1.
Whoop, maker of the fitness tracker that pro athletes love, is now valued at $1.2 billion
Some of the biggest names in sports are investing in the wearable company Whoop amid a global pandemic. The fitness tracking company announced Wednesday it closed a $100 million financing round, valuing it at $1.2 billion. The latest round of investors includes Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, champion golfers Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and two-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant (via his business venture ThirtyFive Ventures). Whoop makes fitness trackers that can monitor vitals like movement, sleep and workouts. It’s been the
fitness tracker of choice for a number of recognizable pro athletes, and has been used to help monitor potential symptoms of Covid-19 as sports came back after play was suspended due to the pandemic in the spring. [ CNBC ]
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2.
Israeli startup Monday.com is heading for a $4 billion Nasdaq IPO
Though many businesses were hard hit by the Covid-19 crisis, some tech companies flourished enjoying a spike in sales amid the outbreak. One of the companies to come out on top was Israeli team management startup Monday.com Labs Ltd. The company is now preparing for a Nasdaq IPO in the first half of 2021 at a valuation of at least $3.5 billion to $4 billion, according to people familiar with the move who spoke to Calcalist on condition of anonymity. [ calcalistech ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our
platform.
German VC firm Holtzbrinck Ventures has raised a new €535m fund to invest in digital businesses across Germany and Europe — and to back companies it’s missed when they come to raise Series B and C rounds. The firm will also adopt a new name — HV Capital. HV hasn’t previously made initial investments into later-stage companies not already in its portfolio, but the new fund will allow it to do so. It’s not the only prominent European VC firm to be taking this approach: UK-based early-stage VC LocalGlobe launched a separate fund, Latitude, in 2019 to back ‘winners’ at Series B and beyond (from its portfolio — and others’). “There’s not really a German investor in these later stages yet, no one here on the ground, so we felt there’s an opportunity there,” explains Christian Saller, general partner at the firm, which has offices in both Berlin and Munich. [ sifted ]
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3.
Consumer Cellular sells in deal pegged at $2.3 billion
Tigard-based Consumer Cellar, which became a big player in the wireless industry by marketing cell phones to seniors, said Tuesday night that it has sold a majority stake in the business to a Chicago investment firm. The buyer, private equity firm GTCR, said it will retain Consumer Cellular’s offices in Tigard, Redmond and in Arizona and the 2,000 employees who work for the company. “It’s almost kind of becoming a storybook ending for us,” said CEO John Marick, who co-founded Consumer Cellular 25 years ago and had continued running it with many of his original colleagues. Marick, 55, will retire when the deal closes later this year but he and other current shareholders will retain a “significant” stake and Marick will
remain on Consumer Cellular’s board. [ oregonlive ]
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4.
Former Livongo execs start new company and prepare for $500M IPO
Former Livongo executives who aren't making the jump to acquirer Teladoc have quickly moved on to their next major healthcare venture. Former Chairman Glen Tullman and former President Jennifer Schneider, M.D., are backing a new blank check healthcare technology and are preparing an initial public offering of up to $500 million, according to documents filed Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The blank check company, Health Assurance Acquisition Corp., is
sponsored by General Catalyst and backed by Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health CEO Stephen Klasko, M.D., DuPage Medical Group Board Director Anita Pramoda and General Catalyst executives Hemant Taneja and Quentin Clark. [ fierce healthcare ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
5.
DoubleVerify Receives $350M Investment Boost, Ahead Of Its Reported IPO
Ad verification company DoubleVerify clinched a $350 million investment deal Wednesday that will be used to buy out existing shareholders and help fuel its growth ahead of a reported initial public offering next year. The backing from a new investor group led by Tiger Global Management – which includes the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, as well as Fidelity and Neuberger Berman – comes as the brand safety specialist continues to invest in new growth areas, including media performance optimization and connected TV analytics. “The support of these high caliber investors speaks to DoubleVerify’s momentum, including new customer growth, product innovation and global expansion,” DoubleVerify CEO Mark
Zagorski, who joined the company in July, said in a statement. [ ad exchanger ]
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6.
