1.
VC posts photo standing beside what appears to be a racist symbol
Sterling Witzke, a partner with Winklevoss Capital, on Monday posted an Instagram picture of herself at a Trump rally next to a man who appears to be making a racist "white power" symbol with his hand, based on a screenshot obtained by Axios. Why it matters: Winklevoss Capital is one of the most active investment firms in the blockchain space, and Witzke has been an investor there for more than six years. She also advises the Green Bay Packers' investment arm. What she's saying: Witzke, whose Instagram profile is private, emailed the following statement to Axios: "I’m thankful that this has been brought to my attention. I had no idea, and I obviously regret posting this image. This was an honest mistake and in no way reflects my values or beliefs." [ Axios ]
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2.
Intel acquires Israeli data science startup Cnvrg.io for $60 million
U.S. chip giant Intel has purchased Jerusalem-based startup Cnvrg.io. The price of the acquisition wasn't announced, but according to a source who spoke to Calcalist under the condition of anonymity it is believed to be in the region of $60 million. Cnvrg, which develops a service for managing, speeding up, and scaling data science workflows, enabling clients to quickly develop, test, deploy, and refine machine learning models, had previously raised just $8 million in total, meaning its founders and investors benefited from a handsome payout from the sale. [ calcalistech ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
Special:
TechSee raises $30 million to streamline field service work with AR and computer vision
TechSee, which describes itself as an “intelligent visual assistance” company, today closed a $30 million investment round led by OurCrowd, Salesforce Ventures, and Telus Ventures. A spokesperson for the startup says the capital injection will be used to enter new markets and verticals while expanding TechSee’s product offerings and capabilities. The augmented reality market is estimated to grow from $10.7 billion in 2019 to $72.7 billion by 2024, according to a recent Markets and Markets report. At least a portion of that growth has been driven by field service applications; technicians are faced with the challenging task of working on equipment with varying technical specifications, often in confined or hard-to-reach spaces. With AR apps,
they could have all of the information they need displayed in front of them while keeping their hands free to work. [ Venture Beat]
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3.
Online retailer Booktopia is heading to the ASX with a $315 million valuation
Australian e-tailer Booktopia is planning to list on the ASX in December with a market capitalisation of nearly $315 million. The business lodged its prospectus today, hoping to raise $43.1 million, with an offer of 10.9 million new shares and 7.9 million existing shares at $2.30 per share. Existing shareholders will cash in $18.1 million of their stock with $25.1 million allocated to further investment in the company’s 14,000 sqm Sydney distribution facility in Sydney, increasing stock and working capital, listing costs, employee shares and paying down debt. The company recently launched a $12 million upgrade to its distribution centre to double capacity and shipped 6.5 million books last year to buyers in Australia and around the world. [
Startup Daily ]
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4.
Chinese cosmetics unicorn files for $100m US IPO
Yatsen Holding Limited, which owns the makeup brand Perfect Diary, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise up to US$100 million. Founded in 2016, the Guangzhou-based company, which targets younger consumers with budget products, has three cosmetics and skincare brands: Perfect Diary, Little Ondine, and Abby’s Choice. The company plans to use the proceeds from the IPO for its business operations and other general corporate purposes, as well as potential strategic
investments and acquisitions. It will also improve its data analytics technology and product and formulation research and development, as well as expand its network of offline stores, according to its prospectus. [ Tech In Asia ] Checkout
15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
5.
Clarity AI gets $15 million to help VCs measure the social impact of their portfolios
Clarity AI, a startup founded by Spanish entrepreneur Rebeca Minguela has raised $15 million in funding to develop tech that analyses the social impact of companies and investments. The round was led by Deutsche Börse and Mundi Ventures. Part of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) world, Clarity AI helps investors understand the impact of their portfolios through a proprietary technology platform. The platform uses machine learning and big data — data from more than 30,000 companies, 198 countries, 187 local governments
and over 200,000 funds — to assess sustainability and provide clear reports. [ tech.eu ]
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6.
Apkudo Raises $14M in Series B Funding
Apkudo, a Baltimore, MD-based provider of supply chain automation solutions for connected devices, raised $14M in Series B funding. The round was led by Harbert Growth Partners and MissionOG, with participation from existing investors Grotech Ventures and Lavrock Ventures. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the global expansion of its Hive Device Platform across emerging channels and verticals. Founded in 2011 by Josh Matthews and Ben Leslie, Apkudo provides a universal system for managing connected devices across the entire
supply chain by securely bridging internal systems and external partners into a single, secure platform. The Hive platform leverages artificial intelligence enhanced test software and high volume robotics for diagnostics and cosmetic grading to deliver improved supply chain efficiencies. [ finsmes ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
7.
Seven Questions WITH Daniel Dines
Daniel Dines is the co-founder and CEO of UiPath, a platform for robotic process automation. When he first started working from home he used a Mac Mini, a wireless mouse and keyboard and a big-screen TV; he’s since realized his favorite remote office setup is a simple 16-inch MacBook.
