|
That feeling when a lazy former manager who was almost comically condescending asks you for a job many years later.
|
|
|
|
|
It's getting worse in Ukaine.
Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange, said today that it has blocked more than 25,000 Russian addresses that it believed to be engaging in illicit activity. “Sanctions play a vital role in promoting national security and deterring unlawful aggression, and Coinbase fully supports these efforts by government authorities,” Paul Grewal, the company’s chief legal officer, said in a blog post today. Other cryptocurrency exchanges have refused calls to suspend Russian accounts, notes the New York Times.
Senior congressional Democrats and Republicans today announced they had reached a deal on a bill that would punish Russia for invading Ukraine, as they seek to ban U.S. imports of Russian oil while further empowering the Biden administration to impose tariffs on the country’s products. The Washington Post has more here.
Stock futures fell slightly in overnight trading today following the S&P 500′s worst day since October, as investors remained on edge about surging oil prices and slowing economic growth amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. CNBC has more here.
|
|
|
|
|
If you are reading this email, then it means you enjoy a great email newsletter like StrictlyVC! The Email Conference on August 5 in San Francisco is bringing together the email newsletter community. Meet and learn from founders: Sam Parr of The Hustle, Ryan Heafy of 6AM, Ellen Hyslop of The Gist, and countless others. And learn the newest tips, tricks, and tools from email pros like Dan Oshinsky of Not a Newsletter, Tyler Denk of Beehiiv, & Louis Nicholls the Cofounder of SparkLoop. Save 15% on admission using code STRICTLYVC at checkout.
|
|
|
|
|
CredAvenue, a four-year-old, Chennai, India-based debt platform for enterprises, has raised $137 million in Series B funding co-led by Insight Partners, B Capital Group and Dragoneer. TechCrunch has more here.
Gecko Robotics, an eight-year-old, Point Breeze, Pa.-based company that develops industrial asset management software, along with wall-climbing robots, has raised $73 million in Series C funding round. Investors include XN, Founders Fund, XYZ, Drive Capital, and numerous other backers. Technical.ly has more here.
Immutable, a 3.5-year-old, Surry Hills, Australia-based NFT trading platform, just raised $200 million in Series C funding led by Temasek. Other investors in the round include Animoca Brands, Tencent, ParaFi Capital, Princeville Capital, and Arrington Capital, among numerous others. Coindesk has more here.
Microbiotica, a six-year-old, England-based company that's developing bacterial therapies and biomarkers using the human microbiome -- a source of trillions of microorganisms that exist in the body -- has raised $67 million in a Series B funding. The Swedish life science investor Flerie co-led the round with China-based Tencent. FierceBiotech has more here.
Pony.ai, a nearly six-year-old, China- and U.S.-based China- and U.S.-based robotaxi company, says it has raised an amount of Series D funding (that it is not disclosing) at an $8.5 billion. It isn't disclosing investors in the new round, either. CNBC has more here.
Tabby, a 2.5-year-old, Dubai-based buy-now-pay-later startup, just raised $54 million in extended Series B funding. Sequoia Capital India and STV co-led the round, joined by Arbor Ventures, Mubadala and GFC. TechCrunch has more here.
|
|
|
|
| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
|
|
|
|
Adriel, a five-year-old, Seoul, South Korea- and Silicon Valley-based platform that says it allows users to manage and optimize all of their digital marketing campaigns in real-time in one place, has raised $13 million in Series B funding co-led by Shinhan Venture Investment and LB Investment. The company has now raised $17 million altogether. More here.
Cider Security, a 1.5-year-old, Israel-based application security operating system, has raised $38 million in Series A funding. Tiger Global led the round, joined by earlier backer Glilot Capital Partners. Calcalist has more here.
Convelio, a five-year-old, Paris, France-based shipping process automation startup focused on delivering fine art, has raised $35 million in funding co-led by Forestay and Mundi Ventures, with participation from Acton Capital and GFC. EU Startups has more here.
