Symphony, the start-up taking on Bloomberg’s dominance of Wall Street, is now worth $1.4 billionSymphony, a messaging platform for Wall Street firms, has been valued at $1.4 billion, according to people with knowledge of the company. The start-up will soon announce that it raised $165 million from investors to fuel its global expansion, according to the people. Symphony’s latest valuation is a relatively modest increase from two years ago, when it was pegged at $1 billion in an earlier investing round. Since then, the Palo Alto-based start-up has more than doubled users to 430,000, exceeding the 325,000 clients of Bloomberg, a data, analytics and news company founded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg. [ CNBC ] Raising Capital for a Start-up? What to Know Before Meeting With InvestorsRaising capital for a start-up can be the most daunting — and confusing — task for any small business. Kirsten Green, founding partner of Forerunner Ventures — a venture capital firm that’s invested in a number of fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands, including Glossier, Outdoor Voices, Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker and Reformation, among others — offered steps to simplify the process at the WWD Beauty Summit on June 3, giving an inside look on how she goes about finding businesses to invest in. [ wwd ] Seven Questions WITH Matt MillerMatt Miller joined Sequoia in 2012 after founding a company and working as an advisor to technology companies at Goldman Sachs. He dedicates weekdays to company building, and weekends to his wife and kids—cheering at their sporting events and taking his son to the airport to watch the planes take off and land. [ Sequoi ] Many Investors in Venture Capital Say a Big Return Isn’t EnoughNiklas Zennstrom, whose technology investments helped make him a billionaire, said venture capital financiers are demanding a higher purpose from their funds. Managers of endowments and pension funds increasingly ask VCs to prioritize companies with an element of sustainability or humanitarianism, he said. One byproduct of the shift is related to guidelines from the United Nations, Zennstrom said Tuesday at Bloomberg’s Sooner Than You Think conference in London. The UN’s General Assembly set 17 objectives, known as Sustainable Development Goals, for member countries to achieve by 2030. They include eliminating poverty and hunger, promoting gender equality and conserving the environment. [ Bloomberg ] The three-headed monster leading a new CVC boomLast year, the value of VC deals in the US that involved participation from corporate venture capital firms more than doubled. Over the past decade, meanwhile, the quantity of such deals has nearly quadrupled. While such statistics don't tell the whole story, they do serve as signs of just how far the CVC sector has come. India’s Jumbotail raises $12.7 million to digitize convenience stores with its wholesale marketplaceWith most small grocery stores in India yet to get online, startups racing to digitize them continue to see promising backing from investors. Jumbotail, an online wholesale marketplace for grocery and food items, today said it has raised $12.7 million to scale its operations. [ Tech Crunch ] How Much Equity to Give Your Cofounder - Michael SeibelShared e-scooters aren’t just gaining popularity in the United States; they’re hitting the streets of China, too. Recognizing the possibility that some people just don’t want to pedal that last mile, China’s transportation startup Hellobike is setting up a 1 billion yuan ($145 million) joint venture with Alibaba’s financial affiliate Ant Financial and battery maker CATL to provide battery-swapping services for scooters. [ Tech Crunch ] DJI gets into the battling robot businessA little less than a month ago, DJI branched out from the world of gimbals and drones with the release of the Osmo Action, a new action camera that put GoPro firmly in the company’s sites. Now it’s back with another new category: educational fighting robots. The RoboMaster S1 seems like an odd fit at first, but the company’s quick to point out that robotics are an important part of DJI’s DNA. Founder and CEO Frank Wang studied robotics in school, and in recent years, the company has put on a series of robotic fighting tournaments in China under the RoboMasters banner. [ Tech Crunch ] The top 11 VC investors in cybersecurityCybersecurity will likely continue to remain an evergreen industry as long as the internet and its accompanying threats persist. Indian VCs Come Together To Form A Startup Funding TrustA group of Indian early-to-mid-stage domestic venture capital firms (VCs) comprising prominent names such as Kae Capital, YourNest Venture Capital and Stellaris Venture Partners among others have come together to form a startup funding trust and