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Here's everything that Apple announced at its big event this morning.
SEC Chief Gary Gensler said today that crypto exchanges need to "come in and talk" to the markets regulator, just days after clashing with trading platform Coinbase over a lending product. More here.
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1047 Games, a five-year-old, Zephyr Cove, Nev.-based video game studio whose first game, "Splitgate," has been a breakout success, just raised $100 million (its third funding round since May). Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, joined by Insight Partners, Anthos Capital, and earlier seed round investors Galaxy Interactive, VGames, Human Capital, Lakestar, DraperDragon, and Draper University. TechCrunch has more here.
AgBiome, a nine-year-old, Durham, N.C.-based developer of microbial-based products, including a fungicide for disease control in a variety of crops, has raised $116 million in Series D funding co-led by Blue Horizon and Novalis LifeSciences. TechCrunch has more here.
Canvas, a four-year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based recruiting platform that says it helps all employees — regardless of career stage, educational background or skin color — get a fair shot at jobs, has raised $50 million in Series C funding. Owl Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, HighSage Ventures, Zoom Apps Fund, Fifth Down Capital, BAM Elevate and investor Lachy Groom. The company closed a $20 million Series B round in May. Forbes has more here.
Locus Robotics, a seven-year-old, Wilmington, Ma.-based maker of modular warehouse and fulfillment robots, has tacked on another $50 million in funding seven months after announcing $150 million in Series E. Tiger Global led the newest tranche, which brings the company's total funding to $300 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Melio, a nearly four-year-old, Israel-based startup whose tech enables small businesses in the U.S. to digitally transfer payments to their suppliers, rather than us bank transfers of checks, has raised $250 million in fresh funding at a post-money valuation of $4 billion. That's triple the valuation it was assigned back in January. The Series D round was co-led by new investor Thrive Capital, with participation from Tiger Global Management and earlier investors General Catalyst, Accel, Bessemer Venture Partners, Coatue, Corner Ventures, and Latitude. Melio has now raised a total of $506 million, says Calcalist. More here.
Pacaso, a 1.5-year-old, fully distributed real estate platform that aims to help people buy and co-own a second home and is led by former Zillow exec Austin Allison, has raised $125 million at a $1.5 billion valuation (less than six months after raising $75 million). SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the Series C round, joined by Fifth Wall, Gaingels and earlier backers Greycroft, Global Founders Capital, Crosscut and 75 & Sunny Ventures (which is the venture firm of Zillow cofounder Spencer Rascoff, who also cofounded Pacaso). Pacaso has now raised a total of $215 million in equity funding and $1 billion in debt financing. TechCrunch has more here.
Recur, an eight-month-old, Miami, Fl.-based startup operating in the NFT market where Dapper Labs and OpenSea play, has raised $50 million in Series A funding led by Point72 Ventures. (Notably, Point72 founder Steve Cohen is joining the board, too.). The Block has more here.
Ribbon, a four-year-old, New York-based startup that provides borrowers with upfront financing to make all-cash offers on home listings, has raised $150 million in Series C funding. Greenspring Associates led the round, joined by First American Financial, Waterfall Asset Management, TriplePoint Capital, 75 & Sunny Ventures and earlier backers Greylock, Bain Capital Ventures, NFX, Nyca and Thomvest. National Mortgage News has more here.
Sendoso, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based “end-to-end” gifting platform offering access to all kinds of corporate swag, then providing services like logistics, packing and shipping, has raised $100 million in fresh funding. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the Series C round, joined by earlier backers Oak HC/FT, Struck Capital, Stage 2 Capital, Craft Ventures, Signia Venture Partners and Felicis Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
SkyKick, a 10-year-old, Seattle-based SaaS products and platform designed to make it easy and efficient for IT partners to migrate, backup, and manage their customers in the cloud, has raised $130 million in Series B funding. Morgan Stanley provided much of the equity and debt alongside insiders and earlier investors, including Hawk Equity, Trebuchet Capital, Schechter Private Capital and others. GeekWire has more here.
