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Supply Chain Startups Face Holiday Test
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By Marc Vartabedian, WSJ Pro
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Good day. As the holiday shopping season ramps up amid a supply-chain crunch, it should be hardly a surprise that supply-chain tech made the list of emerging startup sectors in a recent PitchBook Data Inc. report.
Startups in the sector collectively raised $454 million, earning the class of startups a fourth place spot on the list behind the Web3 and DeFi, financial technology and enterprise software sectors. Startups in those sectors raised $1.3 billion, $860 million and $493 million, respectively. Web3 and DeFi sectors mainly include crypto startups.
Financings in the supply chain sector include companies focused on supply chain sourcing and stocking and freight-shipping optimization, according to the report.
This holiday season will present many of these startups with a significant performance test. Investors and legacy companies that are trying out these startups’ services will be keeping a close watch.
And now on to the news...
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Joshua Kushner, pictured here in 2015, leads Thrive Capital, which recently changed its regulatory status to allow it to make more investments outside of traditional venture capital.
PHOTO: KAI-UWE WÄRNER/ZUMA PRESS
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Regulatory structure. Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital has joined a few other venture firms in changing its regulatory status, a move that allows the firm to make more investments outside of the traditional purview of venture capital but comes with new compliance burdens, WSJ Pro's Yuliya Chernova reports.
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New York-based Thrive registered as an investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission in September, according to a regulatory filing. A Thrive representative declined to comment.
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In an investment brochure it filed with the SEC as part of its registration, the firm said, “Although investments are made predominantly in non-public companies, certain funds will, from time to time, make investments in public companies and crypto assets.” This indicates an extension of its main strategy of investing in private companies.
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$1.9 Billion
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Amount invested in the Web3 and DeFi sectors over the last four quarters, according to a recent PitchBook report.
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Buyout Boom Gains Steam in Record Year for Private Equity
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Big leveraged buyouts are back, and this year’s crop might just be a taste of things to come, WSJ reports. Private-equity firms have announced a record $944.4 billion worth of buyouts in the U.S. so far this year, 2.5 times the volume in the same period last year and more than double that of the previous peak in 2007, according to Dealogic. So far this year, there have been five $10 billion-plus deals in the U.S., equaling the total in all of 2007, though still below the high-water mark of nine in 2006.
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Supply-Chain Snarls Leave Southern California Swamped in Empty Shipping Containers
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The biggest export out of Southern California these days is air. And it is suffocating the supply chain, WSJ reports. Hundreds of thousands of empty containers are filling marine terminals and truck yards across the region and tying up scarce trucking equipment as ocean carriers scramble to return empty boxes to factories in Asia. The gridlock on the export side of U.S. supply chains is the mirror of the congestion tying up imports, and officials say it is complicating efforts to unwind the bottlenecks at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
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Funds
Signal Peak Ventures raised $153 million for its third fund, according to a regulatory filing. The Salt Lake City firm participated in funding rounds for delivery startup Fetch Package Inc., workforce upskilling platform Degreed Inc. and knowledge process automation startup DeepSee.ai earlier this year.
Blume Ventures has held the first $105 million close of its fourth fund, which the firm expects to have a final close at around $200 million. With the new fund, Blume will continue to make pre-seed to pre-Series A investments in Indian tech startups. The firm closed its third fund with $102 million in 2019.
People
Berlin-based Cherry Ventures added Nicole Lai to the investment team, and appointed Dinika Mahtani as principal, and Marie Outtier and Josefin Landgård as venture partners. Ms. Lai was most recently at Atomico. Prior to joining Cherry, Ms. Mahtani spent a year at Kaluza. Ms. Outtier is currently director of product management at Twitter. Ms. Landgård is chief executive of Mantle.
Priothera Ltd., a developer of therapies to treat acute myeloid leukemia, appointed Elisabeth Kueenburg as chief medical officer. She was most recently clinical development lead at Celgene. Dublin-based Priothera is backed by Fountain Healthcare Partners, HealthCap, EarlyBird Venture Capital and funds managed by Tekla Capital Management.
Exits
Global-e Online Ltd. agreed to acquire fellow cross-border e-commerce startup Flow Commerce Inc. for up to about $500 million in cash and Global-e shares. Hoboken, N.J.-based Flow Commerce is backed by investors including New Enterprise Associates, American Express Ventures and Latitude Ventures.
Market research platform Premise acquired peer company Native for an undisclosed sum. In January, San Francisco-based Premise said it raised an $85 million Series E round from investors including WestCap Group, Valor Equity Partners, 8VC, NightDragon and Tao Capital Partners.
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Dream Sports, a Mumbai-based sports technology company, closed an $840 million investment at an $8 billion valuation. Lead investors Falcon Edge Capital, DST Global, D1 Capital Partners, RedBird Capital Partners and Tiger Global Management were joined by TPG and Footpath Ventures in the round.
Lunit, a Seoul-based startup focused on using artificial intelligence to fight cancer, picked up a $61 million investment from investors including HealthQuest Capital, Casdin Capital, BrightEdge, Tybourne Capital Management and NSG Ventures.
Allorion Therapeutics, a China- and Natick, Mass.-based startup focused on precision medicine for oncology and autoimmune disease, completed a $40 million Series A round. Led by Qiming Venture Partners, the investment included participation from IDG Capital, Octagon Capital, Firstred Capital and TF Capital.
TruePay, a Brazilian startup providing cost-free access to credit card receivables that can be used by retailers to purchase from suppliers, landed $32 million in Series A funding led by Addition.
Arc, an electric boat startup, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Greg Reichow from Eclipse Ventures led the round, which included participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Lowercarbon Capital and Abstract Ventures. Mr. Reichow will join Arc’s board.
CoreStack, a Bellevue, Wash.-based cloud compliance and management startup, snagged a $30 million Series B round. Avatar Growth Capital led the investment, with Managing Director Abhay Havaldar joining the company’s board. Additional investors including Dallas Venture Capital and Iron Pillar also contributed to the funding.
Everstox, a Munich-based logistics-as-a-service platform, closed a €20 million (about $23 million) Series A round. Lead investor Acton Capital was joined by Capnamic Ventures, Global Founders Capital and Flash Ventures in the round.
Zikooin Co., a Korean plant-based meat substitute startup, raised about $23 million in funding from Primer Sazze Partners, IMM Investment, Envisioning Partners, KDB Bank, STIC Ventures, Crit Ventures and others.
TabTrader, an Amsterdam-based cryptocurrency trading mobile app, completed a $5.8 million Series A round led by BitMEX Ventures.
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Alibaba Chief Executive Daniel Zhang. PHOTO: JASON ALDEN/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Alibaba empowers business units to be more agile as challenges mount
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Chinese tech giants, under pressure from regulation, now face economic drag
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China’s state-run companies limit use of Tencent’s messaging app
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More chips will be made in America amid a global spending surge
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Jack Ma’s Ant moves ahead with credit-scoring firm
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AT&T, Verizon propose 5G limits to break air-safety standoff
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