Sourcery (8/23-8/27)
Ramp, Zepz, DealerPolicy, Khatabook, Stable, Makersplace, Balance, CapShift, Givz, Calibrate, AllStripes, Covera Health, Grafana Labs, Shield AI, Cribl, Picsart, Bungalow, Royal, Mindset, Firemaps...
Last Week (8/23-8/27):
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 Ramp, Zepz, DealerPolicy, Khatabook, Stable, Makersplace, Balance, CapShift, Givz, Calibrate, AllStripes, Covera Health, Grafana Labs, Shield AI, Cribl, Picsart, Bungalow, Workstream, Coco, Balto, Hunters, Overjet.ai, Royal, Bright, Moment House, Level AI, Moesif, Mindset, Firemaps, Playbook, Breef, Rutter, Fig; Frame.io, Headspace & Ginger, Cocoon, Spyce, Great Jones, Cleverly; ForgeRock, Warby Parker, NuBank, Toast; Getaround
Final numbers on Box Stock Price at the bottom.
Deals
Sources: TS, Pro Rata, FinSMEs, Pitchbook, StrictlyVC
Fintech:
- OPay, a Nigerian mobile payments platform, raised $400 million at a $2 billion valuation. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led, and was joined by Sequoia Capital China, Meituan, Redpoint Ventures China, Source Code Capital, SoftBank Ventures Asia and 3W Capital. http://axios.link/9b9f
- Ramp, a New York City-based corporate card startup, raised $300 million in Series C funding valuing it at $3.9 billion. Founders Fund led the round and was joined by investors including Redpoint Ventures, Thrive Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Spark Capital, Coatue Management, Iconiq, Altimeter, Stripe, Lux Capital, A* Partners, Definition Capital, Vista Public Strategies, Honeycomb, and Kinetic. It also acquired Buyer, a negotiation platform.
- Zepz (fka WorldRemit), a London-based digital cross-border payments platform, raised $292 million in new funding at a $5 billion valuation. Farallon Capital was joined by insiders Leapfrog, TCV and Accel. http://axios.link/dP0h
- DealerPolicy, a Colchester, Vt. Digital insurance marketplace for auto retail, raised $110 million in Series C funding. Goldman Sachs Asset Management led, and was joined by 3L Capital and Hudson Structured Capital Management. www.dealerpolicy.com
- Khatabook, an Indian fintech startup, raised $100 million in Series C funding. Tribe Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including Alkeon Capital, B Capital Group, Sequoia Capital, Tencent, RTP Ventures, Unilever Ventures, and Better Capital.
- Aumni, a Salt Lake City-based investment analytics platform, raised $50 million in Series B funding. J.P. Morgan led the round and was joined by investors including Pelion Venture Partners, WndrCo, Citadel Securities, Invesco Private Capital, Vanderbilt University, and Kera Capital.
- Stable, a Chicago-based insurtech focused on price risk management, raised $46.5 million in Series A funding. Greycroft led the round and was joined by investors including Notion Capital, Anthemis, Continental Grain,Syngenta, and Ascot.
- elopage, a Berlin-based payments company, raised $38 million (€32 million) in Series A funding. Target Global and Partech Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including Avid Ventures.
- MakersPlace, a digital art marketplace, raised $30 million. Bessemer Venture Partners and Pantera Capital co-led, and were joined by Uncork Capital, Draper Dragon Digital Assets, 9Yards Capital, Next Play Ventures, Coinbase Ventures and Sony Music Entertainment. http://axios.link/cdXl
- Balance, a payments experience platform for B2B e-commerce, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Ribbit Capital led, and was joined by Avid Ventures and insiders Lightspeed Ventures, Stripe, Y Combinator Continuity Fund, SciFi VC and UpWest. www.getbalance.com
- Sayata, a Boston-based insurance broker and carrier-focused startup, raised $17 million in Series A funding. Team8 Capital and Vertex Ventures led the round.
