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Nasdaq has fallen into "correction territory."
TikTok owner ByteDance has disbanded its investment department, a company spokesperson told CNBC early today. The company wants to “strengthen the focus of the business, reduce investments with low connection (to the main business) and disperse employees from the strategic investment department to various lines of business,” said this person. The outlet notes that as Beijing continues to tighten regulation on the domestic tech sector, Chinese giants are beginning to divest some of their holdings. In December, Tencent significantly reduced its holding in e-commerce giant JD.com and handed the stake as a special dividend to shareholders. More here.
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1Password, the 16-year-old, Toronto, Canada-based password management software company, has raised $620 million in Series C funding led by ICONIQ Growth, with participation from Tiger Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Backbone Angels. The round assigns the company a $6.8 billion valuation; it looks to have raised $920 million to date at least. TechCrunch has more here.
Autograph, a months-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based agency go-between for celebrity athletes and entertainers looking to find a personal presence in the noisy NFT world (it counts Tom Brady as a cofounder), has raised $170 million in Series B funding led by Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Katie Haun’s new fund and Lightspeed Venture Partners's Nicole Quinn. TechCrunch has more here.
Clari, a nine-year-old, Sunnyvale, Ca.-based platform designed to help companies generate more predictable revenue through big data insights, has raised $225 million in Series F funding led by Blackstone Growth. Other backers in the round include Silver Lake and Sequoia Capital. The company, which has now raised roughly $500 million altogether, says its post-money valuation is $2.6 billion. VentureBeat has more here.
Dovetail, a 4.5-year-old, Sydney, Australia-based startup that helps its customers store, analyze and collaborate on user research in one place, has raised $63 million in Series A funding led by Accel. The round brings the company's total funding to $70 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Facet Wealth, a nearly six-year-old, Baltimore, Md.-based subscription financial advisory company, has raised $100 million in Series C funding led by Durable Capital Partners. Other participants in the round included Warburg Pincus, Telesoft Partners, and Green Cow Venture Capital. The Baltimore Sun has more here.
Handshake, an 8.5-year-old, San Francisco-based platform that connects companies with college students in search of jobs, has raised $200 million in Series F funding co-led by Coatue Management and Valiant Peregrine Fund, with participation from Base10 Partners. The company has raised at least $435 million altogether, based on Crunchbase data; it is now valued at $3.5 billion, it says. Bloomberg has more here.
Ironclad, an eight-year-old, San Francisco-based contract lifecycle management platform, has raised $150 million in Series E funding led by Franklin Templeton. which was joined by Bond, YC Continuity, Emergence, Lux Capital, Haystack, Accel, and Sequoia Capital. The company says it has now raised $333 million altogether and that its post-money valuation is $3.2 billion. Forbes has more
here.
Lattice, a eight-year-old, San Francisco-based employee performance management software company, has raised $175 million in Series F funding led by Thrive Capital, Elad Gil, Tiger Global, and Dragoneer. The round brings the company's total funding to $330 million, and its post-money valuation to $3 billion. TechCrunch has more here.
Lummo, formerly known as Bukukas, a 2.5-year-old, Jakarta, Indonesia-based software-as-a-service startup that began with booking and has continued to add services that cater to micro, small, an mid-size businesses in Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia, just raised $80 million in funding. Backers in the round include Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India and CapitalG. The Economic Times has more here.
Lyra Health, a seven-year-old, Burlingame, Ca.-based provider of mental health care benefits for employers, has raised $235 million in Series F funding at a $5.3 billion pre-money valuation. (The company has now raised roughly $900 million altogether.) Dragoneer led the round, joined by Coatue, Emerson Collective and Salesforce Ventures. MobiHealth News has more here.
Parallel Systems, a two-year-old, L.A.-based startup that was founded by three former SpaceX engineers who want to make self-powered electric freight train cars, has raised $50 million in Series A funding led by Anthos Capital. CNBC has the story here.
Personetics, an 11-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based company whose AI-based tech enables banks to personalize their offerings — to offer advice for savings, for example, based on a customer’s spending patterns — has raised $85 million in fresh funding. Thoma Bravo led the round, joined by earlier backers Viola Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Nyca Partners and Warburg Pincus. TechCrunch has more here.
Spekit, a 3.5-year-old, Denver, Co.-based platform for onboarding and training remote teams, has raised $45 million in Series B funding led by Craft Ventures. Other participants in the round include Felicis Ventures, Operator Collective, Matchstick Ventures, Renegade Partners, Foundry Group and Bonfire Ventures. The outfit has now raised $60 million altogether. Forbes has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Carry1st, a 3.5-year-old, Cape Town, South Africa-based startup that - allows game developers to publish and distribute their work, manage operations, and receive payments through multiple channels in Africa, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, Other backers in the round include Avenir, Google, rapper Nas, and games company Sky Mavis. Quartz has more here.
