Sourcery (9/26-9/30)
Personal Update ~ Satispay, Equi, Eclipse, Re, Tactic, Bridge, Checkmate, Solvo, Scout, Yonder, Grow Therapy, Rippl,Cartwheel Care, Wasabi, Pigment, Workstream, Flatfile, Arcade
⚠️ Personal Update ⚠️
I’ve officially moved to the ‘Early-Growth’ fund at Upfront Ventures. My specific focus will be in the Future of Work (looking at you GenZ), Healthtech and web3. I'll be working with Seksom Suriyapa, who joined last year as a Partner having previously been Vice President and Head of Corp Dev & Strategy at Twitter.
Who am I? Molly O’Shea.
Who are you? I do not know 🙃
Say hi! Reach out via Linkedin, Twitter, or plain old email: molly@upfront.com
Would love to get to know more of you and thank you to everyone who keeps in touch! It’s great to have a community, and I very much enjoy the catch-ups (esp when I’m in your cities - ✈️ heading to SF, NYC, & MIA soon 👀).
Musings:
Charts to Chew On: A September to Remember. Meera Clark at Redpoint
Why Iran's Leading Women's Rights Defender Thinks the Protesters Could Topple the Regime, Time
Kim Kardashian pays over $1 million to settle SEC charges linked to a crypto promo on her Instagram
Kardashian, who is reportedly worth $1.8 billion, agreed to pay $1.26 million to settle the charges over a promotion on Meta’s Instagram for EthereumMax’s crypto asset, the SEC said. She will also cooperate with an ongoing investigation, and has agreed to not promote crypto securities for three years, the regulator added.
Benchmark Capital, Acquired Podcast
Sheesh, this was a time investment.. A 3hr48min saga: The Complete History & Strategy of Benchmark Capital
P.S. if you like subtitles view the youtube video with CC on
E98: Big tech starts making cuts, Fed incompetency, global debt, Russia/Ukraine & more, All-in Podcast
. . .
Last Week (9/26-9/30):
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 Satispay, Equi, Eclipse, Re, Tactic, Bridge, Checkmate, Solvo, Scout, Yonder, Grow Therapy, Rippl, Doccia, Meliora, Cake, Cartwheel Care, Wasabi, Pigment, Workstream, Flatfile, Arthur.ai, Tray.io, Coalesce.io, Space and time, Coral, Kumo, Songfinch, Jeli.io, Invisible AI, 3AM, CoRise, Arcade, Motion, Path Water, EverestLabs, Climate Club; Calendly, Cann, GoTo, CloudBees; Porsche
Final numbers on How many dollars £1 buys at the bottom.
Deals
Sources: TS, Pro Rata, FinSMEs, Pitchbook, StrictlyVC
Fintech:
- Satispay, a Milan-based mobile payment network, raised €320 million ($311.6 million) in Series D funding. Addition led the round and was joined by investors including Greyhound Capital, Coatue, Lightrock1, Block Inc.2, Tencent, and Mediolanum Gestione Fondi SGR.
- DPL Financial Partners, a Louisville, Ky.-based insurance management platform, raised an additional $20 million in funding from Eldridge and Atlas Merchant Capital.
- Toqio, a London-based fintech SaaS provider, raised €18.7 million ($17.67 million) in Series A funding. Albion VC led the round and was joined by investors including Aldea Ventures, Seaya, Speedinvest, and SIX FinTech Ventures.
- Equi, an alternative investment strategies platform, will be announcing $15M in Series A funding led by Smash Capital, with support from Company Capital and Montage Ventures.
- Eclipse, a customizable blockchain solution provider led by ex-Citadel quant Neel Somani, raised $15m in pre-seed and seed funding from Tribe Capital, Tabiya, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Soma Capital, Struck Crypto and CoinList. www.eclipse.builders
- Remofirst, a remote-based payroll and employer of record provider, raised $14.1 million in seed funding. Mouro Capital and QED Investors co-led the round and was joined by Counterpart Ventures.
