Sourcery (3/7-3/11)
Twitter Drama ~ Acorns, Roofstock, Immutable, AngelList, AutoFi, Branch, Mojo, Milo, Freightpay, Health Gorilla, Forma, Flume, Homeward, Axonius, Typeform, Swiftly, Nothing, Glorify, Canal, Disco...
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. . .
Last Week (3/7-3/11):
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: Acorns, Roofstock, Immutable, AngelList, AutoFi, Branch, Mojo, Milo, KurateDAO, Enter, Chipper, Swim Protocol, BearTax, Freightpay, Colossal Biosciences, Health Gorilla, Forma, Flume, Homeward, Lynx, Zaya, Axonius, Menlo Microsystems, Typeform, Swiftly, Nothing, Reforge, Argyle, Atlan, Glorify, Cider Security, Slingshot Aerospace, Canal, Disco, Cayena, Legal.io, Gumball, Topsort, Tactic, Popchew, Fetch, Calico, Tibber; Bed Bath & Beyond, Splunk, Deliveroo, GoodRx, Nuance Communications, Mandiant, Otis, Meetfox; Wellness Pet Co, Savage X Fenty; LanzaTech
Funds making noise include, Griffin Gaming Partners $750M gaming fund, Portage Ventures $616M fintech fund for US, CA and EU, SF-based Maker’s Fund $500M third fund, and last but not least, the loudest fund announcement of last week at the center of International Women’s Day backlash, twitter-storms and memes Bain Capital Crypto’s $560M fund (please help them with recruiting women).
Final numbers on Inflation Risk at the bottom.
Deals
Sources: TS, Pro Rata, FinSMEs, Pitchbook, StrictlyVC
Fintech:
- Acorns, an Irvine, Calif.-based retirement planning and investment platform, raised $300 million in funding led by TPG and was joined by investors including BlackRock, Greycroft, Owl Rock, Senator Investment Group, Torch Capital, Industry Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Headline, Galaxy Digital, Kevin Durant & Rich Kleiman’s Thirty Five Ventures, and others.
- Stax, an Orlando, Fla.-based an all-in-one payments platform, raised $245 million in funding from investors including Greater Sum Ventures, HarbourVest Partners, and Blue Star Innovation Partners.
- Roofstock, an Oakland, Calif.-based online platform for single-family rental investing, raised $240 million in Series E funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund and was joined by investors including Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Canvas Ventures, Citi Ventures, First American Financial, Expanding Capital, 7Global Capital, JLL, SVB Capital, Touchdown Ventures, Newton Investment Management, Pegasus Technology Ventures, CAZ Investments, and others.
- Immutable, a Surry Hills, Australia-based NFT trading platform, raised $200 million in Series C funding led by Temasek and was joined by investors including Animoca Brands, Tencent, ParaFi Capital, Princeville Capital, Arrington Capital, Mirae Asset, Liberty Global, King River Capital, Prosus Ventures, AirTree Ventures, Declaration Partners, Fabric Ventures, Possible Ventures, and Alameda Research.
- AngelList, a San Francisco-based early-stage venture funding platform, raised $100 million in funding led by Tiger Global and was joined by Accomplice and others.
- AutoFi, a San Francisco-based digital commerce platform for automotive sales and financing, raised $85 million in funding from investors including Santander Holdings, SVB Financial Group, and Crosslink Capital.
- Capchase, a New York-based recurring-revenue financing platform, raised $80 million in Series B funding led by 01 Advisors and was joined by investors including QED, Caffeinated Capital, Bling Capital, ScifiVC, Thomvest Ventures, Tusk Venture Partners, Invesco, and Gaingels. The additional $80M in equity funding comes after a year of rapid growth and product expansion.
- Branch, a Minneapolis, Minn.-based workforce payments app, raised $75 million in Series C funding led by Addition and was joined by investors including General Atlantic, Drive Capital, Crosscut Ventures, Indeed, and others.
- Mojo, a New York-based sports stock market app for athlete fans, raised $75 million in Series A funding led by Thrive Capital and was joined by investors including Marc Lore, Alex Rodriguez, and Tiger Global.
