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Top News
Facebook today said that it will not allow any ads on its service that seek to delegitimize the outcome of an election, including the upcoming U.S. election on Nov. 3. This policy will prohibit any ads that call specific methods of voting, such as voting by mail, as being inherently fraudulent or corrupt. CNBC has more here.
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Allbirds CEO Joey Zwillinger on the Startup's $100 Million Round, Profitability, and SPAC Mania
As people spend less time out in the world and more time daydreaming about when a vaccine will arrive, lifestyle shoes are only gaining traction.
One obvious beneficiary is Allbirds, the San Francisco-based maker of comfortable, sustainable kicks that launched in 2016 and quickly became a favorite in Silicon Valley circles before taking off elsewhere.
Though the company saw its business slow this year because of the pandemic, its products are now available to purchase in 35 countries and its 20 brick-and-mortar stores are sprinkled throughout the U.S. and Europe, with another outpost in Tokyo and several shops in China.
Investors clearly see room for more growth. Allbirds just closed on $100 million in Series E funding at roughly the same $1.6 billion valuation it was assigned after closing on $27 million in Series D funding earlier this year, and blank-check companies have been calling, says cofounder and CEO Joey Zwillinger. He talked with us earlier this week in a chat that has been edited for length and clarity.
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Massive Fundings
BEGiN, an eight-year-old, New York-based early education media company, has raised $50 million in Series C funding. Investors include LEGO Ventures, Sesame Workshop, 3One4 Capital, Trustbridge Partners and Interlock Partners. EdSurge has more here.
VTEX, a 20-year-old, New York-based company that builds e-commerce software and strategies for retailers like Walmart and huge consumer names like Motorola, has raised $225 million in Series D funding, valuing it at $1.7 billion. Investors include Tiger Global Management, Lone Pine Capital, Constellation, Endeavour Catalyst, and SoftBank. TechCrunch has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Bloomscape, a 3.5-year-old, Detroit, Mi.-based company that ships live plants straight from greenhouses to customers’ homes, has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by General Catalyst. TechCrunch has more here.
Bykea, a four-year-old Karachi, Pakistan-based transportation and logistics platform, has raised $13 million in Series B funding led by Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures). Middle East Venture Partners and Sarmayacar also joined the round, which brings the company's total funding to $22 million. More here.
LogPoint, a 17-year-old, Copenhagen, Denmark-based cybersecurity company, has raised $30 million in Series B funding. Digital+ Partners led the round, joined by Evolution Equity Partners, among others. Tech.eu has more here.
Inshorts, a seven-year-old, New Delhi, India-based popular news aggregation app, has raised $35 million led by Addition, the new investment fund of former Tiger Global investor Lee Fixel. It's the first India-based bet that Addition has made, but it's no stranger to Fixel; he'd previously invested in the company on behalf of Tiger. TechCrunch has more here.
Papaya Global, a four-year-old, Israel-based HR and payroll platform, has raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from Workday Ventures, Access Industries, and earlier backers Insight Venture Partners, Group 11, New Era Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Dynamic Loop. GeekTime has more here.
Shiok Meats, a 2.5-year-old, Singapore-based maker of cell-based shrimp, has raised $12.6 million in Series A funding. Aqua-Spark led the round, joined by SEEDS Capital, Real Tech Fund, Irongrey, Yellowdog Empowers Fund, Ilshin Holdings, and Toyo Seikan Group Holdings. Food Dive has more here.
Sonoma Biotherapeutics, a 1.5-year-old, South San Francisco-based company developing regulatory T-cell therapies for autoimmune and degenerative diseases, has raised $30 million in Series A funding. Investors included Lyell Immunopharma, ARCH Venture Partners, 8VC, LifeForce Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures Biosciences, Octagon Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, and the JDRF T1D Fund. The company has now raised $70 million altogether. More here.
Smaller Fundings
Buzzer, a nine-month-old, New York-based mobile platform for live sports, has raised $4 million in seed funding. Lerer Hippeau and Sapphire Sport led the round, joined by R&R Venture Partners and Imagination Capital. Sports Pro has more here.
Capitalize, a year-old, New York-based startup that says it helps people digitally locate their old 401k and transfer it with fewer headaches to a new account at another financial institution, has raised $2 million in seed funding. Bling Capital led the round, joined by Greycroft, RRE Ventures and Walkabout Ventures. More here.
Cube Dev, the two-year-old, San Francisco-based open-source company behind Cube.js that is building a data platform to help developers write analytics applications for both internal and external users, just raised $6.2 million in seed funding. Bain Capital Ventures led the round, joined by Eniac Ventures, Betaworks, Innovation Endeavors, and Slack Fund. TechCrunch has more here.
