Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Quick mention for those of you who’ve been in and out on vacation: On September 29, a Thursday night, at the glass-lined offices of SurveyMonkey in Palo Alto, we’re hosting our fifth and newest StrictlyVC INSIDER event, and it’s going to be great. Featured guests include the inimitable Marc Andreessen, along with SurveyMonkey CEO Zander Lurie, who will update us on the unicorn company and where it goes from here. We’ll also be announcing a third interview that you won’t want to miss. Seating is limited and many spots have been snapped up by readers already, so don’t wait too long to nab yours.

Much thanks to our wonderful partners in the evening, without whom we couldn’t host these things. They include the young, early-stage venture firm Bolt; Ballou PR, to which many startups (and VCs) have turned to raise their profile in Europe; and Mattermark, which organizes and sells information about a wide swath of startups and, increasingly, other businesses.

—–

Top News in the A.M.

Twitter is streaming Wimbledon today.

—–

Tesla Says It Told Government of Autopilot Crash Ahead of Stock Sale

Tesla says it told regulators about the May 7th crash involving one of its electric cars in self-driving Autopilot mode nine days after the incident, adding that there was nothing unusual in either the delay or its decision to keep quiet about the incident before a federal investigation was publicly announced last Thursday.

Tesla says the company was informed of the accident “shortly” after it took place.

Tesla’s statement, issued late this afternoon, seems to be a direct response to a Fortune article published earlier today that notes the enormous stock sale that Tesla announced on May 18. States the Fortune piece:

“On May 18, eleven days after [Tesla owner Joshua] Brown died, Tesla and CEO Elon Musk, in combination (roughly three parts Tesla, one part Musk), sold more than $2 billion of Tesla stock in a public offering at a price of $215 per share—and did it without ever having released a word about the crash.

“To put things baldly, Tesla and Musk did not disclose the very material fact that a man had died while using an auto-pilot technology that Tesla had marketed vigorously as safe and important to its customers.”

When Fortune sought comment from Musk, he first replied that he didn’t think the fact of the crash was “material to the value of Tesla” and therefore did not need to be disclosed at the time of Tesla’s stock sale. He reportedly continued, via email to Fortune:

“Indeed, if anyone bothered to do the math (obviously, you did not) they would realize that of the over 1M auto deaths per year worldwide, approximately half a million people would have been saved if the Tesla autopilot was universally available. Please, take 5 mins and do the bloody math before you write an article that misleads the public.”

In this afternoon’s statement, Tesla said it had disclosed the incident to the government by May 16.

Asked by Reuters why Tesla didn’t also disclose the accident to the public before that share sale, the company sent the outlet the following statement:

“Tesla does not find it necessary, nor does any automaker, to share the details of every accident that occur in a Tesla vehicle. More than a million people die globally every year in car accidents, but automakers do not disclose each of these accidents to investors, let alone before those investigations are complete and without regard to what the results of those investigations end up being.”

More here.

—–

New Fundings

Darktrace, a three-year-old, London-based company that makes enterprise cybersecurity software, has raised $65 million in growth equity funding led by KKR, with participation from TenEleven Ventures, SoftBank, and return backer Summit Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Homee, a nearly year-old,  L.A.-based company whose mobile app helps users design rooms for free, has raised $5 million in Series A funding from Founders Fund and Tinder CEO Sean Rad. TechCrunch has more here.

KisanHub, a four-year-old, Cambridge, U.K.-based enterprise farming platform that connects agronomic and operational data to enable smarter decision-making, has raised $1 million in seed funding led by Notion Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Service Partner One, a year-old, Berlin-based startup that’s trying to build a kind of office operating system for office managers, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by EQT Ventures, with participation from Earlybird Venture Capital, Target Global, Rheingau Founders, Ringier Digital Ventures, and Vito Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

StockTwits, an eight-year-old, San Diego-based real-time financial communications platform for the financial and investing community, has raised $2 million in new funding led by Social Leverage, a venture fund cofounded by StockTwits founder Howard Lindzon. The company has also just announced that Ian Rosen, co-founder of Even Financial and a former general manager at MarketWatch, is becoming CEO, as Lindzon becomes executive chairman of the company. TechCrunch has more here.

