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January 7, 2021
Thursday!
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Top News
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote today that Donald Trump will be blocked from using both Facebook and Instagram “for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.” The company blocked his accounts temporarily on Wednesday following Trump’s posting on content that incited his followers to violence; now the ban is extended “indefinitely,” extending at least until Biden takes over as President, due to Trump's “use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.” TechCrunch has more here, as does BuzzFeed reporter Ryan Mac, who listened in on an all-hands meeting organized by Facebook today.
YouTube said today it will temporarily restrict channels that post videos containing widespread misinformation about 2020 election results — including Trump's channel. Instead of simply removing videos that spread misinformation, any channel that post videos with false claims about the election will now receive a strike, preventing the channel from uploading videos for one week. The Verge has more here.
Shopify, TikTok, and Twitch have also taken measures to keep from being used by Trump to incite any further violence between now and Inauguration Day (here, here and here).
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Detroit's Ludlow Ventures Goes for Fund Four
Venture funds have been springing up everywhere in recent years. But a decade ago, it was far more difficult to build a new venture brand far away from a tech hub like Silicon Valley, New York, or Boston.
One firm that has pulled if off is Ludlow Ventures, an 11-year-old, Detroit-based seed-stage venture firm that’s in the process of closing its fourth fund with $65 million in capital commitments, according to SEC paperwork filed this week.
We’ve reached out to firm founder Jonathon Triest, who declined to comment, citing SEC regulations.
Triest began building Ludlow as a twentysomething University of Michigan grad who worked as strategic marketing consultant for Sony-BMG in Atlanta before returning home with his wife to be closer to family. Working initially with his attorney father, he began investing in startups on a deal-by-deal basis, using his base in Detroit to his advantage by showing by investors and founders he could grow and leverage a network.
Triest started to gain traction, too. Early and continuing investors include prominent individuals Dan Gilbert, the billionaire founder of Quicken Loans and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers (Ludlow has long shared an office with Gilbert’s venture firm). Ludlow has also garnered growing institutional support over the years, including from Vintage Investment Partners, Grinnell College, and Foundry Group.
Part of the appeal, seemingly, is the fresh perspective that the team brings to the many places where it is now investing, but Ludlow has also had numerous exits.
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Massive Fundings
Endeavor BioMedicines, a 2.5-year-old, San Diego-based biotech startup that's developing treatments specifically to address pulmonary disease, has raised $62 million in Series A funding led by Omega Funds, Longitude Capital and Endeavor’s management. TechCrunch has more here.
Glia, a nearly nine-year-old, New York-based digital customer service platform for financial services companies and adjacent industries like insurance, has raised $78 million in Series C funding led by earlier backer Insight Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
Graphcore, a 4.5-year-old, Bristol, England-based company whose chips are designed to power artificial intelligence software and which competes with Nvdia and Intel, has raised $222 million in Series E funding led by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board. Fidelity, Schroders and earlier investors Baillie Gifford and Draper Esprit also participated in the round. CNBC has more here.
Kira Pharma, a 3.5-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based developer of complement-targeted therapies, raised $53.5 million in new Series B funding just three months after emerging from stealth mode with $46 million in funding. RA Capital and Vivo Capital co-led the round, joined by Foresite Capital, A Plus Partners and earlier backers Quan Capital and Qiming Venture Partners USA. Endpoints News wrote about the company a few months ago.
Lacework, a 5.5-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based company that provides security for cloud-based systems, helping detect threats to businesses that use Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform or Kubernetes, has raised $525 million in new funding. Sutter Hill Ventures and Altimeter Capital led the round, joined by Coatue Management, D1 Capital Partners, Dragoneer Investment Group, Tiger Global Management and Snowflake Ventures. Lacework had previously raised about $74 million, it says. Bloomberg has more here.
Mambu, a nine-year-old, Berlin, Germany-based SaaS banking platform, has raised €110 million ($135 million) at a €1.7 billion post-money valuation. TCV led the round, joined by Tiger Global Management, Arena Holdings and earlier investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Runa Capital and Acton Capital Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
MadeiraMadeira, an 11-year-old, Brazil-based online marketplace that specializes in home products, has raised $190 million in late-stage funding led by SoftBank’s Latin American investment fund, with participation from the Brazilian public and private investment firm, Dynamo. TechCrunch has more here.
