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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Revaia, Europe’s largest female-founded venture capital firm, has successfully raised €150 million ($160 million) for its second fund, Revaia Growth II. The funding was secured from sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and institutional investors across Europe, with support from existing partners like Bpifrance and new backers such as mutual insurer Carac and the European Investment Fund.
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More Stories on Venture Capital
Venture Capital: Clearcover, The Digital Car Insurer, Scores $200M Funding
Clearcover, a startup selling car insurance digitally, has raised $ 200 million in a Series D funding round led by Eldridge, with participation from existing investors American Family Ventures, Cox Enterprises, OMERS Ventures, as well as other new investors.
Venture Capital: Scale AI Scores $325M Series E Round At A $7.3B Valuation
Scale AI announced Tuesday its raise of $325 million in a Series E funding co-led by Dragoneer, Greenoaks Capital, and Tiger Global. New investors in the round included Wellington Management and Durable Capital as well as existing investors Coatue, Index, Founders Fund, and YC.
Venture Capital: SoftBank Vision 2 Leads $676M Round In SambaNova Systems
SambaNova Systems, a startup that builds AI hardware and chips and offers a systems platform to run AI applications, announced today its Series D raise of $676 million in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The round valued SambaNova at more than $5 billion and the company’s aggregate funding to more than $1 billion.
FinTech: Financial And Ride-Hailing Giant Grab Agrees $39.6B SPAC Merger
Grab, the Southeast Asian giant that straddles ride-hailing, online food delivery, and digital wallet payments in the region through a super app, has agreed to go public in the U.S. through a SPAC transaction. The SoftBank-backed startup will merge with Altimeter Growth Corp. (NASDAQ: AGC) and thereafter trade on the NASDAQ with the ticker GRAB.
Venture Capital: Supervest, A Platform That Matches Loan-Seeking Merchants With Investors, Is Seeking Funds
Supervest calls it a new asset class. Merchant cash advances (MCA) are a form of short-term financing for merchants in the form of a sales agreement in which capital is exchanged for a proportion of future sales. Typically, an MCA is availed by small businesses or startups that need to receive a large amount of money quickly with minimal strings attached. Supervest is a platform where accredited investors and individuals can invest in the high-yielding MCA space.
Venture Capital: As The Indian VC Scene Heats Up Alteria Raises $177M Venture Debt Fund
Alteria Capital, an Indian venture debt fund, announced today its first close of a ₹ 1325 crore (US$ 177.41 million) fund targeting start-ups looking for loans, not capital. The firm has a target of ₹ 1700 crores (US$ 227.62 million) expected to be raised within the next 3 to 4 months.
Venture Capital: India’s ShareChat Scores $502M Raise From Top Investors
Sharechat, the Indian AI-powered social media and content-sharing platform, announced a raise of $502 million in a round led by Tiger Global. Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), Lightspeed, and Snap (NYSE: SNAP) also participated in the investment round which valued the start-up at $ 2.1 billion.
FinTech: Indian Fintech Startup Cred Raises $215M, Turns Unicorn
Cred, a fintech founded by Kunal Shah, has just achieved the distinction of becoming the second-fastest Indian startup to emerge as a unicorn, that too within a mere 29 months of launch. It raised $215 million in a Series D round at a valuation of $ 2.2 billion, as investors continued to favor its business model of rewarding credit card payments made on time.
FinTech: Plaid Collects $425M At A Solid $13.4B Valuation
Fintech Plaid announced today its Series D round funding of $425 million at a valuation of $13.4 billion. The round was led by Altimeter Capital with participation from new investors, Silver Lake and Ribbit Capital. Earlier investors Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and New Enterprise Associates also participated.
Venture Capital: KKR Amasses $15B Warchest For Asia Fund
KKR & Co (NYSE: KKR), the global investing heavyweight, has just wrapped up raising Asia’s biggest ever private equity fund. The KKR Asian Fund IV closed with commitments of $15 billion and will focus on private equity investments in the Asia Pacific region.
Venture Capital: Source Code Capital, The Chinese VC Firm, Raises $1B
Source Code Capital, the highly regarded Chinese VC firm, announced today its raise of $1 billion for new dollar-denominated funds. According to DealStreetAsia, the funds are presumably intended for Source Code Growth Fund II ($580 million) and Source Code Venture Fund V ($420 million), going by a previous filing with the U.S. SEC.
Venture Capital: Indian Food Delivery Startup Swiggy Raises $800M At $5B Valuation
Swiggy, the punchy online food delivery platform delivering food to India’s hungry middle class, has raised $800 million from global alternative asset manager Falcon Edge Capital, Singapore-based fund management firm Amansa Capital and US-based private investment firm, Think Capital. Other participants in the oversubscribed round included French asset management firm Carmignac, Goldman Sachs, Prosus and Accel.
