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December 8, 2020
Tuesday! (Just barely, but still.)
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Top News
FireEye, a top cybersecurity firm, says it was hacked by a nation-state. It says the hackers — almost certainly Russian — made off with tools that could be used to mount new attacks around the world, reports the New York Times.
DoorDash, the country’s largest food delivery company, was expected to price its shares at $102 each today, raising roughly $3.4 billion in its IPO that values the company at around $39 billion. DoorDash had already raised its price range previously. The company was last valued at $16 billion by private market investors. The New York Times has more here.
A second federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to ban TikTok downloads in the U.S., underscoring the dwindling legal options the Trump administration has to pursue an outright ban of the popular app. The WSJ has more here.
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Newly Funded OfficeTogether Looks to Help Employees Return to Work Safely
Amy Yin doesn't foresee startups resuming a five-day-a-week in-office work schedule, even after COVID-19 has been battled back.
It's probably a safe bet. Many companies have learned this year that employees can be just as productive, working from home. More, employees -- much as they might miss their own desks -- no longer want to sit in a traditional office all the time. According a survey of 2,300 tech employees conducted this past summer, just 7% of respondents said they wanted to head into work every day.
Yin experienced the shift to remote work firsthand as a senior engineer at Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange, which was early to send its employees home as the pandemic took hold in the U.S. Working from home for the first time in her career -- she'd previously been a software engineer with the recruitment platform Hired and, before that, a growth engineer at Facebook -- she found herself working on her own schedule entirely and loving the flexibility.
By August, she says, she decided she could help Coinbase -- and the growing number of other companies to adopt a remote-first organizational strategy -- by starting up OfficeTogether, her now five-month-old, San Francisco-based, software-as-a-service company.
Its proposition is simple. With software that integrates with Slack, Google Calendar, and Okta (and soon to be Workday), OfficeTogether helps employees plan time in the office, see their teammates' schedules, and also to take an automated health and symptom questionnaire that ensures that no one has a fever or has traveled in last 14 days.
Interestingly, the company isn't narrowly focused on the actual office.
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Massive Fundings
Beyond Identity, a months-old, New York-based startup that's developing passwordless identity management software and was founded by early internet pioneers Jim Clark and Tom Jermoluk, has raised $75 million in Series B funding. Investors include NEA, Clark himself, and Koch Disruptive Technologies. VentureBeat has more here.
BioAge Labs, a five-year-old, Richmond, Ca.-based biotech developing medicines for aging-related diseases, has raised $90 million in Series C funding. Andreessen Horowitz and serial entrepreneur Elad Gil led the round, joined by Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, AARP Foundation, Phi-X Capital, Caffeinated Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Pear Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, and Felicis Ventures. The company has now raised $127 million altogether. More here.
Calm, the eight-year-old, San Francisco-based meditation app, has raised $75 million in new funding at a post-money valuation of $2 billion. Earlier investor Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, joined by Insight Partners, TPG and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, among others. TechCrunch has more here.
Gotham Greens, an 11-year-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based operator of tech-enabled leafy-greens-producing greenhouses, has raised $87 million in Series D funding equity and debt funding led by Manna Tree, with participation from The Silverman Group and other earlier investors. More here.
Isar Aerospace, a 3.5-year-old, Munich, Germany-based company at work on a micro-satellite launcher that's significantly smaller and thus less pricey than bigger launchers on the market today, has raised €75 million ($91 million) in Series B funding. Lakestar led the round, joined by previous backers Earlybird and Vsquared Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Orca Security, a 1.5-year-old, L.A-based cloud security firm launched out of Israel, has raised $55 million Series B funding round led by ICONIQ Growth. Previous investors GGV Capital, YL Ventures and Silicon Valley CISO Investments also joined the round, which brings the company’s total funding to date to $82 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Remix Therapeutics, a 1.5-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based biotech startup that's developing small molecule therapies designed to reprogram RNA processing, has raised $81 million across its seed and Series A rounds, it is now disclosing. Foresite Capital led the $65 million Series A; Atlas Venture and The Column Group led its $16 million seed round. FierceBiotech has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Albo, a four-year-old, Mexico City, Mexico-based challenger bank, has raised $45 million in funding from Valar Ventures and earlier backers Greyhound Capital, Mountain Nazca and Flourish Ventures. The company has last year raised $7.4 million in Series A funding. TechCrunch has more here.
Battleface, an eight-year-old, London-based travel insurance agency that offers tailored insurance services, has raised $12 million in Series a funding led by Drive Capital. More here.
