Sourcery (5/15-5/19)
Social Capital & Superpowers ~ Worldcoin, Zip, Smart, Spiff, Percent, Obie, Azteco, Hippocratic AI, Adonis, Laguna Health, HealthSnap, Neura Health, Pear Suite, Auradine, Instawork, Kustomer
Social Capital & Superpowers
No, not Chamath. The Chainsmokers.
This past weekend I made a quick trip out to Vegas to see the Chainsmokers perform. A name that’s also been buzzing around Silicon Valley and founders’ cap tables pretty recently.
To be honest, I haven’t listened to their music in a while so for this show I did some diligence. I took a look at their socials, browsed the interweb, and spent some time on their Spotify. I was surprised to learn that they have 36.8M monthly active listeners, two songs with 2B+ streams (most streamed on Spotify is Blinding Lights by The Weeknd with 3.5B+), and they’re also in the top 10 highest paid DJs in the world for 2023 (unsure how it’s calculated).
From their newest song Up & Down, which is a solid upbeat redemption anthem (& stuck in my head) partnering with 19yo-GenZ-Canadian-phenom 347Aiden (7.8M/mo listeners & songs with 100M+ streams - known for ‘Dancing in my Room’), and then to their hits like Roses, Closer (#9 most streamed on Spotify), Riptide, The Fall, Time Bomb, Takeaway, Call You Mine, Who Do You Love, Drops of Jupiter (jk)... Drew and Alex got bops.
However, going back a couple of years ago while writing out deals for Sourcery this mysterious fund intertwined with some of the ‘hottest’ deals and top tier funds just kept popping up over and over… and over again: Mantis - an early stage LA VC fund founded in 2020. #LongLA
So, what was going on with this emerging fund that kept popping up week after week? And what does this have to do with this post? Well, they had an unexpected duo behind them: The Chainsmokers.
To those that are rolling their eyes because of their celebrity, there are multibillion dollar AUM funds that are fighting to get the access that Mantis gets. They’re aware of their influence, and they work hard to try to be recognized as something greater - Alex encapsulates this in his LinkedIn post here.
But their likeness is not the only strength they have to attract founders and ability to win deals. I’ve heard consistently from numerous angels, founders, friends, LPs and GPs that the fund is the real deal. The investment team has traditional financial backgrounds, the GPs are creative serial entrepreneurs, and they have the operations to run it. They’re trusted partners, and startups are attracted to them by their resourcefulness, responsiveness and hustle - qualities you’d want in a mutual startup partnership. The fun factor is certainly an added bonus. Even so, I firmly believe that the energy you give typically attracts the same kind of energy back.
In times where capital is a commodity, deals are super competitive amongst the AI hype cycle, and startups are overall always just extremely hard.. I could see how adding some fun or “social capital” to the homogenous SV cap table doesn’t hurt. Their strategy of smaller co-investment checks allow them in more rounds and to collaborate with other firms. Ultimately, it is up to them to use their superpowers to identify and then pick the winners - the hard part. With only 3 years in, I think exciting things are to come.
And if you’re not sure what your superpowers are yet, take some time for self reflection and see what you’re naturally good at, it could be marketing, networking, engineering, analytics, writing, building products, charisma, positivity, branding, execution, ideation, etc. everyone has one - but it can take time to recognize and to start to put it to authentic use.
P.S. check out drummer Matt McGuire’s sick video:
Musings
Software Spending Growth Will Accelerate by 40% in 2023, But it Doesn't Feel that Way, Tomasz Tunguz
Supporting data Reflections on Software Performance in Q1, Jamin Ball
High-Flying SaaS Startups' Surge Won't Change the Valuation in Ventureland, Tomasz Tunguz
Aaron Levie's (CEO/Co-Founder, Box) AI Takes and Advice for First Time Founders, Logan Bartlett
Probably one of the most succinct and realistic outlooks on AI, as well as who actually holds the power in this bubble - if you had to listen to anything on the AI hype fest this is a good start
E129: Sam Altman plays chess with regulators, AI's "nuclear" potential, big pharma bundling & more, All-In Podcast
Chamath expands on the term “mid” which kind of summarized the pod this week
Scientist and Entrepreneur Gary Marcus on AI's Black Mirror Moment, StrictlyVC
Marcus was one of the experts who joined OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in talking to the Senate this week on the future of artificial intelligence
Kim K podcast with Jay Shetty on life, business, and family
She got a lot of heat from people claiming she was trying to be too relatable while super privileged, it came off disingenuous, but I believe her outlook & takeaways for self awareness in biz & relationships were stronger than that ‘drama’
. . .