Benson Hill Raises $150M in Series D Funding
Benson Hill, a St. Louis-based food tech company, closed a $150m Series D funding round. The round was led by Wheatsheaf Group and GV (formerly Google Ventures) with participation from Argonautic Ventures, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Emart, GS Group, Louis Dreyfus Company, iSelect Fund, Fall Line Capital, Mercury Fund, Prelude Ventures, Prolog Ventures, S2G Ventures, and additional strategic and family office investors. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate efforts to deploy its platform
technology, expand partner development across the supply chain, and scale product commercialization efforts. [ Finsmes ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
7.
Amnon Shashua sets up NIS 100 million fund to aid small businesses
MobileEye co-founder and CEO Prof. Amnon Shashua and Anat Shashua, have launched a new foundation that aims to grant NIS 100 million in aid to small businesses and new entrepreneurs who have suffered from the outbreak of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. As part of the WE-19 fund, some NIS 50,000 will be given to 2,000 businesses who were registered between 2019-2020. The aid will be dished out in three stages. Shashua’s daughter, Inbar Shashua Bar-Nir and Adi Atun will manage the foundation, which is part of the “House for Social Solidarity” project started by the Shashua family. Its goal is to protect the spirit of Israeli entrepreneurship, give hope to small businesses that have emerged amid the Covid-19 outbreak, and give them
another chance to expand their business, without financial strain. [ calcalistech ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
8.
The NYC Fintech Innovation Lab
The NYC Fintech Innovation Lab is a program which accepts fintech entrepreneurs to develop their businesses with the assistance of senior execs at the leading NYC banks and insurance companies. The key priorities of the CTOs and CIOs of the Lab’s partner organizations include: cloud, cyber-tech, data, digital engagement, enterprise IT and sustainability. If you are building a fintech company and are focused on one or more of these areas, you should consider applying. [ avc
]
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9.
Apollo's Leon Black offers mea culpa for paying Jeffrey Epstein millions
Facing pressure from investors, Apollo Global Management CEO and co-founder Leon Black used the firm's Thursday earnings call to present a history of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and issue another apology for paying the convicted sex offender tens of millions of dollars for various consulting and professional services. The intense scrutiny of Black's business dealings with Epstein is a sign that the billionaire, long considered one of private equity's founding fathers, could face an uncertain future at the firm he helped launch more than 30 years ago. Black's statement came a little more than two weeks after The New York Times reported that he had paid Epstein $50 million or more between 2012 and 2017, years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor. At Black's request, the Apollo board hired law firm Dechert last week to
conduct an investigation of the 69-year-old executive's ties to Epstein. Shortly thereafter, the Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System opted to at least temporarily halt new commitments to funds managed by Apollo. [ Pitchbook ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
10.
How Many Technologies Can a Company Adopt at Once?
An IT executive recently asked me this question. How many technologies can a company adopt at once, successfully? It’s a question I hadn’t paused to contemplate before that moment. And if you are a vendor, it’s not one that you think about very often either. But if you are a member of the IT team, it’s top of mind every day. There are two answers to this question. The first is my initial response to the asker: change management limits the pace. How quickly an IT team can train people, onboard them, and make them successful with all the different technologies procured by a central unit. How fast the company can change behavior. The second answer is that the company can absorb an infinite number of technologies - if it flips the model.
Instead of IT managing change, each employee learns the technologies they need at their own pace. [ Tomasz Tunguz ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
11.
