Sourcery (11/7-11/11)
FTX ~ Ramp, TRM Labs, Laika, Fordefi, Equals, Savvy, Archy, Yave, Cherry, Fathom, WellTheory, Options MD, Yassir, Hopper, Vivrelle, Mem, Harmonic, PhotoRoom, EdgeDB, Biofire
Hello from NYC for the week! It is cold, very very cold 🥶
FTX, SBF, WTF?!
A lot has dropped in the last week regarding the FTX/SBF situation, and I believe we’re just scratching the surface of the stories to emerge… and hopefully a new Michael Lewis book/movie combo to come.
A brief roundup of some mentions below:
Matt Levine on all things FTX, Bloomberg
Is Sam gonna make it to Dubai? The Milk Road
E104: FTX collapse with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong + election results, macro update & more, All-in Podcast
(0:00) New bestie game show!
(6:20) Election recap: Red wave falls flat, Republican party flips from Trump to DeSantis, a rebuke of extremism
(20:47) Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong joins to break down the FTX collapse, further contagion risk, regulation, and more!
(43:32) Red flags exhibited by Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX, lack of governance/diligence
(1:06:00) Macroeconomic picture, lower than expected CPI print catalyzes market tear, advice for founders
. . .
Last Week (11/7-11/11):
Relevant deals include the 60+ deals across stages below.
I've categorized the deals below into four categories, Fintech, Care, Enterprise & Consumer, and Sustainability, and ordered from later-stage rounds to early-stage rounds. Highlighted deals include: Ramp, TRM Labs, Laika, Fordefi, Equals, Savvy, Archy, Yave, Cherry, Fathom, Topicals, WellTheory, Options MD, Yassir, Hopper, Vivrelle, Ernesta, Mem, Harmonic, PhotoRoom, Coefficient, EdgeDB, Biofire, Primer, Circle Labs, Recess, Aspen Power, Runwise, Airly, Return; Tesla/Musk, The Recount, IronSource, Summit Health-CityMD
Final numbers on SBF’s Investments at the bottom.
Deals
Sources: TS, Pro Rata, FinSMEs, Pitchbook, StrictlyVC
Fintech:
- Ramp, a London-based payment rails builder to connect crypto to the global financial system, raised $70 million in Series B funding. Mubadala Capital and Korelya Capital led the round.
- TRM Labs, a San Francisco-based blockchain intelligence company, raised $70 million in Series B extension funding. Thoma Bravo led the round and was joined by investors including Goldman Sachs, PayPal Ventures, Amex Ventures, Citi Ventures, and others.
- Laika, a New York-based compliance platform, raised $50 million in Series C funding. Fin Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Centana Growth Partners, J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners, Canapi, and ThirdPrime.
- Glow, an SF-based digital insurer for small businesses, raised $22.5m in Series A funding. Cota Capital led and was joined by AV8 Ventures, Markd, Startup Venture Capital and Maiden Re. www.glow.co
- Fordefi, a New York-based financial technology and software company, raised $18 million in seed funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Electric Capital, Alameda Research, Jump Crypto, Castle Island, Pantera Capital, Illuminate Financial, PayPal Alumni Fund, Nima Capital, Digital Currency Group, Defiance Capital, and StarkWare.
- Equals, a San Francisco-based spreadsheet analytics platform for startups, raised $16 million in Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by investors including Craft Ventures, Box Group, Worklife, Combine, and other angels.
- Tellus, a Cupertino, Calif.-based savings platform powered by real estate, raised $16 million in seed funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by investors including All-Stars Investments, Alumni Ventures, Decent Capital, Vectr Ventures, West Arrow, Westwood Ventures, and other angels.
- Savvy, a New York-based wealth management platform, raised $11 million in Series A-1 funding. Cal Berkeley’s The House Fund led the round and was joined by investors including Index Ventures, Thrive Capital, and Brewer Lane Ventures.
