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January 27, 2021
Some Wednesday!
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Top News
The revenge of the retail investors continued today, with GameStop shares ending the trading day at $347 per share. (They started the year at $18. They closed at $148 yesterday. They are now falling fast in overnight trading.) Investor Chamath Palihapitiya, who may have helped drive up the shares of the retailer, offered his take. Meanwhile, numerous online brokerage services, including Robinhood, E*Trade, and Fidelity, experienced service outages during the trading frenzy.
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Massive Fundings
Calendly, a 7.5-year-old, Atlanta, Ga.-based cloud-based service that people use to set up and confirm meeting times with others, has sold $350 million in both primary and secondary shares at a $3 billion valuation. Previously, the company had raised just $550,000, including from founder and CEO, Tope Awotona. Its outside investors are OpenView Venture Partners and Iconiq. TechCrunch has more here.
Booksy, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based beauty and wellness appointment booking and payment app with growing global reach, has raised $70 million in a Series C round led by Cat Rock Capital, with participation from Sprints Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
DriveNets, a nearly six-year-old, Israel-based networking software company that came out of stealth mode with a giant Series A round in 2019, has now raised $208 million in Series B funding, at a post-money valuation of more than $1 billion. D1 Capital Partners led the round, joined by earlier backers Bessemer Venture Partners, Pitango, and Atreides Management. TechCrunch has more here.
Encodia, a six-year-old, San Diego, Ca.-based proteomics platform that combines nucleic acid-based tagging of peptides with next-generation sequencing to make protein measurements, has raised $75 million in Series C funding led by Northpond Ventures and Deerfield Management. More here.
Loanpal, a 17-year-old, Roseville, Ca.-based point-of-sale payment platform for solar and other home efficiency products, has raised more than $800 million in funding. NEA and WestCap Group co-led the investment, joined by Brookfield Asset Management and Riverstone Holdings. TechCrunch has more here.
MainStreet, a two-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based company whose software promises to find “free money” for its clients by helping them obtain tax credits, has raised new funding in a round led by SignalFire that values it at $500 million, according to The Information. The company had previously raised just $2.7 million, including from SV Angel, Backend Capital, and Shrug Capital, among others, according to Crunchbase. More here.
Nuvalent, a four-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based developer of lung cancer drugs for patients whose disease has proven resistant to current options, has raised $50 million from Deerfield Management. FierceBiotech has more here.
Splashtop, a 15-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based remote support company that says it is profitable, has raised $50 million in funding at a post-money valuation of more than $1 billion. Sapphire Ventures led the round, joined by NEA, DFJ DragonFund, and Storm Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.
Stilt, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based lending company focused on immigrants and other underserved groups in the United States, has raised a $100 million warehouse facility from Silicon Valley Bank. It brings Stilt’s total debt facilities so far to $225 million. TechCrunch has more on the YC alum here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Literati, a nearly five-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based book club subscription service, has raised $40 million in Series B funding. Felicis Ventures led the round, joined by 01 Advisors, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Shasta Ventures, Silverton Partners, Springdale Ventures and NBA all-star Steph Curry. TechCrunch has more here.
Lynk, a six-year-old, Hong Kong-based platform that connects its customers with more than 840,000 experts in a wide range of fields, has raised $24 million in funding led by Brewer Lane Ventures and MassMutual Ventures, with participation from Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund. TechCrunch has more here.
Nexii Building Solutions, a nearly 13-year-old, Vancouver, British Columbia-based building tech company, has raised around $25 million from investors, including Lotus Capital Corp. The company says it has now raised $52 million altogether. More here.
Playvox, a nine-year-old, Manizales, Colombia- and Sunnyvale, Ca.-based maker of contact center software, has raised $25 million from Five Elms Capital, a Midwestern venture firm. Playvox has now raised $34 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
SetSail, a 2.5-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based sales compensation platform, has raised $26 million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners; earlier backers Wing VC, Team8 Capital and Operator Collective also joined the round. The company has now raised $37 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Starship Technologies, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that's been building a network of autonomous delivery robots, says it recently raised $17 million from TDK Ventures and Goodyear Ventures, among others. The new investment brings Starship’s total funding to $102 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Tealbook, an eight-year-old, Toronto, Canada-based platform that gives its customers — usually large enterprises -- data needed to make procurement decisions, has raised $14.4 million in Series A funding led by RTP Global. VentureBeat has more here.
