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October 9, 2020
Hope you have a great weekend, everyone. We're heading out and over to our refrigerator for a cold, delicious beer, but first, we leave you with the newest episode of StrictlyVC Download, featuring Amish Jani of FirstMark Capital, which this week became among the very first venture firms to raise a SPAC. We wanted to talk with Jani about why the firm moved forward on a vehicle, what ideal targets for these things are, possible conflicts of interest for the firm, and whether this might be a one-off, among other things. If you're curious to understand whether they make sense for VCs, you might enjoy it.
Thanks very much to Web Summit for sponsoring this week's show. (You might note that its Web Summit is coming up virtually this year, December 2nd through December 4th.) You can learn more about the event here.
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Top News
Twitter announced a major set of changes to the way its platform will work, as the social network braces for the most contentious, uncertain and high-stakes election in modern U.S. history. TechCrunch has more here.
A new leak has provided extensive details about what Apple could announce at its October 13th event. The Verge has the skinny here.
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Brian Armstrong's New Problem: 60-Plus Free Agents
A lot has been made of the open memo that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong published nearly two weekends ago, essentially barring political activism at work because he sees it as a distraction. He also made it clear that employees who disagreed with the decision — and he foresaw that some would not be happy — were free to leave.
“I recognize that our approach is not for everyone, and may be controversial. I know that many people may not agree, and some employees may resign. I also know that some of what I’ve written above will be misinterpreted, whether accidentally or on purpose. But I believe it’s the right approach for Coinbase that will set us up for success long term, and I would rather be honest and transparent about that than equivocate and work in a company that is not aligned,” he wrote.
Perhaps owing to an almost immediate backlash, Armstrong sent a separate, internal memo the next day detailing separation packages for employees who might be upset and looking for the exits. Coinbase was willing to be very generous, too, offering four months’ severance pay for those who have been at the exchange for less than three years, and paying longer-term employees six months of severance. (Worth noting: Coinbase also gives employees up to seven years to exercise their stock options.)
Whether Armstrong expected that more than 60 employees of Coinbase’s staff of 1,200 would take him up on the offer is something only he knows. As he disclosed in a follow-up post yesterday, that’s how many people have alerted the company by its October 7th deadline that they are quitting, and Coinbase expects the number to inch higher, based on a “handful” of ongoing conversations.
Either way, if I were Armstrong, I might be a little nervous about that number.
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Massive Fundings
Everlywell, a five-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based startup that sells Covid-19 home-testing kits, is in talks to raise new funding at a $1 billion plus valuation with prospective investors, according to Bloomberg. According to Pitchbook, the company was valued at $175 million after a fundraising round last year. More here.
Aledia, a nine-year-old, French startup developing technology for microLED displays, raised €80 million of a planned €120 million in Series D funding. Société de Projet Industriel led the round. Electronics Weekly has more here.
Lark Health, a nine-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based chronic disease management platform, raised $55 million in Series C funding, and an additional $15 million in debt funding. King River Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Franklin Templeton, SteelSky Ventures, and Olive Tree Capital. MobiHealthNews has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Accurics, a 1.5-year-old, Pleasanton, Ca.-based cloud cybersecurity firm, has raised $20 million across seed and series A funding. Intel Capital led its Series A and ClearSky led its seed round. More here.
Hyperice, a 10-year-old, Irvine, Ca.-based maker of muscle recovery devices like massagers that target soft tissue pain, has raised $48 million in funding at a $700 million valuation. Main Street Advisors and SC Holdings led the round, joined by numerous high-profile athletes. CNBC has more here.
OXIGEN, a six-year-old, L.A.-based maker of bottle, pH-balanced water, has raised $15 million in Series B funding. Investors include recording artist Brett Eldredge and NBA player Kevin Love. Forbes has more here.
NOCD, a six-year-old, Chicago-based a Chicago-based telehealth startup that specializes in the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder, raised $12 million in a Series A funding. Health Enterprise Partners led the round, joined by 7Wire Ventures, Chicago Ventures and Hyde Park Angels. More here.
