Another year of momentum for micro funds?

Last week I wrote about how Alexis Ohanian’s venture firm, Seven Seven Six, is trying to tap into this trend despite being a more than $500 million fund. He says he started to notice last year that his portfolio companies’ cap tables included significantly more investors than in years past, and that more of those investors each had a singular purpose. 

In an effort to get involved, 776 launched an initiative to hand-select a group of people who had strong industry domain expertise but weren’t already active in venture and to help them set up their own micro funds. Ohanian’s firm plans to cut each a $500,000 check. 

“Can we find people who are exceptional, ideally with a big following online or a brand people want to be associated with, and operational expertise? Those are the two core factors that help establish someone as a great investor,” Ohanian told me. “What made sense was to deploy capital and help these individuals set up their funds.”

While 776’s approach to micro funds is different, it got me thinking about what 2022 would look like for this small slice of the market. Last June, I wrote a story about how an influx of micro funds was having an outsized impact on the venture market. Nine months later, PitchBook senior analyst Kyle Stanford says that still stands. 

Per PitchBook data, an estimated 339 micro funds closed in 2021, a new record—although Stanford believes that number will be closer to 400 once PitchBook can fully account for the data lag. He says half of the venture funds last year that closed outside of the major hubs were micro.

“Even if there was a decline in 2022, I would still expect it to be one of the most active fundraising years we’ve ever seen,” Stanford says. The dozen micro funds Ohanian helps start will just be a fraction.  —B.S.

This week was drastically different. On Thursday, Istanbul-based Getir raised $768 million in a Series E round that valued the startup at $11.8 billion. The round was led by sovereign state investor Mubadala with participation from existing investors Tiger Global and Sequoia.

With this latest funding, Getir is now a decacorn and has an opportunity to drastically increase its market share in the U.S. Getir operates in New York City, Boston and Chicago, the three markets where now-dormant Buyk (New York and Chicago) and Fridge No More (Boston and New York) used to deliver. —B.S.

Within the U.S. deal market, though, the impact of the war has thus far been muted. Some dealmakers are renegotiating terms and deal structures. But for now, buyers and sellers remain as busy as ever.

“Honestly, we’re not yet seeing any real impact in the level of the activity and the ability for people to want to do deals,” Cohen says. “But remember, we are quite removed from the direct conflict. And things like supply chains, inflation—they were out there to begin with, prior to the conflict. I think the questions are: How much more of an impact will it have? And how much worse will it get?” —K.D.

— Influencers rejoice: Australia-based Linktree, the company behind the ability for social media users to bundle website links on their profiles, raised $110 million at a $1.3 billion valuation. The round was led by Index Ventures and Coatue Management.

— Hycroft Mining was on the brink of bankruptcy. But the gold and silver miner found salvation this week in the form of an investment from AMC Holdings—yes, the theater operator—which agreed to take a 22% stake in a very unusual diversification play. In a statement, CEO Adam Aron expressed his belief that AMC’s experience in navigating last year’s meme-stock mania would “greatly help” Hycroft to “surmount its challenges.”

— San Francisco-based Shield Capital raised $120 million for its debut venture fund focused on defense companies. The firm emerged from stealth on Tuesday with nine investments already in its portfolio, including Snorkel AI, HawkEye 360 and GoSecure. 

— TA Associates made a growth investment in Veracode that values the application security specialist at $2.5 billion, with current owner Thoma Bravo retaining its majority stake. Thoma Bravo bought the Massachusetts-based company from Broadcom in 2018 for $950 million. 

— Stock in Avast plunged after the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority said Wednesday it would launch an in-depth investigation of the company’s planned $8.6 billion sale to NortonLifeLock, citing competition concerns. NortonLifeLock said it does not plan to propose any regulatory remedies for the deal, which was announced in August. 

— On the other side of the regulatory coin, EU regulators granted their approval for Amazon’s planned purchase of MGM for $8.45 billion. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission reportedly plans to issue its own ruling on the deal later this month.  

— It's not often you hear of funding rounds in Arkansas. But Bentonville, Arkansas-based AcreTrader just announced its second raise of 2022. The agriculture real-estate investing platform raised a $20 million B+ round led by Drive Capital. The company raised $40 million in a round led by Anthemis Group in January.

— Peru’s IPO pipeline is drying up. Two companies based there withdrew separate plans for public offerings earlier this week: Auna, which operates hospitals and healthcare plans, and Camposol, which sells off-season produce in more than 40 countries. Both had filed for dual listings in New York and Lima.

While the pandemic didn’t cause a great venture migration out of Silicon Valley—as many predicted it would in March 2020—it still played a big role in helping smaller venture markets grow. (PitchBook) 

A brief history of how “lol” became ubiquitous. (Vice)

A look at how Heather Morgan went from a rural town of 400 in Northern California to the center of the Justice Department’s largest financial seizure ever. (Forbes) 

BuzzFeed’s SPAC merger was a bummer. Now, it’s sparking a legal saga. (New York Times)

Remember Clubhouse? The audio social media app has fallen far out of favor since its popularity peaked early last year. It’s so out of vogue that Russia hasn’t censored it, and Russians have been using it to communicate freely about the invasion of Ukraine. (Input) 

For many younger investors—and even middle-aged ones—the combination of geopolitical risk and inflationary fears is creating a market unlike anything they’ve ever experienced. (Institutional Investor)

Travel tech company Oyo is the latest unicorn to have filed for an IPO in 2021 only now to consider either halving its valuation or shelving its plans altogether. (Bloomberg)