- JIFFY.ai, a Milpitas, Calif.-based data analytics automation platform for finance and operations, raised $53 million in Series B funding led by Eight Roads Ventures and was joined by investors including Iron Pillar, R-Squared, Nexus Venture Partners, Reaction Capital, and Rebright Partners.
- Milo, a Miami-based fintech company focused on loans, raised $17 million in Series A funding led by M13 and was joined by investors including QED Investors and MetaProp.
- Upstream, a Miami-based platform designed to set up DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), enable voting, manage community wallets and engagement, raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Boldstart Ventures and was joined by investors including Tiger Global, 8-bit Capital, Red Beard Ventures, Hannah Grey VC, Vayner, Alpaca Ventures, Fenbushi and others.
- Gridline, an Atlanta, Ga.-based digital wealth platform, raised $9 million in funding from investors including David Dorman, Mark Shoberg, David Cummings, Edwin Marcial, Kyle Porter, Garrett Langley, Sacha Labourey, and others.
- CoFi, a Lindon, Utah-based software company for construction lending, raised $7 million in seed funding led by Blackhorn Ventures, Metaprop and Tenacity.
- KurateDAO, a startup that uses crypto economic games to curate information, raised $6.85 Million in seed funding led by Polychain Capital.
- Enter, a San Francisco-based management payment platform to get doctors paid from insurance companies, raised $5.7 million in seed funding. Menlo Ventures, Quiet Capital, Savantus Ventures, 500, and SpringRock Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including Matt Roszak and Mato Peric.
- Chipper, an Austin-based student loan payment app, raised $5.6 million in seed funding led by Freestyle Capital, Slauson & Co., and Propel Venture and was joined by investors including Cap Table Coalition, Ethan Bloch of Digit, founder of Loop John Henry, and Craig Lewis of Gig Wage.
- Kolleno, a London-based finance platform for credit control, raised £4M ($5.4M) in seed funding led by Eurazeo and Stride.VC and was joined by investors including Euler Hermes, HubSpot, and angel investors Michael Pennington, Mark Ransford, and Will Neale.
- Swim Protocol, a startup that transfers tokens across chains via multi-token liquidity pools and Solana, raised $4 million in seed funding led by Pantera Capital and was joined by investors including FTX, Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures, Solana Ventures, Jump Capital, Social Capital, IOSG Ventures, Rok Capital, GBV Capital, Mantis VC, Panony, and Bonfida.
- BearTax, an Alpharetta, Ga.-based software platform for calculating and filing crypto taxes, raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by Ascend VC and joined by investors including BAM Ventures, defy.vc, Draper Startup House, Hustle Fund, Tacoma Venture Fund, Sketchnote Partners, Liquid 2 Ventures, and others.
- Noh, a São Paulo, Brazil-based fintech startup focused on shared finances, raised $3 million in seed funding led by Kindred Ventures, Biz Stone, Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield, and Harry Stebbings.
- Paerpay, a Boston-based contactless payment solution for restaurants, raised $3 million in seed funding led by MassMutual and joined by investors including Elevate Capital, MassVentures, Techstars, The Fund, Gaingels, and Chingona Ventures.
- Freightpay, a Los Angeles-based payment platform for logistics and freight forwarders, raised $2 million in funding led by Defy.vc and Better Tomorrow Ventures and was joined by investors including BAM Ventures, Flexport, Socially Financed, project44 co-founder and CEO Jett McCandless, and Jason Duboe.
. . .
Care:
- Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas, Texas-based biosciences and genetic engineering company, raised $60 million in Series A funding. Thomas Tull and At One Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including Untamed Planet, Animoca Brands, Breyer Capital, Animal Capital, Robert Nelsen, Paris Hilton, Bold Capital, First Light Capital Group, Boost VC, Jazz Ventures, Builders VC, Green Sands Equity, Draper Associates, Charles Hoskinson, and others.
- Health Gorilla, a health data aggregation platform for patients and providers, raised $50 million in Series C funding led by SignalFire and was joined by investors including Epsilon, IA Capital, and Nationwide Ventures.
