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September 15, 2020
Tuesday! We were over at TechCrunch's weeklong Disrupt event today, where we had the chance to interview the U.S. head of Sequoia Capital, Roelof Botha (we talked TikTok -- you can catch that discussion here).
We also chatted with with Ade Ajao of Base10 Partners, who is focusing increasingly on commerce powered by Shopify, and with Drew Taggart and Alex Pall, who are otherwise known as The Chainsmokers (see our story below and stay tuned for a longer podcast with them coming out Friday).
More tomorrow.:)
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Top News
Here’s everything Apple revealed at its September hardware event today, according to TechCrunch.
China’s ByteDance would retain a majority ownership stake in its TikTok app unit as part of a proposal being reviewed by national-security regulators in the U.S. If it passes muster, Oracle will have a minority stake, reports the WSJ.
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The Chainsmokers Just Closed Their Debut Fund, Mantis, with $35 Million
Alex Pall and Drew Taggart are best known as The Chainsmokers, an electronic DJ and production duo whose first three albums have given rise to numerous Billboard chart-topping songs, four Grammy nominations, and one Grammy award, for the song "Don't Let Me Down."
Soon, they hope they'll be known as savvy venture investors, too.
They already have some major-league believers, including investors Mark Cuban, Keith Rabois, Jim Coulter and Ron Conway, who are among the other individuals who provided the Chainsmokers's new early-stage venture firm, Mantis, with $35 million in capital commitments for its debut fund.
It's a surprisingly traditional vehicle in many ways. Mantis is being managed day-to-day by two general partners who respectively offer venture and operational experience: Milan Koch graduated in 2012 from UCLA and has been an investor ever since, including as a venture partner with the seed-stage fund Base Ventures; Jeffrey Evans founded the record label Buskin Records and the mobile communications platform TigerText (now TigerConnect), among other companies, and has long known the Chainsmokers's business manager, Josh Klein.
With fundraising begun earlier this year, the firm has already made a handful of investments, too, including the fitness app Fiton (Pall says they "squeezed into the A round after its close"), and Loansnap, a mortgage-lending startup that was founded by serial entrepreneur Karl Jacob.
Pall and Taggart take their health seriously, so the fitness app is easy to understand.
As for why the world's highest-paid DJs would be interested in such a seemingly staid business as mortgage lending, Taggart says the firm's mission is ultimately to find and fund a wide range of startups that could potentially benefit its young audience, and that he and Pall are happy to use their star power to help related founders when a particular technology catches their eye.
In the case of Loansnap, he says that he and Pall were impressed by Loansnap's promise to process loans more efficiently than other lenders. By getting involved in the company, all sides also recognized a "massive press opportunity for Loansnap at a time when COVID was hitting and there was going to be billions of dollars in refinancing going on that [the company] wanted to participate in," he says.
Indeed, despite investing a relatively small amount -- $250,000 -- in what was ultimately a $10 million round for Loansnap in May, Mantis was credited in numerous reports as being the deal lead.
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Massive Fundings
Devo Technology, a nine-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based security analytics company, has raised $60 million in Series D funding led by Georgian Partners, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and Insight Partners. Silicon Angle has more here.
dLocal, a four-year-old, Uruguay-based cross-border payment processor, has raised $200 million in funding and is now valued at $1.2 billion. General Atlantic led the round, joined by Addition, Endeavor Catalyst and Zeev Ventures. The WSJ has more here.
Volansi, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based drone delivery service with commercial, medical and defense operations, has raised $50 million in Series B funding. Icon Ventures led the round, joined by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Y Combinator, Harpoon Ventures, and Merck Global Health Innovation Fund. VentureBeat has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
BrandTotal, a four-year-old, New York-based brand marketing analytics company, has raised $12 million in Series B funding. INcapital Ventures led the round, joined by Maor Investments, Glilot Capital Partners, Flint Capital, KDC Media Fund, and FJ Labs.
Brightseed, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that aims to identify the presence of specific nutrients in plants that are believed to boost human health, has raised $27 million in funding led by Lewis & Clark AgriFood. TechCrunch has more here.
Bulletproof 360, a seven-year-old, Seattle-based company that sells food, beverages and supplements that aim to fuel human performance, has raised $13 million in growth capital led by Beliv, Rocana Ventures and earlier investors CAVU Venture Partners and Trinity Ventures. More here.
Data.World, a five-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based cloud-based data catalog startup, has raised $26 million in funding led by Tech Pioneers Fund. Other participants in the round include Breyer Capital, Prologis Ventures, Alumni Ventures Group, Accel cofounder Arthur Patterson and earlier backers Shasta Ventures, OurCrowd, and Workday Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.
