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Top News
TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, is discussing with the U.S. government possible arrangements that would allow the popular video-sharing app to avoid a full sale of its U.S. operations, according to the WSJ's sources. It says that discussions around such an option have been taking shape since the Chinese government took steps that make a sale to a U.S. giant like Microsoft more difficult, and that part of its argument to the Trump administration is that a sizable percentage of its users skew politically conservative. The outlet's sources add that even if there isn't a full sale, some restructuring of TikTok is still likely.
New York City restaurants will be allowed to reopen their indoor dining areas at 25% capacity beginning Sept. 30, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today.
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Massive Fundings
Jiangxiaobai, an eight-year-old, Chongqing, China-based brand that makes small-bottled clear colorless liquor known as baijiu that it markets to young adults, has raised roughly $300 million in funding at at pre-money valuation of $1.6 billion, says Bloomberg. China Renaissance Holdings led the round, joined by Baillie Gifford and China Merchants Bank International Capital Corp. More here.
Klarna, the 16-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based payments company, is in talks with investors for a new round of funding which would value it at more than $10 billion, according to Reuters. That's nearly twice what it was valued at the end of last year. If you're curious to learn more about the company, we sat down with Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski back in December to talk about the possibility of an IPO and how Klarna competes with Amazon and Google, whose payment systems are also increasingly embedded into the sites of merchants.
NotCo, a five-year-old, Chile-based food-tech company trying to reinvent animal-based foods using only plants, has raised $85 million in Series C funding co-led by Future Positive and L Catterton. TechCrunch has more here.
Recursion Pharma, a seven-year-old, Salt Lake City, Ut.-based drug discovery platform, has raised $239 million in Series D funding. Bayer led the round, joined by Casdin Capital, Catalio Capital, Laurion Capital, Samsara BioCapital, and earlier investor Baillie Gifford, Mubadala, DCVC, Lux Capital, Obvious Ventures, Felicis Ventures, EPIC Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, Advantage Capital, and Intermountain Ventures. FierceBiotech has more here.
Snyk, a five-year-old, London-based startup that helps companies securely use open-source code, has raised $200 million led by Lee Fixel's Addition. The round values the company at $2.6 billion -- more than twice the valuation it was assigned when it raised its previous round nine months ago. TechCrunch has more here.
Truepill, a four-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based online pharmacy that's expanding into telehealth and just two(!) months ago had raised $25 million in Series B funding, has raised $75 million in Series C funding led by Oak HC/FT. Earlier investors Optum Ventures, TI Platform Fund, Sound Ventures and Y Combinator also joined the round. Crunchbase News has more here.
Xometry, a seven-year-old, Gaithersburg, Md.-based company whose online marketplace helps companies find manufacturers across the world with the excess capacity to build whatever they need, has raised $75 million from T. Rowe Price, Durable Capital Partners, and ArrowMark Partners, along with a long list of earlier backers, including BMW i Ventures, Greenspring Associates, and Dell Technologies Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Deel, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based payroll and compliance platform designed for global workforces, has raised $30 million in Series B funding. Spark Capital led the round, joined by earlier backers, including Andreessen Horowitz. TechCrunch has more here.
Groww, a three-year-old, Bangalore, India-based investment app for millennials in the country, has raised $30 million in Series C funding led by YC Continuity, the growth-stage investment fund of Y Combinator. Earlier backers Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital and Propel Ventures also joined the round, which brings the company's total funding to $59 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Iron Ox, a five-year-old, Bay Area-based robotic farming company, has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Pathbreaker Ventures, with participation from Crosslink Capital, Amplify Partners, ENIAC Ventures, R7 Partners, Tuesday Ventures, At One Ventures and Y Combinator, among others. The company has now raised $45 million altogether. VentureBeat has more here.
LightForce Orthodontics, a five-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based maker of a 3D-printed bracket system (i.e. braces), just raised $14 million of Series B funding. Tyche Partners led the round, joined by Matrix Partners and AM Ventures. The company has now raised $20.5 million altogether. Crunchbase News has more here.
Panther Labs, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based cybersecurity startup, has raised $15 million in Series A funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, joined by S28 Capital, Innovation Endeavors, and Fathom Capital. More here.
Pcysys, a five-year-old, Israel-based cybersecurity firm, has raised $25 million in Series B funding round led by Insight Partners, with participation from Awz Ventures and The Blackstone Group. VentureBeat has more here.
Virtual Kitchen, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based ghost kitchen start-up founded by two former Uber executives, has just raised $20 million of fresh capital, according to an SEC filing first flagged by CNBC. The outlet says the round was led by Founders Fund. Last year, the company had raised $15.3 million in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz and Base10 Partners. More here.
Behold, a 16-month-old, L.A.-based platform connecting women personalized styles, has raised $5 million in funding from Upfront Ventures, Greycroft, Troy Capital Partners, TenOneTen Ventures, and Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff. Dot.LA has more here.