Last Week (5/15-5/19):
Relevant deals include the 50+ 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 SageSure, Avenue One, Worldcoin, Zip, Smart, Spiff, Percent, Obie, Azteco, Hippocratic AI, Adonis, Laguna Health, HealthSnap, Neura Health, Pear Suite, Auradine, Instawork, Kustomer, Together.xyz, Union.ai, Stacklok, Predibase, Nivoda, Somethings, Wrangle, Kelvin, Prime Roots, Odyssey; Callin, ServiceNow/G2K, Fanatics/PointsBet, Ripple/Metaco, Blue Apron/FreshRealm
Final numbers on The Modern Space Race at the bottom.
Deals
Fintech:
- SageSure, a Jersey City, N.J.-based independent managing general underwriter for coastal residential and commercial property insurance, raised $250 million in funding. Amwins and Flexpoint Ford co-led the round and were joined by Ares Management Corporation.
- Avenue One, a New York-based property technology service platform and marketplace, raised $100 million in funding. WestCap led the round and was joined by MetLife Investment Management, KKR, and Global Atlantic.
- Worldcoin, a crypto project led by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is in advanced talks to raise another $100m, per the FT. https://axios.link/3OaQ6eP
- Zip, a San Francisco-based intake-to-pay platform, raised $100 million in Series C funding. Y Combinator, CRV, and Tiger Global invested in the round.
- Smart, a London-based retirement fintech platform, raised $95 million in Series E funding. Aquiline Capital Partners led the round and was joined by Chrysalis Investments, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, DWS, Barclays, and Natixis Investment Managers.
- Spiff, a Salt Lake City-based sales commission software company, raised $50 million in Series C funding. Salesforce Ventures led the round and was joined by Lightspeed, Norwest, Kickstart Fund, Album, and others.
- Percent, a New York-based private credit investing platform, raised $29.7 million in Series B funding. White Star Capital led the round and was joined by B Capital Group, Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, BDMI, Forte Ventures, and Vectr Fintech.
- Obie, a Chicago-based insurance provider for landlords and real estate investors, raised $25.5 million in Series B funding. Battery Ventures led the round and was joined by Brick and Mortar VC, DivcoWest, and others.
- Azteco, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based voucher provider for small amounts of Bitcoin for everyday use, raised $6 million in seed funding. Jack Dorsey led the round and was joined by Lightning Ventures, Hivemind Ventures, Ride Wave Ventures, Aleka Capital, Visary Capital, Gaingels, and others.
- PYOR, a provider of data and insights for the digital assets industry, raised $4m in seed funding. Castle Island Ventures led, and was joined by Hash3, Antler, Future Perfect Venture, Force Ventures, CoinSwitch Ventures and Coinbase Ventures. www.pyor.xyz
. . .
Care:
- Hippocratic AI, a Palo Alto-based large language model for the health care industry, raised $50 million in seed funding co-led by General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz.
- Adonis, a New York-based health care revenue intelligence and automation platform, raised $17.3m in Series A funding. General Catalyst led, and was joined by insiders Bling Capital, Max Ventures and Homebrew. www.adonis.io
- Laguna Health, a New York-based contextual care management platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding co-led by SemperVirens and HC9 Ventures.
- HealthSnap, a Miami-based virtual chronic care platform, raised $9m in Series A funding co-led by Asclepius Growth Capital and Caption Health CEO Steve Cashman, per Axios Pro. https://axios.link/42KGegf
- Neura Health, a New York-based virtual neurology clinic, raised $8 million in seed funding. Koch Disruptive Technologies and Norwest Venture Partners led the round and were joined by Pear VC, Next Play Ventures, Correlation Ventures, and Plug and Play Ventures.
- Nory, a London-based operating system for hospitality businesses, raised €7 million ($7.6 million) in seed funding. Triple Point Ventures and Samaipata VC co-led the round and were joined by Playfair Capital, Cavalry VC, and Circlerock Capital.
- Pear Suite, a Honolulu-based digital health company, raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Mucker Capital, Impact Engine, American Heart Association, Sweater Ventures, and Atento Capital co-led the round and were joined by Techstars, Open Venture Capital, Incisive Ventures, Lair East Labs, StartUp Health, and Third Act Ventures.
- Cascade Health, a Seattle-based health care pricing transparency startup, raised $2m in pre-seed funding led by AlleyCorp. https://axios.link/457FaEA
. . .
