Sourcery (10/19-10/23)
Newfront Insurance, Zest AI, Lili, Possible, Kettle, Bind Benefits, Cohere Health, Oula, Perch, Faire, Hyperscience, Handshake, Anyscale, VENN, Intellimize, Sym, Secureframe, Render, Index, Lawmatics,
Last Week (10/19-10/23):
Relevant deals include the 60+ deals across stages below.
I've categorized the deals below into four categories, Fintech,Care, Future of Work, and Sustainability, and ordered from later-stage rounds to early-stage rounds. Highlighted deals include Newfront Insurance, Zest AI, Lili, Possible, Kettle, Bind Benefits, Cohere Health, Oula, Perch, Faire, Hyperscience, Handshake, Anyscale, VENN, Intellimize, Sym, Secureframe, Render, Index, Lawmatics, Eat Just, BrightFarms. ThredUp.
Final numbers on PE Compensation (...😅) at the bottom.
Deals
Sources: TS, Pro Rata, FinSMEs, Pitchbook, StrictlyVC
Fintech:
- Newfront Insurance, a San Francisco-based insurance brokerage, raised $100 million at a $500 million valuation. Founders Fund and Meritech Capital led the round.
- Knowledgehook, a London-based mathematics learning platform, raised £13.5 million ($17.5 million) in Series A funding. Investors included Mesoamerica’s Alexandria Corp., Nelson Education, Ideal Ventures, and Nicoya Ventures.
- Zest AI, a Los Angeles-based maker of software for credit underwriting, raised $15 million in funding from Insight Partners.
- Lili, a New York-based banking app for freelancers, raised $15 million. Group 11 led, and was joined by from Foundation Capital, AltaIR Capital, Primary Venture Partners, Torch Capital, and Zeev Ventures.http://axios.link/d7RH
- Possible, a Seattle-based fintech tackling the short-term credit market, raised $11 million in funding. Union Square Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Canvas Ventures, Unlock Venture Partners, Columbia Pacific Advisors, Union Bay Partners, Tom Williams, and FJ Labs.
- Wayflyer, a New York and London-based an eCommerce revenue-based financing and marketing analytics platform, raised $10.2 million in seed funding. QED Investors led the round and was joined by investors including Speedinvest and Middlegame Ventures.
- Kettle, a San Francisco-based reinsurance startup focused on climate change, raised $4.7 million in seed funding. True Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Acrew Capital, Homebrew Ventures, Anthemis, and Inspired Capital.
. . .
Care:
- Bind Benefits, a Minneapolis-based health insurance company, raised $105 million in Series B funding. Investors included Ascension Ventures.
- Future, a San Francisco-based digital personal training fitness platform, raised $24 million in a Series B funding. Trustbridge Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Kleiner Perkins and Caffeinated Capital.
- Sami, a Brazil-based healthtech startup, raised $15.4 million in Series A funding. Valor Capital Group and monashees led the round and were joined by Redpoint eventures and Canary.
- eVisit, a Phoenix, Ariz.-based telehealth company focused on enabling virtual care for hospitals and health systems, raised $14 million in Series A funding. TVC Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Kickstart Seed Fund, University Growth Fund, and Jeremy Andrus.
- Loyal, an Atlanta-based provider of health care utilization software, raised $12.5 million in Series A funding led by Concord Health Partners. www.loyalhealth.com
- Cohere Health, a Boston, Mass.-based digital health company, raised $10 million in funding. Flare Capital Partners and Define Ventures led the round.
- Oula Health, a New York-based company pregnancy and birth care company, raised $3.2 million in seed funding. Collaborative Fund led the round and was joined by investors including Female Founders Fund, Rock Health, Metrodora Ventures, and Kate Ryder (CEO of Maven). Read more.
- Vitable Health, a Woodlyn, Fla.-based, maker of health plans, raised $1.6 million in funding. SoftBank Group's Opportunity fund led the round.
