|
That was some Wednesday. Hope yours went well.:)
|
|
Top News
New U.S. President Joe Biden has already signed a series of executive orders, including to have the United States rejoin the Paris climate agreement, the largest international effort to curb global warming. Tweeted French president Emmanuel Macron, "Welcome back . . ."
|
|
This Startup Says It Can Better Spot a Healthy Embryo -- and Improve IVF Success
With every year, AI is beginning to bring more standardized levels of diagnostic accuracy in medicine. This is true of skin cancer detection, for example, and lung cancers.
Now, a startup in Israel called Embryonics says its AI can improve the odds of successfully implanting a healthy embryo during in vitro fertilization. What the company has been developing, in essence, is an algorithm to predict embryo implantation probability, one they have trained through IVF time-lapsed imaging of developing embryos.
It’s just getting started, to be clear. So far, in a pilot involving 11 women ranging in age from 20 to 40, six of those individuals are enjoying successful pregnancies, and the other five are awaiting results, says Embryonics.
Still, Embryonics is interesting for its potential to shake up a big market that’s been stuck for decades and continues to grow only because of external trends, like millennial women who are putting off having children owing to economic concerns.
Consider that the global in-vitro fertilization market is expected to grow from roughly $18.3 billion to nearly double that number in the next five years by some estimates. Yet the tens of thousands of women who undergo IVF each year have long faced costs of anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 per cycle (at least in the U.S.), along with long-shot odds that grow worse with age.
Indeed, it’s the prospect of reducing the number of IVF rounds and their attendant expenses that drives Embryonics, which was founded three years ago.
|
|
Massive Fundings
BlueNalu, a nearly four-year-old, San Diego, Ca,-based food company producing a variety of seafood products directly from fish cells, has raised $60 million in debt financing from new and existing investors. (The company has separately raised around $25 million in equity funding across the years.) Rage Capital led the $60 million convertible note financing, with participation from Agronomics, Lewis & Clark AgriFood, McWin, and Siddhi Capital. More here.
Globality, a nearly six-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca-based business-to-business platform for sourcing and buying services that was cofounded by serial founder Joel Hyatt, has raised $138.3 million. Sienna Capital led the round, joined by (among others) SoftBank Vision Fund. More here.
iSTOX, a four-year-old, Japan-based digital securities platform that wants to make private equity investment more accessible, has raised $50 million in Series A funding, including from the government-owned Development Bank of Japan and JIC Venture Growth Investments, the venture capital arm of Japan Investment Corporation, a state-backed investment fund. TechCrunch has more here.
Vera Therapeutics, a nearly five-year-old, South San Francisco-based developer of treatments for immunological and inflammatory diseases, raised $80 million in Series C funding. Abingworth led the round, joined by Sofinnova Investments, Longitude Capital, Fidelity, Surveyor Capital, Octagon Capital, Kleiner Perkins, GV and Alexandria Venture Investments. Marshall Fordyce, M.D., who once worked as senior director of clinical research at Gilead, founded Vera. FierceBiotech has more here.
Verve Therapeutics, a three-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based gene-editing startup focused on heart disease, has raised $94 million in Series B funding. Wellington Management and Casdin Capital co-led the round, joined by Redmile Group, Janus Henderson, Cormorant, Rock Springs Capital, Novo Holdings, Logos Capital, Surveyor Capital, RA Capital and earlier investors GV and Biomatics. More here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Brigit, a four-year-old, New York-based maker of a budgeting and cash-advance app that aims to help its customers circumvent overdraft fees, has raised $35 million in Series A funding. Lightspeed Ventures led the round, joined by DCM, Nyca, Canaan, and 10 other firms. Forbes has more here.
Curtsy, a five-year-old, Bay Area-based clothing resale app and competitor to newly-publicly-traded Poshmark, has raised $11 million in Series A funding. Index Ventures led the round, joined by Y Combinator, venture capitalist Josh Breinlinger, and earlier backers FJ Labs and 1984 Ventures. The company has now raised $14.5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Indy, a nearly five-year-old, Paris-based startup that's building an accounting automation application for freelancers and small companies (and was previously called Georges), is raising $42.4 million in funding led by the venture firm Singular, an outfit formed by former Alven partners Jeremy Uzan and Raffi Kamber. TechCrunch has more here.
