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Monday! Hope yours went well.:)
Also, for those of you interested in shop talk about the late-stage growth market, at around 1 pm PST tomorrow, we'll be on CNBC's Fortt Knox with our friend and former colleague, Jon Fortt, along with Sequoia Capital's Pat Grady.
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Washington, D.C’s Howard University canceled classes today after becoming the latest educational institution to be hit by a ransomware attack.
Three-fourths of U.S. adults have been vaccinated with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, a White House official announced today. Still, only slightly more than half of the overall U.S. population is fully vaccinated: 53% are fully vaccinated and 62% have received at least one dose, notes The Hill.
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Cao Cao Mobility, the six-year-old, China-based ride-hailing unit of Chinese automaker Geely Automobile Holdings, has raised $589 million in Series B funding, a round that brings the company' total funding to roughly $773.2 million (RMB 5 billion). Suzhou Xiangcheng Financial Holding Group, an investment company backed by the Xiangcheng district government of Suzhou, led the round, joined by Suzhou High-Speed Rail New City Group and three other state-controlled enterprises. (Meanwhile, of course, rival Didi Global is in the Chinese government's crosshairs and has said it is working with the powers that be on a cybersecurity review.) TechCrunch has more here.
Delhivery, a 10-year-old, Gurgaon, India-based logistics firm that operates in 2,300 cities across the country, has raised a whopping $76.4 million from Lee Fixel's investment firm Addition, according to a filing provided to TechCrunch by the market intelligence firm Tofler. The new investment comes months after a subsidiary of FedEx invested $100 million in Delhivery, and the startup separately closed a $277 million financing round. More here.
Emulate, an eight-year-old, Boston-based biotech company focused on developing “organ-on-a-chip” technology, has raised $82 million in Series E funding led by Northpond Ventures and Perceptive Advisors. The company has now raised $255 million in funding altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Factorial, a five-year-old, Barcelona, Spain-based HR automation platform for small and mid-size businesses, has raised $80 million in Series B funding led by Tiger Global, with participation from CRV, Creandum, Point Nine and K Fund. The company had closed its Series A with $16 million last year. TechCrunch has more here.
Marshmallow, a four-year-old, U.K.-based digital-only car insurance startup cofounded by twin brothers (along with a third founder), has raised $85 million in Series B funding from earlier investors, including Passion Capital, the South African bank Investec, and French reinsurer Scor. CNBC has more here.
Olio, a six-year-old, London-based company that helps restaurants, grocery chains and other redistribute surplus food to reduce food waste, has raised $43 million in Series B funding. VNV Global and Lugard Road Capital co-led the round, joined by Delivery Hero and earlier investors Accel and Octopus Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Quantum Machines, a three-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based creator of a quantum orchestration platform, has raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Red Dot Capital Partners, with the participation of Exor, Claridge Israel, Samsung NEXT, Valor Equity Partners, and Atreides Management, among others. More here.
ShopUp, a four-year-old, Dhaka, Bangladesh-based startup that is digitizing neighborhood stores in the country, has raised $75 million in a funding that is reportedly also the largest in the South Asian market. Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures led the Series B round, joined by Prosus Ventures and earlier backers Flourish Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, and VEON Ventures. The investment, which brings the company's total funding to date to $100 million, is the first investment for both Valar and Prosus in Bangladesh, which is home to more than 100 million internet users and, as TechCrunch notes, is similar to India in that more than 95% of all retail goes through neighborhood stores and most have no digital presence yet. More here.
Wave, a seven-year-old, U.S.- and Senegal-based mobile money provider, has raised $200 million in Series A funding. The investment is the largest-ever Series A round for the region and it values Wave at $1.7 billion. Four big-name backers jointly led the round — Sequoia Heritage, a private investment fund and a subsidiary of Sequoia; Founders Fund; the payments giant Stripe; and Ribbit Capital. Others in the round include earlier investors Partech Africa and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. TechCrunch has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Dukaan, a one-year-old Bangalore-based startup that enables merchants to set up online stores, has raised $11 million in pre-Series A funding led by New York-based 640 Oxford Ventures. Venture Catalyst, HOF Capital, Old Well Ventures, LetsVenture, and 9Unicorns joined the round, along with earlier investors Lightspeed Partners and Snow Leopard Ventures. The outfit has now raised $17 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Elvie, an eight-year-old, U.K.-based maker of a connected breast pump and smart pelvic floor exerciser, has raised £12.7 million in extended Series C funding that brings the total raised to £70 million ($97 million) altogether. The capital has come from funds sponsored by the co-founders of Blume Equity — a PE firm that focuses on the food and health sectors — along with earlier backers PGL, Hiro Capital and Westerly Winds. TechCrunch has more here.