Token, a five-year-old, London-based open banking payments platform, has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by SBI Investment Co. and Sony Innovation Fund, with participation from Opera Tech Ventures and earlier backers Octopus Ventures and EQT Ventures. Business Insider has more here.
Ukko, a nearly five-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based biotech focused on eliminating food allergies and sensitivities, has raised $40 million in Series B funding. Leaps by Bayer led the round, joined by Continental Grain Co., PeakBridge Ventures, Skyviews Life Science, Fall Line Capital and earlier backers Khosla Ventures, Innovation Endeavors and Salesforce founder Marc Benioff. The Spoon has more here.
Usermind, a seven-year-old, Seattle-based marketing startup whose technology enables clients to provide contextually relevant and personalized messages to customers, has raised $14 million in funding led by WestRiver Group, with participation from earlier backers Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures. GeekWire has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Amber Solutions, a 3.5-year-old, Dublin, Ca.-based startup that's developing technologies for the digital control of electricity in solid-state architectures, has raised $8.5 million in Series B funding from (unnamed) new and earlier investors. Crunchbase News takes a look at what it's building here.
Classiq, an eight-month-old, Israel-based software development platform, has raised $10.5 million in Series A funding. Team8 Capital and Wing Capital co-led the round, joined by Entrée Capital, OurCrowd and Sumitomo. TechCrunch has more here.
Finesse, a two-year-old, L.A.-based fashion house that says it's leveraging AI and community feedback to predict trends, forecast demand, and optimize distribution, has raised $4.5 million in pre-seed and seed funding from investors, including Alex Roetter, who is a former head of engineering at Twitter, and Ali Diab, the CEO of Collective Health. On LinkedIn, the company also lists Lux Capital, MaC Venture Capital and Sequoia, via its scouts network, as investors. TechCrunch has more here.
GoodTrust, a nearly year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based digital legacy platform for one's websites, social media, online accounts, documents and last goodbyes, has raised $2.3 million in seed funding. Investors included Bling Capital, Synetro Ventures, Azure Capital Partners, Nikesh Arora, Bobby Lo, and Christian Wiklund. VentureBeat has more here.
Kate Farms, a nearly nine-year-old, Santa Barbara, Ca.-based maker of plant-based pediatric shakes and snacks, has raised $9 million in extended Series B funding from Main Street Advisors. The round originally closed in November with $51 million led by Goldman Sachs and Kaiser Permanente Ventures. More here.
LottieFiles, a three-year-old, San Francisco- and Kuala Lumpur-based mobile platform that enables designers to share, test, and iterate micro animations, has raised $9 million in Series A funding led by M12, with participation from returning investor 500 Startups. TechCrunch has more here.
Perchpeek, a nearly four-year-old, London-based startup that helps employees relocate with the magic of AI (ostensibly), has raised $2.7 million in funding led by Episode 1. UKTN has more here.
Sturish, a three-month-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based e-commerce growth platform for small and mid-size businesses that was founded by the former CTO of Lambda School, Namrata Ganatra, has raised $3.2 million in seed funding. Neo led the round, joined by Act One Ventures and Fika Ventures. More here.
Vessel, a nearly six-year-old, San Diego, Ca.-based maker of an at-home wellness tracker that the company says can quickly measure 10 different health metrics, including one's vitamin B7, calcium and magnesium levels, has raised $8 million in seed funding. Monogram Capital Partners led the round, joined by Able, BFG, Cove, Sidekick and angel investors, including actor Jared Leto. The company has now raised $14.5 million in seed funding altogether. More here.
Wyre, a nearly nine-year-old, San Francisco-based blockchain payments company, has raised $5 million from the Stellar Development Foundation. Coindesk has more here.
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New Funds
Robert Downey Jr. is launching a new "rolling" venture fund to back sustainability startups. "The idea of opening [the fund] to real people, rather than the ivory tower of the institutional bigwigs . . .It’s a little bit more slam dance than Sundance [and] I kind of dig it,” Downey Jr. tells TechCrunch.
NextView Ventures, the nearly 11-year-old, Boston-based seed and pre-seed firm, has closed its fourth fund with $100 million in capital commitments. The firm had closed on exactly half that amount for its previous fund, which closed in 2017. More here.
