Payments startup Stripe says it’s still too hard to sell stuff online
It’s still too hard to sell stuff online. That’s according to someone who would know: John Collison, co-founder of the $5 billion payments startup Stripe. “The online retailer has a 15 percent conversion rate on mobile,” he said at the Code Commerce event in Las Vegas Tuesday night, adding, “It’s totally standard and totally abysmal.” Collison cited a key statistic in e-commerce, but by “abysmal,” he also meant there’s a lot more room to grow in e-commerce. “In many cases, the [e-commerce] market isn’t there yet,” he said, referring to international growth. “We’re now launching Stripe in all these
places.” Brazil and Mexico are on the list. [ Recode ]
A German savings startup backed by Peter Thiel just passed €1 billion in deposits
A German fintech startup that lets people access the best interest rates from multiple banks without having to open up new accounts with each lender has passed €1 billion in deposits on its platform. Deposit Solutions announced on Tuesday that it had reached the milestone in just 13 months through its customer-facing operation ZINSPILOT. Savers are investing €100 million a month over its platform, the company says in a press release. 35,000 customers have registered for ZINSPILOT since it launched. [ Business Insider ]
Investcorp to Buy 3i’s Debt Management Arm for $271 Million
Bahrain-based alternative investor Investcorp Bank BSC agreed to buy the debt management arm of 3i Group Plc, more than doubling its assets under management. Investcorp will pay 222 million pounds ($271 million) for the business, the company said in a statement Tuesday. The 3i unit will add $12 billion to its assets under management, bringing the Manama-based firm’s total to about $23 billion.
[ Bloomberg ]
Kobe Bryant, Now a Venture Capitalist, Emphasizes Team Building and Long Shots
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.—Kobe Bryant sees parallels between his hall-of-fame basketball career and his new role as a venture capitalist. Failure—the frequent outcome for early stage investment—is something Mr. Bryant learned about on the court, the former NBA star said at the WSJDLive conference in Laguna Beach, Calif. [ WSJ ]
Challenges face former Cheezburger CEO joining Y Combinator’s New Cities project
Y Combinator’s ambitious New Cities project has a new leader today as Ben Huh, former CEO of The Cheezburger Network, joins the effort. The initiative, previously announced back in June, aims to take a fresh, entrepreneurial approach to city building. Details have been hard to come by, but the group was hiring researchers for a short time at the tail end of the summer. In a blog post, Huh explained his intentions to make a real difference in the world with his upcoming work. [ Tech Crunch ]
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son sees a future with 1 trillion Internet of Things devices
ARM’s partners shipped more than 15 billion in 2015, generating $50 billion in chip sales. But Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, and new owner of ARM after September’s $31 billion acquisition deal, said in a keynote speech at the annual ARM developers conference that you haven’t seen anything yet. At the opening of ARM TechCon in Santa Clara, California today, Son said he expects the Internet of Things (IoT), or enabling everyday objects to be smart and connected, will lead to an explosion of new technologies — just like the Cambrian Explosion enabled thousands of new species on Earth — that will lead to 1 trillion connected IoT devices. And that will lead to The Singularity, when machine intelligence exceeds the collective intelligence of humans, Son said. [ Venture Beat ]
LATEST FUNDING
Lively racks up $4 million to become the Warby Parker of lingerie
Following in the footsteps of Warby Parker, Everlane and Bonobos, a New York City startup called Lively has raised $4 million in seed funding to grow its direct-to-consumer lingerie brand. Incorporated as Intimates Online Inc., Lively was founded by CEO Michelle Cordeiro Grant, a long-time fashion insider. Working previously within the online division of Victoria’s Secret, and at apparel startups like Jack Threads, Cordeiro Grant said she saw a dearth of designs and companies built for women by women in the $13 billion lingerie market. [ Tech Crunch ]
AEVI rakes in 30 mln euros
AEVI, a provider of payment transactions and a marketplace for B2B apps and services, has secured 30 million euros in funding. The investors were Adveq and HPE Growth Capital.
