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Top News
A federal court today dismissed the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust complaint against Facebook, as well as a parallel case brought by 48 state attorneys general, dealing a major setback to the agency’s complaint, which could have resulted in Facebook divesting Instagram and WhatsApp. In a cruel twist (as the FTC and those state attorneys general might see it), shares of Facebook rose more than 4% afterward, making Facebook just the fifth company whose market capitalization has risen above $1 trillion. More here and here.
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Sponsored By ...
Founded by serial tech entrepreneurs, this little-known startup has become the premiere platform for art investing. Demand is up and it’s no surprise why: contemporary art prices rose 14% per year from 1995 through 2020. Over 175,000 have signed up and when we see that much demand, our ears perk up. Discover more with this private StrictlyVC link.* See disclaimer.
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Harness Wealth Raises $15 Million to Democratize the Power of Family Offices
Family offices have existed since the 1800s, but they’ve never been so manifold as in recent years. According to a 2019 Global Family Office Report by UBS and Campden Wealth, 68% of the 360 family offices surveyed were founded in 2000 or later.
Their rise owes to numerous factors, including the tech startups that mint new centi-millionaires and billionaires each year, along with the increasingly complex choices that people with so much moolah encounter. Think household administration, legal matters, trust and estate management, personal investments, charitable ventures.
Still, family offices tend to cater to people with investable assets of $1 billion or more, according to KPMG. Even multi-family offices, where resources are shared with other families, are more typically targeting people with at least $20 million to invest. That high bar means there are still a lot of people with a lot of resources who need hand-holding.
Enter Harness Wealth, a three-year-old, New York-based outfit that was founded by David Snider and Katie Prentke English to cater to individuals with increasingly complex financial pictures, including following liquidity events. The two understand as well as anyone how one’s vested interests can abruptly change — and how hard these can be to manage when working full-time.
Snider got his start out of school as an associate with Bain & Company and later as an associate with Bain Capital before becoming the first business hire at Compass and getting promoted to COO and CFO after the real estate company’s $25 million Series A raise in 2013. Compass grew, of course, and now, less than four months after its late-March IPO, it boasts a market cap of nearly $27 billion.
Indeed, over the years, Snider, who rejoined Bain as an executive-in-residence after 4.5 years with Compass, spied an opportunity in bringing together the often siloed businesses like tax and estate and investment planning, including it because “it resonated with me personally. Despite all these great things on my resume, every six months I found something I could or should have been doing differently with my equity.”
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Massive Fundings
Carbon Health, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based primary and urgent healthcare company, is reportedly in talks to raise new funding at a $3 billion valuation after shelving talks to go public through a blank-check company. According to Bloomberg, the round being discussed is around $300 million and includes Blackstone Group and Capital Group. More here.
ClearScore, a nearly seven-year-old, London-based credit score and financial product marketplace, has raised $200 million from Invus Opportunities. In 2018, the company agreed to sell itself to Experian for £275 million, but the deal was scrapped the following year after the Competition and Markets Authority suggested that it would block it, as Sky News notes in a short report about the new round.
CMR Surgical, a seven-year-old, Impington, England-based developer of surgical robotics, has raised £425 million in Series D funding. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Ally Bridge co-led the round, joined by RPMI Railpen, Tencent Holdings, Chimera and earlier backers LGT, Watrium, Cambridge Innovation Capital, PFM Health Sciences and GE Healthcare. FierceBiotech has more here.
Outdoorsy, a six-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based on-demand marketplace for recreational vehicles (it also sells insurance), has raised $90 million in fresh funding from Moore Strategic Ventures, ADAR1 Partners, Monashee Capital, SiriusPoint, and Convivialite Ventures. The company separately secured a $30 million debt facility from Pacific Western Bank. The outfit, which previously raised roughly $88 million in in funding, is now the best-funded of several new RV travel startups, including RVShare, Indie Campers, and ShareACamper, says Skift. More here.
Side, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based real estate tech startup that works to turn agents and independent brokerages into boutique brands and businesses, has raised “$50 million-plus” in a funding round that more than doubles its valuation to $2.5 billion just three months after raising $150 million in Series D funding led by Coatue Management at a $1 billion valuation. Tiger Global Management led the latest tranche, which also included participation from ICONIQ Capital and D1 Capital Partners. With the new capital, Side has now raised more than $250 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Smart, a 7.5-year-old, London-based investment and retirement plan platform that works largely with employers, has raised $228 million in Series D funding led by Chrysalis Investments. More here.
Tapcart, a four-year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based startup that calls itself as the “Shopify for mobile apps,” (it powers the apps for thousands of brands, it says, including Fashion Nova and Pier One Imports), has raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Left Lane Capital. Other participants in the round include Shopify itself, SignalFire, Greycroft, Act One Ventures and Amplify LA. You might recall that we covered a very similar startup last week called Via (looks like this space is heating up). TechCrunch has more here.
Voyager Innovations, an eight-year-old, Manila, Philippines-based owner of PayMaya, one of the country's most popular payment and financial services apps, has raised $167 million in new funding, including from PLDT, one of the country’s largest telecoms; earlier backers KKR and Tencent Holdings; and new investors, including IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund. The company has now raised $452 million altogether, says TechCrunch. More here.