- CapShift, a Newton Mass.-based impact investing platform, raised $5 million in Series A funding. Bain Capital Europe, Aperio, and Addepar led the round and were joined by investors including Brazen Impact, Gratitude Railroad, Jesse Fink, Heron Foundation, Spring Point Partners, and Grantham Foundation.
- Givz, a New York City-based maker of an API converting discounts into donations, raised $3 million in seed funding. Eniac and Accomplice led the round and were joined by investors including Supernode Ventures, Claude Wasserstein of Fine Day, Phoenix Club, and Dylan Whitman.
. . .
Care:
- Calibrate, a New York-based weight management platform, raised $100 million in Series B funding. Founders Fund and Tiger Global co-led, and were joined by Optum Ventures and insiders Forerunner Ventures, Threshold Ventures and Redesign Health. www.joincalibrate.com
- AllStripes, a San Francisco-based rare diseases company, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Lux Capital led the round and was joined by investors including JAZZ Venture Partners, Spark Capital, Medidata Solutions, McKesson Ventures, and Maveron.
- Covera Health, a New York City-based healthcare analytics company, raised $25 million in Series C funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Equity Group Investment.
- Equum Medical, a New York City-based provider of acute care telehealth, raised $20 million. The Heritage Group led the round.
- DiA Imaging Analysis, an Israel-based company automating the analysis of ultrasound scans, raised $14 million in Series B funding. Investors include Alchimia Ventures, Downing Ventures, ICON Fund, Philips, and XTX Ventures.
- Antidote Health, a New York City-based telehealth provider, raised $12 million in seed funding. Investors included iAngels, Well-Tech Ventures, and Flint Capital.
- MindRhythm, a Cupertino, Cali.f-based medical technology company focused on neurological injury in stroke, raised $5 million in seed funding. Investors included Pierre and David Lamond, Corey Goodman (Managing Partner of venBio), DCVC, Aestus Capital, Perseverance Capital Management, and Blue Fog Capital.
- Soda Health, a Bentonville, Ark.-based health technology company, raised $6 million in seed funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners and Define Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Qiming Venture Partners USA.
. . .
Future of Work:
- Grafana Labs, a New York City-based maker of an operational dashboard, raised $220 million in Series C funding. Sequoia Capital and Coatue led the round and was joined by investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital, and GIC.
- Shield AI, a San Diego, Calif.-based defense tech company, raised $210 million. Disruptive led the round and was joined by investors including Point72 Ventures.
- ICON, an Austin, Texas-based developer of 3D-printed homes, raised $207 million in Series B funding. Norwest Venture Partners led, and was joined by 8VC, Bjarke Ingels Group, BOND, Citi Crosstimbers, Ensemble, Fifth Wall, LENx, Moderne Ventures and Oakhouse Partners. http://axios.link/8zDr
- Cribl, a San Francisco-based data analytics company, raised $200 million in Series C funding led by Greylock and Redpoint Ventures. They were joined by IVP, Sequoia, CRV, Citi Ventures, and CrowdStrike. After the close of this round of investment, Cribl is valued at $1.5 billion.
- Zerwerk, an Indian B2B marketplace for manufacturing items, raised $150 million in Series E funding. D1 Capital Partners led, and was joined by Avenir, IIFL and insiders Greenoaks Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners. http://axios.link/WWFN
- Picsart, a San Francisco-based platform for creating raised graphics, raised $130 million in Series C funding. Softbank Vision Fund 2 led the round and was joined by investors including GSquared, Tribe Capital, Sequoia, DCM, Graph, and Siguler Guff. It values the company above $1 billion.
- Jane Technologies, a Santa Cruz, Calif.-based maker of an online cannabis marketplace, raised $100 million in Series C funding. Honor Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Third Point Ventures, Gotham Green Partners, L2 Ventures, Delta Emerald Ventures, and Artemis Growth Partners.
- Plentific, a London-based platform for smart property management, raised $100 million in Series C funding. Highland Europe and Brookfield Technology Partners led the round and were joined by investors including Mubadala Investment Company, RXR Digital Ventures, A/O PropTech, and Target Global.
