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Top News
John McAfee, who made his fortune developing antivirus software, died today by suspected suicide in a jail cell near Barcelona, just hours after Spain’s National Court ruled that he was to be extradited to the U.S. to face tax evasion charges. He was 75. (I had a leisurely lunch interview with McAfee after he resigned from his company but well before he completely let loose and began openly carrying a gun. Eating our salads at the vegetarian restaurant Greens in San Francisco, I did not anticipate McAfee 2.0, or "400.0," as McAfee declared in this funny and slightly terrifying interview with the hilarious Jena Friedman back in 2019.)
Warren Buffett revealed today that he has resigned as a trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a move that comes just weeks after the couple announced their divorce. “For years I have been a trustee — an inactive trustee at that — of only one recipient of my funds, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,” Buffett said in a statement. “I am now resigning from that post, just as I have done at all corporate boards other than Berkshire’s.” In 2006, Buffett pledged most of his fortune to the foundation and to four charitable trusts created by his family.
The New York Times looks at the uncertainty surrounding the organization here.
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This QR Code Startup Raised $5 Million Co-Led by Coatue and Alexis Ohanian to Make 1-Click Shopping Ubiquitous
Amazon revolutionized one-click shopping, and it has a nearly $2 trillion market cap to show for the effort.
Now, a 10-person startup founded by JD Maresco, who previously cofounded the public safety app Citizen, says it plans to make it a lot easier for retailers who sell directly to their customers to make re-ordering their products just as fast and simple through its QR codes. Indeed, Maresco’s new startup, Batch, is already working with numerous products and brands that use Shopify, promising their customers “one-tap checkout” when it’s time to reorder an item as long as the retailer has slapped one of Batch’s codes on their items or incorporated the codes directly into their packaging.
For the moment, New York-based Batch is wholly reliant on Apple's App Clip technology, which produces a lightweight version of an app to save people from having to download and install it before using it. (Users can instead load just a small part of an app on demand, and when they’re done, the App Clip disappears.)
But Maresco — whose company just raised $5 million in seed funding co-led by Coatue and Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six, with participation from Weekend Fund, and the Chainsmokers, among others — says Batch will eventually work on both iOS and Android phones. We talked with him yesterday to learn more about its ambitions to make the physical world “instantly shoppable.” Our chat has been edited lightly for length and clarity.
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Massive Fundings
Aircall, a seven-year-old, Paris-based developer of a cloud-based contact center platform, has raised $120 million Series D funding led by Goldman Sachs. Most of the company's earlier backers also joined the round, including DTCP, eFounders, Draper Esprit, Adams Street Partners, NextWorld Capital, and Gaia Capital Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
AlayaCare, a seven-year-old, Montreal-based maker of home and community care software, has raised C$225 million in Series D funding. Generation Investment Management led the round, joined by Klass Capital and earlier backes Inovia Capital, CDPQ and Investissement Québec. More here.
Habi, a two-year-old, Bogota, Colombia-based residential real estate platform, has raised $100 million Series B funding led by the SoftBank Latin America Fund, with participation from previous investors Inspired Capital, Tiger Global, Homebrew, and 8VC. Forbes has more here.
Incorta, a seven-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based startup that sells a data crunching service for customers to analyze corporate data spread across multiple databases and then render it all into charts and graphics, has raised $120 million in Series D funding led by Prysm Capital. Earlier investors GV, Kleiner Perkins, M12, Sorenson Capital, Telstra Ventures and private investor Ron Wohl also joined the round. The company has also secureda credit facility from Silicon Valley Bank, it says. Fortune has more here.
Lower, a seven-year-old, Columbus, Oh.-based home buying startup that operates as a lender, as well as a platform for buying, selling, and insuring homes, has raised $100 million in Series A funding led by Accel. The profitable company was bootstrapped until now, says Crunchbase News. More here.
