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Nothing’s more nostalgic than auntie's classic dumpling recipe or your papa’s secret meatloaf dish. Sometimes, that Cobb Salad you got from Postmates doesn’t quite cut it and you just crave something that hits home, literally. With the rise of ‘all-things-delivered-to-your-doorstep’ concepts, emerging marketplaces are working on making such home-cooked meals accessible to the everyday consumer. Because nothing beats an insatiable hunger for grandma’s cooking, first-gen Americans and co-founders Alvin Salehi and Joey Grassia hope to create memories through food and enable a new generation of immigrant chefs.
In 2019, the two launched Shef, a local food marketplace designed to help home chefs connect with customers. From handling the orders to delivering the food, the marketplace empowers home chefs, primarily immigrants new to the U.S., by helping them secure an alternative source of meaningful income while giving consumers exposure to a wide range of culinary delights. It recently raised $20m (Series A) led by Andreessen Horowitz (and backed by YC and A-list celebrities) to hire new talent, develop its mobile app and expand its marketplace to new markets.
Saying that you are a self-proclaimed chef can have its limitations, though. Given concerns around food safety and logistics, legal and regulatory restrictions can ultimately decide the fate of the business. U.S. states including California have varying county laws that permit home cooks to sell food, yet with a catch. Shef currently operates in cities including San Francisco, Austin, Houston and NYC. I look forward to trying such a service over the typical delivery apps; however, even with the growing adoption of delivery ignited by the pandemic, only time will tell on whether or not this idea will catch on with the greater public.
Quick Bits 🌎
Recap in the West
EU and Bill Gates make joint push to accelerate clean tech. Spotify gets personal and wants Only You. Google integrates Waymo into Maps. Twitter trials its subscription service Blue and wants to hear you talk. Facebook opens up its Messenger API, launches Researcher API and reevaluates its Trump ban. 7-Eleven adds EV charging stations. SoFi debuts. SoftBank-backed Katerra shuts down. PE firms snap up Cloudera (enterprise data), Stack Overflow (programming Q&A), IDG (tech publisher) and FireEye (cybersecurity). Activist hedge fund Elliott Management holds big Dropbox stake. Facebook buys Roblox-like game creation platform Crayta. Etsy buys secondhand clothing app Depop for $1.6bn. ‘Twas a big IPO week for Sprinklr (customer experience), Confluent (streaming), SentinelOne (cybersecurity), Aurora (AV) and Babylon Health (health tech).
Done Deals ✍🏼
💳 Chipper Cash, a three-year-old startup that facilitates cross-border payment across Africa, bags $100m (Series C) led by SBV Capital to expand its product offering and grow its team. It is now Africa's most valuable startup.
🛒 Six-months-old German on-demand grocery delivery startup Flink raises $240m (Series A) co-led by Prosus, BOND, and Mubadala to expand its business into more cities and countries on the heels of strong demand. The service has also inked a strategic partnership with REWE, a German supermarket giant.
⚕️ Berlin-based Wefox, a digital insurer focused on personal insurance products, grabs $650m (Series C) at a $3bn post-money valuation led by Target Global. According to its founder, the round was oversubscribed by 4x.
📈 London-based Lightyear, founded by early Wise employees, comes out of stealth and bags $1.5m in pre-seed funding, focusing on creating a truly commission-free stock trading app. It has opened up its waitlist, giving users access to 1,500 stocks and ETFs from multiple markets at launch.
👨💼 Colorado's Guild Education, which connects workers with employer-sponsored learning opportunities, gets $150m (Series E) at a $3.75b valuation and plans to grow its coaching team, offer more short-term certificate opportunities and strengthen ties with historically Black colleges and universities.
Recap in the East
Southeast Asia estimates 468 exits within 2 years via M&A, marking a period of resilience and increased investor appetite. The White House cracks down on Chinese tech again. Tokopedia and Sea Group are amongst the top retailers in SEA in 2020. China finds its next crackdown in online education. This startup wants to reshape mental health and put Chinese at ‘Ease’. WhatsApp rival Line taps into Indonesia’s digital banking sector. No trade war is going to stop Apple’s reliance on Chinese suppliers. Tesla’s net orders in China fell 50% in May amid consumer backlash. Ant Group sets up shop with its new consumer-finance firm. Tencent sees litigation for violation of minor’s rights. You can now support SMBs in SEA via TikTok. Tech companies are taking up real estate in Singapore’s CBD. The largest publicly listed F&B company in Southeast Asia is a instant noodle company in the Philippines.
Done Deals ✍🏼
🚚 Thailand-based Flash Group, which provides e-commerce logistics services, raises $150m (Series D+/E) three years into operations and becomes the first unicorn in the country.
🦷 D2C dental startup Zenyum bags $40m (Series B) from investors including L Catterton and Sequoia Capital India to accelerate expansion across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, expand its product line, and further develop its technology stack to be a true partner to dentists.
🍔 Singapore’s Good Startup, a VC firm that invests in startups around the world that aim to eliminate animals agriculture from the food system, raises $25m for its Good Protein Fund I. It plans to back 32 companies, with a ticket size ranging between $250,000 and $1m.
💻 Indian gig marketplace Urban Company gets $255m (Series F) at a valuation of $2.1bn, in which the new funds will be used for innovation, training, product development, quality control, and safety measures for both partners and consumers. It plans to break into 100 cities in India and other global markets in the coming years.
🚗 Chinese autonomous driving system startup Zongmu secures $190m (Series D) from an investment fund backed by Xiaomi to build new products and features into cars including an automated valet parking system.
To catch up on more deals of the week, make sure to click here!
What Else We're Following 👀
If you are to get VC funding, you are supposed to have a team and a big target market amongst other things. But what unwritten startup rules can - and should - you break without any backing from VCs? (Entrepreneur's Handbook)
With an increasingly large money and time investment required to measure their startups are turning to DIY solutions (Sifted)
"Right now, we’re hearing from founders who feel like they’re drowning in a sea of well-intentioned but overwhelming and often contradictory guidance": How founders should deal with advice and focus on what really matters (First Round Review)
"While cloud clearly delivers on its promise early on in a company’s journey, the pressure it puts on margins can start to outweigh the benefits": A different perspective on cloud technology (a16z)
A quick crash course in venture debt (Sifted)
A shift towards custom domain names and the importance of a solid, user-friendly online presence are just a few of the digital lessons learned in 2020 (TechCrunch)
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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