- DISQO, a Glendale, Calif.-based insights platform, raised $85 million from Sageview Capital, March Capital, and Valuestream Venture.
- Trove, a Brisbane, Calif.-based e-commerce infrastructure company, raised $77.5 million in Series D funding. G2 Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Bank of Montreal, Capital One Ventures, Commerce Ventures, and Wellington Management.
- Bungalow, a San Francisco-based residential real estate marketplace, raised $75 million in Series C funding. Deer Park Road led the round and was joined by investors including Atomic, Founders Fund, Coatue, and Khosla Ventures.
- Leapwork, a Copenhagen-based process automation platform, raised $62 million. KKR and Salesforce Ventures co-led, and were joined by DN Capital and Headline. http://axios.link/qZHC
- Urbint, a San Francisco-based A.I. platform for predicting and stopping threats to critical infrastructure, raised $60 million in Series C funding. Energize Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including American Electric Power, OGCI Climate Investments, Energy Impact Partners, National Grid Partners, Blue Bear Capital, and Salesforce Ventures.
- Shelf.io, a maker of a platform for customer service, raised $52.5 million in Series B funding. Tiger Global and Insight Partners led the round.
- NoRedInk, a San Francisco-based maker of writing curriculum, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Susquehanna Growth Equity led the round and was joined by investors including True Ventures, GSV, Rethink Education, and Kapor Capital.
- Workstream, a San Francisco-based recruitment company, raised $48 million in Series B funding. BOND and Coatue led the round.
- Coco, a Los Angeles-based remotely-piloted delivery service, raised $36 million in Series A funding. Sam Altman, Silicon Valley Bank, and Founders Fund led the round.
- Balto, a St. Louis Mo.-based contact center tech platform, raised $37.5 million in Series B funding. Stripes led the round and was joined by investors including RingCentral Ventures, Sierra Ventures, TIA Ventures, OCA Ventures, Stage Venture Partners, SaaS Venture Capital, Sandalphon Capital, Cultivation Capital, and Atreides Management.
- Hunters, an open extended detection and response startup, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led, and was joined by insiders YL Ventures, Blumberg Capital, M12 and USVP. http://axios.link/Vazc
- Overjet.ai, a Boston-based artificial intelligence company, raised $27 million in Series A funding. General Catalyst and Insight Partners led the round and were joined by investors including Crosslink Capital and E14 Fund.
- Oomnitza, a San Francisco-based enterprise tech startup, raised $20 million. C5 Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Aspenwood Ventures,Gula Tech Adventures, Riverside Acceleration Capital, and Shasta Ventures.
- Monad, a San Francisco-based security data cloud company, raised $17 million in Series A funding. Index Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Sequoia Capital.
- involve.ai, a Los Angeles-based customer analysis platform, raised $16 million in Series A funding. Sapphire Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Bonfire Ventures, Greycroft, Launch Capital, BDMI,GTMfund, Fenwick, Gokul Rajaram, Stanford University, and Michael Whitmire.
- Royal, a Los Angeles-based maker of a platform for buying songs from artists, raised $16 million in seed funding. Paradigm and Founders Fund led the round and were joined by investors including Atomic.
- Workera.ai, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based maker of a skilling platform, raised $16 million in Series A. funding. NEA led the round and was joined by investors including Owl Ventures and AI Fund.
- Bright, a Los Angeles-based video conversation platform, raised $15 million in funding. Sound Ventures, RIT Capital and Regah Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including TIME Ventures, Globo Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and Jeff Lawson (Co-Founder of Twilio).
- #paid, a Canada-based creator marketing platform, raised $15 million in Series B funding. Sands Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Ascentia, Vanedge, and BDC Capital.
- Moment House, a Los Angeles-based ticketed experiences platform, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Forerunner Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including UTA Ventures, IDEO, Halsey, and Whitney Cummings.