Snackpass, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based food app that focuses on takeout rather than delivery (and gained early momentum at college campuses across the U.S.) has raised $70 million in Series B funding led by Craft Ventures, with participation from earlier backers Andreessen Horowitz (which led its $21 million Series A), General Catalyst, Y Combinator, and a long list of individual backers. TechCrunch has more here.
Tvardi Therapeutics, a four-year-old, Houston, Tex.-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of STAT3 inhibitors, has raised $74 million in Series B funding led by new investors Slate Path Capital, Palkon Capital, ArrowMark Partners, and 683 Capital, with participation by existing investors, including Sporos Bioventures. The company had raised $9 million in Series A funding in 2019. FierceBiotech has more here.
Vercel, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based platform to develop, preview and ship websites and creator of Next.js, a React and JavaScript framework for frontend web development, has raised $102 million in Series C funding. Bedrock Capital led the round, joined by 8VC, Flex Capital, GGV Capital, Latacora, Salesforce Ventures and Tiger Global. Earlier backers Accel, CRV, Geodesic Capital, Greenoaks Capital and GV also participated. TechCrunch has more here.
WeRide, a four-year-old, Guangzhou, China- and Ca.-based robotaxi company, says it raised $310 million in Series C funding last month from Alliance Ventures, a strategic venture capital fund operated by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, China Structural Reform Fund, a Chinese state-owned private equity fund, and Pro Capital, which manages China’s CDB Equipment Manufacturing Funds. The company has now raised more than $600 million in just less than five months across its Series B and C financing rounds. (The company never revealed exactly how much it raised in its Series A round.) TechCrunch has more here.
Zeller, a year-old, Melbourne-based fintech founded by former Square executives to serve small- to mid-sized businesses, has raised $50 million AUD (about $37.5 million USD) led by Spark Capital. The funding included participation from returning investors Square Peg, Apex Capital Partners and Addition and brings Zeller’s total raised in less than a year to $81 million AUD. TechCrunch has more here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
Anjuna, a three-year old, Palo Alto-based startup that protects applications and data from insiders by seamlessly encrypting everything end to end, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Insight Partners, with participation from Playground Global and Uncorrelated Ventures. More here.
Arryved, a five-year-old, Boulder, Co.-based point-of-service based software company specializing in the craft food and beverage service industry, has raised $20 million in funding led by Tribe Capital and Foundry Group. More here.
Drata, a year-old, San Diego, Ca.-based startup whose platform aims to help companies achieve and maintain continuous compliance through automated security control monitoring and evidence collection, has raised $2 million in Series A funding led by GGV Capital. Other participants in the round include Okta Ventures and Silicon Valley CISO Investors, as well as earlier backers Cowboy Ventures and Leaders Fund. TechCrunch has more here.
DrChrono, an 11-year-old, Sunnyvale, Ca.-based company whose platform aims to power telehealth, electronic health record, practice management, medical billing, and revenue cycle solutions for physicians and patients, has raised a new round of more than $12 million in growth capital from ORIX Growth Capital. More here.
Kaiko, a six-year-old, Paris-based cryptocurrency market data company, has raised $24 million in Series A funding led by Anthemis and Underscore VC, with participation from Point Nine, Alven and Hashkey Capital. The Block has more here.
Merlyn Mind, a New York-based developer of digital assistants for education, raised $29 million led by Learn Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Pequity, a year-old, San Francisco-based "intelligent" compensation platform that automates HR workflows from offer to signing to promotions, has raised $19 million in Series A funding led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from First Round Capital, Designer Fund, and Scribble Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Rarible, a year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based NFT marketplace that allows users to buy and auction off digital art has raised $14.2 million in Series A funding from Venrock Capital, CoinFund and 01 Advisors. TechCrunch has more here.
Symmetry Systems, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based cybersecurity company, has raised $15 million in Series A funding co-led by Prefix Capital and ForgePoint Capital, with participation from Accenture Ventures. The company has now raised $18 million altogether. Crunchbase News has more here.
