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September 25, 2020
Friday! We hope you have a terrific weekend, everyone.
For your weekend listening, we just popped out the newest StrictlyVC Download, which we think you'll enjoy. We spoke with the best-selling author of "Winners Take All," Anand Giridharadas, about the fast-accelerating income inequality that we're all witnessing in this pandemic. We had technical issues and lost part of our chat, which completely kills us(!), but he's so engaging that it's still very much worth a listen. (Daily readers know we published part of that chat last night.)
Much thanks to the intelligence platform Affinity for sponsoring this episode.
More Monday.:)
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Top News
Alphabet has reached a settlement with shareholders in a lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct mishandling and cover-up by executives, including former chief legal officer David Drummond. The company will eliminate mandatory arbitration and limit Google’s use of non-disclosure agreements while prohibiting Google from “providing severance to any employee, including a senior executive, terminated for sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, or retaliation.” CNBC has more here.
Beijing is still weighing whether to approve or kill that deal for TikTok, reports the WSJ. In the eyes of Chinese officials, the proposed plan is broader than simply a transaction by one company; it touches upon China’s “core interests,” such as protecting Chinese-developed intellectual property from falling into foreign hands.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department filed its opposition tonight to TikTok’s request for an injunction against the Trump administration’s looming ban of the app, says blocking the the ban would “infringe on the President’s authority to block business-to-business economic transactions with a foreign entity in the midst of a declared national-security emergency.” [Drops popcorn, falls asleep.] The Verge has more here.
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Massive Fundings
Common, a five-year-old, New York-based co-living startup (that's apparently now focused on housing for remote workers), has raised $50 million in Series D funding led by Kinnevik, with participation from earlier investors Maveron, 8VC and Norwest Venture Partners. The Real Deal has more here.
Fiture, a year-old, Beijing, China-based maker of smart home fitness equipment, has raised $65 million in Series A funding. Tencent led the round, joined by Bertelsmann, C Ventures, Cathay Capital, and its angel round investor, Sequoia Capital China. DealStreetAsia has more here.
Nutcracker Therapeutics, a nearly four-year-old, Emeryville, Ca.-based developer of mRNA therapeutics, has raised $60 million in Series B funding. Arch Venture Partners led the round, joined by Bluebird Ventures. Global Genes has more here.
Within3, a 12-year-old, Lakewood, Oh.-based online discussion platform that enables organizations to compliantly engage physicians, nurses, payers, and patients in small and large groups, has raised more than $100 million in growth funding led by Insight Partners, with participation from Silversmith Capital Partners. Previously, Within3 was angel investor-backed and bootstrapped, raising about $20 million between 2008 and 2012, its CEO tells Crunchbase News. More here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Magazino, a six-year-old, Munich, Germany-based robotics company, has raised €21 million in Series B funding led by the warehouse management giant Jungheinrich and the European Investment Bank. Tech.eu has more here.
Showmac Tech, a four-year-old, Beijing, China-based startup whose digital SIMs power Xiaomi's IoT devices, among other things, has raised $15 million in new Series A funding. Addor Capital led the round, joined by GGV Capital and Hongtai Aplus. TechCrunch has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Attunely, a three. year-old, Seattle-based machine learning platform for debt collectors, has raised $6 million in Series A funding Framework Venture Partners, Anthos Capital, and Vulcan Capital. GeekWire has more here.
Fulcrum, a five-year-old, Minneapolis, Mn.-based company that sells small and mid-sized manufacturers a subscription software service to help with workflow optimization and automated data collection, raised $3.1 million in seed funding. Motivate Ventures led the round, joined by Battery Ventures, Schematic Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Matchstick Ventures, Bread & Butter Ventures, VitalizeVC, Social Starts, and SpringTime Ventures. More here.
Immusoft, an 11-year-old, Seattle-based biotech company whose immune cell technology uses a patient's blood cells to create therapeutic proteins targeted to treat diseases, has raised $4.5 million from investors, including from earlier backers Ikarian Capital, Mesa Verde Venture Partners, and Breakout Ventures. The company also just landed a $467,000 NIH grant. GeekWire has more here.