GHGSat, a nine-year-old, Montreal, Canada-based maker of a greenhouse gas monitoring technology, has raised $30 million in funding led by the government of Québec’s Investissement Québec, with added participation from OGCI Climate Investments, Business Development Bank of Canada, Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec, Space Angels, and Schlumberger. Satellite Today has more here.
Hexagon Bio, a four-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based biotech that's developing targeted small molecule therapeutics, has raised $47 million in Series A funding led by The Column Group, with participation from 8VC and Two Sigma Ventures. More here.
Hungry Harvest, a five-year-old, Baltimore, Md.-based company that rescues "ugly" produce and delivers it to customers, has raised $13.7 million in Series A funding. Creadev led the round, joined by Danone Manifesto Ventures, Quadia and Maywic Select Investments. The Spoon has more here.
IRL, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based maker of a social calendar, has raised $16 million in Series B funding, says Fortune, including from Goodwater Capital, Founders Fund, Floodgate, and Raine. More here.
Keepit, a 20-year-old, Copenhagen-based cloud-based backup-as-a-service solution, has raised $30 million from growth investor One Peak. Tech.eu has more here.
Medigate, a three-year-old, New York-based IoT and medical device security company, has raised $30 million in Series B funding. Partech led the round, joined by YL Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners, Blumberg Capital, and Maor Investments. Calcalist has more here.
nTopology, a six-year-old, New York-based developer of software used in design and manufacturing of 3D-printed parts and products, has raised $40 million in Series C funding led by Insight Partners, with participation from Root Ventures, Canaan Partners, DCVC and Haystack. Crunchbase News has more here.
Seegrid Corporation, a 17-year-old, Pittsburgh, Pa.-based company that builds self-driving vehicles to transport materials in industrial environments, has added a further $27 million to its recent equity funding. This closes the round at $52 million and takes the company’s total raised to $150 million, with a valuation “in excess of $400 million.” The company said of the new round only that it involved "leading technology and robotics investors." VentureBeat has more here.
BrightHire, a year-old, New York-based platform for hiring, raised $3 million in funding. Flybridge Capital led the round, joined Ground Up Ventures, RTP Ventures, J Ventures, Silas Capital, and Haystack. Quartz has more here.
Incentify, a year-old, El Segundo, Ca.-based enterprise tax credits and incentives platform, raised $4.3 million in funding. Ryan LLC led the round. More here.
OnCall Health, a four-year-old, Toronto-based company that makes virtual care software to healthcare providers, has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Base10 Partners. Earlier backers Ripple Ventures, Panache Ventures, and Stout Street Capital also joined the round, which brings the startup's funding to $8 million. More here.
ShoppingGives, a five-year-old, Chicago-based platform that offers social impact and donation processing for retailers, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding. Caffeinated Capital led the round. Built in Chicago has more here.
Sternum, a two-year-old, Tel Aviv-based IoT cybersecurity company, has raised $6.5 million in Series A funding. Square Peg led the round, joined by Merle Hinrich and btov. More here.
Totient, a three-year-old,Cambridge, Ma.-based drug discovery company, has raised $10 million in seed funding, including from Mission BioCapital, Sands Capital, Viva Biotech, Kaitai Capital, Tau Ventures, and entrepreneur Jonathan Milner. More here.
ZenSports, a four-year-old, mobile peer-to-peer sports betting marketplace, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding investors included LAUNCH and Cube Magic Gaming. More here.
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New Funds
Crista Galli Ventures, an early-stage health tech fund in Europe, is officially launching today with a single LP: the Danish family office IPQ Capital. Led by consultant radiologist Fiona Pathiraja, the outfit has offices in London and Copenhagen. TechCrunch has more here.
Greylock Partners, the now 55-year-old venture fund, has closed on $1 billion in capital commitments for its its sixteenth fund. It had raised the same amount for its fifteenth fund in 2016. The firm tells Bloomberg the capital will be used to invest across stages, and in both enterprise and consumer-facing startups.
Hetz Ventures, a two-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based venture firm that invests in seed-stage Israeli startups in B2B enterprise software, DevOps, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and fintech, has closed its second fund with $77 million in capital commitments. It now manages roughly $130 million altogether. More here.
*Javelin Venture Partners, the 12-year-old San Francisco-based firm is actually raising quite a bit more than we'd noted in an SEC filing yesterday that only listed a $50 million target and one of the firm's managing directors, Noah Doyle. In a new, amended filing, and following their attorney's firing (kidding!), the firm makes clear that it has raised $50 million of a $125 million target. The new filing also lists two managing directors: Doyle and Jed Katz, who was accidentally left off the first version. More here.
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IPOs
It's official. The real estate startup Opendoor is going public via a SPAC. More here.
What to know about Snowflake and its giant IPO (it begins trading tomorrow).
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Essential Reads
Zoom, having made itself a household name with its videoconferencing product, is now eyeing the messaging market, reports The Information, adding that a product is likely several months away from being launched.
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