Enterprise & Consumer:
- Auradine, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based web infrastructure solutions provider, raised $71 million in Series A funding. Celesta Capital and Mayfield co-led the round and were joined by Marathon Digital Holdings, Cota Capital, DCVC, and Stanford University.
- Instawork, an SF-based jobs marketplace, raised $60m in Series D funding led by TCV. www.instawork.com
- Meta (Nasdaq: META) has formally spun out Kustomer, an enterprise customer service SaaS provider for which it paid $1b to acquire last year. The company is now valued at $250m, including a $60m investment from past backers Battery Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and Boldstart. https://axios.link/455JLr0
- Together.xyz, a San Francisco-based decentralized cloud platform for A.I., raised $20 million in seed funding. Lux Capital led the round and was joined by Factory, SV Angel, First Round Capital, Long Journey Ventures, A Capital, Robot Ventures, Common Metal, Definition Capital, Susa Ventures, Cadenza Ventures, SCB 10x, and others.
- Union.ai, a Bellevue, Wash.-based A.I., data, and analytics simplification platform, raised $19.1 million in Series A funding from NEA and Nava Ventures.
- Stacklok, a London- and Seattle-based software supply chain security provider, raised $17.5 million in Series A funding from Madrona and Accel.
- Predibase, an SF-based developer of a low-code declarative ML platform, raised $12.2m in Series A expansion funding led by Felicis. www.predibase.com
- SWAPP, a Houston- and Tel Aviv-based automation software provider for architectural construction documents, raised $11.5 million in Series A funding. Eurazeo led the round and was joined by Entrée Capital, Activum SG Ventures, and XTX Ventures.
- Nivoda, a London-based B2B marketplace for diamonds and jewelry, raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Headline.
- Omaha Productions, Peyton Manning's production house, raised $10m from Peter Chernin's North Road Co. at a $400m valuation, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3pRBl6A
- Visual Layer, a Tel Aviv-based visual data management platform, raised $7 million in seed funding co-led by Madrona and Insight Partners.
- Lumeus.ai, a San Jose-based zero trust networking platform, raised $6 million in seed funding. Tola Capital led the round and was joined by Emergent Ventures and First Rays Ventures.
- Manifest Cyber, a Westport, Conn.-based software supply chain risk reduction platform, raised $6 million in seed funding. First Round Capital led the round and was joined by XYZ, Palumni VC, Homebrew, BoxGroup, Silver Buckshot, Twelve Below, Huge if True Ventures, and others.
- Entro, a Boston- and Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity startup, raised $6 million in seed funding co-led by StageOne Ventures and Hyperwise Ventures.
- Somethings, a New York-based teen mentorship platform, raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst.
- Wrangle, a Durham, N.C.-based productivity tools developer for remote workers, raised $2 million in seed funding. Accomplice led the round and was joined by Bloomberg Beta, Eniac Ventures, and the Triangle Tweener Fund.
. . .
Sustainability:
- Kelvin, formerly Radiator Labs, a Brooklyn-based decarbonized HVAC solutions provider for legacy buildings, raised $30 million in Series A funding. 2150 led the round and was joined by the Schmidt Family Foundation, the Partnership Fund for NYC, and others.
- Prime Roots, a Berkeley, Calif.-based maker of plant-based meats, raised $30m in Series B funding. True Ventures led, and was joined by Pangaea Ventures, Prosus Ventures, Solasta Ventures and Top Tier Capital. https://axios.link/42XN1mu
- Odyssey, a Boulder, Colo.-based emerging markets distributed energy software company, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Union Square Ventures led the round and was joined by Equal Ventures, Twelve Below, Transition, Equator, MCJ Collective, Abstract Ventures, Founder Collective, and Climate Venture Capital.
- Mitiga Solutions, a Barcelona-based climate tech company, raised €13.25 million ($14.27 million) in Series A funding. Kibo Ventures led the round and was joined by Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Nationwide Ventures, Faber Ventures, and CREAS Impacto.
- Quilt, a Redwood City, Calif.-based ductless heat pump system development company, raised $9 million in seed funding. Lowercarbon Capital and Gradient Ventures co-led the round and were joined by Incite Ventures, MCJ Collective, Garage Capital, Climate Capital, and Spacecadet.
- Tangible, a San Francisco-based carbon reduction platform for the construction industry, raised $3 million in seed funding. Foundamental led the round and was joined by Fifty Years, Redstone Built World Fund, Pi Labs, Asymmetric, and Deco Ventures.