- Anzen, a provider of executive risk insurance software, raised $10m led by Andreessen Horowitz. www.anzen.com
- Mendel, a Mexico City-based B2B corporate spend management startup, raised $10m in new Series B funding and $50m in debt from Industry Ventures, Infinity Ventures and Victory Park Capital. https://axios.link/3WNSdXS
- Archy, a San Francisco-based payments and management platform for dental practices, raised $10 million in funding. Bessemer Venture Partners and CRV co-led the round and were joined by investors including Alven, Nurzhas Makishev, Adapt Ventures, 2.12 Angels, Diagram Collective, and others.
- SparkPlug, an SF-based payout automation and sales management platform, raised $8m in Series A funding. Lightbank led, and was joined by Industry Ventures, TenOneTen Ventures and Jason Calacanis. www.sparkplug.app
- Yave, a Mexico City-based embedded mortgage platform for Latin America, raised $7.5 million in seed II funding. Better Tomorrow Ventures and MetaProp co-led the round and were joined by investors including Goodwater, Activant, Moore Capital, Fintech Fund, Cross River, Vinte, Magma Partners, DILA Capital, and Wollef.
- Atlar, a Stockholm-based bank payments platform for automated money movement, raised €5 million ($5.03 million) in seed funding. Index Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including La Famiglia VC, Cocoa Ventures, and other angels.
- Cherry, a Brooklyn-based payments and invoice tracking automation startup, raised $4m in seed funding led by NFX, per Axios Pro. https://axios.link/3TkzfFc
- Local Infusion, an ambulatory infusion center startup initially focused on Maine and New Hampshire, raised $4m co-led by Brand Foundry Ventures and Meridian Street Capital, per Axios Pro. https://axios.link/3DUlHdK
. . .
Care:
- Fathom, a SF-based automated medical coding startup, raised $46m in Series B funding, as first reported by Axios Pro. Lightspeed Venture Partners and Alkeon Capital co-led, and were joined by Cedars-Sinai, Inflect Health, ApolloMD, Founders Fund and Tarsadia. https://axios.link/3UrDhNm
- Elemental Machines, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of a lab intelligence platform, raised $41m in Series B funding. Sageview Capital and Omega Venture Partners co-led, and were joined by Gutbrain Ventures and Digitalis Ventures. www.lementalmachines.com
- Juvena Therapeutics, a Redwood City, Calif.-based computational platform for mapping the therapeutic potential of secreted proteins, raised $41m in Series A funding. Mubadala Capital and Horizons Ventures co-led, and were joined by Bison Ventures, Manta Ray Ventures, Irongrey, Alumni Ventures, Plum Alley, Transform VC, BoxOne Ventures, Intersect VC, Compound and Felicis. www.juvenatherapeutics.com
- Topicals, a Santa Monica-based skincare company, raised $10 million in funding led by CAVU Consumer Partners.
- WellTheory, a San Francisco-based nutrition and lifestyle coaching provider for those with autoimmune diseases, raised $7.2 million in seed funding. Accel led the round and was joined by investors including Lux Capital, Box Group, Coalition Operators, and other angels.
- Exer AI. a Denver-based remote patient monitoring platform, raised $6.5m from Backstage Capital and Life Extension Ventures. www.exer.ai
- MySimplePetLab, a Minneapolis-based home pet diagnostic tests company, raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Mars Companion Fund.
- Secure AI Labs, a Cambridge, Mass.-based clinical data registry for patient advocacy groups, raised $4.7 million in seed funding. Asset Management Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Mozilla Ventures, Future Labs, and York IE.
- Options MD, an LA-based behavioral health startup focused on treatment-resistant depression, raised $2.4m. Bread & Butter Ventures led, and was joined by M13, Bright Ventures, Collab Capital, MedMountain Ventures and Techstars. www.optionsmd.com
. . .
Enterprise & Consumer:
- Yassir, a San Francisco-based ride hailing, food and grocery delivery, banking and other services marketplace, raised $150 million in Series B funding. BOND led the round and was joined by investors including DN Capital, Dorsal Capital, Quiet Capital, Stanford Alumni Ventures, Y Combinator, and others.