- Re, a decentralized reinsurance protocol, raised $14m in seed funding from Tribe Capital, Framework Ventures, Morgan Creek Digital and SiriusPoint. https://axios.link/3Spi8SP
- Tactic, a crypto accounting software startup, raised $11m. FTX Ventures led, and was joined by Lux Capital, Exponent Founders Capital, Definition Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Founders Fund, Ramp, Dylan Field, Elad Gil, and Sabrina Hahn. https://axios.link/3Rgq6MT
- Nova Credit, an SF-based startup focused on immigrant credit history, raised $10m from HSBC. https://axios.link/3Cl57UI
- Skip Protocol, a New York-based miner extractable value infrastructure provider, raised $6.5 million in seed funding. Bain Capital Crypto led the round and was joined by investors including Jump Crypto, Galaxy, Robot Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, IEX Group, Informal Systems, and other angels.
- Smart Token Labs, a Sydney, Australia-based Web3 open source software development company, raised $6 million via SAFT led by Fosun International co-founder Mr. Liang Xinjun.
- Bridge Money, a Chicago-based supplemental income financial platform, raised $5.8 million in seed funding. TMV led the round and was joined by investors including Founder Collective, Kapor Capital, Acumen America, Bread & Butter Ventures, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Plug and Play Ventures, Basecamp Fund, and Ulu Ventures.
- Checkmate, a San Francisco-based smart shopping tool company, raised $5 million in seed funding. Fuel Capital led the round and was joined by investors including f7 Ventures, Blackbird Ventures, Scribble Ventures, Hyper, Susa Ventures, and former CEO of Ebates at Rakuten Kevin Johnson.
- Quilo, a Staten Island-based loan syndication network, raised $5 million in Series A funding co-led by FinCapital, StudioVC, Venture Center, and others.
- Minteo, a Bogotá, Colombia-based NFT marketplace, raised $4.3 million in seed funding. Fabric Ventures, Dune Ventures, CMT Digital, OpenSea Ventures, Impatient VC, Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, SevenX Ventures, FJ Labs, Big Brain Holdings, G20 Ventures, Zero Knowledge, Alliance DAO, AngelDAO, and other angels invested in the round.
- KOOS, a Tallinn, Estonia-based equity-like benefits provider to non-employees, raised $4 million in seed funding. Plural Platform led the round and was joined by investors including LocalGlobe, Tiny.vc, and Matt Clifford.
- Solvo, a mobile crypto investment app, raised $3.5m in seed funding. Index Ventures led, and was joined by CoinFund and FJ Labs. https://axios.link/3SKfB5o
- Monnai, a San Francisco-based consumer insights infrastructure provider, raised $3.15 million in seed funding. Better Tomorrow Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Commerce Ventures, Kearny Jackson, and 9Yards Capital.
- Block Green, a Züg, Switzerland-based decentralized lending protocol, raised $3.7 million in funding. Founders Fund led the round and was joined by investors including Coinbase Ventures, Dao5, Blizzard, New Layer Capital, 10X Founders, and others.
- Scout, a Los Angeles-based investing platform, raised $2.6 million in seed funding. Chingona Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including BDMI, OnDeck, OneTeam Partners, Reach Capital, Gaingels, Hustle Fund, Alive VC, Broadhaven Ventures, and others.
- Yonder, a Dublin-based health insurance and retirement benefits platform, raised $2.6 million in funding co-led by Northzone and Frontline Ventures.
. . .
Care:
- Grow Therapy, a New York-based startup that helps therapists launch private practices covered by insurance, raised $75m in Series B funding. TCV and Transformation Capital co-led, and were joined by insiders SignalFire and SVB. www.growtherapy.com
- Ceribell, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based developer of portable EEG headsets for detecting seizures, raised $50m in new Series C funding led by insider Ally Bridge Group. The round total is now $103m, including investment from Longitude Capital and Rise Fund. https://axios.link/3xTJ9Wy
- Rippl, a Seattle-based mental health company for seniors with dementia and other neurocognitive conditions, raised $32 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst and ARCH Venture Partners.
- careviso, a Falls Church, Va.-based molecular diagnostic patient access health care provider, raised $17 million in Series B funding. Ballast Point Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Mercury and Lytical Ventures.
- Qnovia, a Richmond, Va.-based inhaled therapeutics developer focused on nicotine replacement therapy and cardiopulmonary diseases, raised $17 million in Series A funding. Blue Ledge Capital led the round and was joined by investors including DG Ventures, Evolution VC Partners, Gaingels, TL Capital, and Vice Ventures.
- Doccla, a London-based virtual ward and patient monitoring technology provider, raised £15 million ($16.69 million) in Series A funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by investors including funds managed by KHP Ventures, Giant Ventures, Speedinvest, and others.
