• Venrock’s Bryan Roberts on What’s Up with Health Care IPOs

    broberts_pressBryan Roberts has seen plenty of market swings in his 18 years as a venture capitalist with Venrock, the venture firm that started as the venture arm of the Rockefeller family and has historically invested in early-stage technology and — Roberts’s specialty — health care start-ups.

    Roberts also has a thorough understanding of what’s happening on the U.S. public markets as the chairman of three Venrock portfolio companies that now trade on Nasdaq: Castlight Health, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, and Achaogen.

    Given his background, we asked him recently what he’s expecting to see happen in the health care market next year. Our chat has been edited for length.

    Several months ago, the IPO market for health care companies suddenly tightened after a long run. What’s happening?

    Health care has tightened, but we could probably talk broadly about the financing market tightening. With the later-stage stuff getting dicier, I’ve been hearing about more IPOs getting pulled. People are either “risk on” or “risk off,” and we’re beginning to back off from full-throttle risk-on environment. I guess I feel like the last four or five months in both biotech and tech more broadly have been akin to what you might have considered “last licks” in a stickball game as the sun was going down, and that shift predates the mutual fund valuation stuff that came out.

    I don’t know that I have a good reason as to why biotech pulled back specifically other than pricing concerns mentioned by presidential candidates, some high-profile price gouging, and some clinical trials that read out negatively, though that always happens.

    What are you expecting in 2016 and how might it impact your approach?

    Well, for one thing, the changing environment may make me feel less out of step with everyone else. We don’t tend to focus on sectors or stages. I invest really broadly across health care, from genomics to diagnostics to therapeutics, so from a fundamental perspective, we don’t tend to follow the herd. In this bullish market environment, we haven’t been doing growth equity investing. We tend to avoid the party seed rounds done by 15 different people.

    [All that said,] in health care IT, we’ve moved to earlier stage. We’ve started a couple of companies. We’ve moved to pre-product market fit, which is different than how we’d invested in the space 10 years ago. When we invested in Athenahealth [the now publicly traded company that offers a suite of administrative services for medical practices], they had product market fit, but no one wanted to invest in that space. Now, once something has traction, it’s priced very fully. So earlier this year we started a business with [former Facebook CFO] David Ebersman called Lyra Health. We did the same with [former U.S. CTO], Todd Park at Castlight. We’ll continue doing that for some time.

    What does someone need to get a meeting with you?

    More here.

  • StrictlyVC: December 4, 2015

    Hello and happy Friday, everyone! Hope you have a terrific weekend, and we’ll see you back here on Monday.

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    The Federal Open Market Committee is almost universally expected to raise rates slightly at its December 15th meeting. What this means for the markets isn’t clear, however, reports Dealbook.

    —–

    The Obstacle to Becoming a VC is Financial, Not Gender, Inequality

    Start you own venture firm. That’s the advicethat one of the industry’s first women VCs, Kathryn Gould, gave to other women, and it came to mind yesterday as I watched an interview given to journalist Emily Chang this week by longtime Sequoia Capital investor Michael Moritz.

    As you’ve likely heard by now, Chang asked Moritz about Sequoia’s responsibility to hire women, as Sequoia has no female investment partners on its U.S. investment team.

    Adjusting his collar uncomfortably, Moritz said he’d like to think that the firm is “blind to somebody’s sex, to their religion, to their background.” He added that there is, in his view, a pipeline problem to explain the dearth of women at Sequoia. “I think the issue begins in our high schools, and where women particularly in America and also in Europe, tend to elect not to study the sciences when they’re 11 or 12. So suddenly the hiring pool is much smaller.”

    Asked if Sequoia might not be looking hard enough, Moritz said that Sequoia “looks very hard . . . We just hired a young woman from Stanford who is every bit as good as her peers and if there are more like her, we’ll hire them. What we’re not prepared to do is to lower our standards.”

    Numerous outlets have since suggested that Moritz put his foot in his mouth by associating women with low standards. Facebook commenters were no more generous, with some smartly pointing out that Moritz himself was a history major.

    I’m not going to defend Moritz. But focusing anger at him, or at Andreessen Horowitz, or at Benchmark, or Accel Partners (none of which employ any female general partners, save for Accel’s Sonali De Rycker in London), is somewhat misguided.

    More here.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Hollar, a months-old, L.A.-based online destination for gifts and goods that start at $2, has raised $12 million in Series A funding just after raising $5.5 million in seed funding. Its investors include Index Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Forerunner Ventures and BAM Ventures, the investment firm of Honest Company cofounder Brian Lee. L.A. Business Journal has more here.

    Reverb, a three-year-old, Chicago-based online marketplace for musical instruments and equipment, has raised $25 million in funding led by Summit Partners. Billboard has more here.

