SpaceX makes a rare acquisition, Jay Y. Lee is being freed, and Leafly joins the SPAC party

August 9, 2021
 
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Top News
 
A last-minute push to limit new cryptocurrency tax-reporting requirements in the $1 trillion infrastructure package failed today despite a bipartisan agreement and a frenzied lobbying push. More in the Washington Post. 
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Latent AI, Which Says It Can Compress Common AI Models by 10X, Lands Key Backing
 
Roughly a year ago, Latent AI, a now three-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based startup, pitched a handful of investors during TechCrunch’s Battlefield competition. It didn’t win that contest, but that hasn’t kept it from winning the interest of investors elsewhere. It just closed on $19 million in Series A funding in a round co-led by Future Ventures and Blackhorn Ventures, with participation from Booz Allen, Lockheed Martin, 40 North Ventures, and Autotech Ventures. The company has now raised $22.5 million altogether.
 
What are these backers funding exactly? The company says it makes software designed to train, adapt and deploy edge AI neural networks, irrespective of hardware constraints or the inexpensive chips that are typically found in edge devices. It also says it can compress common AI models by ten times without a noticeable change in accuracy, partly through an “attention mechanism” that enables it to save power and run only what is needed based on environment and operational context. Not last, it promises its users (who are edge device developers) that its software can do all of this with nearly zero latency (thus the company name).
 
Steve Jurvetson, the veteran investor and cofounder of Future Ventures, says of possible applications, “Think of face-detection algorithms running locally within security cameras or appliances, or Siri-like voice interfaces working instantly, even when there’s no network connectivity.”
 
Massive Fundings
 
Cricket Health, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based kidney care company that provides integrated nephrology and dialysis care for people with chronic kidney disease and end stage renal disease, has raised $83.5 million in Series B funding. Valtruis led the round, joined by Oak HC/FT, Cigna Ventures, K2 HealthVentures, and Blue Shield of California. FierceHealthcare has more here.
 
FreshBooks, a 19-year-old, Toronto-based cloud accounting software company focused on small and mid-size businesses, has raised $80.75 million in Series E funding, as well as $50 million in debt financing. Earlier backer Accomplice led the equity financing at a post-money valuation of more than $1 billion. JPMorgan, Gaingels, BMO Technology & Innovation Banking Group and Manulife also participated in the equity piece, along with new backer Barclays. FreshBooks has now raised more than $200 million in funding over its lifetime. TechCrunch has more here.
 
Snorkel AI, a two-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based startup specializing in training machine learning systems, has raised $85 million in funding co-led by Addition and BlackRock, with participation from Greylock, GV, Lightspeed Venture PartnersNepenthe Capital and Walden. The round brings Snorkel’s total raised to $135 million and its valuation to $1 billion. VentureBeat has more here.
 
Trendyol, an 11-year-old, Turkey-based e-commerce platform that ranks as the largest of its kind in the country, has raised $1.5 billion in a massive funding round that values the company at $16.5 billion. General Atlantic, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Princeville Capital and sovereign wealth funds ADQ (UAE) and Qatar Investment Authority co-led the round. TechCrunch has more here.
 
UpGrad, a six-year-old, Bangalore, India-based startup that specializes in higher education and upskilling courses, has raised $185 million in new funding at a post-money valuation of $1.2 billion, reports TechCrunch. Singapore’s Temasek led the round, joined by the World Bank’s IFC and IIFL. The first tranche of the round — about $120 million — was completed in April this year at a valuation of more than $600 million, says TC. More here.
 
Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings
 
Cadence, a year-old, L.A.-based remote patient monitoring startup that enables clinicians to provide personalized feedback via texts and video visits, has raised $41 million in funding from General Catalyst and Thrive Capital, with participation from Martin Ventures and Chelsea Clinton, among others. MedCity News has more here.
 
Canopy Servicing, a two-year-old, Keaʻau, Hawaii-based maker of servicing infrastructure software that allows its fintech customers and others to develop loan programs for their own customers, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Canaan, with participation from Homebrew, Foundation Capital and BoxGroup, among others. The company had previously raised $3.5 million in seed funding. TechCrunch has more here.
 
Moove Africa, a two-year-old, Amsterdam-based startup that provides revenue-based vehicle financing to mobility entrepreneurs across Africa (it is Uber’s exclusive car financing and vehicle supply partner in sub-Saharan Africa), has raised $23 million in Series A funding. Speedinvest and Left Lane Capital led the round, joined by DCM, Clocktower Technology Ventures, LocalGlobe, and FJ Labs, among many others. TechCrunch has more here.
 
Pintu, a Jakarta, Indonesia-based crypto exchange, has raised $35 million in extended Series A funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, joined by Alameda Ventures, Blockchain.com Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Intudo Ventures, and Pantera Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
 
Xayn, a four-year-old, Berlin-based smartphone app-based search engine, has raised roughly $12 million in funding led by the Japanese investors Global Brain and KDDI, with participation from earlier backers Earlybird VC in Berlin. The company has now raised more than $23 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
 
Smaller Fundings
 
Cent, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that mints non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from tweets (it helped Jack Dorsey sell an NFT of first tweet back in March), has raised $3 million in funding. Investors include Galaxy Interactive, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Mark Pincus, Reid Hoffman, will.i.am, and In/Visible Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
 
CommandBar, a 16-month-old, San Francisco-based startup whose search interface sits atop web-based apps so that users can access functionalities by searching simple keywords, has raised $4.8 million in seed funding. Thrive Capital led the round, joined by Y Combinator, BoxGroup and a group of angel investors, including Naval Ravikant, investor Brianne Kimmel, and StitchFix president Mike Smith. TechCrunch has more here.
 
