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August 24, 2020
Hello, welcome back!
It's been a long day over at SVC headquarters, but we're still *very* energized about one particular development: next month, at TechCrunch Disrupt, we'll have the privilege of interviewing Conan O'Brien, whose work we've admired for many, many years and whose podcast has kept us laughing aloud throughout this quarantine. (Fellow fans, if there's anything you'd like know, let us know; we'll see if we can work it into the conversation.)
More tomorrow.:)
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Top News
The plot thickens. According to the WSJ, General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital, two major investors in TikTok’s Chinese parent company, Bytedance, are key drivers behind a possible bid for TikTok by a group including Oracle. Though Microsoft said earlier this month it was in talks to buy TikTok's operations in the U.S. and several other countries, Sequoia and General Atlantic reportedly grew concerned that they wouldn't have a place in the scenario, so are now pushing the Oracle bid. More here.
In the meantime, TikTok sued the U.S. government today, accusing the Trump administration of depriving it of due process when Donald Trump used his emergency economic powers to issue an executive order that will block the app from operating in the country. “We do not take suing the government lightly; however, we feel we have no choice but to take action to protect our rights, and the rights of our community and employees,” the company said in its suit. “Our more than 1,500 employees across the U.S. pour their hearts into building this platform every day." More here.
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Eduardo Saverin on the 'World of Innovation Past Silicon Valley'
Eduardo Saverin will forever be known for cofounding Facebook 16 years ago with four other Harvard classmates (one of whom is still running the company).
But even before splitting in 2009 for Singapore with his shares of the company, Saverin's attention was on startup investing, and since 2015, he has been laser focused on B Capital, the five-year-old venture firm that he set up with another friend, Raj Ganguly, a former consultant and vice president at Bain Capital.
There's a bit to manage. The two -- along with three other general partners ,-- are now overseeing more than $1 billion across four offices and two funds, both of which are anchored by the management consulting giant Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In fact, unlike most five-year-old firms, B Capital has from the outset -- partly because of its close ties to BCG -- been on a mission to identify interesting startups and trends across the world. A quick look at its portfolio underscores just how wide a net it is casting, with bets that range from Ninja Van, the last-mile logistics provider for delivery services in Southeast Asia, to the L.A. scooter company Bird, to Icertis, a Bellevue, Wa.-based contract management software maker.
We talked back in February with Ganguly about B Capital's approach. Last week, as B Capital was closing its first bet on a startup headquartered in Latin America (Yalochat), we had the opportunity to talk with Saverin, too, about how he sees the firm growing from here. Our chat has been edited lightly for the length.
You were born in Brazil.
I was born and raised in Brazil, São Paulo, then I moved to the West [to Florida, then to Boston for school], and I ended up out here in Asia more than 10 years ago.
I'm surprised you haven't invested in the region sooner. I'm assuming -- maybe wrongly --- that you spend time there and have relationships there?
Good things take time. For me, it's a question of getting to know an ecosystem and getting ready to invest in it. We really do think about investing longer term in a truly global fashion, and we look at entrepreneurs who think of themselves also in a borderless world where they can start in a particular country region, then leverage what they've learned to expand across the world. In the case of Yalochat, [a conversational commerce startup that's headquartered in Mexico City], it's a Latin American business that is already today in Asia, but could they be the rest of the world? Absolutely. There are these more fabled stories of U.S. companies expanding elsewhere in the world, and even Chinese companies. But why couldn't a Latin American company do that, or an African company?
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Massive Fundings
Dataiku, a seven-year-old, New York-based platform helps companies use their data to create machine-learning and AI models for operational projects, raised $100 million in Series D funding. Stripes led the round, joined by Tiger Global Management and earlier backers Battery Ventures, CapitalG, Dawn Capital, FirstMark Capital, and ICONIQ. The company has now raised $246.8 million altogether. Crunchbase News has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Motiv Power Systems, an 11-year-old, Foster City, Ca.-based company that makes an all-electric chassis and software for trucks and buses, has raised $15 million in new funding from its largest shareholder, GMAG Holdings. FreightWaves has more here.
Supermetrics, a seven-year-old, U.K.-based data management and analysis tool for marketers, has raised €40 million in new funding. Leading the round is Highland Europe, with participation from IVP. TechCrunch has more here.
Commonstock, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based social media platform for stock traders, has raised $9.7 million in seed funding, including from Floodgate, QED, Upside, and Resolute Ventures. Crunchbase News has more here.
