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November 9, 2020
So much for our collective moment of zen. (Watch this; you might feel better.)
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Top News
Drug maker Pfizer said today that an early analysis of its coronavirus vaccine trial suggests the two-dose vaccine is highly effective in preventing Covid-19. Developed with German drugmaker BioNTech, Pfizer released only sparse details from its most clinical trial, based on the first formal review of the data by an outside panel of experts. More here.
The FDA has granted emergency authorization of a Covid-19 treatment made by Eli Lilly that was given to former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. The authorization applies only to people newly infected with the virus, and the agency said it should not be used in hospitalized patients. The New York Times has more here.
Shares of Zoom fell sharply Monday as companies that benefit from people staying at home due to the coronavirus pandemic lost their appeal following the release of positive coronavirus vaccine data. Zoom closed 17.4% lower; Amazon and Netflix dropped 5.1% and 8.6%, respectively; Teladoc Health slid 13.7%; and Shopify was down by 13.6%. CNBC has more here.
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Mirror Founder Brynn Putnam on Life with Lululemon -- and Whether or Not She Sold Too Soon
Brynn Putnam has a lot to feel great about. A Harvard grad and former professional ballet dancer who opened the first of what have become three high-intensity fitness studios in New York, she then launched a second business in 2016 when -- while pregnant with her son -- she was exercising at home and couldn't find a natural way watch a class on her laptop or phone. Her big idea: to install mirrored screens in users' homes that are roughly eight square feet and through which they can exercise to all manner of streamed and on-demand exercise classes, paying a monthly subscription of just $39 per month.
If you've followed the home fitness craze, you already know these Mirrors quickly took off with celebrities, who gushed about the product on social media. Putnam's company also attracted roughly $75 million in venture funding across several fast rounds. Indeed, by the end of last year, people had bought "tens of thousands" of Mirrors, according to Putnam, and she was beginning to envision Mirrors as content portals that might feature fashion, enable doctors' visits, and bring both kids' classes and therapy into users' homes. As she told The Atlantic back in January, “We view ourselves as the third screen in people’s homes.”
Then, in June, the company revealed it had sold for $500 million in cash -- including a $50 million earn-out -- to the athleisure company Lululemon. For Putnam, the deal was too compelling, allowing her to secure the future of her company, which continues to run as a subsidiary. Investors might have liked it, too, given that it meant a fast return on their investment, not to mention that Mirror had steep competition, including from Peloton, a growing giant in the home fitness market.
The deal seems to be clicking. Just today, Lululemon announced that it is installing Mirrors in 18 of its now 506 U.S. locations, including in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Miami. Lulemon hasn't started selling products directly through Mirror yet, but "shoppable content" is "certainly on our radar" too, says Putnam. Meanwhile, Mirror's revenues, expected earlier this year to reach $100 million, are now on target to surpass $150 million revenue, she says.
Still, as the pandemic has raged on, it's easy to wonder what the young company might have grown into given the amount of time that people and their children are spending at home and in front of their screens. Late last week, we put the question to Putnam, who continues to manage a team of 125 people. Our chat, lightly edited, follows. (You can also listen to the full conversation here.)
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Massive Fundings
Apollomics, a 4.5-year-old, Foster City, Ca.- and Hangzhou, China-based biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology and incubated by OrbiMed Asia, has raised $124.2 million in Series C funding. Ping An Capital led the round. More here.
Congenica, an eight-year-old, Cambridge, U.K.-based company whose tech performs rapid analyses of complex genomic data, has raised $50 million in Series C funding. Tencent and Legal & General co-led the round, joined by Xeraya, Puhua Capital and IDO Investments. AI Thority has more here.
Decibel Therapeutics, a seven-year-old, Boston-based biotech developing a hearing loss gene therapy, has raised $82 million in Series D funding. OrbiMed led the round, joined by BlackRock, Casdin Capital, Janus Henderson, Samsara BioCapital, and Surveyor Capital, alonbg with earlier backers. Fierce Biotech has more here.
Eko, a seven-year-old, Oakland, Ca.-based maker of advanced stethoscopes, has raised $65 million in Series C funding. Highland Capital Partners and Questa Capital led the round, joined by Artis Ventures, DigiTx Partners, NTTVC, and 3M Ventures. The WSJ has more here.
Nuro, a four-year-old, Bay Area-based robotics company that's focused on autonomous delivery and was founded by two former Google engineers, has raised $500 million in Series C funding at a post-money valuation of $5 billion. Funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates led the round, joined by Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baillie Gifford and earlier backers SoftBank Vision Fund and Greylock. TechCrunch has more here.
Scale AI, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that helps companies like Lyft, Toyota and DoorDash train AI systems to recognize objects and analyze written documents, could soar past a $3 billion valuation with a new financing, according to The Information. Its sources say the company received an offer of investment from Tiger Global Management that would assign it a $3.2 billion pre-money valuation -- which is triple its previous valuation. More here.
