A fivefold leap for Figma, an acquisition for Amazon, and four venture firms probably celebrating tonight

June 24, 2021
Top News
 
President Biden and a bipartisan group of senators reached a deal on today for $1.2 trillion in investments to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure -- spanning roads, bridges, tunnels, rail and broadband -- as well as to address waterways and coastlines that are washing away, and to finance a half-million electric vehicle charging stations. The compromise constitutes only a fraction of the $4 trillion economic agenda Biden has proposed, and both he and top Democrats say the compromise can advance only in tandem with the larger bill. The New York Times has more here.
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Massive Fundings
 
Chainalysis, a seven-year-old, New York-based blockchain data platform, has raised $100 million in Series E funding led by Coatue, with participation from earlier backers Benchmark, Accel, Addition, Dragoneer, Durable Capital Partners, and 9Yards Capital. The company is now valued at $4.2 billion by its investors, and it has raised roughly $366 million, according to Crunchbase. Coindesk has a bit more here.
 
Figma, an eight-year-old, San Francisco-based maker of product design software for businesses, has raised $200 million in Series E funding at a $10 billion valuation, reports Bloomberg. The new financing was led by Durable Capital Partners and Morgan Stanley, through its Counterpoint Global group. The deal increases the company’s valuation fivefold. More here.
 
Firebolt, a two-year-old, Israel-based cloud data warehousing platform, raised $127 million in Series B funding from Dawn Capital and K5 Global, along with Zeev Ventures, TLV Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and Angular Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
 
The GOAT Group, the six-year-old, L.A.-based parent company of the sneaker and streetwear empire GOAT, just announced $195 million in Series F funding that values the company at $3.7 billion. The raise was led by a handful of hedge funds and P/E firms including Park West Asset Management, Franklin Templeton, Adage Capital Management, Ulysses Management and funds & accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates. The outfit has now raised roughly $500 million from investors, according to Crunchbase. TechCrunch has more here.
 
Illumio, an eight-year-old, Sunnyvale, Ca.-based cybersecurity company, has raised $225 million in Series F funding valuing it at $2.8 billion led by Thoma Bravo, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Hamilton Lane, and Owl Rock. The company has now raised roughly $560 million altogether, according to Crunchbase. TechCrunch has more here.
 
JW Player, a 16-year-old, New York-based video software and data insights platform, has raised $100 million in Series E funding from LLR Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
 
Quanta Dialysis Technologies, a 13-year-old, Beverly, Ma.-based company that makes a portable dialysis machine, has raised $245 million in Series D funding. Glenview Capital and Novo Holdings co-led the round, joined by BlackRock, Eldridge, Sands Capital, Millennium Management, Monashee Investment Management, Puhua Capital, Segulah MedicalAncora, Orlando Health and numerous earlier backers. FierceBiotech has more here.
 
ShipHero, an eight-year-old, Garnerville, New York-based company that provides e-commerce software and fulfillment services through seven U.S. warehouses, has raised $50 million in funding led by Riverwood Capital. More here.
 
SmartAsset, a nine-year-old, New York-based platform that produces automated personal financial advice for its users, has raised $110 million in Series D funding led by TTV Capital. Other backers in the round include Javelin Venture Partners, Contour Venture Partners, Citi Ventures, New York Life Ventures, North Bridge Venture Partners, and CMFG Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
 
Triastek, a six-year-old, Nanjing, China-based 3D printing pharmaceutical company, has raised $50 million Series B funding co-led by Matrix Partners China and CPE, with participation from Shanghai Sci-Tech Innovation Center Capital and earlier backers Morningside Ventures, Dalton Venture and Yunqi Partners. DealStreetAsia has more here.
 
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
 
Atom Finance, a three-year-old, New York-based platform that lets individuals track investments and research holdings, has raised $28 million in Series B funding. SoftBank Latin America Fund led the round, joined by General Catalyst and Base Partners. The WSJ has more here.
 
CoreTigo, a four-year-old, Netanya, Israel-based maker of industrial wireless connectivity software that can collect data from sensors and actuators so that machines and production lines might be designed and retrofitted faster, has raised $13 million in Series B funding. Earlier backer Cardumen Capital led the round, joined by Verizon Ventures and other earlier backers Lenovo Capital, Magma Venture Partners, Meron Capital, Qualcomm Ventures and Sierra Ventures. More here.
 
Electric Hydrogen, a four-month-old, San Francisco-based renewable energy startup, raised $24 million in Series A funding. Breakthrough Energy Ventures led the round, joined by Prelude Ventures and Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund. Founder and CEO Raffi Garabedian was the former CTO of First Solar. More here.
 