Emjoy, a 2.5-year-old, Barcelona, Spain-based audio-based sexual wellness startup, has raised $3 million in seed funding led by JME Ventures, with earlier investor Nauta Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Intelage, a 3.5-year-old, Seattle-based startup whose tools aim to speed up and automate various parts of a trading business, such as risk control, documentation, logistics, inventory management, communication, and cost optimization, has raised $3.5 million dollars in seed funding. Blumberg Capital led the round, joined by Vulcan Capital, among others. GeekWire has more here.
Siren, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based company that makes washable smart textiles with remote patient monitoring application (for diabetes and other conditions), has raised $9 million in extended Series B funding. Anathem Ventures led the round, joined by DCM, Khosla Ventures, 500 Startups and Founders Fund. More here.
Strigo, a 3.5-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based outfit that helps software companies train their customers remotely, has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Velvet Sea Ventures, with participation from earlier backers Greycroft and Hanaco. VentureBeat has more here.
Trym, a 2.5-year-old, Novato, Ca.-based startup that sells management software to cannabis growers, has raised $3.1 million in seed funding led by 7thirty Capital and Delta Emerald Ventures, with additional participation from other institutional and individual investors. TechCrunch has more here.
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New Funds
BAM Venture Partners, a six-year-old, early-stage consumer-focused fund based in Los Angeles, is raising $50 million for its third fund, according to a new SEC filing. More here.
Crosslink Capital, the 31-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based venture firm, is looking to raise $275 million for its ninth venture fund, according to a new SEC filing. More here.
New Community Transformation Fund, a 10-month-old, Grand Rapids, Mi.-based venture firm that aims to invest nationally in startup companies founded by minorities, has garnered $6.25 million in capital commitments, with "potentially millions more on the way," reports MiBiz. More here.
Third Craft, a new, Austin, Tex.-based venture firm that's backed by former Heinz CEO William Johnson, is targeting up to $75 million for a debut fund that will invest in consumer brands and in craft food and beverages in particular. The Information has the story here in a really good piece about the many investors now descending on the city, including permanently.
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Public Offerings
Climate Change Crisis Real Impact I Acquisition, a SPAC focused on climate technology, raised $200 million in an IPO. The blank check company is led by Mary Powell, the former CEO of Green Mountain Power, and David Crane, a former CEO of the competitive energy supplier NRG Energy. Renaissance Capital has more here.
Datto, a developer of cloud-based data backup software that's owned by Vista Equity Partners, has filed to go public after reportedly filing confidentially for an IPO back in July. TechCrunch has more here.
Northern Star Acquisition, a consumer-focused SPAC led by magazine vet Joanna Coles and New York Islanders co-owner Jonathan Ledecky, has filed for a $300 million IPO. Nasdaq has more here.
Shares of the data analytics company Palantir opened at $10 today in the company’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange, and closed the trading session down slightly at $9.50. The performance gives Palantir a Palantir a market cap of $16.5 billion, based on 1.65 billion shares outstanding, which excludes various restricted stock units (RSUs), options and unvested stock, says CNBC. More here.
Asana, a maker of workplace tools for productivity and communications that also went public today through a direct listing, saw its shares perform better. They closed at $28.80, 37% above their reference price of $21 and above the average price of $25.11 where private shares changed hands in August. The company currently boasts a valuation of about $5.9 billion.
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People
Nikola execs say they've cut founder, Trevor Milton, out of all decision making or consulting at the electric truck company following his resignation last week and subsequent allegations of sexual misconduct -- despite that he is its largest shareholder.
Following a high-profile breach in July, Twitter has hired Rinki Sethi as its new chief information security officer. She most recently served as chief information security officer at cloud data management company Rubrik. TechCrunch has more here.
Trunk Club founder Brian Spaly, an active angel investor in recent years, has joined the venture outfit Brand Foundry VC as a general partner, reports The Information. More here.
Forgepoint Capital, the early-stage cybersecurity-focused venture firm, has named Connie Qian as a senior associate and Leo Casusol as a venture partner.
Newark Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm and accelerator in Newark, N.J., has brought aboard two new venture partners: Brian Laung Aoaeh and Joseph Scott.
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Data
Due to challenges created by the Covid-19 crisis, as many as two million women are considering taking a leave of absence or leaving the workforce altogether, according to a new women-in-the-workplace report produced by McKinsey & Co. and Leanin.Org. As write the authors: it's the " first time we’ve seen signs of women leaving the workforce at higher rates than men; in the previous six years of this study, women and men left their companies at similar rates." More here.
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Essential Reads
Hackers are increasingly targeting health-care institutions as their software attacks get more sophisticated and brazen, and targeted companies effectively face a tough choice, reports the WSJ: Either pay the attackers or hire others to help recover systems, which can take weeks or longer.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told employees the company will offer severance packages of four to six months for those who leave after he discouraged employee activism and political discussions at work.
Facebook said today it will begin rolling out new functionality that will allow Instagram and Messenger users to communicate across apps.
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Detours
Dogged about COVID-19 at the Helsinki Airport.
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