Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital brings in $1B It’s a good week to be Josh Kushner, venture capitalist, founder of the health insurance unicorn Oscar, brother to President Donald Trump’s senior advisor Jared Kushner and son of real estate tycoon Charles Kushner. Days after marrying supermodel Karlie Kloss, Kushner’s VC firm Thrive Capital has announced the close of $1 billion in new capital for its sixth flagship venture fund. The firm has raised $600 million for late-stage deals and an additional $400 million for earlier bets. [ Tech crunch ] Checkout Josh Kushner's Deals, Exits and Fund Raised Data. Cloudflare reportedly gearing up for a $3.5 billion IPO next yearCloudflare is reportedly preparing for an initial public offering with a potential valuation of more than $3.5 billion. According to Reuters, the IPO would take place in the first half of 2019 and be led by
Goldman Sachs. Office-Space Startup Knotel Raises $60 Million From Venture FirmsKnotel, a flexible-office-space startup, has raised $60 million in a new round of funding, the latest sign that shorter and more flexible leases are growing in popularity. The new funding deal, which closed on Tuesday, includes $50 million from Palo Alto, Calif.-based Norwest Venture Partners. Checkout Norwest Venture Partners Deals, Exits and Fund Raised Data. Tech investor Joe Horowitz raises money to stay relevant in a world of megafunds and huge valuations
Startup Graveyard 2018: 12 failed companies, $1.4B in VC funding, only one Theranos The blood-testing business, which had been in a downward spiral since a 2015 Wall Street Journal investigation revealed the company was built on fraudulent claims, officially closed down in early September. It's one of the most high-profile startup shutdowns in history, partly because the company had soared to a $9 billion valuation and partly because reporters uncovered that its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, had essentially conned investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars by claiming her technology could conduct comprehensive blood tests through a single finger prick. [ PitchBook ] Research over 15K+ Venture Capital Investors on our platform. Y Combinator-Backed ClearTax Gets $50 Mn Funding BoostY Combinator-backed fintech startup ClearTax has secured $50 Mn in Series B round of funding led by Hong Kong-based investment firm Composite Capital. The company is looking to use the fresh capital to further accelerate its growth and expand the suite of products and services on its platform. [ inc42 ] Sequoia Capital Envoy Conquered The Front Desk. Now It's Raised $43M To Make Offices SmartLarry Gadea says he knew his startup Envoy was truly taking off when he found out WD-40 was using its software in multiple offices. Envoy’s visitor check-in software gobbled up the Bay Area tech market years ago, its iPads and drop-down menu a staple of front desks from Asana to Uber. But WD-40 is no tech high flyer – it makes an oil spray. “That’s when I thought, this is a real revolution,” Gadea says. [ Forbes ] Check out ClearTax's major investor - Deals, Exits, and Fund Raised data on our platform. How Warby Parker Makes Every Point In Its Employee Lifecycle ExtraordinaryWarby Parker is known for being a wonderful place to work. Here, Co-founder Dave Gilboa breaks down exactly how they've constructed this culture. Check out Warby Parker's major investor - Goldman-Backed GoEuro Is Said to Be Valued at Up to $1 BillionGoEuro, a Berlin travel-booking startup, raised $150 million from Kinnevik AB, Temasek Holdings Pte and Hillhouse Capital. The investment values the company at between $900 million and $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. The company intends to use the money to add more journey
options to its service, possibly do M&A, and to expand beyond Europe, Chief Executive Officer Naren Shaam said in an interview. He declined to comment on valuation. [ Bloomberg ] Deals, Exits, and Fund Raised data on our platform. India Has Already Hit Record Number of $1 Billion Startups This YearYou get a clear sense of Policybazaar’s target audience the first time you watch Yama, the Hindu god of death, drag a bedridden man to hell for failing to buy insurance. In a series of melodramatic TV spots, the fearsome deity, played by movie star Akshay Kumar, isn’t shy to quote rates, either. After the hospitalized accident victim he’s tormenting laments that his sister’s wedding and his daughter’s schooling had to come first, Yama scoffs in Hindi, “A 10 million rupee insurance policy comes at just 680 rupees a month!” (That’s a wager of about $9 a month for a possible payout of roughly $130,000.) [ Bloomberg ] Office-Space Startup Knotel Raises $60 Million From Venture FirmsKnotel, a flexible-office-space startup, has raised $60 million in a new round of funding, the latest sign that shorter and more flexible leases are growing in popularity. [ WSJ ] Deals, Exits, and Fund Raised data on our platform. Uber Executive Resigns, Weeks After Claims Reported about Sexual MisconductUber’s top dealmaker, Cameron Poetzscher, has resigned, weeks after an investigation into sexual misconduct in the workplace appeared in aå Wall Street Journal article on Sept. 26. [ Fortunr ] |