Salesforce Builds $50 Million Impact Investing PortfolioYou can download an audio podcast here or subscribe via iTunes or Google Play. Suzanne DiBianca, chief philanthropy officer and executive vice president of corporate relations at Salesforce, was among the first employees at the company and has championed social impact from the beginning. Building a $50 million impact investing portfolio is her latest initiative. [ Forbes ] Online bank Chime now valued at $1.5 billion after new funding roundDigital bank Chime has tripled its valuation, officially passing the $1 billion-mark this week.The San Francisco-based company announced a $200 million Series D financing round that brings its new valuation to $1.5 billion. Investors were led by DST Global, which also participated in earlier fundraising rounds, and new investors Coatue, General Atlantic, Iconiq Capital and Dragoneer Investment Group, Chime said Tuesday. [ CNBC ] Pantheon Lands $40M In Rare Round For WebOps IndustrySan Francisco’s Pantheon, which helps manage open-source content sites WordPress and Drupal, just raised $40 million in a Series D led by Sageview Capital, the company said. Previous investors from the Foundry Group, Scale Venture Partners, and Industry Ventures also participated in the round. [ QZ ] The top VC investors in Texas since 2010Everything is bigger in Texas, as the old saying goes. This maxim, however, has yet to fully apply to the world of venture capital in the Lone Star State, which will be propelled into the headlines as the commanding SXSW Conference in Austin kicks off on March 8. [ Pitchbook ] Matterport raises $48M to ramp up its 3D imaging platformThe growth of augmented and virtual reality applications and hardware is ushering in a new age of digital media and imaging technologies, and startups that are putting themselves at the center of that are attracting interest. [ Tech Crunch ] Grab confirms $1.46B investment from SoftBank’s Vision FundGrab has become the newest addition to the SoftBank Vision Fund after it announced today that it has pulled in a $1.46 billion investment from the super fund. The Southeast Asian ridesharing company said the new money will be used to further its super app strategy, which is aimed at making its service a daily app for consumers, but it is also likely to be used to battle rival Go-Jek. [ Tech Crunch ] IBM Israel Files $51 Million Countersuit Against Israel ChemicalsThree months after being sued for NIS 1.1 billion (approximately $300 million) in damages by Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), IBM Israel has filed a NIS 185 million (approximately $51 million) countersuit Monday. In its filings to a Tel Aviv district court, which were reviewed by Calcalist, IBM claims ICL did not pay for services provided by IBM and did not act in good faith. [ calcalistech ] The Silicon Valley exodus continuesFor a long time, it was the norm for founders to haul their hardware to the 3000 block of Sand Hill Road, where the venture capitalists of “Silicon Valley” would be awaiting their pitches. Today, many of the investors that touted the exclusivity of “The Valley” have moved north to San Francisco, where they have better access to top entrepreneurs. [ Tech Crunch ] Danish-founded reviews site Trustpilot raises $55 millionCopenhagen-based reviews platform Trustpilot has landed a $55 million funding round led by Sunley House Capital Management, with participation from existing investors Vitruvian Partners, Draper Esprit, Index Ventures, and Northzone. This Series E round brings the total amount raised by the company to more than $170 million. [ Tech.eu ] LiDAR Maker Innoviz Raising New Round of Around $100 MillionLiDAR startup Innoviz Technologies Ltd. is in the process of raising a new round of around $100 million, one person familiar with the matter told Calcalist on condition of anonymity. [ calcalistech ] Fictiv raises $33M to be the ‘AWS of hardware manufacturing’Hardware, as the saying goes, is hard, but today a startup has raised some money for a manufacturing platform that it believes can make the prospect of starting and running hardware businesses a little easier. Fictiv, which positions itself as a kind of AWS for manufacturing — providing a platform both to design components and help get them produced — has raised $33 million, money that it will use to continue expanding its production ecosystem, the range of components that it can make and to grow its customer base. [ Tech Crunch ] Wiener Startup refurbed holt sich Millioneninvestment – unter anderem über den VC eines Skype-FoundersDas Wiener Startup refurbed hat frisches Kapital aufgenommen. Den größten Teil der 2 Millionen Euro trägt Inventure Partners. Co-investiert hat auch Suvi Haimi aus dem neuen Angel Programme des Londoner VCs Atomico, der von Skype-Co-Founder Niklas Zennström gegründet wurde. Atomico ist einer der größten europäischen VCs und unter anderem auch in das Payment-Startup Klarna investiert. [ trendingtopics ] Podcast network Luminary raises $100 million in total fundingLuminary Media, a Chicago-based subscription podcast network with exclusive content, reportedly raised around $60 million in new funding. The company has now raised nearly $100 million in total, from backers like NEA. [ AXIOS ] Review site Trustpilot raises $55 million to boost growth, denies report it's planning an IPOReviews website Trustpilot said Tuesday that it has raised $55 million in a funding round aimed at fueling growth. The investment was led by Sunley House, a subsidiary of buyout-focused private equity firm Advent International. Existing shareholders Vitruvian Partners, Draper Esprit, Index Ventures and Northzone also contributed. [ Business Insider ] Online payment startup Curlec raises seed funding from Captii VenturesOnline recurring payment startup Curlec has closed its seed funding round with investment from Captii Ventures, the investors known to back marketplaces, new media, fintech, agritech & enterprise applications. [ e27 ] Uber and Lyft IPOs to usher in new wave of climate pressurePlanned IPOs by Uber and Lyft will likely lead to pressure from shareholder activists who want the ride-hailing giants to act more aggressively on stemming carbon emissions. [ AXIOS ] Private equity firms' biggest earners last yearAccording to a regulatory filing last week, the private equity chief was once again the highest earner for the industry, pocketing at least $567.8 million worth of dividends and compensation in 2018. [ Fox Business ] Functionize raises $16 million to automate software testing with AIFunctionize, a San Jose, California-based startup developing a cloud-based platform that autonomously susses out software bugs, today announced that it has raised $16 million in series A financing contributed by Canvas Ventures. The capital infusion — which comes after a $2.5 million seed round in February 2018 and brings the company’s total raised to $18.2 million, according to Crunchbase — will be used to “accelerate adoption” of its platform, said CEO and founder Tamas Cser. [ Venture Beat ] Client Note: Lyft’s IPO Valuation, Gap Splits Up, Medicare Advantage, Apple & Amazon In Auto, And MoreLast week, Lyft filed its S-1 to go public, beating Uber to the punch. What will its valuation be when it goes public? We used valuation multiples of other ride-hailing companies globally using CB Insights data to determine where Lyft’s valuation will likely land when it goes public. [ CB Insights ] Arianna Huffington On The Competitive Advantage Of Pairing Technology And SleepParis-based Shift Technology has raised another $60 million funding round. Bessemer Venture Partners is leading the round and existing investors Accel, General Catalyst, Iris Capital and Elaia Partners are also participating. [ Forbes ] Caterina Fake,Yes VC, Should This Exist?, FlickrInternet pioneer Caterina Fake knows: Online communities are built one human connection at a time. As the founder, you need to establish guidelines and norms from Day One — because the tone you set is the tone you’re going to keep, even as you go viral. And by the way, Caterina is now host of our new podcast Should This Exist?. Transcript below. |