Sourcery (6/12-6/16)
USGA @ LACC ☀ Twitter is so back ~ Paro, Truework, OneVest, Majority, Mnemonic, Apron, Finch, Medivis, Oova, Sol, The Wound Co, Madhive, Mistral AI, Primer Tech, Percepto, CloudZero, Kodem, Trust Lab
123rd USGA ⛳ U.S. Open @ LACC
Ah yes, more metrics we need to start measuring our startups/funds performance against. The hardest of the metrics to beat, USGA & LACC. No, not really, but that could be cool?
LACC aka Los Angeles Country Club, where the initiation fee is about $250,000, the land is valued at ~$8B, and is surrounded by $100M mansions, opened its heavily exclusive gates this weekend to a large crowd of people who wouldn’t normally be allowed in. #LongLA. As a young female, I am one of them. It was an honor, and a lot of fun! Thank you to Anthony for helping score us tickets to the most competitive day of them all, Father’s day (hi Dad!!).. and also the final day of the pro golf tournament.
We came for Rory, whom my brother may or may not have just named his newborn after, and although he got second, he’s still number one in our Irish books.
All in all, behind the rope was truly where it was at.. here are a couple of takeaways from the rough:
Crowd commentary and comradery was unmatched
Rory is the fan favorite
Everyone believes that carrying that water bottle made Rickie’s right side stiff
No one knows where Rory’s ball ‘plugged’ into?
Hole #8 hated every player, yikes.. Nagano. (*highest difficulty ranked hole*)
Storming #18’s fairway before Clark’s final stroke was a really fun group activity to join in on (if anyone asks, we weren’t there)
We are so back.
Deals are on the UP. Or it’s at least starting to feel that way. This is the first time in a while where deal count is getting exhaustive? The AI hype is starting to feel real (but still TBD on this bubble) and investors are beginning to get confidence and competition back in the market.
Nevertheless, the delayed announcements are starting to roll in. In the past few weeks there have been exciting companies in proptech, aerospace, gaming, AI, sustainability, and even fintech is filling back up.. further emphasizing this whole American Dynamism situation is real. America is building. Or more importantly rebuilding. Even Tiger Global is getting super generous and is offering their portfolio positions to the public!
But as Zak so eloquently said in his tweet, and I’d like to add a few: Twitter is hot again, Softbank is getting back together (fund section below), companies are getting preempted (true), we just need a SPAC to go public, but other than that… we are so back.
Oh hi lol
Twitter has indeed been popping off. We’ve been heavily ‘testing’ it out, and it’s proving quite fruitful and fun. We’ve been expanding our circles, learning things, making a lot of new internet friends which is great #internetfriendsarereal, and have finally crossed the 2K+ follower mark (..incredible feat, I know). We’d like to thank the real ones who’ve been with us from day 1.. Cory, Bobby, and Dylan. Stay humble.
As for new friends.. Jason Levin just hit 15k followers (in <18 months), he is also a ghostwriter for founders and VCs so he knows a thing or two about Tech’s “global town square.” Last Friday one of his tweets went astronomically viral for the first time reaching 15M+ views in <90 hours!!
What was it, you may ask? It was a thread on how loneliness is hitting men the hardest but surprisingly the answer isn’t AI girlfriends or the metaverse.. And in the spirit of giving, he just published a starter guide to Hacking Twitter's Algorithm, to help lift you off the ground a bit faster.
Follow us on Twitter: @MollySOShea
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Last Week (6/12-6/16):
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 Paro, Truework, OneVest, Majority, Mnemonic, Apron, Finch, Medivis, Oova, Sol, The Wound Co, Madhive, Mistral AI, Primer Tech, Percepto, CloudZero, Kodem, Trust Lab, HELIXintel, Sparetech, Lalo, Albert Invent, Meshcapade, Mach Industries, Epallet, Tagboard, Rex, Hyper, Versed, Pebble Mobility, Magrathea, Reask; Google Domains/Square Space, RetailOps, Return Rabbit, Bond, Cvent, Fexpro; Cava
Final numbers on US Enters Bull Market?! at the bottom.