Smaller Fundings
Acryl Data, a year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based startup looking to commercialize a metadata tool its team had built inside of LinkedIn to help the company organize, search and discover insights from its vast data trove, has raised $9 million in seed funding led by 8VC. LinkedIn and Insight Partners also participated. TechCrunch has more here.
EquityMultiple, a six-year-old, New York-based platform that's trying to open up the world of commercial real estate investing to more people, has raised $4.8 million in its latest funding round, led by Ken Pasternak of Knight Capital Group. More here.
NuvoAir, a five-year-old, Boston- and Stockholm, Sweden-based care platform designed to support people with respiratory conditions, has raised $12 million in Series A funding led by AlbionVC. Other backers in the round include KAYA (formerly Enern), Amino Collective and earlier shareholders Spiltan, Industrifonden and Novartis Pharma AG. More here.
Tiny Organics, an 18-month-old, New York-based early childhood nutrition company, has raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Springdale Ventures, with additional participation by InvestEco, Silas Capital, Human Ventures, VegInvest, Babylist, Gaingels, XFactor Ventures, Natureza and Howard Morgan, along with a long list of earlier backers. TechCrunch has more here.
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New Funds
Blockchain Capital, the eight-year-old, San Francisco-based cryptocurrency- and blockchain-focused venture capital firm, raised $300 million in funding for its fifth fund from investors including PayPal Holdings and Visa, the company said today. The firm, which closed its fourth fund with $150 million in capital commitments in 2018, now has $1.5 billion in assets under management. Coindesk has more here.
Golden Ventures, a 10-year-old, Toronto-based seed-stage venture firm, has raised $100 million for its fourth flagship fund and $20 million for a later-stage fund. TechCrunch has more here.
According to Axios, Lowercarbon Capital, a clean energy-focused venture firm led by Chris Sacca, is raising a total of $830 million for a pair of debut vehicles, a flagship fund and an opportunities fund. More here.
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Exits
Fresh off its $2.4 billion acquisition of Glu Mobile this past April, Electronic Arts announced today that it is buying Warner Bros. Games’ mobile gaming studio Playdemic for $1.4 billion in an all-cash deal. The Manchester studio is best known for its release “Golf Clash” which the studio boasts has more than 80 million downloads globally. TechCrunch has more here.
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Going Public
BuzzFeed is close to a deal to go public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, according to the WSJ, whose sources say the move is part of a plan to consolidate with other players in digital media. The deal with 890 5th Avenue Partners Inc.—a blank-check company named after the headquarters of Marvel’s Avengers superheroes and founded by investor Adam Rothstein—could be announced as early as this week, says the outlet. More here.
Embark Trucks, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based self-driving truck software firm, says it is merging with a special-purpose acquisition company to go public in a deal that values the company at about $5.2 billion, the companies said. (Some of you might recall meeting founder Alex Rodrigues at one of our StrictlyVC events in 2017, where he dazzled the crowd.) The WSJ has more here.
Eight-year-old, Boston-based digital therapeutics startup Pear Therapeutics has struck a deal to go public through a blank-check acquisition that would value the company at $1.6 billion. But it still faces big challenges in selling its app-based treatments, says MedCity News. More here.
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People
Matt Garratt, who has spent the last eight years with Salesforce Ventures, is joining CRV as a general partner next month. More here.
A pair of South African brothers, ages 20 and 21, have vanished along with Bitcoin worth $3.6 billion from their cryptocurrency investment platform. Following a surge in Bitcoin’s value in the past year, the disappearance of about 69,000 coins -- worth more than $4 billion at their April peak -- would represent the biggest-ever dollar loss in a cryptocurrency scam, notes Bloomberg. More here.
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Essential Reads
The race to secure electricity deals for power-hungry data centers has tech companies reshaping the renewable-energy market and grappling with a new challenge: how to ensure their investments actually reduce emissions. More in the WSJ.
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Retail Therapy
Invisible undershirts. (Shh, no one will know you're wearing one.)
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