Sourcery (12/7-12/11)
FiscalNotes, Fetch Rewards, Luko, gohenry, Unit, Synctera, Tempus, Cityblock Health, Calm, Elation Health, The Skills, Blueprint, Wiz, Singlestore, Beyond Identity, Datarobot, Sundae, Salt Security..
Last Week (12/7-12/11):
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 FiscalNotes, Fetch Rewards, Luko, gohenry, Unit, Synctera, Tempus, Cityblock Health, Calm, Elation Health, The Skills, Blueprint, Wiz, Singlestore, Beyond Identity, Datarobot, Sundae, Salt Security, Gorgias, Skyflow, Arthur, Varda Space, Reface, Candu, Gotham Greens. Stone Island, Workpath, Setter, Billie. C3.ai, AirBnB, DoorDash, Wish, Robinhood, Coursera, Squarespace.
Final numbers on 2020 Global M&A Activity at the bottom.
Deals
Sources: TS, Pro Rata, FinSMEs, Pitchbook, StrictlyVC
Fintech:
- FiscalNote, a Washington, D.C.-based business data platform focused on legislative and regulatory risk, raised $160 million in equity and debt funding co-led by Arrowroot Capital and Runway Growth Capital. http://axios.link/BGM1
-Pico, a New York-based analytics platform for financial markets, raised $135 million in Series C funding from Intel Capital. www.pico.net
- Tink, a Swedish open banking platform, raised €85 million at a €680 million post-money valuation. Eurazeo Growth and Dawn Capital co-led, and were joined by PayPal Ventures, HMI Capital, Heartcore, ABN AMRO Ventures, Poste Italiane and BNP Paribas. http://axios.link/nKkx
- Fetch Rewards, a Madison, Wis.-based savings app, raised $80 million in Series C funding valuing it at $600 million. Iconiq led the round. Read more.
- Luko, a French home insurance startup, raised €50 million in Series B funding. EQT Ventures led, and was joined by Accel, Founders Fund and Speedinvest. http://axios.link/Erx7
- Cleo, a London-based financial assistant designed for Gen-Z, raised $44 million in Series B funding. EQT Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Balderton Capital, LocalGlobe, and SBI.
- gohenry, a New York-based maker of an allowance card, raised $40 million. Edison Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Gaia Capital Partners, Citi Ventures, and Muse Capital.
- Outfund, a British provider of revenue-based financing for online businesses, raised £37 million in equity and debt funding. Fuel Ventures led, and was joined by TMT Investment and Force over Mass. http://axios.link/pmaY
- At-Bay, a San Francisco-based insurance company, raised $34 million in Series C funding. Qumra Capital led the round and was joined by investors including M12.
- Moov, a Golden, Colo.-based maker of banking infrastructure, raised $27 million in Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round.
- Brightflag, a New York-based legal spend management platform, raised $28 million in growth equity. One Peak led the round and was joined by investors including Sands Capital Ventures and Frontline Ventures.
- Unit, a San Francisco-based startup helping banks and fintechs build out their tech, raised $18.6 million in funding from investors including Better Tomorrow Ventures, Aleph, Flourish Ventures, TLV Partners and Operator Partners.
- Synctera, a San Francisco-based company seeking to help banks scale, raised $12.4 million in seed funding. Lightspeed Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Diagram Ventures, Zachary Perret (CEO of Plaid); Max Levchin, (founder of SciFi VC); Alexa Von Tobel, (founder of Inspired Capital); and Henry Ward (CEO at Carta).
- battleface, a Columbus, Oh.-based travel insurance startup, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Drive Capital led the round.
- NOW Insurance, a Houston-based insurance platform for business owners and professionals, raised $1.3 million in additional seed funding led by The MFO Group.
. . .
Care:
- Tempus, a Chicago-based company applying artificial intelligence to precision medicine company, raised $200 million in funding valuing it at $8.1 billion. Investors included Baillie Gifford, Franklin Templeton, Google, Novo Holdings, and T. Rowe Price.
- Cityblock Health, a New York-based healthcare provider for lower-income communities, raised $160 million in Series C funding at a $1 billion valuation. General Catalyst led, and was joined by Wellington Management and return backers Kinnevik, Maverick Ventures, Thrive Capital and Redpoint Ventures. http://axios.link/dfqQ
- LeanTaaS, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based hospital management platform, raised $130 million in Series D funding. Insight Partners led and was joined by Goldman Sachs. www.leantaas.com
- LeanTaaS, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based patient and healthcare provider tech company, raised $130 million in Series D funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Goldman Sachs.
