gong.io, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based conversation analytics startup, has raised $200 million in Series D funding at $2.2 billion valuation led by Coatue Management. The round, which comes on the heels of a $65 million round in December, also included Salesforce Ventures, Index Ventures, and Thrive Capital, as well as earlier backers Sequoia Capital, Battery Ventures, NextWorld Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, and Wing Venture Capital. The company has now raised $334 million altogether. Calcalist has more here.
Varjo, a four-year-old, Helsinki, Finland-based software company that has developed a virtual and mixed reality headset capable of “human-eye resolution” for use in various enterprise applications, raised $54 million in Series C funding. Tesi, NordicNinja, and Swisscanto Invest by Zürcher Kantonalbank are among the new investors contributing to the round. Existing investors Lifeline Ventures, Atomico, EQT Ventures, and Volvo Cars Tech Fund also participated. The company has now raised roughly $100 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Bodyport, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based digital health company focused on the detection and management of heart disease, has raised $11.2 million in Series A funding. Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund led the round, joined by earlier backers Playground Global and Initialized Capital. MedCity News has more here.
Censys, a 3.5-year-old, Ann Arbor, Mi.-based search engine for internet devices, has raised $15.5 million in Series A funding. GV and Decibel led the round, joined by Greylock. TechCrunch has more here.
Cred.ai, a four-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based fintech startup whose credit card product offers features such as allowing a card user to create a shadow account with different identification numbers to use for transactions that could potentially be risky, has raised over $18 million in Series A funding. Darco Capital led the round; it was joined by numerous individual investors, including former longtime ad executive Tim Armstrong. Forbes has more here.
ImmunoScape, a four-year-old, Singapore-based biotech firm that claims to enable the characterization of a patient’s immune profile at unprecedented resolution, has raised $11 million (SGD $14.8 million) in funding. Anzu Partners led the round, joined by the University of Tokyo Edge Capital, and NPR Holdings. More here.
K2View, an 11-year-old, Dallas- and Tel Aviv-based provider of DataOps software, has raised $28 million in funding. Forestay Capital led the round, joined by Genesis Partners, among others. VentureBeat has more here.
Moka, a five-year-old, Beijing-based startup that's automating human resources management, has raised $14.4 million in extended Series B funding from undisclosed investors. The company had earlier closed on $27 million for its Series B led by Hillhouse Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Reify Health, a 10-year-old, Boston-based company that markets cloud computing systems for the biopharma industry, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Battery Ventures, with participation from Sierra Ventures and Asset Management Ventures. MedCity News has more here.
SimpleBet, a two-year-old, New York-based sports betting technology company, has raised $35 million in total after closing an $11 million Series B in March. Investors include tennis legend Andre Agassi and former Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz, among many others. Sportico has more here.
Stream, a five-year-old, Boulder- and Amsterdam-based startup whose APIs aim to help product teams build chat and activity feeds quickly and cost-effectively, has closed a $15 million Series A round that was led by GGV Capital and included 01 Advisors, Knight, seed round lead investor Arthur Ventures, and other backers, including Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel and GitHub cofounder Tom Preston-Werner. The round brings the company’s total funding to $20.25 million. We talked with the company for TechCrunch.
Zencity, a six-year-old, Israeli AI-based analytics platform that monitors discourse in digital channels, amassing millions of resident-generated data points that's then provided to local government agencies as ‘insight into their communities,’ has raised $13.5 million in funding. TLV Partners led the round, joined by Salesforce Ventures. Earlier investors Canaan Partners Israel, Vertex Ventures, M12, and i3 Equity Partners also participated. Tech.eu has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Artemest, a five-year-old, Milan- and New York-based e-commerce platform selling Italian luxury designs and home decor, has raised $5 million in funding from OLMA Luxury Holdings and Brahma. Business of Home has more here.
Allergy Amulet, a four-year-old, Madison, Wi.-based company with a portable allergen sensor that doubles as a medical alert system and can be carried on a keychain or in a pocket to test food for common allergenic ingredients in seconds, just raised $3.3 million in seed funding. TitletownTech, a joint venture between Microsoft and the Green Bay Packers, led the round. Crunchbase News has more here.
Fyllo, a 1.5-year-old, Chicago-based startup that makes a suite of compliance tools, has raised $10 million in extended Series A funding that brings the earlier-closed round to $26 million. JW Asset Management and K2 & Associates led the newest tranche, joined by Arcadian, Salveo Capital and Phyto Partners. More here.
GoPeer, a three-year-old, Boston-based educational technology company that pairs college students with K-12 students for virtual tutoring lessons, has raised $2 million in seed funding. Ed Baker, former VP of Product and Growth at Uber, led the round. More here.