Centivo, a 3.5-year-old, Buffalo, N.Y.-based digital health plan provider catering to self-funded employers, has raised $34 million in Series B funding. B Capital Group led the round, joined by a long list of other investors, including Define Ventures, HarbourVest Partners, Nassau Street Ventures, and earlier backers Bain Capital Ventures, F-Prime Capital, and Ingleside Investors (among others). CityBizList has more here.
CodeSignal, a 6.5-year-old, San Francisco-based maker of a technical assessment platform for tech recruiting, just raised $25 million in Series B funding. Menlo Ventures led the round, joined by Capital One Ventures, CM Ventures, Human Capital, TripHammer Ventures, e.ventures, A Capital, Felicis Ventures and Correlation Ventures. Forbes has more here.
Deepcell, a five-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based life science startup using AI-powered cell classification, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Bow Capital, a fund cofounded by TIBCO founder and Sacramento Kings CEO Vivek Ranadivé. Other participants in the round include Andreessen Horowitz, Fifty Years, DCVC, Stanford University, and angel investors including Google’s head of AI Jeff Dean. VentureBeat has more here.
GoHenry, an eight-year-old, U.K.-based company that provides a pre-paid debit card and corresponding app to minors as young as 6 and no older than 18 years old, has raised $40 million in funding. Edison Partners led the round, joined by Gaia Capital Partners, Citi Ventures and Muse Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Modal, a 4.5-year-old, San Francisco-based digital platform for auto brands and dealers looking to provide a more transparent digital commerce experience their customers, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by American Honda. The company has now raised a little more than $20 million altogether. Crunchbase News has more here.
SeeTree, a 3.5-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based A.I. tree intelligence company cofounded by serial entrepreneur and former Google strategic advisor Barak Hachamov, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by the International Finance Corporation. More here.
Salt Security, a four-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based API security company, has raised $30 million in Series B funding. Sequoia Capital led the round, joined by Tenaya Capital, S Capital VC, and Y Combinator. VentureBeat has more here.
Shippit, a six-year-old, Sydney, Australia-based e-commerce logistics platform, has raised $30 million AUD (about $22.2 million USD) in Series B funding led by Tiger Global Management. The company has now raised $41 million AUD altogether ($30 million). TechCrunch has more here.
Unit, a 20-month-old, San Francisco-based startup that lets third parties integrate banking services like payment cards, checking accounts, cash advances and money transfers into their own businesses by way of an API, has raised $18.6 million in funding from investors, including Better Tomorrow Ventures, Aleph, Flourish Ventures, TLV Partners and Operator Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Aglet, a 16-month-old, L.A.-based "spatial commerce experience" that invites users to compete for and collect virtual sneakers in a game environment, has raised $4.5 million in new seed funding that brings its total funding to $7 million. Sapphire Sport led the round, joined by earlier backers Lakestar Ventures and Forecast Ventures. Founder Ryan Mullins was the former head of digital innovation strategy for Adidas. TechCrunch wrote about the company back in May.
Codi, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco, Ca.-based startup that connects people with daytime workspaces in private homes, has raised $7 million in funding. Investors include NFX, Urban Innovation Fund, and ANIMO Ventures. More here.
Luma, a months-old, San Francisco-based startup that wants to make your Zoom event delightful, has raised $3 million in seed funding, co-led by Maven Ventures and Venrock. Crunchbase News has more here.
Neuro-ID, a six-year-old, Whitefish, Mt.-based behavior analytics company seeking to detect fraud, has raised $7 million in Series A funding. Fin VC and TTV Capital led the round, joined by Canapi Ventures. More here.
Reface, a 2.5-year-old, Kiev, Ukraine-based AI powered app that enables people to swap faces in videos and GIFs in just a few seconds, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Other investors in the round including investor-operators Josh Elman and Sriram Krishnan. TechCrunch has more here.
Sanguina, a six-year-old, Atlanta, Ga.-based startup that says its smartphone app can accurately measure hemoglobin levels (a key indicator of anemia) with a “fingernail selfie” photo, has raised $4.2 million in seed funding. The capital comes in the form of both equity and grants, including from The Seed Lab and XRC Labs, as well as The National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. More here.
Skyflow, a two-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based startup that promises customers the ability to store sensitive data in a zero-trust repository, or vault, that is accessible via an API, has raised $17.5 million in Series A funding just seven months after closing a $7.5 million round. Canvas Ventures led the new financing, joined by earlier backer Foundation Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Sunlight, a two-year-old, Cambridge, U.K.-based developer of developer of virtualization technology for data-intensive applications, has raised $6 million in Series A funding. OpenOcean led the round, joined by Robert Bosch Venture Capital, among others. AIThority has more here.