Twistlock, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based company that makes enterprise security software for virtual containers, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by TenEleven Ventures, with participation from Rally Ventures, an unnamed strategic investor, and return backer YL Ventures. GeekTime hasmore here.

Veriflow, a three-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based network breach and outage prevention software company, has raised $8.2 million in Series A funding led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from earlier backer New Enterprise Associates. SDX Central has more here.

—–

New Funds

Akkadian Ventures, a San Francisco-based firm that buys shares of privately owned startups from entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capital firms that are looking to sell a portion of their holdings, is raising a fourth fund, shows an SEC filing that doesn’t list a target. The firm closed its third fund with $74 million in October 2014. More here.

Forerunner Ventures, an early-stage, San Francisco-based venture firm that’s known as an e-commerce specialist, has closed its third fund with $122 million, shows an SEC filing. Forerunner’s second fund, which held its first close in 2012, was capped at $75 million, says Fortune. More here.

—–

Exits

Alibaba has acquired Wandoujia, a Chinese app store for Android devices, for a reported $200 million. Wandoujia was reportedly valued at more than $1 billion in January 2014 when it raised $120 million in funding led by SoftBank. But TechCrunch notes that “increased competition from carrier-run app stores and rivals like 91 Wireless and Qihoo 360, not to mention reports of internal conflict, appear to have impacted its development over the past two years.” More here.

Google has acquired Moodstocks, a startup based out of Paris that develops machine-learning based image recognition technology for smartphones. Terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed. It’s not clear how much Moodstocks had raised, notes TechCrunch. Any related data has been scrubbed from CrunchBase, though TechCrunch reported in 2010 that Moodstocks had raised $500,000 in seed funding from European investors. More here.

SGN, an L.A.-based gaming company led by ex-MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe, has acquired TinyCo, a San Francisco-based mobile game studio. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.  According to CrunchBase, TinyCo raised $38 million in funding from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Pinnacle Ventures, and SV Angel. The Wrap has more here.

—–

People

Bret Taylor, best known as the longtime CTO of Facebook, has joined the board of Twitter. More here.

Zenefits may have dramatically readjusted its valuation (from $4.5 billion to $2 billion), but an analysis by The Information suggests that its Series A investors are still currently sitting on a none-too-shabby paper return of 1,800 percent. More here. (Subscribers only.)

—–

Data

Primary Venture Partners has taken a look at second-quarter seed activity in New York City. You can check it out here if you’re interested in what’s up and coming.

In separate news you can hopefully use, Mergermarket has just released its global M&A roundup report for the technology, media and telecom (TMT) sector for the first half of this year. You can check it out here.

—–

Essential Reads

Snapchat just rolled out a way of saving and sharing old snaps in a private archive inside the main app. More here.

—–

Detours

What. A 61-year-old Canadian man survived an attack by a 300-pound mother black bear by punching it in the face. (H/T: Significant Digits.) More here.

How Stephen Colbert met his wife.

Selfie-elbow.

—–

Retail Therapy

“Catastrophe.” Have you seen it? It’s so good. (More here.)

And we are back! Hope you had a terrific holiday weekend, everyone!

—–

Top News in the A.M.

Late last night, NASA‘s Juno spacecraft finally reached Jupiter, five years after the probe left Earth. More here.

The latest Yahoo offers are expected tomorrow, with the final round expected in two weeks. More here.

—–

Why That Google Capital Deal Could Mean More PIPEs

Last Wednesday, Google Capital ventured into the world of investing in publicly traded companies, announcing it has backed Care.com, a platform that connects people with caregivers which went public in early 2014.

With Google Capital investing $46.35 million, it became Care.com’s single largest shareholder, according to The New York Times. The deal also sent nine-year-old Care.com’s shares soaring. On the day of the announcement, Care.com was valued at $278 million; by the end of trading on Friday, the company’s market cap had reached $508 million.

It might have seemed interesting, if unremarkable, to some industry watchers. Others, however, think the deal may well usher in a new era of private investment in publicly equities, or PIPE deals, despite their checkered history.