$60 million Japanese-Israeli VC fund aims to invest in early stage Israeli tech companies
Japanese asset management firm Aristagora Advisors announced on Tuesday the launch of a new venture capital fund Aristagora VC dedicated to investment in early-stage Israeli startups. The $60 million fund will focus on deep tech companies and will invest $500,00 to $1.5 million as an initial investment in each selected initiative and support its portfolio companies’ growth through next-stage funding rounds. The fund’s Israeli partners include managing partner Anat Tila Cherni, who has 10 years of experience in the fields of technology investments, capital markets, and investment banking, having previously led the Asia Desk at Discount Capital Underwriting; managing partner Moshe Sarfaty¸a former managing partner at Krypton VC and a former
Bank of America executive; and investment committee chairman Gideon Ben-Zvi, who currently serves as the CEO of Valens and in the past founded and managed four startups, three of which made it through successful exits. The fund’s fourth partner, Takeshi Shinoda, operates out of Japan and is the owner and CEO of Aristagora Advisors. [ calcalistech ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
12.
Former Zillow execs raise $40M seed round for Tomo Networks to reinvent how people buy homes
Two former top Zillow Group leaders are getting back in the real estate industry with new startup that aims to change the way Americans buy homes. Greg Schwartz and Carey Armstrong just unveiled their new company, Tomo Networks, which announced a massive $40 million seed round this week. Founded just a few months ago, Tomo’s first product is a tech-fueled mortgage and transaction platform targeted at both real estate agents and consumers. The company describes itself as a fintech startup. It is staying quiet about the exact business model, but it has big ambitions. “Mortgage is a massive, distributed, important market,” said Schwartz, the CEO. “And we’re going to lead it.” The seed investment and pedigree of the investor group — Trulia co-founder Pete Flint; ex-Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff; and others are among the
backers — is a vote of confidence in both the idea and also the founding team. [ geek wire ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
13.
Kandji Raises $21M in Series A Funding
Kandji, a San Diego, CA-based provider of Apple enterprise management solution, closed a $21m Series A funding round. The round was led by Greycroft, with participation from Okta Ventures and B Capital Group and existing investors First Round Capital (led by Josh Kopelman). The company will use these funds to expand its enterprise features and grow the team in order to onboard more customers. Led by Adam Pettit, Co-Founder and CEO, Kandji is an Apple device management (MDM) solution built exclusively for IT teams at organizations that run on
Apple. The cloud-based platform is used for centrally managing and securing Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV devices, saving IT teams hours of manual, repetitive work with features like one-click compliance templates and 150+ pre-built automations, apps, and workflows. [ finsmes ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
14.
Juganu Brings Its Virus-Killing Lighting System To The U.S. After Raising $18M Series C
Israeli startup Juganu, which is developing the first circadian indoor lighting system that inactivates SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, raised $18 million in Series C funding to enable it to launch its J.Protect system in the United States. Comcast Ventures led the investment with participation from existing investors Viola Growth and Amdocs. Juganu has raised a total of $53 million since being founded in 2011, which includes a $23 million investment led by Viola in 2019. Now, Juganu is partnering with companies including Comcast, Qualcomm and NCR Corporation to deploy J.Protect in the U.S. J.Protect uses a combination of high-quality surface light mixed with ultraviolet A, as well as ultraviolet C light to inactivate 99.9 percent of pathogens. It can be used in public places while people are present, Eran Ben-Shmuel, co-founder and CEO at Juganu, told Crunchbase News. [ Crunchbase ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
14.
Ketos raises $18 million to monitor drinking water quality with AI
Water analytics startup Ketos today announced it raised $18 million in funding. The capital will be put toward further advancing the company’s cloud-based software platform and hardware, as well as expanding Ketos’ team ahead of future growth. It takes 13,737 to 21,926 gallons of water to produce a car, according to the Grace Communications Foundation. Leather shoes require roughly 3,626 gallons. And about 3,190 gallons are consumed in the course of a single smartphone’s manufacture and assembly. Add to that the 80 to 100 gallons of water the average person drinks, cleans with, and bathes in every day, and it’s not hard to see how each year globally, fresh water usage hovers around 4 trillion cubic meters. [ Venture Beat ] Checkout 15K+ Venture Capital Data on our platform.
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