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April 9, 2021
Hello!
Some of you are wondering where your issue of StrictlyVC was yesterday. It's actually the first issue we've missed through misadventure in the newsletter's history. The short version: our temporary home this week was taken offline yesterday -- power, WiFi, cellular -- by a single car that crashed into a telephone pole at 4 p.m. and amazingly (alarmingly) took out 900 homes with it. Because PG&E won't have things up and running until tomorrow, we're shooting off this missive while we're out and about and still have an internet connection(!).
Hope you have a terrific weekend -- more Monday.:)
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Top News
Amazon today secured enough votes to defeat the unionization drive at one of its Alabama warehouses, delivering a blow to organized labor who hoped to unionize a U.S. Amazon facility for the first time. CNBC has more here.
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Massive Fundings
Better.com, a six-year-old, New York-based digital montage lender, has raised $500 million in funding from SoftBank that values the company at $6 billion. Notably, that's up 50% from the $4 billion where it was valued in November when it raised $200 million in Series D financing. The company has raised $900 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Iyuno-SDI Group, a new Seoul, South Korea-based provider of translated subtitles and other media localization services, has raised $160 million in funding from SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Iyuno-SDI Group was formed after Iyuno Media Group completed its acquisition of SDI Media last month. TechCrunch has more here.
Oda, an eight-year-old, Oslo, Norway-based online grocery business that was formerly known as Kolonial, has raised €223 million in funding led by Prosus (formerly Naspers) and Softbank Vision Fund 2, with participation from earlier backers Kinnevik and REMA. EU Startups has more here.
Orum, a 19-month-old, New York-based fintech whose products include a control center that directs which payment rails a transaction should travel on given a financial institution’s preferences for speed and cost, has raised $21 million in Series A funding led by earlier investor Bain Capital Ventures. Other earlier backers to also participate in the round include Inspired Capital, Homebrew, Acrew Capital, Primary, Clocktower, and Box Group. Forbes has more here.
Tripledot Studios, a four-year-old, London-based mobile games company, just raised $78 million in Series A(!!) funding from Eldridge, Access Industries and Lightspeed Venture Partners. VentureBeat has more here.
TipRanks, a nine-year-old, Israel-based fintech behind a simplified stock research platform that aims to make alternative datasets accessible and visual for retail investors, has raised $77 million in funding led by Prytek and More Investment House. Calcalist has more here.
TrueLayer, a five-year-old, London-based fintech that's building an open banking network (a concept in which banks open up their application programming interfaces for third parties to develop new apps and services), has raised $70 million in Series D funding led by Addition. Earlier backers also joined the round, including Anthemis Group, Connect Ventures, Mouro Capital, Northzone and Temasek. Crunchbase News has more here.
Ventus Therapeutics, a two-year-old, Waltham, Ma.-based biotech company focused on discovering small-molecule medicines for high value and elusive targets, has raised $100 million in Series B funding led by RA Capital Management. Other investors in the round include BVF Partners, Casdin Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, and Alexandria Venture Investments. More here.
Vesta Healthcare, a three-year-old, New York-based digital health platform focused on home-based care, has raised $65 million in growth capital led by Deerfield Management Company, with participation from earlier investors Oak HC/FT, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Lux Capital, Generator Ventures, Nationwide, CareCentrix and Epstein Partners. FierceBiotech has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Alyce, a six-year-old, Boston-based, subscription-based corporate gifting, swag and direct mail service, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by General Catalyst, with participation from earlier investors Boston Seed Capital, Golden Ventures, Manifest, Morningside and Victress Capital. The company has now raised $48 million altogether. More here.
Canvas Medical, a nearly six-year-old, San Francisco-based charting and practice management platform designed by and built exclusively for independent primary care practices, has raised $17 million in funding co-led by Inspired Capital and IA Ventures, with participation from IRONGREY and earlier investors Upfront Ventures and iSeed. More here.
Community, a 3.5-year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based messaging platform that lets brands, celebrities and others text with consumers, has raised $40 million in funding led by Salesforce Ventures. The company has now raised $90 million altogether. The WSJ has more here.
Mercato, a six-year-old, New York-based online marketplace for independent grocery stores, has raised $26 million in Series A funding led by Velvet Sea Ventures, with participation from Team Europe, the investing arm of Lukasz Gadowski, co-founder of Delivery Hero. Seed investors Greycroft and Loeb.nyc also returned for the new round. TechCrunch has more here.
