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Top News
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos will be transitioning to Executive Chair of the company sometime in third quarter of this year, with current AWS CEO Andy Jassy taking over the top executive role at the commerce company. Amazon announced the news alongside its earnings results this afternoon. The stock rose . . . and then dropped on the news. TechCrunch has more here.
In a letter to some undoubtedly surprised employees -- despite that Bezos had already stepped back from much of Amazon’s day-to-day business -- he told them that in his new role, he will "stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions." Wrote Bezos, "I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring. I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have."
Either way, Bezos is ending his long tenure on a high note.
Meanwhile, shares of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, also rose nearly 8% in extended trading today after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts’ expectations and showed a strong return to growth in its core advertising business. CNBC has more here.
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Could Eyelash Extensions Become a Huge Market? This Robotics Startup Thinks So
Eyelash extensions have taken off in recent years, particularly in Asia. But the audience is only so broad. Getting extensions -- semi-permanent fibers that are attached to one's natural eyelashes -- can require hundreds dollars and hours in the seat of a lash stylist. There's always the risk, too, of irritation or worse. Little wonder that, even accounting for low-budget lashes that can be applied at home, the market stands at around $2 billion, which is too small a market to capture the attention of most venture capitalists.
Luum, a four-year-old, 15-person, Berkeley, Ca.-based robotics company, thinks it can change the math -- and attract investment -- by "exponentially" expanding the market, says its CEO, Philippe Sanchez, who has overseen large chain businesses, including as a managing director for Starbucks in France.
The way forward, he says, is through robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, which Luum says it's using to ultimately create a robot that that can apply lashes in 20 minutes and, if all goes as planned, will be widely available in beauty shops. More, because lash extensions need to be replaced every two to four weeks as lashes naturally fall, customers will come back again and again.
Right now, there's a bit of magical thinking involved, admits Sanchez. The tech currently relies on Epson industrial robots to which a variety of arms and sensors are attached, making it look a little like something you might see in the dentist's office. The procedure of applying lashes has been tried out 100 times on 25 brave souls alone. The process currently takes as long as it would to apply lashes by hand, too, meaning a couple of hours.
Still, Luum, which has raised $10 million to date from Foundation Capital and others and is about to begin talking with investors about a Series A round, is convinced it has the right team to chase and grow what it sees as a big and underserved opportunity in the beauty space.
We talked with Sanchez yesterday afternoon about the company and its next steps. Our chat has been edited for length and clarity.
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Massive Fundings
Divvy Homes, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based fractional home ownership startup, has raised $110 million in Series C funding led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from GGV Capital, Moore Specialty Credit, JAWS Ventures and earlier backers, including Andreessen Horowitz. The new round brings the company's total debt and equity raised to more than $500 million, with about one-third of that raised in equity and two-thirds in debt. TechCrunch has more here.
Omnispace, an 8.5-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based company that wants to offer ubiquitous 5G-compliant connectivity for enterprise users using a hybrid of wireless ground technology and satellites, has raised $60 million in funding led by Fortress Investment Group. Earlier backers Columbia Capital, Greenspring Associates, TDF Ventures and Telcom Ventures also participated in the round. TechCrunch has more here.
Valon Mortgage, a nearly two-year-old, New York-based tech-enabled mortgage servicer, has raised $50 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Earlier backers also joined the round, including Jefferies Financial Group, New Residential Investment Corporation (an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group) and 166 2nd LLC, which is the family office of WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann. TechCrunch has more here.
Zetwerk, a three-year-old, Bangalore, India-based manufacturing marketplace that connects original equipment manufacturers with small-businesses and enterprises that custom-make products on demand, has raised $120 million in Series D funding. Earlier backers Greenoaks Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners co-led the round, joined by other earlier backers Sequoia Capital and Kae Capital. The company has now raised $193 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Flywheel, an 8.5-year-old, Minneapolis, Mn.-based data management platform for medical research and collaboration, has raised $15 million in Series B funding. Beringea and 8VC co-led the round, joined by Novartis dRx Capital, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Great North Labs, iSelect and Argonautic Ventures. More here.
