A Web3 power player, a big deal in London, and the stolen art of Netscape cofounder Jim Clark

Wednesday! 

Private equity giant TPG has priced its IPO at the midpoint of a marketed range, according to a Bloomberg source. At that price, the IPO would raise $1 billion, and TPG would have a market value of $9 billion based on the outstanding shares listed in its filings with the SEC. Shares of the buyout firm, which had $109 billion in assets under management as of September's end, are expected to begin trading tomorrow.

Instagram, still benefiting from TikTok’s ban in India, again became the world's most downloaded app in the fourth quarter.

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If you haven’t heard of Animoca Brands over the last year or so, you haven’t been paying close attention. With a long and growing list of digital entertainment, blockchain, and gaming properties, the eight-year-old, 600-person Hong Kong-based outfit has quietly become one of the most active participants in a world that more and more stakeholders believe is the next iteration of the web.

Just today, an L.A. outfit called Fan Controlled Football League — a sports league where fans vote on real-time decisions for their team — announced $40 million in Series A funding co-led led by Animoca. And Animoca, which got its start by developing games for smartphones and tablets, has invested in more than 150 other outfits since bumping into the blockchain around 2017.

It was as serendipitous as it sounds. For Animoca founder Yat Siu, it also appears to have been love at first sight. At the time, Animoca was on its way to acquiring a company called Fuel Powered, which shared an office with a venture studio Axiom Zen, and Siu was intrigued with blockchain game that Axiom was working on called “CryptoKitties.” He learned of it from Fuel Powered’s cofounder founder, Mikhael Naayem, who was advising Axiom’s founder, Rohan Gharegozlou.

Soon after, in early 2018, Animoca struck a deal: a one-year renewable exclusive licensing and distribution agreement with Axiom Zen to publish “CryptoKitties.” It took off in such a big way that Naayem and Gharegozlou teamed up to form Dapper Labs (now known even better for its “NBA Top Shot” marketplace), and Animoca became of its earliest backers.

Animoca has been on an impressive tear since. Operating as both a publisher and, increasingly, a buyer of blockchain assets and tokens, its ballooning portfolio includes Sky Mavis, the developer of global sensation “Axie Infinity,” which closed on roughly $150 million in funding back in October at a $3 billion valuation, and the popular metaverse startup The Sandbox, a game where players can create and monetize in-game assets and that closed on $93 million in Series B funding back in November led by SoftBank. (As of last week, the smallest chunk of land users could buy in Sandbox was more than $11,000.)

Animoca also nabbed an early stake in the NFT OpenSea, now valued at a stunning $13.3 billion, and, underscoring that it's never far from the action, more recently teamed up with one of the breakout projects of last year, the Bored Apes Yacht Club, to create a Bored Apes-themed game.

It's all adding up. Indeed, in a conversation late last week with Siu, he said Animoca's holdings were worth around $16 billion as of late November, not long after Animoca was itself being valued at $2.2 billion in a $65 million funding round that included Sequoia Capital China.

More here.

BigPanda, a 10-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based outfit whose software automates, correlates, and monitors the performance of events in IT systems across enterprise organizations, has raised $190 million in Series D funding led by Advent International. The deal assigns the company, which has now raised $317 million altogether from investors, with a $1.2 billion valuation, says TechCrunch.

Checkout.com, a 10-year-old, London-based full-stack payments company — it acts as a gateway, an acquirer, a risk engine and a payment processor -- has raised $1 billion in funding at a valuation of $40 billion. (You read that correctly; it's now among the most highly valued private companies in the world.) Investors in the newest round include Altimeter, Dragoneer, Franklin Templeton, GIC, Insight Partners, the Qatar Investment Authority, and Tiger Global. According to Crunchbase data, the company has raised $1.8 billion from investors altogether, with the newest investment earning investors just 2.5% of the company. More here.

Flipdish, a six-year-old, Dublin, Ireland-based online ordering and digital experience platform for hospitality (it was funded by brothers Conor and James McCarthy), has raised $100 million in fresh funding led by Tencent Holdings at a post-money valuation of $1.25 billion. The company last raised $48.5 million in funding led by Tiger Global roughly one year ago. More here.

Merit, a five-year-old, Belmont, Ca.-based verified identity platform that's aiming to help governments in particular replace flimsy paper cards with digital credentials, has raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Rose Park Advisors. The company has now raised $80 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Placer.ai, a 5.5-year-old, Los Gatos, Ca.-based company whose software tracks the number of people entering physical venues (and their moves once inside), has raised $100 million in funding.  Josh Buckley, the CEO of Product Hunt, led the round, joined by WndrCo, investor Lachy Groom, MMC Technology Ventures, Fifth Wall Ventures, Array Ventures, and a swathe of real estate names. TechCrunch has more here.

Pluang, a 2.5-year-old, Jakarta, Indonesia-based investment app that's integrated into numerous so-called super apps, including Gojek and Tokopedia, has raised $55 million in extended Series B funding, led by Accel. The new tranche brings the round’s total to $110 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Refyne, a 1.5-year-old, Bangalore, India-based 'earned wage access platform,' has raised $82 million in Series B funding led by Tiger Global. Earlier backers, including QED Investors  and various partners of DST Global, RTP Global, Jigsaw VC and XYZ Capital, also participated in the round, which brings the company's funding to $106 million. TechCrunch has more here.

