Friday! What a week. We're a collective mess(!).
In brighter news: for this week's StrictlyVC Download, we were able to spend time earlier today with Yat Siu, the founder and chairman of Animoca Brands, which is the outfit that Andreessen Horowitz and others seem to be tracking when it comes to some of their crypto deals, given that Animoca invested in OpenSea and Dapper Labs and Axie Infinity ahead of nearly anyone else. (Animoca also owns the popular metaverse platform Sandbox.) In fact, Hong Kong-based Animoca -- which is not a venture fund but that holds positions in more than 150 companies and whose assets are currently worth more than $16 billion on paper -- is one of the biggest power players right now in this brave new world, and you should check out our conversation if you're looking to pick up intel.
Thanks to Index Ventures for sponsoring this week's episode. Note that roughly two weeks from now -- on January 19th and 20th -- Index is hosting a virtual, two-day event featuring Fei-Fei Li, Sam Altman, Reid Hoffman, Kevin Scott, Cade Metz, Pieter Abbeel, Alexandr Wang, and many more. If you're interested in the trends shaping AI over the next decade, click here to register. (Added bonus: it's free.)
Hope you have a terrific weekend, everyone. More Monday.:)
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Speaking of Andreessen Horowitz: the investing heavyweight announced this morning that it has closed on $9 billion in new capital commitments for its early, growth-stage and biotech-focused vehicles. The capital brings its total assets under management to a stunning $28 billion. (That's a lot in management fees: $560 million if it charges a standard 2% to shepherd that money into lucrative deals.) It's truly a remarkable feat, given that a16z -- which employs roughly 370 people -- is just 13 years old. How we'd love to see a list of its LPs! (Psst, wink, wink.) More here.
The price of Bitcoin fell below the $41,000 mark today, reaching its lowest level since Sept. 29, according to data from Coin Metrics. More here.
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Alt is the simplest alternative asset platform that helps you confidently invest in what you’re passionate about. Its team is reimagining liquidity and banking products to support the next generation of investors. Alt envisions a world where anything can be an investible asset – starting with trading cards.
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Carsome, a seven-year-old, Selangor, Malaysia-based online marketplace for used cars, has raised $300 million co-led by Temasek-affiliated funds and Qatar Investment Authority. Bloomberg has more here.
iProov, a nearly nine-year-old, London-based cybersecurity company that provides online facial biometric authentication used by governments and the private sector, has raised $70 million (£51.6m) in funding from Sumeru Equity Partners. Tech.eu has more here.
RoadRunner Recycling, a nearly eight-year-old, Pittsburgh, Pa.-based sustainable waste management company, has raised $70 million in Series D funding from the growth equity firm General Atlantic. The round brings the company's total funding to date to $129.5 million. Recyling Today has more here.
Virtue Diagnostics, a 2.5-year-old, China-based maker of in-vitro diagnostic systems, has raised $100 million in Series B funding. Sequoia Capital China, Morningside Ventures and Oriza Holdings co-led the round, joined by earlier backers Lilly Asia Ventures and PerkinElmer Ventures. FierceBiotech has more here.
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Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Avataar, a six-year-old, San Francisco- and Bangalore-based AI and computer vision startup that aims to help consumer brands and marketplaces shape their consumers' journeys with 3D renderings of their products, has raised $45 million in Series B funding. Tiger Global led the round, joined by earlier backer Sequoia Capital India. The company has now raised $55.5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Draftea, an eight-month-old, Mexico-based startup whose Stanford MBA founder says it's the first daily fantasy sports company in Spanish-speaking Latin America, has raised $13.2 million in funding led by Kaszek. Bullpen and Nigel Eccles, founder and former CEO of sports-betting giant FanDuel, also joined the round, along with Sequoia Capital. Indeed, says TechCrunch, the deal marks Sequoia’s first investment in a company headquartered in Mexico. More here.
Parler, the 3.5-year-old, Nashville, Tn.-based conservative social media platform, has raised $20.3 million in funding, according to an SEC filing, which lists 10 "related persons," including heiress Rebekah Mercer, who cofounded the outfit. Axios first spotted the filing. More here.
Zuddl, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based virtual events platform, has raised $13.4 million in Series A funding. Alpha Wave and Qualcomm Ventures co-led the round, joined by GrowX Ventures and Waveform Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
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Bfree, a 2.5-year-old, Lagos, Nigeria-based credit management startup, has raised $1.7 million in a pre-Series A funding, including from 4Di Capital, Octerra Capital, VestedWorld, Voltron Capital, Logos Ventures and several other angel investors. The company has now raised $2.5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Pendulum, a seven-month-old, Seattle, Wa.-based startup aiming to help companies, governments and other organizations track harmful narratives on social media platforms and elsewhere on the web, has raised $5.9 million in seed funding led by Madrona Venture Group, with participation from Cercano Management and others. The service was incubated inside Madrona Venture Labs. TechCrunch has more here.
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Hallo! Make 2022 the year you speak a new language with Babbel, the app that's sold over 10 million subscriptions. Babbel gives you bite-sized lessons in a variety of languages. It'll have you speaking the basics in 3 weeks. Plus, it has podcasts, games, and videos to switch things up! Sign up to get 60% off.
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Launch House, a company that hosts month-long programs for entrepreneurs at its communal houses, is raising $10 million for a fund to invest in startups, per a new SEC filing flagged by Axios. As the outlet reminds readers, Launch House began last year after its founders, along with some friends, rented a house in Tulum, Mexico, amid the pandemic to fight off social isolation and work on their project and startup ideas. It has since raised $3 million in funding and charges participants a membership fee to access its programs, events, and networks. More here.
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Reddit, the San Francisco-based social media company, is working with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to go public as soon as March, according to Bloomberg, which says its sources estimate Reddit could be valued at as much as $15 billion in an IPO. (Last summer, the outfit was valued by its private investors at $10 billion.) More here.
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Yikes? Two top PR executives, VPs Roberta Thomson and John Pinette, have departed Facebook. Pinette led the company's global communications; Thomson led all communications about its products. Business Insider has more here.
Peter Reinhardt spent the last decade as CEO at Segment helping to build the customer data platform and selling it to Twilio for $3.2 billion along the way. Now he's leaving Twilio to be full-time CEO at Charm Industrial, a carbon mitigation startup he co-founded in 2018.
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It could be that Signal founder Moxie Marlinspike is trying to divert away attention from this, but his "web3" analysis is worth reading.
The cheapest piece of metaverse land you can buy is going for a whopping $11,000.
Habitat for Humanity is 3-D printing houses.
"Soon after 19-year-old Adele Lowitz gave up her Apple iPhone 11 for an experimental go with an Android smartphone, a friend in her long-running texting group chimed in: 'Who’s green?'"
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