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After more than 24 hours in shivering temperatures, emergency crews this afternoon freed the last of hundreds of drivers -- including U.S. Senator Tim Kaine -- who were stranded by a snowstorm on Interstate 95 in Virginia.
Sony is now looking to sell its own electric vehicles, too.
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Alt is the simplest alternative asset platform that helps you confidently invest in what you’re passionate about. It is reimagining liquidity and banking products to support the next generation of investors. Alt envisions a world where anything can be an investible asset– starting with trading cards.
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| The Year of the Disappearing Lockup |
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That startup founders are in the driver's seat has been plain for a while now. Consider the extent to which funding has soared, with investors reportedly plugging a record $93 billion into early-stage U.S. startups last year -- triple what they raised five years earlier. Consider that the median valuation for seed- and early-stage startups doubled over the same period.
Consider also the continued rise of dual-class shares that provide founders with outsize voting power. Almost 30% of IPOs between 2017 and 2019 had dual-class structures, and that
number likely increased between 2019 and the end of last year.
But another, less discussed proof point about how far founders can push their investors -- and eventually bankers -- in a frothy market centers on disappearing lock-up periods. Typically a 90- to 180-day window after a company begins to trade publicly -- time during which founders, investors, and employees agree not to sell their shares to show their faith in the company and instill confidence in new shareholders -- lock-ups aren't just slowly slipping away. Instead, according to new research from Renaissance Capital, which manages IPO-focused exchange traded funds, early lock-up provisions
"exploded" last year.
According to the outfit's findings, fully one-quarter of the year's IPOs (or 91 offers) had provisions that allowed for early lock-up releases. That's more than five times the number in 2020. Unsurprisingly, tech IPOs accounted for 60 of the new issuers with early lock-up provisions, or 66% of the group.
More here.
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Atmosphere, a three-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based company that creates and streams ad-supported, free licensed video channels for broadcast in public places like bars, restaurants and doctors’ offices, has raised $100 million — $80 million in the form of a Series C and a further $20 million in debt. Sageview Capital led the round, joined by Valor Equity Partners and S3 Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
DNA Script, an eight-year-old, San Francisco-based on-demand DNA printing company, has raised $200 million in Series C funding co-led by T. Rowe Price and Baillie Gifford. Other backers in the round -- which brings the company's total funding to $315 million altogether -- include Healthcor Management, eureKARE, Irving Investors, Coatue Management, Catalio Capital, Fidelity, Columbia Threadneedle Investments and Casdin Capital. More here.
Human Security, a nine-year-old, New York-based company that aims to protect enterprises and internet platforms from sophisticated bot attacks and fraud, has raised $100 million in funding led by WestCap. NightDragon also invested in the round. VentureBeat has more here.
OpenSea, the 4.5-year-old, New York-based NFT-marketplace, has raised $300 million in fresh funding at a $13.3 billion valuation co-led by Coatue and Paradigm. Katie Haun’s new crypto fund, which is operating for now as KRH, also participated in the round, says a spokeswoman for the outfit. (Haun is currently OpenSea's only board member, having led OpenSea's A and B rounds on behalf of Andreessen Horowitz previously.) The New York Times has more here.
Parametrix.ai, a 2.5-year-old, Shenzhen, China-based developer of AI tech focused on the gaming industry, has raised $100 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital China. Earlier backers 5Y Capital and Gaorong Capital also participated in the round, which takes the company's funding to just shy of $150 million altogether. Parametrix was funded by Kakar Liu, a former managing director at Tencent's AI Lab. DealStreetAsia has more here.
Rec Room, a nearly six-year-old, Seattle-based social gaming platform that allows users to create and play games for free using VR headsets, consoles, PCs, and mobile devices, has raised $145 million at a $3.5 billion valuation. The funding round comes just nine months after the company raised $100 million at a $1.25 billion valuation. Coatue Management led the round, joined by earlier backers Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, and Madrona Venture Group. VentureBeat has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Ant Money, a nearly two-year-old, Newport Beach, Ca.-based embedded finance platform, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Franklin Templeton, with participation from RX3 Ventures, SteelBridge Laboratories, Steelpoint Capital Partners and founder Walter Cruttenden. (who previously cofounded the micro investing company Acorns with his son, Jeff). More here.
Brankas, a five-year-old, Singapore-based open banking startup for Southeast Asian markets, has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Insignia Ventures Partners, with participation from returning investors Beenext and Integra Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
Cion Digital, a months-old, Austin, Tex.-based enterprise SaaS blockchain orchestration platform, has raised $12 million in seed funding. Green Visor Capital and 645 Ventures co-led the round, joined by Cota Capital, Epic Ventures, Hourglass Capital Partners, BAT Ventures, Greycroft and Ulu Ventures. The Block has more here.
Exotel, an 11-year-old, Bangalore, India-based maker of customer engagement software that's focused on emerging markets, raised $40 million in Series D funding. Steadview Capital led the round, joined by Blume Ventures and IIFL Asset Management. TechCrunch has more here.
Ianacare, a four-year-old, Boston-based platform that provides tech-enabled caregiver support through employers and health plans, has raised $12.1 million in Series A funding led by Greycroft. 8VC, SemperVirensVC, Able Partners and Brown Alumni Group also joined the round, along with the company's previous backers. TechCrunch has more here.
