Southeast Asia’s Grab lands $1B from Toyota at a $10B valuationGrab, the ride-hailing firm that acquired Uber’s Southeast Asia business earlier this year, is raising a new round of funding and it just announced that it will be led by Toyota, which is committing $1 billion in capital. The deal values Grab at over $10 billion, a source close to the company told TechCrunch. [ TechCrunch ] House-flipping start-up Opendoor just landed $325 million to expand across the USOpendoor, a start-up that buys and sells homes online, has just pulled in $325 million to expand its team, add more cities and move deeper into residential real estate. The new funding pushed the San Francisco-based company's valuation past $2 billion and includes capital from homebuilder Lennar, whose COO, Jon Jaffe, will be joining the company's board, Opendoor said on Wednesday. [ CNBC ] Reid Hoffman to talk ‘blitzscaling’ at Disrupt SF 2018When it comes to scaling startups, few people are as accomplished or consistently successful as Reid Hoffman . While the rest of us consider scaling a startup to market domination a daunting task, Hoffman has continued to make it look easy. In September, Hoffman will join us at TC Disrupt SF to share his strategies on “blitzscaling,” which also happens to be the title of his forthcoming book. [ TechCrunch ] Bird, the Electric Scooter Start-Up, Is Said to Draw an Investment FrenzyMore scooters may soon land on America’s sidewalks as the West Coast scooter war propels a rush of fund-raising. Bird, an electric scooter start-up, is raising $300 million in new funding that would value the company at $2 billion, according to three people with knowledge of the financing, who asked not to be identified because the proceedings were confidential. The round is set to be led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and will include other investors such as Accel Partners, the people said. [ NY Times ] “Like Theranos, but it works”–health startup Genalyte proves itsLast month, I had my blood work requested, tested, and analyzed–in less time than it takes to get a manicure. My medical results, which took about 15 minutes, were courtesy of diagnostics startup Genalyte, which spent the last decade perfecting a portable lab that can run 62 tests with just several drops of blood. Dubbed the Maverick Detection System, the mini-fridge-sized device uses microchip technology to analyze multiple antibodies and other proteins. It digitizes the samples and sends them to a cloud-based laboratory for review, sending results to the physician in real time. [ Fast Company ] Persistent Silicon Valley billionaire earns ballot spot on splitting California into 3 statesSilicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper has spent the last six years promoting his radical plan to cut California into pieces, but for a long time no one took him seriously. In 2014, amid his attempt to divvy up the state into what vaguely resembled a six-piece jigsaw puzzle, Stephen Colbert invited him on the show to discuss what Colbert called a “rock solid plan that needs no further explanation” and “a great new plan to make California whole again by breaking it apart.” [ Washington Post ] It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad (Scooter) World The quickly-growing scooter company is making waves this week after news broke that the firm is looking to raise even more new capital. The idea that Bird would raise more after reportedly picking up $150 million at a $1 billion valuation less than a month ago is a bit staggering. But it’s not as flat-out astounding as the new numbers. Per Axios’ Dan Primack, Bird is looking to raise another $200 million at a $2 billion valuation. [ Crunchbase ] Vivint Solar closes US$811 million in new financingUS-based residential PV provider Vivint Solar has closed US$811 million in debt financing through two separate transactions. The first is a capital markets issuance by the company’s subsidiary, Vivint Solar Financing, for a total of US$466 million. In addition, Vivint Solar Financing IV issued a private placement of US$345 million. [ PV-Tech ] Unicorns in waiting: These startups could pass the billion-dollar mark in the next yearLast month, Zola raised a $100 million round that valued the wedding startup at $650 million. And in the beginning of the year, Sun Basket, a meal-kit delivery provider, secured $58 million in fresh funding at a valuation of roughly $508 million. [ Pitchbook ] Dutch payments company Adyen opens at €400/share, a pop of 67%, now valued at $16BAfter raising €1.1 billion in its initial offering and pricing its shares at €240 each last night, Adyen, the Dutch payments company, went public today with a bang. It opened for trading this morning on Amsterdam’s Euronext exchange at €400 a share, an impressive jump of 67 percent. [ TechCrunch ] KKR continues mega-deals with $9.9B Envision agreementOffice Hours with Adora CheungAdora Cheung - https://twitter.com/nolimits - is a partner at YC and she also cofounded Homejoy, which went through YC in the Summer 2010 batch. For this episode we took questions from the internet. If you have questions for a future office hours episode, just tweet them our way. The Valuation ObsessionStartup Grind Bangkok: VC2.0 - What Thailand’s Next Wave of Venture Capital Looks For SF venture fund Alta Partners misses original mark, raising $130M for ninth fundE828 John Carreyrou WSJ: how he broke Theranos story, reveals fraud & deception in book "BAD BLOOD"Scaling Advanced Care Through Venture Investments An update on black women raising startup funding Top Early-Stage Cybersecurity Rounds Of 2018 (So Far) STARTUP WORKING ON CONTENTIOUS PENTAGON AI PROJECT WAS HACKEDMubadala launches $400m European tech fund with Japan’s SoftBankMurdoch-backed tech startup sinks into administration, saying it has been crushed by Google‘Start-up’ visas to attract migrants with fresh ideas to the UKWho Would Have Thunk A Research Project Could Become A Great Startup?How This Former Airbnb HR Exec Is Rewriting The Rules of Power In Silicon ValleySafety app Watch Out acquires paywall startup BitWallHow to Keep the Culture That's Driving Growth as Your Startup ScalesHow Silicon Valley got played by TheranosFoundry.ai Raises $67 MillionThis startup wants to save the banana by editing its genesLockheed Unveils $460M Investment StrategyUber loses Bozoma Saint John, another major departure under Dara Khosrowshahi's leadSea seeks $400M raise to develop its e-commerce and payment businessesSydney startup Propeller Aero raises $10 million Series A round led by Blackbird VenturesAdtech startup Unlockd placed into voluntary administration as it deals with fallout from Google battleFull transcript: Corey Pein, author of ‘Live Work Work Work Die,’ on Recode Decode#53: Where Venture Capital Meets Social Purpose - May SamaliSheryl Sandberg at MIT Commencement 2018n |