🎧 Spotify's Sweet Spot
Plus: The emergence of the creative economy, grabbing a SEA exit, evolution of fintech and edtech + China's digital currency goes overseas
Wrapped Up Newsletter #15
Today’s Menu
Quick Bits: Spotify’s new frontier + Moore Threads vs. Nvidia
Done Deals: BNPL, celebrity startups + SEA exits
What Else We're Following: 6 articles, from a deep dive into Southeast Asia tech ecosystem to building community around your product
Jobs - Internships/Full-Time: 15 full-time jobs and internship postings
Events & Workshops: RSVP for START Summit with a Wrapped Up discount!
🤜🤛 Help us to deliver better content to you by filling out the survey here.
Quick Bits 🌎
Recap in the West: Spotify One Ups Streaming Rivals
Spotify expands across 85 new markets and announces higher-quality audio. Facebook launches a TikTok-like app for creating and sharing raps. Chinese ride-sharing giant Didi plans entry into Europe. Uber takes a hit in the UK. Twitter announces 'Super Follow' subscriptions. iPhones are the number one again. Google fires another prominent AI researcher. Facebook restores news sharing in Australia after flexing. WeWork nears settlement with SoftBank. TransferWise rebrands as Wise ahead of IPO. Clubhouse raises more security concerns. Square buys over 3000 bitcoins. Snap rallies after growth predictions. Airbnb, Salesforce and Nvidia beat expectations.
Recap in the East: How to Be a Unicorn in 100 Days
100-days-year old semiconductor startup Moore Threads takes on Nvidia. World's largest edtech unicorn just got bigger. Amazon halts Ambani's Reliance retail ambitions. Time is ticking for SEA's highest-valued startup. Tim Hortons continues its foray into China. Nothing is the same for Indonesia's stock market. China's watchdogs close in on internet loans. Philippines's prized unicorn gets a bad rep and a brand makeover. China continues its digital currency ambitions in new markets. Online services deliver big during Lunar New Year. E-commerce firm Flipkart goes electric. Wise and Grab bring jobs to SEA. Boyu Capital, backer of Ant Group, changes location.
Done Deals ✍🏼
Funding Rounds
Swedish by-now-pay-later fintech Klarna to raise up to $1bn @ $31bn valuation
Indian food delivery giant Zomato raises $250m (Series J) @ $5.4bn valuation
Spain’s classified marketplace Wallapop gets $191m (Series G) @ $840m valuation
US online discussion platform Reddit adds another $116m to its $250m Series E
South African digital bank TymeBank lands $109m to drive its commercial expansion across the country
New York-based edtech Newsela raises $100m (Series D) and becomes a unicorn on track to replace textbooks in classrooms
San Francisco-based crypto company Anchorage raises $80m (Series C) from GIC, a16z and others after getting federal banking charter
Chinese manufacturing SaaS company Black Lake raises $77m (Series C) to give factories a digital upgrade
US cloud startup Aviatrix nabs $75m (Series D) @ $700m+ valuation, led by General Catalyst
Danish accountancy software and marketplace Ageras raises $73m @ $244m valuation to expand into new countries and customer segments
Boston-based low-code customer relationship and process management platform Creatio snags $68m after being bootstrapped up until today
US meeting transcription service Otter.ai raises $50m (Series B) boosted by the pandemic
San Francisco-based e-commerce focused shipping platform Shippo picks up $45m (Series D) @ $495m valuation as e-commerce booms
Qingju, the bike-sharing unit of Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, raises $600m (Series B) and is set to raise another $400m in loans
US stock option marketplace startup EquityBee picks up $20m (Series A) to help startup employees actually afford their stock options
David Dobrik's photo sharing app Dispo nabs $20m (Series A) @ $200m valuation just 5 months after its Seed
Berlin-based spreadsheet startup Rows (formerly dashdash) closes $16m (Series B) from Lakestar, Accel and Cherry to invest in sales and marketing
Stockholm-based celebrity video platform memmo raises $10m (Series A) enabling people to pay celebrities for personalized video messages
New Funds
Bessemer Venture Partners closes on $3.3bn across two funds; BVP XI with $2.475bn for early-stage investments and BVP Century II with $825m for growth-stage companies
Based across London, Copenhagen and Berlin, 2150 is launching with the first close of a $240m fund which will back technologies aimed largely at reducing the carbon footprint of cities
Primary Venture Partners, a firm focused exclusively on investing in New York-area startups, has raised $150m in its 3rd fund for seed investments, as well as $50m for its 2nd Select fund (used to participate in later-stage rounds)