SeekOut, a 4.5-year-old, Bellevue, Wa.-based company whose software aims to help enterprises hire from a more diverse talent pool, has raised $115 million in  Series C funding led by Tiger Global. The financing values the startup at over $1.2 billion and brings its total raised to $189 million. TechCrunch has more here.

TravelPerk, a 6.5-year-old, Barcelona, Spain-based business travel booking platform that caters to small and mid-size outfits, has raised $115 million in Series D funding led by General Catalyst. TechCrunch has more here.

Boosted.ai, a four-year-old, Toronto, Ontario-based company that sells its artificial intelligence software to investment management firms, is raising $35 million in a Series B round led by Spark Capital and fintech investor Ten Coves Capital. Bloomberg has more here.

Conduit, a seven-month-old, Boston-based API for decentralized finance products, has raised $17 million in funding led by Portage Ventures, with participation from Diagram Ventures, FinVC, Gemini Frontier Fund, Gradient Ventures and Jump Capital. More here.

Superchat, a year-old, Berlin, Germany-based startup that's building an all-in-one messaging platform for small and medium-size businesses to contact their customers, has raised $15.6 million in Series A funding led by Blossom Capital, with participation from 468 Capital. The outfit has now raised $18.8 million thus far. TechCrunch has more here.

Web3Auth, a three-year-old, Singapore-based non-custodial key infrastructure solution for Web3 apps and wallets, has raised $13 million Series A led by Sequoia Capital India, with participation from Union Square Ventures, Multicoin Capital, FTX, and a long list of other backers. TechCrunch has more here.

Anotherblock, a four-month-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based startup launching a blockchain-based music rights marketplace later this year, raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding led by J12, a Stockholm-based early-stage venture fund. More here.

Ecommerce Brands, a five-month-old, Atlanta, Ga.-based consumer brand aggregator, has raised $10 million in equity funding led by Bearing Ventures. It separately secured $30 million in debt funding. TechCrunch has more here.

Eureka, a year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based startup that makes tools for enterprises to manage security risks across their various data stores, has raised an $8 million seed round led by YL Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Masters, a year-old, L.A.-based app that invites users to train with celebrity athletes, just raised $2.7 million in seed funding led by Sweet Capital. Other backers in the round include Mucker Capital, Goodwater Capital, Luxor Capital and numerous athletes, including Olympic snowboarder Shaun White. TechCrunch has more here.

Paysail, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based invoicing payments platform that says it leverages asset-backed stablecoins, just raised $4 million in seed funding led by Uncork Capital. Gradient Ventures, Oak HC/FT, and Tribe Capital also joined the round. More here. 

SeamlessHR, a 3.5-year-old, Nigeria-based maker of HR and payroll software, has raised $10 million in Series A led by TLcom Capital, with participation from Capria Ventures and earlier investors Lateral Frontier Ventures, Enza Capital and Ingressive Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

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Dorm Room Fund, a venture capital operation that launched to invest in student-led startups, has raised a new $10.4 million fund, per SEC filings. The filing marks Dorm Room Fund’s largest fund to date. TechCrunch has more here.

Jumpstart Nova, a year-old, Nashville, Tn.-based  venture firm that plans to invest exclusively in Black founder-led health care companies, has closed its debut fund with $55 million in capital commitments, it announced today. Founder Marcus Whitney has launched numerous companies previously, including a healthcare-focused strategic advisory firm. Nashville Inno has more here.

Coinbase says it is acquiring FairX, a derivatives exchange that has the blessing of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The crypto exchange says it plans to bring regulated crypto derivatives to market initially through FairX’s existing partner ecosystem and that over time, it plans to leverage FairX’s infrastructure to offer crypto derivatives to all Coinbase customers in the U.S. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. More here.

Ride-hailing giant Didi Global has begun informal talks with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and could list by the second quarter of this year, after the Chinese government demanded the firm shift its listing from New York to the city, according to the Financial times. There are obstacles, however, notes the outlet: "Two big challenges are the unresolved government investigation into Didi, and its continuing problems obtaining the correct permits for its business and drivers in several cities across China." More here.

Netscape cofounder Jim Clark just gave up $35 million in art said to be stolen. He'd purchased many of the items to furnish a penthouse in Miami Beach.

Block founder and CEO Jack Dorsey just proposed creating a legal defense fund for Bitcoin developers. Coindesk has more here.

Greycroft, the L.A.- and New York-based venture firm launched in 2006 by Alan Patricof, says it promoted Sharla Grass and Bryan Subijano to principal; Grass is part of the firm's early-stage practice, while Subliano is focused on growth-stage deals. More here.

There were nearly 1,000 so-called unicorns by the end of last year. (Holy moly.)

The race to become a right-wing Twitter.

Podcasting hasn't produced a hit in years. 

Coinbase is giving employees four "recharge weeks" off in 2022 in order to counteract what it called an intense working environment.

Facebook is making a bigger move into Austin, having agreed to lease all the office space in a 66-story, mixed-use tower that will be Austin's tallest building when it is completed next year.

Medieval era horses were a lot smaller.

As the North Cotswolds get hipper, home values are soaring.

The 100 best movies on Netflix right now.

An ultra portable movie projector, for any room of the house.

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