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: M33 Raises $260M to Fund “Scrappy, Bootstrapping” Founders
M33 raises $260m to fund scrappy, bootstrapping founders. In its second fund, M33 will continue to back hi-tech startups who grew their way to profitability without institutional support.
Venture Capital: Jay-Z Co-founded Marcy Venture Partners Raises $85M
Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, hip-hop’s first billionaire, co-founded venture capital firm Marcy Venture Partners along with Jay Brown and Larry Marcus. The firm raised $85 million for its first fund.
Venture Capital: Hercules Capital Reports A Blowout Quarter
Hercules Capital reports a blowout quarter. The leading VC company beat estimates and posted new business records.
Venture Capital: Atomico’s Fifth Fund Eclipses $750M Target; Raises $820M
Atomico, the immensely successful venture capital firm founded by Skype’s Niklas Zennström, raised $820 million for its fifth fund. Atomico V will primarily invest these funds in startups raising money in round A, particularly early-stage European tech companies.
Venture Capital: Polychain Capital to Raise $200M To Back Crypto Startups
Polychain Capital’s second venture fund, which targets a war chest of $200 million, opened at the beginning of 2020. The crypto venture fund is accepting minimum investments of $1 million for up to three years.
FinTech: SoftBank Steps Up LatAm Focus With $1B Investment Plan
SoftBank steps up LatAm focus with $1B investment plan. SoftBank Group has upped the ante in its gambit to profit from financing promising startups in Latin America. Its $5 billion Softbank Innovation Fund, launched in March 2019, plans to spend $1 billion in 2020 to bankroll LatAm ventures in e-commerce, health care, and fintech.
Venture Capital: Restaurant Software Maker Toast Raises $400 Million
Restaurant POS maker Toast scooped up $400 million at a valuation of $4.9 billion in its latest funding round. Toast will use the funds to invest in the development of new products on its technology platform including hardware and software. It will also hire hundreds of new employees.
Investors in the latest round of funding included Bessemer Venture Partners, TPG, Greenoaks Capital, and Tiger Global Management.
FinTech: Digital Lending Startup BlockFi Raises $30 Million Series B
BlockFi Inc. provides consumer financing services. Its platform offers loans to crypto-asset owners who collateralize the loan with their crypto-assets. On the other hand, its BlockFi Interest Account (BIA) lets depositors put their crypto to work and earn monthly interest payments in the asset-type that deposited with BlockFi. The company raised $30 million in its Series ‘B’ funding round, led by Valar Ventures.
Venture Capital: Chinese Startups On The Rocks As Funds Dry Up Following Virus
The flow of funds to Chinese startups has been severely constricted after the coronavirus outbreak. Venture capitalists rely on mutual contacts, conferences and field visits to monitor progress at startups they finance. The virus has put paid to all that, with executives staying put at home, working remotely, or video-conferencing.
Venture Capital: Sequoia Eyes Europe; To Set Up Base in London
Sequoia Capital, the storied venture capital firm that funded the likes of Apple, Google, PayPal, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Eventbrite, Airbnb, Stripe, and WhatsApp, is dropping anchor in London. According to The Times, Sequoia is planning a post-Brexit shopping blitz that could include British tech start-ups.
But the reasons could be more structural. Investing in European startups is cheaper on every count compared to their American counterparts: valuations, cost of living, cost of talent. Best of all, European startups appear to be coming of age – they are bigger, more sophisticated, more promising. (Sifted)
Venture Capital: Online Shopping Store Hollar May Down Shutters
Online Shopping Store Hollar May Down Shutters.VC investors may take a haircut on their investments in the online dollar store.
Venture Capital: VC Funding in Australia in 2019 Bucks Weak Asian Trend
VC Funding in Australia in 2019 Bucks Weak Asian Trend. VC funding in Australia in 2019 rose to a record US$1.145 billion from US$1.033 billion in 2018.
Australia was a standout amongst the otherwise disappointing show in the Asia Pacific region where deal value declined to US$73 billion from $126 billion in 2018, said KPMG.
Venture Capital: Snowflake’s Latest Funding Triples Its Valuation to $12.4B
Snowflake, the cloud data warehousing company, raised new funding of $479 million at a valuation of $12.4 billion. Dragoneer Investment Group and Salesforce led the round.
Venture Capital: Cloud Security Company Netskope Raises $340 Million In A Series G
Cloud Security Company Netskope Raises $340 Million In A Series G led by Sequoia Capital Global Equities. The funding propels Netskope’s valuation to nearly $3 billion.