. . .
Future of Work:
- Arctic Wolf, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based cyber security company, raised $200 million in Series E funding valuing it at over $1 billion. Viking Global Investors led the round and was joined by investors including DTCP.
- Perch, a platform that acquired direct-to-consumer products selling on Amazon, raised $123.5 million. Spark Capital led, and was joined by Boston Seed and return backer Tectonic Ventures. http://axios.link/M3jx
- Faire, a San Francisco-based wholesaler, is in talks to raise over $100 million in Series E funding at a valuation of over $2 billion, per Bloomberg. Its investors have included Lightspeed Venture Partners, Founders Fund, Forerunner Ventures. Read more.
- Hyperscience, a New York-based maker of process-automation software, raised $80 million funding. Tiger Global Management led the round.
- Rokt, a New York-based e-commerce technology company, raised $80 million. TDM Growth Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Square Peg.
- Handshake, a San Francisco-based recruiting platform focused on college students, raised $80 million in funding. GGV Capital led the round and was joined by investors including EQT Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Spark Capital and True Ventures, along with Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Emerson Collective and Imaginable Futures.
- ACV Auctions, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based online auto marketplace, raised $55 million in funding. Durable Partners led the round. Read more.
- Retool, a San Francisco-based company for building internal apps faster, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Sequoia led the round and was joined by investors including Nat Friedman, Patrick and John Collison, Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi, and Paul Graham.
- Anyscale, a Berkeley, Calif.-based maker of a tool to scale apps, raised $40 million in Series B funding. NEA led the round and was joined by investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Intel Capital, and Foundation Capital.
- 4iQ, a Los Altos, Calif.-based cybersecurity company, raised $30 million in Series C funding. ForgePoint Capital and Benhamou Global Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including C5 Capital, Adara Ventures, and TheVentureCity.
- VENN, a Los Angeles-based streaming network for gaming and entertainment, raised $26 million in Series A funding. BITKRAFT and Nexstar Media Group (Nasdaq: NXST) led the round and were joined by investors including Eldridge, WISE Ventures, Alumni Ventures Group, and Josh Kroenke (Vice Chair of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment).
- Whitebox, a Baltimore, Md.-based commerce marketplace and fulfillment company for direct-to-consumer brands, raised $18 million in Series B funding. Noro-Moseley Partners led the round and was joined by investors including TDF Ventures, TCP Venture Capital’s Propel Baltimore Fund,David Williams (global chairman of Merkle), and Chris Brandenburg (co-founder of Millennial Media).
- Robust Intelligence, a San Francisco-based provider of A.I. security, raised $14 million in Seed and Series A funding. Sequoia Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Engineering Capital and Harpoon Ventures. Read more.
- Intellimize, a San Mateo, Calif.-based website optimization startup, raised $12 million in Series A-1 funding. Addition led, and was joined by return backers Amplify Partners, Homebrew, and Precursor Ventures.www.intellimize.com
- Unit21, a San Francisco-based maker of API tools for risk and compliance teams, raised $13 million in funding. A.Capital Ventures led the round.
- ThinkIQ, an Aliso, Viejo, Calif.-based maker of supply chain software for manufacturing firms, raised $11.6 million in Series A funding. Ecosystem Integrity Fund led the round and was joined by investors including Hitachi Ventures and ArcTern Ventures.
- Fabric, a Bellevue, Wash.-based e-commerce firm, raised $9.5 million in seed funding, Redpoint Ventures led the round.
- Mine, a Tel Aviv-based company focused on personal data privacy risks, raised $9.5 million in Series A funding. Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI-focused venture fund, led the round and was joined by investors including e.ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Battery Ventures and Saban Ventures.
- Sym, a Boston and San Francisco-based platform for engineers, raised $9 million in Series A funding. Amplify Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Gerhard Eschelbeck (former CISO of Google), Sri Viswanath (CTO of Atlassian), and Jason Warner, (CTO of GitHub).
