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January 29, 2021
Before you go, we just 'dropped' the newest episode of StrictlyVC Download and, especially if you're curious about new consumer-brand strategies, you should catch our conversation with this week's guests, Mike Jones and Peter Pham of Science Inc., the L.A.-based incubator and venture firm. They've managed to make cheap razors hip (Dollar Shave Club), convince people to subscribe to underwear (MeUndies), and sell canned water that will "murder your thirst" (Liquid Death) and we talked about how. We also chatted about the firm's brand-new blank-check company. You can read part of that interview below, or hear it here.
Special thanks to the team at Montgomery Summit for sponsoring this week's episode. Don't miss its virtual event this year, featuring Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan, IBM President Jim Whitehurst, and Illumina CEO and President Francis deSouza, among lots of others. Register here and use the discount code SVC-21.
Have a great weekend, everyone.:)
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Top News
Keith Gill drove the GameStop Reddit mania; he says he just searches for value in unloved stocks (and also that he might buy a house with his profits). In the WSJ.
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The Biggest Exit for this L.A. Venture Firm May Wind Up Being . . . Canned Water
Earlier this week, Science Inc, the 10-year-old, L.A.-based incubator and venture firm, rolled out a blank-check company onto the Nasdaq, raising $270 million for what firm founders Peter Pham and Mike Jones say will be used to take public a company in the mobile, entertainment or direct-to-consumer service space.
If they have one of their own portfolio companies in mind to take public, they'd never say. Yet Science would have some interesting candidates from which to choose if so. It helped incubate the amateur esports platform PlayVS, for example, after Pham met its founder, Delane Parnell, on a dance floor during a South by Southwest festival. It's also an investor in Bird, the micro-mobility company that is reportedly working with Credit Suisse to strike a deal with a blank-check company. And it helped create and grow Liquid Death, a company with a tongue-in-cheek marketing strategy that's selling mountain water in aluminum cans -- a lot of it, says Pham.
That's not so silly. Water is the top-selling packaged drink in the U.S. and has been since 2016.
Indeed, we spent much of our time with the duo talking about how to create a powerful consumer brand in 2021, no matter the category.
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Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Appdetex, a nearly 10-year-old, Boise, Id.-based brand protection platform that finds and "removes" threats to its customers, has raised $12.2 million in Series C funding led by Baird Capital, with participation from First Analysis, Origin Ventures and EPIC Ventures. More here.
Chefclub, a nearly five-year-old, Paris, France-based food media brand, has raised a $17 million in funding led by First Bridge Ventures. SEB Alliance, the venture arm of kitchen appliance maker Groupe SEB, Korelya Capital and Algaé Ventures also participated. TechCrunch has more here.
Concert Health, a five-year-old, San Diego, Ca.-based behavioral health access startup that partners with primary care providers, has raised $14 million in Series A equity and debt funding. Vertical Venture Partners led the round, joined by Town Hall Ventures and SVB. MedCity News has more here.
Raydiant, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that transforms the TVs of brick-and-mortar retailers into interactive digital signage, has raised $13 million in Series A funding. 8VC led the round, joined by Atomic and Mark Wahlberg. More here.
SWORD Health, a six-year-old, New York-based virtual physical therapy care provider, has raised $25 million led by Transformation Capital, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Green Innovations, Vesalius Biocapital, and Faber. More here.
Smaller Fundings
Chaos, a 3.5-year-old, Helsinki, Finland-based startup that sells real-estate forecasting insights to investors and developers so they can better assess risks and increase their competitive edge when building urban portfolios across the world, raised €1.5 million ($1.8 million) in funding. The Swedish venture firm Nidoco led the round. Fintech Baltic has more here.
Cutback Coach, a year-old, San Francisco-based startup aimed at moderating alcohol consumption, has raised $3.1 million in seed funding. Uncork Capital led the round, joined by Adjacent Venture Capital. More here.
