Why is Andreessen Horowitz (and everyone else) investing in Latin America now?Investments by U.S. venture capital firms into Latin America are skyrocketing and one of the firms leading the charge into deals is none other than Silicon Valley’s Andreessen Horowitz. The firm that shook up Silicon Valley with potentially over-generous term sheets and valuations and an overarching thesis that “software is eating the world” has been reluctant to test its core belief… well… pretty much anywhere outside of the United States. That was true until a few years ago when Andreessen began making investments in Latin America. It’s the only geography outside of the U.S. where the firm has committed significant capital and the pace of its investments is increasing. [ Tech Crunch ] Facebook backs social commerce startup Meesho in first India investmentAs Facebook explores ways to generate revenue from WhatsApp, the company is now turning to a startup that already has a lead. The social juggernaut said today it has invested in social-commerce startup Meesho in what is the first time the firm takes equity in an Indian startup. Neither Facebook nor Meesho, which prior to this announcement had raised about $65 million from a number of investors, including DST Partners, RPS Ventures and Shunwei Capital, shared financial terms of the deal. A source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch that the capital was “very significant.” [ Tech Crunch ] Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway | Live at Code 2019With great power comes great scrutiny. Lightspeed Venture Partners doubles its growth practicLightspeed Venture Partners, a firm behind the likes of BetterUp, Aurora, Goop and dozens of others, will allocate more capital to mature companies with the hiring of three new partners. Adam Smith, Amy Wu and Arsham Memarzadeh join the Menlo Park-headquartered venture capital fund’s growth practice. The team is led by longtime partner Will Kohler and Brad Twohig, who joined LSVP in 2018 to amp up the firm’s late-stage efforts, leading a $1.25 billion investment in Epic Gamesonly months after arriving from Insight Venture Partners. [ Tech Crunch ] WeWork to Weigh $1.9 Billion Deal for Control of India UnitWeWork Cos. is considering a deal to take majority control of its India affiliate, according to people familiar with the matter, a deal that would allow the shared-office startup to consolidate financial results from the fast-growing unit as it prepares for an initial public offering this year. The New York-based company is in talks to buy around 70% of WeWork India at a valuation of about $2.75 billion, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. The deal, $1.9 billion at those terms, would be part cash and part stock, and could close as early as August, the person said. The transaction isn’t finalized so terms may change or the talks could break down. [ Bloomberg ] Wall Street goes wild for CrowdStrike after $6.1B cybersecurity exitCloud-based cybersecurity company CrowdStrike has debuted to a strong pop of nearly 80%, opening at $63.50 before retreating to close at $58 Wednesday. Late Tuesday, the Silicon Valley-based unicorn had priced its shares at $34, well above the $28 to $30 range it previously expected, which in turn was raised from an original $19 to $23 range. As a result of the intense first-day buying, the company now holds an $11.4 billion market cap. [ Pitchbook ] KKR creates a unicorn & bets $500M on flipping housesOn Wednesday, KKR unveiled a $7.7 billion move on German publishing giant Axel Springer, the sort of mega-buyout that's largely fueled the firm's rise to prominence over the past few decades. But on the same day, KKR also put hundreds of millions of dollars to work in a pair of other deals that could indicate where the firm's future lies. General Electric wants to sell its stake in more than 100 start-upsGE Ventures is looking for a buyer for its portfolio of more than 100 start-ups, according to people familiar with the matter, as parent company General Electric tries to orchestrate a turnaround and get its debt problem under control. The venture arm, which started in 2013, has been shopping itself for several months and is in discussions with other venture firms as well as groups of limited partners who invest in those funds, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are confidential. GE Ventures hired investment bank Lazard to manage the process, said two of the people. [ CNBC ] VMware announces intent to buy Avi Networks, startup that raised $115MVMware has been trying to reinvent itself from a company that helps you build and manage virtual machines in your data center to one that helps you manage your virtual machines wherever they live, whether that’s on prem or the public cloud. Today, the company announced it was buying Avi Networks, a six-year-old startup that helps companies balance application delivery in the cloud or on prem in an acquisition that sounds like a pretty good match. The companies did not reveal the purchase price. [ Tech Crunch ] CPPIB set to invest $150 million in DelhiveryCanada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is in the process of making a $150-million (Rs 1,040-crore) secondary market investment in new-age logistics company Delhivery, underscoring the rising interest of investors in a clutch of growth-stage tech