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January 28, 2021
Thursday!
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Top News
Popular online brokerages today restricted trading in soaring stocks, including GameStop and AMC, leaving traders with just two options: hold or sell. The move, notes the WSJ, fueled a firestorm of criticism among users and even some members of Congress.
One of the brokerages, Robinhood, said its own decision to halt trading tied to its capital obligations and clearinghouse deposits, which fluctuate based on volatility in the markets (a revelation likely to spook some of its customers). According to the New York Times, the platform was even forced tonight to turn to its venture investors, including Sequoia Capital and Ribbit Capital, for emergency funding to prevent from having to place further limits on customers' trades. Unsurprisingly, there are strings attached, adds the report. The investors will receive additional equity in Robinhood at a "discounted valuation tied to the price of Robinhood shares when the company goes public."
In the meantime, Redditors moved on to an obscure oil company called New Concept Energy that "employs five people and appears to produce negligible amounts of oil and natural gas from some wells in Appalachia," notes Bloomberg. Its shares soared 1,000% today, turning the company, which saw revenue of $590,000 in 2019, into one whose market cap hit $128 million.
One clear winner from all this zaniness: the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. After shares in mall owner Macerich Co. jumped 68% across four trading sessions after losing 84% over the last three years, the pension group, which owned 16.4% of the company, dumped its entire stake for $500 million. Bloomberg has the story here.
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WeWork is Reportedly Considering a SPAC at the Right Price
According to a new report in the WSJ, WeWork, the co-working juggernaut that saw its attempt at a public offering blow up in spectacular fashion in the fall of 2019, might become a publicly traded company by merging with a blank-check company.
Specifically, says the WSJ, the New York-based outfit has been “weighing offers from a SPAC affiliated with Bow Capital Management LLC and at least one other unidentified acquisition vehicle for several weeks” in a deal that could value WeWork at around $10 billion.
Asked for more information, a spokesperson for the company sent us a statement that reads: “Over the past year, WeWork has remained focused on executing our plans for achieving profitability. Our significant progress combined with the increased market demand for flexible space, shows positive signs for our business. We will continue to explore opportunities that help us move closer toward our goals.”
The company is also contemplating inbound interest for more private funding, according to a person close to the company.
According to the WeWork spokesperson, WeWork currently has more than $3.6 billion of cash and unfunded cash commitments, including more than $875 million in available cash, and it believes this is “more than sufficient liquidity to weather a prolonged COVID environment.”
It’s an understatement to say the company has had its ups and downs since outside investors took at look at WeWork’s S-1 in August 2019, which showed both massive losses as well as highlighted the enormous power wielded by its cofounder and then-CEO, Adam Neumann.
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Massive Fundings
Lyra Health, a nearly six-year-old, Burlingame, Ca.-based provider of mental health care benefits for employers that was founded by former Facebook CFO David Ebersman, has raised $187 million in Series E funding at a $2.3 billion post-money valuation less than two months after raising an undisclosed amount of extended Series D funding. Addition, which funded that last tranche, also led this new round, joined by Durable Capital Partners, Fidelity and Baillie Gifford. MobiHealth News has more here.
Nubank, the nearly seven-year-old, São Paulo, Brazil-based neobank, has raised $400 million in Series G round at at post-money valuation of $25 billion(!) up from the $10 billion valuation it was assigned by investors in 2019. The round was led by both private and public investors including Singapore’s GIC, Whale Rock, and Invesco. Earlier backers Tencent, Dragoneer, Ribbit Capital, and Sequoia Capital also joined the round. Cofounder and CEO David Velez is a former Sequoia partner and is originally from Colombia, though he attended Stanford and worked in the U.S. for many years. TechCrunch has more here.
OwnBackup, a six-year-old, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based cloud data protection platform, has raised $168 million in Series D funding at a nearly $1.4 billion post-money valuation. Insight Partners, Salesforce Ventures and Sapphire Ventures co-led the round, joined by Innovation Endeavors, Vertex Ventures and Oryzn Capital. Bloomberg has more here.
Tanium, a 13-year-old maker of endpoint management and security software that recently left Silicon Valley for the Seattle area, says it has sold $150 million in common stock to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. (It's a likely indicator that the company, valued at $9 billion last year, is planning to go public sooner than later.) GeekWire has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Check, a two-year-old, New York-based platform that aims to help developers to build new payroll products and was cofounded by Eric Stromberg (who also cofounded the venture firm Bedrock), today announced that it has quietly raised $44 million to date from Stripe, Thrive, Bedrock, and Index Ventures, including a $35 million Series B led by Stripe and Thrive. More here.
Enthera Pharma, a 4.5-year-old, Milan, Italy-based biotech that's focused on auto-immune disorders, has raised €35 million in Series A funding. Roche and seed backer Sofinnova Partners co-led the round, joined by AddVie Ventures and the JDRF-T1D Fund. More here.
Flowhaven, a nearly five-year-old, L.A.-based brand licensing management platform, has raised $16 million in Series A funding led by Sapphire Sport, an arm of Sapphire Ventures that specializes in sports, media and lifestyle brands. Earlier investors Global Founders Capital and Icebreaker.vc also joined the round, which brings Flowhaven’s total funding to date to $21.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.
LoveCrafts, an eight-year-old, London-based e-commerce marketplace and social network for home crafters, has raised $22 million in equity and debt funding from Scottish Equity Partners, Highland Europe, Balderton Capital and TriplePoint Capital. It also acquired WEBS, a U.S. online yarn retailer. Business Leader has more here.