FIGUR8, a five-year-old, Boston-based med tech startup focused on wearable musculoskeletal technology, has raised $12 million in Series A funding. Taiwania Capital led the round, joined by the MIT-affiliated E14 Fund, Phoenix Venture Partners, and P5 Health Ventures. More here.
 
Graylog, an 11-year-old, Houston, Tex.-based maker of centralized log management software, has raised $18 million in funding co-led by Harbert Growth Partners and Piper Sandler Merchant Banking, with participation from Mercury Fund, High-Tech Gruenderfonds, and Integr8d Capital. More here.
 
Lessen, a two-year-old, Scottsdale, Az.-based marketplace that connects property owners to a network of professionals for renovation, maintenance, and other services, has raised $35 million in Series A funding led by Fifth Wall. Crowdfund Insider has more here.
 
Orbion Space Technology, a five-year-old, Houghton, Mi.-based developer of in-space plasma propulsion systems for small satellites, has raised $20 million in Series B funding. Inventus Capital Partners led the round, joined by Material Impact, Beringea, and Wakestream Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
 
Rasgo Intelligence, a year-old, New York-based startup developing a platform for feature store workflows, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners, with participation from Unusual Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.
 
Sealed, a nine-year-old, New York-based company that covers the upfront costs of professional residential upgrades like insulation, heating, and cooling, then has homeowners pay it back with energy savings, has raised $16 million in Series B funding. Fifth Wall led the round; other participants include FootPrint Coalition Ventures, co-founded by Robert Downey Jr., and earlier backers Cyrus Capital and CityRock Ventures. More here.
 
SafeAI, a three-year-old, Milpitas, Ca.-based autonomous heavy equipment startup focused on the mining industry, has raised $21 million in Series A funding led by Builders VC. CNBC has more here.
 
Sendle, a seven-year-old, Sydney, Australia- and Seattle-based shipping carrier focused on carbon neutrality and small business, has raised $35 million in Series C funding. AP Ventures led the round, joined by Federation, Full Circle, and NRMA. GeekWire has more here.
 
Solfácil, a three-year-old, Brazil-based financing platform for solar energy projects, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by QED Investors, with participation from Valor Capital Group, among others. Reuters has more here.
 
Sorbet, a two-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based paid time-off management startup, has raised $15 million led by Group 11. TechCrunch has more here.
 
Taptap Send, a three-year-old, London-based cross-border payments company, has raised $13.4 million in Series A funding. Canaan Partners and Reid Hoffman co-led the round. TechCrunch has more here
 
Tripp, a four-year-old, L.A.-based VR app that users visual and auditory experiences designed to feel like an hallucinogen trip without the hallucinogenics, has raised $11 million in funding led by Vine Ventures and Mayfield, with participation from Integrated, among others. The company has now raised some $15 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
 
Smaller Fundings
 
Deduce, a two-year-old, New York-based cybersecurity company, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Foundry Group, with participation from True Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.
 
Gotrade, a two-year-old, Singapore-based startup that makes fractional trading of U.S. stocks available to people in 150 countries and charges a minimum of just one dollar, has raised $7 million in seed funding led by LocalGlobe, with participation from Social Leverage, Y Combinator, Picus Capital and Raptor Group. TechCrunch has more here.
 
Phylum, a year-old, Evergreen, Co.-based startup focused on software supply chain security, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by First In, with participation from TechOperators, General Advance, Verissimo Ventures, Area 51 Ventures, and numerous individual investors, including Philip Martin, the chief security officer at Coinbase, and Caleb Sima, the chief security officer at Robinhood. More here.
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New Funds
 
Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz announced today it has raised $2.2 billion in capital commitments from existing LPs for its much anticipated third crypto fund. TechCrunch has more here.
 
Leta Capital, a nine-year-old, Moscow-based venture firm, raised $100 million for its third fund, it tells TechCrunch. More here.
 
Orios Venture Partners, a Chennai, India-based venture firm, says it has closed its first opportunity-type fund with $30 million in capital commitments, money it intends to invest in its existing portfolio companies. The firm had earlier raised two early-stage funds closing the in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Times of India has more here.
 
Vida Ventures, a three-year-old life sciences-focused venture firm co-founded by CAR-T pioneer Arie Belldegrun, raised $825 million for its third fund. Endpoints News has more here.
Exits
 
Amazon Music is getting more serious about its podcast endeavors, announcing today that it’s acquiring 10-year-old, Oakland, Ca.-based Art19, a major podcast hosting and monetization platform. Terms of the deal haven't been disclosed. The Verge has more here.
 