    SeamlessDocs, a months-old, New York-based company whose technology allows users to convert any PDF into a fillable, mobile friendly cloud document that can be completed from any device, has raised $5 million in Series A funding led by the Govtech Fund. TechCrunch has more here.

    Teforia, a 1.5-year-old Mountain View, Ca.-based startup that says its machine makes the perfect cup of tea every time, has raised $5.1 million in funding led by Upfront Ventures, with participation from Lemnos Labs, PreAngel and InnoSpring, among others. TechCrunch has more here.

    Top Flight Technologies, a 1.5-year-old, Malden, Ma.-based commercial drone developer, has raised $1.75 million in seed funding led by ff Venture Capital, with participation from angel investors, including Joi Ito. More here.

    Vanitee, a six-month-old Singapore-based online marketplace that connects beauty practitioners with customers, has raised $3.5 million, including from the Southeast Asia-based beauty seller Luxasia and Robert Yap, head of the logistics firm YCH. Garena — a billion dollar tech firm covering payments, games and e-commerce — also partook in Vanitee’s round. TechCrunch has more here.

    Younity, a five-year-old, Boulder, Co.-based provider of cloud storage services, has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Marker LLC. Boulder County Business has more here.

    —–

    Exits

    Today Nokia completed its sale of its mapping division Here to Audi, BMW Group and Daimler AG for €2.55 billion ($2.8 billion). The deal was originally announced in August. TechCrunch has more here.

    Welltok, a Denver-based health optimization platform, has acquired Silverlink Communications, a Burlington, Ma.-based healthcare communications company for undisclosed terms. To help fund the deal, Welltok has raised $45 million in funding from new investors Georgian Partners, EDBI, Flare Capital and some of its earlier investors. Welltok has now raised around $130 million altogether, according to CrunchBase. Meanwhile, Silverlink had raised $12.6 million, shows CrunchBase. Its backers include  HLM Venture Partners and Sigma PartnersMore here.

    —–

    People

    Mark Zuckberg took to the platform yesterday to respond to growing criticisms concerning how he plans to give his money away.

    Pandora’s recent $75 million acquisition of bankrupt music streaming service Rdio means major layoffs for Rdio employees, reports VentureBeat. The company is reportedly axing 123 poeple in San Francisco and it only employed between 140 and 180, say its sources. More here.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Stanford to MBAs: Don’t start up until you graduate.

    Angry French Uber drivers have created their own Uber.

    How Airbnb’s worst problems are confirmed by its own data.

    —–

    Detours

    The world’s fastest runner, in super slow motion.

    —-

    Retail Therapy

    Eleven drones for all types of pilots.

  • The Obstacle to Becoming a VC is Financial, Not Gender, Inequality

    Screen Shot 2015-12-04 at 3.19.35 PMStart you own venture firm. That’s the advice that one of the industry’s first women VCs, Kathryn Gould, gave to other women, and it came to mind yesterday as I watched an interview given to journalist Emily Chang this week by longtime Sequoia Capital investor Michael Moritz.

    As you’ve likely heard by now, Chang asked Moritz about Sequoia’s responsibility to hire women, as Sequoia has no female investment partners on its U.S. investment team.

    Adjusting his collar uncomfortably, Moritz said he’d like to think that the firm is “blind to somebody’s sex, to their religion, to their background.” He added that there is, in his view, a pipeline problem to explain the dearth of women at Sequoia. “I think the issue begins in our high schools, and where women particularly in America and also in Europe, tend to elect not to study the sciences when they’re 11 or 12. So suddenly the hiring pool is much smaller.”

    Asked if Sequoia might not be looking hard enough, Moritz said that Sequoia “looks very hard . . . We just hired a young woman from Stanford who is every bit as good as her peers and if there are more like her, we’ll hire them. What we’re not prepared to do is to lower our standards.”

    Numerous outlets have since suggested that Moritz put his foot in his mouth by associating women with low standards. Facebook commenters were no more generous, with some smartly pointing out that Moritz himself was a history major.

    I’m not going to defend Moritz. But focusing anger at him, or at Andreessen Horowitz, or at Benchmark, or Accel Partners (none of which employ any female general partners, save for Accel’s Sonali De Rycker in London), is somewhat misguided.

    More here.

  • StrictlyVC: December 3, 2015

    Hi, cheers from charming London, everyone! (Yes, we made it.) Thanks so much to everyone who has reached out about coffee or lunch while we’re here. We’re hoping to meet up with some of you in the coming days, including at London Disrupt, where we’ll be moderating two very different investor panels. More to come.:)

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Uber is at it again. According to a new Bloomberg report, the car-booking company is looking to raise as much as $2.1 billion in a financing round that would value it at $62.5 billion.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Baobab Studios, a new, Redwood City, Ca.-based virtual reality company that creates story and character-driven cinematic experiences and was founded by former Zynga game developers and Dreamworks animators, has raised $6 million in Series A funding. Comcast Ventures led the round; HTC, Samsung Ventures, Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel also participated. Fortune has more here.