Stord, a six-year-old, Atlanta, Ga.-based company that's on a mission to migrate supply chains to the cloud, has raised $90 million in Series D funding led by Kleiner Perkins at a post-money valuation of $1.125 billion — more than double the $510 million valuation the company was assigned during its Series C round six months ago. Stord has now raised $205 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Tia, a four-year-old, New York-based women's healthcare provider that combines in-person and virtual care, has raised $100 million in Series B funding. Lone Pine Capital led the round, joined by Threshold, Define Ventures, Torch Capital, ACME, Compound, Combine, The Helm, Human Ventures, Seae Ventures and Gingerbread Capital. Forbes has more here.
Xendit, a seven-year-old, Jakarta, Indonesia-based startup known for its digital payment infrastructure but also focused on other financial products, has raised $150 million in Series C funding led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from earlier investors Accel, Amasia and Goat Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Canva, the nine-year-old, Sydney, Australia-based graphic design platform, is now valued at $40 billion following a fresh capital injection of $200 million in a round led by T. Rowe Price. New and existing investors participated in the round, including Franklin Templeton, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greenoaks Capital, Dragoneer Investments, Blackbird, Felicis Ventures and AirTree Ventures. The company was valued at $15 billion in April(!). Judging by Crunchbase data, Canva has now raised at least $573 million to date. TechCrunch has more here.
EverAfter, a 1.5-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based startup whose no-code platform invites customer success teams to build a website in weeks using drop-and-drag widgets like training materials, timelines, task management and meeting summaries, has raised $13 million in seed funding. TLV Partners and Vertex Ventures co-led the round and were joined by angel investors Benny Shneider, Zohar Gilon and Amit Gilon. TechCrunch has more here.
PassFort, a six-year-old, London-based maker of financial crime regulation and compliance automation software, has raised $16.2 million in Series A funding. Level Equity led the round, joined by OpenOcean, Episode 1 and Entrepreneur First. PassFort also secured $4.9 million in venture debt from Shard Credit Partners. More here.
Sayari Labs, a six-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based maker of financial intelligence and supply chain risk software, has raised $40 million in Series C funding. Centana Growth Partners led the round, joined by earlier backers Arsenal Growth, MissionOG, Lavrock Ventures, TFX Capital, and SAP NS2. More here.
Sproutt, a 3.5-year-old, Israel-based insurance platform that assesses behavior associated with healthy living to personalize policies for each customer based on their specific score, has raised $26 million in Series B funding. The round was led by MoreTech Ventures, with participation from Harel Group, The Raptor Group, and Falcon Edge Capital, among others. The company has now raised $38 million altogether. Calcalist has more here.
Truepic, a six-year-old, San Diego-based maker of digital image verification software, has raised $26 million in Series B funding round led by M12, Microsoft’s venture fund. Adobe, Sony Innovation Fund by IGV, Hearst Ventures and individuals from Stone Point Capital also joined the round, which brings the company's total funding to $36 million.
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Immi, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that says it's aiming to reinvent Asian-American foods, beginning with high-protein, plant-based instant ramen, has raised $3.8 million in seed funding. Siddhi Capital led the round, joined by Palm Tree Crew, Constellation Capital, Animal Capital, Pear Ventures, Collaborative Fund and a group of individuals. TechCrunch has more here.
Millions.co, a six-month-old, Canada-based social commerce platform geared toward professional and semi-professional athletes who want to monetize their fanbase by selling merchandise, has raised $10 million in funding led by Boston-based Volition Capital (known in part for its early bet on Chewy). TechCrunch has more here.
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Jump Capital, a nine-year-old, Chicago-based venture firm, just closed its seventh and largest fund to date with $350 million in capital commitments and a promise to concentrate more on the "evolving crypto ecosystem,” according to the firm. Jump's last fund closed with $200 million. Blockworks has more here.
Maki.vc, a three-year-old, Helsinki, Finland-based seed-stage firm focused in part on sustainability, is nearing a €100 million final close on its second fund. TechCrunch has more here.
Matchstick Ventures, a six-year-old, Minneapolis, Mn.- and Boulder, Co.-based venture firm that's heavily focused on the Rocky Mountain region and Midwest, has closed its third fund with $55 million in capital commitments -- a sizable jump from the $30 million it raised for its second fund in 2019 and its $5 million debut fund. According to the StarTribune, Matchstick has invested in more than 100 companies in the past six years and is the most active venture investor in tech startups in Minnesota. More here.
