👩💼 You In Da Club?
Virtual networking's booming. Plus: Trump's out, Jack Ma's in, streaming outperforms + crackdown of Big Tech continues.
Wrapped Up Newsletter #10
Today’s Menu
Quick Bits: Netflix sees green + China’s trillion dollar infratech plan
Done Deals: Funds for Indian tech, AV + B2B
Deep Dive: Clubhouse Goes Viral
What Else We're Following: 6 articles, from influence of Chinese VC to venture debt
Jobs - Internships/Full-Time: 16 full-time jobs and internship postings
Quick Bits 🌎
Recap in the West: New Year, New Netflix
Netflix's subscriber base and shares soar. Facebook's suspension of Trump lingers. Trump pardons former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski. US slams China's Huawei. Europe builds vaccine passports. SpaceX shoots for the stars with new reusability record. Monzo's founder is leaving. Apple gets into VR. IBM's revenue continues in the red. Parler gets rejected. Patreon may go public. Joe Biden's Peloton poses a cybersecurity risk – but at least he's got one. Alphabet shuts down internet balloon company. Google threatens to close search engine in Australia. Citrix Systems buys Slack competitor Wrike. Dating Group expands into slow dating.
Recap in the East: China's $1.6 trillion bet on 5G, EV & AI
Jack is back. China goes big on next-gen infrastructure. Disney+ Hotstar > Netflix in Indonesia. Tiktok's twin Douyin launches e-wallet. Game on for PUBG maker Krafton's potential IPO. WeChat's mini apps attracts 400m daily users. E-yuan hits next testing milestone. Facebook's WhatsApp & Reliance Retail integrate in India. WhatsApp tells Hike to take a hike. SoftBank's Vision Fund loses a leader. Grab's investors want a public debut. India disapproves WhatsApp's new privacy policy. Amazon loses out in Reliance Retail-Future Group deal.
Done Deals ✍🏼
Funding Rounds
US autonomous vehicle company Rivian raises $2.65bn at a $27.6bn valuation
Cruise, another US AV company, nabs $2bn from Microsoft at a $30bn valuation
Chinese logistics company Lalamove bags $1.3bn (Series F), looks to raise $200m more
London-based PPRO, provider of local payment infrastructure for e-commerce, secures $180m at a $1bn+ valuation
US corporate travel platform TripActions raises $155m at $5bn valuation
US virtual healthcare provider K Health raises $132m at a $1.5bn valuation
Turkish on-demand delivery startup Getir raises $128m at a $850m valuation
German all-in-one HR platform Personio raises $125m (Series D) on a $1.7bn valuation
UK's Bloom & Wild gets $102m (Series D) to expand across Europe
Chinese edtech startup Jiliguala raises $100m (Series C)
Localized marketing startup Soci bags $80m (Series D)
Singapore digital exchange Istox raises $50m (Series A)
French accounting automation startup Georges raises $42.m (Series B) and rebrands to Indy
Google participates in $40m investment round of India's hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo
UK's Omnipresent picks up $15.8m (Series A) to help companies employ remote-working local teams worldwide
New Funds
Ant Financial wants to launch a $100m fintech fund in Berlin
Antler plans to invest $100m+ into Indian startups within next 4 years
Berlin-based health-tech focused Heal Capital closes $120m fund
Consumer-focused Fireside Ventures closes Fund II at $118m
Matrix Partners China raises $1.2bn for flagship venture fund
Indian PM launches $136m seed fund for startups
Axel Springer and Porsche increase their investment into Berlin early-stage fund APX
Zurich-based Blue Horizon Ventures launches $223m foodtech fund
Deep Dive 🤿
(3 min read)
If your feed on LinkedIn or Twitter didn't look like this this past week, are you really connected with the right people (😂)? Users of Clubhouse came to social media en masse to part their wisdom on the app's offering and share with the world how it's the next big thing. Although we've heard of many different apps in 2020 that have made their way through the Internet memes (👁👄👁), this one for sure has gained some serious ground.
