🚗 Apple: Fully Loaded
Apple didn't announce a new car, but... Plus: $7.7bn is the lucky number, Indonesia's new tech hub, Clubhouse sees greater valuation/competition, EU≠AI & Amazon's good hair day
Wrapped Up Newsletter #23
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Quick bits 🌎
Recap in the West
The $2.2T conglomerate unloads its lineup of new products. UiPath IPO is a banger. Facebook reveals its Clubhouse competitor. Apple allows Parler back on the App Store. GM picks its horse in the race for EV batteries. NASA flies a helicopter on Mars and picks SpaceX to land next Americans on the moon. Venmo adds crypto to its platform. Amazon gets into the hair salon business. Netflix blames slower subscriber growth on IRL meetups and less content. Discord walks away from Microsoft and considers IPO’ing. Google Meet gets a fresh new look. Registration for the Lemonade car is now open. EU takes a swing at AI. New York finally welcomes e-scooters. A startup turns cow burps into carbon credits.
Recap in the East
Indonesia creates its own Silicon Valley. Alibaba puts its community group buy app on WeChat amid antitrust concerns. China wants Ant Group's data. Baidu's Jidu Auto drops $7.7bn into smart cars. Tencent CEO Pony Ma gives back $7.7bn to address China's poverty issue. Tesla gets defensive in China as public scrutiny over a protest intensifies. Big Idea Ventures reveals new cohort for its alt-protein accelerator to feed the world's population. Volvo teams with Didi for AV. Helen's IPO is a bet on the offline social network. Eat Just promotes its cultured meats on Foodpanda. Indonesia's Ruangguru is in the black but faces criticism from underpaid workers. How Grab went from a HBS project to a $40bn business.
Done deals ✍🏼
Funding Rounds
San Francisco-based social audio app Clubhouse raises an undisclosed Series C at a $4bn valuation (triple the Series B valuation) led by Andreessen Horowitz
Chicago-based sales and marketing platform ActiveCampaign raises $240m (Series C) at a valuation of $3bn led by Tiger Global
French digital health insurance platform Alan bags $220m (Series D) at a $1.67bn valuation led by Coatue to iterate on its core product after a successful international expansion
New Jersey-based grocery startup Misfits Market, known for selling ugly fruits and vegetables at discounted prices, gets $200m (Series C) at a $1.1bn valuation
Bangalore-based fintech Razorpay raises $160m (Series E) at a $3bn valuation co-led by existing investors Sequoia Capital India and GIC to launch in Southeast Asia
San Francisco-based remote hiring startup Deel raises $156m (Series C) at a $1.25bn valuation led by Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital and YC, after 20x growth in 2020
French BlaBlaCar, known for its carpooling and bus marketplaces, raises $115m led by existing investor VNV Global to build an all-in-one travel app
Canadian fintech Clearbanc rebrands to Clearco and picks up $100m (Series C) at a $2bn valuation to become more than a transactional capital provider
Amsterdam-based e-scooter and micromobility startup Dott raises $85m (Series B) led by Sofina to expand beyond e-scooters with a new bike-sharing service
Amsterdam-based fintech BUX, a European Robinhood, snags $80m (Series C) led by Prosus Ventures and Tencent to scale across Europe
Sports media firm Overtime bags $80m with investors including Jeff Bezos, Drake, Alexis Ohanian and several NBA players to support league startup costs, app development and NFT investment
London-based BNPL fintech Zilch raises $80m (Series B) at a $500m valuation and prepares to expand to the U.S.
Hong Kong-based e-commerce package tracking platform AfterShip raises $66m (Series B) led by Tiger Global for sales and customer support hiring and new products
Belgian Deliverect, a platform that streamlines online and offline food orders, picks up $65m (Series C) co-led by Redpoint Ventures and partners of DST Global
London-based FintechOS nabs $60m (Series B) to help legacy banking and insurance companies build their services and analytics beyond their existing infrastructure
San Francisco-based fraud prevention platform Sift bags $50m (Series E) led by Insight Partners and becomes a unicorn
San Francisco-based SaaS security management solution AppOmni raises $40m (Series B) led by Scale Venture Partners after growing 10x last year
New York-based online education platform Outlier, founded by the co-founder at MasterClass, picks up $30m (Series B) to make college education more affordable and accessible
Bangalore-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch Kuber raises $25m (Series B) from Tiger Global, valuing it at $500m
Los Angeles-based Universal Hydrogen lifts off with $20.5m (Series A) to build an end-to-end hydrogen value chain for aviation
London-based fintech Payhawk gets $20m (Series A) led by QED Ventures to unify corporate cards, payments and expenses
Copenhagen-based master data management platform CluedIn raises $15m (Series A) led by Dawn Capital to expand its product offering, while eyeing potential markets like the U.S.
Zoom-friendly EdTech startup Class raises $12.25m from Salesforce Ventures, Sound Ventures and Super Bowl champion Tom Brady to expand its platform to K12 and higher-ed institutions across the world
New Funds
Cusp Capital is a new $361m fund backing early-stage young tech companies across Europe and is led by an experienced team of partners that worked with the Haub Family office and the Tengelmann Group
Congruent Ventures, the early-stage investment firm focused on technologies and services designed to avert the current climate emergency, raises $175m for its latest fund
Zoom launches a $100m Zoom Apps investment fund to help enable the most promising startups using its platform
Global gaming company Razer launches a $50m fund to invest into environmental and sustainability startups
Canadian BrandProject, known for backing successful D2C startups, expands beyond its studio model and announces a new $43m traditional venture fund
Exits: Acquisitions, IPOs & SPACs
Mastercard buys Seattle-based identity verification company Ekata for $850m as online identity management gains importance
BNPL giant Affirm plans to acquire online returns and post-purchase payments player Returnly for $300m
New York-based prescription eyewear seller Warby Parker plans to IPO in the U.S. as soon as this year
Hong Kong-based fintech unicorn WeLab eyes an IPO that could value the startup at $2bn
What else we're following 👀
More frequent funding rounds, valuations at 300x revenue and better deal terms: VC activity is intensifying (The Information)
Fred Wilson gives his two cents on the trade-off between visionary and operational leadership (AVC)
Is a wholesale marketplace boom on the horizon? (Drinking from the Firehose)
Podcast: Substack founders Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie on solopreneur authors, traditional journalism and the modern media landscape (PressClub with Josh Constine)
"Don't mix product with marketing analytics. Don't underestimate qualitative data. Prioritize.": How to avoid common mistakes when tracking product analytics (Sifted)
30 tips for first-time startup joiners (First Round Review)
Who’s hiring 👩🏽💼
For this week’s job postings (internships & full-time), please check out our Notion page here.
Feedback time!! 🙏
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