BoostUp.ai, two-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based sales and customer acquisition platform, raised $6.3 million in Series A funding. Canaan Partners led the round, joined by Emergent Ventures, BGV, MFV Partners, and Correlation Ventures. More here.
Bruush Oral Care, a three-year-old, Vancouver-based direct-to-consumer subscription-based electric toothbrush company, says it has raised $6.5 million in Series A funding. Investors were not disclosed. More here.
Metadata.io, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based B2B marketing company, has raised $6.5 million in Series A funding led by Resolute Ventures, with participation from Greycroft, York IE, Stormbreakers, and individual investors, including Eloqua founder Mark Organ. TechCrunch has more here.
Partake Brewing, a three-year-old, Calgary, Alberta-based maker of non-alcoholic craft beer, has raised $4 million in funding. CircleUp Growth Partners led the round, joined by Export Development Canada, Natural Products Canada, McLean & Associates, and Barrel Ventures. Food Dive has more here.
PopSQL, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based maker of an SQL editor for teams, has raised $3.4 million in seed funding. Gradient Ventures led the round, joined by Y Combinator and FundersClub. TechCrunch has more here.
Proov, a five-year-old, Boulder, Co.-based at-home ovulation testing kit company, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Lightship Capital and Texas HALO Fund. More here.
Salaryo, a three-year-old, New York-based fintech platform that extends security deposit financing to new co-working office members and credit to existing shared office tenants, just raised $5.8 million in funding. Investors included Variant Investments, KEN Investments, and Techstars Ventures, among others. More here.
Swyg, a two-year-old, Dublin-based jobs platform that says it's using peer-to-peer interviewers and A.I. to reduce selection bias, has raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding led by Frontline Ventures. The Irish Times has more here.
Not-Saying-H0w-Much Funding
Trint, a six-year-old, London-based speech-to-text platform for transcription and content production, just raised an undisclosed amount of extended Series A funding led by the New York Times Company. Trint last year raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from The Associated Press and TechNexus, among others. More here.
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New Funds
Valor Capital, a nearly 10-year-old, New York-based cross-border venture fund that aims to be a bridge between the U.S. and Brazilian tech markets, has raised $136.5 million in capital commitments for a third fund that is targeting $150 million, according to an amended SEC filing. More here.
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IPOs
Telehealth company Amwell priced its stock late Tuesday, revealing plans to offer 35 million shares of its class A common stock priced between $14 and $16 share, for a total of $490 million to $560 million. MedCity News has more here.
Grail, the company on a quest to spot cancers early with a simple blood test, is finally going public after raising nearly $2 billion in funding for its research since 2016. Grail is poised to follow a wave of tech companies prepping IPOs right now, including Palantir and Snowflake, despite that it has "never generated revenue from product sales," does "not expect any near-term revenue to offset our ongoing operating expenses," and "may never be profitable,” as it said in its filing. CNBC has more here.
Unity Software set terms for its IPO today, registering plans to offer 25 million shares priced at $34 to $42 each. The company would raise $1.05 billion at the top end of that range. MarketWatch has more here.
Bradley Tusk, the former political strategist and founder of Tusk Ventures, has formed a SPAC focused on the leisure, gaming and hospitality sector and it plans to raise $300 million to acquire a company valued at more than $750 million, according to an SEC filing flagged yesterday by The Information. More here.
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Exits
Astute, a customer engagement platform headquartered in Columbus, Oh., say it has acquired the 12-year-old social media marketing company Socialbakers. Terms aren't being disclosed. Socialbakers had raised $34 million, according to Crunchbase; its investors included EarlyBird Ventures and Index Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Intact Vascular, a nine-year-old, Wayne, Pa.-based company that developed medical devices for minimally invasive peripheral vascular procedures, has been acquired by the Dutch multinational conglomerate Royal Philips for up to $360 million. According to Crunchbase, Intact had raised roughly $115 million over the years, including from H.I.G. BioHealth Partners, Quaker BioVentures, and NEA. Mass Device has more here.
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People
General Keith Alexander just joined Amazon’s board of directors. A former director of the National Security Agency and the first commander of the US Cyber Command, Alexander, a controversial figure, can offer Amazon new and needed expertise in defense contracting, notes The Verge.
The Google-owned mobility startup Waze is reportedly laying off more than 5% of its total workforce as roads empty out during the pandemic. Business Insider has more here.
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Data
The number of empty rental apartments in Manhattan nearly tripled compared with last year, according to a report from Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel. The inventory of empty units, which rose to 15,000 in August, is the largest ever recorded since data started being collected 14 years ago, the report said. CNBC takes a look here.
Teens are using e-cigs considerably less, though one in five still vape, according to new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control of a survey conducted from January through March. The Verge has more here.
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Essential Reads
A new stock exchange that's backed by Silicon Valley heavyweights is now open for business. The Long-Term Stock Exchange can now trade all U.S. exchange-listed stocks.
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Detours
Americans are banned from many countries, but private jets are finding "business corridors" into Europe, the Caribbean and other parts of the world.
This is also very good (we watched).
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