    BrightFunnel, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based predictive intelligence platform for business-to-business marketers, has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Crosslink Capital, with participation from Salesforce Ventures and previous investors Bloomberg Beta, Karlin Ventures and Resolute Ventures. BrightFunnel has now raised nearly $10 million in funding altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

    Cellwize, a three-year-old, Singapore-based maker of self-organizing network software that it sells to mobile operators, has raised $14.5 million in Series A funding co-led by Carmel Ventures and Vintage Investment Partners.Viola Credit separately provided a $10 million credit facility.

    Clearpool Group, a three-year-old, New York-based company that develops electronic trading, routing, compliance and risk software, has raised $8 million in growth equity funding from Edison Partners. More here.

    EatStreet, a five-year-old, Madison, Wi.-based online food ordering service, has raised $15 million in Series C funding co-led by 4490 Ventures and Lumia Capital. Others in the round included GCI Capital, MATH Venture Partners, and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board. TechCrunch has more here.

    Evariant, a seven-year-old, Farmington, Cn.-based CRM platform for healthcare providers, has raised $42.3 million in Series C funding led by Goldman Sachs, with participation from earlier backers Health Enterprise Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

    Figma, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based startup whose web-based tool for user interface design allows for many simultaneous users, has raised $14 million in fresh funding led by Greylock Partners. Other investors in the company include Iconiq Capital, Index Ventures, OATV, Soleio Cuervo, and individual investors, including LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. TechCrunch has more here.

    Kesios Therapeutics, a three-year-old, London-based company developing therapeutics to treat multiple myeloma and other cancers, has raised $28.5 million in Series A funding, including from Imperial Innovations Group, SV Life Sciences and Abingworth.

    LiveSafe, a nearly four-year-old, Arlington, Va.-based maker of safety and alert technology for universities and businesses, has raised $4 million in Series A funding from Hearst Ventures and IAC. The Washington Post has more here.

    Lufax, a four-year-old, Shanghai, China-based peer-to-peer lender, is reportedly looking to raise around $1 billion in new equity funding at a valuation of between $15 billion and $20 billion. Bloomberg has more here.

    OpsClarity, a two-year-old, Sunnyvale, Ca.-based company whose software helps developer teams better understand and troubleshoot issues in their fast-changing web-scale application environments, has raised $11 million in funding led by New Enterprise Associates. Other participants in the round include Pinnacle Ventures, AME Cloud, Morado Venture Partners and other, angel investors.

    Remedy Pharmaceuticals, an 11-year-old, New York-based developer of drugs to treat acute CNS disorders, has raised $9 million in VC funding. New investors included The Vertical Group. More here.

    Sensoro, a 2.5-year-old, Seattle-based maker of iBeacon sensors, has raised $10 million in new funding from Nokia Growth Partners, New World Development Company, and Mandra Capital.

    Staffly, a nine-month-old, online retail staffing company, has raised $1.25 million in seed funding led by ff Venture Capital, with participation from earlier backers LionBird, Three Fish Capital and WS Ventures. TechCrunch hasmore here.

    ThreatQ, a 2.5-year-old, Sterling, Va.-based threat intelligence platform, has raised $10.2 million in Series A funding led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from return backers Blu Venture Investors and the Center for Innovative Technology. More here.

    uMake, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based company developing what it claims is the industry’s first cloud-based mobile 3D sketching app, has raised $5.2 million in Series A funding led by BlueRun Ventures, with participation from UpWest Labs, Brian McClendon, and Noam Bardin. TechCrunch has more here.

    LeBron James’s months-old multimedia venture Uninterrupted has raised $15.8 million in funding from Warner Bros. Entertainment and Turner Sports. The venture currently makes videos about athletes, including real-time shorts and original digital series. Bloomberg has more here.

    Wiivv Wearables, a 1.5-year-old, Vancouver, B.C.-based company that creates custom, 3D printed gear, has raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by Eclipse VC (formerly Formation 8 Hardware Fund), with participation from Real Ventures, Asimov Ventures, Evonik Industries, and MAS Holdings. Crowdfund Insider has more here.

    —–

    New Funds

    The venture firm and accelerator 500 Startups is looking to raise $30 million for a dedicated Middle Eastern venture fund, and Bloomberg says the firm is halfway toward its goal.

    —–

    People

    Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures talks with Dealbook.

    Sir Michael Moritz talks with Bloomberg about Sequoia’s search for women VCs. (Video.)

    Greg Tseng is stepping down from the CEO role of if(we) after 11 years running its dating social network Tagged and game studio hi5. TechCrunch has more here.

