Venture Pulse Daily Newsletter - Curated by Hasan Tarek
1.
How Payment Processor Stripe Became Silicon Valley’s Hottest Startup
The pandemic threatened to clobber Stripe Inc. Instead, it turbocharged the company. Stripe processes payments for e-commerce companies, keeping a tiny cut of each purchase as a fee for its services. When stay-at-home orders early in the pandemic caused spending to plunge and refund requests to skyrocket, the outlook wasn’t great. Then everything moved online. More than 500,000 doctors’ offices, farmers markets and other businesses migrated to online payments and used Stripe to do it. As people worked out at home, redecorated or both, Stripe customers such as Peloton Interactive Inc. and Wayfair Inc. enjoyed blockbuster sales. Stripe’s revenue last year rose nearly 70%, to about $7.4 billion, according to people with knowledge of the
company’s finances. Other startups might have flashier apps or more recognized brands, but Stripe showed that it is better to be a workhorse than a show pony. [ WSJ ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
2.
Groq Closes $300 Million Fundraise
Groq Inc., a leading innovator in compute accelerators for artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and high performance computing, today announced that it has closed its Series C fundraising. Groq closed $300 million in new funding, co-led by Tiger Global Management and D1 Capital, with participation from The Spruce House Partnership and Addition, the venture firm founded by Lee Fixel. This round brings Groq's total funding to $367 million, of which $300 million has been raised since the second-half of 2020, a direct result of strong customer endorsement since the company launched its first product. By maintaining capital efficiency, this latest funding allows Groq to grow across industries while elevating the company's efforts to hire top talent and accelerating its next-generation products in development. According to multiple published analyst reports,* the total available market for AI semiconductors is projected to reach $65 billion to $100 billion by 2025. [ prnewswire ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
Special:
Grab set for $40bn valuation in US share listing
Grab, the dominant ride-hailing and food delivery firm in South East Asia, is preparing to list shares in the US in a deal that values the firm at nearly $40bn (£29bn). Shares will trade following a merger with US-listed Altimeter Growth Corp. Grab expects to raise more than $4bn via the transaction, which is expected to be completed by July. The listing would mark the largest US share offering to date by a South East Asian company. Altimeter Capital chief Brad Gerstner said his company was drawn to Grab due in part to its leading position in a part of the world where technology-fuelled economic changes are still in their "early days". "We've already seen this movie - how profit and growth has unfolded in the US, China, Europe and
Latin America and we're now seeing that and better in South East Asian markets." he said in a presentation for investors, in which he compared Grab to "Uber, Doordash plus Ant Financial all in a single app". [ BBC ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
3.
Fortnite creator Epic Games’ valuation jumps to $29 billion in new funding round
For the first time since the pandemic started, I had big Friday night plans: a VIPs-only mansion party. The who’s who of 2003, like Elton John, Howard Stern, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan would supposedly be attending. Some guy Nick owned the mansion, apparently, and to get through the door, everyone had to pass a vibe check by answering a question, like: would you rather have a cat that acts like a dog or a dog that acts like a cat?
So I stayed up late — midnight on the East Coast — and got ready to attend. I donned my usual sweatpants and hoodie, got into bed, pulled up
my comforter, and opened the Clubhouse app on my phone. That night, the social audio app greeted me with a page of chat room possibilities. I could join the lullaby room where musicians would sing in their softest voices to coo me to sleep, or I could join a trivia game with model Amber Rose and hosted by Jigsaw, the murderer clown from Saw. I could, in what’s basically a room archetype at this point, debate the merits of Clubhouse. I popped into those three rooms as a warmup to the mansion party and my real Friday night plans. This was Clubhouse’s shot to show me it could become my entertainment — I skipped my Netflix time for this. [ The Verge ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform
4.
Minnesota firms have raised $287M in venture capital this year
Minnesota tech companies are poised to break another record for venture-capital investments this year if the pace of first-quarter deals continues. As the state and local economy continues to recover from the negative economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Twin Cities firms raised $282.8 million through 44 deals. The deal count is the highest for any quarter in the past seven years, while the dollar figure is the largest amount for the first three months of any year in that time span, according to PitchBook, a Seattle-based private capital market data provider. To compare, local companies attracted $220 million in the same quarter in 2020, and $168 million for the three-month period in 2019. Overall, Minnesota startups orchestrated 50 deals to begin 2021, leading to $286.9 million in capital investments. [ star tribune ]
5.
British cyber security firm Darktrace targets $4 billion London listing
Darktrace, the British cyber security firm backed by tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, fired the gun on its $4 billion London listing on Monday, aiming to raise new funds to accelerate product development and strengthen its balance sheet. The technology company, founded in 2013 in the university city of Cambridge, uses AI to understand IT networks and detect attacks by identifying unusual behaviour. "We are in a new era of attacks...it's going to be these little pieces of code fighting it out in the background of our businesses," said Chief Executive Poppy Gustafsson in an interview with Reuters, calling the planned listing a major milestone for the company. [ whbl ]
6.
