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Facebook is putting a pin in that whole "Instagram for Kids" idea.
Former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb told CNBC today that he believes up to 90% of U.S. residents will have some form of immunity protection against the coronavirus by the time the delta variant wave passes. Gottlieb, who now serves on the board of Covid vaccine maker Pfizer, said he expects infection rates to decline substantially around Thanksgiving, “barring something unforeseen” such as a new coronavirus variant that pierces prior immunity. 🤞
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| Should Mark Zuckerberg Be Scared of Peter Thiel? |
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Unless you’ve been in a cave over the last week, you’ve likely read a review or some discussion about “The Contrarian,” a new book about billionaire investor Peter Thiel by longtime Businessweek Bloomberg columnist Max Chafkin.
It isn’t surprising. Thiel has become an increasingly powerful figure in the U.S., and Chafkin is an engrossing storyteller who poured 15 years of reporting into the book and who leaned on relationships with “hundreds of sources,” he writes in its acknowledgements.
To learn more, we talked with Chafkin last week in what proved to be a lively discussion that covered how much Thiel (who talked with Chafkin off the record) revealed of his personal life; why the “Trump thing was partly ideological, but it was partly a trade — an insight that Trump was undervalued,” says Chafkin; and why Thiel’s beliefs are
“extremely inconsistent,” according to Chafkin’s reporting. We also discussed Thiel’s relationship with Mark Zuckerberg, who accepted one of Facebook’s first checks from Thiel and who has been bound, for good and bad, to Thiel since.
You can hear that 30-minute-long interview here. In the meantime, we’re pulling out a part of that conversation centering on Zuckerberg because we find Zuckerberg’s relationship with Thiel to be particularly fascinating and important, given the impact of Facebook on American society and humankind more broadly. We’ve edited this excerpt lightly for length.
More here.
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Ascend Money, an eight-year-old, Thailand-based fintech company whose online payment services range from mobile top-ups to bill payments to peer-to-peer transfers, has raised $150 million in funding from Bow Wave Capital Management and earlier backers Charoen Pokphand Group and Jack Ma's Ant Group Co. The round values the company at $1.5 billion. Bloomberg has more here.
Aspire, a 3.5-year-old, Singapore-based fintech startup that aims to become an “end-to-end financial operating system” for Southeast Asian businesses, has raised $58 million in Series B funding led by an undisclosed growth equity investor, with participation from a mix of new and previous investors. Among them is DST Global Partners, CE Innovation Fund, B Capital Partners, MassMutual Ventures, Picus Capital, AFG and Hummingbird Ventures. The company has also secured $100 million in debt funding from the hedge fund Fasanara Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Astera Labs, a nearly four-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based fabless semiconductor company, has raised $50 million in Series C funding led by Fidelity Management & Research, with participation from Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners, and previous backers, including Sutter Hill Ventures. The company has now raised $85 million altogether and is reportedly being valued by its backers at $950 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Cake, a five-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-baed electronics motorcycle maker, has raised $60 million in Series B funding. Swedish pension fund AMF led the round, joined by of a mix of new and earlier backers, including Creandum and Headline, both of which participated in Cake’s $14 million Series A in 2019. TechCrunch has more here.
Capital Float, an 8.5-year-old, Bangalore, India-based buy-now-pay-later online lending service on many popular online platforms in India, including Amazon (which owns a stake in the company), has raised $50 million in Series D funding. Lightrock India led the round, joined by earlier backers Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, and Creation Investments, in addition to individual investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Cover Genius, a seven-year-old, New York- and Sydney, Australia-based company that enables its customers to embed insurance products into their own online offerings, says it has raised $72.6 million (U.S.) in Series C funding. Sompo Asia led the round, joined by G Squared and earlier investors. More here.
Delix Therapeutics, a 2.5-year-old, Boston-based company that's developing drugs that it says offer the therapeutic benefits of psychedelic drugs without hallucinations or other side effects, has raised $70 million in Series A funding. ARTIS Ventures, RA Capital Management, and founding investor OMX Ventures led the round. MedCity News has more here.
Dice, a nearly eight-year-old, London-based live event discovery and booking platform, has raised $122 million in Series C funding led by SoftBank, with participation from Future Shape, Bslice, Xavier Niel, Mirabaud, Cassius and Evolution. Financial Times has more here.
Ninja Van, a seven-year-old, Singapore-based logistics company focused around package delivery, has raised $578 million in Series E funding. Investors include Alibaba Group, as well as earlier investors DPDgroup’s GeoPost, B Capital Group, Monk’s Hill Ventures and Zamrud, a sovereign wealth fund controlled by Brunei. The company has now raised $976.5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Optimove, a nine-year-old, Tk-based company specializing in customer relationship management marketing, has raised $75 million in growth funding led by Summit Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
Syndio, an 11-year-old, Seattle-based company whose software is used by companies to analyze and resolve pay equity issues due to gender, race or other comparisons, has raised $50 million in Series C funding led by Emerson Collective and Bessemer Venture Partners, with additional investments from Voyager Capital. Syndio has now raised $83 million to date. GeekWire has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Bijnis, a six-year-old, New Delhi, India-based startup whose app serves as a kind of operating system for factories, helping them procure supplies and providing manufacturers with logistics and payment services, has raised $30 million in Series B funding. Westbridge Capital led the round, joined by earlier backers Sequoia Capital India, InfoEdge, Waterbridge Ventures and Matrix Partners India. TechCrunch has more here.
Civis Analytics, an eight-year-old, Chicago-based audience campaign analytics company, has raised $30.7 million in Series B funding, including from Alumni Ventures, Eric Schmidt, Drive Capital, Verizon Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank. Axios has more here.