FinTech: Next Insurance Raises $250M, Doubles Valuation To $4B
Digital insurtech Next Insurance, which focuses on insurance for small businesses and the self-employed, raised $250 million in a round led by FinTLV Ventures and Battery Ventures with participation from CapitalG, Group 11, Zeev Ventures, Founders Circle, and G Squared. This funding was the startup’s second within the space of just seven months, bringing up its total amount raised to over $881 million.
Venture Capital: Delivery Service Glovo Nabs $529M, A Record For Spanish Startups
Barcelona-based delivery startup Glovo has scored € 450 million ($ 529 million) in a Series F funding round led by Lugard Road Capital and Luxor Capital Group. This round, set to be the largest in Spanish venture capital history, also saw investment from existing investors including Delivery Hero, Drake Enterprises, and GP Bullhound.
Venture Capital: HighRadius, The Working Capital Optimizer, Lands $300M
HighRadius announced Tuesday its raise of $300 million in a Series C round at a valuation of $3.1 billion. D1 Capital and Tiger Global led the round which also received participation from existing investors ICONIQ Growth and Susquehanna Growth Equity.
Venture Capital: LIVEKINDLY Collective Raises $335M, Becomes A Top-Funded Plant-Based Food Company
LIVEKINDLY Collective, which is a portfolio of plant-based food brands plus a media platform, and is run by senior executives from the global food industry, announced on Monday its raise of $335 million led by The Rise Fund, the global impact investing platform managed by TPG.
Venture Capital: Pilot, An Accounting And Back Office Startup, Raises $100M
Accounting and back-office startup Pilot, which focuses on small businesses, scored an extended $100 million Series C round led by Jeff Bezos’s venture capital firm Bezos Expeditions and hedge fund Whale Rock Capital. The round, which doubled Pilot’s valuation to $1.2 billion, also included participation by Sequoia and Index Ventures.
Artificial Intelligence: Krisp Uses AI To Cancel Noises (Like Barking Dogs And Crying Babies) During Calls
Last month, Krisp, an AI-powered noise-removal service, raised $9 million in a Series A round of funding led by RTP Global and saw participation by Storm Ventures. The Krisp app works with calls and recordings and supports Zoom, Meet, and 1000+ other apps out of the box. It removes noises such as background voices, barking dogs, room echoes, and other disturbances that can affect virtual meetings in real-time.
Venture Capital: Gorillas, Which Delivers Groceries Immediately, Lands $290M
Gorillas, which promises groceries delivered within 10 minutes, just became the fastest unicorn in Europe. The startup, which backs up its claim with strategically positioned “dark stores” for stocking groceries, raised a $290 million Series B round of funding.
Venture Capital: Mobile Travel App Hopper Raises $170M Round Led By Capital One
Hopper, the app-based travel marketplace, announced Wednesday its raise of $ 170 million via a Series F round led by Capital One (NYSE: COF) and including participation by new and existing investors such as GS Growth, Inovia Capital, WestCap Group, and Citi Ventures. The start-up also announced a partnership with Capital One for the launch of Capital One Travel, a new and improved portal offering an innovative customer booking experience for Capital One cardholders.
Digital Assets: Investors Pile Into Blockchain.com’s $300M Raise, Valuing It At $5.2B
This mega-round follows on a $120 million raise just last month. Blockchain.com’s valuation has surged to $ 5.2 billion from $ 3 billion in just a month, such was investors’ appetite for its latest Series C raise. The investment was led by DST Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and VY Capital, and included participation from other existing and leading investors across the globe.
FinTech: Payments Platform Airwallex Scores US$100M Extension Of Series D
Airwallex, the Australian payments platform that welcomes borderless businesses across the world, announced today a raise of US$100 million via an extension of its Series D round that had flagged off in April 2020. The additional funding lifts Series D to US$300 million, and the total funds raised by Airwallex to nearly US$ 500 million.
Venture Capital: AI-Powered, Digital Identity Verifier Jumio Scores $150M Round
Jumio, the leader in identity verification, eKYC solutions, and AML, announced Tuesday its raise of $150 million from Great Hill Partners, the Boston-based private equity firm that specializes in investing in high-growth companies across tech sectors. With this investment, Jumio has raised more than $255 million in total funding.
Venture Capital: Brazilian Real Estate Marketplace Loft Scores $425M
A booming housing market plus the digitization spurred by the pandemic have added up to land Sao-Paulo-based real estate marketplace Loft in a happy place. The three-year-old startup grew its business 28X in 2020 compared to the previous year, yet still has money left over from its last Series C raise of $175 million in January 2020. Nevertheless, Loft announced today its raise of $425 million at a whopping $2.2 billion valuation.