Acquisitions & PE:
- Rumble (Nasdaq: RUM) acquired Callin, an SF-based podcast and live audio-streaming platform that had raised around $12m from Craft Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Goldcrest Capital. As part of the deal, Callin and Craft Ventures founder David Sacks will join the Rumble board of directors. https://axios.link/431EsqA
- Twitter's parent company acquired Laskie, an SF-based tech talent recruiting startup that had raised around $6m from firms like Bloomberg Beta, Peak State Ventures and Rebel Fund. It's Twitter's first acquisition under Elon Musk's ownership. https://axios.link/452A8JC
- ServiceNow agreed to acquire G2K, a Munich, Germany-based operational data analytics platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Yanolja’s cloud business, backed by SoftBank, agreed to acquire Go Global Travel, an Israeli-based B2B hotel and technology provider, from AMI Opportunities Fund, which is advised by Apax Partners, according to Bloomberg. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Fanatics agreed to acquire the U.S. operations of PointsBet, a sports betting platform, for about $150 million.
- Hg acquired a majority stake in GTreasury, a Chicago-based treasury, payments, and risk management software provider. The GTreasury management team and Mainsail Partners will retain a stake in the company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- TIAA secured U.S. regulatory approval to sell its banking unit to a private equity group that includes Stone Point Capital, Warburg Pincus, Reverence Capital Partners, Sixth Street Partners and Bayview Asset Management. https://axios.link/451nJp5
- Silver Lake invested in ProService, a Hawaii-based provider of bundled HR services. www.proservice.com
- Ripple, an SF-based crypto company that's raised over $300m in VC funding, acquired Metaco, a Swiss cryptocurrency custody company for $250m in cash and stock. Metaco had raised around $20m in VC funding from firms like Giesecke+Devrient Ventures, Swisscom, Swiss Post Ventures, Standard Chartered, Verve Ventures and Avaloq. https://axios.link/42W5pfC
- Blue Apron (NYSE: APRN) agreed to sell its operational infrastructure, including facilities in Linden, N.J., and Richmond, Calif., for $50m to FreshRealm, a Ventura, Calif.-based provider of fresh meals to retailers. https://axios.link/3MbXCTN
- The Federal Trade Commission made it official, suing to block Amgen Nasdaq: AMGN) from buying Horizon Therapeutics (Nasdaq: HZNP) for $27.8 billion in cash.
- Reveleer, a Glendale, Calif.-based AI health startup that’s raised over $100m in VC funding, acquired MDPortals, a New York-based risk adjustment platform. www.reveleer.com
. . .
IPOs:
Nothing to see here…
. . .
SPACs:
Nothing to see here…
Funds:
- Insight Partners raised a $1.3b continuity fund, per the NY Times. https://axios.link/45dNxi5
- Atomic, a Miami-based venture studio, raised $320m for its fourth fund. https://axios.link/42DiBWE
- LRVHealth, a Boston-based venture capital firm, raised $200 million for its fifth fund focused on the health care industry.
- Seedcamp, a London-based venture capital firm, raised $180 million for its sixth fund focused on early-stage European startups.
- Pioneer Square Labs of Seattle raised $20m for its third "company creation studio."
Artemis
On Friday, NASA announced that it had selected a group led by Jeff Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, to develop a moon lander for the Artemis program. The project will cost more than $7bn in total, with the NASA contract worth $3.5bn and Blue Origin contributing more than $3.4bn in order to build the 50-foot-tall spacecraft.
The Artemis program, led by NASA alongside partners in Europe, Japan and Canada, has one main goal; to get astronauts back on the moon — a feat not accomplished since Apollo 17 more than 5 decades ago. Artemis is well underway following the successful Artemis I mission in 2022, which saw an uncrewed Orion spacecraft orbit the moon. The mission is set to be replicated in 2024, this time with a crew onboard.
Private launch
NASA's decision to award the contract to Blue Origin's team, which includes collaboration with industry giants like Lockheed Martin and Boeing, comes after two deals with Elon Musk's SpaceX for its Starship lander. Indeed, the latest deal is indicative of a more commercially collaborative NASA that has been increasing its reliance on the private sector, licensing a record-breaking 79 commercial launches last year.
SpaceX being chosen ahead of Blue Origin sparked court drama in 2021 as Bezos' company sued the US government for — what they believed — was preferential treatment of Musk's company. With the latest news, SpaceX, which has done more private launches than any other company, is now slated to conduct the inaugural lunar landing for Artemis in late 2025. Blue Origin crews will have to wait until 2029 for the Artemis V mission.
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.