Clockwise, a nearly six-year-old, San Francisco-based intelligent calendar assistant developer, raised $45 million in Series C funding led by Coatue. Other backers in the round include Atlassian Ventures, Accel, Greylock Partners, and Bain Capital Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Formic, a 1.5-year-old, Chicago-based robotics-as-a-service company that works with U.S. manufacturers, has raised $26.5 million in Series A funding led by Lux Capital, with participation from Correlation Ventures, Lorimer Ventures, and One Planet VC among others. More here.
HugePOD, a 12-year-old, New York-based print-on-demand apparel design and manufacturing company, has raised $40 million in Series B funding. Joyy led the round, joined by earlier investors Engage Capital, Source Code Capital, and ZhenFund. More here.
Mantra Health, a 3.5-year-old, New York-based digital mental health clinic focused on young adults, has raised $22 million in Series A funding led by VMG Partners. The round includes new investors New Market Venture Partners, Elements Health Ventures, 14W, and Alumni Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Nowsta, a seven-year-old, New York-based work management platform for hourly, gig, and flex workers, just raised $41 million in Series B funding led by GreatPoint Ventures. Other backers in the round include VMG Catalyst, Rally Ventures, Tribe Capital, Green Visor Capital, Compound Ventures, and Clocktower Technology Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Poa Internet, a nearly seven-year-old, Nairobi, Kenya-based internet access provider focused on affordability, has raised $28 million in Series C funding led by Africa50, with participation from Novastar Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Proton.ai, a four-year-old, Boston-based SaaS platform focused on optimizing wholesale distributors’ sales operations, has raised $20 million in Series A funding. Felicis Ventures led the investment. VentureBeat has more here.
Radian Aerospace, a five-year-old, Renton, Wa.-based startup with plans to build an orbital space plane, has raised $27.5 million in seed funding. Fine Structure Ventures led the round, joined by EXOR, The Venture Collective, Helios Capital, SpaceFund, Gaingels, The Private Shares Fund, Explorer 1 Fund, and Type One Ventures. GeekWire has more here.
Rocketlane, a 1.5-year-old, Walnut, Ca.-based customer onboarding platform, has raised $18 million in Series A funding led by 8VC. Other investors in the round included Nexus Venture Partners, Matrix Partners India, and DoorDash exec Gokul Rajaram. More here.
Smartcar, a seven-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based API developer platform that connects vehicles with mobile apps, raised $24 million in Series B funding led by Energize Ventures, with participation from earlier backers Andreessen Horowitz and NEA. Forbes has more here.
Softr, a nearly three-year-old, Berlin, Germany-based no-code web-app building platform that wants to create the "world’s largest ecosystem for building no-code applications," has raised $13.5 million in Series A funding led by FirstMark Capital, AtlanticLabs, and Wunderlist cofounder Christian Reber. VentureBeat has more here.
Topography Health, a two-year-old, New York-based clinical trials startup focused on community physicians, has raised $27.5 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Ventures. Co-founded by former Gerson Lehrman Group CEO Alexander Saint-Amand, Topography aims to make it possible for family doctors to offer clinical drug trials as part of their practice, including to patients with moderate chronic illnesses. More here.
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BirchAI, a 1.5-year-old, Seattle, Wa.-based startup focused on automating healthcare contact center operations, has raised $3.1 million in seed funding from Radical Ventures, the Allen Institute for AI (which spun out the company), Flare Capital Partners and WRF Capital. More here.
Chatdesk, a nearly six-year-old, New York-based maker of customer service software, has raised $7 million in funding led by Cultivation Capital. Other investors in the round include Harlem Capital, Serena Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Stormbreaker Ventures, and Fika Ventures. The outfit has now raised $10 million altogether. AfroTech has more here.
Filmhub, a six-year-old, L.A.-based platform that filmmakers can use to directly distribute their work to more than 100 streaming channels, including Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV, has raised $6.8 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. TechCrunch has more here.
POAP (for Proof of Attendance Protocol), a months-old, New York-based outfit that provides infrastructure for issuers to mint and distribute digital collectibles, has raised $10 million in seed funding. Archetype and Sapphire Sport led the round, joined by Sound Ventures, The Chernin Group and Advancit Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Wrangle, a nearly year-old, North Carolina-based ticketing and workflow product for chat platforms like Slack, has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding led by Bloomberg Beta and Eniac Ventures. Other participants in the round include Liquid 2 Ventures, Hustle Fund, TDF Ventures, and more than 20 founder angels. TechCrunch has more here.