Deals
Fintech:
- Paro, a Chicago-based finance and accounting solutions marketplace, raised $25 million in Series C funding. Top Tier Capital Partners led the round and was joined by Madrona Venture Group, Revolution Ventures, and Sierra Ventures.
- Truework, an SF-based income verification platform, raised $24m from TransUnion. https://axios.link/3N7cUdh
- Thinksurance, a Frankfurt, Germany-based digital commercial insurance solutions provider in Europe, raised $24 million in funding. Viewpoint Ventures, M-Tech Capital, Venture Capital Fonds Segenia Capital co-led the round and were joined by Eight Roads Ventures and Columbia Lake Partners.
- Nelly, a Berlin-based documentation and payment processing software platform for medical practices, raised €15 million ($16.26 million) in Series A funding. Lakestar led the round and was joined by b2venture and Motive Ventures.
- Nocnoc, a cross-border payments startup focused on Latin America, raised $14m in Series A funding. PayPal Ventures led, and was joined by Mouro Capital, Quona Capital, Caravela Capital, Broadhaven and Ignia. https://axios.link/3Nmzgsw
- OneVest, a Calgary- and Toronto-based wealth management platform, raised Can$17 million ($12.85 million) in Series A funding. OMERS Ventures led the round and was joined by Luge Capital, Panache Ventures, AAF Management, FJ Labs, Fin Capital, Pivot Investment Partners, and Deloitte Ventures.
- MAJORITY, a Miami-based mobile banking platform for migrants in the U.S., raised an additional $9.75 million in funding from Valar Ventures and Heartcore Capital.
- Mnemonic, a web3 data and analytics platform, raised $6m in new seed funding. Salesforce Ventures led, and was joined by Polygon Ventures, Orange DAO, FIN Capital and FJ Labs. www.mnemonichq.com
- Apron, a London-based B2B payments platform for small businesses, raised $5.5 million in seed funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
- BoomFi, a London-based crypto payments platform, raised $3.8 million in seed funding. White Star Capital led the round and was joined by Passion Capital, Blockchain Founders Fund, Kraken Ventures, and others.
- Finch, a San Francisco-based employment API platform for payroll, HRIS, and benefits, raised $3.5 million in additional funding from Intuit Ventures.
- Freetrade, a British stock trading app backed by L Catterton and Left Lane Capital, is launching a crowdfunding campaign that would value it at £225m (65% discount to last VC round). https://axios.link/3qMpbMM
. . .
Care:
- Medivis, a New York-based augmented reality surgery platform, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Thrive Capital led the round and was joined by Initialized Capital, Mayo Clinic, 35V, Bob Iger, and other angels.
- Oova, a New York-based fertility tracking startup, raised $10.3m in Series A funding. Spero Ventures led, and was joined by US Fertility, Virgin Group, Jefferson Health, Connecticut Innovations, Hannah Bronfman and Sara Blakely. https://axios.link/3p2Duft
- STAT Health, a Boston-based in-ear wearable company, raised $5.175 million in seed funding. J2 Ventures, BonAngels Venture Partners, and other angels invested in the round.
- Sol, a San Francisco-based wearable tech reading company, raised $5 million in seed funding. Initialized Capital led the round and was joined by Founders Fund, Elementum Ventures, Long Journey, Anorak, and others.
- The Wound Company, a Minneapolis-based wound and ostomy care delivery company, raised $4.25 million in seed funding from Susa Ventures and Sozo Ventures.
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Enterprise & Consumer:
- Madhive, a New York-based advertising software platform for TV, agreed to raise $300 million from the private equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
- Mistral AI, a Paris-based generative A.I. company, raised $113 million in seed funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Xavier Niel, JCDecaux Holding, Rodolphe Saadé, Motier Ventures, La Famiglia, Headline, and others.
- Primer Technologies, an Arlington, Va.- and San Francisco-based A.I. and machine learning technology firm, raised $69 million in Series D funding. Addition led the round and was joined by the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund.
