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December 2, 2020
Wednesday!
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Top News
More than 100,000 virus patients are currently hospitalized in the U.S., a first. "Any thinking person has to be worried." (We are worried.)
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(Thank you, New Yorker. From the archives.)
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Benchmark's Supergreat Bet
With four general partners currently and no junior investors by design, the early-stage venture firm Benchmark doesn't make many new investments each year, so it's notable when a check does go out.
Certainly, we noticed when earlier today, we saw news in our inbox about Supergreat, a two-year-old, New York-based site for beauty enthusiasts. Though we weren't able to connect today with its founders -- a pair who met while working at mental health site Huddle -- the company just announced $6.5 million in Series A funding led by Benchmark, whose general partner, Sarah Tavel, is joining the board.
Other investors in the round include Schuster Tanger, whose family opened a now publicly traded chain of outlet malls 40 years ago; Andrew Marks, who is the son of Oaktree Capital Management cofounder Howard Marks; Michael Kives, a former CAA agent who more recently founded an advisory and investment firm called K5 Global; Shrug Capital; earlier investor Thrive Capital; and numerous individual investors, including Rent-the-Runway cofounder Jenny Fleiss.
The round brings Supergreat's total funding to date to $9 million.
What the startup is seemingly building is a growing community of visitors who become reviewers, who then become shoppers. Those who post reviews are paid in "supercoins" that they use to purchase other goods, which motivates them to post more reviews. It's a "virtuous cycle of engagement," as Tavel has called it.
So far, says the company, Supergreat's "community of creators" has made more than 180,000 videos about more than 30,000 products, and the number of minutes of video watched on the platform has more than tripled during the past six months as bored shoppers stuck at home spend more time online.
Visitors can also subscribe to certain reviewers -- enabling these individuals to cultivate their own audiences -- and they can interact with each other by asking questions and joining discussions, sometimes with an eye on earning a reward from a beloved brand.
This spring, Supergreat also began paying makeup artists, hair stylists ad manicurists to create a tutorial series of videos that visitors to the site can watch and review for more of the platform's currency.
We're interested in learning more, including how Supergreat ensures that the platform -- which touts its authenticity -- isn't manipulated like so many other shopping platforms. While the team wasn't available to answer our questions this afternoon, when we do catch up with them, we'll let you know what we learn in case you're also curious. (Look for this over at TechCrunch.)
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Massive Fundings
Amount, a 1.5-year-old, Chicago-based SaaS business that helps financial institutions transform their business to digital, has raised $81 million in Series C funding led by Goldman Sachs Growth. (The company had closed a $58 million Series B round in March, too.) Earlier backers August Capital, Invus Opportunities and Hanaco Ventures also participated in the new funding. FinLedger has more here.
Bizzabo, a nine-year-old, New York-based event software company, has raised $138 million in Series E funding led by Insight Partners, with participation from Viola Growth, Next47, and OurCrowd. VentureBeat has more here.
Flock Freight, a 5.5-year-old, Solana Beach, Fl.-based logistics company focused on shared truckload shipping, has raised $113.5 million in funding led by SoftBank. Other participants in the round include new strategic partner Volvo Group Venture Capital and earlier backers SignalFire, GLP Capital Partners, and GV. TechCrunch has more here.
Function of Beauty, a 5.5-year-old, New York-based maker of customizable hair and skin care products, has raised $150 million in funding led by L Catterton, with participation from earlier backers GGV Capital and CircleUp. Women's Wear Daily has more here.
ShipMonk, a 6.5-year-old, Fort Lauderdale, Fl.-and Boston-based company that sells e-commerce fulfillment and related tech services and software and has 1,000 employees, has sold a minority stake in its business to Summit Partners in exchange for $290 million in growth funding. More here.
Step, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based mobile banking service aimed at teens (including to help them build positive credit, it says), has raised $50 million in Series B funding. Coatue led the round, joined by earlier backers Stripe, Crosslink Capital, Collaborative Fund and Will Smith’s Dreamers VC. The startup also added some celeb investors to this round, including TikTok star Charli D’Amelio, singer-actor Justin Timberlake and the DJ duo The Chainsmokers. TechCrunch has more here.