Nori, a three-year-old, Seattle-based startup that, using cryptocurrency, sells carbon credits to individuals and businesses to offset their carbon emissions, has raised $4 million in funding. Placeholder, a blockchain-focused venture fund, led the round. It was joined by North Island Ventures and Tenacious Ventures. GeekWire has more here.
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New Funds
Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian has registered plans to raise a new, $150 million pre-seed stage fund with the SEC under the brand 776. TechCrunch has more here.
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IPOs
Poshmark, a nine-year-old, Redwood Shores, Ca.-based online marketplace for new and used clothing and accessories, said late today it has confidentially for a IPO, adding that the number of shares to be offered and the price range are yet to be determined. Poshmark has raised $153 million over the years, according to Crunchbase. Its backers include Menlo Ventures, GGV Capital, and Temasek. A rival company, ThredUp, is also pursuing an IPO, Bloomberg reported last month. More here.
MindMed, a 19-month-old, New York-based company conducting clinical trials on psychedelic drugs for anxiety and opioid use disorder, applied for an up-listing on the Nasdaq this week, as flagged by Forbes. The company is currently listed on Canada’s NEO exchange and has a market cap of $190 million, but it might be feeling encouraged by the U.S. IPO this week of the U.K.-based company Compass Pathways, which has patented a synthetic form of psilocybin for use in treatment-resistant depression. As of yesterday, Compass's stock was up 134% from its IPO price of $17 per share. More here.
Chindata Group Holdings, a Beijing, China-based company that builds and operates hyperscale data centers in China, Malaysia and soon in India has registered plans to raise $500 million in a U.S. IPO. Seeking Alpha has more here.
Spinal Elements, a 17-year-old, Carlsbad, Ca.-based maker of a wide range of implants and products for minimally invasive spine procedures, has filed to go public with a $100 million Nasdaq IPO. The proceeds will primarily be used to refinance and pay down its debts, according to the company’s newly filed prospectus. FierceBiotech has more here.
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Exits
Epic Games, parent company of "Fortnite," just announced that it's acquiring SuperAwesome, a U.K.-based platform used to power kid-safe technology. Axios has more here.
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People
Longtime Ubisoft veteran Michel Ancel retired from the video game publisher earlier this month while being investigated for toxic behavior, according to a new report by the French newspaper Libération. More here.
Steve Girsky, the former GM vice chairman, consultant and investor whose special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merged with hydrogen electric startup Nikola this summer, is in talks to back self-driving trucks startup TuSimple, according to TechCrunch's sources. More here.
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Data
So far this year, SPACs have raised some $36.4 billion across 104 public offerings in the US, according to PitchBook data. Both those figures blow past previous highs established last year. In fact, blank-check IPOs have already raised more than twice as much capital in 2020 as in 2018 and 2019 combined, it says.
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Sponsored By . . .
Join the venture industry at the unique global meeting place for innovation and capital – the Global Corporate Venturing Digital Forum – next Tuesday. In its second edition, VCs, corporates, investors, startups and portfolio companies will all come together from across the world to share expertise through top-level content and extensive networking – a gathering of 600+ of the wider ecosystem. The speakers include Sir Ronald Cohen, “the Father of British Venture Capital” and author of IMPACT. Make sure you’re there - use the code STRICTLY20 during registration for your 20% saving on top of the current early bird rate. See you on September 29 – it’s only 4 days away!
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Essential Reads
"OpenAI should be renamed ClosedAI": Reaction to Microsoft’s exclusive license of OpenAI’s GPT-3 is not great.
Investor Baillie Gifford is betting more on China as Asia draws more capital in a post-coronavirus world, including by opening its first overseas office in Shanghai. More here.
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Retail Therapy
Put a lid on it with . . .Skuzee? (Sounds completely hygienic.)
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