- Meliora Therapeutics, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based oncology-based biotech company, raised $11 million in seed funding. HOF Capital and ZhenFund co-led the round and were joined by investors including Obvious Ventures, Village Global, BrightEdge, Pebblebed, Axial, Olive Capital, and other angels.
- Optellum, an Oxford, UK-based early-stage lung cancer diagnosis and treatment platform, raised $14 million in Series A funding. Mercia led the round and was joined by investors including Intuitive Ventures, Black Opal Ventures, and others.
- Cake, a Los Angeles-based sexual wellness brand, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Silas Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Lerer Hippeau, Bullish, Selva Ventures, and Finn Capital Partners.
- Kahun, a Givatayim, Israel-based clinical reasoning tool for physicians, raised $8 million in seed funding. LocalGlobe led the round and was joined by investors including European Innovation CouncilFund and The Founders Kitchen.
- Cartwheel Care, a Boston-based pediatric behavioral health startup, raised $3.9m in seed funding from General Catalyst, BoxGroup, Able Partners and Workshop Venture Partners. https://axios.link/3StssJ5
- Pattern Health, a Durham, N.C.-based digital health program creation and deployment platform, raised $3.3m in Series A funding led by the William H. Joyce Family Office. www.pattern.health
. . .
Enterprise & Consumer:
- Wasabi Technologies, a Boston-based cloud storage company, raised $250 million in Series D funding. L2 Point Management led the round and was joined by investors including Cedar Pine, Fidelity Management & Research Company, and Forestay Capital.
- GrubMarket, a San Francisco-based software and e-commerce platform provider connecting farmers and food suppliers with customers, raised $120 million in funding. 301 Inc. led the round and was joined by investors including Squarepoint Capital, Portfolia, Grosvenor Food & AgTech, Tiger Global, Liberty Street Funds, Walleye Capital, Celtic House Asia Partners, and Apeira Capital.
- Ocelot, a Boulder, Colo.-based A.I. communications and student engagement platform, raised $117 million in funding from K1 Investment Management.
- Sitetracker, a Montclair, N.J.-based deployment operations management software company for infrastructure providers, raised $66 million in Series D funding. Energize Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including H.I.G. Growth Partners, National Grid Partners, Clearvision Ventures, NTT Docomo Ventures, Kingfisher Investment Advisors, and Raine Next-Gen Communications.
- Pigment, a Paris-based business planning platform, raised $65 million in Series B+ funding. IVP and Meritech Capital co-led the round.
- Deep Instinct, a malware protection startup, raised $62.5m. BlackRock led, and was joined by Chrysalis Investments, Millennium and Unbound. https://axios.link/3SfaRFl
- Workstream, a San Francisco-based hiring and onboarding platform for the deskless workforce, raised $60 million in Series B extension funding. GGV Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Founders Fund, Coatue, BOND, Basis Set Ventures, CRV, WiL, Soma Capital, and other angels.
- Flatfile, a Denver-based data exchange platform, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Tiger Global led the round and was joined by investors including Gradient Ventures, Scale Ventures, Workday Ventures, Afore Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, and other angels.
- Unravel Data, a Palo Alto-based DataOps observability platform for data teams, raised $50 million in Series D funding. Third Point Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Bridge Bank, Menlo Ventures, Point 72, GGV Capital, and Harmony Capital.
- Arthur.ai, a New York-based ML monitoring startup, raised $42m in Series B funding co-led by Acrew Capital and Greycroft. https://axios.link/3fnLXEV
- MPCH Labs, a New York-based product and venture lab, raised $40 million in Series A funding. Liberty City Ventures, Animoca Brands, QCP Capital, Mantis VC, and others invested in the round.
- Tray.io, a San Francisco-based automation and integration platform, raised $40 million in funding. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, True Ventures, GGV Capital, Spark Capital, Meritech Capital Partners, and Stepstone Group invested in the round.
- Caraway, a New York-based home and lifestyle brand, raised $35 million in funding led by McCarthy Capital.
- OX Security, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based software supply chain security platform for DevSecOps, raised $34 million in funding. Evolution Equity Partners, Team8, and M12 co-led the round and were joined by Rain Capital.
- Hadean, a London-based metaverse infrastructure company, raised $30 million in funding. Molten Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including 2050 Capital, Alumni Ventures, Aster Capital, Entrepreneur First, and InQTel.