Folx Health, a 10-month-old, Boston-based startup that offers virtual care and prescriptions for hormone replacement therapy and sexual health, has raised $25 million in new funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, participation from earlier investors Define Ventures and Polaris. FierceBiotech has more here.
Hip, a three-year-old, New York-based startup whose mobile app connects commuters with third-party bus and shuttle operators, has raised $12 million in funding co-led by NFX and Magenta Venture Partners, with participation by AltaIR Capital and former Uber, Booking.com and Google execs. TechCrunch has more here.
Holded, a five-year-old, Barcelona, Spain-base, cloud-based platform that says it uses AI and data to automate administrative tasks, benchmark performance, and provide managers with actionable insights into their business, has raised €15 million in Series B funding from Elaia, Lakestar, Nauta Capital and SeedRocket. TechCrunch has more here.
Honeycomb, a 4.5-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that builds observability tools to help engineers better understand their code, has raised $20 million led by existing investor e.ventures Growth, with participation from new investor Industry Ventures and earlier backers Storm Ventures, Scale Ventures Partners, NextWorld Capital and Merian Ventures. The company has now raised a total of $46.9 million. Business Insider has more here.
Narmi, a five-year-old, New York-based company selling mobile and online banking software and services to regional and community financial institutions, has raised $20.4 million in Series A funding led by New Enterprise Associates. Built in New York has more here.
Nerd Street Gamers, a four-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based digital esports platform that also has esports training centers (most of which have been closed in the pandemic), has raised $11.5 million in funding from Founders Fund. VentureBeat has more here.
Oyster, an 11-month-old, London-based startup and platform that helps companies through the process of hiring, onboarding and then providing contractors and full-time employees in the area of “knowledge work,” has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Emergence Capital. Other participants include The Slack Fund and earlier backer Connect Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Soda, a nearly three-year-old, Brussels-based data monitoring platform that aims to tell customers which data is worth fixing, has raised €11.5 million in Series A funding. Singular led the round, joined by Point Nine Capital, Hummingbird Ventures and DCF. More here.
Umbra 5.5-year-old Santa Barbara-based satellite intelligence company, has raised $32 million in funding led by Passport Capital, with participation from earlier backers CrossCut Ventures, Starbridge Ventures, Hemisphere Ventures, and the family office Ponvalley. SpaceNews has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Alloy Automation, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based no-code platform that says it enables e-commerce stores to create automated workflows for logistics, marketing, store operations, and more, has raised $4 million in funding led by Bain Capital Ventures and Abstract, with participation from Color Capital, BoxGroup and individual investors, including Shippo CEO Laura Behrens Wu. TechCrunch has more here.
Anthill AI, a 1.5-year-old, Chicago-based maker of adaptive talent management software, has raised $1.24 million in its first outside funding round, led by Origin Ventures. More here.
Bot MD, a three-year-old, Singapore-based startup that helps doctors save time with an AI-based chatbot that acts as a kind of clinical assistant, including answering questions about drugs and diseases on their smartphones, has raised $5 million in Series A funding. Monk’s Hill Venture led the round, joined by SeaX, XA Network, SG Innovate, and angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Landed, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based mobile app that connects hourly food and retail workers with local employers, has raised $1.4 million in seed funding led by Javelin Venture Partners, with participation from Y Combinator, Palm Drive Capital, and individual investors angels. TechCrunch has more here.
Pandion, a year-old, Seattle-based e-commerce delivery startup founded by former Amazon and Walmart exec Scott Ruffin, has raised $4.9 million in seed round led by Playground Global and Schematic Ventures, with participation from AME Cloud Ventures and Innovation Endeavors. FreightWaves has more here.
Poppy, a 1.5-year-old, Washington D.C.-based wedding and event flower startup, has raised $2.2 million in seed funding. IDEA Fund Partners led the round, joined by IrishAngels and Techstars. More here.
Superb AI, a three-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based startup that says its provides a new generation machine learning data platform to AI teams so that they can build better AI in less time, has raised $9.3 million Series A funding. Antinum Investment led the round, joined by Premier Partners, Stonebridge Ventures, Murex Partners, KT Investments, and Duke University’s Angel Network. More here.
