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Rocketship.vc Raises $100 Million Fund; Uber, Lyft Ordered to Classify Drivers as Employees; Investors Target 3-D Printing Startups
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By Marc Vartabedian, WSJ Pro
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Good day. Arevo Inc., a 3-D printing startup, raised a $25 million Series B funding round led by venture firms Defy Partners and GGV Capital. Firms including Khosla Ventures and Alabaster participated in the deal, which brings Arevo’s total funding to $60 million. As part of the financing, Brian Shin, an angel investor and a chief executive officer in one of Arevo’s portfolio companies, is joining Arevo’s board.
Milpitas, Calif.-based Arevo is aiming to manufacture products and parts for companies in sectors including consumer, industrial, automotive, heavy industries, construction and aerospace sectors.
Arevo’s machines are roughly the size of a sedan car and use a robotic arm and carbon fiber to produce the products and parts. Arevo is beginning to transition into selling these products at scale, Defy Managing Director and co-founder Trae Vassallo said. This is Defy’s first investment in a 3-D printing startup, Ms. Vassallo added.
Arevo’s fundraise comes as 3-D printing startups across a variety of sectors have raised funding. Investors poured roughly $3 billion into 3-D printing startups between 2017 and the end of 2019, according to data analytics firm Tracxn Technologies.
In April, for instance, 3-D printing startup Velo3D Inc. raised a $28 million Series D funding round from investors including Piva, Playground Global and Khosla Ventures.
And now on to the news...
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The team at Rocketship.vc, which has raised a $100 million fund.
PHOTO: JEFF RUMANS PHOTOGRAPHY
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Data driven. Rocketship.vc raised its first $40 million fund in 2017 to invest from the U.S. in startups globally, using data rather than personal connections to find startups and make deals, WSJ Pro’s Tomio Geron reports. That strategy has positioned the firm to make deals remotely during the pandemic, since it had already used data to make investments remotely pre-Covid-19.
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Now, Los Altos, Calif.-based Rocketship has doubled down on this thesis with a new $100 million fund. It has also hired a new partner, Madhu Shalini Iyer, formerly the chief data officer at Indonesian tech startup Gojek. Rocketship uses data and its own analysis to surface hot startups around the world then reaches out to them to seek investment.
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In an example of how data guided investment decisions, when the firm launched its first fund, India didn’t have as much investment interest, but Rocketship’s data surfaced growing startups. The reason: an explosion of cheap mobile phones and data plans was driving adoption of new apps.
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Gig-worker law. A California judge said Monday that ride-hailing companies Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. shouldn’t classify their drivers as independent contractors, citing the state’s gig-worker law that went into effect this year, The Wall Street Journal reports. The ruling is on hold until the companies have a chance to appeal. California sued the companies in May in California Superior Court, saying the decision to classify drivers as contractors had deprived them of rights such as paid sick leave and unemployment insurance. Uber and Lyft have asserted that the law could take away flexibility for drivers and force them to work prescheduled shifts.
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IT jobs lost. U.S. employers shed roughly 134,000 information-technology jobs in July, according to IT trade group CompTIA, a signal that companies might be taking a wait-and-see approach as questions remain over everything from a new stimulus package to the return of in-person schooling, The Wall Street Journal reports. July marked the first month of tech job declines since March, as employers expanded net IT headcount in April, May and June, according to CompTIA. While tech jobs remain among the most in-demand, some firms may be hesitant to fill openings as they assess how the economy develops, said Tim Herbert, CompTIA’s executive vice president for research and market intelligence.
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People
Werewolf Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology startup developing cancer treatments, has named Ellen Lubman to the newly created position of chief business officer. She will oversee corporate and business development, portfolio strategic planning, financial strategy and investor relations. Previously Ms. Lubman was chief business officer of Impel NeuroPharma Inc. Cambridge, Mass.-based Werewolf raised a $56 million Series A financing last year from MPM Capital, Longwood Fund, and others.
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Dyne Therapeutics Inc., a Waltham, Mass.-based biotechnology developer of therapies for muscle diseases, closed a $115 million financing led by new investors Vida Ventures and Surveyor Capital. Additional new investors, including Wellington Management Co., Logos Capital, Franklin Templeton and an undisclosed institutional investor, were joined by existing investors Atlas Venture, Forbionl and MPM Capital in the financing. The financing will accelerate the development of Dyne’s pipeline of muscle disease therapies, including its lead programs in myotonic dystrophy type 1, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, as well as additional indications, including cardiac and metabolic muscle diseases.
Skillshare, a New York-based online learning company, raised $66 million in Series D financing led by OMERS Growth Equity. Prior investors Union Square Ventures, Amasia, Burda Principal Investments and Spero Ventures participated. Citigroup served as a financial adviser to Skillshare.
Parsable Inc., a San Francisco-based worker connection platform for industrial sectors and manufacturers, raised a $60 million Series D round led by Activate Capital and Glade Brook Capital Partners. Investors included Alumni Ventures Group, Cisco Investments, Downing Ventures, Evolv Ventures, Princeville Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Future Fund and B37 Ventures. Investment groups at Honeywell and Saudi Aramco also participated in the deal, which brought Parsable’s total funding to roughly $133 million.
Ironscales, an email security startup based in Tel Aviv and Atlanta, raised $8 million in a Series B extension led by Jump Capital. Last year the company raised $15 million in Series B funds led by K1 Investment Management.
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Simon malls have 11 Sears and 63 Penney stores, according to a public filing. PHOTO: MARK BLACK/ZUMA PRESS
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