1.
Credit card start-up Petal raises $300 million debt round from Jefferies
Credit card start-up Petal just completed a new financing round. The New York City-based company announced a $300 million debt round from Jefferies on Tuesday, adding to existing venture capital investments from names like Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures. Petal offers a
Visa rewards card to people with little to no credit history. Founder and CEO Jason Gross said the idea was to offer younger customers, who often haven’t established credit, a rewards-based card. Instead of using a traditional FICO score, it uses other data and metrics to assess whether or not someone can repay the loans. Companies like Square, Stripe and PayPal are leaning on similar tactics to underwrite small business loans. [ CNBC ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our
platform.
2.
Revolution Ventures Closes On $215M For ‘Oversubscribed’ Third Fund
Revolution Ventures announced today the close of its third fund, which it says was “oversubscribed” at $215 million. The Washington, DC-based venture firm (which we profiled in this piece in March) focuses on early-stage investing with an emphasis on companies located in “underserved” markets. I hopped on the phone this morning with Tige Savage, co-founder and managing partner of Revolution, and he
told me all about the company’s plans for the new fund. He also shared some details of the performance of its second fund, which closed at $200 million in 2013. First, let’s start with the new fund. Savage said the firm intentionally opts not to raise larger funds because it wants to focus on quality over quantity. Its target with this third fund was $200 million but Revolution “flexed up a little” at the last minute to make room for an additional LP, he said. [ Crunchbase ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
3.
Afore Capital raises second pre-seed venture capital fund
As expectations from seed investors intensify, a new stage of investment has established itself earlier in the venture-backed company life cycle. Known as “pre-seed” investing, one of the first legitimate outfits to double down on the stage has refueled, closing its second fund on $77 million. Afore Capital’s sophomore fund is likely the largest pool of venture capital yet to focus exclusively on pre-seed companies, or pre-product businesses seeking their first bout of institutional capital. In many cases, a pre-seed startup may even be “pre-idea,” yet to fully incorporate. While some funds are happy to invest that early, Afore seeks slightly more mature companies. [ Tech Crunch ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital
Data on our platform.
4.
Twitch Co-Founder’s New Startup Rents Lawyers to Other Startups
When Silicon Valley companies go looking for legal representation, they generally choose from a short list of well-respected partnerships. There’s 99-year-old Cooley LLP, 58-year-old Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and 24-year-old Gunderson Dettmer. All are run by graduates of prestigious law schools who have decades of experience at the biggest firms. Then there’s the 2-year-old startup Atrium, whose chief executive officer, Justin Kan, has no formal legal training but once starred in an online reality show. [ Bloomberg ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
The techlash isn’t big enough to stop Facebook from selling video chat devices for your living room
A year ago, when Facebook launched its own video chat device, it seemed like a clueless move by an out-of-touch tech giant: Under fire for abusing its users’ privacy, Facebook was still stumbling forward with a video camera that would surveil its users in their homes. [ Vox ] Checkout 15K+
Venture Capital Data on our platform.
6.
Clearbanc Co-Founder: Using A.I. ‘Takes Out the Gender Bias’ When Funding Entrepreneurs
Italian e-commerce business Cortilia has raised €8.5 million to expand its farm-to-table style grocery delivery service. The Series B round is funded by leading food and agtech investor Five Seasons Ventures and the largest VC fund in Italy, Indaco Ventures. [ Tech.eu ] Checkout 15K+
Venture Capital Data on our platform.
7.
On-demand plant food startup Simple Feast raises $33M B round to push its climate credentials
As Greta Thunberg heads back to Europe from the U.S. after radicalizing a generation, entrepreneurs are quickly realizing there is a zeitgeist to be gotten hold of here. With food production a major contributor to climate change, it’s no surprise then that on-demand food startups are appearing to cater to this new audience. [ Tech Crunch ] Checkout
15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
8.
More Supergiant Seed Rounds Are Sprouting Up
Here at Crunchbase News, we’ve devoted a lot of coverage to the rise of supergiant rounds — our term for startup investments of $100 million and up. Deals of this size were rather rare years ago. Now they’re a near-daily occurrence, praised and blamed for reshaping the venture landscape. [ Crunchbase ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
9.
PlayVS picks up $50 million Series C to build out high school esports
PlayVS, the platform that allows high school students to compete on varsity esports teams through their school, has today announced the close of a $50 million Series C led by existing investor NEA. Battery Ventures, Dick Costolo and Adam Bain of 01 Advisors, Sapphire Sport, Michael Zeisser, Dennis Phelps of IVP and co-founder of CAA Michael Ovitz participated. [ Tech Crunch ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
10.
Bolt announces €10m investment to make journeys carbon neutral
On-demand transportation platform Bolt has announced that journeys taken using its platform in Europe will be carbon neutral by offsetting emissions, making Bolt the largest ride-hailing platform in Europe to attempt carbon neutrality. [ uktech ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our
platform.
11.
E977 The Next Unicorns E3 Standard Cognition CEO Jordan Fisher is building AI-powered checkout
The Next Unicorns: Standard Cognition CEO & Co-founder Jordan Fisher is making autonomous checkout available anywhere through camera computing, raised $86M to compete against Amazon Go, potential for other market opportunities, empowering both costumers and retailers — filmed at the Standard Store in SF — E3 of 10-ep miniseries
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
12.
E976 Shoot My Travel CEO Valerie Lopez is building a global photography startup, 2x'ing revenue YOY
Shoot My Travel CEO & Co-founder Valerie Lopez is building a global on-demand photography startup, doubling revenue YOY with minimal funding, sharing lessons from the LAUNCH Accelerator & the importance of delighting customers
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
13.
The team behind Codementor launches Arc to help companies hire talented developers around the world
Arc, a platform that wants to simplify the process of hiring developers who work remotely, is launching officially today. The new company grew out of Techstars-backed Codementor, an online education platform for software developers. Codementor will continue to operate as a standalone product under Arc.[ Tech Crunch ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
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