Venture Capital
It’s been 50 years since Venrock established itself to expose investors to venture capital opportunities. Today, the global venture capital industry tracks just south of $200 billion and continues to grow as new entrepreneurs, engineers, financiers, and thought leaders create the economy of tomorrow. The DailyAlts VC channel tracks the trends, opportunities, key thought leaders, and next-generation industries that will generate billions in returns.
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Tonal, a startup that makes compact, AI-powered, wall-mounted home fitness equipment, announced Thursday its raise of $110 million. Returning investors L Catterton, Sapphire Sport, Shasta Ventures, Mayfield, Evolution Media, and THVC, participated in the round along with new investors Delta-v Capital, the Amazon Alexa Fund, and Mousse Partners.
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More Stories on Venture Capital
Venture Capital: Goldman Sachs To Raise A $2B Tech Venture and Growth Fund
Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) is mulling the flotation of a technology-focused venture and growth fund worth $ 2 billion.
Venture Capital: Chinese Insurtech Waterdrop Lands $230M in Pre-IPO Funding
Waterdrop Inc raised $ 230 million in funding led by Swiss Re (SWX: SREN) and Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings (HKG: 0700). Existing investors including IDG Capital and Wisdom Choice Global Fund also participated.
Venture Capital: Travel Platform Omio Raises $100M To Expand and Acquire
Formerly known as GoEuro, Berlin-based travel booking platform Omio announced Wednesday its successful raise of $100 million from existing and new investors. These included Temasek, Kinnevik, Goldman Sachs Asset Management L.P., NEA, and Kleiner Perkins.
Venture Capital: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Breaks Funding and Launch Records
A filing dated Tuesday from billionaire Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (aka SpaceX) showed the giant space start-up raised $ 1.9 billion out of an equity offering of $ 2.07 billion, its largest funding round ever. The funding round comes as Elon Musk becomes the fourth richest person in the world.
Venture Capital: Brazilian Games Maker Wildlife Studios Raises $120M
Wildlife Studios, a Sao Paolo-based games maker, garnered a valuation of $3 billion. That’s fast going. In December, Wildlife raised $60 million at a valuation of $1.3 billion. With the current $120 million round, the company doubled its fundraise and nearly tripled its valuation, all in a matter of fewer than eight months.
Venture Capital: Impossible Foods Raises $200M; Vegan Pork On The Way
Impossible Foods, the plant-based meat startup, announced Thursday its Series G round raise of $200 million. The investment round was led by new investor Coatue Management LLC. It saw participation by another new investor XN Capital, as well as existing investors Mirae Asset Global Investments and Temasek. While Coatue and XN are both hedge funds, Coatue is renowned for its affinity for tech investments.
Venture Capital: Gong Secures Unicorn Status With $200M Series D
Gong, the startup which helps businesses glean “revenue intelligence” from customer interactions, achieved unicorn status when it raised $200 million at a valuation of $2.2 billion. Coatue led the Series D round, with participation from Index Ventures, Thrive Capital, and Salesforce Ventures. Existing investors NextWorld Capital, Battery Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Wing Venture Capital also invested.
Venture Capital: Nokia-Branded Device Maker HMD Global Raises $230M
HMD Global, the maker of Nokia phones, announced Tuesday the closure of a $230 million fundraising. The company said investors included some of its top global strategic partners. These were unnamed in the company’s press release. However, according to a Reuters report, these strategic investors included Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) and Nokia (HEL: NOKIA).
Venture Capital/Real Estate: MetaProp Launches Fourth Fund Targeting $200M
MetaProp, the NYC-based VC firm that backs startups in the field of real estate technology, is back in the market with a $200 million fund. Titled MetaProp Growth Select I, the fund will target more mature startups in the field. MetaProp co-founder Aaron Block will manage the fund.
Venture Capital: ChargePoint Recharges With $127M To Expand Its Network
ChargePoint announced Wednesday an incremental equity financing of $ 127 million from investors including American Electric Power, Chevron Technology Ventures, Clear Vision, and Quantum Energy Partners. According to TechCrunch, the company has so far raised $ 660 million.
Venture Capital: Employee Management Platform Rippling Snags $145M And Unicorn Status
Employment management software company Rippling gained the coveted unicorn status after it raised $145 million at a valuation of $1.35 billion in a Series B round. Participants in the Founders Fund-led round included Greenoaks Capital, Coatue Management, and Bedrock Capital. Existing investors Kleiner Perkins, Initialized Capital, and Y Combinator also participated in the funding.
Alternative Investments/Venture Capital: Now, An ETF To Capture Private Exits Via SPACs
Bill Ackman’s (pictured above) Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd, raised $4 billion in its IPO last month – the largest ever for a SPAC.
