1.
Brazil’s Loft Raises a16z-Led $175M Series C For Digital Real Estate Platform
The complexities around the buying and selling of residential real estate has spawned a multitude of startups here in the United States. But those complexities extend beyond this country, and so do the startups out there trying to tackle them. As evidence of that, this morning, Brazilian digital real estate platform Loft announced it has closed on $175 million in Series C funding co-led by Vulcan Capital and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). QED Investors, Fifth Wall Ventures, Thrive Capital, Valor Capital, Monashees and others, also participated in the funding. A $175 million raise is an impressive amount for any startup, but especially one that was founded just two years ago in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Loft has seen rapid growth early, saying that it’s grown more than 10 times year-over-year to notch “over $150 million in annualized revenues in its first full year of operation” via more than 1,000 transactions. It’s also more than quadrupled its number of employees in the past year alone, growing from 100 a year ago to more than 450 today. [ Crunchbase ]
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2.
Meituan Ventures Into Upstream Food Supply as China Frets About Availability
Meituan Dianping is jumping into China’s upstream food supply industry amid signals from central authorities that ensuring adequate availability following the African swine fever epizootic will be a major focus in 2020. Longzhu Capital, the investment subsidiary of online-to-offline services giant Meituan, was the sole financier in the first funding round of Guangdong Meat Union Fresh Holdings Co. Ltd., Meituan said in a statement. It did not disclose the value of the
round, but local media reported the amount to be hundreds of millions of yuan (tens of millions of U.S. dollars). [ caixin global ]
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3.
SoftBank is still writing big checks—even after the WeWork debacle
After WeWork's IPO went bust, the investment world's attention zeroed in on its chief backer, SoftBank. In the wake of such a disaster, would the tech industry's most prominent investor continue to back money-losing startups with extraordinary sums? Or would SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son go from gutsy to gun-shy? SoftBank is back to its old, bold ways after a brief lull. But to keep up the pace, it will need major new commitments from the world's largest investors.
The Japanese conglomerate closed out 2019 with a slew of funding rounds that showed it continues to hunt for big deals in daring startups. In November and December, SoftBank participated in rounds worth more than $4 billion, including billion-dollar-plus rounds for Indian financial technology startup Paytm and Chinese real estate tech company Beike, as well as six other mega-rounds of more than $100 million, according to PitchBook data. [ Pitchbook ]
4.
AI-Powered Auto Insurance Provider Clearcover Raises $50M Series C
Clearcover, a digital car insurance provider, has raised $50 million in a Series C round led by Omers Ventures The raise comes just under one year after the Chicago-based, three-year-old startup closed a $43 million Series B, and brings its total raised to $104.5 million. Existing backers American Family Ventures, Cox Enterprises and IA Capital Group also participated in this latest round. The company declined to reveal its valuation. I hopped on the phone with Kyle Nakatsuji, co-founder and CEO of Clearcover, to find out what the company has been up to since its last funding and what it plans to do
with its new capital. [ Crunch Base ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
5.
FCA to open Detroit innovation hub with Silicon Valley tech accelerator
FCA US LLC and the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council are partnering with a Silicon Valley-based tech accelerator to open an innovation hub in downtown Detroit. The automaker and nonprofit are working with Plug and Play tech center to open the hub by June, according to a Thursday news release. It will be called Plug and Play Detroit powered by AmplifyD, which stands for "Amplify: Diversity." [ crains detroit ]
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6.
Investor Advocates See Risks in Silicon Valley’s Favorite IPO Alternative
Direct listings have been embraced by Silicon Valley venture capitalists and big technology companies. But are they safe for Main Street investors? That is the question being raised by some investor advocates, who say the unorthodox process used by Slack Technologies Inc. and Spotify Technology SA to go public lacks the safeguards of conventional initial public offerings. [ WSJ ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
7.
No new batteries needed: the start-ups bringing wireless power to devices
Walmart, like most major retailers, is replacing the labels on its shelves with small electronic screens, so it can change prices and offer promotions quickly and cheaply. But the switch from paper to screens has created another problem, one that affects all connected devices: they need power. The number of smart devices, such as speakers and lights in homes, or sensors and screens in factories, shops and warehouses, is projected to surpass 42bn by 2025, each requiring its own battery or source of power. “Batteries are, in the short term, the biggest problem of deploying IoT across any category,” said Rajeev Madhavan, founder and general partner at venture capital firm Clear
Ventures. [ FT ]
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8.
Israeli startup TriEye partners with Porsche to create autonomous tech
Over the past few months, I conducted interviews with several founders who told me that they had either started their company with a family member, or employed one in a key role. That got me thinking. Wouldn’t it be fun to do a feature on startups that in some form or another, are keeping operations all in the family? So here we are. Spoiler alert: just like in familial relationships, working together is not always smooth sailing. [ jpost ]
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9.
How to raise startup funding in a war-torn economy
After years of war, Libya’s economy often seems to be characterized by what’s missing rather than what’s there. Speak to entrepreneurial Libyans and they’ll often tell you what’s lacking, from reliable electricity to transport networks, experienced management or up-to-date regulations. One businessman sums it up as “a lot of missing encouragement” for startups. [ QZ ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
10.