- Level AI, a Mountain View, Calif.-based customer service startup, raised $13 million in Series A funding. Battery Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including ENIAC and Village Global.
- Zeal, a San Francisco-based payroll infrastructure provider, raised $13 million in Series A funding. Spark Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Commerce Ventures.
- Veego Software, a New York City-based customer experience company, raised $13 million in Series A funding. Magenta Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including State of Mind Ventures, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, North First Ventures, and Amdocs Ventures.
- Armored Things, a Boston-based provider of crowd analysis for sports and entertainment venues, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Nimble Ventures led and was joined by investors including Gutbrain Ventures, PBJ Capital, and Micromanagement Ventures.
- Moesif, a San Francisco-based provider of API usage analytics, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Craft Ventures led, and was joined by insider Merus Capital. http://axios.link/j0mD
- Monolith AI, an A.I. software company, raised £8.5 million ($11.7 million) in Series A funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Pentech and Touchstone.
- Mindset, an audio platform for personal story collections of recording artists, raised $8.7 million in seed funding led by Union Square Ventures. http://axios.link/QVUs
- Tango, a Los Angeles-based screenshotting and training tutorial company, raised $5.7 million in seed funding. Wing Venture Capital led the round and was joined by investors including General Catalyst, GSV Ventures, Outsiders Fund, and Red Sea Ventures.
- Knock, a New York City-based leasing platform for landlords and management companies, raised $5 million in seed funding. Accomplice and Boston Seed led the round.
- LOVO, a Berkeley, Calif.-based A.I. speech company, raised $4.5 million in pre-Series A funding. Kakao Entertainment led the round.
- Playbook, a San Francisco-based cloud storage company, raised $4 million in seed funding. Founders Fund led the round and was joined by investors including Abstract, Inovia, Maple, Basis Set, Backend, and Wilson Sonsini.
- Clearbrief, a Seattle-based startup focused on legal filings, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Reign Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Court Lorenzini (DocuSign’s founding CEO).
- Breef, a New York City-based marketplace for finding a marketing agency, raised $3.5 million. Greycroft led the round and was joined by investors including Rackhouse Ventures, The House Fund, John and Helen McBain, Lance Armstrong, and 640 Oxford Ventures.
- Infinite Canvas, a Los Angeles-based business focused on creators on Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft, raised $2.8 million in pre-seed funding. Lightshed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including BITKRAFT Ventures, Day One Ventures, Crossbeam, and Emerson Collective.
- Rutter,a San Francisco-based maker of an e-commerce API, raised $1.5 million in funding. Investors included Haystack, Liquid 2, and Basis Set Venture.
- Notivize, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based a low-code solution for building product notifications, raised $2.2 million in seed funding. AI Fund, Firebrand Ventures, and Heroic Ventures invested.
- Fig, a startup seeking to replace the command line terminal, raised $2.2 million in seed funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by investors including YC and SV Angel.
. . .
Sustainability:
- Firemaps, a San Francisco-based wildfire management startup, raised $5.5 million in seed funding. A16z’s Andrew Chen led the round and was joined by investors including Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Addition’s Lee Fixel.
- Urban Sky, a Denver-based high-altitude balloon startup focused on imaging, raised $4.1 million in seed funding. Catapult Ventures and Union Labs led the round and were joined by investors including TenOneTen Ventures, NewStack Ventures, and Techstars.
- Avalo, a genome analysis company focused on plants resistant to climate change, raised $3 million in seed funding. Better Ventures and Giant Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including At One Ventures, Climate Capital, David Rowan of SOSV.
Acquisitions & PE:
- Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) will acquire Frame.io, a New York City-based maker of video collaboration software, for about $1.3 billion in cash. Accel and FirstMark Capital back Frame.io.
