BREAKING:
Scoop: Facebook to buy Giphy for $400 million
Facebook has agreed to buy Giphy, the popular platform of sharable animated images, Axios has learned from multiple sources. The total deal value is around $400 million. Background: A source close to the situation says that the two companies first began talking prior to the pandemic, although that was more about a partnership than an acquisition. - Giphy is expected to retain its own branding, with its primary integration to come via Facebook's Instagram platform.
- New York-based Giphy had raised around $150 million in VC funding since its 2013 inception, from firms like Betaworks (which incubated the company), Lerer Hippeau, IVP, DFJ Growth, GGV Capital, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Its most recent private valuation was around $600 million.
- Yes, but: Facebook is facing enormous blowback over its previous acquisitions, which means that this deal, however small by comparison, is likely to face a lot of antitrust scrutiny by regulators. The tech giant is currently under investigation by federal and state lawmakers for antitrust. [ Axios ]
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1.
Cathay Capital raises $865m for second mid-market PE fund
Cross-border private equity firm Cathay Capital Private Equity announced on Thursday the final close of its second Sino-European Mid Cap Fund at €800 million ($865 million). It comes close on the heels of Cathay Innovation, a venture capital affiliate of the firm, raising $550 million for its second global vehicle, Cathay Innovation Fund II. [ dealstreet asia ]
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2.
Quizlet valued at $1 billion as it raises millions during a global pandemic
As millions of students and teachers shift to learn from home in response to the novel coronavirus disease, modern-day flashcard business Quizlet has raised $30 million in a Series C round led by General Atlantic. Quizlet’s chief executive officer Matthew Glotzbach said that the new funding values the business at $1 billion, up five times from its last funding round in 2018. Quizlet’s total known financing is more than $60 million. [ Tech Crunch ]
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3.
Andreessen Horowitz Wins VC Sweepstakes To Back Clubhouse, Voice App Still In Beta, At $100 Million Valuation
Clubhouse is a voice-based social media app with less than 5,000 beta test users. Prospective listeners have to sign up for a waitlist via Google form, as the app is not yet in the Apple’s App Store. Several months ago, Clubhouse had zero users — it didn’t yet exist. Now, after a competitive funding round that pitted two of Silicon Valley’s best-known venture capital firms, Clubhouse is valued at $100 million. [ Forbes ]
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4.
Expel* Raises $50M in Series D Financing
Expel*, a Herndon, Va.-based Security Operations Center (SOC)-as-a-service provider, secured $50M in Series D funding. The round was led by CapitalG, with participation from Battery Ventures, Greycroft, Index Ventures, Paladin Capital Group and Scale Venture Partners. In conjunction with the funding, Gene Frantz, general partner at CapitalG, will join Expel’s board of directors. The company, which
has secured a combined total of $117.5m in financing, intends to use the funds to grow its sales and marketing operations, invest in its cloud security offerings and explore international growth opportunities. [ finsmes ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
5.
Anyfin Raises $30M in Series B Funding
Anyfin, a Swedish provider of consumer loan refinancing solutions, raised $30m in Series B funding. The round was led by EQT Ventures with participation from existing investors Accel, Northzone and Global Founders Capital. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach. [ finsmes ]
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6.
Taiwan-based M17 grabs $26.5Mn in Series D to take its interactive streaming platforms to Japan, U.S.
M17 Entertainment, the Taiwan based startup that runs a slew of popular interactive streaming platforms such as 17LIVE (Livit in English), has announced closing of a $26.5Mn Series D round. The round is led by Vertex Growth Fund (“Vertex Growth”), alongside Stonebridge Korea Unicorn Venture Fund, Innoven Capital Singapore, Kaga Electronics Co., Ltd., and ASE Global Group in New York. [ the tech portal ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
7.
Mozilla goes full incubator with ‘Fix The Internet’ startup lab and early-stage investments
8.