Those who’ve been around for a boom and bust (or two) are already familiar with them. PIPE deals became increasingly attractive in the aftermath of the late 1990s tech bubble, when the public market shut for tech companies, stranding not only ambitious startups hoping to IPO but publicly traded outfits, too.

Faced with few options, some of those cash-strapped companies turned to outside investors like venture investors and hedge funds. In return for capital, the companies typically provided their public shares at a discount — along with the promise that if their shares were to fall in value, these new investors would be provided more shares to make up for their losses.

In some cases, things worked out well. Phil Sanderson, today a managing director at IDG Ventures, was working as a partner at Walden Venture Capital at the time and says he led two investments in publicly traded companies that provided quick, meaningful returns to the firm. One of those bets was on VitalStream, a content delivery network that was later acquired; the other was the IT management company Niku, also acquired.

Sanderson says the two companies produced a “3x to 5 x return in a two- to three-year period,” and he credits those returns with approaching both firms with a VC-like mentality. “I’d join the board, bring in sales, help recruit employees. I would also communicate to analysts I knew about the company, and I’d be out there talking with hedge funds, getting them to buy and build positions in the stock. It was a lot of work but it paid off.”

Other companies weren’t so lucky.

More here.

—–

New Fundings

Adents, a nine-year-old, Paris, France-based serialization and traceability software specialist, has raised €12 million ($13.4 million) in funding from earlier backers NAXICAP Partners, Omnes Capital and CapHorn Invest. More here.

Echobox, a three-year-old, London-based service that helps publishers better understand viral content and provides suggestions on which articles to share on social networks at specific times, has raised $3.4 million in new funding. The round was led by Mangrove Capital Partners, with participation from Saul and Robin Klein’s LocalGlobe. TechCrunch has more here.

HourlyNerd, a three-year-old, Boston, Ma.-based online platform that connects small businesses needing expertise with MBAs who can help them, has raised $22 million in Series C funding funding led by General Catalyst Partners, with participation from Highland Capital Partners, GE Ventures, Mark Cuban, Greylock Partners, and Bob Doris of Accanto Partners. The company has now raised $33 million altogether. More here.

Instabridge, a 3.5-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based Wi-Fi sharing community and mobile app, has raised $1 million in new funding led by Draper Associates, with participation from earlier backer Balderton Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Natural Cycles, a three-year-old, Nordic startup that bills itself as a fertility tracking service, has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Bonnier Media Growth, the venture arm of the Swedish media business. Earlier backers Sunstone and e.ventures also joined the round. The company has now raised $7.5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

NightBalance, a six-year-old Delft, The Netherlands-based that makes a device that’s worn around the upper torso to address sleep apnea (it nudges wearers into different sleep positions in the night), has raised €12.5 million ($13.9 million) in Series B funding co-led by Inkef Capital and Gilde Healthcare Partners. Earlier backers Thuja Capital, Health Innovation Fund, and Van Herk Ventures also joined the round. More here.

NeoGrowth, a 5.5-year-old, Mumbai, India-based fintech startup, has raised $35 million in new funding co-led by IIFL Asset Management and earlier backer Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund. Other earlier backers, includingOmidyar Network, Aspada Investments, and Khosla Impact, also participated. Livemint has more here.

Network Locum, a five-year-old, London-based healthcare startup whose staffing platform and workplace management software targets the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS), has raised $7 million in Series B funding led by BGF Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

—–

IPOs

Foxconn, which assembles most of Apple’s iPhones, has filed for an IPO of its cable and connector unit in Hong Kong that could raise up to $1 billion. The WSJ has more here.

—–

People

Richard Boyle has joined Canaan Partners as a partner. Boyle was previously chairman and CEO of LoopNet, before it was acquired several years ago.

Former Facebook employee Antonio García Martinez (who worked for the company for less than two years) has published a score-settling book dedicated to “all my enemies.” He reportedly compares Facebook’s oppressive work culture to North Korea.

The Chinese billionaire who wants to out-Tesla Tesla.

—–

Data

Twelve venture-backed IPOs raised $893.9 million in the second quarter of this year, says Thomson Reuters and the NVCA. That’s a 56 percent increase by dollars and a 100(!) percent increase by number of offerings compared with the first quarter. Nine of the quarter’s offerings were life sciences IPOs. Eleven were U.S.-based companies. More here.