VIPThink, a 4.5-year-year-old, Guangzhou, China-based online preschool STEM learning program that was previously known as Happy Seeds, has raised $180 million in Series C funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. DealStreetAsia has more here.
Xpressbees, a five-year-old, Pune, India-based logistics firm that works with several e-commerce firms in the country, says it has raised $110 million in Series E funding led by Investcorp, Norwest Venture Partners and Gaja Capital. The company has now raised $175.8 million to date. TechCrunch has more here.
Yuntongxun, a seven-year-old, Beijing, China-based startup that specializes in developing smart cloud communication products and services for enterprises, has raised $120 million in Series F funding led by the state-owned Capital Venture Investment Fund. Other investors in the round include Neworiental Corp, Mirae Asset Financial Group, Parantoud Capital and CloudAlpha. DealStreetAsia has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Cellwize Wireless Technologies, a seven-year-old, Southlake, Tex.-based company focused on mobile network automation and orchestration, has raised $32 million in Series B funding. Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures led the round, joined by Verizon Ventures, Samsung Next and earlier investors. Crunchbase News has more here.
Coherent, a two-year-old, Hong Kong-based startup that helps insurance providers go digital, has raised $14 million in Series A funding led by Cathay Innovation, with participation from Franklin Templeton. TechCrunch has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Great Jones, a two-year-old, New York-based maker of cookware that launched with early funding from General Catalyst, has raised $1.75 million in funding from numerous individual investors to expand into bakeware, including NEA partner Liza Landsman. TechCrunch has more here.
LingoAce, a three-year-old, Singapore-based language learning edtech startup, says it has raised $6 million in extended Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital India, with participation from Shunwei Capital. Tech in Asia has more here.
Nektar.ai, a months-old, Singapore-based productivity platform for sales teams, has raised $2.15 million in seed funding led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from Insignia Venture Partners, Arka Venture Labs, Better Capital and Vietnam Investments Group. TechCrunch has more here.
Zikooin, a three-year-old, Seoul-based start-up whose technology turns grains, oats and nuts into Unlimeat, an alternative to the popular Korean-style beef, has raised $4 million in first-round funding, mostly from U.S. venture capital firms, says the Financial Times. More here.
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Going Public
CBRE Acquisition Holdings, a SPAC sponsored by commercial real estate giant CBRE, has registered plans to raise $400 million for a IPO. Renaissance Capital has more here.
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Exits
Adobe said it will acquire 19-year-old Workfront for $1.5 billion to add a collaboration tool to its marketing software. Workfront, based in Lehi, Ut., says it has 3,000 corporate customers and one million users. According to Crunchbase, Workfront has raised $375 million over the years, including from OpenView and Greenspring Associates. TechCrunch has more here.
Boston Dynamics could be set to change hands once again. According to a new report from Bloomberg, the Korean automaker Hyundai is in talks to acquire the company, which has also been sold previously to Google and current owner SoftBank Group. More here.
The business outlet Quartz is going private, with co-founder and CEO Zach Seward buying the business news site from its current owner Uzabase, which is a Japanese financial data and media company. In his post announcing the deal, Seward described the move as a management buyout that will also see Editor-in-Chief Katherine Bell and the rest of the Quartz staff taking equity in the new company. More here.
Back before just about every major TV network built a streaming app of their own, watching live TV on your smartphone was tricky and a relatively simple option was the Slingbox. Now that that's no longer the case, the company behind the Slingbox is discontinuing all its products and will be shutting down completely two years from today, it just announced. TechCrunch has more here.
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People
Michael Abramson has stepped down as a partner with Sequoia Capital, where he co-led U.S. growth equity investing, Fortune reported last week. Axios says the firm is expected to promote an investor from within to co-lead that group with Pat Grady. No word (publicly) yet on where Abramson is headed or why he left.
Michelle Bailhe has meanwhile joined Sequoia Capital as an investor. Bailhe, who graduated from Brown five years ago, was a business analyst at McKinsey, then spent a year at Google before working most recently as a private equity associate at Hellman & Friedman.
Volodymyr Kvashuk, a 26-year-old former Microsoft engineer, was sentenced to nine years in prison for 18 federal felonies after he stole more than $10 million worth of digital currency from the company and used the funds to finance purchases including a $1.6 million lakefront home and a $160,000 Tesla. GeekWire has more here.
Former Alphabet chair Eric Schmidt is reportedly finalizing a plan to become a citizen of the island of Cyprus, becoming one of the highest-profile Americans to take advantage of one of the world’s most controversial 'passport-for-sale' programs. Recode has the story here.
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Data
SoftBank Group, the world’s largest technology investor, says it's ready to "go on the attack again," in the words of founder and CEO Masayoshi Son. The conglomerate logged a profit of more than $6 billion in the July-September quarter, driven by rising share prices and valuations for some of its portfolio companies. The WSJ has more here.
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Retail Therapy
Four Seasons Total Landscaping T-shirt.
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