1.
E-scooter startup Tier raises $250 million round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2
Berlin-based micromobility startup Tier has raised a significant Series C round of $250 million. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 is leading the round, which proves that the Vision Fund team is still focused on high-risk, high-potential bets. As a reminder, SoftBank has invested in many late-stage funding rounds through its Vision Fund team. Portfolio companies include Nuro, Getaround, GetYourGuide, DoorDash, Grab and WeWork. But this is the first time the company is investing in a scooter-sharing
startup. [ Tech Crunch ]
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2.
Spotify Buys Podcast Ad-Tech Firm Megaphone for $235 Million in Cash
Spotify, keeping the pedal to the metal in its aggressive podcast buildout strategy, has acquired podcast publishing and advertising company Megaphone for $235 million in cash. Spotify is buying Megaphone, formerly known as Panoply Media, from media company Graham Holdings. Megaphone
provides podcast hosting and ad-insertion capabilities for publishers and targeted ad sales for marketers. According to Spotify, the acquisition of Megaphone will allow the companies to make dynamic streaming ad insertion available to third-party podcast publishers for the first time. The deal comes after Spotify launched the proprietary Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI) system earlier in 2020, which lets advertisers buy targeted podcast spots on Spotify’s own platform. Advertisers will soon be able to buy spots across Spotify’s original and exclusive podcasts as well as across the Megaphone Targeted Marketplace. [
Variety ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
Special:
Startup Buoy Health Raises Funds at Near $200 Million Valuation
Buoy Health, a startup that makes a widely used Covid-19 symptom checker, has raised $37 million from investors including the venture arms of major insurers Cigna Holding Co., Humana Inc. and UnitedHealth Group. The Series C investment round values Buoy at just under $200 million, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Boston-based Buoy Health uses artificial intelligence to help patients identify possible ailments and direct them to appropriate treatment. Founded in 2013, it has been used by 10 million people since the software launched publicly in 2017, co-founder and Chief
Executive Officer Andrew Le said in an interview. [ Bloomberg ]
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3.
On the podcast: Biometric devices and wearables in the pandemic
Host Lee Gibbs catches up with Harpreet Singh Rai, CEO of sleep tech startup Oura, about everything from the importance of quality sleep as a foundation for optimal health to potential obstacles in the expansion of wearable technologies. Featuring PitchBook analyst Kaia Colban, an expert on health and wellness technologies across enterprise and retail, this episode also covers COVID-19's role in the increased demand for health and wellness products and Oura's partnership with the University of San Francisco to determine if sleep data can help predict symptoms of illness. [ Pitchbook ]
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4.
Virtual events startup Hopin raises $125M to scale up its platform
Virtual events platform startup Hopin Ltd. said today it has raised $125 million in new funding to scale up its platform and support ongoing development efforts. The Series B round was led by IVP and Tiger Global and included Coatue, DFJ Growth, Accel, Northzone, Salesforce Ventures and Seedcamp. Founded in 2019, Hopin offers an all-in-one live online events platform designed to connect distributed communities. The company’s platform differs from other videoconferencing services in
that it’s designed from the ground up to provide support for conferences, including the management of stages, networking, breakout sessions, sponsors, tickets and analytics. [ silicon angle ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
5.
Online Lender Better.com Raises $200 Million at $4 Billion Valuation
Online mortgage lender Better.com has closed a new funding round led by private equity firm L Catterton, according to an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg News. The New York-based startup raised about $200 million in a series D financing to fund growth, according to the Better.com memo. The company is valued in the round at $4 billion, said people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the information was private. Other investors in the round included Activant Capital, Ally Financial, American Express Ventures, Ping An and 9Yards Capital, according to the memo. The company has now raised a total of $410 million, the memo show. “We’re excited about new and existing investors continuing to support our mission to make
homeownership simpler, faster and more accessible for all Americans,” Vishal Garg, the company’s chief executive officer and founder, said in response to a Bloomberg inquiry. A representative for L Catterton didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. [ Bloomberg ]
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6.