Lootcakes, an eight-year-old, New York-based loyalty platform to reward VIP gamers who share their data about their playing habits, raised $2 million in seed funding. Konvoy Ventures led the round, joined by SOSV and GAN Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.
One Drop, a nine-year-old, New York-based digital diabetes management platform, has raised $34.7 million in Series C funding led by Bayer. One Drop and Bayer also signed a joint development agreement. MobiHealth News has more here.
Synapse, a four-year-old, Toronto-based corporate remote training platform, just raised $2 million in seed funding. Investors include BDC Capital as well as earlier backers Generation Ventures, Differential Ventures and Ripple Ventures. BetaKit has more here.
Trellus Health, a months-old, White Plains, N.Y.-based offers multidisciplinary care management platform for complex chronic conditions, raised $5 million of seed funding from Mount Sinai Health System and EKF Diagnostics invested. More here.
Zoomo, a three-year-old, Sydney, Australia-based electric bike platform marketed to gig economy delivery workers (and formerly called Bolt Bikes), has raised $5 million in Series A funding led by the Australian Clean Energy Finance Corp. Other participants in the round include Hana Ventures and earlier investors Maniv Mobility and Contrarian Ventures,. The company separately closed on $6 million in venture debt from OneVentures and Viola Credit. TechCrunch has more here.
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New Funds
Andera Partners, the Paris-based, life sciences-focused venture firm founded in 2001 as part of the Edmond de Rothschild Group, is reportedly looking to raise €450 million ($530.2 million) for its largest-ever fund as Europe’s maturing biotech startup sector draws more investor attention. The WSJ has more here.
Goldman Sachs is considering raising a venture and a growth fund of about $2 billion, reports Bloomberg. The investment bank has been investing in startups for years and counts among its hundreds of bets Uber and Plaid, when they were still private. Bloomberg observes that growth-stage investing is "just one of the pillars under its newly reorganized merchant bank and it has already been active in the market with a new giant credit fund that could raise at least $10 billion. The other investing focus will be on infrastructure, real estate and private equity funds." More here.
Greylock, the 50-year-old venture firm, is raising its sixteenth flagship fund, show several related SEC filings that do not list its target amount (but that we expect will be humongous). More here.
JSL Health Capital, an eight-month-old, San Francisco-based venture firm led by Alex Turkeltaub -- he previously cofounded and led the natural language processing company Roam Analytics -- is reportedly raising $30 million for its debut fund, according to an SEC filing that lists the fund as based in Fairfax, Va. (H/T: Axios.)
March Capital, a six-year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based venture firm, has raised $60 million for a gaming-focused fund that will invest in companies developing "gaming content, technology, and infrastructure," says the firm. More here.
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Exits
Spaces, a VR startup, has been acquired by Apple, Protocol reported today. Spaces spun out of DreamWorks Animation in early 2016 and developed a range of location-based VR experiences, including "Terminator Salvation: Fight for the Future," says the outlet, adding that Spaces had to shut down its VR centers at the beginning of the pandemic, laying off some staffers in the process and taking out a small PPP loan to keep the lights on. More here.
Palo Alto Networks said today that it plans to acquire The Crypsis Group, an incident response, risk management and digital forensics consulting firm, for $265 million. Said Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora in a statement about the deal: “By joining forces, we will be able to help customers not only predict and prevent cyberattacks but also mitigate the impact of any breach they may face.” TechCrunch has more here.
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IPO-palooza
Asana, the 12-year-old productivity startup founded by Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz, filed its paperwork for a direct listing today. It plans to list on the NYSE. Asana's revenue grew 82% between fiscal year 2019 and fiscal year 2020, but the company has lost money every year of its existence. It was last valued at $1.5 billion in November 2018, and has raised $213.5 million to date according to Pitchbook. Business Insider has more here.
Bentley Systems, a 36-year-old, Exton, Pa.-based maker of software for construction projects, has filed to raise $100 million, though that's likely a placeholder for a deal that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise up to $800 million. The company, which served 34,000 accounts as of last year, posted revenue of $736.7 million and a loss of $103.1 million in 2019. Siemens Corp. backs the firm. More here.
Corsair Gaming, a 26-year-old, Fremont, Ca.-based supplier of gaming hardware, has filed to raise $100 million in an IPO (probably also a placeholder amount). The company, which has around 2,000 employees, posted revenue last year of $1.1 billion and a loss of $8.4 million in 2019. More here.