- STAQ Pharma, a Denver, Colo.-based medication outsourcing facility, raised $43 million in Series C funding. Froedtert Health, UNC Health, LCMC Health, and University Hospitals led the round and were joined by investors including Rev1 Ventures, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
- Forma (formerly Twic), a San Francisco-based life benefits platform, raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Ribbit Capital and was joined by investors including Emergence Capital, Designer Fund, Upside Partnership, and AngelPad.
- Flume Health, a New York-based digital health plan administration platform, raised $30 million in Series A funding led by Optum Ventures and was joined by investors including Cigna Ventures, Route 66 Ventures, Accomplice, Founder Collective, Primary Venture Partners, and Remarkable Ventures Fund.
- Homeward, a San Francisco-based health care provider to rural communities, raised $20 million in funding from General Catalyst.
- Lynx, a Wellesley, Mass.-based health care payments, banking, and e-commerce platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Obvious Ventures and .406 Ventures co-led the round and were joined by investors including Frist Cressey Ventures.
- Zaya, a New York-based maternal care company, raised $7.6M in seed funding led by Inspired Capital and was joined by investors including Story Ventures, Tiger Global, and Operator Partners.
- Credo, a Denver-based automated patient medical record retrieval, raised $3 million in seed funding led by FirstMile and was joined by investors including Hannah Grey Ventures, SpringTime Ventures, and Headwater Ventures.
. . .
Enterprise & Consumer:
- Axonius, a New York-based cybersecurity platform for asset management and SaaS management, raised $200 million in Series E funding led by Accel and was joined by investors including Silver Lake Waterman, Alta Park Capital, Owl Rock, Bessemer Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Alkeon, Stripes, ICONIQ, and DTCP.
- Menlo Microsystems, an Irvine, Calif.-based electromechanical switch developer for battery chargers and electric cars, raised $150 million in Series C funding led by Vertical Venture Partners and Future Shape and was joined by investors including Fidelity Management & Research, DBL Partners, Adage Capital Management, Standard Investments, Paladin Capital Group, Piva Capital, and PeopleFund.
- Typeform, a Barcelona-based online conversation platform, raised $135 million in Series C funding led by Sofina and was joined by investors including General Atlantic, Index Ventures, Point Nine Capital, Connect Ventures, Top Tier Capital Partners, GP Bullhound, Teamworthy Ventures, and Trium Venture Partners.
- Ardoq, an Oslo-based enterprise architecture SaaS company, raised $125 million in Series D funding led by EQT Growth and was joined by investors including One Peak.
- Swiftly, a San Francisco-based digital retail platform, raised $100 million in Series B funding led by Wormhole Capital and was joined by investors including Liquid2 Ventures, Bramalea, Gaingels, Silicon Ventures, Proof VC, Western Technology Investment, Sand Hill Angels, and The Martin Family.
- Nothing, a London-based consumer tech company, raised $70 million in Series B funding. EQT Ventures and C Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including GV, Future Shape, Gaorong Capital, and Animoca Brands.
- Reforge, a San Francisco-based career development platform, raised $60 million in Series B funding led by Insight Partners and was joined by investors including Andreessen Horowitz, True Ventures, NextView Ventures, TCV, Long Journey Ventures, and others.
- Argyle, a New York-based employment data platform developer, raised $55 million in Series B funding led by Signalfire and was joined by investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Bedrock, and Checkr.
- Atlan, a New York-based data collaboration workspace, raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Insight Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, Taylor Brown, and ThoughtSpot co-founder Ajeet Singh.
- Glorify, a London-based Christian worship and prayer app, raised $40 million in Series B funding led by SoftBank Latin America Fund.
- Cider Security, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based security platform for engineering, raised $38 million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global Management and was joined by investors including Glilot Capital Partners and Glilot+.
- Findem, a San Francisco-based A.I. recruitment platform, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Four Rivers and Quarry Capital Management and was joined by investor Wing Venture Capital.
- Slingshot Aerospace, an El Segundo, Calif.-based producer of space simulation and analytics products for space sustainability, raised $25 million in Series A-1 funding. Draper Associates and ATX Venture Partners led the round and were joined by investors including Edison Partners, Embedded Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Fund, Okapi Venture Capital, and others.
