Sourcery (12/21-12/25)
Creditas, Bolt, Qualia, LifeRaft, Perch, OneTrust, Project44, Ironclad, Very Good Security, Apartment List, DISCO, Dialpad, DASH, Topl. IAC, Peloton. Oscar, ACV Auctions, Bumble. Footwork, Casa Verde.
Last Week (12/21-12/25):
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 Creditas, Bolt, Qualia, LifeRaft, Perch, OneTrust, Project44, Ironclad, Very Good Security, Apartment List, DISCO, Dialpad, DASH, Topl. IAC, Peloton. Oscar, ACV Auctions, Bumble. Footwork, Casa Verde Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures.
Final numbers on 2021 Fundraising Forecast at the bottom.
Deals
Sources: TS, Pro Rata, FinSMEs, Pitchbook, StrictlyVC
Fintech:
-Creditas, a Brazilian consumer lending startup, raised $255 million in Series E funding at a $1.75 billion post-money valuation. Backers include LGT Lightstone, Tarsadia Capital, Wellington Management, e.ventures, and Sunley House Capital and insiders SoftBank Vision Fund, SoftBank Latin America Fund, VEF, Kaszek Ventures and Amadeus Capital Partners.http://axios.link/VN1X
-Bolt, a San Francisco-based checkout platform, raised $75 million. General Atlantic and WestCap co-led and were joined by return backers Activant Capital and Tribe Capital.www.bolt.com
-Liberis, a British provider of financing solutions for SMEs, raised £70 million in equity and debt funding from British Business Investments, Paragon Bank, BCI Europe and Silicon Valley Bank. http://axios.link/HW9S
-Qualia, a San Francisco-based real estate tech startup aimed at streamlining the home closing process, raised $65 million in Series D funding at a valuation north of $1 billion. Tiger Global led and was joined by fellow insiders 8VC and Menlo Ventures. http://axios.link/VW3Q
-Tap Network, a New York-based loyalty rewards-as-a-service startup, raised $4 million from backers like Revelis Capital, Nima Capital, the Forbes family office, Warner Music Group and Access Industries. http://axios.link/7UNz
- LifeRaft, an Oakland-based health insure-tech startup, raised $3.5 million in seed funding co-led by Costanoa Ventures and XYZ VC. www.liferaft.co
-Tradefeedr, a London-based data-sharing platform for collaborative analytics in capital markets, raised $3 million led by IPGL. http://axios.link/tlG3
-Perch, a Los Angeles-based credit building platform, raised $2.5 million in seed funding from Marcy Venture Partners, Citi, Softbank Opportunity Fund, Concrete Rose and Village Capital. http://axios.link/4uHW
. . .
Care:
-ReturnSafe, an Austin, Texas-based provider of workplace safety and disease management solutions, raised $3.25 million co-led by Fifty Years and Active Capital. www.returnsafe.com
. . .
Future of Work:
- OneTrust, an Atlanta-based data protection and privacy policy software company, raised $300 million in Series C funding at a $5.1 billion valuation. TCV led, and was joined by insiders Coatue and Insight Partners.http://axios.link/t91Y
-Project44, a Chicago-based provider of supply chain visibility solutions, raised $100 million in Series D funding. Insight Partners led and was joined by 8VC, Emergence Capital, Omidyar Technology Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, Sozo Ventures and Underscore VC. http://axios.link/dyvy
-Ironclad, a San Francisco-based provider of digital contract management software, raised at least $100 million led by Bond at a valuation north of $950 million, per The Information. Existing backers include Accel, Sequoia Capital and YC.http://axios.link/n1tC
-Trigo, an Israeli developer of self-checkout technologies, raised $60 million in Series B funding. 83North led and was joined by return backers Vertex Ventures Israel, Hetz Ventures, Red Dot Capital Partners, Tesco, and Morag Investments.www.trigo.tech
-Very Good Security, a San Francisco-based data security and compliance company, raised $60 million in Series C funding. Vertex Ventures US led and was joined by insiders Andreessen Horowitz and Goldman Sachs Growth. www.verygoodsecurity.com
-Apartment List, a San Francisco-based apartment rental marketplace, raised $50 million in new funding led by Janus Henderson Investors at around a $600 million valuation. http://axios.link/BnCM
-DISCO, an Austin, Texas-based provider of SaaS for law firms, raised $60 million in new equity funding from Georgian Partners, LiveOak Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, the Stephens Group and Breyer Capital. It also secured $40 million in debt from Comerica.www.csdisco.com
-Jane, a Lehi, Utah-based online marketplace for boutique sellers, raised $40 million from Tritium Partners. www.jane.com
-Dialpad, a San Francisco-based cloud business phone and contact center provider, raised $10 million from SoftBank. It’s part of a Series E round led by OMERS that previously closed on $100 million at a $1.2 billion valuation. http://axios.link/aRY6
-Dash Systems, a Los Angeles-based developer of hardware and software for precision airdrops, raised $8 million in seed funding. 8VC led, and was joined by Tusk Venture Partners, Loup Ventures, Trust Ventures, Perot Jain, and MiLA Capital. http://axios.link/M8Ld
-WorkWhile, a San Francisco-based labor management platform for hourly work, raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by Khosla Ventures. http://axios.link/iKbV
. . .