firms. How This Startup Is Applying Machine Learning To Disease DiagnosisWith populations growing, health systems are quickly becoming overburdened, under-resourced and not equipped for the challenges they face in today's fast-paced world. In the U.K., 24% of emergency admissions can be avoided through effective community care and case management solutions. And 58% of these are respiratory conditions alone, costing up to £165 billion. Delayed diagnosis can be both life-threatening and life-changing, but how can this be solved? [ Forbes ] Korean lending startup secures $35m in debt, equity financingSouth Korea-based peer-to-peer lending startup PeopleFund secured US$35 million as an extension to its series B financing round. The influx was led by Lending Ark Asia Secured Private Debt Fund, a secured private credit strategy of Hong Kong’s CLSA Capital Partners. [ Tech In Asia ] National Grid invests in 4 startups, 2 VC funds to boost energy techNational Grid Partners, the investment arm of energy utility National Grid, has invested in four startups and two venture capital funds focused on energy and technology. NGP has invested in Audio Analytic, Carbon Lighthouse, Copperleaf and GoCardless, and has become a limited partner in IQ Capital Fund III LP (an IQ Capital fund) and JVP VIII, L.P. (a Jerusalem Venture Partners fund). With these investments, NGP expands its portfolio to 12 companies with $90 million invested to date and three strategic fund investments at the intersection of energy and information technology — furthering its vision to define a smarter and more renewable energy future. [ Venture Beat ] How this Indian hotel chain plans to conquer the China marketFor many foreign firms, China’s market is a notoriously tough nut to crack. Tech giants such as Amazon, eBay and Uber — which have a significant market presence in the United States — all called it quits on China after finding themselves unable to survive the cutthroat competition with local firms there. But Indian budget hotel chain, On Your Own Rooms, managed to be the exception to the rule. The Softbank-backed hotel start-up was founded in India in 2013, and has since grown to become one of South Asia’s largest hotel and accommodation chains. Since OYO Rooms ventured into the Chinese market in November 2017, it has expanded at a breakneck pace. OYO Jiudian — its Chinese subsidiary — currently has nearly 10,000 hotels and 450,000 rooms across 320 cities under its name. [ CNBC ] Q&A with Emma Thibaudeau: Optimizing PitchBook’s research processesEmma Thibaudeau is the Senior Director of Research at PitchBook. Over the past three years, she has been instrumental in bringing together our news, web crawler and machine learning groups under a single, 46-person Sourcing Operations Team, which she now manages. In the Q&A below, Emma shares what she’s learned at PitchBook so far, as well as the initiatives she’s most excited about working on next. [ Pitchbook ] Here’s What An Acquirer Could Get Out Of GE VenturesGeneral Electric—hamstrung by a rough year on the public markets, accounting problems, and enormous debt—is looking to sell GE Ventures to help salve its woes. The venture firm has been a prolific investor in startups, with over 160 startup investments made, according to Crunchbase data. [ Crunchbase ] PetScreening.com Closes Series Seed Round of Venture Capital FinancingPetScreening.com, a first-of-its-kind screening platform that empowers property managers to outsource their pet risk assessment and assistance animal validation processes at no charge, announced it has closed a Series Seed round of venture capital financing. Fenwick & West represented PetScreening.com in the transaction. Grotech Ventures led the Series Seed round with Camber Creek and Relevance Capital as additional participating partners. [ PR Newswire ] Mary Meeker’s 2019 internet trends report | Code 2019At Recode by Vox’s 2019 Code Conference, Bond partner Mary Meeker released her slides in rapid succession, covering everything on the internet's latest trends. Zume Enters Food Packaging Space With New M&AZume CEO Alex Garden knows that most people associate his company with pizza and robot-equipped kitchens. But the co-founder of Zume Pizza has also quietly been working on a separate endeavor – creating a sustainable solution to plastic packaging for restaurants. As a result, Zume has acquired Camarillo-based Pivot Packaging for an undisclosed sum. Pivot provides a “flurry of tech” and machinery that helped Zume create its plastic-replacement boxes, and will help it cater to more markets. Zume has also acquired Pivot’s 10-person staff, Garden told me. [ Crunchbase ] Willo is a robot that wants to replace your toothbrushIf you think about it, the basic concept of a toothbrush hasn’t evolved since… forever. Sure, many people have switched to an electric toothbrush, but it remains a stick with a brush at the end. Willo thinks that’s not good enough. The company has developed an oral care device to improve brushing with a focus on plaque. The company says that basic brushing only cleans 42% of dental plaque, while electric brushes clean 46% of dental plaque. [ Tech Crunch ] This 1983 cricket World Cup star just turned brand advisor for India’s latest fantasy gaming startup[ Business Insider ] Curated by Venture Pulse Team. Find us on : [ Venturepulse.org, CrunchBase, AngelList ] |