TuSimple, a 5.5-year-old, San Diego, Ca.-based self-driving truck startup, has raised $350 million funding round from a diverse consortium of strategic investors that include major U.S. corporations in rail, retail and freight, according to TechCrunch. The deal lead is VectoIQ, the consulting and investment company founded by Steve Girsky, a former GM vice chairman, consultant and investor whose special purpose acquisition company merged with hydrogen electric startup Nikola Corp. this summer. TuSimple has now raised $648 million altogether from investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Voi, a two-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-headquartered micro mobility company known for its e-scooter rentals, has raised $160 million in new funding. The round, about two thirds equity and one third debt, was led by The Raine Group. Other participants include VNV Global, Balderton Capital, Creandum, Project A, Inbox, and numerous individual investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Hodinkee, the 12-year-old, New York-based go-to destination for watch lovers, just raised $40 million in Series B funding. The round was led by TCG, an affiliate of The Chernin Group, with participation from new and existing investors, including LVMH Luxury Ventures, True Ventures, Tony Fadell’s Future Shape, NFL star Tom Brady, GV and singer John Mayer. As part of the new round, founder and current CEO Benjamin Clymer is becoming the company's executive chairman while Toby Bateman, the former managing director of the fashion emporium Mr. Porter, becomes CEO. The WSJ has more here.
Ridecell, an 11-year-old, San Francisco-based fleet management software maker, has raised $45 million in Series C funding. Fort Ross Ventures led the round, joined by Solasta Ventures and earlier investors Activate Capital, DENSO, LG Technology Ventures, and Initialized Capital. More here.
Smaller Fundings
AgentSync, a two-year-old, Bay Area-based insurtech startup focused on agent compliance management (and cofounded by a former head of sales and operations at Zenefits), has raised $6.7 million in funding from Craft Ventures and Operator Collective, among others. The company had separately raised $4.4 million just a few months ago. TechCrunch has more here.
Antenna, a year-old, New York-based startup that provides analytics about subscription businesses, has raised $4.2 million in seed funding led by Raine Ventures. The Hollywood Reporter has more here.
Floww, a four-year-old, London-based data-driven marketplace designed to allow founders to pitch investors with the whole investment relationship managed online, says it has raised $6.7 million (£5 million) to date in seed funding from angels and family offices. TechCrunch has more here.
Fylamynt, a year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based service that helps businesses automate their cloud workflows, today announced both the official launch of its platform as well as a $6.5 million seed round. The funding round was led by Gradient Ventures, with participation from Mango Capital and Point72 Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Heru, a 1.5-year-old, Mexico City, Mexico-based startup that offers software-based services for gig workers, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding. Mountain Nazca led the round, joined by Magma Partners, Xtraordinary Venture Partners, Flourish Ventures, Y Combinator and a handful of angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.
LambdaTest, a 3.5-year-old, Noida, India-based cloud testing company, has raised $6 million in funding. Sequoia Capital India led the round, joined by Blume Ventures, Entrée Capital and Leo Capital. More here.
Loop Team, a 3.5-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based virtual office for distributed teams, raised $4.8 million in seed funding from ENIAC, Crosslink Capital, Golden Ventures, Redpoint, and Precursor Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Minerva, a year-old, New York-based software startup that captures and shares procedural knowledge, has $4 million in seed funding led by Craft Ventures, with participation from GGV Capital. Business Insider has more here.
Neuroglee, a months-old, Singapore-based health tech startup that's creating a digital therapeutic platform to treat Alzheimer's patients in the early stages of the disease, has raised $2.3 million in pre-seed funding. The capital is from Eisai Co., one of Japan’s largest pharmaceutical companies, and Kuldeep Singh Rajput, the founder and chief executive officer of predictive healthcare startup Biofourmis. TechCrunch has more here.
Okay, a 15-month-old, Bay Area-based startup that builds performance dashboards for engineering managers, has raised $2.2 million in seed funding led by Sequoia Capital. The company also launched an open beta of their service. TechCrunch has more here.
Orbit, a 14-month-old, San Francisco-based community experience platform, has raised $4 million in new seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from earlier investors, including Heavybit and Harrison Metal. TechCrunch has more here.
Segmed, a nearly two-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based startup that uses AI to standardize, label and curate health care data, has raised more than $2 million in a seed funding round led by Blumberg Capital. Crunchbase News has more here.