    Eric Wiesen, who spent the last seven years at RRE Ventures — the last five as a general partner — has joined Bullpen Capital as a general partner. Wiesen was part of a panel discussion we moderated on Tuesday. You can read more about it here.

    —–

    Jobs

    Bosch is looking to hire a paid venture capital intern. The part-time job is in Palo Alto, Ca.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Four reasons the Facebook fortune is going into an LLC.

    Google’s latest app can turn Android phones into virtual reality cameras.

    —–

    Detours

    How to be profilic.

    The most in-demand jobs for 2016.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Glamping gifts for people who, truth be told, prefer to avoid camping altogether.

  • StrictlyVC: December 2, 2015

    Hey, everyone, great seeing some of you yesterday.

    Quick mention: Starting tomorrow, we’ll be reporting from London for about a week. We haven’t tried this before and we’ll have a lot going on in the evenings, so you may wind up receiving SVC at funky times. We promise we’ll resume our normal schedule later next week when we’re back home in San Francisco.

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Yahoo‘s board is reportedly planning a series of meetings this week to consider selling off the company’s core but flagging Internet businesses. The Wall Street Journal has the story here.

    —–

    Sequoia’s Alfred Lin on Why Uber’s Valuation is Twice That of Airbnb

    Yesterday, at the Post-Seed conference in San Francisco, Alfred Lin, the former COO and CFO of Zappos and now a Sequoia Capital partner, was asked a variety of on-stage questions about the current market.

    Among them was whether Lin thinks it’s a good time to start a fund. “Probably not,” he said. “Valuations are high. But it doesn’t matter if you’re [thinking] long term,” he said. “If you’re building something enduring, you’re going to face lots of ups and downs anyway and you might as well start today.” As he noted, “It only gets more competitive in this world” of investing.

    Lin was also asked about the changing landscape and talked about the slowdown he expects next year, prompted by rate changes that the Federal Reserve is expected to enact shortly. “With interest rates close to zero, you can’t make money in the bond market,” he said. “So the bond people now invest in stocks, and people who invest in stocks invest in private growth rounds . . . and VCs invest in seed deals.” That’ll all change when the Fed starts raising rates, which Lin anticipates it may do “maybe even once a quarter.” Once that happens, he said, “There will be less money chasing companies all the way down the spectrum.”

    Lin was also asked to take a look back and address some of Sequoia’s most impactful decisions in recent years. He was asked, for example, why Sequoia invested in the accommodations marketplace Airbnb but passed on the ride-sharing company Uber.

    More here.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Bluecore, a nearly three-year-old, New York-based data marketing platform that helps ecommerce brands send more emails at times designed to drive higher conversion, has raised $21 million in Series B funding led by Georgian Partners, with participation from earlier backers FirstMark Capital and Felicis Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

    Netsertive, a 6.5-year-old, Morrisville, N.C.-based digital marketing analytics company, has tacked $9 million on to what is now a $24 million Series C round of funding. The new injection was led by River Cities Capital Funds, with participation from Babson Capital Management and Netsertive’s existing investors. More here.

    Neurona Therapeutics, a 4.5-year-old, South San Francisco, Ca.-based biotechnology company focused on the transplantation of selected neurons to treat intractable neurological diseases, has raised $23.5 million in Series A funding led by The Column Group. More here.

    ORIC Pharmaceuticals, a 1.5-year-old, South San Francisco, Ca.-based biotechnology company focused on a treatment for prostate cancer that resists existing therapies, has raised $53 million in Series B funding from Column Group, EcoR1 Capital, Foresite Capital Management, Kravis Investment Partners, OrbiMed Advisors and Topspin Partners. Xconomy has more here.

    Osaro, a months-old, San Francisco-based startup that’s developing advanced machine learning known as deep reinforcement learning, has raised $3.3 million in seed funding to take its technology to market. The money comes from Scott Banister, Jerry Yang’s AME Cloud Ventures, and Peter Thiel. TechCrunch has more here.

    Stringr, a two-year-old, New York-based crowdsourced news startup that relies on professional videographers to submit footage that can then be sold to media organizations, has raised $1.5 million in funding. The capital comes fromMatter, the media-focused startup accelerator where Stringr was incubated;Founder.org; and Signia Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

    Super, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based subscription-based service that provides homeowners with routine maintenance and repairs, has raised $3.6 million in seed funding from General Catalyst Partners, Lux Capital andFounders Collective. More here.

    Velicept Therapeutics, a year-old, Malvern, Pa.-based clinical development company focused on treating overactive bladders, has raised $21 million in Series B funding led by CAM Capital and Longitude Capital. More here.

    —–

    New Funds

    Autodesk, whose 3D design software is used in manufacturing, architecture, construction and entertainment, is launching a $100 million venture fund as part of a new software platform that Autodesk is opening to developers. Its first focus will be manufacturing. The WSJ has more here.