Venture Capital: Chinese VC Investors Home In on Indian Startups
Shunwei Capital, a VC firm founded by Xiaomi founders Lei Jun and Tuck Lye Koh, has co-led a $5.5 million funding round in regional language podcast app Kuku FM. The firm manages assets of $3 billion. Interestingly, smartphone manufacturer, Xiaomi has also invested approximately $6 million in WorkIndia, an online and app-based staff recruitment network.
Venture Capital: The Futuristic Call That Strapped the TSLA Stock To A Booster Rocket
Whatever the description for the chart and TSLA’s price action, it’s worthwhile to look at the catalyst that sent the stock soaring over 40% higher in the last two trading sessions.
Venture Capital: Saudi Investment Firm Participates in Electric Air Taxi Startup Funding
Jameel Investment Management Company invests in Joby Aviation. California-based Joby Aviation, an electric air taxi startup founded in 2009, raised $590 million in a Series C fundraising. The round was led by Toyota Motor Company, with participation by Baillie Gifford, according to Arabian Business. Jameel Investment Management Company, an investment arm of Saudi family business…
FinTech: Online Insurance Marketplace and Insurtech Policygenius Raises $100 Million
Policygenius, an online marketplace for comparing and buying insurance products, announced the successful raising of $100 million via its Series D funding round.
Jennifer Fitzgerald and Francois de Lame founded Policygenius in 2014. Its digital platform connects consumers with reputed insurance carriers. It is the fastest growing life insurance distributor, having issued $45 billion in life cover till date. Policygenius has grown annualized revenues to $60 million, a 10 times increase since 2017 and the culmination of its C Round Funding.
Venture Capital: Why Traditional VCs Avoid Startups in Defense and Aerospace
Brian Schettler, the head of Boeing’s HorizonX venture fund, talks to DefenseNews.
Boeing’s HorizonX venture fund has invested across 25 companies. Each investment is less than $10 million, and the cumulative amount would be small when juxtaposed against the sums deployed by traditional VC firms in commercial ventures (not defense or aerospace).
Speaking to DefenseNews, Schettler provided interesting insights on why traditional VCs are giving the cold shoulder to startups in defense and aero.
Venture Capital: Melinda Gates’ Incubation Firm Pivotal To Invest $50M for Women’s Equality in Tech
Over the next five years, Melinda Gates’ Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company, will invest $50 million to create more opportunities in the tech sector for women.
Last year, Gates published “The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World.”
Last year, Gates had pledged an amount of $1 billion towards empowering women over the coming ten years. The current investment of $50 million is a part of that pledge and will cover Chicago and two unnamed cities.
Venture Capital: The Kobe in “Bryant Stibel & Co”
Kobe Bryant was a legendary basketball player and star. Until his untimely death in a helicopter crash on Sunday, it was not commonly known that he was also a successful businessman who ran a venture capital firm.
Bryant Stibel & Co, the VC firm Kobe founded in 2013 with Jeff Stibel, is said to hold more than $2 billion in assets.
Venture Capital: CurrencyCloud Gets $80 Million From Top Notch Investors Including Visa
CurrencyCloud Gets $80 Million From Top Notch Investors Including Visa. London-based startup CurrencyCloud builds remittance APIs for money transfer businesses.
It’s software you are never likely to see. It works in the background when you make a money transfer across borders. CurrencyCloud builds these APIs (as the software is called), and more than 350 companies were using it as at end-2019.
Venture Capital: Three VC Exits To Look Out For In 2020
Will 2020 shake off the IPO blues induced by 2019’s triumvirate of Uber-Lyft-WeWork? Despite the occasional snafu, the IPO market is doing quite well, judging from the Renaissance IPO ETF, currently perched at an all-time high. “The strong 2020 performance of recent IPOs bodes well for the 2020 crop,” said Kathleen Smith of Renaissance Capital.
We, therefore, look forward to 2020’s crop of promising VC exits via IPOs (or sales).
Here are three.
Venture Capital: Fintech Accelerator Catalyst Fund Receives $15 Million From JPMorgan and UK Aid
Catalyst’s main agenda is to drive financial inclusion in emerging markets.
Boston-based fintech accelerator, Catalyst Fund, which specializes in emerging and frontier markets, is now armed with an additional $15 million, according to TechCrunch.