News Break, a six-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based local news app, has raised $115 million in Series C funding led by Francisco Partners, with participation from IDG Capital Partners. The company has now raised $151 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Quantum Metric, a 5.5-year-old, Colorado Springs, Co.-based cloud-based service to build, test and fix digital products, has raised $200 million in Series B funding led by Insight Partners at a valuation north of $1 billion. (That's more than nine times its valuation as of 2018, says its CEO.) TechCrunch has more here.
Resident, a 4.5-year-old, San Francisco-based company behind a number of digitally native brands in the mattress and home goods market (it has a luxury mattress brand, a gel-memory foam mattress brand, etc), has raised $130 million in funding. Ion Crossover Partners and Nexus Capital Management co-led the round, joined by Baron Capital Group. Forbes has more here.
Udaan, a four-year-old, Bangalore, India-based business-to-business marketplace, has raised $280 million in extended Series D funding. Octahedron Capital and Moonstone Capital co-led the round, joined by Lightspeed Venture Partners, partners of DST Global, GGV Capital, Altimeter Capital, and Tencent. TechCrunch has more here.
WeLink, a three-year-old, Lehi, Ut.-based next-generation fixed-wireless broadband provider, has raised $185 million in funding from Digital Alpha, a Nevada-based telecom VC with ties to Cisco. TechCrunch has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Air Protein, a two-year-old, Pleasanton. Ca.-based alternative meat company, has raised $32 million in Series A funding led by ADM Ventures, Barclays and GV. FoodBev Media has more here.
Aspen RxHealth, a 2.5-year-old, Tampa, Fl.-based, app-based platform that connects pharmacists with patients in need of enhanced medication services, has raised $23 million in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Other investors in the round include Takeda Digital Ventures, dRx Capital (which is Novartis's venture fund), and McKesson Ventures, as well as earlier backers Humana and Flare Capital Partners. More here.
Carrum Health, a nearly seven-year-old, San Francisco-based marketplace for planned healthcare procedures, has raised $40 million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from GreatPoint Ventures, Cross Creek and return investors Wildcat Venture Partners and SpringRock Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
CorWave, an eight-year-old, Clichy, France-based maker of an implantable heart pump, has raised €35 million in Series C funding led by the EIC Fund, with participation from Novo Seeds and insiders Bpifrance, Seventure, Sofinnova Partners and Ysios Capital. Mass Device has more here.
Gtmhub, a 5.5-year-old, Denver-based startup whose software helps other companies manage their corporate planning, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Insight Partners, with participation from new investor Singular and earlier investors LAUNCHub and CRV. TechCrunch has more here.
Pennylane, a year-old, Paris, France-based accounting startup, has raised €15 million from earlier investors Global Founders Capital and Partech. TechCrunch has more here.
Syndio, a nearly four-year-old, Seattle-based company whose HR software helps to identify pay gaps, has raised $17.1 million in Series B funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round, joined by Next Play Capital, Concrete Rose Capital, Emerson Collective and Voyager Capital. GeekWire has more here.
Too Good To Go, a five-year-old, Denmark-based startup that invites customers to buy food right before it goes to waste, is raising a $31.1 million round led by Blisce. Earlier investors and employees are also participating. TechCrunch has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Monument, a 1.5-year-old, New York-based digital treatment platform for alcoholism, has raised $10.3 million in Series A funding led by VMG Catalyst. MobiHealth News has more here.
Theolytics, a 3.5-year-old, Oxford, England-based developer of cancer therapies, has raised £5 million in Series A funding co-led by Epidarex Capital and Taiho Ventures, with participation from Oxford Sciences Innovation. More here.
Thistle, a 7.5-year-old, San Francisco-based meal kit delivery company, has raised $10.3 million in Series B funding. PowerPlant Ventures led the round, joined by Siddhi Capital, Alumni Ventures Group and Rich Products Corp.’s venture arm. Food Business News has more here.
Voxie, a 2.5-year-old, Atlanta-based text marketing startup, has raised $6.7 million in Series A funding led by Noro-Moseley Partners, with participation from Circadian Ventures and Engage Ventures, as well as numerous individuals. TechCrunch has more here.