- Canal, a San Rafael, Calif.-based sales platform to promote D2C brands, raised $22.5 million in Series A funding led by Forerunner Ventures.
- Disco (fka Co-op Commerce), a post-purchase cross-promotional network, raised $20m in Series A funding. Felicis Ventures led, and was joined by Shopify, Sugar Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Indicator Ventures, RiverPark Ventures, Vibe Capital and Not Boring Fund. http://axios.link/GXUM
- Cayena, a São Paulo, Brazil-based B2B marketplace connecting customers to restaurants, raised $17.5 million in Series A funding led by Vine Ventures and was joined by investors including MSA Capital, Picus Capital, Canaan Partners, Clocktower Ventures, FJ Labs, Femsa Ventures, Gilgamesh, Astella, Endeavor, GraoVC, and others.
- Owner.com, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based digital marketing and automation platform for independent restaurants, raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Altman Capital and was joined by investors including Redpoint Ventures, Day One Ventures, SaaStr Fund, Browder Capital, Max Mullen, Sam Bankman-Fried, Parker Conrad, Ryan Petersen, Immad Akhund, and Niranjan Sabharwal.
- LifeScore, a Salisbury, U.K.-based A.I. music technology company, raised £11 million ($14.5 million) in funding led by Octopus Ventures and was joined by investors including Warner Music Group, IDEO, 4 Good Ventures, Metaplanet Holdings OÜ.
- Legal.io, a San Francisco-based enterprise marketplace for legal talent and technology, raised $11.6 million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global.
- A-Frame Brands, a Los Angeles-based personal care product brand incubator for diverse communities, raised $11.2 million in funding. Forerunner Ventures and Initialized Capital led the round and were joined by investors including the Fisher Family, Manzanita Capital, Moise Emquies, and Columbia Care.
- Gumball, a Los Angeles-based advertising platform from the podcast company, Headgum, raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Union Square Ventures and Good Friends and was joined by investors including Craft Ventures, Vertical Venture Partners, Animal Capital, Calm Ventures, Gaingels, and Riverside Ventures.
- Topsort, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based auction-based advertising infrastructure startup, raised $8 million in seed funding from investors including Pear Ventures, Quiet Capital, FJLabs, Akhil Paul, Comma VC, and angel investors Micky Malka from Ribbit Capital, and Lydia Jett from SoftBank.
- Proof Technology, a Denver-based process and e-filing platform through a network of law firms and process serving companies, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Blue Heron Capital and The LegalTech Fund led the round and were joined by investors including Clio Ventures, Forward VC, and Crossbeam Venture Partners.
- Tactic, a London-based information-gathering tool developer for customer and market research, raised $4.5 million in funding led by Index Ventures and joined by investors including Visionaries Club.
- Cay Skin, a sunscreen startup founded by model Winnie Harlow, raised $4.1m in seed funding from Female Founders Fund, True Beauty Ventures, New Money Ventures, Air Venture Partners and Silas Venture Partners. http://axios.link/1XAA
- Popchew, a New York-based platform for creators to launch and grow food brands, raised $3.6 million in seed funding led by Long Journey Ventures and was joined by investors including Anti Fund, Flybridge, WndrCo, and more.
- Fetch, an Atlanta-based self-service truck rental marketplace, raised $3.5m. NextView Ventures led, and was joined by Knoll Ventures, Zeno Ventures, Nassau Street Ventures and a number of angels. http://axios.link/jqRH
- Calico, a Toronto-based A.I.-powered supply chain management platform, raised $2 million in seed funding led by Serena Ventures and was joined by investors including Maple VC, Inovia Capital, Hyphen Capital, and others.
. . .
Sustainability:
- Tibber, a Førde, Norway-based supplier of smart energy, raised $100 million in Series C funding led by Summa Equity and was joined by investors including Balderton, Eight Roads and Schibsted Ventures.
Acquisitions & PE:
- RC Ventures, the investment firm of Chewy co-founder and GameStop chair Ryan Cohen, acquired a 9.8% stake in Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY) and asked the retailer to explore strategic alternatives, including a spinoff of its baby brand. Cohen's first-time activism with GameStop helped fuel its Reddit rally, while BBBY in 2019 held off an activist trio (it got some board seats, but not as many as it wanted). Did Cohen buy the shares with a 20% off coupon? Can you make an NFT of a duvet? Might "Beyond" get spun out and merged with what's left of [Linens 'n] "Things?"