    —–

    IPOs

    According to data from Renaissance Capital, companies have raised less than $30 billion this year through IPOs on U.S. exchanges. That’s the lowest number since 2009, at the end of the Great Recession. More here.

    —–

    People

    Google just lost another long-time manager to Uber. Manik Gupta, who worked on Google Maps for seven years, has joined the ride-hailing juggernaut as the director of its maps product. Business Insider has the story here.

    Good Eggs, an e-commerce website that delivers local and organic foods to customers, has hired a new CEO months after closing operations in several cities and laying off employees. Bentley Hall, the new executive, previously worked at Plum Organics and Clif Bar & Co.

    Twitter cofounder Evan Williams sold 1.8 million shares of Twitter stock on Monday, netting about $47 million, according to a new SEC filing. As Business Insider notes, Williams has sold blocks of shares in the past, including almost 400,000 shares worth about $24 million back in April. But that sale was exercised as part of a preplanned schedule, according to a note in the accompanying SEC filing. Yesterday’s filing had no such note.

    Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, made astunning announcement yesterday. As they welcomed their daughter, Max, into the world, they also announced plans to give away 99 percent of their Facebook shares — worth $45 billion right now — for charitable purposes.

    Here’s how competitive hiring has grown: Facebook, Intuit, and others are now hiring college students first and figuring out jobs for these new recruits much later.

    —–

    Jobs

    Stripe, the payments company, is looking to add to its business development department. The job is in San Francisco.

    —–

    Data

    For Airbnb hosts in New York City,  typical annual income from the service is roughly $5,110, according to a trove of information that Airbnb released yesterday. Much more here.

    Chief executives of the largest U.S. single-family offices earned a median $830,000 in 2014, according to new data from Fidelity Investments.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    New writedowns of Jawbone‘s stock by investors BlackRock and Firsthand Technology Value Fund show how far its valuation has fallen over the past 18 months, observes The Information. Preferred stock sold for $11.27 per share last year has fallen in value to $4.19 per share. (Subscription required.)

    The anonymous Silicon Valley satire that has stumped tech world insiders.

    —–

    Detours

    Ten iconic brands that have disappeared.

    The mysterious aging of astronauts.

    A pediatrician of 30 years shows how to calm a crying newborn.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Caffeinated peanut butter. Because caffeine is delicious.

  • Sequoia’s Alfred Lin on Why Uber’s Valuation is Twice That of Airbnb

    Screen Shot 2015-12-01 at 3.40.12 PMToday, at the Post-Seed conference in San Francisco, Alfred Lin, the former COO and CFO of Zappos and now a Sequoia Capital partner, was asked a variety of on-stage questions about the current market.

    Among them was whether Lin thinks it’s a good time to start a fund. “Probably not,” he said. “Valuations are high. But it doesn’t matter if you’re [thinking] long term,” he said. “If you’re building something enduring, you’re going to face lots of ups and downs anyway and you might as well start today.” As he noted, “It only gets more competitive in this world” of investing.

    Lin was also asked about the changing landscape and talked about the slowdown he expects next year, prompted by rate changes that the Federal Reserve is expected to enact shortly. “With interest rates close to zero, you can’t make money in the bond market,” he said. “So the bond people now invest in stocks, and people who invest in stocks invest in private growth rounds . . . and VCs invest in seed deals.” That’ll all change when the Fed starts raising rates, which Lin anticipates it may do “maybe even once a quarter.” Once that happens, he said, “There will be less money chasing companies all the way down the spectrum.”

    Lin was also asked to take a look back and address some of Sequoia’s most impactful decisions in recent years. He was asked, for example, why Sequoia invested in the accommodations marketplace Airbnb but passed on the ride-sharing company Uber.

    More here.

  • StrictlyVC: December 1, 2015

    Hi, all, happy Tuesday.

    We’re running off in a bit to moderate a panel at the Post-Seed conference in San Francisco. The topic? The Tightening. (Are early-stage VCs reacting to “unicorn volatility“? We’ll find out!). Famed VC John Doerr kicks things off at 9. Looking forward to seeing some of you there.

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Tiger Global Management has raised another $2.5 billion to invest in private companies, according to an SEC filing. It’s the tenth fund of its kind. Its ninth fund closed with a separate $2.5 billion almost exactly one year ago.

    —–

    AppDyamics Raises $158 Million at a $1.9 Billion Valuation

    Last month, based on an SEC filing, we told you that seven-year-old, San Francisco-based AppDynamics had raised a fresh $83.4 million in funding as part of a round that was targeting up to $150 million.

    Turns out the company met that target and then some. CEO David Wadhwani — who joined the firm in September after spending more than a decade as an executive at Adobe, including as its digital chief — says the company just closed on $158 million in a round led by General Atlantic and Altimeter Capital.