QED Investors, a now 14-year-old, Alexandria, Va.-based financial services focused venture firm, has closed two new funds that add up to $1.05 billion in capital commitments: a $550 million early-stage fund and a $500 million growth-stage fund, both of which are aimed at backing startups primarily in the U.S., the U.K., Latin America and Southeast Asia. The fund was oversubscribed, according to QED co-founder and managing partner Nigel Morris, who previously cofounded Capital One Financial Services in 1994. TechCrunch has more here. S
SoftBank Group Corp. is doubling down on its commitment to Latin America, today announcing the launch of the SoftBank Latin America Fund II, its second dedicated private investment fund focused on tech companies located in LatAm. SoftBank has committed $3 billion in capital to the effort, though it adds that the new fund will explore options to raise additional capital." TechCrunch has more here.
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Glassdoor, the platform that lets people post anonymous and candid feedback about the organizations they work for, has acquired Fishbowl, an app that gives users an anonymous option to provide employee feedback, as well as to join interest-based conversation groups to chat about work and search for jobs. Glassdoor, which has 55 million users, is already integrating Fishbowl content into its main platform, although Fishbowl, with its 1 million users, will also continue for now to operate as a standalone app, too. Terms of the deal haven't been disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.
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Forge Global, the online marketplace for buying and selling shares of private firms, plans to go public by merging with the blank-check company Motive Capital Corp. in a deal that will value the business at $2 billion, the companies said. If completed, notes the WSJ, the transaction would make Forge the first dedicated trading platform for private shares to become a public company. Motive's CEO is Blythe Masters, the former senior JPMorgan Chase exec. She is set to join Forge’s board after the
deal.
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The SEC has charged App Annie, the mobile data and analytics firm, as well as its co-founder and former CEO and Chairman Bertrand Schmitt, with securities fraud. App Annie and Schmitt have agreed to pay over $10 million to settle the fraud charges, which are related to “deceptive practices and making material misrepresentations about how App Annie’s alternative data was derived,” the SEC said.
Piva Capital, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based venture firm, has brought aboard Mark Gudiksen as the firm’s second managing partner and Roxanne Tully as an investor. Gudiksen joins from Circularis Partners, a firm that invested in sustainability and resource efficiency technologies and served as a sub-advisor to TPG, where Gudiksen also worked previously. Tully worked previously in R&D at Clorox and was most recently an engineer and a manager with a renewable energy company called Biolite. More
here.
In a lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court, Christine Martinez has accused Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra, two of Pinterest’s three co-founders, of breach of implied contract, idea theft, unjust enrichment and unfair business practices. Martinez -- who says she was close friends with Silbermann and Sciarra and that she was a bridesmaid in Silbermann's wedding -- created Pinterest alongside Silbermann and Sciarra, the lawsuit says, contributing ideas that were “core organizing concepts,” such as organizing images on boards and enabling e-commerce. The New York Times has the story here.
Uber CTO Sukumar Rathnam is stepping down as the company's head of engineering, according to Business Insider, whose sources say Rathnam has been increasingly at odds with the company's chief product officer, Sundeep Jain. Rathnam joined Uber about a year ago, replacing Thuan Pham, the company's longtime technical chief. More here.
Jonathan Shriftman has joined the growth-stage venture firm Expanding Capital as a partner. Shriftman previously founded the consumer app Humin (acquired by Tinder) and most recently led business development at Snaps, a conversational AI company (acquired in April by Quiq, another conversational AI company). More here.
Microsoft said today its board approved the appointment of its president, Brad Smith, to the position of vice chair. The move comes months after Satya Nadella took on the role of chairman after joining the board when he replaced Steve Ballmer as CEO in 2014. CNBC has more here.
And finally: RIP, Norm McDonald. 😢
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Tribeca Venture Partners, the New York-based early-stage venture firm, is bringing aboard a full-time associate. You can learn more, including how to apply, here.
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A Microsoft study examining technology usage by its employees has revealed a decrease in cross-company communication. It also found that the length of the average workweek inside the company increased by about 10% after the shift to remote work. GeekWire has more here.
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Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show.
Scientists say they could bring back woolly mammoths. But maybe they shouldn't.
Solana, a rival blockchain network to Ethereum and one whose native cryptocurrency has surged in value and activity in recent months, had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
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