Ironhack, a 7.5-year-old, Miami, Fla.-based company offering programming bootcamps across Europe and North and South America, has raised $20 million in its latest round of funding. The backing came from Endeavor Catalyst, a fund that invests in entrepreneurs from emerging and underserved markets; Lumos Capital, formed by investors with a history in edtech; Creas Capital, a Spanish impact investment firm; and Brighteye, a European edtech investor. TechCrunch has more here.
Neurent Medical, a six-year-old, Galway, Ireland-based company that develops treatments for chronic inflammatory sino-nasal diseases, has raised $25 million in Series B funding co-led by LSP and Atlantic Bridge, with participation from Fountain Healthcare Partners. The Irish Times has more here.
OpenDrives, a nine-year-old, L.A.-based company that sells network-attached-storage software designed to handle data-heavy workflows, has raised $20 million in Series B funding. IAG Capital Partners led the round, which brings the company’s total funding to $30 million. More here.
Shippeo, a six-year-old, Paris-based maker of supply chain visibility software, has raised $32 million in new funding led by Battery Ventures, with participation from NGP Capital, ETF Partners, Partech and Bpifrance. Tech.eu has more here.
Wintermute, a 3.5-year-old, London-based algorithmic trading firm focused on digital assets, has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Pantera Capital and half a dozen other investors. Coindesk has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Arbol, a two-year-old, New York-based weather-based insurer, has raised $7 million in Series B funding from Finch Finance, Space Capital, and Mubadala Capital-Ventures. Sid Jha, a former quant for Ken Griffin's Citadel, founded the startup. Business Insider has more here.
Conversa Health, a 7.5-year-old, Portland, Ore.-based healthcare conversation platform that features AI-powered chatbots, has raised $8 million in extended Series B funding that brings the total round to $20 million. Builders VC and Northwell Ventures led the round. HIT Consultant has more here.
Flexe, a nearly eight-year-old, Seattle-based logistics marketplace that gives retailers such as Walmart and Staples a way to purchase warehousing space on an on-demand basis, has added $10 million in funding to a $70 million Series C round that was announced last month. The company has now raised $144 million altogether. Its backers include Activate Capital, Tiger Global, Madrona Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, and Prologis Ventures. GeekWire has more here.
HiPeople, a two-year-old, Berlin-based human resources tech startup that wants to automate the reference-checking process, has raised €3 million in seed funding from Moonfire, Cherry Ventures, and Capnamic. TechCrunch has more here.
Landbot, a four-year-old, Barcelona, Spain-based “no-code” chatbot builder, has raised $8 million in Series A funding. Swanlaab led the round, joined by the Spanish public agency CDTI and earlier investors Nauta Capital, Encomenda and Bankinter. TechCrunch has more here.
Orreco, an 11-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.- and Galway, Ireland-based sports performance and data science company, had raised $3.6 million in funding led by True Ventures, with participation from numerous individuals investors. The Irish Times has more here.
Skyqraft, a two-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based maker of a drone that inspects power lines, has raised $2.2 million in seed funding. Subvenio Invest led the round, joined by Antler and Next Human Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
TraceAir, a six-year-old, Redwood City, Ca-based construction site monitoring platform, has raised $3.5 million in Series A funding led by XTX Ventures, with participation from Liquid 2 Ventures, GEM Capital and GPS Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
|
|
New Funds
Blue Horizon Ventures, a nearly three-year-old, Zurich, Switzerland-based food tech focused venture firm, says it has raised €183 million ($222 million) for its debut fund. Vegconomist has more here.
Growth Street Partners, a 4.5-year-old, San Francisco-based early growth capital firm founded by two former investors of Mainsail Partners, says it has raised $130 million in capital commitments for its second fund. The outfit was previously managing $70 million in assets. More here.
|
|
Exits
Best, a Chinese logistics firm whose American Depositary Shares began trading on the NYSE in the fall of 2017 and remains one-third owned by the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, is considering a sale as part of a strategic review, says Reuters. The outlet notes that its shares are trading for one-fifth their initial offering price.