TigerConnect, a 10-year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based maker of collaboration software for healthcare teams, has raised $45 million in Series D funding led by HealthQuest Capital, with additional investment coming from New Leaf Ventures, Montreux Growth Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Invus and Industry Ventures.
Andie Swim, a four-year-old, New York-based swimwear company, raised $6.5 million in Series funding. Investors include CityRock Venture Partners and Trail Mix Ventures. More here.
Clair, a 1.5-year-old, New York-based cash-advance startup, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by Upfront Ventures, with participation from Founder Collective and Walkabout Ventures. More here.
Earthly Technologies, a six-month-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based developer tools company, has raised $2 million in seed funding. Investors included 468 Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Uncorrelated Ventures, and Hack VC. More here.
Gitpod, a four-year-old, Hamburg, Germany-based first open-source developer platform to automate the provisioning of ready-to-code development environments, has raised $3 million in seed funding from Crane Venture Partners, Speedinvest, and Vertex Ventures. More here.
JobGet, a two-year-old, Boston-based mobile hiring app maker, raised $2.1 million in seed funding. Pillar VC led the round, joined by Data Point Capital Partners, Crocker Mountain Capital, and EO Venture. More here.
SiteAware, a five-year-old, Houston, Tex.-based startup that says its software (and drones) can certify the completeness of work at a construction site and identify deviations in real-time, has raised $10 million in Series A funding. Axon Ventures and Robert Bosch Venture Capital led the round, joined by lool Ventures, Oryzn Ventures, The Flying Object and Power Capital Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.
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IPOs
Dida Chuxing has jumped ahead of rival Didi Chuxing to apply for what looks to be Asia's first initial public offering out of the ride-hailing sector. Backed by online retailer JD.com, New York-listed Trip.com and the investment arm Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio, the six-year-old startup is expected to raise between $300 million to $500 million, reports Nikkei Asia. More here.
The London Stock Exchange is reportedly in talks with several Indian technology firms for their overseas stock listings as New Delhi moves closer to allowing companies to directly access foreign markets. As Reuters notes, India is drawing up rules to allow companies to float overseas without having to first list shares in India, presentig an opportunity for some of the world’s leading stocks exchanges to vie for India’s rapidly growing tech and startup companies. More here.
Galecto Biotech, a nine-year-old, Copenhagen-based company, is has filed a S-1 less than two weeks after completing a $64 million Series D round, notes Endpoints News.
Through late August, the biotech industry reportedly raised a combined $11 billion-plus across four dozen IPOs, surpassing the amount from all of 2019. More here.
Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings IV, V, and VI -- the fourth, fifth, and sixth blank-check companies formed by chairman and CEO Chamath Palihapitiya and President and director Ian Osborne -- have raised the capital they sought. Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings VI raised $1 billion, while V raised $700 million, and IV raised $400 million. Each is targeting a tech business.
Thayer Ventures Acquisition, a blank check company formed by Thayer Ventures targeting the travel and transportation industries, filed on Thursday to raise up to $175 million in an IPO. The company is led by Co-CEOs Mark Farrell and Christopher Hemmeter, co-founders and Managing Directors of Thayer Ventures.
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Exits
Cloud communications business Twilio has agreed to acquire customer data infrastructure company Segment for $3.2 billion, says Forbes. The deal which was not yet finalized as of Friday afternoon, is expected to be at least partially based on Twilio stock. Twilio, which went public in 2016, currently trades at a market cap of more than $45 billion. More here.
Six months after launching his richly funded video-streaming service, Quibi, Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg is looking for a buyer, reports the Information. So far, he is coming up short, it says, despite talks with executives at WarnerMedia, Facebook, and Apple. More here.
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Data
Alibaba’s stock has hit a record high, after the coronavirus pandemic accelerated China’s rapid embrace of online commerce, and as its financial affiliate Ant Group prepares to go public. The recent rally has lifted Alibaba’s market value above $800 billion, cementing its position as one of the world’s most valuable technology companies. The WSJ has more here.
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Essential Reads
Pakistan has now banned TikTok over "immoral and indecent" videos.
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Retail Therapy
A Sea Cliff home in San Francisco for $25 million, replete with basketball court (and views).
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