—–

Essential Reads

Inside Alphabet’s money-spinning, terrorist-foiling, gigabit Wi-Fi kiosks.

Much to teenagers’ chagrin, Snapchat is catching on with the olds, says the WSJ.

Employers and start-ups are testing more ways to give employees faster access to their wages.

—–

Detours

How to raise brilliant children, according to science.

Why ATMs at the bar or corner store could soon go away.

Garbage Box.

—–

Retail Therapy

Cookies are coming.

Wowsa. It has been a comically busy day over here, but we did not forget about you! Happy Fourth of July weekend, everyone — see you back here Tuesday.:)

—–

Top News in the A.M.

Zenefits, the HR software startup that replaced founder and CEO Parker Conrad last February over regulatory improprieties, has publicly announced a deal with its investors that gives some of them more of the company in exchange for their promise not to sue. The deal also sees the company’s valuation adjusted downward from $4.5 billion to $2 billion. After new CEO, David Sacks, announced the new deal, early investor Marc Andreessen tweeted his support, adding that his firm “did not threaten to sue, nor did we have any intention of suing.”

—–

Silicon Valley’s Favorite Fixer: Bradley Tusk

If the producers of the next “World’s Most Interesting Man in the World” commercial were looking for a Silicon Valley type, a prime candidate might be Bradley Tusk, a 42-year-old New Yorker who advises companies such as FanDuel and Tesla that are disrupting highly regulated industries.

Tusk made his bones in Silicon Valley through advising Uber, which paid him in equity for his services while still a Series A company, dramatically boosting Tusk’s net worth (he says he hasn’t sold any), and in the process, creating a model for his newest firm, Tusk Ventures.

Right now, Tusk Ventures, founded less than a year ago, has a dozen clients. Most of the 30 staffers who work at the company come out of politics at “high levels,” says Tusk, and each helps two clients navigate their respective regulatory waters, such as keeping them up to date with a curated email that they receive by 7 a.m. every morning.

His services come at a steep price: clients pay Tusk Ventures in equity and agree to sell him up to 10 percent of their company. (Tusk is raising a venture fund to ramp up his investing activities, though he declined to speak about any specifics at a dinner with reporters earlier this week. )

Startups make room for Tusk in their cap table because of his connections. Tusk was formerly Michael Bloomberg’s campaign manager, helping him to get elected to an unprecedented third term as the mayor of New York City after convincing the New York City Council to extend the role’s term limits. (Tusk also worked with Bloomberg to explore a bid for the current U.S. presidential campaign. Although he claims he found a way for Bloomberg to win, Bloomberg apparently thought the solution was too complicated.)

Another complementary business, seven-year- old Tusk Strategies, develops and runs political-style media campaigns for a host of Fortune 500 companies, including Google, Walmart, AT&T; media companies like AMC, NBC News, The Weather Channel; and institutions like Stanford.

Somewhat astoundingly, Tusk oversees three other outfits, too: a casino management company called Ivory Gaming Group (it owns one casino in Fresno); Kronos Archives, a custom archives business for companies and individuals; and a family foundation focused on reducing hunger in the U.S.

Did we mention he’s also trying to unseat current New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in next year’s Democratic primary?

Oisin Hanrahan, CEO of Handy — an online platform for booking household services, and a client of Tusk Ventures — jokes that the more clients Tusk takes on, the “earlier my morning emails seem to arrive.”

More here.

—–

New Fundings

Digi.me, a seven-year-old, London-based personal data aggregation and exchange platform, has raised $6.1 million in Series A funding led by Swiss Re. TechCrunch has more here.

Everplans, a six-year-old, New York-based end-of-life company that invites users to create, share and store legal, financial and health information in one place so loved ones can later access it, has raised $6.4 million led by Mousse Partners. Other participants include Transamerica Ventures and RGAx, a subsidiary of Reinsurance Group of America. More here.