- Hopper, a Montreal, Canada-based travel booking app, raised $96 million in funding from Capital One.
- Island, a Dallas-based enterprise browser company, raised $60 million in Series B extension funding led by Georgian.
- Kyte, a San Francisco-based rental car delivery company, raised $60 million in Series B funding. InterAlpen Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Valor Equity Partners, Anthemis, Citi Ventures, Hearst Ventures, DN Capital, 1984 Ventures, FJ Labs, and Urban Innovation Fund.
- Beekeeper, a San Francisco and Zurich, Switzerland-based automation company for frontline workers, raised $50 million in Series C funding. EGSB, Kreos Capital, Energize, Thayer, SwissCanto, Keen Ventures, Alpana, and Verve Capital invested in the round.
- Athletic Brewing, a Stratford, Conn.-based nonalcoholic beer brewer, raised $50m from Keurig Dr Pepper (Nasdaq: KDP). Other backers include TRB Advisors and Alliance Consumer Growth. www.athleticbrewing.com
- AutoLeadStar, a Miami-based digital customer data and experience platform for the automotive industry, raised $40 million in funding led by Riverwood Capital.
- Macrometa, a San Mateo, Calif.-based edge cloud computing startup, raised $38m. Akamai Technologies led, and was joined by Shasta Ventures and 60 Degree Capital. https://axios.link/3DSJPNZ
- Vivrelle, a New York-based rental service for designer handbags, jewelry and diamonds, raised $35m in Series B funding. 3L Capital led, and was joined by Origin Ventures, Chapford Capital Group, Plus Capital and actresses Lily Collins and Nina Dobrev. https://axios.link/3Tvq5G9
- Dataloop, a Herzliya, Israel-based A.I. data management and annotation platform, raised $33 million in Series B funding. NGP Capital and Alpha Wave Ventures co-led the round and were joined by investors including Amiti Ventures, F2 Venture Capital, Eyal Gura, and OurCrowd.
- Ernesta, a New York-based D2C custom rug company, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Addition led the round and was joined by investors including True Ventures and others.
- Mem, an AI-powered notetaking app, raised $23.5m led by OpenAI. www.mem.ai
- Harmonic, a New York-based startup search platform, raised $23 million in Series A funding. Sozo led the round and was joined by Craft Ventures.
- PhotoRoom, a French photo-editing app for e-commerce and small businesses, raised $19m in Series A funding led by Balderton Capital. https://axios.link/3E7LO2c
- Coefficient, a Mountain View, Calif.-based data connectivity and automation company for spreadsheets, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Battery Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Foundation Capital and S28 Capital.
- EdgeDB, a San Francisco-based open source database developer, raised $15 million in Series A funding co-led by Nava Ventures and Accel.
- The Wire, a New York-based news and data platform focused on China and global supply chains, raised $14 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital.
- Biofire, a Broomfield, Colo.-based firearms technology company, raised $14 million in Series A funding. Founders Fund led the round and was joined by investors including 10X Capital, Gaingels, ScienceIO founder and CEO Will Manidis, Draper Associates, Structure Capital, Service Provider Capital, and Gavin de Becker & Associates.
- Veriti, a Tel Aviv-based security infrastructure company, raised $12 million in funding led by Insight Partners.
- Primer, an SF-based software company that offers hyper-precise targeting for B2B marketers, has raised $12M in Series A funding led by Craft Ventures with support from Slack Fund and Salesforce Ventures as well as angel investors from Dropbox, Figma, Hubspot, Notion, and Masterclass.
- Antavo, a London-based enterprise loyalty cloud platform, raised €10 million ($10.08 million) in Series A funding. Euroventures led the round and was joined by investors including Lead Ventures, iEurope, Innovation Nest, and others.
- Alethea, a Washington D.C.-based disinformation, misinformation, and social media manipulation detection company, raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Ballistic Ventures’ Ted Schlein and Kevin Mandia.
