Via primary.vc Flexport’s epic plan to build a freight empire with its $110M raise“We’re actually out here trying to create value, not just give venture capital money away” says Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen. “It’s counterintuitive. The more the business works, the more cash it needs.” That’s because Flexport doesn’t ship bits, it ships atoms. Lots of them. Flexport is a freight forwarding logistics network. If you produce a few metric tons of goods in China and need them in stores across the U.S., it books the trucks, ports, planes, and boats you need to get them there. While the dinosaur freight forwarders still rely on paper manifests, Flexport tracks all the data to optimize every route. [ Tech Crunch ] Secret Escapes raises $111 million to grow its luxury holiday marketplace through acquisitionsSecret Escapes, a members-only travel club for discounted luxury holidays, has closed a $111 million series D funding round led by Singapore-based investment firm Temasek, with participation from France’s Idinvest Partners. Founded out of London in 2010 and launched a year later, Secret Escapes offers flash sales on four- and five-star hotels and breaks around the world. Though it is only available to members, the service is free to join, and it currently claims 47 million members globally, with 40 percent of those residing in the U.K. [ Venture Beat ] The Honest Company Closes Series E FinancingThe Honest Company, a leading healthy lifestyle brand, today announced it has closed its Series E financing. The round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company with other existing investors also participating. Honest will use the new capital to execute on its long-term strategy, shifting from e-commerce to omni-channel, and support its global expansion plans. [ Business Wire ] Sourcegraph raises $20M to bring more live collaboration to codingQuinn Slack thinks we’re close to the future that Back to the Future II promised back in the ’80s — flying cars, artificial intelligence, sending rockets into space and the rest of the whole suite — but there’s a way to get there even faster. That’s why he and his co-founder Beyang Liu started Sourcegraph, a development environment for programmers that’s designed to make it easier to see who is using which lines of code and where while in the development process. The notion Slack employs is that if the coding process speeds up, so does the pace of innovation — and it is certainly something that’s slowed down quite a bit at all the non-Facebooks, Googles and Apples of the world. [ Tech Crunch ] Video Of The Week: Tesla PowerwallI am obsessed with the Tesla power wall product. We are getting them for the properties we own where we have solar. This video below explains how the power wall works in combination with solar panels, the grid, and your electrical usage. [ QZ ] E768: Freestyle VC Dave Samuel: early-stage joy & risk, investing as fmr entrepreneurFinding And Following Your Own True North Star: Insights For Women Chasing Startup And STEM SuccessIt’s a cool Friday night in San Francisco. A few hours ago, I dressed up to come to my favorite work space, the Garden Court area of the Palace Hotel. Armed with lots of coffee, even more water and all of my power cords, I’ve settled in to write. What I feel more than the beauty of this place, the energy of the city and a bit too much caffeine is the permanent hunger to create companies that will leave lasting positive impact. [ Forbes ] Australian blockchain startup Power Ledger has raised $34 million in an initial coin offering (ICO). That figure includes the $17 million the firm, which is focused on energy trading applications, raised in a presale that ended last month. Among the cryptocurrencies accepted, Power Ledger collected roughly 27,820 ETH, 1,050 BTC and 6,120 LTC. The token also garnered $13.23 million from participants, and was backed by as many as 15,000 supporters total, according to the Australian Financial Review. [ Coin Desk ] Silicon Valley’s Russian ads problem, explainedStartup successEquity podcast: Uber’s board gets bigger, ForeScout’s security IPO, and venture investment trendsFive Ways to Market Your Startup With Little or Zero Budget |