Dash, a three-year-old, Ghana-based unified alternative payment network for African consumers, has raised $32.8 million in seed funding led by Insight Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
Espresso Systems, a 15-month-old, Stanford, Ca.-based layer-one blockchain that Stanford University’s applied cryptography research group is building to allow for higher throughput and lower gas fees while prioritizing user privacy and decentralization, has raised $32 million in funding. Electric Capital and Greylock Partners co-led the round. TechCrunch has more here.
Finless Foods, a five-year-old Emeryville, Ca.-based cell-cultured seafood company at work on plant-based "tuna" (like a lot of other companies emerging in this space, it's also at work on gaining regulatory approval so it can actually sell what it's making), just raised $34 million in funding led by Hanwha Solutions. The company has now raised $48 million altogether. More here.
Flume Health, a five-year-old, New York-based digital health plan administration platform, has raised $30 million in Series A funding led by Optum Ventures, with participation from Cigna Ventures, Route 66 Ventures, Accomplice, Founder Collective, Primary Venture Partners, and Remarkable Ventures Fund. Axios has more here.
Homeward, a new, St. Helena, Ca.-based health care provider to rural communities that was founded by veterans of Livongo, has raised $20 million in funding from General Catalyst. MobiHealth News has more here.
The SocialGood App, a 3.5-year-old, Tokyo-based startup that offers users cryptocurrency rewards for shopping, has raised $14.2 million in Series A funding from Miyako Capital. More here.
Thirdfort, a five-year-old, London startup web and mobile app that looks to help lawyers and property professionals onboard their clients quickly, securely and entirely remotely, including through facial recognition technology, just raised £15 million (about $20 million) in Series A funding. Breega led the round, joined by Element Ventures, the founders of ComplyAdvantage, Tessian, Fenergo, R3, Funding Circle and Fidel. TechCrunch has more here.
|
|
|
|
|
Circular.io, a three-year-old, Madrid, Spain-based tech talent recruiting startup, has raised $10 million from backers like LocalGlobe, Point Nine, Kibo Ventures and All Iron Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Fetch, a 5.5-year-old, Rosewell, Atl.-based Atlanta-based peer-to-peer truck rental marketplace, has raised $3.5 million in funding led by NextView Ventures, with participation from Knoll Ventures, Zeno Ventures, Nassau Street Ventures and angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Glean, a 2.5-year-old, New York-based accounts payable platform that aims to help companies save money through data analysis and automation, just raised $10.8 million in seed and pre-seed funding from Contour Venture Partners, Infinity Ventures, B Capital, Portage Ventures, and Amex Ventures, among others. More here.
Popchew, a 15-month-old, New York-based platform that aims to make it dead simple for creators to launch and grow food brands, has raised $3.6 million in seed funding led by Long Journey Ventures. Other investors in the round include Anti Fund, Flybridge, and WndrCo, among others. TechCrunch has more here.
Rocket Health, a 10-year-old, Uganda-based telehealth startup that offers online medical consultation, collection of samples, and delivery of medicines, has raised $5 million in Series A funding. Creadev led, and was joined by Grenfell Holdings and LoftyInc Capital Management. TechCrunch has more here.
Space Runners, a year-old, Bay Area-based startup that's focused on creating NFTs and digital wearables, has raised $10 million in a round co-led by Pantera Capital and Polychain Capital. The Block has more here.
Zaapi, a 1.5-year-old, Singapore-based e-commerce enablement app for small businesses, just raised $4 million in seed funding co-led by GFC, Flourish Ventures and Partech. Tech in Asia has more here.