- Percepto, an Austin-based autonomous inspection and monitoring solution provider, raised $50 million in Series C funding. Koch Disruptive Technologies led the round and was joined by Zimmer Partners, U.S. Venture Partners, Delek US Holdings, Atento Capital, Spider Capital, and Arkin Holdings.
- Striveworks, an Austin-based machine learning operations provider for enterprise data science and analytics teams, raised $33 million in funding led by Centana Growth Partners.
- CloudZero, a Boston-based cloud cost intelligence platform, raised $32 million in Series B funding. Innovius Capital and Threshold Ventures co-led the round and were joined by Matrix Partners, Underscore VC, and G20 Ventures.
- Salonkee, a Luxembourg-based salon management solution and booking platform, raised €28 million ($30.11 million) in funding. PeakSpan Capital led the round and was joined by Fortino Capital, Newion Partners, Expon Capital, and LBAN.
- Kodem, a Tel Aviv-based software composition analysis platform, raised $25 million in funding from Greylock and TPY Capital.
- Trust Lab, a Palo Alto-based internet trust and safety platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding co-led by U.S. Venture Partners and Foundation Capital.
- Deepchecks, a Tel Aviv-based continuous machine learning validation platform, raised $14 million in seed funding. Alpha Wave Ventures led the round and was joined by Hetz Ventures and Grove Ventures.
- SiMa.ai, a San Jose-based machine learning company, raised $13 million in funding from the VentureTech Alliance and Mayfield managing director Navin Chaddha.
- AptEdge, a Redwood City, Calif.-based answer engine developer for customer service, raised $11 million in seed+ funding. Stage 2 Capital led the round and was joined by Unusual Ventures, National Grid Partners, Carya Venture Partners, Counterpart Ventures, and others.
- HELIXintel, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based building management, predictive analytics, and equipment management solutions platform, raised $11 million in Series A funding. National Grid Partners led the round and was joined by Munich Re Ventures, Stellifi, Motivate Ventures, and others.
- SPARETECH, a Stuttgart, Germany-based spare part management SaaS platform, raised €10 million ($10.83 million) in funding. Insight Partners, Headline, and others invested in the round.
- Lalo, a Brooklyn-based DTC baby products startup, raised $10.1m in Series A funding led by Spin Master Ventures. https://axios.link/3NsOhJm
- Normal Computing, a New York-based generative A.I. company for enterprise applications, raised $8.5 million in seed funding. Celesta Capital and First Spark Ventures co-led the round and were joined by Micron Ventures.
- Albert Invent, an Oakland-based research and development innovation platform, raised $7.5 million in seed funding. Index Ventures led the round and was joined by Homebrew, F-Prime Capital, and other angels.
- Standard Fleet, a San Francisco-based electric vehicle fleet management platform, raised $7 million in seed funding co-led by UP2398 and Canvas Ventures.
- Meshcapade, a Tübingen, Germany-based A.I. solutions company for modeling, analysis, and synthesis of 3D digital humans in motion, raised $6 million in seed funding led by Matrix.
- Mach Industries, an Austin, Texas-based defense-tech startup, raised $5.7m in seed funding led by Sequoia Capital, per Reuters. https://axios.link/3CE8fud
- Telmai, a San Francisco-based data observability platform, raised $5.5 million in seed funding. Glasswing Ventures and .406 Ventures co-led the round and were joined by Zetta Venture Partners.
- Wherobots, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based data platform for geospatial analytics and A.I., raised $5.5 million in seed funding co-led by Wing Venture Capital and Clear Ventures.
- Refuel.ai, an SF-based platform for automating LLM dataset creation, raised $5.2m in seed funding co-led by General Catalyst and XYZ. www.refuel.ai
- Epallet, a Los Angeles-based B2B marketplace, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. Bowery Capital led the round and was joined by C2Ventures, SilverCircle, I2BF Global Ventures, and Junction Venture Partners.
- Tagboard, a Redmond, Wash.-based cloud production platform, raised $4m from NBA Equity, Blue Star Innovation, Ryan Sports Ventures, Greg Norman Group and Singularity Capital. https://axios.link/4685Fdu
- Rex, a New York-based recommendations app, raised $3.96 million in funding. Accel, Khosla Ventures, Future Positive, and other angels invested in the round.
