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Demand for Freelancers Holds Up—Except in Crypto
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Good day. Startups and other ventures developing tools for information technology, cybersecurity and other areas continue to seek out freelancers at a steady pace. Online freelance marketplace Freelancer.com had an increase in the number of global postings for freelance software developers outside of crypto, rising to 2,076 in the second quarter from 1,423 in the prior quarter.
Across the crypto-startup world, demand for freelance software developers and other technology workers plummeted in the second quarter, Freelancer.com said.
Startups developing technology related to nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, posted 1,431 ads for tech freelancers in the second quarter, roughly half the number they posted in the prior quarter, Freelancer.com said. Over the same period, similar postings by bitcoin-related startups fell 48%, while postings by Ethereum and blockchain startups were each down by more than 30%, according to the data.
The declines come in the wake of a booming freelance market for crypto tech workers throughout 2021, said Matt Barrie, Freelancer.com’s chief executive.
Freelancers are often seen as the lifeblood of fast-growth startups as they begin to attract significant venture capital and look to scale up.
“While crypto is seeing a significant pullback at the moment, early-stage enterprise startups are operating in the same cadence with freelancers as before,” said Jonathan Lehr, co-founder and general partner at venture-capital firm Work-Bench. If anything, he expects startups in the months ahead to have increased demand for freelancers.
They will be “trying to get lift from every dollar in their pre-seed or seed raise,” Mr. Lehr said.
And now on to the news...
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The backers of biotech startup Teneobio have sold parts of it to three large drugmakers, among them Amgen. PHOTO: PATRICK T. FALLON/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Capturing maximum value. Venture-capital backers of Teneobio Inc. have parlayed their bet on the biotechnology startup into a series of acquisition deals, illustrating the creativity some investors are using to wring profits from the sector, WSJ Pro’s Brian Gormley reports.
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Typically, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs sell a biotech startup, and all its drugs, to a single buyer. In Teneobio’s case they have sold parts of the business to three drugmakers, so far, in a bid to capture maximum value from each of 10 compounds the company developed with its technology.
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Teneobio’s unusual model may be especially appealing now that the public markets are largely closed to startups, but it is complex and doesn’t work in all instances, investors and entrepreneurs said.
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1.6 Million
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Square feet of new office space added by property developers in Silicon Valley during the first quarter of 2022, up about 46% from the first quarter last year and more than double the first quarter in 2020.
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Three Arrows Crypto Hedge Fund’s Founders at Odds With Liquidators
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Court-appointed liquidators for cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital Ltd. said its founders can’t be located and aren’t cooperating in the investigation of its assets, allegations that the founders denied, WSJ Pro reports. Liquidators installed to take charge of Three Arrows and protect its assets said in court filings last week that founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies haven’t offered any meaningful cooperation with their investigation. Since then, the founders turned over only a “pro forma” disclosure of corporate assets that lacked bank account and other key information, the liquidators’ lawyer, Adam Goldberg, said in a court hearing Tuesday. In a statement to The Wall Street Journal, Messrs. Zhu
and Davies denied the allegation that they haven’t cooperated, given that they applied for the liquidation of the hedge fund themselves in the British Virgin Islands. Messrs. Zhu and Davies said they have cooperated through Three Arrows’ former lawyers at Solitaire LLP and now through their personal lawyers at Advocatus Law LLP.
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Ackman to Close $4 Billion SPAC
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Hedge-fund manager William Ackman is winding up the largest-ever special-purpose acquisition company after failing to find a target, The Wall Street Journal reports. In a letter to shareholders in Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd. on Monday, Mr. Ackman said the company couldn’t find a target that met its investment criteria and was returning $4 billion in shareholder capital. The vehicle had raised $4 billion in an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in July 2020. A shell company that raises money from outside investors, a SPAC trades on a stock exchange and merges with a private company to take public. It typically has two years to do a deal or it must return the money to
investors. The deadline for Mr. Ackman’s SPAC is fast approaching. Investors initially poured money into SPACs but hundreds are now facing looming deadlines to find deals amid a selloff in their share prices. Meanwhile, some companies that merged with SPACs are already warning they might go bust.
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Walmart Orders 4,500 Electric Vans From Canoo
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Walmart Inc. has agreed to buy 4,500 of Canoo Inc.’s forthcoming electric delivery vehicles, as the retail giant looks to bolster its e-commerce delivery service with a fleet powered by electricity, WSJ reports. Under the purchase agreement, Walmart has an option to purchase up to 10,000 of Canoo’s all-electric delivery vehicles, called the Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle. The delivery vans, which Canoo says are optimized for last-mile delivery, are expected to begin hitting the road next year. The companies plan to kick-off advanced deliveries in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the coming weeks to refine vehicle configuration, they said Tuesday.