With the ongoing boom in IPOs of SPACs (Special Purpose Acquisition Companies), could an ETF be far behind?
Venture Capital: First Women’s Bank To Raise $50M
First Women’s Bank received a conditional approval earlier this month from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Marianne Markowitz, who is expected to become the bank’s CEO, said the approval was a “significant milestone.” The new bank, which will focus primarily on female entrepreneurs, is likely to open its doors for business in 2021. It will be Chicago’s first all-new bank after the GFC of 2008, and will perhaps locate in the Goose Island neighborhood.
Digital Assets: Electric Capital Raises $110M For Its Second Crypto Fund
Venture capital firm Electric Capital invests in cryptocurrencies, blockchain-based businesses, fintech companies, and marketplaces. It announced Monday the close of its second fund, a $110M Seed and Series A fund, focused on crypto networks and blockchain-enabled businesses.
Artificial Intelligence: Truera Will Tell You What’s Going On Inside The ML Black Box
Data scientists have long suffered from the impervious ‘black box’ that surrounds a machine learning model. That’s because data is crunched by the algorithm and decisions spit out but what went on in between the input and the output remains opaque. But help is at hand – Truera’s platform allows data scientists to analyze machine learning to improve model quality, address unfair bias, and build trust.
Venture Capital: UK Fintech Curve Eyeing Fundraise Between £100m and £120m
Sifted revealed that London-based fintech Curve may raise an amount upwards of £100 million in a proposed Series C round. It reportedly started its efforts to raise money earlier this year and if the efforts pay off, it could be one of the biggest raises by a fintech in Europe this year amidst the pandemic.
Venture Capital: AFTR Launches Cemetery Cameras for Virtual Gravesite Visits
AFTR has launched a line of cemetery cameras that enable grief-stricken relatives and friends to visit the gravesite of their dear, departed person virtually. During the pandemic, many of us were unable to pay our last respects to the deceased because of lockdowns and other restrictions. AFTR’s products enable a connection, even though virtual and via a phone screen, to the loved one.
Venture Capital: Impact X Capital’s Thesis For Investing £100M In Black Founders
Profits and purpose. Those are the two bottom lines for Impact X Capital, the London-based venture firm conceived by Eric Collins to support underrepresented entrepreneurs across Europe. The firm was in operation long before the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s now armed with £100 million to invest in such entrepreneurs.
Venture Capital: What COVID? Indonesian Travel Aggregator Traveloka Snags $250M
Indonesian online travel portal Traveloka announced Tuesday that it raised $250 million in a round led by a global financial institution with participation by some existing investors. Traveloka said the investment came despite the travel sector being in an “unprecedented challenging state,” and a historic drop in its own business activity “to levels never seen before.”
Venture Capital: Telehealth Company Ro Raises $200M at a $1.5B Valuation
Ro, the NY-based, patient-driven telehealth company, completed a $200m Series C funding round on Monday. Existing investor General Catalyst led the round. Other existing investors that participated included FirstMark Capital, Torch, SignalFire, TQ Ventures, Initialized Capital, 3L, and BoxGroup. The Chernin Group invested in Ro for the first time. Ro has now raised a total of $376 million.
Venture Capital Giant Sequoia Says World Awash With Capital
Anandan was speaking at a session of the Global Fintech Fest organised by the NPCI, Payments Council of India and Fintech Convergence Council. The Sequoia India Managing Director said that there was no scarcity of global capital for Indian companies notwithstanding the coronavirus epidemic and its bruising economic impact.
Venture Capital: TalkDesk Raises $143M, Triples Valuation to $3B
Talkdesk, the maker of cloud-based customer service software, announced Thursday its Series C raise of $143 million at a valuation of more than $3 billion. The startup achieved unicorn status in its previous funding round in October 2018 when it raised $100 million at a valuation of over $1 billion.
Digital Assets: Quant-Crypto Fund Cambrian Lands $4.2M
Quant crypto fund manager Cambrian Asset Management has raised $4.2 million in a seed equity round, the firm said Thursday. The round’s target was initially $3 million but was increased following oversubscription. Cambrian will use the funds to enhance its technology infrastructure, operations, and research and development. The money will not form a part of its AUM.
Venture Capital: Ackman With $7B War Chest for Mature Unicorn
Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd (NYSE: PSTH.U) SPAC raised a humongous $4 billion in its IPO on Wednesday – the largest ever for a SPAC. The company sold 200 million units at $20 each, which closed the day’s trading at $21.30, up 6.50% on the IPO price. Ackman is committed to investing upto another $3 billion in the blank cheque company, bringing its investible warchest to $7 billion.