- Hyper, an avatar platform for VTubers, raised $3.6m in seed funding. Two Sigma Ventures led, and was joined by MakersFund and Amazon's Alexa Fund. https://axios.link/3P3mP6a
- Worknet.ai, a Seattle-based customer collaboration platform, raised $3.5 million in seed funding from Act One Ventures.
- Procure IT, a Carrollton, Texas-based IT procurement and management startup, raised $3.5m from individuals like Paul Filsinger and Giancarlo Maniaci. www.procureit.com
- Versed, a remote-based A.I. game creation platform, raised €1.6 million ($1.73 million) in pre-seed funding. Gradient Ventures led the round and was joined by Cherry Ventures.
- Masthead Data, a Toronto-based data observability platform, raised $1.3 million in pre-seed funding. focal led the round and was joined by SMOK Ventures, DEPO Ventures, Monochrome, Alchemist Accelerator, and other angels.
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Sustainability:
- Pebble Mobility, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based electric RV company, raised $13.6 million in funding. Lightspeed, Vision+, and UpHonest Capital invested in the round.
- Magrathea, a San Francisco-based carbon-neutral metal production company, raised $10 million in seed funding. VoLo Earth and Capricorn Investment Group co-led the round and were joined by Valor Equity Partners, Exor Ventures, Counteract, Hyperguap, Necessary Ventures, Untitled, EQT Foundation, and others.
- Reask, an Australian startup focused on extreme weather forecasting, raised US$4.6m in seed funding. Mastry Ventures and Collaborative Fund co-led, and were joined by Macdoch Ventures, Tencent, SV Angel and Hawktail. https://axios.link/43JbNHD
- Omnevue, a London-based ESG accounting software company, raised $3.1 million in seed funding. Elbow Beach Capital and Pi Labs co-led the round and were joined by Zone2boost and other angels.
- TELO, a San Carlos, Calif.-based electric vehicle company, raised $1.4 million in pre-seed funding. GoAhead Ventures led the round and was joined by Underdog Labs, WorkPlay Ventures, and other angels.
Acquisitions & PE:
- Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOG) agreed to sell its Google Domains business to Squarespace (NYSE: SQSP) for a reported $180m. https://axios.link/3JenRII
- Flowspace acquired RetailOps, a San Diego-based e-commerce software company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- General Atlantic acquired an approximately 20% stake in ATOSS Software, a Munich-based technology and consulting solutions provider for professional workforce management. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Auctane, an Austin, Texas-based shopping and logistics solutions provider, acquired Return Rabbit, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based returns management platform that raised a small amount of VC funding from firms like Revel Partners and Supply Chain Ventures. www.auctane.com
- FIS (NYSE: FIS) acquired Bond, a San Francisco-based fintech infrastructure platform that had raised around $42m from Coatue, by Goldman Sachs, Mastercard, B Capital, XYZ Ventures, John Mack and Canaan Partners. https://axios.link/3P1CbIk
- MiddleGround Capital acquired A.M. Castle & Co., an Oak Brook, Ill.-based metals, services, and supply chain solutions provider for industrial and aerospace customers. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- New State Aviation Holdings, the aviation-focused platform of New State Capital Partners, acquired Finnoff Aviation Products, a Broomfield, Colo.-based aircraft upgrades provider for the Pilatus PC-12. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Blackstone acquired a majority stake in Cvent, a Tysons, Va.-based meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider, for $4.6 billion from Vista Equity Partners.
- As reported in WWD, Fanatics is expanding its reach in Latin America. The digital sports platform and licensed sports merchandise company earlier this week completed its acquisition of Fexpro, a Panama-based wholesaler of licensed sports and branded apparel in Latin America. Terms were not disclosed. Fexpro is a licensee for several major U.S. sports leagues in Latin America, including the NFL, NBA and MLB. It also works with top international soccer clubs including Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, as well as sportswear brand Umbro.