DoorDash is aiming to go ahead with an IPO, according to Bloomberg. Earlier this year, the seven-year-old food delivery business announced that it had filed confidentially with the SEC, although the announcement came shortly before the global coronavirus pandemic pushed back its listing. Investors valued DoorDash at almost $16 billion after it raised $400 million in June. As Bloomberg notes, DoorDash is "still unprofitable and faces some possible existential threats in its future. Its business model, along with those of Uber and Lyft, could be upended in California if a November ballot initiative allowing greater leeway for the use of contract labor fails to pass." More here.
JFrog, a 12-year-old, Sunnyvale, Ca.-based company whose technology allows organizations to continuously deliver software updates across any system, also just fled for an IPO, listing a placeholder amount. Bloomberg's sources have previously said the company could seek a valuation of $2 billion in an IPO. Renaissance Capital has more here.
Luminar Technologies, an eight-year-old, Palo Alto-based developer of auto lidar sensors, has agreed to go public via a reverse merger with Gores Metropoulos, a SPAC sponsored by private equity firm the Gores Group. The company will have an initial market cap of around $3.4 billion. The deal includes $400 million in cash from Gores Metropoulos, and $170 million from an investor group that includes Peter Thiel, Volvo, Alec Gores, Nick Woodman, Crescent Cove, Moore Strategic Ventures, and VectoIQ. Axios has more here.
Outset Medical, a 17-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based maker of portable dialysis machines, has registered plans to go public without getting into the details just yet. According to MedCity News, "Most of Outset’s business comes from the use of its dialysis devices in a hospital setting, though it plans to push further into at-home dialysis. In April, Outset gained FDA clearance for at-home use of its Tablo Hemodialysis System. The company still must conduct post-market surveillance to closely monitor for any adverse events or needed changes, and must conduct a human factors study, per the FDA." Last year, Outset saw revenue of $15 million in 2019 and losses of $68.3 million. More here.
Sumo Logic, a 10-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based company that parses information collected from its customers’ enterprise apps and integrations to help them pinpoint operational and security issues, has filed to go public, and trade on the Nasdaq. The company has raised around $345 million in funding over the years and counts Greylock as its biggest outside shareholder, with a 22.6% stake in the company currently. TechCrunch has more here.
Unity Technologies, a 16-year-old, San Francisco-based company that was founded in Copenhagen originally and grown its business by making it easier for developers to create video games and other kinds of computer-generated entertainment, has registered long-anticipated plans to go public. Some of the numbers that filing reveals: Last year, 1.5 million monthly active users turned to Unity's game engine to create games and other content, but it still reported a loss of $163.2 million revenue of $541.8 million. At least in 2018, the company reported a loss of $131.6 million on revenue of $380.7 million, meaning its revenues are growing and its losses are narrowing. TechCrunch has more here.
Xpeng, a six-year-old, Guangzhou, China-based electric luxury car maker, says it plans to raise $1 billion in an IPO of 85,000 ADSs priced at between $11 and $13. It posted revenue of $328.5 million in 2019 and a loss of $657.6 million. According to the South China Morning Post, four of Xpeng's existing shareholders - Alibaba Group Holding, Coatue, Qatar Investment Authority and Xiaomi - have indicated an interest in purchasing up to $200 million, $100 million, $50 million and $50 million, respectively, of the share sale. More here.
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People
Oracle founder Larry Ellison has "basked in positive publicity for promises to donate millions and then retracted offers with little explanation; sunk hundreds of millions into moonshot projects like life-extension research before suddenly pulling funding; and made public promises about charitable giving that he appears nowhere close to fulfilling."
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Data
With the "coronavirus smothered for now, thanks to draconian control measures, J.P. Morgan recently boosted its 2020 China growth forecast to 2.5% from 1.3% in April. Economists at the World Bank and elsewhere have also upgraded their forecasts for China, the only major economy expected to grow this year." -- WSJ
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Essential Reads
Snowflake, whose technology allows companies to store and manage data in the cloud, filed its S-1 today, and its investors look poised to make a mint, especially Sutter Hill Ventures, the evergreen fund that helped incubate the company.
Here are the 98 companies from Y Combinator’s Summer 2020 Demo Day 1.
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Retail Therapy
Relive the monotony of economy class this fall, with 'Airplane Mode.'
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