New Age Meats, a 3.5-year-old, Berkeley, Ca.-based cultured meat company whose first product offering will be a variety of pork sausages, has raised $25 million in Series A funding. Hanwha Solutions of South Korea led the round, joined by earlier backers SOSV, TechU Ventures, ff VC and Siddhi Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
SenseOn, a four-year-old, London-based cyber threat detection startup, has raised $20 million in Series A funding. Eight Road Ventures led the round, joined by earlier backers MMC Ventures, Crane Venture Partners and Winton Ventures Limited. TechCrunch has more here.
Syng, a three-year-old, L.A.-based audio startup whose first product is a high-end, $1,799 speaker and which was cofounded byJony Ive’s first hire at Apple (Christopher Stringer, who worked at the company for 21 years), has raised $48.75 million in “combined” Series A funding led by Eclipse Ventures. Other investors include Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger, Lionel Richie, and Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia. The company has now raised $50 million to date. TechCrunch has more here.
Thankful, a nearly four-year-old, Venice, Calif.-based customer service platform, has raised $12 million in funding led by Alpha Edison. TechCrunch has more here.
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EdSights, a four-year-old, New York-based startup that has developed conversational AI chatbot that is used by universities to help students through college, including to point them to university resources that range from financial aid to food services, has raised $5 million in funding led by Album VC. TechCrunch has more on the company, which has now raised $8 million altogether, here.
Getlife, a month-old, Madrid, Spain-based insurtech startup, has raised €1 million in pre-seed funding, including from Chris Adelsbach, an angel investor in the UK with investments such as Marshmallow, Railsbank, and Atom Bank. More here.
Live Tinted, a three-year-old, West Hollywood, Ca.-based beauty brand that makes glosses, eye masks and multi-use cosmetic pencils, has raised $3 million in seed funding. Montage Ventures led the round, joined by Halogen Ventures, Fearless Fund and Curate Capital. More here.
Noops, a two-year-old, Long Island, N.Y.-based startup that makes plant-based pudding and was founded by Hungryroot cofounder Gregory Harry Struck, has raised $2 million in funding led by Lerer Hippeau. The company has now raised $5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Oraan, a three-year-old, Karachi, Pakistan-based startup that's focused on offering women access to financial services, has raised $3 million in funding co-led by Wavemaker Partners and earlier investor Zayn Capital. The company has now raised $4 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Verihubs, a two-year-old, Jakarta, Indonesia-based ID and data verification startup, has raised $2.8 million in seed funding led by Insignia Venture Partners, with participation from CCV (Central Capital Ventura) and Armand Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
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The Military Veteran Startup Conference hosted by Context Ventures on 2/4/22 in San Francisco is a must-attend-in-person event for military veteran entrepreneurs. The event is free for military veteran (spouses and) entrepreneurs.
Practically every venture capital firm that is veteran-led or invests in veteran founders has confirmed its attendance. The event is about maximizing founder growth so will primarily consist of relevant 1:1 meetings with successful military veteran founders and VCs. Enlist here.
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Andreessen Horowitz is raising a new venture fund that's expressly for gaming startups, according to Business Insider. The fund, which has reportedly been in the works for several months, would be the sixth fund a16z has rolled out in 18 months. More here.
Eniac Ventures, an 11-year-old, New York-based seed-stage venture firm that earlier this year raised $125 million for its fifth main fund, has raised $60 million for its first "select" fund, shows a new SEC filing. More
here.
Flat6Labs, a 10-year-old, Egypt- and Tunisia-based seed-and early-stage venture fund, says it has closed on $10 million in capital commitments for a seed fund targeted at Tunisian startups. TechCrunch has more here.
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Polestar, a Swedish company that focuses on high-performance electric cars, positions itself as a rival to Tesla and is owned by the Chinese car maker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., has reached a deal to go public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company that values it at $20 billion. The tie-up is with Gores Guggenheim which had raised $800 million back in March. TechCrunch has more here.
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TikTok says it now has more than 1 billion monthly active users.
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Blue Origin’s second human spaceflight will have a space industry veteran and sector-focused investor on board when it takes off: Dr. Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of Planet Labs and current partner at venture capital firm DCVC. (We talked space investing with Boshuizen last year.)
Gerald Cotten's sudden death in 2018 led to the disappearance of millions of dollars worth of his investors' Bitcoin funds. A Netflix documentary will explore what happened.
"Space? We have a lot to do here on Earth," says Bill Gates.
Laurene Powell Jobs is investing $3.5 billion in a new group aimed at addressing the climate crisis, a spokesperson for Emerson Collective, the organization she founded, said today.
Trump pushing Microsoft to buy TikTok was the "strangest thing I’ve ever worked on," CEO Satya Nadella said today at the Code conference.
Kilian Pender has joined the London-based venture firm Northzone as a partner. Pender has started two companies in recent years; he also spent time with both Centerbridge Partners and the Blackstone Group. More here.
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HPE Ventures, the venture arm of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, is expanding its ranks and is looking to hire a VC investment principal. The job is in San Jose, Ca.
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Goldman Sachs, Ozy Media, and a $40 million conference call gone wrong.
After early investors flee SPAC deals, day traders rush in.
LinkedIn is testing a new, paid ticketed events service.
Coinbase is diving deeper into banking, saying that in the coming weeks, it will let U.S. users deposit any percentage of their paychecks directly into their accounts -- deposits that either be in U.S. dollars or immediately transferred into cryptocurrencies with no fees. CNBC has more here.
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More than 200 emerging fund managers applied to present at the RAISE Global Summit October 19-20, and we’ve selected 30 of the best to present their funds. If you’re an LP and want to be among the first to meet with tomorrow’s breakout VC stars, sign up today for the RAISE conference. The program won't be recorded. You just gotta be there! Click here to request an invite.
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