- AiDash, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based satellite analytics startup, raised $6 million in Series A funding co-led by Benhamou Global Ventures and National Grid Partners. www.aidash.com
- Flick, a New York-based live group chat platform for sports influencers and their fans, raised $5 million in Series A funding. AlleyCorp led the round and was joined by investors including Bullpen Capital, Everblue Management, Amity Ventures, and Courtside VC.
- Welcome, an online home building, customization, and purchasing platform, raised $5.4 million in seed funding led by Global Founders Capital. www.welcomehomes.com
- WoHo, a Cambridge, Mass.-based construction startup, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. The Engine led the round.
- Secureframe, a San Francisco, Calif.-based provider of compliance software, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. Base10 Partners and Gradient Ventures led the round and were joined by BoxGroup, Village Global, Soma Capital, Liquid2, Chapter One, Worklife Ventures, and Backend Capital.
- Render,a San Francisco-based dev-ops platform, raised $4.5 million in extended seed funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by investors including South Park Commons Fund, Lee Fixel, Elad Gil and GitHub CTO Jason Warner.
- Slintel, a Mountain View, Calif-based sales and marketing intelligence platform, raised $4.2 million in funding. Accel led the round and was joined by investors including Sequoia Capital India and Stellaris Venture Partners.
- Vowel, a New York-based meeting platform for remote and distributed teams, raised $4.3 million in seed funding from Amity Ventures, BoxGroup, Company Ventures, and Kevin Lin (co-Founder of Twitch).
- DataChat, a Madison, Wis.-based data analytics platform, raised $4 million in seed funding co-led by WRVI Capital and Nepenthe Capital. http://axios.link/MRzU
-Polymarket, a blockchain-based information markets platform for debated topics like the election, raised $4 million. Polychain Capital led, and was joined by Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan, and Meltem Demirors. http://axios.link/1lIz
- Textel, a St. Louis-based texting platform for contact centers, raised $4 million in Series A funding. Cultivation Capital led, and was joined by Stout Street Capital and Capital Midwest Fund. www.textel.net
-Decentriq, a Swiss enterprise data security startup, raised $3.8 million in seed funding. Btov Partners led, and was joined by Paladin Capital Group and Atlantic Labs. http://axios.link/FagF
- Jam, a Mountain View, Calif.-based company that turns websites into collaborative docs, raised $3.5 million in Seed funding. Union Square Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Version One Ventures, BoxGroup and Village Global.
- Conducto a New York-based company seeking to simplify data science pipelines, raised $3 million in seed funding. Jump Capital led the round.
- Cobble, a New York-based decision-making app, raised $3 million in seed funding. Investors included Kerr Tech Investments. Read more.
- Ware, a San Francisco-based warehouse drone technology startup, raised $2.5 million in seed funding. UP Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Bloomberg Beta, and 2048 Ventures.
- Here.fm, a New York-based video chat room platform, raised $2.9 million in seed funding. FirstMark Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Y Combinator. Read more.
- Index, a platform for building no-code business intelligence dashboards, raised $2.6 million in seed funding from Slack, Gradient Ventures, YC, and David Sacks. http://axios.link/5eox
- Synthetaic, a Delafield, Wis.-based maker of data for training A.I., raised $1 million in pre-seed funding and a $3.5 million in seed round funding. Lupa Systems led the round and was joined by investors including Betaworks Ventures and TitletownTech.
- Blustream, a Worcester, Mass.-based after-sale customer engagement company, raised $3 million in funding. York IE led the round.
- Lawmatics, a San Diego-based provider of marketing and CRM software for lawyers, raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Eniac Ventures and Forefront Venture Partners co-led and were joined by Revel Ventures and Bridge Venture Partners. http://axios.link/yyop
- Pillar, a New York-based maker of a platform for storing family information, raised $1.5 million in extended seed funding. Kleiner Perkins led the round.
. . .
