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September 2, 2020
Wednesday? (We're being told this is correct.) Hope yours went well.:)
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Top News
A broad rally in U.S. stocks today lifted the Dow Jones Industrial Average above 29000 for the first time since February and sent the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite to new records.
Meanwhile, U.S. debt has reached its highest level compared to the size of the economy since World War II (oof) and is projected to exceed it next year.
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An IPO Expert Bats Back at the Narrative that Traditional IPOs are for "Morons"
Lise Buyer has been advising startups on how to go public for the last 13 years through her consultancy, Class V Group. She built the business after working as an investment banker, and then as a director at Google, where she helped architect the company’s famously atypical 2004 IPO.
It’s perhaps because Google’s offering was so misunderstood that Buyer has come to think more highly of traditional IPOs over the years, likening herself to a golf caddie who has “played the course a whole lot of times” and can tell a management team what will happen in different circumstances.
Indeed, while Buyer says she is “paid the same regardless” of whether a team chooses a regular IPO, an auction model, a SPAC or a direct listing, she doesn’t believe the world needs direct listings or SPACs nearly as much as the investors forming them have made it seem. Rather, she thinks the traditional IPO process has been unfairly maligned in recent years, helped along by an outraged Bill Gurley.
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Massive Fundings
Biofourmis, a five-year-old, Boston-based AI-powered health analytics platform that predicts acute respiratory issues before they happen, has just raised $100 million in Series C funding led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2, with participation from Sequoia Capital. CNBC has more here.
Neon Pagamentos, a six-year-old, Brazilian neobank, has raised $300 million in Series C funding. General Atlantic led the round, joined by BlackRock, Vulcan Capital, PayPal Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Monashees, Flourish Ventures, and BBVA. Crunchbase News has more here.
PasarPolis, a five-year-old, Indonesia-based startup focused on making insurance policies more accessible in Southeast Asia, has raised $54 million in Series B funding. Investors in the round include LeapFrog Investments, SBI Investment, AlphaJWC, Intudo Ventures, Xiaomi, and earlier backer Go-Ventures, which is the venture arm of Gojek. TechCrunch has more here.
Unacademy, a five-year-old, Bangalore, India-based exam prep company, has raised $150 million at a $1.45 billion post-money valuation. SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 led the round, joined by Facebook, Blume Ventures, Nexus Partners, General Atlantic, and Sequoia Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Yuanfudao, an eight-year-old, Chinese online education platform that has been benefiting massively from the COVID-driven shift to online schooling, is set to raise $1.2 billion in funding in a round that will value it at about $13 billion, Reuters reports. Earlier investors Tencent Holdings, Hillhouse Capital and Boyu Capital, will invest in this round. The company separately raised $1 billion just five months ago, according to the South China Morning Post. More here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Hypatos, a two-year-old, Germany- and Poland-based process automation startup, has raised $11.8 million in seed funding from Blackfin Tech, Grazia Equity, UVC Partners and Plug & Play Ventures, among others. TechCrunch has more here.
Legion, a 4.5-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based automated workplace management platform designed to help employers better manage their hourly workforces, just raised $22 million in Series B funding. Stripes Group led the round, joined by Workday Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Springbig, an eight-year-old, Boca Raton, Fl.-based customer loyalty marketing company focused on cannabis businesses, has raised $11.5 million in Series B funding. TVC Capital led the round, joined by KEY Investment Partners. More here.
Smaller Fundings
Boundless Immigration, a three-year-old, Seattle-based online company that helps streamline the immigration application process, has raised $7.5 million in Series A-1 funding led by Foundry Group. The Seattle Times has more here.
Carewell, a 3.5-year-old, Charlotte, N.C.-based online supplier of home health products, including adult diapers, has raised $5 million in seed funding. Investors included e.ventures, NextView Ventures, and Primetime Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
Cuddly, a six-year-old, Seal Beach, Ca.-based fundraising platform centered around animal welfare, raised $4 million in Series A funding led by Lead Edge Capital. More here.
Mathison, a year-old, New York-based diversity-focused recruitment platform, has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Animo Ventures. Forbes has more here.
Peer Medical, a four-year-old, New York-based startup that invites cancer patients to anonymously compare verified treatment plans by biomarker, age, stage, medication or procedure in an effort to create greater transparency, has raised $1.2 million in seed funding led by Seed Camp and Partners in Equity (PiE). TechCrunch has more here.
Trade, a two-year-old, New York-based coffee subscription platform that connects customers with 55 local roasters across 38 states, has raised $9 million in funding. Madrona Venture Group led the round, joined by JAB and Launch. The WSJ has more here.
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IPOs
Boxed, a seven-year-old startup wholesale retailer that sells everything from groceries to office supplies and which has raised $240 million from investors like GGV Capital, is exploring strategic options, including a sale or going public through a merger with a blank-check acquisition company that could value it at around $1 billion, says Reuters. More here.
Bumble, the six-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based location-based dating app, is reportedly preparing to go public as soon as next year. According to Bloomberg, the IPO could value the company at between $6 billion and $8 billion. Blackstone Group took a majority stake in the owner of Bumble (called MagicLab) late last year in a deal that reportedly valued the company at $3 billion. Founded in 2006 by Andrey Andreev, MagicLab had been mulling an IPO before that deal. More here.
Geely Automobile Holdings, which is China's highest-profile carmaker (it owns Volvo and has a sizable stake in Daimler), has registered plans to go public in Shanghai. The Hangzhou-based company has been hit hard by COVID, unsurprisingly. According to DealStreetAsia, its car sales were down 19% from January through June; revenue fell 23% during the same period. More here.
Nuvei, a 17-year-old, Montreal-based payment tech company that's focused largely on sports betting and is owned by Novacap, has registered plans to go public in Toronto. It was last valued by its private investors at $2 billion. Bloomberg has the story here.
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Exits
Chinese gaming giant Tencent, through its wholly owned subsidiary Image Frame Investment, has acquired Hong Kong-based game developer and distributor Leyou Technologies for roughly $1.4 billion. More here.
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People
Scott Barclay has left the venture firm DCVC to lead the new healthcare investing team of Point72 Ventures. TechCrunch has more on the burgeoning practice here.
NBA legend and gambling fan Michael Jordan is taking an equity stake in the sports betting and fantasy sports company DraftKings in exchange for becoming a special adviser to the company. DraftKings's shares rose 8% today on the news.
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Essential Reads
Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman approached Airbnb about a merger with his blank-check company, but the home-rental site rebuffed him, saying it prefers a traditional IPO, according to Bloomberg's sources. The outlet says that Airbnb "hasn’t completely ruled out a merger with Ackman’s Pershing Square Tontine Holdings," although "no discussions" are underway at the moment, adding they broke off when Airbnb filed confidentially for an IPO last month.
The popular stock-trading platform Robinhood faces a civil fraud investigation over its early failure to fully disclose its practice of selling clients’ orders to high-speed trading firms, reports the WSJ. The investigation is at an advanced stage and the company could have to pay a fine exceeding $10 million if it agrees to settle the SEC probe, though a deal is unlikely to be announced this month, according to the outlet's sources.
Stripe is becoming a growing force in corporate VC, observes The Information, thanks to "early-stage stakes of about 10% in startups that are led by its former employees or represent a facet of the financial technology sector." Stripe has already backed more than 15 startups since 2017, it notes, including thanks to two former VCs who are now directing its investing strategy: Will Gaybrick, formerly a general partner at Thrive Capital, and Jordan Angelos, a former investor with Accel. More here.
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Detours
I'm back in a relationship with FiveThirtyEight's elections forecast model, but this time I swear he's changed.
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