Kiddo, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based care coordination platform that's aimed at kids with chronic health conditions and combines wearables, parental coaching and other telehealth services, has raised $16 million in Series A funding led by Vive Collective. Other investors include Wavemaker 360, Wavemaker Asia Pacific, Mojo Partners, and Techstars. The outfit has now raised $25 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Mojo Vision, a 6.5-year-old, Saratoga, Ca.-based startup that's developing AR contact lenses, has raised $45 million in Series B-1, following last April’s $51 million raise. This latest round, which features Amazon Alexa Fund, PTC, Edge Investments and HiJoJo Partners, brings the firm’s total funding up to $205 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Waymark, a months-old, San Francisco-based Medicaid provider-enablement company, has raised $45 million Series A funding co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and NEA, with participation from Lux Capital and angel investors. More here.
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Gahez, a months-old, Giza, Egypt-based B2B fashion marketplace, has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding led by Disruptech Ventures. Wamda has more here.
Labrador Systems, a 4.5-year-old, Calabasas, Ca.-based developer of assistive robots designed to help people live independently into old age, has raised $3.1 million in seed funding co-led by Amazon Alexa Fund and iRobot Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
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Make 2022 the year you speak a new language with Babbel, the app that has sold over 10 million subscriptions. Babbel gives you bite-sized lessons in a variety of languages. It'll have you speaking the basics in just 3
weeks. Plus, it has podcasts, games, videos to switch things up! Sign up to get 60% off.
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Gala Games and C² Ventures have launched a $100 million fund that will focus on blockchain gaming. The fund joins Gala Games, the blockchain game company headed by Zynga cofounder Eric Schiermeyer, and a new crypto investment fund led by Ciara Sun, former head of blockchain investments for Huobi. VentureBeat has more here.
Refinery Ventures, a Cincinnati, Oh.-based venture firm focused on early-stage SaaS startups, has closed its second fund with $36 million in capital commitments, which was more than two times the size of its debut fund. The outfit's limited partners include Cintrifuse, Great American Insurance, Western and Southern Insurance and The Cleveland Foundation. TechCrunch has more here.
Sound Bioventures, a new, Sweden-based venture fund investing in about-to-be clinical or clinical stage private companies in Europe and the U.S., has announced the first close of its first fund with €110 million in capital commitments. LPs in the fund include Novo Holdings, Saminvest, Vækstfonden, the European Investment Fund and Ramsbury Invest, as well as the founders. Among these is life science investor and entrepreneur Johan Kördel, who previously spent roughly a decade as a senior partner with Lundenbeckfonden Ventures. Silicon Canals has more here.
StageOne Ventures, the 19-year-old, Herzliya, Israel-based venture firm, says it has held a close of $235 million for its fourth fund, which it says will operate based on a dual model: $150 million of the capital will be set aside for seed investments in early-stage Israeli startups, with the rest reserved for follow-on investments in the new fund's leading portfolio companies. The newest capital brings StageOne's assets under management to $500 million. Calcalist has more here.
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Google has acquired Siemplify, a seven-year-old, Israel-based cybersecurity startup that specializes in end-to-end security services for enterprises, typically referred to as security orchestration, automation and response services. A deal close to the deal tells TechCrunch the purchase price was $500 million. Siemplify had raised $58 million in total. More here.
NFT marketplace OpenSea is in talks to acquire Dharma Labs, a four-year-old digital wallet for cryptocurrencies, says Axios. Deal terms are still being hammered out, with current talk of an all-stock deal valued at between $110 million and $130 million, according to the outlet. More here.
Threat intelligence giant Recorded Future has acquired SecurityTrails, an internet inventory startup that collects and banks current and historical domain and IP address data, for $65 million. The acquisition comes less than a year after Recorded Future invested in SecurityTrails from its newly established Intelligence Fund for early-stage startups. Recorded Future was bought by Insight Partners in April 2019 for $780 million. (We talked last year with Recorded Future founder Christopher Ahlberg about how ransomware gangs really work.)
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Credo, a San Jose, Calif.-based chipmaker, filed for an IPO. The 14-year-old outfit reported a $17 million net loss on $26 million for the six months ending October 31. The company has raised over $200 million from investors to date, including BlackRock, WRV Capital and Walden International. More here.
Justworks, a 10-year-old, New York-based maker of HR management software, has revealed plans to sell 7 million shares at between $29 and $32 in an upcoming IPO, which would give the company a $1.9 billion market cap were it to price in the middle of that range. According to Crunchbase data, the company has raised roughly $143 million over the years, including from Bain Capital Ventures, Index Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Spark Capital, Thrive Capital, USV and FirstMark Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
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Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has bought a $133 million Bel-Air estate in one of the priciest single-family home sales ever completed in the L.A. area. Pictures of the 19,000-square foot modernist house from back in 2018 (when it sold for just $85 million) can be seen here.
Matt Levinson has joined B Capital Group as a New York-based partner leading fintech, crypto and prop-tech deals. Levinson was previously a principal at FinTech Collective. More here.
Talent agency WME has signed married couple Sriram Krishnan and Aarthi Ramamurthy, both of whom are 37. Krishnan joined Andreessen Horowitz as a general partner early last year and Ramamurthy is the head of international at social audio app Clubhouse. Variety has more here.
WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann is becoming an apartment mogul.
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The 5% Apple stake that Berkshire Hathaway acquired in 2018 for $36 billion is now worth $160 billion.
Private equity firms had a blockbuster year for deal making, largely driven by tech investments. As of mid-December, PE firms had announced backing U.S. tech deals totaling $401.71 billion, including new purchases, asset sales and add-on deals, according to data provider Dealogic. That accounted for 41% of a record $990.25 billion in overall private-equity deals through mid-December, Dealogic said. The WSJ has the story here.
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“It’s just remarkable what we’ve done,” said the Google engineer who is selling this remote San Jose, Ca., home, which is maybe too remote for his family after all.
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