- Headspace, a mindfulness and meditation app, agreed to merge with Ginger, a provider of on-demand mental healthcare. Headspace has raised over $200 million from firms like Spectrum Equity, Next Play Ventures, 10X Capital, Hambleden Capital, Breyer Capital and The Chernin Group. Ginger raised over $230 million from firms like Bessemer Venture Partners, City Light Capital, Advance Venture Partners, The Blackstone Group, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, True Ventures and Khosla Ventures. http://axios.link/ZI2x
- Substack acqui-hired the team behind Cocoon, a San Francisco-based maker of a subscription-based social media app. Cocoon has raised funding from investors including Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Inovia Capital.
- Sweetgreen, the quick-service restaurant chain that recently filed for an IPO, acquired Spyce, an automated kitchen startup that operates two of its own restaurants in Boston. Word is that it's an all-stock deal, initially valued just above the $60 million where Spyce last raised VC funding from investors like Khosla Ventures, Maveron, Dragon Capital, Collaborative Fund and chef Daniel Boulud.
- Roofstock acquired Great Jones, a property management platform. Investors including Crosslink Capital and Juxtapose backed Great Jones. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Zendesk (NYSE: ZEN) acquired Cleverly, a Lisbon-based customer service automation startup. http://axios.link/EutV
. . .
IPOs:
- ForgeRock, Inc., a San Francisco-based digital identity verification company, filed for an initial public offering. The company posted $127.6 million in revenue in 2020, and reported a net loss of $41.8 million. Accel, Riverwood Capital, and Meritech Capital back the firm.
- Warby Parker, a New York-based eyewear brand valued at $3 billion by venture capitalists, filed to go public via a direct listing. It plans to list on the NYSE (WRBY) and reports a $7 million net loss on $271 million in revenue for the first half of 2021. Top shareholders include Tiger Global, T. Rowe Price, General Catalyst, D1 Capital Partners and Durable Capital Partners.
- Nubank, a Brazilian neobank backed by Berkshire Hathaway, plans to IPO in the U.S., per Reuters.
- Toast, a Boston-based restaurant management platform, filed for an IPO. It plans to list on the NYSE (TOST) and reports a $235 million net loss on $704 million of revenue for the first half of 2021. The company raised around $900 million in VC funding, most recently at a $2.7 billion valuation, from firms like Tiger Global (12.8% pre-IPO stake), Bessemer Venture Partners (12.5%), T. Rowe Price (6%) and TCV (5.5%). http://axios.link/m1Qs
-EngageSmart (dba InvoiceCloud), a Braintree, Mass.-based provider of payment acceptance and invoice presentment SaaS, filed for an IPO. It plans to list on the NYSE (ESMT) and reports a small profit on $99 million in revenue for the first half of 2021. Backers include General Atlantic and Summit Partners. http://axios.link/d0DV
. . .
SPACs:
- Virgin Orbit, a Long Beach, Calif.-based satellite launch company, plans to go public via a merger with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC. A deal would value the company at $3.2 billion.
- Forbes, a New York City-based media company, will go public via merger with Magnum Opus Acquisition, a SPAC. A deal values the duo at $630 million,
- Getaround, a car-sharing startup, is in talks to go public via merger with Altitude Acquisition, per Reuters.
Funds:
- FinTech Collective raised $200 million for an early-stage fund and $50 million for a DeFi-focused fund. www.fintech.io
- Fika Ventures, a Los Angeles-based investor, closed Fika Fund III with $160 million and Fika Opp I with $35 million.
- Amplify Partners, a Menlo Park-based VC firm, expanded its "select fund" from $100 million to $200 million. www.amplifypartners.com
-Andreessen Horowitz raised $400 million for its first dedicated seed fund. http://axios.link/G0Pm
Final Numbers
Data: Yahoo Finance; Chart: Axios Visuals
The battlebetween Box and activist investor Starboard Value is coming to a head, with the company's annual meeting scheduled for Sept. 9.
Proxy advisory firm ISS this week recommended that shareholders should support two of the company's three director nominees.
P. Schoenfeld Asset Management, which holds a 1% stake in Box, said it will vote for Starboard's slate, adding that it opposes the company's recent financing deal with KKR.
Box also released Q2 earnings on Wednesday, topping analyst expectations.