So what exactly is Clubhouse? It's an invite-only, audio-based social media app that has gained its reputation, partly due to its exclusivity. You can spontaneously enter and leave different chats and discuss about (or simply listen in on) everything from politics to bitcoin. Think of it as an unfiltered free-flowing podcast or, even better, a clubhouse.
What's the problem? From your not-so-COVID-friendly cocktail happy hours to annual industry conferences, in-person networking has hit an indefinite pause, forcing people to go digital. To network beyond the LinkedIn or Twitter DMs, audio has become an increasingly attractive alternative, closely mimicking the real-time conversations you have with your colleagues during lunch.
So...why Clubhouse? The ubiquitous social media app emerges as a way to democratize audio and engage with social climbers, career-minded networkers and thought leaders beyond the typical cold email. Its mission is more defined, enables faster contacts and delivers on an atypical user experience.
A consumer company like this doesn't go unnoticed if it's backed by Andreessen Horowitz.
It started off with a $10m injection and a bunch of folks with elite status (i.e. celebrities & Bay investors). 8 months ago, the company had less than 5,000 active users and generated no revenue. Yet, the company became the talk of the town on Twitter, and this hype proved to be the main, if not, only source of validity for its valuation.
Fast forward to today, VCs are rounding up another round of funding that could value the <1-year-old startup at a near $1bn, 10x higher than its $100m valuation from 8 months back. The app sees 800K daily active users from Germany to Australia, more high-profiled politicians and West Coast notables, and...no revenue or Android users.
In the realm of networking, the boom of Zoom isn't doomed.
People just want a different, more interactive way to chat beyond the basic interface and features offered by Zoom. Several apps including Upstream and Donut have delivered on their own value propositions into the virtual networking space, with the goal of replicating the serendipitous chats we have in the workplace corridors online.
Seeing that I would have to put my typical networking lunches on hold, I signed up for Lunchclub, another invite-only platform, back in March. Its growth story since then proved testament to the feasibility and need for building new connections wherever we are. I was able to speak with those working in tech, media and entertainment, all the way from New Jersey to Taiwan to Lagos!
To mimic the organic, in-person conversations we have in our pantries, there's a need to create a platform that reduces friction in audio/content creation; one that incorporates spontaneity, community and creativity into its UX/UI design. A bet on Clubhouse may be a bet on the consumer in this space, but only time will tell if it will grow to become one of Silicon Valley's next big thing.
If you are interested in getting an invitation at Clubhouse - email Dominik at dominik.nitze@insead.edu
If you are interested in getting an invitation at Lunchclub - email Jeff at jreydon96@gmail.com
What Else We're Following 👀
A great Twitter thread on how to raise a seed round
First Round Review rounds up 30 best pieces of advice for entrepreneurs in 2020
"Some of the first companies to see any changes work first are those who are receiving massive Chinese VC funding across SEA." How Chinese investors are shaping foreign ecosystems
"Getting off on the right foot is so important. If you do it well, the team will rally around you. If you do it poorly, you are done before you even started." How to manage a CEO transition
Venture Debt vs. Venture Capital, defined by AVC
Interviews: How to automate corporate information with Hari Raghavan (Founding Team @ AbstractOps) and where social media is heading with Adam Mosseri (head of Instagram)
Jobs - Internships/Full-Time 👩🏽💼
We will pilot a Notion page dedicated to aggregating job opportunities (internships & full-time). You can find this week’s job postings here.
Last Week’s Issue
January 17: Gojek Goes Shopping (including an interview with Kyle Lee, VP of Corporate Development @ Gojek)
Feedback
Hey there! We are Jeff, Dom and Vas, coming to you live from INSEAD. Thanks for reading Wrapped Up. We'd love to get your feedback - feel free to email us at jeffrey.dong@insead.edu! It will help us to improve the newsletter and deliver the content you want right into your inbox. Thanks!