- UBS completed its $3.2b takeover of rival Swiss bank Credit Suisse. https://axios.link/45XKkU8
. . .
IPOs:
- Cava, a fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain with over 250 locations, raised $318 million in its IPO. Cava busted through a price range that it had already boosted, snaring $22 per share. That gives the company an initial market value of $2.45 billion. For context, its last private round valuation was in April 2021 at $1.71 billion. VC backers include T. Rowe Price (17.4% pre-IPO stake), SWaN & Legend (11.6%) and Revolution Growth (6.9%). Chief financial officer Tricia Tolivar tells Axios that the company plans to open between 60 and 70 new stores in 2023, with a 15% target for annual store growth. By 2032, that would mean over 1,000 Cava locations.
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SPACs:
Nothing to see here…
Funds:
- TA Associates, a Boston-based private equity firm, raised $16.5 billion for a fund focused on equity investments within the technology, health care, financial services, consumer, and business services sectors.
- Canva, a Sydney-based visual communication platform, allocated $50 million for a fund focused on app developers.
- Marcelo Claure is getting the band back together. Per Bloomberg, the former COO of SoftBank Group who left over a payment dispute, is taking the wraps off his own new venture firm, Bicycle Capital. The firm is targeting $500 million for its inaugural fund and has amassed $440 million in commitments toward that end. It also brings together the same team of people who were helping Claure lead SoftBank into a range of deals in Latin America. Indeed, his cofounder in the firm is Shu Nyatta, formerly a SoftBank Group International managing partner. The two have also brought in three other former SoftBank colleagues to join as partners in São Paulo and Miami: Felipe Fujiwara, Ezequiel Piantoni and Matthew Pieterse. They tell Bloomberg the new fund will focus on Series B and later rounds, writing checks of about $20 million to $50 million, and that it will invest in about 10 to 15 companies altogether. More here.
- Lee Fixel’s Addition is targeting $1.5 billion in capital commitments for its fifth fund, per SEC filings. The former Tiger Global executive closed Addition's fourth fund less than a year ago. All of Addition's funds to date have been $1.3 billion in size or larger. The New York-based firm's bets include Stripe, Lyra, Snyk, Navan, Alchemy Insights, Chainalysis and Hugging Face. TechCrunch has the story here.
- Recharge Capital, a four-year-old, New York- and Singapore-based venture firm that plans to focus on creating and funding women’s health and fertility care ecosystems in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East, says it has held a first close on a fund that it hopes will eventually garner $200 million in capital commitments. Limited partners in the effort include Peter Thiel, the Olayan Group, Blue Lion Group, the Al Rashid family of the Salmira Investment Fund, and the Disney family’s Shamrock Holdings, among others. TechCrunch has more here.
Bearly noticeable
The S&P 500 has surged 21% since its October low, surpassing the 20% that many hold as an unofficial threshold for entering a bull market.
As we’ve noted recently, investors often have to climb a “wall of worry” in order to get comfortable investing in stocks — and this year’s list of concerns was long. However, the economy has been surprisingly resilient. Inflation has receded from its summer peak, job reports have been consistently solid and the debt ceiling showdown has been (mostly) resolved.
Back to the future
The tech giants have driven a large portion of this rally, thanks in part to the current buzz around AI. Nvidia, a semiconductor powerhouse seen as integral to AI’s ongoing development, has seen its shares surge 187% this year, catapulting the company into the $1 trillion club. The whole S&P 500 may have gained more than 10% so far this year, but the average individual stock has risen less than 3% in 2023. Indeed, some 90% of the index's rise is down to just 7 companies; Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla, and Alphabet.
Obviously no one knows how long this run will go on, but historically bull markets have typically lasted nearly 5 years (since 1932), resulting in an average gain of 178% for the S&P 500. The previous bull market, which commenced in March 2009, persevered for an astonishing 11 years, ended only by the pandemic. In contrast, the most recent bear market was relatively tame, lasting only 9 months with a decline of 25%, less severe than the average decline of 34%.
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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.
You are such a baller. You go everywhere. That is awesome you got to experience the U.S. open at L.A. Country Club.