Index, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that makes retail software, has raised $19 million in Series B funding led by General Catalyst Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Revinate, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based company that makes guest experience software for the hospitality industry, has raised $13 million, shows an SEC filing that shows a $15 million target. (H/T: Fortune.). Earlier backers include Tenaya Capital, Northgate Capital, Industry Ventures, Benchmark, Formation 8 and Tao Capital Partners. More here.

Spirometrix, a four-year-old, Pleasanton, Ca.-based company focused on the development and commercialization of breath analysis devices for applications in disease diagnosis and management, has raised $17.4 million in Series C funding led by Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical. Earlier backers NGK Spark Plug Co., South Valley Angels, Iconical, Ohio Innovation Foundation, and Carmen Innovation also joined the round. More here.

Woven Digital, a six-year-old, Culver City, Ca.-based digital media and content company that caters to young men, has raised $18.5 million in Series B funding led by WPP Ventures, with participation from earlier backers Institutional Venture Partners and Advancit Capital. Variety has more here.

Zoox, a two-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based startup said to be building technology that could compete with Google’s self-driving cars and Cruise Automation, has raised $200 million at a $1 billion valuation, including from Lux Capital and DFJ. TechCrunch has more here.
—–

IPOs

BioVentus, Durham, N.C.-based company that makes bone stimulation devices, has filed for a $150 million IPO. The company’s investors include Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, Smith & Nephew, Spindletop Healthcare Capital, Pantheon Global, Ampersand Capital and Alta Partners.

—–

People

Hyperloop One co-founder and CTO Brogan BamBrogan is out at the company and former VP of engineering Josh Geigle will be taking over BamBrogan’s role as CTO. More here.

The SEC is probing a range of transactions linked to Nikesh Arora, the Silicon Valley executive who recently resigned, suddenly, as president of SoftBank. More here.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has lashed out at the tech industry in a new speech railing against consolidation and concentration in the American economy. More here.

—–

Essential Reads

—–

Detours

Ah, Seal.

Why buying organic groceries in Brooklyn can be a serious trial.

—–

Retail Therapy

Office chair by Porsche. (Not a joke, probably?)

Hi, everyone! Happy Thursday . . .

——

Top News in the A.M.

Oh, boy. Spanish officials raided Google‘s Madrid offices today in a tax probe, barely a month after the company had its headquarters in France searched on suspicion of tax evasion. Reuters has the story here.

—–

It’s Official: Kleiner Just Pulled Off a $1.4 Billion Fundraise

So much for losing its mojo.

Despite twists and turns in recent years that have sometimes rivaled those of a telenovela, and even with its most famous member, John Doerr, no longer a general partner, Kleiner Perkins has raised two new funds totaling $1.4 billion, show newly processed SEC filings.

The firm’s digital growth fund — its third — has secured $1 billion in commitments. The capital will be managed by Mary Meeker, Ted Schlein, Mood Rowghani and Noah Knauf, who very recently joined Kleiner from Warburg Pincus.

Kleiner’s newest (17th!) early-stage fund, meanwhile, has closed with $400 million in commitments. As you’ve read here recently, Kleiner’s early-stage team now features five general partners: Schlein, Mike Abbott, Eric Feng, Beth Seidenberg and Wen Hsieh.

For those keeping track, in addition to Doerr, Randy Komisar has also stepped back as a general partner. Feng, who we interviewed recently, explained to us that Komisar is now largely coaching Kleiner’s current crop of GPs.

—–

New Fundings

Care.com, a 10-year-old, publicly traded specialist in helping connect families and caregivers of all stripes, has a new investor; Google Capital said yesterday it has invested $46.35 million in the $278 million company, making it the single biggest shareholder. The New York Times has more here.

Festicket, a four-year-old, London-based startup that lets users book music festival experiences, has raised $6.3 million in Series B funding. Lepe Partners led the round, with participation from existing investors Wellington Partners, PROfounders, and Playfair Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Jornaya, a five-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based company that makes predictive intelligence tools to help consumer companies better understand their customers, has raised $10 million in Series B funding led by Edison Partners. Jornaya was formerly known as LeadiD. VentureBeat has more here.