- Calm, a San Francisco-based maker of a meditation app, raised $75 million in Series C funding, valuing it at $2 billion. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Goldman Sachs, TPG, Insight Venture Partners and Marc Benioff.
- Hibob, a New York and London-based human resources software maker, raised $70 million in Series B funding. SEEK and Israel Growth Partners led the round.
- Elation Health, a San Francisco-based primary care management software maker, raised $40 million. Generation Investment Management led the round and was joined by investors including Threshold Ventures and Kapor Capital
- Centivo, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based digital health plan provider, raised $34 million in Series B funding. B Capital Group led the round.
- Onc.AI, an oncology care management startup, raised $6 million co-led by Blue Venture Fund and Accomplice. http://axios.link/sLxZ
- Simple, a Limassol, Cyprus-based maker of an app for intermittent fasting, raised $5 million in Series A funding valuing it at $42 million. Target Global and Palta co-led the round and were joined by S16 Angel Fund and Supernova.
- The Skills, an online education platform where courses are taught by pro athletes, raised $5 million in seed funding. Will Ventures led, and was joined by Global Founders Capital, 8VC, Maveron, Hack VC, and Correlation VC. http://axios.link/jmf8
- Story Health, a San Jose, Calif.-based the healthcare company with virtualized specialty care solutions, raised $4 million in seed funding. Investors included General Catalyst and Define Ventures.
- Blueprint, a Chicago-based software company for mental health clinicians, raised $3.4 million in seed funding. Bonfire Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Lightbank.
- Quell, a London-based company seeking to gamify working out, raised a $3 million in seed funding. Investors include Twitch co-founders Kevin Lin and Emmett Shear as well as AngelList founder Naval Ravikant. Read more.
- StarStock, a San Francisco-based sports card trading marketplace, raised $1.3 million in seed funding. Investors included Kevin Durant, Rich Kleiman of Thirty Five Ventures, Nigel and Lesley Eccles (co-founders of FanDuel), Jeremy Levine (Founder’s First Fund), Matt Dellavedova (basketball player) and A.J. Vaynerchuk (co-founder of VaynerSports).
. . .
Future of Work:
- Dragos, a Hanover, Md.-based cybersecurity firm, raised $110 million in Series C funding. National Grid Partners and Koch Disruptive Technologies co-led the round.
- Wiz, a Tel Aviv and Palo Alto-based cloud security company, raised $100 million in Series A funding. Investors included Index Ventures, Sequoia, Insight Partners, and Cyberstarts.
- SingleStore (f.k.a. MemSQL), a San Francisco-based real-time analytics platform, raised $80 million in Series E funding. Insight Partners led, and was joined by Dell Technologies Capital, Hercules Capital and insideres Accel, Anchorage Capital Group, Glynn Capital, GV and Rev IV. http://axios.link/oGuG
- Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) invested $75 million in Joby Aviation, a Santa Cruz, Calif.-based transportation company developing an all-electric, vertical take-off and landing passenger aircraft, while Joby will acquire Uber Elevate, Uber’s flying taxi unit.
- Beyond Identity, a New York-based identity authentication company, raised $75 million in Series B funding. Investors include NEA, Jim Clark, and Koch Disruptive Technologies.
- DataRobot, a Boston-based A.I. platform, raised $60 million in additional Series F funding valuing the company at $2.8 billion. Snowflake (new investor), Salesforce Venture, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise invested in the company.
- CallRail, an Atlanta-based marketing and analytics platform, raised $56 million from existing investors Sageview Capital and Leaders Fund.
- Orca Security, a Los Angeles-based security firm, raised $55 million in Series B funding. ICONIQ Growth led the round and was joined by investors including GGV Capital, YL Ventures, and Silicon Valley CISO Investments.
- Immedis, an Ireland-based provider of global payroll solutions, raised $50 million at a $575 million valuation from Lead Edge Capital. http://axios.link/vleh
- Squire, a New York-based provider of barbershop management software, raised $45 million in Series C funding. Iconiq Capital led, and was joined by return backers CRV, Tiger Global and Trinity Ventures. It also secured $15 million in debt financing. http://axios.link/qV2g
- Leaflink, a New York-based wholesale cannabis startup, raised $40 million in Series C funding. Founders Fund led, and was joined by Thrive Capital, Nosara Capital, and Lerer Hippeau. http://axios.link/PSWJ
- Tecton, a San Francisco-based maker of a feature store for machine learning, raised $35 million in Series B funding. Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia co-led the round.
- Weaveworks, a London-based Kubernetes platform provider, raised $36.7 million in Series C funding. Investors included Amazon Web Services, Ericsson, Orange Ventures, SonaeIM and Telekom Investment Pool, and follow-ons from Accel, GV, and Redline Capital.