Incomlend, a four-year-old, Singapore-based invoice trading platform, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia India. TechCrunch has more here.
Klima, a 1.5-year-old, Berlin-based startup whose app calculates carbon footprints, has raised $5.8 million in seed funding from e.ventures, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, 468 Capital and numerous individual investors. Crunchbase News has more here.
Mighty Labs, a two-year-old, Salt Lake City, Ut.-based platform for remote and cross-functional teams, has raised $4.3 million in seed funding from Slack Fund, GSV Ventures, Origin Ventures, Album VC, Acadian Ventures, and Village Global. More here.
Mission Control, a nearly two-year-old, St. Louis-based recreational league gaming platform that allows community centers, recreation departments, and other groups to conduct their own esports leagues, has raised $1.8 million in seed funding. Dundee Venture Capital led the round, joined by M25, Cultivation Capital, and MATH Venture Partners. More here.
New Age Meats, a two-year-old, Berkeley, Ca.-based company growing meat from animal cells, has raised $2 million in seed extension funding led by TechU Ventures, along with earlier backers ff Venture Capital, SOSV, Sand Hill Angels, Siddhi Capital, and others. The company had announced $2.7 million in seed funding back in January. More here.
SMBX, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based fintech for small business bonds marketplace, raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Better Ventures led the round, joined by Impact America Fund and Unusual Ventures. Crowdfund Insider has more here.
Trala, a four-year-old, Chicago-based music education software company that teaches violin, has raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Next Play Ventures led the round, joined by early Stripe employee Lachy Groom, Techstars Ventures, Blue Titan Ventures, Hyde Park Angels, Webb Investment Network, Phoenix Rising and Concrete Rose Capital.
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New Funds
ALIVE HealthTech Fund, a medtech investment fund led by former Israeli healthcare system officials that's targeting $150 million in capital commitments, has raised $50 million from four anchor investors, including Leumi Partners, the Investment arm of Bank Leumi, one of Israel’s two largest banks. According to the outlet Calcalist, the fund will focus on mature companies in the fields of medical technology, medical equipment, and telemedicine and intends to lead 10 to 15 rounds of between $10 million and $30 million within the next four years. More here.
La Famiglia, the Berlin-based, women-led, seed-stage venture firm that invests in European B2B startups, has raised a second fund totaling €50 million in capital commitments, up from its debut fund of €35 million in 2017. TechCrunch has more here.
Rocketship.vc, an early-stage venture firm that raised its first $40 million fund in 2017 to invest from the U.S. in startups globally, using data rather than personal connections to find startups and make deals, has closed on $100 million in capital commitments for its follow-up effort. Backers include Vulcan Capital, Adams Street Partners, as well as the family offices of Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon from A16z. The WSJ has more here.
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IPOs
Palantir, the 17-year-old maker of data analysis software, is planning to go public through a direct listing of its shares in late September, according to Bloomberg's sources. More here.
Intercom, a $1.3 billion startup backed by Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, just hired a CFO who says the company is "near profitability" as it eyes an IPO. Business Insider has more here.
Online wealth management platform Lufax is the latest to file plans for an IPO in the United States as Chinese firms rush to go public before tough new federal disclosure rules go into effect. A unit of Ping An Insurance Group, Lufax filed confidential paperwork with the SEC yesterday. PYMNTS.com has more here.
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People
The cofounders of Quibi -- the much-hyped short-form video platform that no one seems to be watching -- are both making real estate moves. Entertainment mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg just sold his Beverly Hills home for $125 million, forging one of the priciest real-estate deals ever closed in the Los Angeles area. Meanwhile, Meg Whitman is said to be selling the West Hollywood apartment she purchased two years ago for $6.5 million for that same price.
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Essential Reads
Airbnb reported "tumbling revenue and mounting losses in the second quarter, but the home-sharing startup is still eyeing a stock market debut before year’s end," reports Bloomberg. According to its sources, the company's revenue fell to $335 million in the period ending June 30 -- down at least 67% from the $1 billion-plus that the company reported in the same period last year. It’s also a steep decline from the $842 million in sales in the first quarter, according to financial information viewed by Bloomberg. More here.
Facebook and Snap recently held talks to buy Dubsmash, a lip-syncing video app that has surged in popularity alongside a crop of other TikTok competitors, reports The Information. The acquisition talks progressed far enough to include discussions of a price tag in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to one of its sources. More here.
Lyft just reported a dramatic drop in riders and revenue in the second quarter. It said it had just 8.7 million active riders in the three months ended June 30, compared with 21.8 million in the year-earlier quarter and 21.2 million in the previous quarter, when the pandemic hit the U.S. The WSJ has more here.
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