Carbon Health raises $100M to expand its network of clinics
Carbon Health quickly expanded in the last year, in spite of the pandemic. The San Francisco-based startups has more than tripled the number of primary care and urgent care clinics it operates across the U.S., and plans to grow both its brick-and-mortar and virtual footprints further with $100 million in new funding. Dragoneer Investment Group led the series C round, with participation from existing investors Brookfield Technology Partners, DCVC, and Builders VC. “We are excited to partner with Carbon as they expand their footprint, bringing their differentiated approach to primary care to a national scale,” Eric Jones, a partner at Dragoneer Investment Group, said in a news release. [ med city news ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
7.
Grab leads $100 million round in LinkAja
Grab has led a $100 million Series B round in Indonesian e-money institution LinkAja. The LinkAja e-wallet and merchant services businesses is the flagship product of PT Fintek Karya Nusantara (Finarya), a subsidiary of PT Telekomunikasi Selular and nine state-owned enterprises, including PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia, PT Bank Negara Indonesia, and PT Bank Mandiri. With a focus on on the middle class/ aspirant, and Micro, Small, and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) segments in Indonesia, LinkAja has acquired more than 58 million registered users since its launch in June last year. The funding round also includes investments from Telkomsel, BRI Ventura Investama, and Mandiri Capital Indonesia. [ Finextra ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
8.
JumpCloud Raises $75 Million to Accelerate Growth
JumpCloud announced today that funds managed by BlackRock led its $75 million Series E funding, with participation from existing investor General Atlantic. JumpCloud has now raised over $165 million, and is strongly positioned for rapid growth as it serves accelerating demand for a modern, cloud based directory and Zero Trust access model. The funding will be used to expand product development, marketing and sales globally; JumpCloud plans to hire an additional 500 people over the next several years. [ Yahoo ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
9.
IQM raises $46 million to commercialize its quantum computers
The race to develop quantum computers has attracted growing hype in recent years. While it’s hard to know just when this next-generation computing architecture will have a real impact, one European company is preparing to take another significant step forward. IQM Quantum
Computers today announced that it has raised $46 million in venture capital, bringing its total raised to $84 million. MIG Fonds led the round, which included participation from Tesi, OpenOcean, Maki.vc, Vito Ventures, Matadero QED, Vsquared, Salvia GmbH, Santo Venture Capital GmbH, and Tencent. The Finnish company plans to use this funding to begin selling its first quantum computers. By getting more quantum computers in the hands of users, it hopes to begin refining possible applications and use cases, even as the underlying technology continues to evolve. [ Venture Beat ]
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10.
Funded by Connect Ventures, Purple Dot plans to take on Klarna-style purchase debt
In recent times startups have appeared offering credit at an e-commerce basket checkout so that a customer can buy a product without needing to pay right away. Klarna or Clearpay are the two most notable in this field. But what if you flipped the model around so that consumers could buy the item at a lower price later on, and the retailer could reduce waste? This is the model of Purple Dot, which bills itself as a “worth-the-wait” payment option for fashion brands. [ Tech Crunch ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
11.
Google, Andreessen Horowitz lead $29M round for Linux kernel networking startup Isovalent
Google LLC and Andreessen Horowitz have jointly led a $29 million funding round into Isovalent Inc., a startup with a Linux-based networking platform that enterprises can use to manage the flow of data in their Kubernetes environments. Cisco Systems Inc. also participated in the Series A round, which was announced today. The networking software that orchestrates the movement of packets between servers is usually installed on top of those servers’ operating system. Isovalent’s platform, in contrast, embeds its network orchestration code directly into the operating system itself. The startup claims that its approach makes the network more efficient by reducing the number of additional software layers that need to be installed atop Linux to help
manage data traffic. [ silicon angle ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
12.
Despite Ant's stumble, China's stock market remains primed for mega-IPOs
Chinese regulators stomped over Ant Group's dual IPO plans at the eleventh hour last week, potentially delaying it for months and dealing a shock to investors across the globe. The severity of that intervention underscores what's at stake for China's domestic exchanges—and by extension the country's investors and private companies—by hosting what was expected to be the world's largest initial public offering to date. "[Ant is] one of the first major tests for the STAR board and for
attracting foreign investors," said Jeremy Ma, a senior research associate at PitchBook who tracks the Chinese market. Seen as China's version of the Nasdaq, the STAR board is where Ant had planned to make its mainland debut. [ Pitchbook ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
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