PRESS RELEASE
Paderborn, 24/10/2016 – AEVI, a provider of global payment transactions and a marketplace for B2B apps and services, announced today that it has completed its EUR 30 million capital increase by securing a EUR 10 million investment from Adveq, a global private equity investor. [ PE Hub ]
Dataiku raises $14M to help business and data pros collaborate better
Even with all the collaboration tools that are available to companies these days, coordinating the different personnel who take part in a large-scale analytics project can still be difficult. One of the startups working to ease the task is the New York-based Dataiku Inc., which raised $14 million in funding today from a group of backers led by FirstMark Capital LLC. [ Silicon Angle ]
Hixme Insurance Solutions $16.00 Million Fundraising
Hixme Insurance Solutions, Inc., Corporation just filed form D regarding $16.00 million equity financing. This is a new filing. Hixme Insurance Solutions was able to finance itself with $10.00 million so far. That is 62.51% of the offering. The total offering amount was $16.00 million. The fundraising form was filed on 2016-10-04. The reason for the financing was: unspecified. The fundraising still has about $6.00 million more and is not closed yet. We have to wait more to see if the offering will be fully taken.
[ frisco fast ball ]
Chronocam secures $15M to power its ‘biological eye’ computer vision system
Not everything in our field of view at any given time is all that interesting; often, it’s only when something consistent changes that our eyes take notice. Paris-based Chronocam is looking to further develop this concept in the computer vision space with its new camera technology being optimized for autonomous vehicles. Today, Chronocam announced that it has picked up $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Intel Capital. Robert Bosch Venture Capital, iBionex, GmbH, 360 Capital, CEAi and Renault Group also participated in the round. The company had previously raised an $850,000 seed round.
[ Tech Crunch ]
Cloverpop nabs $6.2 mln Series A
San Francisco-based Cloverpop, a provider of behavioral economics, has secured $6.2 million in Series A funding. TDF Ventures and True Ventures led the round with participation from other backers that included Next Coast Ventures.
PRESS RELEASE
SAN FRANCISCO, October 25, 2016 — Adding to the growing evidence of the positive impact behavioral science has on enterprise performance, <www.cloverpop.com>Cloverpop</> today announced it raised $6.2M in a Series A funding round led by TDF Ventures and True Ventures, with additional investments from Next Coast Ventures and private investors. [ PE Hub ]
Smart building startup gets $7 million to spread its IoT sensors
Israeli startup PointGrab announced a $7 million investment Tuesday with participation from Philips, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital (MUCAP), ABB Technology Ventures (ATV) and Japan’s MUFG. Their flagship product is CogniPoint, a sensor working off deep learning neural networks to provide analytics on space management and operational efficiency. It also looks to optimize energy efficiency. Using deep-learning algorithms on an ARM-based processor, designed to detect movements and the number of people in a given location, as well as provide precise positioning. The company also boasts support from London-based EcoMachines Ventures, Flex, and Saar Wilf. [ geektime ]
MORE LATEST FUNDINGS:
FinTech startup Kredx raises $6M in Series A funding led by Sequoia
Miracor Receives Additional Funding in Series-C Closing to Expand Clinical and Commercial Activities with the PiCSO® Impulse System
IrisVR raises $8M to bring virtual reality to architecture and design
Verse’s $8.3 million round, successful Spanish bootstrapped startups and more
LATEST EXITS
Scottrade Sale Nearly Doubles Owner’s Wealth to $4 Billion
Selling the family business to competitors has made Rodger O. Riney one of the world’s richest people. Riney, owner of closely held Scottrade Financial Services Inc., will be ranked on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a $4 billion net worth after the company agreed to be purchased by competitors TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. and Toronto-Dominion Bank. Riney founded the firm 36 years ago after federal deregulation allowed brokerages to slash trading fees and introduce cut-rate trades.
[ Bloomberg ]
QUIKRETE Announces Acquistion of Contech for around $950 million
Contech announced today that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement in which QUIKRETE Holdings, Inc. will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Contech common stock. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in mid to late November.
[ For construction pros ]
MORE LATEST EXITS:
Rev Group plans to raise $100 million in IPO
Google Acquires Virtual Reality Technology Firm Eyefluence
FUND RAISED
Oak Hill Advisors closes second strategic credit fund at $2.7 billion
Oak Hill Advisors closed a new distressed debt fund $2.7 billion OHA Strategic Credit Fund II, said sources familiar with the matter. The prior distressed credit fund closed in 2009 with $1.1 billion in total capital. Oak Hill’s second distressed corporate debt fund set out to raise $2 billion, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. [ pionline ]
MORE FUND RAISED:
CapitaLand sets up $2b fund in China
IMM closes third Korea-focused PE fund at $1.15b
Healthcare Venture Capital Firm Questa Capital to Raise $250m Inaugural Fund
