|
November 11, 2020
Wednesday!
|
|
Top News
The U.K. is increasingly confused over Donald Trump's response to the election. Meanwhile, world leaders from Germany to India congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and said they are preparing to work with the new U.S. administration.
|
|
Former Dropbox CFO Ajay Vashee Is Joining the Silicon Valley Firm IVP in January
Ajay Vashee — who spent the last eight years at Dropbox, rising from the head of finance to CFO over his tenure and helping to take the company public in 2018 — is joining the Silicon Valley venture firm IVP in January.
It’s the realization of plans established long ago by Vashee, who fell in love with venture early on and has always known he wanted to return to it, though he wasn’t sure when or where that night happen. Indeed, he says that when he announced he was leaving Dropbox in early August to join the world of venture capital, he didn’t know where he would land. He instead “wanted my intentions out there.”
It was an effective tactic, from the sounds of things.
|
|
Massive Fundings
Adagio Therapeutics, a months-old, Waltham, Ma.-based developer of antibodies for coronaviruses that was spun out of another venture-backed company called Adimab, has already raised $80 million in Series B funding, just five months after raising an initial $50 million. GV led the round, joined by Polaris Partners, Mithril Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, OrbiMed, Population Health Partners, and Omega Funds. More here.
Ambrx, a 17-year-old, San Diego, Ca.-based biopharma company focused on developing precision biologics using an expanded genetic code, has raised $200 million from Fidelity, BlackRock, Cormorant Asset Management, HBM Healthcare Investments, Invus, Adage Capital Partners, and Suvretta Capital Management. More here.
Heroes, a five-month-old, London-based company that's setting out to buy third-party private label businesses on Amazon and scale them up, has raised $65 million in equity and debt funding (it isn't breaking out the ratios) from Fuel Ventures, 360 Capital Partners, and Upper90, an alternative capital provider for e-commerce assets. Tech.eu has more here.
Inipharm, a two-year-old, Seattle- and San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing therapies for severe liver diseases, has raised $35 million in Series A funding led by 5AM Ventures and Wu Capital, with participation from earlier backers Frazier Healthcare Partners and Jubilant Biosys. More here.
SentinelOne, a seven-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based AI-based endpoint security firm, has raised $267 million in new funding at a post-money valuation of $3.1 billion. The new round -- which brings the company's total funding to $430 million -- came from Sequoia Capital, along with earlier backers Tiger Global Management, Insight Partners, Third Point Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Tier, a 2.5-year-old, Berlin-based e-scooter startup, has raised $250 million in Series C funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Earlier investors Mubadala Capital, Northzone, Goodwater Capital, White Star Capital, Novator and RTP Global are also participating in the round, which reporting values the company at just less than $1 billion. TechCrunch has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Bond Vet, a three-year-old, New York-based startup looking to build a chain of walk-in and urgent-care veterinary clinics, has raised $17 million in Series A funding. Talisman Capital Partners, which also led a $6 million round in the company last year, was the deal lead. More here.
Buoy Health, a 6.5-year-old, Boston, Ma.-based symptom checker using A.I., has raised $37.5 million in Series C funding. Cigna Ventures and Humana led the round, joined by Optum Ventures, WR Hambrecht + Co, and Trustbridge Partners. More here.
Envoy, a four-year-old, L.A.-based company that provides electric vehicle car-sharing as an amenity within communities, has raised $11 million in new Series A funding co-led by Shell Ventures and Building Ventures. Other investors in the round include DENSO, Goodyear Ventures, GroundBreak Ventures, and the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator Impact Fund. More here.
Fishtown Analytics, the 4.5-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based company behind the dbt open-source data engineering tool, just raised $29.5 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from earlier investors Andreessen Horowitz and Amplify Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Fnatic, a 16-year-old, London-based esports organization, has raised $10 million in funding from earlier backer Beringea, along with Unbound, LVL1 Group, and JHD. More here.
Mozart Data, an 11-month-old, Bay Area-based whose tech collects and organizes the data spread across a company's SaaS tools, making it accessible in whatever data-visualization tool is being used, has raised $4 million in seed funding. Craft Ventures and Array Ventures co-led the round, joined by Coelius Capital, Jigsaw VC, Signia VC, Taurus VC and various angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Spora Health, a six-month-old, San Francisco-based primary care provider that's focused on people of color and is operating a telemedicine-only basis for now, has raised $1.2 million in seed funding. Founder Dan Miller began working on the idea while an entrepreneur-in-residence with Human Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Spruce, a 4.5-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based startup that partners with multifamily companies to provide concierge-like services, such as cleaning, dog walking, and even COVID-19 sanitation, has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Mercury Fund. InnovationMap has more here.
|
|
New Funds
Bentley Systems, a publicly traded, Exton, Pa.-based infrastructure engineering software company, says it has established a $100 million corporate venture capital fund. Bentley iTwin Ventures will invest in tech companies addressing the emerging opportunity for infrastructure digital twin solutions for roadways, railways, waterways, bridges, utilities, industrial facilities, and other infrastructure assets. The company is working with Touchdown Ventures with help with the fund's operations. Touchdown most recently helped Scott's Miracle-Gro, the lawn care and furniture giant, jump into the world of venture funding.