Firehawk Aerospace, a two-year-old, Brevard County, Florida-based rocket fuel technology startup, has added $1.2 million to its existing seed financing, bringing the full amount invested in the round to $2.5 million. The new tranche comes from Harlow Capital Management. TechCrunch has more here.
RxRevu, a 7.5-year-old, Denver, Co.-based prescription pricing platform that aims to arm doctors and healthcare professionals with information about drug prices so they can help patients from paying more than in necessary, has raised $7 million in Series B funding led by JAZZ Venture Partners. Built in Colorado has more here.
SamCart, a seven-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based e-commerce platform for DTC brands, has raised $10 million in Series A funding. TTV Capital led the round, joined by Fin VC and the George Kaiser Foundation. Crunchbase News has more here.
Sirenum, an eight-year-old, London-based platform for remotely managing a shift-based workforce, has raised $2.7 million in Series A funding round from new investors, including former Tesco CEO Terry Leahy. TechCrunch has more here.
Verusen, a six-year-old, Atlanta, Ga.-based connected supply chain startup, has raised $8 million in Series A funding. Forte Ventures and Flyover Capital co-led the round, joined by BMW i Ventures, Glasswing Ventures, Zetta Venture Partners, Kubera VC and Engage. Atlanta Inno has more here.
Whyline, a 5.5-year-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based New York-based maker of virtual queuing and appointment software, has raised $1.25 million led by e.Republic Ventures. More here.
Zadar Labs, a two-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based developer of imaging radars for autonomous systems, has raised $5.6 million in seed funding led by Zoox co-founder Tim Kentley Klay. Others backers include HYPR, Leslie Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures and Mentors Fund. More here.
Not-Saying-How-Much Fundings
Cresta Intelligence, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that sells conversational AI software to contact centers primarily and was cofounded by serial entrepreneur Sebastian Thrun, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Porsche Ventures. The company had previously raised more than $21 million from investors, including Greylock and Andreessen Horowitz. The WSJ has more here.
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New Funds
Arch Venture Partners, the 35-year-old, Chicago, Ill.-based venture firm focused on early-stage biotech companies, has closed its ninth fund with roughly $1.9 billion in capital commitments. FierceBiotech has more here.
The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has announced the launch of its first-ever venture fund, Binney Street Capital. The primary focus of Binney Street will be therapeutics, while also considering investments in novel diagnostics, digital health, and services companies. More here.
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Going Public
The Honest Company, the L.A.-based baby and beauty products company co-founded by actress Jessica Alba, is preparing to go public, according to Bloomberg. Backed by L Catterton, Honest was reportedly preparing to file confidentially for an IPO as soon as today and could seek a valuation of up to $2 billion. More here.
Roblox has postponed plans to go public because of the SEC's scrutiny of how the video game platform recognizes revenue in its finances, says Reuters. The delay is a setback for one of the most eagerly-anticipated U.S. public market debuts of 2021. More here.
Pathfinder Acquisition, a blank-check company formed by the middle market private equity firm HGGC and by Industry Ventures, the venture industry outfit, registered plans yesterday to raise $275 million. Renaissance Capital has more here.
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People
Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto will play WeWork co-founders Rebekah and Adam Neumann in an Apple TV series based on the #WeCrashed podcast. (Note: Leto was an early investor in the company, too, according to Crunchbase.) The Hollywood Reporter has the story here.
Andrew Parker, an investor who was most recently a general partner at Spark Capital, has joined Spero Ventures, which spun out of Omidyar Network in early 2018. More here.
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Essential Reads
Robinhood wants users to have a limited number of shares of companies like GameStop, and that number keeps getting smaller and smaller.
SpaceX has lined up investors for a round that could close in February and value the company at a minimum of $60 billion, up from a $46 billion valuation in August, says Business Insider.
Ford's e-scooter division is rolling out scooters that can automatically re-park out of the pathway of pedestrians within seconds.
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