SnackMagic, a year-old, New York-based build-your-own gift box platform, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Craft Ventures, with participation from Luxor Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Syzygy Plasmonics, a four-year-old, Houston, Tex.-based chemical company developing a photocatalyst-powered hydrogen fuel cell technology that produces a cheaper source of energy that releases fewer carbon emissions, has raised $23 million funding. Hong Kong-based Horizons Venture led the round, joined by Equinor Ventures and earlier backers The Engine, GOOSE Capital, and Evok Innovations. Innovation Map has more here.
Tines, a three-year-old, Dublin, Ireland-based no-code automation platform co-founded by two senior cybersecurity operators, has raised a $26 million Series B funding round led by Addition. Earlier investors Accel and Blossom Capital participated in this round, which also includes strategic investments from CrowdStrike and Silicon Valley CISO Investments. After this round, which brings the total funding in the company to $41.1 million, Tines is now valued at $300 million. TechCrunch has more here.
X Shore, a five-year-old, Sweden-based electric boat maker, has raised €15 million in funding led by Team Europe. Tech.eu has more here.
Smaller Fundings
AND Digital, a six-year-old, London-based tech consultancy that caters to customers across the U.K., has raised £8 million in follow-on funding from BGF. The company has now raised roughly £20 million over the last 12 months. More here.
Formation, a nearly two-year-old, Bay Area-based remote software engineering fellowship program, has raised $4 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Other participants in the round include Designer Fund, Combine, Lachy Groom, Slow Ventures and engineers from Airbnb, Notion, Rippling and others. TechCrunch has more here.
Realworld, a five-year-old, New York-based education platform, marketplace, and community for twentysomethings looking for a single-point of entry into understanding insurance, investing, and more, has raised $3.4 million in seed funding led by Fitz Gate Ventures. Other participants in the round include Bezos Expeditions, Knightsgate Ventures, The Helm, Great Oaks VC, Copper Wire Ventures, AmplifyHer Ventures, Underdog Labs, and Human Ventures. Previous backer Techstars also participated in the round. TechCrunch has more here.
Shorthand, an eight-year-old, Brisbane, Australia-based startup behind a no-code platform that allows publishers and brands to create multimedia stories, has raised the equivalent of roughly $8 million in U.S. dollars from Fortitude Investment Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
Vybe, a two-year-old, Paris, France-based startup trying to build a challenger bank for teens, has raised $2.9 million in funding round (€2.4 million) to build a challenger bank for teens in a round extension from earlier backers, including Ronan Le Moal, the former CEO of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa. TechCrunch has more here.
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New Funds
A Texas venture capital firm called SpaceFund that's co-located in Houston and Austin, has announced a recent closing of $9 million in capital commitments as part of the $20 million that the outfit expects to raise altogether for the vehicle. It has already backed 13 space-related startups. Innovation Map has more here.
Phoenix Group, one of the UK’s largest long-term savings and retirement business, yesterday announced the launch of its first dedicated venture capital fund, Phoenix Venture Capital Partners, to which it's allocating an initial £100 million.
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Exits
Tencent’s biggest shareholder, Prosus (majority controlled by Naspers), has sold 2% of its stake in the company for a cool $14.7 billion. Prosus, the Europe-based tech investor, still owns a 29% of the Chinese tech giant. Reuters has more here.
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Going Public
Five IPOs are scheduled to raise $4.5 billion in the week ahead, joined by Coinbase’s widely anticipated direct listing. More here.
UTime, a Chinese maker of mobile phones and accessories that went public on Tuesday in New York at $4 share and saw its shares peak at $107.33 on Wednesday, up nearly 2,600% from its offering price, now holds the title highest first day "pop" for a 875% increase since 1999, when internet service provider Freeserve jumped 1,261% during its dot com IPO debut. Bloomberg has more here.
Vaccitech, a five-year-old, Oxford, U.K.-based company that develops T cell immunotherapies and vaccines for cancers, COVID-19, and other diseases, filed on Friday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. Renaissance Capital has more here.
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People
Tom Brady is launching a new company called Autograph that will sell unique digital memorabilia from sports icons and celebrities. Business Insider has more here.
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Essential Reads
Facebook yesterday began public beta testing of Hotline, a Q&A product that's a mashup of Clubhouse and Instagram Live.
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Detours
How NASA's Ingenuity helicopter was developed.
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Retail Therapy
Vallon's end-of-season sale.
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