- Hwy Haul, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based digital freight platform connecting produce shippers with truckers, raised $10 million in funding. Eileses Capital led the round and was joined by investors including True Blue Partners, BluePointe Ventures, and FDC Partners.
- Vizit, a Boston-based provider of image analytics software for brands and retailers, raised $10m in Series A funding co-led by Infinity Ventures and Brand Foundry Ventures. www.vizit.com
- Doola, a New York-based startup that helps foreign founders start LLCs in the U.S., raised $8m. Nexus Venture Partners led, and was joined by YC, Hustle Fund and Vibe Capital. https://axios.link/3WMOlpK
- Directus, a Brooklyn, New York-based open source software company, raised $7 million in Series A funding. True Ventures led the round and was joined by Handshake Ventures.
- Teamraderie, a Los Altos, Calif.-based team-building software company, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Founders Fund led the round and was joined by investors including Heroic Ventures, DashAngels, Moving Capital, and Overtime.vc.
- 5Mins AI, a London, U.K.-based gamified learning platform, raised $5.7 million in seed funding. AlbionVC led the round and was joined by investors including Chalfen Ventures, Portfolio Ventures, Blue Lion Global, and Edenred Capital Partners.
- Circle Labs, an SF-based AI platform for making virtual characters, raised $4.2m in seed funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. https://axios.link/3UcbU9U
- Recess, a Venice, Calif.-based marketing platform connecting brands with events and venues, raised $5 million in Series A funding co-led by Data Point Capital and Spring Mountain Capital.
- Kalder, a New York-based brand engagement platform, raised $3 million in pre-seed funding. Indigo Fund, 8VC, 500 VC, Human Capital, Soma Capital and others invested in the round.
- Embue, a Worcester, Mass.-based building intelligence, monitoring, automation, and control solution for multifamily apartment building portfolios, raised $2.3 million in seed funding. Shadow Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Avesta Fund, Leder Investments, and others.
- WorkTorch, an employee recruiting and retention startup, raised $2.2m in seed funding led by Tenzing Capital. https://axios.link/3FVxmMe
. . .
Sustainability:
- Aspen Power Partners, a Dallas-based decarbonization platform, raised $350 million from funds managed by Carlyle.
- Ostara, a Canadian alternative fertilizer maker, raised US$70m in Series C funding from Carica Sustainable Investments, Forage Capital Partners, Cibus Funds and Grosvenor. https://axios.link/3E0Gs8R
- Runwise, a New York-based provider of building energy management software, raised $19m in Series A funding. Fifth Wall led, and was joined by Rudin Management, SOJA Ventures, Derive Ventures, Helium-3, Silence VC, The Cannon Project and Waterman Ventures. www.runwise.com
- Airly, a London-based developer of air pollution sensors, raised $5.5m in Series A funding. Pi Labs led, and was joined by Richard Branson’s family office, AENU, Untitled, Semapa Next and TO Ventures. www.airly.org
- Electric Era, a Seattle-based climate tech startup, raised $4 million in funding. Blackhorn Ventures, Proeza Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Remus Capital invested in the round.
- Return, a San Francisco-based blockchain climate platform, raised $2.5 million in pre-seed funding. Cherry Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Blue Bear Capital, Possible Ventures, Slow Ventures, Allegory, Not Boring Capital, Climate Capital, Eniac Ventures, and other angels.
Acquisitions & PE:
- Elon Musk sold at least $3.95b worth of Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) shares since completing his $44b Twitter takeover, per new SEC filings. He'd said publicly twice this year that he didn't plan to sell any more Tesla shares. https://axios.link/3htYnfi
- Voya Financial (NYSE: VOYA) agreed to acquire Benefitfocus (Nasdaq: BNFT), a Charleston, S.C.-based benefits administration tech provider, for roughly $570m in cash. https://axios.link/3fHzSLc
- Mars Petcare agreed to buy Canadian petfood maker Champion Petfoods from Bedford Capital and Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan. https://axios.link/3ti3CBI
- The Recount, a political video news startup, is seeking a buyer for a nominal sum, after losing $10m last year on $1m in revenue, per Axios. It raised over $30m from VC firms like USV, Foundry Group and True Ventures. https://axios.link/3FY1Blu
- Unity Software (NYSE: U) completed its $4.4b acquisition of mobile ad tech firm IronSource (NYSE: IS).