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New Funds
Hank Paulson, the former Goldman Sachs executive who became U.S. Treasury secretary in 2006 and oversaw much of the country's response to Wall Street's 2008 financial crisis, has been recruited by TPG to run a new global fund called TPG Rise Climate. “I wasn’t looking to do this,” Paulson tells Dealbook, but the scale of work needed and the resources he'll be given helped persuade him. “At this stage in my career, I’m not looking to do a start-up. I’m in a hurry to make a difference.” More here.
Venrock, the 51-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based health and tech-focused venture firm, has raised $450 million for its ninth fund. (We'll have more for you on this front soon.)
Vestigo Ventures, a 5.5-year-old, Boston-based fintech-focused venture firm, has $83.4 million in capital commitments from 66 investors for its second fund, which is targeting up to $100 million, according to an SEC filing. More here.
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Going Public
The online lending startup SoFi says it has agreed to go public through a merger with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp V, a blank-check acquisition company led by investor Chamath Palihapitiya. The deal values SoFi at around $8.65 billion and is expected to provide up to $2.4 billion in cash proceeds to the nine-year-old company. Reuters has more here.
Playtika, an 11-year-old, Herzliya, Israel-based social casino mobile gaming company, has fleshed out the terms of its IPO, revealing plans to sell 69.5 million shares at $22 to $24, which would give the company a market value of $9.7 billion in the middle of that range. That's more than twice what a consortium of Chinese companies spent to acquire the company in 2016. Reuters has more here.
Fifth Wall, the nearly four-year-old, L.A.-based proptech-focused venture firm, is planning to raise capital through a SPAC, says Bloomberg. Fifth Wall was an investor in OpenDoor, which went public via a SPAC last month. More here.
On the heels of using their first, $250 million SPAC to acquire the subscription-based dog supply startup BarkBox, former publishing executive Joanna Coles and New York Islanders co-owner Jonathan Ledecky have registered plans to raise a second, $300 million SPAC to target businesses primarily in the "beauty, wellness, self-care, fashion, e-commerce, subscription, and digital-media space." Renaissance Capital has more here.
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Exits
Crypto exchange Coinbase has acquired three-year-old, Bay Area-based trade execution software startup Routefire. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Routefire does not appear to disclosed outside funding.
"Fortnite" maker Epic Games today announced the acquisition of Rad Game Tools, a 32-year-old, Salt Lake City, Ut.-based maker of game development tools. Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.
Hopin, a young startup that sells a technology platform for hosting digital events, has acquired StreamYard, a two-year-old, Oregon-based company that had bootstrapped itself yet managed to get to $30 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of last year. Hopin is paying $250 million in cash and stock. Hopin had raised $40 million in Series A funding in late June of last year, then $125 million in Series B funding in November at a valuation of $2.125 billion. TechCrunch has more here.
F5, the publicly traded, Seattle-based applications networking company, says it is acquiring Volterra, a multi-cloud management startup, for $500 million, including $440 million in cash and $60 million in deferred and unvested incentive compensation. Volterra emerged in 2019 with a $50 million investment from multiple sources, including Khosla Ventures, Mayfield, M12 (Microsoft’s venture arm) and Samsung Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Online banker Simple is shutting down as part of its parent bank BBVA’s own sale process. The Spanish bank, which acquired the company for $117 million in 2014, is selling its U.S. business to PNC Financial Services Group for $11.6 billion. More here and here.
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People
Instacart has tapped Nick Giovanni, former Goldman Sachs head of the Global Technology, Media and Telecom Group, to be its CFO. Business Insider has more here.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama today called on Silicon Valley specifically to address its role in what happened yesterday at the U.S. Capitol building. “Now is the time for companies to stop enabling this monstrous behavior – and go even further than they have already by permanently banning this man from their platforms and putting in place policies to prevent their technology from being used by the nation’s leaders to fuel insurrection,” Obama wrote in a statement shared on Twitter and on Facebook. TechCrunch has more here.
SolarWinds, the company used by hackers as a springboard for the worst-known breach of U.S. government computers in at least five years today, has hired a new consulting business formed by former U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency head Chris Krebs and Alex Stamos, former chief security officer at Facebook. Reuters has more here.
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Essential Reads
South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor says it’s in the early stages of discussions with Apple over potentially working together to develop an electric car.
Chinese search giant Baidu will create a standalone electric vehicle company, reports CNBC. The Beijing-headquartered company will be the majority shareholder while Chinese automaker Geely will take a minority stake, according to its source.
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Detours
Hate-dressing in the pandemic (is what we've been doing, we now realize).
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