- Sundae, a San Francisco-based real estate marketplace, raised $36 million in Series B funding. QED Investors led the round and was joined by investors including Founders Fund, Susa Ventures, Navitas Capital, and Prudence Holdings.
- Turing, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based maker of an A.I.-based platform to help evaluate prospective engineers for remote teams, raised $32 million in Series B funding. WestBridge Capital led the round. Read more.
- Graphiant, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based computer networking company, raised $33.5 million in Series A funding. Sequoia Capital and Two Bear Capital led the round and were joined by Atlantic Bridge.
- Fairmarkit, a Boston, Mass.-based market for goods and services for large enterprises, raised $30 million in Series B funding. GGV Capital and Insight Partners co-led the round.
- SeeTree, a Fresno, Calif.-based A.I. tree intelligence company, raised $30 million in Series B funding. The International Finance Corporation led the round.
- Salt Security, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based API security company, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Sequoia Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Tenaya Capital, S Capital VC, and Y Combinator.
- Gorgias, a San Francisco-based customer service company, raised $25 million in Series B funding, valuing it at $300 million pre-money. Sapphire Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including SaaStr, Alven, Amplify Partners, CRV and Greycroft. Read more.
- CodeSignal, a San Francisco-based maker of a technical assessment platform for tech recruiting, raised $25 million in Series B funding. Menlo Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Capital One Ventures, CM Ventures, Human Capital, TripHammer Ventures (Alumni Ventures Group), e.ventures, A Capital, Felicis Ventures and Correlation Ventures.
- Finn.auto, a Munich-based car subscription company, raised €20 million ($24.2 million) in Series A funding. White Star Capital led the round.
- Shippit, a Sydney-based e-commerce and logistics company, raised AU$30 million ($22 million) in Series B funding. Investors included Tiger Global and Jason Lenga.
- GetAccept, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based maker of a sales platform, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round.
- Skyflow, a Palo Alto-based data privacy focused business, raised $17.5 million in Series A funding. Canvas Ventures led the round.
- Bionic, a Palo Alto-based application intelligence startup, raised $17 million in Series A funding led by Battery Ventures. www.bionic.ai
- WorkRamp, a San Francisco-based enterprise learning platform, raised $17 million in Series B funding. OMERS Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Bow Capital.
- UserLeap, a San Francisco-based user research platform, raised $16 million in Series A funding. Accel led the round and was joined by investors including Elad Gil, Dylan Field, Ben Porterfield, Akshay Kothari, Jack Altman, and Bobby Lo.
- Arthur, a New York-based business focused on A.I. monitoring and management, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Index Ventures led the round and were joined by Acrew and Plexo Capital.
- Modal, a San Francisco-based provider of e-commerce solutions automotive dealers and brands, raised $15 million in Series A funding. American Honda led the round.
- Wonder, a German video communications startup, raised $11 million in seed funding. EQT Ventures led, and was joined by return backer BlueYard Ventures. http://axios.link/2QhW
- Varda Space, a space manufacturing startup, raised $9 million in seed funding co-led by Founders Fund and Lux Capital. http://axios.link/NaiE
- Contractbook, a Copenhagen-based legal tech automation startup, raised $9.4 million in Series A funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led, and was joined by Gradient Ventures. http://axios.link/H0WG
-Zephr, a London-based startup that helps publishers increase subscriptions, raised $8 million led by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments. http://axios.link/6vJ1
- Sunlight, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of technology for data-intensive applications, raised $6 million in Series A funding. OpenOcean led the round and was joined by investors including Robert Bosch Venture Capital.
- Neuro-ID, a Whitefish, Mt.-based behavior analytics company seeking to detect fraud, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Fin VC and TTV Capital led the round and were joined by investors including Canapi Ventures.
- Hunters, a Tel Aviv-based threat detection company, added Snowflake Ventures to its roster of Series A investors alongside Okta and Microsoft’s M12 venture. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Meet Cute, a San Francisco-based podcast startup, raised $6.25 million in Series A funding. USV led, and was joined by LocalGlobe, Lerer Hippeau and Newark Venture Partners.
- Einblick, a Cambridge, Mass.-based visual data computing company, raised $6 million in seed funding. Amplify Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Flybridge and Samsung Next.
- Voodle, a Seattle-based maker of a short video platform for remote teams, raised $6 million in funding. Madrona Venture Group and Vulcan Capital led the round and was joined by investors including M12, Cisco Investments, and Hearst Ventures.