- Coalesce.io, a San Francisco-based data transformation company, raised $26 million in Series A funding. Emergence Capital led the round and was joined by investors including 11.2 Capital, GreatPoint Ventures, and Industry Ventures.
- GlossGenius, a New York-based business solution for the beauty and wellness industry, raised $25 million in Series B funding. Imaginary Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners co-led the round and were joined by Left Lane Capital.
- Noodle.ai, an SF-based supply chain intelligence startup, raised $25m in Series C funding from Honeywell and ServiceNow. www.noodle.ai
- Space and Time, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based decentralized data platform, raised $20m. M12 led, and was joined by Framework Ventures, HashKey, SevenX Ventures, Foresight Ventures, Polygon and Blizzard. https://axios.link/3frPXUE
- Coral, a decentralized infrastructure developer, raised $20 million in funding. FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto co-led the round and were joined by investors including Multicoin Capital, Anagram, and K5 Global.
- Kumo, a San Francisco-based predictive analytics platform, raised $18 million in Series B funding. Sequoia Capital led the round and was joined by investors including A Capital, SV Angel, and other angels.
- Songfinch, a Chicago-based song creation and collaboration platform, raised $17 million in Series A funding led by Valor Siren Ventures.
- Hofy, a London-based onboarding platform for remote teams, raised $15 million in Series B funding. CNP, Stride, 20VC, Day One Ventures, Kindred Capital, Activum, and TrueSight invested in the round.
- Jeli.io, a San Francisco-based incident analysis platform, raised $15 Million in Series A funding. Addition led the round and was joined by investors including Boldstart Ventures, Heavybit, and Harrison Metal.
- Invisible AI, a Palo Alto-based manufacturing A.I. company, raised $15 million. Van Tuyl Companies led the round and was joined by investors including FM Capital, 8VC, Sierra Ventures, K9 Ventures, and Vest Coast Capital.
- Lunio, a Manchester, England-based digital ad protection solution provider against fake users and bots, raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Smedvig Capital.
- JITX, a Berkeley and San Jose-based circuit boards design company for engineers, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Sequoia Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Y Combinator, Funders Club, and Liquid 2.
- Hume, a Los Angeles-based Web3 music entertainment company, raised $11.7 million in Series A funding. TCG Crypto led the round and was joined by investors including Collab+Currency, Winklevoss Capital, Gemini Frontier Fund, Gmoney, Flamingo DAO, Noise DAO, LAO DAO, Distributed Global, and other angels.
- Detectify, a Stockholm, Sweden-based external attack surface management platform, raised $10 million in funding led by Insight Partners.
- Regie.ai, a San Francisco-based content platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Scale Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Foundation Capital, South Park Commons, and other angels.
- AIKON, a San Francisco-based Web3 onboarding solutions provider, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Morgan Creek Digital led the round and was joined by investors including Blizzard the Avalanche Fund, Up2 Opportunity Fund, Hestia Investments, Yugen Partners, Mighty Capital, Alpha Edison, and Think+ Ventures.
- FourKites, a Chicago-based supply chain visibility company, raised $10 million in funding from Mitsui & Co.
- Maev, an Austin, Texas-based human-grade raw dog food brand, raised $10m in Series A funding, as first reported by Axios Pro. VMG Partners led, and was joined by BFG Partners, Willow Growth Partners, Springdale Ventures, DX Ventures, Contrary Capital, Good Friends and 1st Course Capital. https://axios.link/3ULpCkP
- 3AM Innovations, a Buffalo, New York-based emergency response software company, raised $9m in Series A funding from Grand Oaks Capital. https://axios.link/3ULiUeu
- CoRise, an SF-based online upskilling platform, raised $8.5m in seed funding. Greylock and GSV Ventures co-led, and were joined by Cowboy Ventures. www.corise.com
- HeadsUp, a San Francisco-based conversion engine for product-led sales, raised $8.5 million in seed funding. 645 Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Wing Venture Capital, Firstminute Capital, Character, and others.
- Penpot, a Madrid-based collaborative design and prototyping platform, raised $8 million in funding. Decibel led the round and was joined by investors including Athos Capital and other angels.
- Femtosense, a San Bruno, Calif.-based A.I. edge platform, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Fine Structures Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including J2 Ventures, Quest Venture Partners, Amino Capital, Sand Hill Angels, Gaingels, and SV Pacific Ventures.