Sustainability:
- Eat Just, a San Francisco-based startup making plant-based eggs, is seeking to raise at least $200 million in a deal that could value it at over $2 billion, per Bloomberg. Eat Just investors include Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund. Read more.
- Applied Intuition, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based maker of software for autonomous vehicle testing, raised $125 million in Series C funding. Investors include Lux Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and General Catalyst.
- BrightFarms, an Irvington, N.Y.-based indoor farming company, raised $100 million in debt and equity through Series E funding. Cox Enterprises led the round and is now the majority shareholder. Cox was joined by investors including Catalyst Investors.
- v2food, an Australian plant-based meat startup, raised AUS$77 million (US$55 million) of Series B funding. Investors included ABC World Asia, Altitude Partners, China Renaissance, Esenagro, Horizons Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, Marinya Capital, Novel Investments, Sequoia Capital China, and Temasek.
- Budderfly, a Shelton, Conn.-based energy efficiency platform, raised $7.8 million in funding. Edison Partners and Balance Point Capital co-led the round and were joined by investors including Connecticut Innovations.
- Micronic Technologies, a Richmond, Va.-based maker of clean water technologies, raised $3 million in seed funding. The Center for Innovative Technology led the round and was joined by investors including The Pearl Fund and CAV Angels.
- Ways2H , a Long Beach, Calif.-based developer of solutions that converts waste into hydrogen fuel for mobility, microgrids and power generation, raised $2.5 million. Pacific6 Enterprises led the round.
Acquisitions:
- PayPal (Nasdaq: PYPL) has held talks to acquire BitGo, a Palo Alto-based cryptocurrency custodian that’s raised over $70 million in VC funding, per Bloomberg. BitGo backers include Valor Equity Partners, Craft Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Inventures, and Radar Partners. http://axios.link/cjAy
. . .
IPOs:
- ThredUp, a San Francisco-based clothing resale marketplace, said it filed confidential IPO docs. It has raised over $330 million from firms like Redpoint Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Trinity Ventures, Upfront Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Irving Investors, and Park West Asset Management.http://axios.link/OVds
- Didi Chuxing, the Chinese ride-hailing company, is weighing an IPO in Hong Kong instead of New York that could value it at over $60 billion. Read more.
- Root, a Columbus, Oh.-based auto insurer, plans to raise $568 million in an offering of 24.2 million shares priced between $22 to $25. It also plans to raise $500 million via a concurrent private placement from Dragoneer Investment Group and Silver Lake.
- Nextdoor, a San Francisco-based social network for sharing information and trading goods among neighbors, is weighing an IPO that would value it between $4 billion to $5 billion, per Bloomberg citing sources. Investors include Benchmark, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Riverwood Capital, Axel Springer and Tiger Global Management. Read more.
- Southeastern Grocers, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based chain of supermarket chains including Winn-Dixie, filed for an $100 million IPO. It posted sales of $8.3 billion in the year ending Dec. 25, 2019 and a loss of $116.2 million. Read more.
. . .
SPACs:
- Billtrust, a Lawrenceville, N.J.-based payments automation company, agreed to go public via merger with South Mountain Merger Corp, a SPAC, valuing it at about $1.3 billion.
Funds:
- Addition, the growth-stage VC firm led by Tiger Global vet Lee Fixel, is raising $1.4 billion for its second fund, per an SEC filing.
- New Frontier Capital, a Bozeman, Mt.-based venture fund, has raised $55 million of a planned $100 million for its third fund. Read more.
- Amplify Partners raised $375 million across two funds. It raised $275 million for Amplify Partners IV, its fourth flagship early-stage fund, and $100 million for Amplify Select Fund, a growth-stage fund for Amplify portfolio companies.
Final Numbers: PE compensation
Source: Heidrick & Struggles 2020 North American PE compensation survey. Notes: Only 1 managing partner reported total cash compensation in the $20.00bn–$39.99bn range. n = 784 investment professionals.