Berlin-based Zenjob gets €27 million to take its student job site international
Today the digital staffing service, Zenjob, has successfully secured a Series C funding round of €27 million. The lead investor in this round was Forestay Capital, who is joined by Redalpine, Acton Capital, Axa Venture Partners and Atlantic Labs. Zenjob was founded in 2015 by Fritz Trott, Cihan Aksakal and Frederik Fahning, and has since become a team of
250 people. Their main goal is to act as a digital staffing service that provides temporary work to students, as well as helping companies on the other side find employees. Using the Zenjob app, students can find and book jobs on an hourly basis and can flexibly decide when, where and for whom they work. Each month, more than 15,000 students are employed in sectors such as logistics, events, retail and catering. [ eu-startups ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
9.
ANNA secures £17.5M funding for its SMB-focused business account and tax app
ANNA, the Fintech startup that has small and medium businesses firmly in its sights has raised £17.5/$21M of investment in its latest round of funding. The mobile-centric banking and tax business has already managed to garner 20,000 customers in the UK and now has ambitious plans to take the ANNA brand into Europe. At the moment only UK residents are eligible for an ANNA account. [ tech radar ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
10.
Big VCs stacked billions in Q1 while smaller firms saw their haul shrink
Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between.After spending perhaps more time than we should have recently trying to figure out what’s going on with the public markets, let’s return to the private markets this morning, focusing in on venture capital itself. New data out today details how U.S.-based VCs fared in Q1 2020, giving us a window into how flush the financial class of startup land was heading into the
COVID-19 era. The short answer is that big funds raised lots of cash, while smaller funds appear to have put in a somewhat lackluster quarter. [ Tech Crunch ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
11.
Carlyle's fight with AmEx Global shows perils of COVID-19 for dealmakers
As the coronavirus has swept across the US, a growing list of PE firms have canceled deals struck before the pandemic hit. Overall, at least a half-dozen private equity deals in the US have been called off so far in 2020, according to PitchBook data.
And sellers are beginning to push back—in at least one case, by heading to court in hopes of forcing a buyout giant to complete a 10-figure investment.
That contentious example came to the fore this week, after The Carlyle Group and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC abandoned an agreement signed in December to acquire a 20% stake in American Express Global Business Travel—a deal that gave the provider of corporate travel management services an enterprise value of around $5 billion. Carlyle cited the material adverse change clause, a common feature of buyout contracts that allows buyers to walk away from a deal in the event of an "act of God" or another abrupt change in the target's valuation. [ pitchbook ] Checkout
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12.
FalconX Secures $17M in Funding
FalconX, a San Francisco, CA-based digital asset trading platform that provides clients best execution using data science, secured $17M in funding. Backers included Accel, Accomplice VC, Coinbase Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Avon Ventures. The company intends to use the funds to introduce new products, expand its trade execution suite and
scale infrastructure to support institutional demand for cryptocurrency. [ finsmes ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
13.
Eric Schmidt | Leadership Live with David Rubenstein
David Rubenstein will take viewers into the home offices of executives to find out what’s top of mind as they navigate the pandemic and how they are mitigating the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19 to keep their companies moving forward. Today's guest is former Google Chairman & CEO Eric Schmidt. Eric is also the co-founder of Schmidt Ventures and recently was appointed to lead a committee to re-imagine NYC.
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14.
Patricof Says He'll Now Invest in Companies Without Face-to-Face Meetings
Greycroft co-founder and managing Director Alan Patricof talks about what is next in the venture capital space. He says he'll now be investing in companies without having a face-to-face meeting because of the pandemic. He speaks on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Americas." Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
15.
E1059: Power of Accelerators E4 SOSV's Sean O'Sullivan: hardware, life & food science programs
The Power of Accelerators E4 Sean O'Sullivan, Managing General Partner of SOSV on running capital intensive accelerators in hardware, life sciences & food science, unique follow-on strategy, cell-based meat going mainstream, China-based vs. US-based accelerators
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