H2O Hospitality, a six-year-old, Japan-based maker of hotel management software for sites where there isn't a person behind a front desk (it handles reservations, room management and other stuff), has raised $30 million in Series C funding. Backers in the round include Kakao Investment and Korea Development Bank, Gorilla Private Equity, Intervest, NICE Investment, and Kejora-Intervest Growth Fund. TechCrunch has more here.
Homage, a five-year-old, Singapore-based platform that matches families with caregivers, has raised $30 million in Series C funding led by Sheares Healthcare Group, which is wholly owned by investment firm Temasek. Other participants in the round include DG Daiwa Ventures, Sagana Capital, and earlier backers East Ventures, HealthXCapital, SeedPlus, Trihill Capital and Alternate Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Jetty, a five-year-old, New York-based fintech company that's selling renters' insurance coverage (it covers the rent for its customers, who then pay Jetty), has raised $23 million in a funding round co-led by Citi and Flourish Ventures. Other participants in the round include Credit Ease and K5. Previous backers include Farmers Insurance Group, Khosla and Ribbit Capital, among others. The company has now raised $78 million altogether. TechCrunch has more
here.
Rainforest, a Singapore-based e-commerce aggregator that launched in January of this year and buys mostly Asia-based Amazon brands, has raised $20 million in pre-Series A funding just four months after announcing $6.55 million in equity and a $30 million debt facility. The new round was led by Monk’s Hill Ventures. Other participants included January Capital, Crossbeam Venture Partners, Amasia, Lo & Behold Group, and earlier backers Nordstar and Insignia Venture Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
Ryd, a newish Munich, Germany-based in-car digital payments provider whose service allows users to lump together online payments for services like fuel purchases, EV charging and car washing via its integration with smart car systems, has raised €10 million (~$11.9 million). The capital came from BP Ventures, the investing arm of oil and gas giant BP. TechCrunch has more here.
Zippin, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that is developing a checkout-free tech platform, has raised $30 million in Series B funding from new and earlier investors, including OurCrowd, Maven Ventures, Evolv Ventures and SAP. The company has now raised $45 million altogether. More here.
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Aurelia, a six-month-old, U.K.-based startup that's looking to help small businesses integrate their bank accounts with financial tools and was cofounded by one of the first engineers at Transferwise, has raised $3 million in seed funding. Blossom Capital led the round. TechCrunch has more here.
Fractory, a 4.5-year-old, Manchester, England-based startup whose platform aims to make it easier for those that need to get custom metalwork to order it, and for factories to pick up new jobs based on those requests, has raised $9 million (€7.7 million) in Series A funding. OTB Ventures led the round. Other backers include Trind Ventures, Superhero Capital, United Angels VC, Startup Wise Guys and Verve Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
HoneyBee, a 5.5-year-old, L.A.-based startup partners with employers to offer what it says are 0% APR loans of up to a thousand dollars to employees, as well as financial education, has raised $5.7 million in funding led by FFVC. Resolute Ventures, Afore Capital, Rebalance Capital, K50 and Financial Venture Studio also joined the round, along with former NBA player Baron Davis. HoneyBee further secured a $100 million debt facility from CIM, an investment manager that provides debt capital to underserved communities. TechCrunch has more here.
Mayk.it, a year-old, L.A.-based social music app that invites people to produce, own, and share music that they can create using just their phone, has raised $4 million in seed funding from a long list of investors. Among them are: Greycroft, Chicago Ventures, Slow Ventures, firstminute, Cameo CEO Steven Galanis, Randi Zuckerberg, Night Media, and venture investors Sophia Bendz and Cyan Banister. TechCrunch has more here.
Mobius Labs, a four-year-old, Berlin-based company whose SDK enables users to create custom computer vision models with their own training data, has raised €5.2 million ($6.1 million) in Series A funding. Ventech VC led the round, joined by Atlantic Labs, APEX Ventures, Space Capital, Lunar Ventures and numerous angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Portcast, a three-year-old, Singapore-based startup that helps companies in Asia and Europe track their vessel and container shipments, as well as anticipate what might impact their progress (like weather), has raised $3.2 million in pre-Series A funding. Newtown Partners led the round, joined by Wavemaker Partners, TMV, Innoport and SGInnovate. TechCrunch has more here.
Orbit Fab, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that aspires to become a go-to source for orbital refueling, has raised roughly $10 million in funding led by Asymmetry Ventures, with participation from earlier investor SpaceFund and new investors Marubeni Ventures and Audacious Venture Partners. Notably, both Northrup Grumman Corporation and Lockheed Martin Ventures also participated, the first time the two contractor-rivals have done an investment together, Orbit Fab co-founder Jeremy Schiel tells TechCrunch. More here.