Sustainability:
-Topl, a Houston-based blockchain platform to help companies prove ethical and sustainable practices, raised $3 million in seed funding led by Mercury Fund. http://axios.link/WT8x
Acquisitions:
-IAC said that it plans to spin out video platform Vimeo into an independent, publicly traded company. http://axios.link/kWzA
-The Blackstone Group agreed to acquire a majority stake in Liftoff, a Redwood City, Calif.-based mobile app marketing optimization platform that had raised around $9 million from firms like Akkadian Ventures and Baseline Ventures. www.liftoff.io
-Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) acquired Inawisdom, a London-based business consultancy focused on AI and machine learning. www.cognizant.com
-Rent-A-Center (Nasdaq: RCII) agreed to acquire Acima Holdings, a provider of virtual lease-to-own solutions, for $1.65 billion in cash and stock. Sellers include Aries Capital Partners and Arklow Holdings. http://axios.link/lQyq
-Peloton (Nasdaq: PTON) agreed to buy Woodinville, Wash.-based commercial fitness equipment maker Precor for $420 million. The seller is Finland’s Amer Sports, whose investors include ANTA Sports, FountainVest Partners, Tencent and Anamered Investments. http://axios.link/payc
-IBM (NYSE: IBM) agreed to buy Nordcloud, a Finnish multicloud consulting firm that had raised over $25 million from firms like OP Financial Group and Finnvera. http://axios.link/FqQH
-RingCentral (NYSE: RNG) acquired DeepAffects, a Milpitas, Calif.-based conversational intelligence startup that had been seeded by VDOSH. http://axios.link/sOJt
. . .
IPOs:
-The SEC yesterday approved a rule change that will allow companies doing direct listings on the New York Stock Exchange to simultaneously raise primary capital. http://axios.link/xX0T
- Oscar, the health insurance company co-founded in 2012 by Joshua Kushner and Mario Schlosser, said it filed confidential IPO papers with the SEC. Axios previously reported on public plans for the company, which last week raised $140 million in new VC funding at a $6 billion valuation.
-Playtika, an Israeli mobile gaming company, filed for an IPO that prior reports suggest could seek to raise $1 billion. It plans to list on the Nasdaq (PLTK) and reports $16 million of net income on $1.8 billion in revenue for the first nine months of 2020. Playtika was acquired in 2016 for $4.4 billion by a Chinese investor group that included Shanghai Giant Network Technology, Jack Ma, Yunfeng Capital, China Oceanwide Holdings Group, China Minsheng Trust, CDH China HF Holdings, Netmarble Games and Hony Capital http://axios.link/iOb3
-ACVAuctions, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based wholesale auto auction site, filed confidential IPO papers with the SEC, Axios has learned. The company has raised $350 million in VC funding, most recently led by Durable Capital Partners at a $1.7 billion valuation.
-Bumble, a dating app, filed confidential IPO papers with the SEC and plans to list in February, per Bloomberg. Backers include Lead Edge Capital, Greycroft and Accel. http://axios.link/Cp4Q
. . .
SPACs:
-Janus International Group, a Temple, Ga.-based provider of self-storage solutions owned by Clearlake Capital Group, agreed to go public via a reverse merger with Juniper Industrial Holdings (NYSE: JIH), a SPAC led by former Honeywell exec Brian Scott Cook. The deal values Janus at $1.9 billion, including a $250 million PIPE from backers like Fidelity and Baron Capital Group. http://axios.link/9yzM
-Ouster, a San Francisco-based developer of lidar sensors for autonomous cars, agreed to go public via a reverse merger with Colonnade Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: CLA) at a $1.9 billion valuation. Ouster raised $142 million in VC funding from firms like Cox Enterprises, Tao Capital Partners, Fontinalis Partners and Runway Growth Capital. http://axios.link/xWzk
-SoftBank later today will file to raise between $500 million and $600 million via an IPO of its first SPAC, Axios has learned. The firm is said to be prepping at least two additional SPACs. http://axios.link/9vLq
Funds:
-Footwork is raising $150 million for its debut VC fund, Axios' Kia Kokalitcheva reports. It's led by Nikhil Basu Trivedi, previously a GP at Shasta Ventures, and Mike Smith, who was COO and president at Stitch Fix. http://axios.link/7G3w
-Case Verde Capital, the cannabis-focused VC firm founded by Snoop Dogg, raised $100 million for a new fund, per SEC filings. http://axios.link/taTp
-Liquid 2 Ventures, led by Joe Montana (yes, that one), is raising $100 million for its third fund, per an SEC filing. www.liquid2.vc
Final Numbers: Fundraising forecast
Source: Eaton Partners Pulse Report. Data via online survey of 61 institutional investors 11/30/20-12/10/20.