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December 3, 2020
Thursday! Hi.:)
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Ben Ling Adds to His Bling
Ben Ling is as done with 2020 as the rest of us, but certainly for him, the year could have been worse. Ling, who founded his own venture outfit in 2018 — naming it Bling Capital (a nickname from way back) — just closed on $113 million in capital commitments across two new funds: a seed-focused $77 million fund, and an opportunity fund focused on breakout companies from his portfolio that closed with $36 million in capital commitments.
It’s a decent amount of money for a so-called solo GP fund, especially coming as it does just two years after Bling closed on two very similar-size funds: a $61 seed-stage fund and a $35 opportunities-type fund. Yet Ling says it could have been twice as much committed capital, given demand. “I had to basically kick people out,” he says of those willing to write him a check.
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Massive Fundings
Everlywell, a 5.5-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based in-home health testing platform that helps their customers understand the diagnostics, has raised $175 million in Series D funding from BlackRock, TCG, Foresite Capital, Greenspring Associates, Morningside Ventures, Portfolio and earlier investor Highland Capital Partners. The company, which raised a round earlier this year, has now raised $250 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Monzo, the 5.5-year-old, London-based challenger bank, has raised £60 million ($81 million) from Novator, Kaiser, TED Global, and Goodwater Capital. The round is effectively an extension of an extension round the company closed in June. TechCrunch has more here.
Sourcegraph, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based company with a tool for fixing code, has raised $50 million in Series C funding led by Sequoia Capital. VentureBeat has more here.
Virta Health, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that helps individuals improve metabolic health and manage diseases like diabetes without medication, has raised $65 million in Series D funding at a post-money valuation of more than $1.1 billion. Sequoia Global Equities led the round, joined by Caffeinated Capital. The company has now raised $230 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Anybotics, a four-year-old, Zurich, Switzerland-based maker of four-legged autonomous robots intended for a variety of industrial uses, has raised a $20 million Swiss Franc ($22.3 million) in Series A funding led by Swisscom Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
MEL Science, a six-year-old, London-based science educational platform, has raised $14 million in Series B funding from Mubadala and Channel 4 Ventures. Tech.eu has more here.
Nuburu, a 5.5-year-old, Centennial, Co.-based maker of high-performance blue lasers for laser metal machining, has raised $20 million in Series B funding co-led by co-led by Anzu Partners, an industrial technology investment firm, and by Thomas Wilson, chair, president and CEO of The Allstate Corporation. The company has now raised $50 million altogether. More here.
Pigment, a 1.5-year-old, Paris, France-based business forecasting platform, has raised $25.9 million in funding led by Blossom Capital, with added participation from FirstMark Capital. VentureBeat has more here.
Shop-Ware, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based maker of management software for independent auto repair shops, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
Stord, a five-year-old, Atlanta, Ga.-based logistics software startup that allows companies to manage and monitor their shipments and inventory domestically, has raised $31 million in Series B funding led by Founders Fund. Earlier backers Kleiner Perkins, Susa Ventures and Dynamo also joined the round, which brings the company's total funding to $46 million. Atlanta Inno has more here.
Sundae, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based residential real estate marketplace focused on sellers of distressed property, has raised $36 million in Series B funding. QED Investors led the round, joined by Founders Fund, Susa Ventures, Navitas Capital, and Prudence Holdings. More here.
Ultimate.ai, a 3.5-year-old, Berlin, Germany-based customer service automation platform, has raised $20 million in Series A funding. Omers Ventures led, joined by Felicis Ventures, HV Capital and Makio.vc. TechCrunch has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Esports One, a 3.3-year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based “all-in-one fantasy platform” in the esports world, allowing users to research players, create fantasy teams and watch games, has raised $4 million in funding led by XSeed Capital, Eniac Ventures, and Chestnut Street Ventures. The round brings the company's total funding to $7.3 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Henry, a year-old, Buenos Aires, Argentina-based startup behind an online computer science school for would-be developers from low-income backgrounds, has raised $1.5 million in funding led by Accion Venture Lab, Emles Venture Partners and Noveus VC. TechCrunch has more here.
Hydra Studios, a 1.5-year-old, New York-based operator of individual "wellness" spaces in the city that can rented for relaxation or whatever else and that are outfitted with HEPA air filters, has raised $3.8 million in seed funding. Investors in the round include Company Ventures, Slow Ventures, CityRock Ventures, Courtside Ventures, Fifth Wall, Hatzimemos/Libby, and Outbound Ventures. AlleyWatch has more here.
Jitsu, a 16-month-old, Berkeley, Ca.-based enterprise predictive modeling platform, has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Costanoa Ventures, with added participation from Y Combinator. TechCrunch has more here.
Karakuri, a two-year-old, London-based food robotics startup that can already assemble breakfast bowls for diners, has raised £6.3 million. Firstminute Capital led the round, joined by Hoxton Ventures, Taylor Brothers, Ocado Group and Future Fund. TechCrunch has more here.
Kayentis, a 16-year-old, France based company that makes digital data capture systems for clinical trials, has raised €7 million in growth capital. Previous backers Extens and LBO France led the round, joined by new investor Bpifrance. Tech.eu has more here.
LemonBox, a 2.5-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based startup that's selling American health supplements to Chinese millennials, has raised $2.5 million in pre-seed funding led by Panda Capital, with participation from Y Combinator. TechCrunch has more here.
MedArrive, a four-month-old, Bay Area-based startup that works with EMTs and paramedics to provide in-home, non-emergency care has raised $4.5 million in seed funding from Define Ventures and Kleiner Perkins (where Define founder Lynne Chou O'Keefe was formerly a partner). Business Insider has more here.