Private Equity Firm Crosspoint Nabs $1.3 Billion for Debut Fund
Crosspoint Capital Partners LP, a private equity firm led by executives including ex-Symantec Corp. Chief Executive Officer Greg Clark and former Bain Capital dealmaker Ian Loring, raised $1.3 billion for its debut fund. The firm, which focuses on security, privacy and infrastructure software investments, won backing from institutional investors including endowments and family offices to exceed an original $1 billion target for the vehicle, Crosspoint Capital Fund I. “We’re pursuing a twist on the private equity industry,” Loring said in an interview, referring to Crosspoint’s narrow sector focus within the vast technology universe, and its team of senior industry executives. “We start with a view that there’s too much capital out there chasing too few opportunities, so to create great companies and returns for our investors, we have to know an area better than anyone else and add value post-deal,” he said. [ Yahoo ]
7.
Zeta in talks with SoftBank to raise at over $1 billion valuation
Banking tech startup Zeta is inching closer to the much sought-after unicorn status as it engages with investors to finalize a new round, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 is in advanced stages of talks to lead a ~$250 million Series D round in the five-year-old startup, the sources said. The investment proposal values the Indian startup, co-founded by high-profile entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia, at over $1 billion, up from $300 million in its maiden external funding (Series C) in 2019.
The round has yet to close, a third person said.
A SoftBank spokesperson declined to comment.
Five-year-old Zeta helps banks launch modern retail and fintech products. The thesis is that banks — largely operating on antiquated technologies — today don’t have the time and expertise to offer the best experience to hundreds of millions of customers and fintech firms they serve. Zeta is attempting to help banks either use the startup’s cloud-native, API-first banking stack as its core framework or build services atop it to offer better a experience to all customers — think of improved mobile app and debit and credit features. It also offers API, SDKs and payment gateways to banks to work more efficiently with fintech firms. [ Tech Crunch ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
8.
Play Ventures raises $135M for second fund to invest in game startups
Play Ventures has raised $135 million for a second fund to invest in game startups. The Play Ventures Fund II will have $135 million to invest in the world’s best game makers an entrepreneurs, said Harri Manninen in an email to GamesBeat. This is much larger than the
company’s previous $40 million fund, and altogether the company will have $175 million to invest in game companies. And it’s has been busy. Since December 2018, Play Ventures has invested in 24 game companies in 10 countries. “These companies, though still very early in their collective journeys, are already making huge waves,” said Manninen, who’s the head of the fund. “We’re confident that there’ll be more great things to come from these companies and the wonderful founders from our portfolio.” With Fund II, Play Ventures still believes gaming will be the most impactful and
dominant form of entertainment in the 21st century. There are dozens of game venture capital funds now with the same dreams, and they’re call investing in game companies. [ Venture Beat ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
9.
KKR Seeks to Raise $100 Billion by 2022 After Record Year
KKR & Co. expects to raise more than $100 billion by 2022, building on last year’s record and an abundance of growth opportunities. “We have many more strategies coming to market now than we did at the beginning of 2020,” Scott Nuttall, KKR’s co-president, said Tuesday at the New York-based firm’s virtual investor day. “Our fundraising pipeline is very large.” KKR took in a record $44 billion last year as investors sought higher-yielding assets. The firm, which oversees $252 billion, has been among the most active dealmakers during the Covid-19 pandemic, investing through the downturn to avoid mistakes it made in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The firm expects to reach its goal by raising $40 billion to $50 billion in private equity, $15 billion to $20 billion in infrastructure, $10 billion to $15 billion in real estate and $20 billion to $25 billion in credit. KKR is either already in the market with or planning to raise capital for more than 20 strategies this year and next, including its flagship Americas and Europe private equity funds as well as its global impact and opportunistic real estate funds, according to the presentation. [ Yahoo ]
10.
Nvidia forms Inception VC Alliance to connect AI startups with venture capital
Nvidia has formed its Inception VC Alliance to connect AI startups with venture capital. The move will help connect more than 7,500 startups in the company’s Inception program for AI tech with venture capital firms. Jeff Herbst, vice president of business development and head of Inception at Nvidia, unveiled the alliance today at the AI Day for VCs event during Nvidia’s annual GTC 21 conference. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled the company’s latest products on Monday in a keynote speech where he talked about the company’s new Grace central processing unit (CPU). “We always felt a very strong connection to the ecosystem. We give them technology, we introduce them to our 150 different software development kits, we give them joint marketing, we introduce them to investors,” Herbst said in an interview with VentureBeat. “We give them Cloud Credits. We give them discounts for GPUs.” [ Venture Beat ]
11.