What’s something you’ve learned in navigating uncertainty? Don’t panic. In early March, a lot of the economic predictions were incredibly dire. People said missing your target by 50% would be the new normal. We did start planning right away—how would the company survive if we missed by 10%, 50%, or 60%? But any decision that involved actually letting people go, we postponed. It’s one thing to have to right-size a company when the economy is booming and you know people can find other jobs. This was different. [ Sequoia ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
8.
Streamloots raises $7.2 million for influencer monetization
Influencers are making their mark on games and social media, and the latest proof of that is Streamloots‘ announcement that it has raised $7.2 million for its influencer monetization platform. Valencia, Spain-based Streamloots received the money from Bessemer Venture Partners,
Samaipata, Adam Draper, and the Creative Investment Club, a syndicate of content creator investors. Yes, it’s true. Influencers are becoming so wealthy from their YouTube and other social media followings that they’re becoming investors in their own right. It’s another company in what I call the Leisure Economy, where we can all get paid to play games. [ Venture Beat ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
9.
GlowRoad receives $7 Mn from Accel and Vertex Ventures
Glowroad is an e-commerce startup that just received $7 Mn funding from Accel and Vertex Ventures. The latest investment in the startup made their evaluation jump to $75 million. According to the reports, three existing investors took part in the round. Accel Ventures made a $3 Mn investment while Vertex ventures and Ind fund settled for $2 Mn each during the maiden financing round. Glowroad is a woman-focused customer-to-customer network-based startup. The startup had some rough times as it was dragged to court by Meesho a similar startup. The lawsuit was regarding Glowroad digging confidential data from ex-employees of Meesho. They also were restrained by the court to further use any such data. The unethical practices of the company had a negative
impact on its name. [ tech story ]
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10.
Indonesian logistics platform Logisly raises $6 million Series A to digitize truck shipments
Indonesia’s logistics industry is very fragmented, with several large providers operating alongside thousands of smaller companies. This means shippers often have to work with a variety of carriers, driving up costs and making supply chains harder to manage. Logisly, a Jakarta-based startup that describes itself as a “B2B tech-enabled logistics platform,” announced today it has raised $6 million in Series A funding to help streamline logistics in Indonesia. The round was led by Monk’s Hill Ventures. This brings the total Logisly has raised since it was founded last year to $7 million. Its platform digitizes the process of ordering, managing and tracking trucks. First, it verifies carriers before adding them to Logisly’s platform. Then it connects clients to trucking providers, using an algorithm to aggregate supply and demand. This
means companies that need to ship goods can find trucks more quickly, while carriers can reduce the number of unused space on their trucks. [ Tech Crunch ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
11.
Vertical Vs Horizontal SaaS: Which Is The Best Choice?
It is known that vocabulary simplifies our understanding of rather complicated matters. In the case of SaaS companies, we quickly understand by SaaS that these are centrally hosted software-centric products or services with monthly or annual subscription business models. We don’t have to say all that, we just use SaaS. However, when I hear entrepreneurs and investors say things like “You need to focus on a single industry, that’s how you succeed,” I think it could indicate the speaker is simply not aware of the two valid SaaS approaches: vertical and horizontal. SaaS companies can differ on several frontsWhen creating your own SaaS company you immediately choose to build a product using a specific type of tech that caters to a need of specific audiences in a specific industry or industries. Each choice you make will greatly affect your future in terms of product design, go-to-market strategy, marketing and sales budgets, funding options, growth potential, financial planning, exit potential and more. [ Crunchbase ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
12.
Bio Eats World: The Thermodynamics of Life
Where does life truly begin? How do we understand the fundamental nature of what is “alive” and what is “not alive”? In this episode of Bio Eats World, Professor Jeremy England discusses his new book, Every Life is on Fire, all about how what we might use physics to understand to be the origins of life—and how we define what being alive is. As biologists, we are taught that life evolved as the result of Darwinian natural selection. But what happens if instead, you use a physicist’s lens to examine what life looks to be—and define it as a specialized order and relationship between matter and the patterns of it’s an environment? England—a senior director in artificial intelligence at GlaxoSmithKline,
principal research scientist at Georgia Tech, former associate professor of physics at MIT, and one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30 Rising Stars of Science”—describes this new idea as “dissapative adaptation”. The conversation covers how looking at “life” in these terms changes what we understand to be alive and what the nature of “life” is; sheds new light on the “queasy middle ground” between those definitions, especially in areas like machine learning and AI; and allows us to ask new questions about things like what makes DNA so special, and what life can do. [ a16z ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
13.
Warren gets $1.4 million to help local cloud infrastructure providers compete against Amazon and other giants
Started as a side project by its founders, Warren is now helping regional cloud infrastructure service providers compete against Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Google and other tech giants. Based in Tallinn, Estonia, Warren’s self-service distributed cloud platform is gaining traction in Southeast Asia, one of the world’s fastest-growing cloud service markets, and Europe. It recently closed a $1.4 million seed round led by Passion Capital, with plans to expand in South America, where it recently
launched in Brazil. [ Tech Crunch ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
14.
Jason Calacanis on CNBC November 4th, 2020: Prop 22 passes, Uber soars, minimum wage & more
15.
E1133: Dave Winer on pioneering podcasts & blogging, social tribalism, Golden Age of Silicon Valley
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