    Other participants in the round include Adage Capital, Industry Ventures, Goldman Sachs, and Cross Creek Advisors, as well as earlier backers Institutional Venture Partners, Greylock Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

    AppDynamics makes software to monitor the performance of business applications, competing with some traditional firms like IBM, as well as younger outfits like New Relic, which went public last December and has seen relatively steady stock performance since. (New Relic, which raised $214 million in venture funding, has a current market cap of $1.8 billion.)

    AppDynamics had previously raised roughly $206 million in debt and equity, including a $120 million round — $70 million equity and $50 million of debt — that closed in July of last year.

    At the time of the funding announcement, the company told VentureBeat that the money represented “pre-IPO growth financing.” Asked yesterday what this new round means, Wadhwani said he “won’t speculate on the exact timing” of an IPO but added, “I was brought in to take this company public, and that’s what I intend to do.”

    More here.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Burpple, a four-year-old, Singapore-based food discovery service, has raised $6 million in Series A funding from Tembusu Partners, Singapore Press Holdings’ Media Fund and Triumph Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

    Nestio, a four-year-old, New York-based leasing and marketing platform for residential landlords, has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Trinity Ventures, with participation from earlier backers Freestyle Capital, Joanne Wilson, and David Cohen. TechCrunch has more here.

    Mirador, a 1.5-year-old, Portland, Or.-based company that makes cloud-based borrower application software for lenders, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Core Innovation Capital. Other participants in the round include Nyca Partners, Jump Capital and seed backers Collaborative FundWicklow Capital and Crosslink Capital. More here.

    Revolar, a two-year-old, Denver-based company whose wearable device signals an alert to loved ones via text message and/or email message, has raised $3 million in seed funding from Foundry Group.

    Soliton, a new, Houston-based stealth-mode startup whose technology will aid in methods for medical and cosmetic treatments using electro-hydraulic generated shockwaves (it was developed out of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center), has raised $9 million, according to an SEC filing. Houston Business Journal has more here.

    ThreatConnect, a four-year-old, Arlington, Va.-based company that makes cyber threat detection software, has raised $16 million in Series B funding led by SAP National Security Services, a subsidiary of the enterprise software giant SAP. Previous backer Grotech also joined the round, along with other, unnamed strategic investors. More here.

    —–

    New Funds

    Greycroft Partners has closed its fourth early-stage fund with around $220 million in commitments. The nine-year-old bicoastal firm, with an office in New York and L.A., raised $75 million for its debut fund in 2006; $131 million for its second fund in 2010; and $175 million for its third early-stage fund in 2013. Last year, the company, whose investments include Maker Studios, Buddy Media, and Huffington Post, also raised a growth fund for the first time to support its most promising investments. That fund, Greycroft Growth LP, closed with $200 million.

    —–

    IPOs

    Enterprise software company Atlassian, which filed a month ago to go public on NASDAQ, has revealed in a new SEC filing that it plans to sell 20 million shares at between $16.50 to $18.50. If the company — which makes the Slack competitor Hipchat — sell its shares at the high end, it will raise a total of $370 million. TechCrunch has more here.

    —–

    Exits

    Innography, an eight-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based company that sells software services designed to manage and protect patents, has been acquired for undisclosed terms by CPA Global, an intellectual property software and services specialist based in the Channel Islands. In early 2014, Innography raised $3.5 million in debt financing, according to an SEC filing. In 2010, the company raised $3 million in Series B funding, including from Austin Ventures and Covera Ventures.

    Israeli marketing software company Perion Network has acquired the 13-year-old, New York-based digital advertising company Undertone in a deal valued at $180 million. The WSJ has more here.

    In the first large consolidation deal in India’s frothy online property-selling sector, Quikr Homes, the real estate vertical of digital classifieds platform Quikr, will merge with seven-year-old real estate portal CommonFloor.com in a $200-million full equity swap deal, reports the Economic Times.

    —–

    People

    Rufus Griscom, the founder of Nerve and Babble, has launched Heleo, a platform for “thought leaders.”

    Lawrence Lenihan, the cofounder of FirstMark Capital, has left the firm for a new company he has cofounded, Resonance Companies, which will create and operate fashion startups. Lenihan isn’t leaving investing altogether, as Venture Capital Dispatch reports; Resonance will provide capital in exchange for equity in the fashion startups, but it will also provide plenty of operational help.

    Analysts pick their top 10 choices to replace Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

    Revolution Growth, the Washington, D.C.-based venture firm co-founded by Steve Case, has brought aboard three new VPs: Kristin Gunther, Ashley Larson and Chris Hughes. Gunther joins the firm from Perseus, most recently as vice president. Larson joins from ABS Capital Partners, where she was a senior associate. Hughes joins the firm from the Boston Consulting Group, where he was a project leader in it is consumer and retail practice.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    India is pulling further ahead of China as the world’s fastest-growing big economy.