Peregrine Ventures, a 20-year-old Israeli venture firm, has a new growth fund for life science start-up companies that has already amassed $101 million in capital commitments and is aiming to close with $300 million altogether. The Jerusalem Post has more here.
Seedcamp, the European pre-seed and seed-stage venture firm, has closed its fifth fund with £78 million in capital commitments, including from British Patient Capital, Legal & General, TIFF, LGT, Vintage IP, Isomer Capital, and OMERS, along with a spate of venture firms. Among them is Index, Sequoia, Underscore VC, Northzone, Atomico, and Draper Esprit. The outfit had closed its predecessor fund with £60 in 2017. TechCrunch has more here.
|
|
Going Public
Funds that touted access to Ant Group's blockbuster share sale will let investors cash out early, following a social-media outcry after the financial-technology giant’s listing was abruptly halted by Chinese regulators.
Northern Star Acquisition, a blank check company formed by Joanna Coles and SPAC veteran Jonathan Ledecky targeting consumer-focused businesses, raised $250 million by offering 25 million units at $10. The duo was originally hoping to raise $300 million. Renaissance Capital has more here.
|
|
Exits
Snap is acquiring a 3.5-year-old, Herzliya, Israel-based startup called Voca.ai that builds AI-based voice assistants for customer support services for roughly $70 million in cash and stock, according to TechCrunch. According to Crunchbase, Voca.ai had raised a little more than $6 million in funding from Lool Ventures, Flint Capital, and American Express. More here.
Publicly traded Palo Alto Networks said today that it's buying Expanse, an eight-year-old, San Francisco-based company whose software monitors attack surfaces to perform risk assessments and mitigate threats. The company is paying $670 million in cash and stock, and another $130 million in replacement equity awards, though reportedly these amounts may be adjusted. According to Crunchbase, Expanse had raised $137 million over the years. Its backers include Founders Fund, NEA, IVP, and TPG among others. The deal is Palo Alto Networks' third this year. TechCrunch has more here.
|
|
People
President-elect Joe Biden has named Ron Klain, who served as his chief of staff when he was vice president, to be his White House chief of staff. Klain joins from Steve Case's investment firm, Revolution, where Klain is an executive vice president and the outfit's general counsel.
Kevin Mayer has joined Access Industries as an advisor. Mayer, a longtime Disney exec, was TikTok's CEO for a few months last spring and summer.
With a Biden win, the FCC majority reverts to Democratic control next January, meaning Ajit Pai will lose his top spot at the FCC, and experts say he’s likely to leave the agency altogether.
|
|
Jobs
Obvious Ventures is hiring a senior associate to focus on emerging growth deals. The job is in San Francisco, though remote to start. You can learn more here.
|
|
Sponsored By . . .
Secureframe helps companies get enterprise-ready by streamlining SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliance. Secureframe allows companies to get compliant within weeks, rather than months, and monitors 25+ services, including AWS, GCP, and Azure. Get started now!
|
|
Essential Reads
According to SoftBank managing director Rajeev Misra, SoftBank Vision Fund is moving away from its strategy of cutting larger checks in richly valued consumer internet companies. It will now make smaller, early-stage investments and diversify into sectors such as enterprise, health tech and SaaS -- at least in India. The Economic Times has more here.
The WSJ also has an interesting piece on what's been going on at SoftBank, writing that "Masayoshi Son again pulled SoftBank from the brink. This time he had help."
P.S. We talked with SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure today about SoftBank's Opportunity Fund. More on this soon.
|
|
Detours
It's not just Miley. Mullets become a must-have at English boarding schools.
|
|
Retail Therapy
The PS5 hits physical and virtual shelves tomorrow, people.
|
|
Shareworks by Morgan Stanley. Curious about the state of secondary markets or why some companies are choosing to avoid the traditional IPO? Then join us for our inaugural, two-part Virtual Liquidity series this December and hear from industry thought leaders as they explore the evolution of secondary markets and the different paths to public markets. Visit the Shareworks by Morgan Stanley website to learn more. Shareworks by Morgan Stanley services are provided by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, member SIPC, and its affiliates, all wholly owned subsidiaries of Morgan Stanley. CRC 3315395 11/2020
|
StrictlyVC StrictlyVC, LLC, 1 Blackfield Drive, No. 239, Tiburon, CA 94920 Unsubscribe - Unsubscribe Preferences |
|
|
|
|
|