RentCheck, a three-year-old, New Orleans, La.-based startup whose tech helps property managers save time on inspections with self-guided inspections that it says anyone can complete from their smartphone, has raised $2.6 million in seed funding from Cox Enterprises and a long list of notable individuals investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Exits
 
SpaceX is acquiring the small-satellite data provider Swarm Technologies, scooping up the startup’s roughly 30 employees and its network of 120 tiny satellites. The deal, struck last month, is extremely rare for SpaceX, note both TechCrunch and The Verge. Swarm revealed the acquisition plans in an August 6 filing with the FCC that requested approval to shift ownership of its satellite and antenna licenses to SpaceX. The merger agreement, in which four-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based Swarm will become a wholly owned subsidiary of SpaceX, was inked on July 16, the filing said. Swarm had raised around $28 million from investors, according to Crunchbase data. Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed. More here and here.
 
Solar sales and design platform company Aurora Solar is acquiring Folsom Labs, a maker of solar design software. Terms were not disclosed. Aurora software’s lets solar installers perform remote solar shading analysis, design solar and storage rooftop systems, forecast energy generation, calculate savings, and produce sales proposals with financing choices. Vendors include SunPower, Momentum Solar, Black & Veatch, and Namaste Solar. Folsom Labs, founded 10 years ago, appears to have raised a minimal amount of funding, per Crunchbase data. Aurora Solar, founded in 2013, has raised roughly $325 million from backers, per Crunchbase data. PV Magazine has more here.
 
DraftKings plans to buy Golden Nugget Online Gaming — letting it tap into the internet gambling company’s database of more than 5 million users — in an all-stock deal worth an estimated $1.56 billion. Golden Nugget Online CEO Tilman Fertitta owns 47% of the business, which was formed by spinning off the sports gaming and iGaming operations of the Golden Nugget. The billionaire said he will continue to hold on to the stock of the new company for at least a year after the deal closes. Fertitta will also join the DraftKings board. CNBC has more here.
 
Home care startup Honor has acquired one of the largest providers of personal home care in the country — Home Instead — in an effort to become the “default” provider of services for seniors in the U.S., says Home Health Care News. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the organization will represent more than $2.1 billion in home care services revenue, according to the companies’ joint press release. San Francisco-based Honor has raised $255 million since it launched in 2014. More here.
Going Public
 
TikTok parent Bytedance is reportedly planning to stage an IPO in Hong Kong by early next year, says the Financial Times, even as Chinese authorities widen their crackdown on the country’s tech companies. More here and here.
 
Leafly is joining the SPAC party. The 11-year-old, Seattle-based online cannabis marketplace plans to go public through a deal with New York-based Merida Merger Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, the companies announced today. Merida will take on the Leafly name; the transaction will value the combined company at $385 million. GeekWire has more here.
 
Turo, the 11-year-old, San Francisco-based peer-to-peer car-sharing startup, has initiated the confidential process of filing for an IPO with the SEC. The number of shares to be offered in the IPO and the price range have not yet been determined. According to Crunchbase data, Turo has raised nearly half a billion dollars from investors over the years. TechCrunch has more here.
People
 
AirTree Ventures, one of the biggest venture firms in Australia, has promoted Elicia McDonald and Jackie Vullinghs from principals to partners. The Financial Review has more here.
 
Samsung’s de facto leader, Jay Y. Lee, will be released from prison on parole later this week, though it remains unclear whether he can return to work right away at South Korea’s largest conglomerate. The WSJ has more here.
 
Uncork Capital, the early-stage, San Francisco-based venture firm, has hired Tripp Jones, formerly of August Capital, and Susan Liu, formerly of Scale Venture Partners, as partners, and promoted longtime partner Andy McLoughlin to co-managing partner, alongside founder Jeff Clavier. (Stephanie Palmeri, who spent the last decade with the firm, left earlier this year, writing that she planned to embark on a new adventure.) Axios has a bit more here.
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Essential Reads
 
"Every single American will be an angel investor 10 year from now."
 
Shared office space giant WeWork and Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world’s largest commercial real-estate firms, are negotiating to form a $150 million partnership to navigate the new world of remote working and flexible workplaces. As part of the alliance, says the WSJ, Cushman would make a $150 million investment in the planned merger between WeWork and a public company later this year. More here.
Detours
 
For the first time, scientists have detected light coming from behind a black hole.
 
Text memes are taking over Instagram.
 
How you interpret that smiley face might depend on your age.
 
What 60% of America's newest gold medals have in common.
Retail Therapy
 
Carlos Santana's Bay Area home can now be yours.
 
Or, if you're a New York-townhouse-with-its-own-basketball-court type person . . .
 
The "Apple" of toasters.
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