- Reface, a Ukraine-based maker of an A.I. app for placing selfies in GIFs and videos, raised $5.5 million in seed funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round. Read more.
- Candu, a San Francisco-based developer of a no-code web builder, raised $5 million in seed funding. Two Sigma Ventures led the round and was joined by CRV.
- Workera, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based skills assessment maker, raised $5 million in seed funding. Owl Ventures and AI Fund led the round and were joined by Plug and Play Ventures.
- Ava, a San Francisco-based maker of a live captioning solution for accessibility, raised $4.5 million. Initialized Capital and Khosla Ventures led the round.
- HomeLister, a Los Angeles-based digital brokerage for homeowners to list and sell their properties online, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. MetaProp and Homebrew invested.
- Jeli.io, a San Francisco-based incident analysis platform, raised $4 million in seed funding. Boldstart Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Harrison Metal and Heavybit.
- Stuf, a New York-based startup that converts basements and unused spaces into self-storage spots, raised $1.8 million in seed funding co-led by Harlem Capital and Wilshire Lane Partners. http://axios.link/duD3
. . .
Sustainability:
- Grove Collaborative, a San Francisco-based household products marketplace, raised $125 million at a $1.32 billion post-money valuation. Backers include Morgan Stanley’s Counterpoint Global, Sculptor, NextView Ventures and Glynn Capital Management. http://axios.link/gDj3
- Gotham Greens, a New York-based operator of tech-enabled greenhouses, raised $42 million in funding. Manna Tree led the Series D and was joined by investors including The Silverman Group.
- OhmConnect, a San Francisco-based startup rewarding consumers for saving energy when the grid is overloaded, raised $20 million from Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners. SIP also invested another $80 million in an OhmConnect virtual power plant.
- iUNU, a Seattle-based greenhouse management platform, raised $7 million in Series A funding co-led by S2G Ventures and Ceres Partners. http://axios.link/oVO4
- Planet FWD, a San Francisco-based regenerative agriculture startup, has raised $2.5 million in seed funding led by Emerson Collective. http://axios.link/DGUf
- Recurrent, a Seattle-based provider of used EV battery info, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Wireframe Ventures led, and was joined by PSL Ventures, Vulcan Capital, Prelude Ventures, Powerhouse Ventures, AAA Washington and Ascend VC. http://axios.link/HkMj
Acquisitions:
- Moncler (BIT: MONC), an Italian luxury apparel retailer, agreed to buy smaller rival Stone Island at an enterprise value of around €1.15 billion. http://axios.link/ONFz
- MTG acquired Hutch Games, a British developer and publisher of mobile racing games, for $275 million. Hutch was backed by Backed VC, Index Ventures, and Initial Capital.
- Thumbtack acquiredSetter, a Toronto-based home management platform backed investors including Sequoia and NFX. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Ro acquired Workpath, a Richmond, Va.-based software platform for healthcare companies to offer on-demand, in-home care and diagnostic services. Workpath was backed by Heritage Group and Inevitable Ventures. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- MetLife (NYSE: MET) agreed to sell its U.S. property and casualty insurance business for $3.94 billion to Zurich Insurance Group and Los Angeles-based Farmers Exchanges. http://axios.link/iO4m
- The Federal Trade Commission sued to block Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) from buying women’s razor maker Billie, which raised around $35 million from firms like Goldman Sachs, Lakehouse Ventures, ACME Capital, Female Founders Fund, Serena Ventures and Silverton Partners. http://axios.link/XO3G
. . .
IPOs:
- C3.ai, a Redwood City, Calif.-based company developing ways to deploy AI applications, raised $651 million by offering 15.5 million shares priced at $42 a share, above its range. Existing investor BlackRock and new investor Capital Research Global Investors plan to buy 20% of the shares in the IPO while Koch Industries and Microsoft plan to buy $150 million worth of shares in a private placement. TPG and Baker Hughes back the firm. Read more.
- DoorDash, a San Francisco-based restaurant meal delivery company, raised $3.37 billion in its IPO, at a fully diluted valuation of around $39 billion. It priced at $102 per share, above its upwardly revised range, and will begin trading later this morning on the NYSE (DASH). DoorDash wasn't the first on-demand food delivery upstart, being founded after GrubHub, Postmates or Caviar, but now it's much more valuable than any of them. DoorDash raised nearly $3 billion in VC funding, most recently at a $16 billion valuation, from firms like SoftBank Vision Fund (24.9% pre-IPO stake of Class A shares), Sequoia Capital (20.4%), and GIC (10.5%). CEO Tony Xu holds 41.6% of Class B shares. The IPO didn't feature a greenshoe and is just the second issuer to use Goldman Sachs' "hybrid" offering system, pioneered by Unity Software.