- Reynolda Equity Partners acquired a majority stake in Unified Health Services, a Memphis-based revenue cycle management solutions provider for workers' comp claims. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- VillageMD, backed by Walgreens, agreed to acquire Summit Health-CityMD, a New York-based primary, specialty and urgent care provider, from Warburg Pincus. A deal is valued at approximately $8.9 billion.
- Aspen Power Partners acquired Safari Energy, a New York-based solar energy provider, from PPL Corporation. FInancial terms were not disclosed.
- Klaviyo acquired Napkin.io, a New York-based platform for browser-based code writing and deployment. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Ouster, a San Francisco-based digital lidar, and Velodyne, a San Jose-based lidar sensors and solutions company, agreed to a merger.
- Appfire acquired Nextup.ai, a Cleveland-based productivity and collaboration software solutions provider for Slack and Microsoft Teams. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Bill (NYSE: BILL) agreed to buy Finmark, a Raleigh, N.C.-based financial planning and analysis software firm that had raised over $11m from firms like Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Associates and American Express Ventures. www.finmark.com
- Gap (NYSE: GPS) agreed to sell its Greater China business to Baozun (HK: 9991) for upwards of $50m. https://axios.link/3fPWlWv
- OneTrust, an Atlanta-based enterprise compliance software company backed by SoftBank, is shutting Planetly, the Berlin-based carbon management software company it acquired last year, per Axios Pro. Around 200 people lost their jobs. https://axios.link/3Uyfg6P
- EmployBridge acquired Bluecrew, a Chicago-based hourly W-2 workforce-as-a-service platform, from IAC. Financial terms were not disclosed.
. . .
IPOs:
Nothing to see here…
. . .
SPACs:
- Fast Radius (Nasdaq: FSRD), a Chicago-based on-demand manufacturing platform that went public earlier this year via SPAC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. VC backers that still had significant stakes include Drive Capital and UPS. https://axios.link/3NT4rdm
Funds:
- EQT, a Stockholm-based venture capital firm, raised €1.1 billion ($1.1 billion) for a fund focused on early-stage tech startups.
Final Numbers
SBF’s web of investments, which span FTX itself, his quant trading firm Alameda Research, and FTX’s venture arm FTX Ventures, whose $2 billion fund is funded by SBF himself as the sole LP. Just take a look at this mind-boggling chart below:
A partial look at the SBF empire’s investments, including lead investments and major companies in the crypto space.
Data from Crunchbase, which isn’t comprehensive, puts the number of portfolio companies for Alameda Research at 184 investments, FTX Ventures at 48 investments, and FTX at 21 investments. FTX and FTX US also made acquisitions, including troubled lender Voyager Digital’s assets in a September deal for $1.4 billion. And, it turns out SBF’s entities also invested in some VC funds themselves, as The Information reported on Thursday—including funneling hundreds of millions into Sequoia Capital, Multicoin Capital, and Paradigm.
Data: Hersbach, et. al., 2019, "ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1959 to present"; Map: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals
All domestic eyes are on today's midterm elections, but many global eyes are on the COP27 global climate negotiations in Egypt.
Lots of new data, which UN secretary-general António Guterres says represents "a distress signal."
Expect lots of talk about private investment, including a U.S. plan to leverage corporate capital to help developing nations cut down on fossil fuel use.
The material presented on Molly O’Shea’s website are my opinions only and are provided for informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice. It is not a recommendation of, or an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy, any particular security, strategy, or investment product. Any analysis or discussion of investments, sectors or the market generally are based on current information, including from public sources, that I consider reliable, but I do not represent that any research or the information provided is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied on as such. My views and opinions expressed in any website content are current at the time of publication and are subject to change. Past performance is not indicative of future results.