Benchling Raises $200M Series E To Accelerate Biotech R&D
Benchling, the leading life sciences R&D cloud, has raised $200 million in Series E funding led by Sequoia Capital Global Equities and joined by Altimeter Capital, Byers Capital and Elad Gil. Existing investors participated, including Thrive Capital, Benchmark, Menlo Ventures, Alkeon Capital, ICONIQ, Lux Capital, Spark Capital and Lead Edge Capital. The company will use the funding to aggressively invest in product development and global expansion to support enterprise customers. "Recent breakthroughs in biology have the potential to transform the world in the same way that computing and the internet did. We are relying on scientists to rewrite the medicines we take, the food we eat, and the fuels that power our lives," said Patrick Fu, managing partner at Sequoia Capital Global Equities. "We are excited to partner with Benchling as they build the foundational software infrastructure for the scientists redefining the world." Since launching in 2012, more than 300,000 scientists and 1,000 R&D organizations around the globe have adopted Benchling's cloud platform to manage massively complex experimental datasets and optimize R&D processes. [ prnewswire ]
12.
Big landlords invest $60M in “tenant experience” startup HqO
Commercial real estate firms Cushman & Wakefield, JLL and DivcoWest are betting on a “tenant experience” startup to help get workers back to their offices. Boston-based HqO said Wednesday that it closed a $60 million Series C. Cushman was a new investor in the company, along with Suffolk Capital and PruVen Capital. Prior backers JLL, DivcoWest, Accomplice, Insight Partners, Navitas Capital, Allegion Ventures and the Pagliuca family office also participated. The round brings HqO’s total funding to $106.9 million. HqO was founded in 2018 by Kevin McCarthy, Chase Garbarino and Greg Gomer, who previously started AmericanInno, a digital events business acquired by Advance Publications in 2015. HqO’s software platform gives landlords
the ability to manage tenant-facing tech and amenities in one place. It also has a tenant app, analytics tool and marketplace. [ the real deal ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
13.
Pine Labs Acquires Malaysian eCommerce Startup Fave For $45 Million
Singapore’s merchant commerce unicorn Pine Labs has acquired Malaysian eCommerce FinTech startup Fave in a deal worth in excess of $45 million, Reuters reported on Tuesday (April 13). The cash and equity deal will give Fave’s investors an all-cash payout, with the company’s founders and key staff receiving both cash and shares of Pine Labs. Founded in Singapore about six years ago by Joel Neoh, Fave has strived to help transition offline businesses to the digital economy, linking sellers and buyers for seamless payments. The company is an aggregator for Visa, Mastercard, American Express and wallets like Grab and OVO. With operations in more than 35 cities in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, Fave has teamed up with other firms in a strategy to promote change. In 2016 and 2017, the company acquired Groupon in those regions, and has introduced numerous micro and small businesses to the benefits of further exposure through marketing, data and financing. [ pymnts ]
Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
14.
Tallinn’s seed-stage focused Tera Ventures closes €43 million fund
Tallinn-based Tera Ventures has closed a new fund, topping out at €43 million, with a global base of limited partners participating. Tera will now count the European Investment Fund, under the EstFund, LHV Pension Funds, ITOCHU Corporation, Mistletoe Venture Partners International, Perot Jain, MasterBorn, Inc., Eastport Strategies Principl Jonas E. Neihardt, as well as other investors from the Nordics and Estonia as LP’s. “We really admire the Nordic model of nurturing born-global startups. This is why we’re excited to partner with Tera Ventures as they have had an up-close view of the region’s success stories. Our network of businesses spans many industries and geographies across Asia and beyond, so we hope to introduce new and exciting opportunities for European companies,” comments Yusuke Sugihara, Head of LP Investment Strategies, ICT Division at ITOCHU Corporation. Tera has more than 10 years of experience in investing specifically in Nordic and Baltic founders. Previous backings include Monese, Scoro, Rendin, and Brainbase, and the firm has demonstrated two exits with GrabCAD (acquired by Stratasys) and Vitalfields (acquired by Monsanto). [ tech.eu ]
15.
PAY-AT-TABLE STARTUP SUNDAY LAUNCHES WITH $24M SEED ROUND
Restaurant payment startup Sunday launched Wednesday on the heels of a massive $24 million seed round with the goal of making it easier for diners to pay the bill. Its QR code-based platform is designed to allow guests to check out at their leisure in as little as 10 seconds and free up staff to focus on other things. It also promises higher tips and check averages, lower transaction fees and faster table turns. Emboldened by high customer adoption rates, the Atlanta-based company has its sights on becoming a global business-to-consumer company along the lines of PayPal or Venmo, said co-founder and U.S. CEO Christine de Wendel. [ restaurant business online ]
Curated by Venture Pulse Team. Find us on : [ Venturepulse.org, CrunchBase, AngelList ]
© 2016 Venture Pulse Inc. All Rights Reserved.
36 Laight Street, New York NY 10013.