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Funds
Lightspeed Venture Partners closed a total of over $7 billion for several news funds. The firm raised nearly $2 billion for Lightspeed Venture Partners XIV-A/B LP to continue supporting companies focused on enterprise, consumer, health and fintech at their earliest stages. Lightspeed Venture Partners Select V LP, with $2.26 billion, will back existing portfolio companies. The $2.36 billion Lightspeed Opportunity Fund II LP will invest in global breakout companies. Lastly, Lightspeed India Partners IV LLC closed at its hard cap of $500 million. In addition to the new funds, Lightspeed launched Lightspeed Faction, an independent team dedicated to backing founders in blockchain infrastructure.
Web3 investor Multicoin Capital launched its third venture capital fund with $430 million. The Austin, Texas-based firm raised $100 million for its second venture fund last year. Recent Multicoin Capital investments include Delphia, Fractal and Project Galaxy.
Crypto investor Protagonist launched its debut $100 million fund to support startups focused on gaming, infrastructure, emerging blockchains and ecosystems, security and privacy. Initial portfolio companies include Aptos, Cardinal and Cogni.
People
Fintech-focused QED Investors hired Courtney Christianson as head of investor relations. She was most recently at KSL Capital.
Starting Line, which invests in consumer startups, promoted Scott Holloway to general partner. He was previously senior vice president of growth and product at Foxtrot.
Plume, a personalized communications services provider, appointed Iman Abbasi as chief human resources officer, Shari Piré as chief legal and sustainability officer and Kiran Edara as chief development officer. Ms. Abbasi most recently held the same position at Symbotic. Ms. Piré was previously chief legal officer and global head of sustainability at Cognate BioServices. Mr. Edara previously held positions at Amazon Web Services Inc. and Amazon Lab126. Last year, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Plume closed a $300 million investment led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
Exits
Data-privacy software startup Privitar acquired peer company Kormoon for an undisclosed amount. London-based Privitar is backed by investors including Warburg Pincus, Accel, Partech, IQ Capital, Salesforce Ventures and ABN AMRO Ventures.
Digital transformation services provider OSF Digital is strengthening its Salesforce multi-cloud offerings with its purchase of Aarin Inc. Terms weren’t disclosed. In April, Canada-based OSF Digital said it raised $100 million in Series C funding from Sunstone Partners, Delta-v Capital and Salesforce Ventures.
Synamedia, a video software provider backed by private-equity firm Permira, acquired cloud video delivery platform Quortex for an undisclosed sum. Quortex counts Elaia and Go Capital as investors.
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SingleStore Inc., a San Francisco-headquartered database provider, picked up a $116 million investment led by the growth equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The round included participation from new investor Sanabil Investments and previous backers Dell Technologies Capital, GV, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM Ventures and Insight Partners.
May Mobility, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based developer of autonomous vehicle technology, closed a $111 million Series C round from investors including Tokio Marine and State Farm Ventures.
Tecton Inc., a San Francisco-based machine learning application development startup, secured $100 million in Series C financing. Lead investor Kleiner Perkins was joined by Databricks Ventures, Snowflake Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Bain Capital Ventures and Tiger Global Management in the round.
SingleOps, an Atlanta-based provider of business management software to the green industry, landed a $74 million growth equity investment from FTV Capital. Robert Anderson and Gurmaan Bhatia from FTV will join the company’s board.
AI21 Labs, a Tel Aviv-based natural language processing startup, completed a $64 million Series B round, bringing the company’s valuation to $664 million. Ahren led the investment, which included contributions from Walden Catalyst, Pitango, TPY Capital and others.
Scale Computing Inc., an Indianapolis-based provider of edge computing, virtualization and hyperconverged technology, scored a $55 million investment led by funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital.
Terra CO2 Technology, a Golden, Colo.-based startup offering a low-carbon alternative for cement production, closed a $46 million Series A round. Breakthrough Energy Ventures and LEN X led the investment, which saw participation from Creative Ventures and Rio Tinto.
Eton Solutions, a Morrisville, N.C.-based family office software provider, snagged a $38 million Series C round led by Navis Capital Partners.
Dedrone, a San Francisco-based smart airspace security provider, fetched $30 million in Series C1 funding. Lead investor Axon was joined by Aqton Partners, Menlo Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Target Partners and others in the round.
Deci, an Israeli artificial intelligence startup, collected $25 million in Series B funding. Led by Insight Partners, the round included additional support from Square Peg, Emerge, Jibe Ventures, Fort Ross Ventures and ICON.
Pattern Brands, a New York-based family of home-centric e-commerce businesses, raised $25 million in Series B funding and acquired Yield Design Co. and Poketo. New investors Toba Capital, Verlinvest and BAM Elevate joined existing backers Primary, RRE Ventures and Victory Park Capital in the round.
Milk Moovement, a Canada-based dairy supply chain software startup, closed a $20 million Series A round. VMG Catalyst led the funding, which included contributions from Dynamo Ventures, Bread & Butter Ventures, Matchstick Ventures and SOSV.
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The European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. Last week, the legislators passed the Digital Markets Act, a law aimed at keeping tech giants from unfairly using their size and market clout to keep customers on their digital platforms, data tools or suites of business apps. PHOTO: JEAN-FRANCOIS BADIAS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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