Prime Movers Lab, a three-year-old, Jackson, Wyoming-based venture firm that's focused on deep tech, has raised $245 million for its second fund. TechCrunch has more here.
TCV, the mostly Silicon Valley-based, late-stage and crossover venture firm, has closed on a record $4 billion in capital commitments for its newest fund. To underscore how humongous that is, TechCrunch notes that TCV had previously raised $14 billion across 25 years in business. More here.
Ulu Ventures, a 12-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based seed-stage fund focused primarily on enterprise startups, has garnered $122.3 million in capital commitments for its third fund, shows a new SEC filing. Ulu was cofounded by Miriam Rivera, who was Google's second attorney, and Clint Korver, who was previously a VC with Crescendo Ventures. More here.
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Exits
Ant Group, the digital payments arm of Alibaba, is planning to sell EyeVerify, a biometric security firm based in Kansas City, Missouri, amid heightened tensions between China and the U.S., reports the Financial Times. Ant Group had paid more than $100 million for the company in 2016. In addition to heightened scrutiny by U.S. regulators, Ant is looking to raise capital in anticipation of potential fines and restructuring costs associated with its aborted IPO last year, notes the FT.
IAC has acquired Confide, the encrypted mobile messaging that once made headlines for its use by White House staffers during the Trump administration. The deal, which closed on Dec. 1, 2020 but was not publicly announced, sees Confide joining Teltech, the makers of spam call-busting app Robokiller, which itself had joined IAC’s Mosaic Group by way of a 2018 acquisition. Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed, but Confide had raised just $3.5 million in funding, including from GV, investor David Tisch and numerous others. TechCrunch has more here.
Bloomberg reported earlier this week that SAP was expected to buy the 11-year-old, Berlin-based business process automation startup Signavio, and the company made it official today. The companies didn't reveal the purchase price, but Bloomberg had estimated the deal could be worth $1.2 billion. According to Crunchbase, Signavio had raised roughly $230 million over the years, including from Summit Partners, Apax Digital and DTCP. More here.
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Going Public
Squarespace, the nearly 18-year-old, New York-based website building and hosting service, said today that it has confidentially filed to go public. The company has raised just two rounds of venture backing from Accel and Index Ventures that total $78.5 million, according to Crunchbase. It also oversaw a $200 million secondary sale in 2017, wherein General Atlantic acquired shares of employees and others in a deal that valued the company at $1.7 billion Reuters has more here.
Mortgage lender LoanDepot, an 11-year-old, Foothill Ranch, Ca.-based mortgage lender, says in a new regulatory filing that it's looking to raise as much a $315 million in a U.S. IPO. The company has raised roughly $180 in debt funding over the years. Bloomberg has more here.
More venture firms are jumping into the SPAC pool. Among sponsors who today raised or announced a SPAC is Greycroft , Foresight Capital, and Rosecliff Ventures, which just filed paperwork for its second healthcare-focused blank-check company.
Gores Group, the private equity firm, meanwhile just registered plans to raise its eighth(!) SPAC.
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People
Bryan Kim has joined Andreessen Horowitz as a partner, reports Axios. He was previously the CFO of real estate startup Bungalow and, before that, a senior director of growth and product ops at Snap.
Sapphire Ventures, the Palo Alto-based venture firm, has promoted eight of its team members to senior-level positions. More here.
Kelly Ortel Toole, formerly a software engineering manager with Apple for six years, has joined Index Ventures as a principal.
Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan are overhauling their political operation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and spinning out much of its advocacy work to outside organizations, reports Recode. The outlet notes that CZI has been dogged by criticisms because of its association with Facebook, as well as unrest within the organization. More here.
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Essential Reads
Despite dealing with multiple recent controversies, Facebook today reported surging profits and revenue in the fourth quarter driven by soaring ad sales.
Apple similarly finished 2020 with its most profitable quarter ever, fueled by an uptick in higher-end iPhone sales and a surge in demand for its laptops and tablets.
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Retail Therapy
So, sandals? Wrestling shoes?
Caption these. We're going with 1.) blue leather cyst 2.) chaps avec couche 3.) man about to be killed on alien planet 4.) detained in Belarus.
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