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| Not-Saying-How-Much Fundings |
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PhenoVista Biosciences, an eight-year-old, San Diego-based service provider that sells access to high-content analysis of physiologically relevant cell models, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from BroadOak Capital Partners, a life science-focused investor. More here.
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Grind your teeth? Clench your jaw? Remi, a San Francisco-based startup, recently raised an undisclosed funding round by Foundation Capital, G-Squared, and founders/execs from Thrasio, Henry The Dentist, Unilever, and Marcy Venture Partners (Jay-Z's fund). Remi is the leading company in custom night guards and recently launched overnight sensitivity-free teeth whitening. Remi applied the Warby Parker approach of cutting out the middleman to make a better night's sleep cost 80% less than the dentist -- and without the office visit. StrictlyVC readers get 20% off with code remi20.
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2048 Ventures, a 2.5-year-old, Princeton, N.J.-based venture capital firm, raised $67 million for a second fund focused on pre-seed investments. The outfit was created by investors Alex Iskold and Paul Sethi (who is no longer with 2048) with the goal of finding companies in emerging markets like Atlanta, Austin, Toronto, and Nashville. In late 2020, 2048 Ventures brought on Neha Khera as a Toronto-based partner. BetaKit has more here.
Listen, a Chicago-based venture firm that invests in consumer-facing startups, has closed on $92 million in capital commitments across two new funds: a $62 million early-stage fund and a $30 million opportunity-type fund. The idea, says the firm, is to invest up to $5 million into a dozen different brands. The firm, whose limited partners include The Pritzker Organization, has previously invested in Calm, Catch Co, and Dame, among other companies. More here.
Pantera, a 19-year-old investment firm that began focusing exclusively on virtual currencies in 2013 (it was the first institutional asset manager to focus exclusively on Bitcoin, as it notes on its website), is preparing to raise more than $1 billion for a new venture fund, it says. More here.
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Acorns, the popular spare-change investing and checking account app, and Pioneer Merger Corp. are canceling their $2.2 billion blank-check deal for the app to go public. The deal was canceled due to market conditions, and the startup now plans to raise funding and pursue a traditional initial public offering, says Acorns CEO Noah Kerner. The company announced the deal back in May; its last private funding valued the company at less than $1 billion. Bloomberg has more here.
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Unusual Ventures, the Silicon Valley-based early-stage VC firm, has brought aboard Lars Albright as a general partner. Albright will head up the firm's new Boston office with venture partner Sarah Leary. Albright joined the firm from MasterCard where he spent the last two years, following its acquisition of his customer engagement and loyalty company, SessionM. More here.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Friedman on becoming famous in 2021, the regulations that could be coming to crypto and how, as one of the Biden administration's biggest donors, he feels about its performance thus far. (Podcast/video.)
Drama alert! Leon Black has for months claimed that a mysterious financier is engaged in a plot to destroy him. Now, the billionaire private-equity titan has accused his former partner and Apollo Global Management co-founder Josh Harris of being behind a “malicious” campaign to take him down. It was all part of a failed attempt by Harris to become Apollo's CEO, says Black. 🗡️ 🗡️
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Google is reportedly creating a unit under its Labs division for blockchain and other distributed tech.
Instagram just launched a test that lets creators charge subscriptions.
Crypto.com, the crypto exchange that splashed out for advertisements featuring actor Matt Damon and naming rights to the L.A. Lakers home arena, acknowledged today that roughly 400 customer accounts were compromised in a hack on Sunday. More here.
Can anyone satisfy Amazon's craving for electric trucks?
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Can Kathy Griffin get back on the D-List?
The rise of AI fighter pilots.
The 30 most-anticipated TV shows of 2022.
Intubated man informed that his free Covid tests have arrived.
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Che peccato. No one bid on this Italian villa with the world's only known Caravaggio ceiling mural that was on the market for $534 million. Maybe they were hoping Ken Griffin or MBS would take an interest(?).
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Tune in tomorrow for day two of the virtual Index Ventures AI Summit: 2022 [and beyond]. You’ll have the opportunity to hear directly from leading minds in the industry - Fei-Fei Li, Sam Altman, Reid Hoffman, Kevin Scott, Cade Metz, Pieter Abbeel, Alexandr Wang, and many more - on what is shaping AI over the next decade. We’ll debunk common AI myths, share cutting-edge robotics research, and debate the ethical
implications practitioners and researchers of AI must keep top of mind.”
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