Extra Crunch Friday: Here's how fast a few dozen startups grew in Q3 2020

Welcome to Extra Crunch Friday

I am biased, but from my perspective, The Exchange’s first annual Data Week was a resounding success.

Alex Wilhelm capped off five days of deeply researched reporting by rounding up Q3 growth metrics from a few dozen startups in sectors like fintech, fertility, insurtech and others.

In addition to scraping data, he also used what old-timers call “shoe-leather reporting,” meaning he (virtually) wore out his Allbirds by making the effort to gather first-hand information from multiple sources.

For yesterday’s column, Alex looked at how “Q3 2020 was a standout period for how high late-stage money stacked up compared to cash available to younger startups.”

In Q3, more than half of all VC funding in the U.S. went to 88 mega-rounds worth $100 million or more, he found.

Are cash-hungry unicorns making “a late-stage takeover?” Watch this space for answers.

I hope you have a relaxing weekend; thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch.

Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist

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7 investors discuss augmented reality and VR startup opportunities in 2020

Despite dazzling hype and a near-endless array of potential applications, the number of skyrocketing successes in augmented reality/virtual reality have been few.

“Besides Pokémon Go I don’t think we have seen the engagement numbers needed for AR,” Boost VC investor Brayton Williams told TechCrunch’s Lucas Matney.

Lucas interviewed seven investors who are active in the space to hear what they had to say about software startups, hardware challenges and “spectacular flare-outs” that may be making VCs wary — along with the software developers who’ll bring the industry forward.

• Niko Bonatsos, General Catalyst
• Tipatat Chennavasin, The Venture Reality Fund
• Brianne Kimmel, Work Life Ventures
• Jacob Mullins, Shasta Ventures
• Gigi Levy-Weiss, NFX
• Brayton Williams, Boost VC
• Greg Castle, Anorak Ventures

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Extra Crunch Partner Perk: Get 6 months free of Zendesk Support and Sales CRM

Sponsored by TechCrunch

Eligible annual and 2-year members can get access to Zendesk’s Sales CRM, Zendesk Support Suite, Zendesk Explore and Zendesk Sunshine.

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10 Zurich-area investors on Switzerland's 2020 startup outlook

Mike Butcher’s latest regional survey polled investors who fund companies in Switzerland’s startup ecosystem.

Compared to other European cities, Zurich has a high cost of living, exorbitant startup costs and lofty salary expectations, but “entrepreneurs who want to launch startups could do worse than Switzerland,” he writes.

Public and private initiatives have cultivated an environment that’s attracting startups in fintech, blockchain, but there’s far less “moonshot innovation.”

Here’s who Mike spoke to:

• Jasmin Heimann, partner, Ringier Digital Ventures
• Katrin Siebenbuerger Hacki, founder, Medows
• Philipp Stauffer, partner, FYRFLY Venture Partners
• Claude Donzé, partner, Tomahawk.VC
• Lucian Wagner, partner, Privilège Ventures
• Maximilian Spelmeyer, partner, SIX Fintech Ventures
• Olaf Hannemann, partner, CV VC AG
• Andreas Iten, partner, F10
• Michael Blank, partner, investiere
• Ninja Struye de Swielande, partner, Lakestar

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Customer experience and digital transformation concepts are merging during the pandemic

Enterprise reporter Ron Miller examined how SaaS vendors, startup founders and end users are adapting to the acceleration of digital transformation timelines in the COVID-19 era.

“Even though building a positive customer experience has never been completely about digital, at a time where it’s difficult to interact with customers in person, the digital side of it has taken new urgency.”

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Dear Sophie: What visa options exist for a grad co-founding a startup?

Dear Sophie:

What are the visa prospects for a graduate completing an advanced degree at a university in the United States who wants to co-found a startup after graduation?

Can the new startup or my co-founders sponsor me for a visa?

—Brilliant in Berkeley

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Lessons from Datto’s IPO pricing and revenue multiple

Datto, Inc. priced its IPO at the top end of the range: $27 per share.

There’s nothing inherently glamorous or exciting about selling data backup and cybersecurity services, but the number “gives us a fresh lens into today’s IPO market,” writes Alex Wilhelm.

“That lens is the perspective of slower, more profitable growth. What is that worth?”

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How Yext reinvented itself on its way to going public

Last week for Extra Crunch Live, Alex Wilhelm spoke with Yext CEO Howard Lerman about “how the company has reinvented itself a few times, all while scaling before and after its IPO.”

The hour-long chat touched on a wide range of topics, including a few minutes on Google and the differences Lerman perceives between private and public investors:

Talking to [public] investors is a different constituency, it’s a lot different than talking to VCs. VCs are very forgiving [ … ] in comparison to public investors. One of the key differences is that when you’re talking to a VC, they typically don’t have the option of betting against you. [ … ] The worst they can do is kind of like, blow you off for coffee or something like that.

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4 quick bites and obituaries on Quibi (RIP 2020-2020)

In a fast-follow analysis of what they described as “a new entry in the greatest collapses of startups ever,” four TechCrunch staffers come to bury Quibi, not to praise it:

• Lucas Matney: A deadpool company before it was even launched
• Danny Crichton: The Big Bang Theory of media doesn’t work
• Anthony Ha: $100,000 a minute wasn’t enough
• Brian Heater: You can’t buy a battering ram