Extra Crunch Friday: In public and private markets, cloud earnings and valuations heat up

Welcome to Extra Crunch Friday

One of the more interesting aspects of Alex Wilhelm’s daily column is the way he uses metrics from public companies to gain insight into private investment activity — and vice versa.

Today, he pulled data from the Bessemer Cloud Index and a chart from Redpoint VP Jamin Ball to study year-to-year growth numbers. Why are investors flowing cash to cloud and SaaS startups with such enthusiasm this quarter?

Although “public cloud results are dragging software startups forward in terms of venture interest,” he concludes, “things are hot everywhere in software-land, and a boiling pot cooks all vegetables.”

Yesterday, he used Next Insurance’s purchase of Juniper Labs as a lens for studying the insurtech sector, which has seen valuations and revenue soar in 2020.

Insurtech “is on track for a record year of venture rounds and venture dollars,” wrote Alex, but given some of industry-specific economics, “there are some concerns,” such as “accounting shakeups” that could shrink revenues.

He also covered Noyo, an insurtech startup that uses APIs to connect HR and benefits platforms, Getsafe, a German startup that raised a $30 million Series B, and Houston-based NOW Insurance, which just closed another seed round.

“Expect to keep hearing about insurtech for quarters and quarters to come,” says Alex.

Thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch this week!

Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist

Read more

Dear Sophie: Can founders get visas in 2021 through DACA or other means?

Dear Sophie:

Does the United States have a startup visa? If not, what are the best visas for startup founders?

If my friend is a Dreamer in the U.S. who is undocumented but wants to found a startup, is it possible?

— Cheerful in Chile

Read more

Extra Crunch Partner Perk: Find peace of mind with 'Spotify for Mindfulness & Sleep' app Aura

Sponsored by TechCrunch

Annual and two-year Extra Crunch members who are new to Aura can receive a 30-day free trial, plus 30% off an annual plan.

Read more

Airbnb’s first-day pop caps off a stellar week for tech IPOs

Airbnb’s debut as a public company yesterday went rather well; this morning, it has a market cap north of $100 billion.

Given how well DoorDash and C3.ai performed in their IPOs a few days before, the Airbnb numbers aren’t out of left field, says Alex Wilhelm.

But, “taken as a trio, the companies’ amped public debut are stoking concerns of mispriced IPOs.”

Read more

As several marketplace unicorns prepare IPOs, a VC digs into the data

Because there’s so much private capital available, startups don’t need to reach profitability before they enter the public market.

An unprofitable growth-stage startup with access to VC can (and should) keep raising rounds to expand its business and acquire market share.

“Growth trumps all,” says Menlo Ventures partner Venky Ganesan.

In a guest post for Extra Crunch, he explains where VCs are directing their dollars and why “going public is just one step in the journey.”

Read more

Coinbase’s backstory and future with 'Kings of Crypto' author Jeff John Roberts

In “Kings of Crypto,” author Jeff John Roberts covers Coinbase’s origin as an easy on-ramp to Bitcoin and its journey to becoming a leading consumer blockchain company.

With Coinbase rumored to go public, Managing Editor Danny Crichton sat down with Roberts to learn more about the company’s journey and the industry at large.

“I think it’s still true, but crypto can’t decide if it wants to be a subculture or sort of a mainstream technology and a lot of the early writings on it celebrated the quirky angles,” said Roberts.

“So I tried to tell it as more of a general interest, ‘Hatching Twitter’-style business story, and fortunately there’s a lot of gossip and things in there to recount.”

Read more

Decrypted: Google finds a devastating iPhone security flaw, FireEye hack sends alarm bells ringing

In his latest column, reporter Zack Whittaker looked into two major breaches, including the intrusion into cybersecurity giant FireEye which left the industry “in shock.”

• Google researcher finds a major iPhone security bug, now fixed
• FireEye hacked by a nation-state, but the aftermath is unclear
• U.S. used Patriot Act to collect logs of website visitors
• Congress establishes White House national cybersecurity director role

Read more