- Arcade, a product-demo building platform, raised $7.5m in seed funding from backers like Foundation Capital and Upfront Ventures. https://axios.link/3BTf1vp
- Kaleidoscope, a New York-based research team performance operating system, raised $6 million in seed funding. Hummingbird Ventures and Dimension co-led the round and were joined by investors including Caffeinated Capital, SV Angel, Hawktail, and others.
- Papaya Technologies, a London-based electric fleet sourcing and management platform, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Giant Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Seedcamp, 20VC, FJ Labs, Flexport, and Cocoa.
- Employee Cycle, a Philadelphia-based HR analytics dashboard for small and medium-sized businesses, raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Impellent Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Collab Capital, Converge VC, and others.
- Gently, a San Francisco-based secondhand shopping platform, raised $2 million in pre-seed funding. Launch, Bloom Tech’s Austen Allred, Shutterstock’s Jon Oringer, RXBar’s Peter Rahal, Dorm Room Fund, and V1.VC invested in the round.
. . .
Sustainability:
- Moxion, a Mill Valley, Calif.-based developer of emissions-free generators, raised $100m in Series B funding. Tamarack Global led, and was joined by Energy Impact Partners, Sunbelt Rentals, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Enterprise Holdings Ventures, Marubeni Ventures, Suffolk Technologies and Rocketship.vc. https://axios.link/3ffFN9G
- Path Water, a Fremont, Calif.-based provider of bottled water in recyclable aluminum bottles, raised $30m in Series A funding led by Altos Ventures, as first reported by Axios Pro. https://axios.link/3xYZNUA
- SINAI Technologies, a San Francisco-based decarbonization intelligence platform for reducing carbon emissions, raised $22 million in Series A funding. Energize Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Stardust Equity, HighSage, Obvious Ventures, Valo Ventures, Afore, High Alpha, Presidio Ventures, NEC Translink Capital, and others.
- EverestLabs, a Fremont, Calif.-based recycling operating system developer, raised $16.1 million in Series A funding. Translink Capital led the round and was joined by investors including NEC Orchestrating Future Fund, BGV, Sierra Ventures, Morado Ventures, and Xplorer Capital.
- Climate Club, a New York-based carbon reduction platform, raised $6.5 million in seed funding. XYZ Venture Capital and Vestigo Ventures co-led the round and were joined by investors including Red Sea Ventures and MCJ Collective.
- Kopperfield, a Seattle-based EV charger installation company, raised $5 million in seed funding. General Catalyst’s Hemant Taneja and Lachy Groom co-led the round and were joined by investors including Giant Ventures, MCJ Collective, Shopify founder Tobi Lutke, and other angels.
- 7Analytics, a Bergen, Norway-based flood prediction platform, raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Momentum Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Construct Venture, Link Capital, and Obos VC.
Acquisitions & PE:
- Calendly acquired Prelude, a San Francisco-based recruiting operations platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Cann acquired Sweet Reason, a Toronto-based CBD drink maker. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- GoTo acquired Miradore, a Lappeenranta, Finland-based cloud-based device management provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- CloudBees acquired ReleaseIQ, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based DevOps platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts, told Bloomberg that he expects the Seattle Seahawks to be put up for sale in 2024. The Seahawks are owned by a trust created by the late Paul Allen. https://axios.link/3dOZ1mf
- Nautilus (NYSE: NLS), the at-home fitness equipment company whose brands include Bowflex, said it’s considering a sale process. https://axios.link/3Cbdnqy
. . .
IPOs:
- By spinning out Porsche, a Stuttgart, Germany-based luxury vehicle company, Volkswagen raised €19.5 billion ($18.9 billion) via Porsche’s listing in Germany. The offering valued the company at around €75 billion ($73 billion) and is Germany’s second largest IPO listing in history. Volkswagen remains a majority shareholder in the company.
. . .
SPACs:
Nothing to see here…
Funds:
- Cloudflare (NYSE: NET) is earmarking $1.25b for investment startups that use its platform. https://axios.link/3SEcXhO
- Scale Venture Partners raised $900m for its eighth fund. https://axios.link/3EhBplh
- Designer Fund of SF raised $40m for its third fund. www.designerfund.com
- Town Hall Ventures, a New York-based venture capital firm, raised $350 million for a fund focused on investing in health care companies.
Final Numbers
Data: FRED, Bank of England, and FactSet; Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals
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.
Congrats on your big promotion Molly you deserve it. You do a great job at upfront. And great read great article.