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
BreezoMeter, a seven-year-old, Haifa, Israel-based air quality analytics platform, has raised $30 million in Series C funding led by Fortissimo Capital. The company has now raised $45 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Fintual, a three-year-old, Santiago, Chile-based passive investment platform, has raised $15 million led by Kaszek Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
LocoNav, a five-year-old, San Francisco- and Gurgaon, India-based maker of online fleet management software, has raised $37 million in Series B funding. Backers in the round include Quiet Capital, Anthemis Group, Foundamental, Sequoia Capital India, RIT Capital Partners, Uncorrelated Ventures, Village Global and others. The company has now raised $47 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Payzer, a nine-year-old, Charlotte, N,C.-based maker of field service management software to help contractors run their business, grow sales, and simplify their back-office operations, has raised $23 million in Series D funding led by Harbert Growth Partners. Earlier and new investors including Grotech Ventures, Route 66 Ventures, Ferguson Ventures, IDEA Fund Partners, and Alerion Ventures also participated. More here.
Slice, a four-year-old, Bengaluru, India-based AI-based digital credit platform that enables college students to buy products and services online on monthly payment plans, has raised $20 million from earlier backers, including Gunosy and Blume Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Wonderflow, a six-year-old, Amsterdam-based analytics platform that helps B2C companies extract value from consumer feedback like online reviews, support center records, and net promoter scores, has raised $20 million in Series B Funding led by Toronto-based Klass Capital. Earlier investors, including Italian venture capital firm P101, ITALIA 500 (Azimut Group) and renowned Dutch top manager Jan Bennink, also participated in the round, which brings the company's total funding to $25 million. More here.
Smaller Fundings
Infina, a three-year-old, Singapore-based investing app for retail investors in Vietnam, has raised $2 million in seed funding from Saison Capital, Venturra Discovery, 1982 Ventures, 500 Startups and Nextrans. TechCrunch has more here.
Minly, a year-old, Cairo, Egypt-based platform that, like Cameo in the U.S., connects celebrities and fans, has raised $3.6 million in seed funding co-led by 4DX Ventures, B&Y Venture Partners and Global Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Prelude, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that looks to make scheduling job interviews easier on behalf of more than 100 companies, has raised $1.2 million in seed funding led by Fuel Capital. The company has now raised $2.4 million to date. Crunchbase News has more here.
Thursday, an 18-month-old, London-based dating app that goes live just once a week to save people from spending too much time on dating apps, and also to encourage action (it all deletes all matches and conversations on the platform within hours), has raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Backers in the round include Ascension Ventures, Best Nights VC (previously M-Venture) the investment arm of Jägermeister, Connect Ventures, and numerous individual investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Xclaim, a three-year-old, L.A.-based financial platform that allows for both the buying and selling of bankruptcy claims, has raised $6.6 million in new seed funding. General Catalyst led the round, joined by First Round, Freestyle VC, Innovation Ventures, Luge Capital, Quiet Capital and Tribe Capital. Crunchbase News has more here.
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New Funds
Dynamo Ventures, a five-year-old, Chattanooga, Tn.-based seed-stage investment firm focused on supply chain and mobility startups, has closed its second fund with $43 million in capital commitments. Among the firm's current bets is Sennder, a German digital freight brokerage that raised a $240 million Series D at a $1.45 billion post-money valuation earlier this month, making it Dynamo’s first unicorn. Dynamo first invested in Sennder in 2017. Other Dynamo portfolio companies that have seen their valuations rise recently include Atlanta-based digital warehouse and distribution network STORD (valued at $505 million as of March) and Irish drone delivery service Manna Aero, which closed its Series A at the end of April. Dynamo closed its first fund with $18 million in 2016. “We believe just as the financial crisis of 2008 drove a new generation of fintech startups, the COVID-19 pandemic will drive a similar wave of innovation through the supply chain industry,” Jon Bradford, partner at Dynamo Ventures, said in a statement shared with StrictlyVC last week. FreightWaves has more here.
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Exits
On the heels of Etsy’s huge deal to acquire Depop, a secondhand marketplace for a new generation of social media users, Etsy has announced another significant deal to build out its reach, this time in Latin America. The company says it will acquire Elo7 — commonly referred to as the “Etsy of Brazil,” for $217 million. As TechCrunch notes, Etsy was already active in Brazil, but Elo7 is one of the 10 biggest e-commerce sites in the region, with 1.9 million active buyers, 56,000 active sellers, and some 8 million items for sale. More here.
After raising $37.5 million from investors and executing a pretty substantial pivot earlier this year, four-year-old augmented reality startup Ubiquity6 and its team have been acquired by gaming chat app giant Discord for undisclosed terms. Ubiquity6 was funded by Benchmark, First Round, Kleiner Perkins and Gradient Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
QAD, a 41-year-old, Santa Barbara, Ca.-based maker of manufacturing and supply chain software, said today the private equity firm Thoma Bravo will acquire it and take it private again for $2 billion. The company went public in 1997. More here.
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Going Public
Duolingo, a 10-year-old, Pittsburgh, Pa.-based language learning business last valued at $2.4 billion (it has raised $183.3 million altogether from investors), has officially filed to go public. TechCrunch has more here.
Israeli-founded cybersecurity firm SentinelOne has boosted the price range for its IPO and is now looking to raise about $1.02 billion at a valuation of about $8.11 billion, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed today. Backed by venture capital firms including Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and Insight Venture Partners, SentinelOne now plans to sell 32 million shares of its Class A common stock priced between $31 and $32 per share. Calcalist has more here.
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People
After a 12-year run, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley has announced that he is stepping back from his full-time role at the company. TechCrunch has more here.
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Essential Reads
Juul Labs gas agreed to pay $40 million to the state of North Carolina to settle a lawsuit alleging that the e-cigarette maker had targeted underage users, resolving the first of a string of legal and regulatory challenges facing the once-hot startup. Hundreds of similar cases brought against the vaping company by state officials, school districts and young people are still pending.
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Sponsored By ...
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