Startup Year One: Lessons on Hiring New Talent, the Evolving Roles of Founders, and More
The holiday season seems like an apt time to launch a cookware brand—one designed for and marketed to millennials, no less. Named in honor of cookbook author, editor, and Julia Child publisher Judith Jones, Great Jones is now celebrating its one-year anniversary. Cofounders Sierra Tishgart and Maddy Moelis come from two different business worlds with two different résumés, which might be the perfect recipe for success. (Forgive us for the terrible
food puns.) Tishgart is a James Beard Award–winning scribe most recently at New York’s Grub Street vertical with previous stints at Teen Vogue, Vogue, and Refinery29. She also hosted a segment for CBS This Morning interviewing chefs. Moelis comes from the startup world, where she managed consumer insights for Warby Parker and was a product manager at Zola. [ Fortune ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
11.
From dream to reality: Russia’s ‘Silicon Valley’ to mark 10-year anniversary with new projects
Russia’s Skolkovo innovation center, which is marking 10 years since its founding, has ambitious plans for 2020 and beyond to continue promoting technology and helping small innovative startups grow into profitable companies. Skolkovo Technopark was built from scratch almost a decade ago to create a platform for research and innovation in key spheres such as energy, IT, space, biomedicine, and nuclear technology. Now the complex has facilities spread around 800,000 square
meters and hosts around 500 startups, while there are an additional 1,500 enterprises beyond its campus. Skolkovo hosts around 50 research centers employing more than 15,000 people. [ RT ]
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12.
E1014 Open Office Hours w/Jason! Targeting customers, nuclear energy, competing against incumbents
Open Office Hours LIVE! Jason helps founders with their biggest challenges: targeting a specific segment of customers, overcoming past failures in a market, developing new nuclear energy, competing against a major incumbent & more! Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
13.
Where Are All the Female Founders?
Venture capital funding has surged in recent years, with over $131 billion invested in the US last year, according to Pitchboard’s dashboard. However, female founders received only two percent of venture capital investment in this last year. If systems give us the outcomes they are designed to deliver, what are the flaws in the system? A growing network of funders, incubators, and accelerators see an opportunity and are trying to change that. How are they addressing the root causes? Is it really a pipeline problem? And, what does the future hold for funding female founders?
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14.
E1011 Check Point CEO Gil Shwed on protecting data from hackers, next generation of cybersecurity
Check Point CEO & Co-founder Gil Shwed shares insights on being the “Godfather of Cybersecurity”, growing Check Point into Israel’s most impactful tech company, pricing & developing products for an emerging market, best practices on protecting data from hackers & the next generation of cybersecurity
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15.
Alternative Funding Options with BJ @ Lighter Capital - EV Ep. 18
16.
How to tell if your startup deserves press coverage
Tech reporters’ inboxes are filled with garbage pitches from misguided founders who assume that the smallest milestone warrants a write-up. Founders dream of seeing their company’s name in headlines without knowing how that might help or hurt them. But with the proper intentions, strategy and timing, they can score press that makes their imagined future look inevitable. Step one: accept the fact that you don’t get to decide what’s
newsworthy. Inside your company, you may have total control, but working with reporters requires abdicating that iron grip. They can’t be intimidated or paid off, but you can collaborate with them — take their success into account alongside your own, recognize their duty to serve the public, and you’ll learn to pitch like a pro. [ TechCrunch ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
17.
Sherpa Capital Leads Nearly $23M Series B Round In Chinese Radiology Imaging Firm
Nanovision Technology, a high-tech enterprise focused on high-speed and high-precision radiology imaging, has raised RMB160 million (US$22.93 million) in a series B round of financing led by Sherpa Venture Capital. Proceeds of this round will be used for commercialization of products. Nanovison was founded in March 2014 to focus on static CT, x-ray CMOS detectors and x-ray imaging software which can be widely used in medical, industrial, security and other fields. [ china money
network ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
18.
These 10 enterprise M&A deals totaled over $40B in 2019
It would be hard to top the 2018 enterprise M&A total of a whopping $87 billion, and predictably this year didn’t come close. In fact, the top 10 enterprise M&A deals in 2019 were less than half last year’s, totaling $40.6 billion. This year’s biggest purchase was Salesforce buying Tableau for $15.7 billion, which would have been good for third place last year behind IBM’s mega deal plucking Red Hat for $34 billion and Broadcom grabbing CA Technologies for $18.8 billion. Contributing to this year’s quieter activity was the fact that several typically acquisitive companies — Adobe, Oracle and IBM — stayed mostly on the sidelines after big investments last year. It’s not unusual for companies to take a go-slow approach after a big expenditure year. Adobe and Oracle bought just two companies each with neither revealing the prices. IBM didn’t buy any. [ Tech Crunch ] Checkout 15K+
Venture Capital Data on our platform.
19.
E1015 Open Office Hours w/Jason! gaining investor interest, scaling a niche market, automating tasks
Open Office Hours LIVE! Jason helps founders with their biggest challenges: gaining interest from investors, scaling while bootstrapping in a niche market, automating operations tasks, acquiring national customers & focusing on customers in the cannabis compliance space @ WSGR
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20.
Stephen Kotkin: Stalin, Putin, and the Nature of Power | Artificial Intelligence (AI) Podcast
Stephen Kotkin is a professor of history at Princeton university and one of the great historians of our time, specializing in Russian and Soviet history. He has written many books on Stalin and the Soviet Union including the first 2 of a 3 volume work on Stalin, and he is currently working on volume 3. This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast.
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