Chime's big round, Chamath's newest SPACs, and an administration in overdrive

September 18, 2020

We're *zonked* but had a truly memorable day, having gotten the chance to interview the one-and-only Conan O'Brien for TechCrunch Disrupt. He was both funny and incredibly genuine in talking about being an entrepreneur himself, whether he would ever sell the growing number of podcasts now being produced by Team Coco, and how he's thinking these days about his life in late-night TV. You can see our chat here or read about it here.

We also really enjoyed a "state of VC" discussion with three bold investors who represent perhaps the industry's most impactful trend -- its atomization. You can watch our talk with Lo Toney, Dayna Grayson, and Renata Quintini, all of whom spun out of powerhouse venture outfits to create their own, right here.

Not last, we just put together this week's StrictlyVC Download, with featured guest The Chainsmokers, who we had fun chatting with (they're still surprisingly down-to-earth, considering the wild ride they've been on in recent years). We talked about their new venture fund and why they're bothering with it. Thanks very much to the relationship intelligence platform Affinity for sponsoring this episode.

More Monday.:)

Top News

In a development that's both devastating to many and has wide-reaching implications, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the legal and feminist icon, passed away today at age 87. [Crying.]

Donald Trump is trying to make America safer, just ahead of the presidential election. There are so many moving pieces here that we're just going to refer you to this and this and this while we try digesting what's happening.

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Massive Fundings

Chime, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based start-up that delivers banking services through mobile phones, has closed a $485 million Series F round that values the company at $14.5 billion, says CNBC. That's 900% more than the company was worth 18 months ago, it observes. Investment firms that participated in the company's latest round include Coatue, Iconiq, Tiger Global, Whale Rock Capital, General Atlantic, Access Technology Ventures, Dragoneer and DST Global. More here.

Lava Therapeutics, a four-year-old, Utrecht, Netherlands-based biotech that's focused on cancer therapies, has raised $83 million (€71 million) in Series C funding. Novo Ventures and Sanofi Ventures led the round, joined by Redmile Group, Ysios Capital, and BB Pureos Bioventures. MedCity News has more here.

Palleon Pharmaceuticals, a five-year-old, Waltham, Ma.-based biotech that aims to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases, has raised $100 million in Series B funding. Matrix Capital Management led the round, joined by SR One, Pfizer Ventures, Vertex Ventures HC, Takeda Ventures, AbbVie Ventures, and Surveyor Capital. More here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Funding

Outschool, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based marketplace of live online classes for kids, raised $45 million in Series B funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Other investors in the round included Reach Capital, Union Square Ventures, SV Angel, FundersClub, Y Combinator and others. The company has now raised $55 million altogether. More here.

Treez, a four-year-old, Oakland, Ca.-based cannabis retail software platform, has raised $13 million in Series B funding. Intrinsic Capital Partners led the round. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Bayes, a five-year-old, Berlin-based esports company that was formerly known as Dojo Madness, just raised $6 million in funding from the Pohlad Family, Fertitta Capital, and the Sony Innovation Fund, among others. Tech.eu has more here.

Hysolate, a four-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel- and New York-based cybersecurity startup, has raised $10 million in funding led by Planven, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Innovation Endeavor and Team8. Calcalist has more here.

Pachama, a nearly two-year-old, San Francisco-based forest carbon sequestration monitoring service, has raised $5 million in new funding, including from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The company has now raised $9 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Not-Saying-How-Much Fundings

Imagine Impact, a two-year-old, L.A.-based content marketplace and social networking platform designed for entertainment industry professionals (it was cofounded by famed director Ron Howard), has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding led by Benchmark. TechCrunch has more here.

Going Public

Chamath Palihapitiya filed three(!) new SPAC vehicles today after the bell rang, and each of them pulls in different directors of note, observes TechCrunch. Nirav Tolia, the co-founder and CEO of popular social network Nextdoor, is joining the fourth SPAC. Jay Parikh, a former head of engineering at Facebook, who left the company earlier this year, is joining the fifth SPAC. And Dick Costolo, the former CEO of Twitter and current venture capitalist, is joining the sixth SPAC. More here.

Palantir, the big data company, now plans to list on the NYSE on September 29, instead of September 23. TechCrunch takes a look at its fourth amended filing to the SEC to understand why it has filed a fourth amendment.

Reinvent Technology, the blank check company managed by LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman and Zynga founder Mark Pincus, has successfully raised $600 million. Renaissance Capital has more here.

Shares of Unity, the video game software developer, closed up 31.44% after its market debut today. The company priced its shares at $52 after it lifted the range on Wednesday to between $44 and $48. The stock began trading at $75 per share and closed at $68.35. CNBC has more here.

Exits

Japan’s SoftBank Group continued a remarkable string of asset sales today, saying it's selling U.S.-based wireless-services unit Brightstar to a private-equity firm founded by a former Brightstar executive. Neither SoftBank nor purchaser Brightstar Capital Partners disclosed the sale price for the unit, which SoftBank bought in 2014 for roughly $1.7 billion. The WSJ has more here.

MetLife is purchasing Versant Health for about $1.68 billion in cash in a deal that it says will transform it into one of the largest vision insurers in the U.S. Versant is currently owned by an investor group that includes Centerbridge Partners and FFL Partners. The WSJ has more here.

Data

American billionaires have increased their wealth by $845 billion since the pandemic hit.

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Essential Reads

Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture firm had a banner week. CNBC takes a look here.

Detours

It's a banana. It's art. And now it's the Guggenheim's problem.

Why Christopher Nolan actually blew up a real plane for "Tenet."

A new court ruling could force Bansky to reveal his identity.

Famous show tunes, revised for 2020.

Retail Therapy

Tommy Hilfiger has a property or two to sell you.

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Chime's big round, Chamath's newest SPACs, and an administration in overdrive

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