    The race to create Elon Musk’s hyperloop heats up.

    —–

    Detours

    Autonomous electric cars races are coming, starting next year.

    Five interview tips from a Goldman Sachs campus recruiter.

    Why even skeptics fall for lies if they hear them often enough.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Revols earbuds for your unique (and may we say lovely!) ears.

  • AppDynamics Raises $158 Million at a $1.9 Billion Valuation

    Screen Shot 2015-11-30 at 4.50.06 PMLast month, based on an SEC filing, we told you that seven-year-old, San Francisco-based AppDynamics had raised a fresh $83.4 million in funding as part of a round that was targeting up to $150 million.

    Turns out the company met that target and then some. CEO David Wadhwani — who joined the firm in September after spending more than a decade as an executive at Adobe, including as its digital chief — says the company just closed on $158 million in a round led by General Atlantic and Altimeter Capital.

    Other participants in the round include Adage Capital, Industry Ventures, Goldman Sachs, and Cross Creek Advisors, as well as earlier backers Institutional Venture Partners, Greylock Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

    AppDynamics makes software to monitor the performance of business applications, competing with some traditional firms like IBM, as well as younger outfits like New Relic, which went public last December and has seen relatively steady stock performance since. (New Relic, which raised $214 million in venture funding, has a current market cap of $1.8 billion.)

    AppDynamics had previously raised roughly $206 million in debt and equity, including a $120 million round — $70 million equity and $50 million of debt — that closed in July of last year.

    At the time of the funding announcement, the company told VentureBeat that the money represented “pre-IPO growth financing.” Asked yesterday what this new round means, Wadhwani said he “won’t speculate on the exact timing” of an IPO but added, “I was brought in to take this company public, and that’s what I intend to do.”

    More here.

  • November 30, 2015

    Happy Monday, everyone! Welcome back.

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Climate talks got underway in Paris this morning, with French President Francois Hollande saying the world was at a “breaking point” in the fight against global warming.

    —–

    TrialPay Cofounder Back with Fractional Home Ownership Startup

    Point — an 11-month-old, Palo Alto-based home equity marketplace that plans to take people’s homes and make them completely liquid, divisible and tradable by letting owners sell fractional equity in them — is raising funding, shows a new SEC filing.

    It’s a fascinating concept that we think has only been tried in the past with vacation rentals by high-end developers, including Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton.

    Point was co-founded by Eddie Lim, who co-founded the e-commerce payment platform TrialPay, which Visa acquired in 2013 for undisclosed terms.

    Don’t be surprised to see Andreessen Horowitz lead or participate in this round. In August, the Sand Hill Road firm brought aboard another TrialPay co-founder (and Lim’s fellow Harvard classmate), Alex Rampell, as a general partner to focus on financial tech startups.

    More here.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Atzuche, a two-year-old, Shanghai-based peer-to-peer car rental start-up, has raised $47 million in Series B funding from China Pacific Insurance, Ivy Capital, Hearst Capital, Matrix Partners and Ceyuan Ventures. The company had reportedly raised $10 million in Series A funding roughly a year ago, led by Matrix. China Money Network has more here.

    Bee, a new, New York-based company that provides bank accounts, debit cards and financial services to people who live in low- and middle-income neighborhoods, has raised $4.6 million in funding in two rounds of seed funding, including from AXA Strategic Ventures, Blue Seed Capital, Fenway Summer Ventures, Funders Guild and T5 Capital. Venture Capital Dispatch has the story here. (Meanwhile, you can find the app here.)

    GOQii, a 1.5-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based wearable and fitness technology startup, has raised $13.4 million in Series A funding led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Cheetah Mobile; Great Wall Club; DSG Consumer Partners; and numerous individual investors. TechCrunch has more here.

    Iguaz.io, a year-old, Herzliya Israel-based stealth-mode company that says it’s rebuilding the framework for dealing with big data in a way that integrates information from numerous storage and processing platforms, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Magma Venture Partners. Jerusalem Venture Partners also participated in the round, along with other, unnamed, strategic investors. TechCrunch has more here.

    Pinrose, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based direct-to-consumer fragrance brand that sells perfume through a try-at-home model, has raised $2.1 million in seed funding, including from Harrison Metal Capital, Grace Beauty, investor Andy Rachleff, and ZIG Capital, among others. Venture Capital Dispatch has the story here.

    Pluss, a months-old, Gurgaon, India-based on-demand medicine and healthcare products delivery service startup, has raised $1 million in pre-Series A funding from IDG Ventures India, m & s partners in Singapore, and Powerhouse Ventures in the U.S. Times of India has more here.