Synctera, a four-month-old, San Francisco-based startup that aims to serve as a matchmaker for community banks and fintechs and was founded by Peter Hazlehurst (former head of Uber Money), has debuted publicly with $12.4 million in seed funding. Backers include Plaid CEO Zach Perret; Affirm CEO Max Levchin; Carta CEO Henry Ward; and LearnVest founder Alexa Von Tobel, among others, FinLedger has more here.
Varda Space, a new, Southern California-based orbital manufacturing startup that says it's aiming to manufacture "super high-value and super sensitive materials" in space, has raised $9 million in seed funding led by Founders Fund and Lux Capital. Other backers in the round include Also Capital, Fifty Years, Raymond Tonsing, Justin Mateen and Naval Ravikant. Axios has more here.
Vincent, a new, New York-based alternative investments discovery platform launched by Indiegogo founder Slava Rubin, has raised $2 million from investors including Uncommon Denominator, ERA Ventures, The Fund and Rubin’s own firm, Humbition. TechCrunch has more here.
Not-Saying-H0w-Much Fundings
ShoppingGives, a 5.5-year-old, Chicago-based startup that pitches retailers on a service that can integrate non-profit donations into their sales and shopping platforms, has raised an undisclosed amount from Serena Williams’ venture capital firm, Serena Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
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New Funds
Ada Ventures, a year-old, U.K. and Europe-focused venture firm that aims to invest in diverse founders who are tackling societal problems, has closed its debut fund with $50 million in capital commitments. Cornerstone LPs include Big Society Capital, an entity owned by the U.K. government, as well as the British Business Bank. TechCrunch has more here.
Range Ventures, a nine-month-old, Denver-based, early-stage, tech-focused venture firm, says it has closed on $23 million in capital commitments for a debut fund that it plans to use to fund local founders. Range has a network of nearly 100 limited partners that have built, run and invested in Denver-area companies, including Guild Education, Ping Identity and Datalogix. Colorado Inno has more here.
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Going Public
SoFi, a nine-year-old, San Francisco-based lending company that has raised $3 billion from investors over the years, has held discussions with blank-check acquisition companies about a deal that would allow it to debut in the stock market, says CNBC. More here.
HumanCo Acquisition, an Austin, Tex.-based blank check company targeting the U.S. health and wellness industry, is filing for an IPO tomorrow with plans to raised $250 million. You can find the S1 for the SPAC -- a collaboration between executives from HumanCo, a holding company, and CAVU Ventures -- here.
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Exits
Thumbtack, a 12-year-old, San Francisco-based marketplace matching local improvement professionals with those needing their services, has acquired four-year-old Setter. Founded in 2016, Setter provides its customers with video home checkups conducted by experts, then offers personalized plans for how to address any issues. Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed, but according to Crunchbase, Setter had raised $12 million from investors, including Sequoia Capital and NFX. (Sequoia is also an investor in Thumbtack.) TechCrunch has more here.
Modern Times Group, a 33-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based, publicly traded digital media company, has acquired the nine-year-old, London-based mobile studio Hutch Games for an expected $375 million, including $275 million up front consideration, and a $100 million earnout. Hutch was backed by Index Ventures, Initial Capital, and Backed VC; according to Crunchbase, it had raised just $5.5 million across a seed and Series A rounds. GamesIndustryBiz has more here.
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People
Elon Musk confirmed publicly today that has moved to Texas, becoming one of the highest-profile executives yet to leave Silicon Valley during the coronavirus pandemic. He said the move had been in the works for months and complained that California has become too complacent and taken its innovators for granted.
Demis Hassabis, the co-founder of AI lab DeepMind, has revealed that he talked about chess instead of his start-up idea when he first met investor Peter Thiel. "Instead of pitching him my business idea, I tried to intrigue him,” Hassabis said in an interview with CNBC.
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Essential Reads
A day after announcing it was shifting out of its self-driving business, Uber has offloaded its air taxi enterprise, Uber Elevate to the air taxi startup Joby Aviation. The transaction is part of a complex deal that includes Uber investing $75 million into Joby and an expanded partnership between the two companies. Elevate represents the last of several moonshots to be sold by the ride-hailing company in the pursuit of profitability. TechCrunch has more here.
Tesla said today it would sell up to $5 billion in new shares, just three months after it raised the same amount. The car maker is cashing in on a meteoric rally in its shares this year, just as it begins to build capital-intensive new factories in Germany and Texas as part of its global expansion. CNBC has more here.
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