advocacy platform Funder’s Forum. Reportedly, these VCs together manage a pool of more than $800 Mn in assets. [ inc42 ] In brief: Oyo in discussions to raise $1b, valuation to hit $10bOyo Hotels & Homes is in talks with new backers and existing investors like Japanese conglomerate SoftBank for US$1 billion in fresh funding, which is likely to see the startup’s valuation hit the US$10 billion mark, The Economic Times reports. [ Tech In Asia ] Startups Target Millennials With Social-Investing AppsFor millennial investors, making a social impact is a top priority. More than any previous generation, millennials are likely to invest in companies that mesh with their social and political concerns—from clean energy to gender equality to water conservation. Some 77% of high-net-worth millennials currently own or are interested in so-called impact investments, according to a 2018 survey by Bank of America. [ WSJ ] Sweden’s Stillfront raises some €46 million through a directed share issueSweden’s ambitious plan to drastically cut emissions from transport by bringing millions of electric cars onto the road could be derailed by a lack of power capacity for new charging stations in major cities.An increase in government grants sent sales of electric cars surging by 253% in the first five months this year, but the rally could be over before it’s really started. Demand for electricity in Stockholm and other cities is outgrowing capacity in local grids, forcing new charging networks to compete with other projects from housing to subway lines to get hooked up. [ tech.eu ] Sweden's Electric Car Boom Is Under Threat From Power CrunchSweden’s ambitious plan to drastically cut emissions from transport by bringing millions of electric cars onto the road could be derailed by a lack of power capacity for new charging stations in major cities. An increase in government grants sent sales of electric cars surging by 253% in the first five months this year, but the rally could be over before it’s really started. Demand for electricity in Stockholm and other cities is outgrowing capacity in local grids, forcing new charging networks to compete with other projects from housing to subway lines to get hooked up. [ Bloomberg ] Microsoft’s M12 venture fund leads $25M round for API marketplace RapidAPIApplication programming interfaces, or APIs, are essential building blocks of the online apps and connected services we use everyday. That’s why Microsoft’s venture arm M12 is leading a $25 million investment round for RapidAPI, a San Francisco-based startup that has built a popular API marketplace used by 1 million developers. [ Geek Wire ] Berlin proptech startup McMakler scores €50 million in Series C fundingMcMakler, a Berlin, Germany-based proptech startup, has raised €50 million in Series C financing in a round led by Target Global and Israel Growth Partners (via Handelsblatt). Existing investors, including Frog Capital, also chipped in, although it’s worth noting the round comes with a rather big debt component of more than €10 million. Two years ago, the company secured €16 million to boost its growth. [ Tec.Eu ] SoftBank's winner-take-all strategy challenged by rival unicornsTOKYO -- The strategy deployed by SoftBank Group's Vision Fund -- in which it invests billions in disruptive technology companies, who can then outgun the competition -- is facing a harsh reality: Instead of being forced to retreat, key competitors are stepping up the pressure on the fund's flagship investments across Southeast Asia, China and the U.S. [ asia.nikkei ] Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report Reverts To Historical Patterns Of Slide Count GrowthIt’s early June, and you know what that means, don’t you? Fun in the sun? Ice cream? First jaunts to the beach? Sure, all of those things. But for followers of the drifts and shifts in web tech and the businesses built upon it, today is tantamount to Christmas. [ Crunchbase ] SETTING THE SALESFORCE/TABLEAU ACQUISITION IN CONTEXTYesterday, Salesforce announced it would acquire Tableau for $15.7B. Tableau sells data visualization software and the team has built an incredible business. We analyzed the S-1 in 2014. The company has grown since its public offering to generate about $1.1B in revenue, growing at 29%. Let’s put this acquisition in context. [ TOMASZ TUNGUZ ] KKR to buy Germany's biggest publisher Axel Springer for £6bnThe publishing giant that owns some of Germany's biggest newspapers and Business Insider will be taken private by US private equity giant KKR in a €6.8bn (£6bn) deal. KKR has offered €63 a share – 13pc higher than Tuesday’s closing price - in a move backed by largest shareholder Friede Springer and chief executive Mathias Doepfner. [ telegraph ] Curated by Venture Pulse Team. Find us on : [ Venturepulse.org, CrunchBase, AngelList ] |