Soil Connect, a two-year-old, Hauppauge, New York-based startup creating a marketplace for soil and aggregates, has raised $3.25 million in seed funding co-led by TIA Ventures and Heartland Ventures. Crunchbase News has more here.
Space Perspective, a 17-month-old, Tucson, Az.-based space tourism startup focused on developing a pressurized passenger capsule meant to be carried by an ultra-high altitude balloon to the very edge of space (for the view), has raised $7 million in seed funding from Prime Movers Lab and Base Ventures, among other investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Welcome, a 1.5-year-old, New York-based HR software startup that says it helps organizations make and close offers to new candidates, including by providing them a better understanding of their pay and equity compensation, has raised $6 million in seed funding led by FirstMark Capital. Participating investors include Ludlow Ventures, Flatiron Health cofounders Nat Turner and Zach Weinberg, and other individual investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Wellory, a year-old, New York-based marketplace startup that matches users with a licensed nutritionist, registered dietitian or certified health coach depending on their weight or other health goals, has raised $4.2 million in funding. Story Ventures led the round, joined by Harlem Capital, Ground Up Ventures, Tinder co-founders Sean Rad and Justin Mateen, and other individual investors. TechCrunch has more here.
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New Funds
Wisdom, a 1.5-year-old, Los Altos, Hills, Ca.-based venture outfit, has raised $9.25 million in capital commitments for a debut fund that's targeting $20 million, shows a new SEC filing. This one is interesting. The founding partners say they won't take fees or carry, that instead they would "rather take advantage of [our limited partners'] experience, depending on their diverse skill sets to help build and support the portfolio." We asked cofounder Garry Griffiths via email how the outfit makes money. His answer: "Same as any other fund, when we have distributions (acquisition, IPOs, dividends, etc).The GPs and LPs share on equal footing based on pro rata." In the meantime, the outfit is carrying the costs associated with managing the fund and deducting that from the GP profit. More here.
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Going Public
JD Health, the online pharmacy and healthcare app backed by Chinese online retailer JD.com, raised nearly $4 billion in a Hong Kong IPO. It was Hong Kong’s biggest initial public offering this year, according to a term sheet cited by CNBC. More here.
Michael Moe, CEO of ThinkEquity Partners, filed confidential IPO docs for an education-focused SPAC that will seek to raise between $200 million to $250 million, says Bloomberg.
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Exits
FedEx has agreed to acquire ShopRunner, an e-commerce service that provides shipping for more than 100 brands, reports Bloomberg, which says as ShopRunner will operate as a subsidiary of FedEx Services once the deal is complete. FedEx didn’t provide financial terms of the transaction, which is expected to close by yearend. According to Crunchbase, 10-year-old ShopRunner had raised $115 million from investors, including August Capital, American Express Ventures, and Alibaba Group. More here.
Roblox, the gaming company that’s expected to go public by the end of this year, has acquired the IP assets of Imbellus, a five-year-old, Los Angeles-based cognitive assessment startup that had raised $21 million from investors, including Owl Ventures, Upfront Ventures, and Thrive Capital. Roblox says it will use the technology to sharpen its recruiting practices. Reuters has more here.
Indian conglomerate Tata Group is in advanced talks to buy an 80% stake in BigBasket, an Indian online grocery startup in a deal that would value the company at $1.6 billion, says Bloomberg. BigBasket is backed by backed by Alibaba. More here.
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People
Michael Burry, whose bet against the housing market was made famous by "The Big Short," revealed in a late tweet yesterday that he is short Tesla. The hedge fund manager advised CEO Elon Musk to issue more shares while they sit at their "ridiculous" levels.
Chrissy Farr, a reporter whose coverage of health tech at CNBC has become widely read, is leaving journalism to join OMERS as a principal in the Bay Area. More here.
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Essential Reads
A group of U.S. states led by New York is investigating Facebook for possible antitrust violations and plans to file a lawsuit against the company next week, reports Reuters. More here.
Nasdaq has asked the SEC for permission to adopt a new requirement for the 3,249 companies listed on its main U.S. stock exchange: have at least one woman and one diverse director and report data on board diversity or face consequences.
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Retail Therapy
A camp chair by Rolls Royce. (Seriously, what is even happening.)
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