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New Funds
According to the WSJ, the eight-year-old, growth-equity firm Activant Capital of Greenwich, Ct., is pitching what would be the its largest fund less than a year after closing its previous fund with $257 million back in April (a fund we dove into a bit here). This time around, Activant is reportedly seeking some $400 million.
KCRise Fund, a 4.5-year-old, Kansas City, Ms.-based seed and Series A-stage venture fund that's focused on startups that are in or tied in some way to the Kansas City region, has closed on $41 million in commitments for its second fund. The firm now has $60 million in assets under management. Startland News has more here.
NFX, the Bay Area and Israel-based seed- and early-stage venture outfit, has carved out $30 million in capital commitments from its current fund to form a separate, seed-stage bio fund, one led by new partner, Omri Amirav Drory, and advised by Twist co-founder and CEO Emily Leproust. The firm’s previous seed investments include Mammoth Biosciences, co-founded by Nobel Prize laureate Jennifer Doudna, and Twist, which is currently valued at $9 billion. Now, as Forbes reports, NFX spies an opportunity to focus specifically focused on seed-stage companies with strong platform approaches and to focus on what firm cofounder James Currier describes as “scientist founders.” As he tells the outlet: “We want the scientist to be the CEO; it’s lab coats, not suits." More here.
Refactor Capital, a five-year-old, Burlingame, Ca.-based venture firm, is looking to raise $50 million for its third fund, shows a new SEC filing. It closed its second fund with $30 million in 2019. Refactor was founded by former Andreessen Horowitz investor Zal Bilimoria and investor David Lee, who is now an EVP with Samsung (see "People"). More here.
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Exits
Intuit announced it is acquiring OneSaas, a 10-year-old, Australia-based technology company that integrates omni-channel sales data from a variety of e-commerce applications. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed but the acquisition enables QuickBooks to accelerate the scale of QuickBooks Commerce, which Intuit announced last year to help small businesses better manage their multiple online and in-store sales channels. ZDNet has more here.
Uber announced today that it is acquiring alcohol-delivery service Drizly for $1.1 billion in stock and cash. Founded in 2012, Drizly has become a popular on-demand alcohol delivery service in the U.S. and is available in 1,400 cities. The thinking is that the purchase could help drive people to use Uber’s app more often. Drizly had raised around $120 million from investors, according to Crunchbase. CNBC has more here.
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Going Public
Otonomo, a six-year-old, Israeli automotive data company, plans to go public via merger with Software Acquisition Group Inc II, a blank-check company. A deal values the company at $1.4 billion. TechCrunch has more here.
Playstudios, a social casino game company, is reportedly going public through a special purpose acquisition company in the second quarter. The outfit has struck a deal with Acies Acquisition Corp., a blank-check company that counts MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren as its chairman. VentureBeat has more here.
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People
David Lee has joined Samsung as head of its L.A.-based Samsung Next investment group. He previously co-founded Refactor Capital and, before that was a managing partner at SV Angel with Ron Conway. More here.
David Yang, a principal with Access Technology Ventures in New York for the last 4.5 years, is joining the growth equity firm Activant as a senior member of its investment team. More here.
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Essential Reads
The 50 stocks that Robinhood originally put on its restricted list had added $276 billion in value from the end of 2020 to the height of the recent mania, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Now, $167 billion has been wiped out in just a matter of days, and there’s little sign the pain is easing.
SpaceX's Starship prototype once again flies to great heights, and once again explodes on landing.
Kia Motors jumped as much as 14.5% after a local media report that Apple will invest 4 trillion won ($3.6 billion) as part of a collaboration with the South Korean carmaker on making electric vehicles. The iPhone maker plans to set up production with Kia and build Apple cars at the automaker’s facility in Georgia, U.S., according to a regional newspaper.
Amazon unveiled its proposed design plans for its second headquarters campus in Arlington, Va. today. It looks like soft-serve ice cream to us, but the Washingtonian has other ideas, too.
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