San Francisco's Foresite Capital raises $969m fund to invest in healthcare startups across all stages of growth
Former Mastercard exec Javier Perez launches own fund and plans to invest $100m+ into Europe’s payment startups
Berlin's MorphAIs is a new VC aiming to leverage AI algorithms to boost its investment decisions in early-stage startups – it has not raised a fund yet
Sequoia Capital, currently the most active investor in the Indian startup ecosystem, looks to raise its 2nd India-focused seed fund
Chinese PE firm Boyu Capital raises new China-focused fund targeting as much as $6bn
Exits: Acquisitions, IPOs & SPACs
Australian graphic design platform Canva acquires Austrian Kaleido AI and Czech Smartmockups
Australian software company Atlassian buys San Francisco's Chartio to bring data visualization component to its platform and take advantage of the data locked inside its products
Californian EV startup Lucid Motors is going public on NYSE in a major SPAC merger predicted to net $4.4bn in cash at a $24bn valuation
Californian battery maker Enovix is poised to go public via SPAC in a deal valued at $1.1bn
Chinese car maintenance company Tuhu plans to go public in the US after raising $400m earlier this month
Asian mixed martial arts organization One Championship considers SPAC listing in the US
What Else We're Following 👀
"Data is the new oil" - or is it? (The Information)
The end of the pandemic is - probably - in sight, so what's next? (AVC)
Analysis and predictions for SE Asian M&A, SPACs and talent (Asavi)
"Startups led by women CEOs made up an even smaller portion of IPOs. But there are modest signs of change." Female founders who could take their companies public (The Information)
Podcast: “For the founder, the most important part is to make sure she has a direct line to those who love her products.” Fly by Jing's Jing Gao on building a community around your product (Modern Retail)
Interview: Spotify's Daniel Ek on podcasts, ads and Clubhouse (The Verge)
Jobs - Internships/Full-Time 👩🏽💼
We have created a Notion page dedicated to aggregating job opportunities (internships & full-time). You can find this week’s job postings here.
Events & Workshops 🔧
START Summit on March 22-27 - RSVP here
Europe's biggest student-run conference for entrepreneurship and technology, is returning to unite the European startup community under the banner of innovation. For the first time, START Summit will go virtual to connect Europe's leading investors, young talents, and entrepreneurs on a virtual platform. High-class keynotes from global shapers such as Matt Cohler (Benchmark Capital & Founding team Facebook), Tina Sharkey (Co-Founder Brandless), and Ola Källenius (CEO of Daimler AG) will be held, as well as interesting masterclasses and workshops from venture capital investors such as Balderton Capital, EQT Ventures, Earlybird, Project A, Picus Capital, and many more. We are happy to provide Wrapped Up subscribers with a 20% discount code: (WRAP20).
Tech in Asia Virtual Pitch Night on March 25 - Apply here
In Tech in Asia’s first Pitch Night of the year, they're looking for 6 startups across different industries to make their virtual pitch in front of a panel of investor-judges (last one included Gobi Ventures & Lightspeed Venture Partners) and an audience of founders, investors, and professionals from the top tech companies. The conference was designed to provide founders with a platform where they can receive undivided attention from keen investors. On top of gaining valuable feedback, you will also get to learn alongside like-minded and passionate entrepreneurs.
Building a High-Performance Borderless Team: 2021 Edition on March 9 - RSVP here
The WFH revolution has changed the way companies hire and manage their employees. The trend has diminished the need for physical offices, making it more viable for organizations to hire beyond borders and build remote teams. That being said, challenges including complicated legal paperwork, difficulties in tracking team progress, and problems ensuring smooth communication prevail arise. Listen in to Charles Ferguson (general manager of Globalization Partners), Xiaoyin Qu (CEO of Run the World), and Shirly Hadjoni (chief of staff of OVO) discuss the challenges and lessons they’ve encountered in building and managing remote teams.
Feedback Time!! 🙏
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👋 Hey there! We are Jeff, Dom and Vas, coming to you live from INSEAD in Singapore. Thanks for reading Wrapped Up.
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