- PubMatic, a Redwood City, Calif.-based programmatic ad platform, raised $118 million in its IPO. The company priced 5.9 million shares at $20 (above $16-$18 range), for a fully diluted value of $1.1 billion. It will list on the Nasdaq (PUBM), used Jefferies and RBC Capital Markets as lead underwriters and reports nearly $8 million of net income on $92.5 million in revenue for the first nine months of 2020. PubMatic raised $76 million from firms like Nexus India (25.7% pre-IPO stake), Pelion Venture Partners (18.8%), August Capital (15.9%) and DFJ (9.1%). http://axios.link/klqP
- Airbnb raised $3.5 billion in its IPO at a fully diluted valuation of around $47.3 billion, and this morning will begin trading on the Nasdaq (ABNB). It priced shares at $68, versus an upwardly revised range of $56–$60. It's the largest float of 2020, and comes as retail investors remain drunk on IPO rocket fuel. CEO Brian Chesky will join today's Axios Re:Cap podcast. Subscribe.
- ContextLogic, the company behind discount marketplace Wish, says it plans to raise $1 billion in an offering of 46 million shares priced between $22 to $24 a piece, valuing the company at as high as $14.1 billion on an undiluted basis. Its investors include DST Global, Founders Fund, and Formation8 Partners. Read more.
- Robinhood Markets, the stock trading app, picked Goldman Sachs to lead an IPO in 2021 that could value it at more than $20 billion. Read more.
- Coursera, a Mountain View, Calif.-based online education company, is considering an IPO in 2021 that could value it around $5 billion, per Bloomberg. Its investors include NEA and Kleiner Perkins. Read more.
- Petco, a San Diego-based pet supplies retailer owned by CVC Capital Partners and CPPIB, filed for an IPO that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise $800 million. It plans to list on the Nasdaq (WOOF) with Goldman Sachs as lead underwriter, and reports a $94 million net loss on nearly $3.3 billion in revenue for the 39 weeks ending Nov. 2, 2020. http://axios.link/UaO8
- Intapp, a Palo Alto-based provider of software to capital markets firms, is preparing for a 2021 IPO. Temasek and Great Hill Partners back the firm. Read more.
- Upstart Holdings, a San Mateo, Calif.-based consumer lending platform, plans to raise $252 million (25% insider sold). It posted revenue of $144.2 million and income of $5 million in the nine months ending 2020. Third Point Ventures, Stone Ridge, and Khosla Ventures back the firm. Read more.
- Squarespace, the website hosting company, is seeking an IPO in the first half of 2021, per Bloomberg. General Atlantic, Accel, and Index Ventures are among its backers. Read more.
. . .
SPACs:
- Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp II, a blank-check acquisition firm backed by Bill Foley, is nearing a deal to merge with Paysafe, a U.K.-based payments company, valuing it at around $9 billion including debt, per Bloomberg. Blackstone Group and CVC Capital Partners back the firm. Read more.
- SoFi, a San Francisco-based fintech lender, held discussions to merge with SPACs, per Reuters. Silver Lake and Peter Thiel back the firm. Read more.
- McLaren, the British supercar maker, is in talks to raise £500 million in new equity funding that could pave the way for a reverse merger via SPAC, per the FT. http://axios.link/UJ6D
- Weedmaps, an Irvine, Calif.-based Yelp for cannabis sellers, agreed to go public via a reverse merger with Spike Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: SSPK) at a $1.5 billion valuation. http://axios.link/ZgFq
- The HydraFacial Company, a Long Beach, Calif.-based beauty company, will go public via merger with Vesper Healthcare Acquisition Corp., a SPAC led by Allergan executive Brent Saunders. The deal values the business at about $1.1 billion.
Funds:
- GoldPoint Partners, an affiliate of New York Life, raised $556 million for its fifth private debt fund, per an SEC filing. http://axios.link/ENI6
- REMUS, an early-stage venture capital firm, named TikTok influencer Josh Richards as a venture partner.
- Prudential Financial, the life insurer, launched a new $300 million venture firm. Read more.
- Ten Coves Capital, a Connecticut-based private equity firm focused on fintechs, spun out of Napier Park Global Capital with two growth funds from Napier managing $325 million total.
- Rally Ventures, a venture firm, closed its fourth fund with $250 million.
- Upper90, a New York-based debt and equity provider to e-commerce, enterprise, and fintechs, raised $195 million.
Final Numbers 2020 Global M&A Activity
Source: Refinitiv Deals Intelligence. Data through Dec. 10, 2020.