    Stayglad, an eight-month-old, Bangalore, India-based on-demand beauty services startup, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from Bessemer Venture Partners and Anil Chopra, former CEO of Lakme Lever. The outlet e27 has more here.

    Vector Watch, a two-year-old Bucharest-based maker of a low-power operating system for wearables, has raised $5 million in funding led by GECAD Group, with participation from Catalyst Romania. Tech.eu has more here.

    Yixia Tech, the two-year-old Beijing, China-based company behind a popular Chinese video blogging app called Miao Pai, has raised $200 million in Series D funding from Weibo, Sequoia Capital, YG Entertainment, and other investors at a valuation of $1 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

    —–

    New Funds

    Anthemis Group, a five-year-old, London-based investment and advisory firm, is planning to raise $100 million debut fund to invest in early-stage financial tech startups. The firm’s founders include former Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein head of digital markets Sean Park; Udayan Goyal, Deutsche Bank’s former global head of financial technology advisory; and Nadeem Shaikh, former head of financial institutions at First Data Corporation. More here.

    Cayuga Venture Fund, a 21-year-old, Ithaca, N.Y.-based venture fund that invests in New York state, has held a $20.5 million first closing on its fifth fund. It’s reportedly targeting between $30 million and $50 million.

    Hostplus, a $20-plus-billion hospitality and sports super fund (it’s akin to a pension fund in the United States), plans to pour $400 million into venture capital firms in the next five years, according to Australia’s Financial Review. Among its newest investments: Blackbird Ventures’s new $200 million fund, which we’d written about here.

    —–

    IPOs

    Atlassian‘s IPO road show begins this week. The 13-year-old, Sydney, Australia-headquartered company, which makes project management and collaboration software, now plans to raise between $330 million and $370 million, sources tell Fortune.

    —–

    Exits

    Perk.com, which makes mobile apps that reward users for watching TV, unlocking their phones, online shopping, surfing the web and more, is acquiring the mobile app development platform Corona Labs for a total of $2.3 million. TechCrunch has more here.

    —–

    People

    Some of the world’s most powerful individuals are forming a new organization called Breakthrough Energy Coalition to invest in tech that could help climate change. The coalition includes Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg; Alibaba CEO Jack Ma and many others. Geekwire has the full list and other details here.

    Founders Fund partners Scott Nolan and Aaaron VanDevender talk with us about the firm’s processes, deal flow, and its newest big bets.

    R.I.P Kathryn Gould, venture pioneer, straight shooter, lover of curse words.

    VC Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital gives The Sunday Times a look at a day in his life (in what’s become an unusual and welcome string of interviews): “I am up at 5 am and I start each day with exercise,” he starts. “Two days a week I go for a swim and two days a week I do a bike spin class. I may have been born in Wales, but I’ve fallen for the California lifestyle, hook, line and sinker . . .”

    Marie-Hortense Varin has joined the venture firm Partech Ventures as a senior associate in Paris. Varin worked previously as a consultant at Bain & Company and was involved in the development of Rocket Internet in Africa, working on the logistics of the e-retailer Jumia in Egypt.

    —–

    Jobs

    Vivo Capital, a healthcare-focused investment firm that funds both private and public companies in the U.S. and China, is looking to hire an associate. The job is in Palo Alto, Ca.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Amazon may have a secret air cargo operation called Aerosmith. (Meanwhile, Amazon released a video yesterday showing off its new Prime Air drone design.)

    Google Glass could return as a monocole.

    A San Francisco couple’s elite supper club captures Airbnb’s attention.

    Silicon Valley is growing up — and giving parents a break.

    —–

    Detours

    Is there a secret behind King Tut’s tomb?

    Did you know: L.A. is now home to more manufacturing jobs than anywhere else in the U.S.

    How men’s and women’s brains appear to age differently.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    The Valkyrie, and 26 other extravagant gifts for when money is no object.

  • TrialPay Cofounder Back with Fractional Home Ownership Startup

    Screen Shot 2015-11-25 at 5.43.24 PMPoint — an 11-month-old, Palo Alto-based home equity marketplace that plans to take people’s homes and make them completely liquid, divisible and tradable by letting owners sell fractional equity in them — is raising funding, shows a new SEC filing.

    It’s a fascinating concept that we think has only been tried in the past with vacation rentals by high-end developers, including Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton.

    Point was co-founded by Eddie Lim, who co-founded the e-commerce payment platform TrialPay, which Visa acquired in 2013 for undisclosed terms.

    Don’t be surprised to see Andreessen Horowitz lead or participate in this round. In August, the Sand Hill Road firm brought aboard another TrialPay co-founder (and Lim’s fellow Harvard classmate), Alex Rampell, as a general partner to focus on financial tech startups.

    More here.


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