EBay says it's looking to sell off its business in South Korea, where sales account for 11.3% of its revenue, according to FactSet data. Last summer, eBay sold its classifieds business to Adevinta for $9.2 billion, and completed its $4.1 billion sale of StubHub in February. MarketWatch has more here.
Fyllo, a 2.5-year-old, Chicago-based cannabis-marketing startup, has acquired DataOwl, a four-year-old, Scottsdale, Az.-based company that offers marketing and loyalty tools for cannabis retailers. Financial terms of the deal aren't being disclosed. Fyllo has raised $28 million to date from investors. DataOwl appears to have been bootstrapped. TechCrunch has more here.
Thermo Fisher Scientific has agreed to buy Mesa Biotech, a six-year-old, San Diego, Ca.-based hand-held test maker, for up to $550 million in cash. Mesa had raised roughly $40 million in funding, shows Crunchbase. FierceBiotech has more here.
|
|
Going Public
The four-year-old, San Francisco-based direct-to-consumer wellness brand Hims & Hers today completed its reverse merger with the blank check company Oaktree Acquisition Corp., led by co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management Howard Marks. According to Forbes, the deal includes proceeds of $280 million, including $204.5 million in cash and $75 million from private placement investors, including Franklin Templeton and other Oaktree Clients. The company’s venture investors -- including Founders Fund, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Atomic, which incubated the company -- had collectively invested $158 million in the company, per Crunchbase. It's now valued at $1.6 billion and its shares begin trading publicly tomorrow.
Payoneer, an online payments specialist, is in talks to go public through a merger with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp., a blank-check firm, according to Bloomberg. FTAC rose as much as 29% on the news. The special purpose acquisition company has begun talks to raise new equity to support a transaction that’s slated to value the combined entity at more than $2.5 billion, says the outlet, adding that no deal has been finalized.
|
|
People
Monzo founder Tom Blomfield is leaving the U.K. challenger bank entirely at the end of the month, staff were informed earlier today. Blomfield held the role of CEO until May, when he assumed the newly created title of president and resigned from the Monzo board. Now, he says for his own mental wellness, which has been impacted by the pandemic and attendant lockdowns, it's time to move on. “I’m very happy to talk about what’s gone on with me, because I don’t think people do it enough," he tells TechCrunch.
|
|
Jobs
Goodwater Capital, based in Burlingame, Ca., is hiring a vice president to join its growth-stage, consumer-tech investing team. Applications are due January 31.
|
|
Sponsored By . . .
Lexicon Branding has for decades been creating game-changing names for high-tech and consumer product companies, including Sonos, Azure, Pentium, BlackBerry, Impossible Foods, Swiffer, and Dasani. Learn about our strategy, creative, research, and trademark services -- beginning with a peek at our process.
|
|
Essential Reads
Amazon today sent a letter to President Biden, saying it is ready to turn its facilities into COVID-19 vaccination sites and offering other resources to the U.S. government. The Verge writes that the offer stands in stark contrast to Amazon’s relationship with the previous administration, which was strained by Donald Trump’s ongoing feud with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and that largely left states to manage vaccine distribution. More here.
A group of California plaintiffs has filed a lawsuit against Chinese tech giant Tencent in state court, alleging that the company’s WeChat mobile app has censored and surveilled them and shared their data with Chinese authorities. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, claims that the company’s practices violate the plaintiffs’ free-speech and privacy rights and “unjustly enrich Tencent at the expense of California WeChat users.” The Washington Post has more here.
|
|
Sponsored By . . .
Acquity Realty develops multi-family and office projects with partners like Apple and Cigna Realty Advisors, and it's currently talking with individuals and institutions interested in tax efficiently growing their capital. How? Through its Qualified Opportunity Zone project, situated just two blocks from Google’s new 80-acre campus in San Jose. Over its last $1.2 billion of projects, Acquity has generated an IRR of 49.9%. Visit Acquity or email Greg Ovalle at ov@acquityrealty.com to learn more.
|
StrictlyVC StrictlyVC, LLC, 1 Blackfield Drive, No. 239, Tiburon, CA 94920 Unsubscribe - Unsubscribe Preferences |
|
|
|
|
|