Mediafly, a nearly 15-year-old, Chicago-based sales enablement and content management firm, just raised $25 million in equity and debt funding from Boathouse Capital and Sterling National Bank. Crunchbase News has more here.
Scalapay, a two-year-old, Milan, Italy-based third-party platform that, like Klarna and others, invites online retail customers to buy now and pay later, has raised $48 million in funding from Fasanara Capital, Baleen Capital, and Ithaca Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Ula, a year-old Jakarta, Indonesia and Bangalore, India-based micro-retail marketplace that digitizes supply chain, inventory, and access to working capital, has raised $20 million in Series A led by earlier investor Quona Capital along with B Capital Group. Previous backers Sequoia Capital India and Lightspeed Venture Partners also joined the round. TechCrunch has more here.
Yotta, a 15-month-old, New York-based savings account app, has raised $13.2 million in Series A funding led by Base10 Partners with participation from Y Combinator, Core Innovation Capital, and Slow Ventures. Forbes has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Cowrywise, a 3.5-year-old, Lagos, Nigeria-based digital wealth management platform that says it's targeting the underserved African middle class and millennials, has raised $3 million in pre-Series A funding. Quona Capital led the round, joined by the Tsadik Foundation, Gumroad CEO Sahil Lavingia, and a syndicate of Nigerian angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.
CybSafe, a 3.5-year-old, London-based cybersecurity startup focused on people-related security risks (i.e. human error) using behavioral science and data analytics, has raised $7.9 million in Series A funding led by IQ Capital, with participation from Hanover Digital Investments and B8 Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Doorvest, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based online platform for consumers to invest in fully renovated income-producing properties with tenants in place, has raised $2.5 million in seed funding led by Mucker Capital. Crunchbase has more here.
Gowalla, an 11-year-old, San Francisco-based company that was originally founded as a Foursquare competitor but eight months ago become an augmented reality social app, has $4 million in seed funding. GV and Spark Capital co-led the round, joined by Niantic, Upside Partnership, Otherwise Fund, Capital Factory, Form Capital and numerous angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Heights, a 2.5-year-old, London-based company that's marketing what it describes as plant-based supplements that "feed your brain,” has raised $2 million in seed funding from Seedrs crowdfunding platform, with participation from Forward Partners and other individual investors. TechCrunch has more here.
International Compliance Workshop, a 4.5-year-old, Hong Kong-based supply-chain marketplace that matches suppliers and buyers, vetting them for compliance, product quality, and accreditation, it says, has raised $5.75 million in extended Series A funding that brings the round to $10 million. Infinity Ventures Partners led the newest tranche, joined by Integrated Capital and earlier backers MindWorks Capital and the Hong Kong government Innovation and Technology Venture Fund. TechCrunch has more here.
Levity, a three-year-old, Berlin-based no-code workflow automation startup that wants to help knowledge workers automate repetitive and manual parts of their job without needing to learn to code, has raise $1.7 million in pre-seed funding led by Angular Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Pinecone, a 20-month-old, San Mateo, Ca. -based vector database for building machine learning apps, has raised $10 million in seed funding led by Wing VC. TechCrunch has more here.
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New Funds
GGV Capital, the now 20-year-old venture firm that has long invested primarily in the U.S. and China, just closed on a whopping $2.52 billion in fresh capital commitments across four new funds, it announced this morning. We have a bit more here.
SoftBank, the Japanese multinational conglomerate, announced plans today to invest $100 million, drawn from across its funds, into Miami-based startups. Notably, SoftBank’s $5 billion Latin America fund is headquartered in Miami, too. The initiative is led by SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure. This newest fund will back companies that are in Miami or plan to move there, says TechCrunch.
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Exits
Workday said today it is acquiring employee feedback platform Peakon for $700 million in cold, hard cash. Peakon was founded in Copenhagen in 2014 and looks to have raised $68 million along the way, including from EQT Ventures, Idinvest Partners, Balderton Capital, and Atomico. TechCrunch has more here.
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Going Public
Consumer DNA-testing company 23andMe is in talks to go public through a roughly $4 billion deal with VG Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company founded by billionaire Richard Branson, says Bloomberg. The company's valuation, as of last year, was pegged at $2.5 billion. More here.
Faraday Future, a nearly seven-year-old, L.A.-based electric vehicle company, agreed to go public via reverse merger with Property Solutions Acquisition in a deal that values Faraday at $3.4 billion. Reuters has more here.
Coinbase, the nine-year-old, San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange that last month filed plans to go public confidentially, announced plans today to go public by way of a direct listing rather than via a traditional IPO. TechCrunch has more here.
Nerdy, the parent company of online learning platform Varsity Tutors, is in talks to be acquired by a blank-check company affiliated with private equity giant TPG, says Axios. Nerdy has raised over $100 million in venture capital funding from firms like TCV, Learn Capital and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. More here.
Cloud software vendor Qualtrics soared in its Nasdaq debut today after the company priced its IPO above the expected range. CNBC has more here.
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Essential Reads
General Motors said today it "will phase out petroleum-powered cars and trucks and sell only vehicles that have zero tailpipe emissions by 2035, a seismic shift by one of the world’s largest automakers that makes billions of dollars today from gas-guzzling pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles." -- The New York Times.
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Retail Therapy
A Neoclassical "chateau" in Houston. It's something.
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