Planned, a 3.5-year-old, Montreal, Quebec-based company that makes event planning software, has raised $4.7 million in venture funding, including from Inovia Capital, Telegraph Hill Capital, and N49P. More here.
Zephr, a nearly three-year-old, London-based startup that say it helps publishers to create personalized, and frictionless subscription experiences, has raised $8 million in funding led by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, with an undisclosed amount of debt funding from from Silicon Valley Bank. More here.
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New Funds
OTV (formerly known as Olive Tree Ventures), a 5.5-year-old Israeli venture capital firm that focuses on digital health tech, announced it has closed a new fund totaling $170 million. The firm also launched a new office in Shanghai, China to spearhead its growth in the Asia Pacific region. OTV has already written checks to 11 companies from the new vehicle, including the telehealth platforms TytoCare and Lemonaid Health. TechCrunch has more here.
Plexo Capital, a 3.5-year-old, L.A.-based early-stage venture firm that also has stakes in more than a dozen venture firms spearheaded by underrepresented founders, is raising $100 million for it second fund, shows a new SEC filing. Plexo was founded by Lo Toney, a former investment partner with GV. We talked with him this summer. More here.
Scale Venture Partners, the 20-year-old, Foster City, Ca.-based enterprise-focused venture firm that originally spun out of Bank of America and later evolved into a fully independent outfit, has raised $600 million for its seventh fund. Scale’s previous fund had closed with $400 million in July 2018. The new fund is being managed by partners Stacey Bishop, Rory O'Driscoll, Andy Vitus, Ariel Tseitlin, and Alex Niehenke, with the help of four other investors. More here.
Target Global, a 5.5-year-old, Berlin, Germany-based pan-European investment firm, has reportedly secured more than €300 million for a first close of its newest fund, a vehicle that's targeting €400 million. Target is focused right now on marketplace, software-as-a-service and fintech businesses. AltAssets has more here.
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Exits
Affirm, the lending company that publicly filed its S-1 last month, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire PayBright, one of Canada’s leading buy-now-pay-later providers. Under the terms of the agreement, Affirm will acquire PayBright for a total cash and equity consideration of approximately CDN $340 million, almost six times what PayBright has raised from private investors over the years. Private Capital Journal has more here.
Just weeks after agreeing to be acquired by Mars, the snack maker Kind is buying the food company, Nature’s Bakery, for what the New York Times says is around $400 million. Kind’s strategy is reportedly to turn itself into a “health and wellness platform,” amassing a range of products it makes or acquires. Nature’s Bakery -- which was founded in 2011 and sold a minority stake to private equity firm VMG Partners in 2016 -- sells plant-based, nut-free and dairy-free products through retailers like Costco and Target. More here.
Google says it's buying Actifio, a Waltham, Ma.-based data management company that helps companies with data continuity to be better prepared in the event of a security breach or other need for disaster recovery. Actifio had raised $460 million in funding, most recently at a $1.3 billion valuation, including from Andreessen Horowitz, North Bridge Venture Partners, and 83North, among others. TechCrunch has more here.
Flutter Entertainment, the company formerly known as Paddy Power, now owns nearly all of the online sports betting and fantasy sports site FanDuel, acquiring a stake it didn't already own for $4.2 billion, in a deal that values FanDuel at an estimated enterprise value of $11.2 billion, says Bloomberg. The legalization of sports betting in the U.S. in 2018 has reportedly spurred more aggressive dealmaking, particularly as competition between FanDuel and rivals DraftKings, BetMGM and Barstool Sports intensifies.
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People
Health insurance startup Oscar Health, reportedly gearing up for an IPO next year, is bringing aboard R. Scott Blackley as its CFO. It's a "get." Blackley has been the CFO of Capital One since 2016.
David Blumberg, founder and managing partner of early-stage venture firm Blumberg Capital, has left the Bay Area for Miami. “We recognize the amazing and unique natural gifts that God and geology bestowed on California, but enough is enough," he says.
A nearly 12-acre estate in Montecito, Ca., that was owned by the late venture capitalist Frank Caufield just sold for $32.25 million after two months on the market, says the WSJ. The property, which includes a roughly 18,500-square-foot, nine-bedroom Italian Renaissance-inspired villa dating to the 1920s, came on the market in October for $39.75 million.
Microsoft cofounder turned billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates today released a broad new plan on how the U.S. could take the lead in the fight against climate change.
Google's star AI ethics researcher, Timnit Gebru, says she was fired for a critical email.
Benchmark investor Mitch Lasky has shelled out $40 million to buy up two homes that span more than 1.6 across of oceanfront in Broad Beach, Malibu.
It happened: Luminar, which creates lidar technology critical to many automakers’ autonomous driving efforts, went public today through a special purpose acquisition company in a deal that makes Luminar co-founder and CEO Austin Russell a billionaire at the age of 25. CNBC interviewed Russell -- who has said he memorized the periodic table as a toddler -- here.
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Essential Reads
Stripe, which processes payments for millions of online businesses and e-commerce platform, has announced an ambitious new product called Stripe Treasury. The company is partnering with banks to offer a banking-as-a-service API, meaning Stripe's clients will be able to provide bank accounts and other products to their customers. The service is invite-only for now, notes TechCrunch.
Warner Bros. will release all of its new 2021 movies simultaneously on HBO Max. The movies will only stream on HBO Max for one month before leaving the platform; they will also play in theaters simultaneously. The Verge has more here.
SoftBank Group is quietly winding down its controversial derivatives strategy after a sustained backlash from investors, says the Financial Times. More here.
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Detours
Definitely real books to gift this holiday season.
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