Lucid, an 11-year-old, South Jordan, Ut.-based company that makes visual collaboration software, sold $500 million worth of shares in a secondary sale valuing the business at $3 billion. Investors included Alkeon Capital, Tiger Global, and Steadfast Capital Ventures. No word publicly about who sold their shares. More here.
Going Public
 
Shares of five-year-old, Minneapolis, Mn.-based health insurer Bright Health Group fell in their trading debut today, the "latest issue to test investors’ appetite for new health-care companies that have yet to show profit but are aiming for high growth," notes Bloomberg. The company raised about $925 million yesterday, selling 51.4 million shares for $18 each after marketing 60 million of them for $20 to $23. The shares dropped 7.6% to $16.64 today, giving the company a market value of $10.4 billion. More here.
 
Less than three months after going public amid a wave of investor optimism about housing markets and enthusiasm for real estate technology, Compass shares have dropped almost 30%. The Real Deal looks at why.
 
Confluent, the data analytics vendor that spun out of LinkedIn in 2014, climbed 25% in its Nasdaq debut today, giving the company a market cap of $11.4 billion. In the offering, Confluent raised $828 million, selling 23 million shares at $36 each, above the projected range of $29 to $33. The stock closed at $45.02. CNBC has more here.
 
Didi Global, the nine-year-old, Beijing-based ride-hailing company, is targeting a valuation of $62 billion to $67 billion in its IPO, according to its latest public filing. The fully diluted valuation, which typically includes restricted stock units, could eclipse $70 billion, according to the WSJ, which notes that Didi is right now looking to raise $3.9 billion in the IPO by selling 288 million American depositary shares at $13 to $14 per ADS. More here.
 
Dingdong, a four-year-old, Shanghai, China-based company that delivers groceries primarily in major Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Hangzhou, is aiming for a more than $6 billion valuation in its New York debut as it joins Asian tech startups seeking to tap into the IPO boom in the U.S. The unicorn company -- backed by SoftBank Vision Fund II, Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital -- plans to raise up to $357 million in its IPO. Pymnts has more here.
 
Doximity, a 10-year-old company that has become the primary app that doctors use to stay connected with one another (the company says that more than 80% of physicians are on the network), more than doubled in its stock market debut today after raising close to $500 million in its IPO. Doximity sold 19 million shares for $26 a piece last night, above its projected range of $20 to $23, and an existing investor sold another 4.3 million. The stock closed at $53, giving the company a market cap of $9.4 billion. CNBC has more here.
People
 
The founder of Wise is set to become a paper billionaire next month as the fintech company tees up a £5 billion stock market listing. Kristo Käärmann, who launched the London-based money transfer company formerly known as Transferwise in 2011, is set to own stock worth a fortune when the company goes public next month through a direct listing, as he owns nearly 20% of the company. Taavet Hinrikus, a cofounder of the company and now its executive chairman, meanwhile owns 11.5% of the business after selling a large part of his stake to invest in startups. The Telegraph has more here.
 
Meet Thomas Heatherwick, the man designing Google’s futuristic new headquarters. "I'm embarrassed to say I didn’t, we didn’t, really get back to them originally.”
Data
 
Four Silicon Valley VC firms notched billion-dollar IPO wins today. Benchmark and Index Ventures each own more than $1 billion worth of shares in Confluent, after the cloud software company debuted on the public market this morning. Meanwhile, Emergence Capital is the largest outside investor in Doximity, with a stake worth $1.3 billion, followed by InterWest Partners. All four firms made their respective investments before the companies were generating revenue, notes CNBC. More here.
Essential Reads
 
How investing mogul Peter Thiel turned a retirement account for the middle class Into a $5 billion tax-free piggy bank.
 
Long Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), a Silicon Valley stock exchange that encourages long-term thinking over short-term gains, says two marquee tech companies will be among its first listings. Twilio, a $67 billion software company, and Asana, a roughly $10 billion cloud software company run by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, are the first two companies to agree to dual list their shares on the LTSE. The CEOs of both companies, which also are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, were early investors in LTSE with financial stakes of less than 1.5%. The WSJ has the story here.
Detours
 
The houseboat wars of Richardson Bay.
 
The abandoned houses of Instagram.
 
Things every cat owner wish they'd known before adopting.
Retail Therapy
 
 
Loud and clear Vans.
Sponsored By ...
 
Shareworks by Morgan Stanley. Curious about all the buzz around NFTs? Join us for our next Liquidity Virtual Event Series session on July 8 at 1pm EST to hear from industry thought leaders as they explore the digital tokenization of assets and equity, including the potential benefits and challenges to the industry. Visit the Shareworks by Morgan Stanley website to learn more and register.
 
Shareworks by Morgan Stanley services are provided by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, member SIPC, and its affiliates, all wholly owned subsidiaries of Morgan Stanley.  CRC 3614741-6/21
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