Seqera Labs, a three-year-old, Barcelona-based data orchestration and workflow platform tailored to help scientists and engineers gain insights from cloud-based genomic data troves across multiple locations, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding. Talis Capital and Speedinvest co-led this round, with participation also from earlier backer BoxOne Ventures and a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. TechCrunch has more here.
Vowel, a three-year-old, New York-based virtual meeting platform with bells and whistles like real-time transcription, meeting analytics and searchable recordings, has raised $13.5 million in Series A funding led by David Hornik of Lobby Capital, who was joined by existing investors Amity Ventures and Box Group and a group of individual investors. TechCrunch has more here.
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SaaStr, the world's largest non-vendor B2B software community, is almost at capacity! Don't miss this year's Annual on Sept 27-29 at the San Mateo County Event Center. The three-day conference will bring together more than 10,000 global SaaS founders, executives, and venture capitalists for a series of high-quality content sessions and networking opportunities. Across five stages more than 300 SaaS leaders will share their hard-earned learnings and actionable insights to help you scale up and grow your company faster. Readers can grab 20% off tickets with code StrictlyVC.
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BlackRock raised 6.7 billion yuan ($1 billion) for its first China mutual fund, starting onshore investments for more than 111,000 investors in the world’s most promising wealth market right after billionaire financier George Soros called its China investment a “tragic mistake" that could risk clients’ money and U.S. security interests. Bloomberg has more here.
Hashed, a three-year-old, Hong Kong-based venture firm for blockchain projects that reportedly takes stakes in companies and helps them to develop, including by arranging partnerships, providing financial advice, and helping with public relations, is plotting a second blockchain fund after closing its first with $120 million in December. That earlier vehicle's backers included South Korean giants Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp., according to the companies’ half-year business reports. Bloomberg has the story here.
Intudo Ventures, a four-year-old, “Indonesia-only” investment firm, says it has closed its third fund with $115 million in capital commitments. TechCrunch has more here.
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PayPal says it will acquire the Japanese upstart Paidy for 300 billion yen ($2.7 billion) principally in cash as it seeks to deepen a push into buy-now-pay-later products. Japan is home to the world’s third-largest market for online shopping but it is also one of the few developed markets where paper currency is still king. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Bloomberg has more here.
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Indonesia’s Traveloka has halted talks to go public through a deal with Bridgetown Holdings, a blank check-company backed by billionaires Richard Li and Peter Thiel, according to Bloomberg. It says the board of directors of the Southeast Asian online travel giant has decided not to pursue a listing via a special purpose acquisition company now as enthusiasm in the SPAC market wanes and that Traveloka will likely explore going public via a traditional initial public offering in the U.S. instead. More here.
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Ford has hired former Tesla and Apple executive Doug Field to lead its emerging technology efforts, a key focus for the automaker under its new Ford+ turnaround plan, says CNBC. The hire is a "major new addition for Ford, while a big hit to Apple and its secret car project, observes the outlet. More here.
In case you're curious, Elizabeth Holmes and her family have reportedly living currently at Green Gables, one of America’s most expensive estates, in Woodside, Ca. It's 25 miles from the federal courthouse in San Jose where she's fighting a dozen charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, notes CNBC. More here.
Amit Kunal, GIC's managing director of private equity in Southeast Asia, plans to start a fund with assets under management of $500 million to $1 billion, according to Bloomberg. Choo Koon Po, GIC’s vice president of private equity in Southeast Asia, is also leaving the firm to join Kunal. The duo had previously worked together at Bank of America Merrill Lynch before they joined the Singapore sovereign wealth fund. More here.
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Black directors have held only 1% of board seats at private companies backed by top venture capital and private equity firms, according to new research by the Board Diversity Action Alliance
Americans say it’s increasingly unlikely that they’ll work deep into their 60s, according to new data from the New York Federal Reserve.
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SurveyMonkey has renamed itself Momentive. (Side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, itching, and drowsiness).
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The Securities and Exchange Commission has warned it will sue if Coinbase moves forward with a plan to offer a new product called Lend that would pay stablecoin owners 4% interest on their savings. The unexpected move is a setback for Coinbase and could spell trouble for other firms that offer high yield crypto products. Decrypt has more here.
Recruiters hunting for top venture and fintech talent have begun creating funds to invest in the companies for which they’re doing searches, rather than collecting fees. The hybrid recruiting-investment model has been tapped by Intersection Growth Partners to complete searches for firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase. Institutional Investor has more here.
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Supreme-ly Wallabee shoes, courtesy of a Clarks collab.
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