- Hellman & Friedman acquired a 7.5% stake in Splunk (Nasdaq: SPLK), valued at $1.38b. This comes just days after Splunk said that Gary Steele (Proofpoint) would join as CEO, and a couple of weeks after reports that Cisco offered to buy the company for around $20b. http://axios.link/HHqm
- DoorDash (NYSE: DASH) held takeover talks with Deliveroo (LSE: ROO), but the two sides failed to reach an agreement, per the Sunday Times. http://axios.link/odZk
- GoodRx (Nasdaq: GDRX) agreed to buy VitaCare Prescription Services, a tech-enabled pharmacy services platform, from TherapeuticsMD (Nasdaq: TXMD) for $150m. www.vitacarerx.com
- Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) completed its $16b takeover of speech tech company Nuance Communications (Nasdaq: NUAN).
- Google agreed to acquire Mandiant, a Reston, Va.-based cyber defense and response company, for $5.4 billion in cash.
- Public.com acquired Otis, a New York-based alternative investing platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Rightsline acquired REAL Software Systems, a Los Angeles-based intellectual property management software company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Sendinblue acquired MeetFox, a New York-based scheduling and videoconferencing software company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
. . .
IPOs:
- Wellness Pet Company, a Tewksbury, Mass.-based pet food and treat producer, is planning to raise more than $600 million in an IPO, per Bloomberg. Clearlake Capital Group backs the firm.
- Savage X Fenty, Rihannna’s El Segundo, Calif.-based lingerie brand, is in talks with advisers about an IPO, per Bloomberg. A deal could value the company at around $3 billion. Neuberger Berman, L Catterton, and Avenir Growth Capital back the firm.
. . .
SPACs:
- Tomorrow.io, a Boston-based weather intelligence platform, terminated its planned merger with Pine Technology Acquisition Corp., a SPAC, due to market conditions. A deal would have valued the company at $1.2 billion.
- LanzaTech, a Skokie, Ill.-based waste carbon recycling company, agreed to go public at an implied $2.2b equity valuation via a decarbonization SPAC called AMCI Acquisition Corp. II (Nasdaq: AMCI). LanzaTech raised over $570m in VC funding, plus got a PPP loan, from backers like Qiming Venture Partners, New Zealand Superannuation Fund, Khosla Ventures, CITIC Capital, Novo Holdings and Mitsui & Co. http://axios.link/8bai
Funds:
- Griffin Gaming Partners, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based venture capital firm, has closed $750 million solely focused on the gaming industry. Yes, just games. With this second fund, Griffin now manages more than $1 billion in assets.
- Portage Ventures, a Toronto-based venture capital firm, raised $616 million for a third fund focused on fintech investments in the United States, Canada and Europe.
- Bain Capital Crypto, Boston-based private equity and venture capital firm and Bain Capital’s new crypto arm, raised $560 million for a fund focused on crypto and Web3 investments. The Crypto fund was at the center of controversy last week as it announced its limited-diversity all-male team proudly on International Women’s Day.. Twitter tore it apart. Hopefully they can balance out their team.
- Makers Fund, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $500 million for a third fund.
- Contrary, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $75 million for a third fund focused on finding talented individuals and connecting them with founders and companies.
- Rhône, a New York-based private equity firm, raised €2.1 billion ($2.4 billion) for a sixth fund focused on consumer, industrials, and business services companies.
Final Numbers: Inflation risk
Source: Bain & Co. 2022 Global PE Report. Data: S&P Capital IQ, S&P LCD.
Bain & Co. today released a global private equity report that includes a section on the industry's inflation challenge. Its big takeaway:
"While most fund managers have never had to deal with inflation, they have certainly benefited from its absence. Now it poses the dual threat of rising costs for portfolio companies and muted multiple expansion during ownership."
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.
Thanks Great stuff Molly. Really great about the Fenty news. That’s big stuff. That’s a big deal for fashion. And that’s a big deal for Rihanna.