Zippity, a six-year-old, Arlington, Ma.-based field service software startup, has raised $3.3 million in seed funding. York IE led the round, joined by Schooner Capital, BP Ventures, LaunchPad Venture Group and EmergingVC. More here.
|
|
|
|
|
Where Experts Would Invest $1,000,000 Right Now. Volatility is ripping through the stock market. So, Bloomberg asked the leading financial experts where they’d invest $1,000,000 today; they overwhelmingly advocated for alternatives, like art. In fact, Contemporary Art prices have returned 13.6% annualized, outpacing the S&P by 164% from ‘95-’21. Now, a revolutionary fintech unicorn has finally securitized this untapped asset class. With Masterworks.io, all you need is a solid internet connection to invest in a Picasso. *See important Reg A disclosures.
|
|
|
|
|
Atlas Venture, the 42-year-old, Boston-based venture firm focused on life sciences companies, has closed its 13th early-stage fund with $450 million in capital commitments, less than two years after announcing its 12th fund with $400 million. (The outfit also closed a $300 million opportunity-type fund last year.) FierceBiotech has more here.
Griffin Gaming Partners, a Santa Monica, Ca.–based venture firm, has held a final close on its second fund with a whopping $750 million in capital commitments, more than triple the $235 million in capital the outfit raised for its debut fund in 2020. The firm is run by managing directors Peter Levin, Phil Sanderson and Nick Tuosto. The Hollywood Reporter has more here.
|
|
|
|
|
According to The Information, Google is in talks to buy cybersecurity consultancy Mandiant, which two years ago discovered the infamous SolarWinds hack. Notes the outlet, a deal could bolster Google’s cloud computing business, which generates more than $19 billion annually but has been losing billions of dollars a year. It could also help Google compete with bigger rival Microsoft, which also is reportedly interested in buying Mandiant.
Zoox, the robotaxi startup acquired by Amazon in 2020, says it has made an acquisition of its own, nabbing Strio.AI. The Boston-based robotics startup was founded in 2020 by MIT alums to bring autonomous picking and pruning to strawberry crops. As TechCrunch explains it, the acquisition is really more of an 'acqui-hire.' More here.
|
|
|
|
|
Intel said today that it has filed paperwork to take its Mobileye self-driving car unit public as the semiconductor giant tries to spark investor enthusiasm in its own shares and capitalize on growing demand for automated driving. Intel last year said it was going to list Israel-based Mobileye, which it bought in 2017 for around $15 billion. People familiar with the matter have said the unit could fetch a valuation above $50 billion. The WSJ has more here.
|
|
|
|
|
Alumni Ventures, an eight-year-old, Manchester, N.H.-based outfit that has raised a long string of "micro funds" from limited partners who are heart surgeons (for example) and not professional investors, has agreed to repay $4.7 million to affected funds and a $700,000 penalty for making misleading fee statements and breaching operating agreements. According to the SEC, from June 2016 through February 2020, the outfit made misleading statements in a variety of places, saying its management fee for the funds it managed was the “industry standard ‘2 and 20," except that rather than collect a 2% management fee during each year of its funds’ 10-year term and a 20% performance fee (tied to whatever profits the funds might deliver), AVG’s typical practice was to assess management fees totaling 20% percent upon the investor’s initial fund investment! (Maybe a book might help?) The SEC says AVG also made inter-fund loans and cash transfers between the funds, and made loans to certain funds, violating the funds’ respective operating agreements regarding commingling of investor assets. More here.
|
|
|
|
|
Russia, blocked from the global internet, plunges into digital isolation.
A new layoff at Better.com could make that earlier layoff look like child's play.
Moderna said today it will never use its Covid-19 vaccine-related patents to stop others from manufacturing its vaccine in more than 90 low- and middle-income countries, but signaled it is prepared to begin enforcing patents in wealthier countries on “commercially reasonable terms.”
The "Great Resignation" is turning into a great myth for one bank on Wall Street (says bank).
Tiger Global Management's partners are reportedly trying a new way to get the inside track: by becoming limited partners in more seed-stage funds. According to the Information, partners at the firm have committed $1 billion of their own cash to plug into seed funds, with plans to invest a little more than $300 million in these other vehicles every year. More here.
|
|
|
|
|