Kin Community, a five-year-old, L.A.-based web video company that both produces original content and works with a stable of top digital media creators, has raised $13.5 million in Series D funding led by earlier investor Emil Capital Partners. Other investors in the round include retail giant Tengelmann Group, the Australian firm Allure Media, and earlier investor Corus Entertainment, which is a Canadian TV company. The company has now raised $40.5 million altogether. The WSJ has more here.

Meru Cabs, a nine-year-old, Mumbai, India-based cab service, has raised $25 million in funding from earlier investor Brand Capital. According to TechStory, the company is looking to raise another $75 million to close the round at $100 million. More here.

Morphic Therapeutic, a year-old, Waltham, Ma.-based company that’s developing oral integrin therapies, has raised $51.5 million in Series A funding co-led by SR One and Pfizer Venture Investments. Other participants in the round include Omega Funds, AbbVie Ventures and return bacers Polaris Partners, T.A. Springer, Schrödinger and ShangPharma Investment Group.

OpsGenie, a four-year-old, Falls Church, Va.-based company that makes IT alerting and on-call management software, has raised $10 million in Series A funding from Battery Ventures. More here.

ProducePay, a 1.5-year-old, L.A.-based platform that helps farmers get paid in a timely manner for their crops, has raised $2.5 million in seed funding from Menlo Ventures, Arena Ventures, CoVenture, Red Bear Angels and Social Leverage. TechCrunch has more here.

SmartRecruiters, a nearly three-year-old, San Francisco-based company that makes applicant tracking system and recruiting software, has raised $30 million in Series C funding led by Insight Venture Partners, with participation from Mayfield. More here.

US HealthVest, a three-year-old, New York-based developer and operator of behavioral health facilities (that treat patients for psychiatric issues and substance abuse), has raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Oak HC/FT. Other participants in the round include earlier backers Polaris Partners, F-Prime Capital Partners and US HealthVest founder Richard Kresch. More here.
—–

New Funds

Shasta Ventures is raising up to $300 million for a fifth fund according to a new SEC filing that lists managing director Jason Pressman and Rob Coneybeer (Coneybeer co-founded Shasta with fellow managing directors Tod Francis and Ravi Mohan in 2004; Pressman joined the following year). Shasta appears to be sticking with its knitting with its new fund. It saw an enormous return when its portfolio company Nest Labs sold to Google for $3.2 billion in early 2014. (Coneybeer talked with StrictlyVC here about how persistence paid off with that Nest bet.) Yet its newest fund is targeting the same amount on which the firm closed exactly two years ago. More here.

—–

Exits

Move Loot, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based furniture re-sale marketplace, has shut down and sold its customer list to on-demand home services startup Handy for undisclosed terms. Move Loot had raised $21.8 million in funding, shows CrunchBase. Backers include Y Combinator, Google Ventures, Index Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Sherpa Ventures and Metamorphic Ventures. Handy has meanwhile raised $110 million from investors, shows CrunchBase. TechCrunch has more here.

——

People

Ayesha Curry, a chef and wife of basketball superstar Stephen Curry, has cooked up a new food delivery startup called Gather. If she has gathered (haha) capital from investors, she hasn’t announced it yet. More here.

Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe had his Twitter account hacked Wednesday, with the hacker promptly announcing a new CEO for the virtual reality company. More here.

——

Data

We don’t know yet if Lyft is raising more money or looking to get acquired, but we do know it hired Qatalyst Partners, so CB Insights went ahead and analyzed who might buy the company and why.

——

Essential Reads

How China took center stage in Bitcoin’s civil war.

Why Netflix should release its viewership data.

Walmart is squaring off against Amazon with two-day delivery across the U.S.

——

Detours

Five ways to increase your intelligence.

The “Trio to Rio.” For the first time, triplets head to the Olympics to compete.

—–

Retail Therapy

A hen house for high rollers.

Hi, everyone!

—–

Top News in the A.M.

Facebook just changed its news feed algorithm to promote posts by users’ friends over content posted by publishers.

—–

Russell Simmons’s All Def Digital Lands $10 Million Series B

All Def Digital (ADD), a three-year-old, L.A.-based web video platform and media company that was cofounded by hip hop impresario Russell Simmons, has raised $10 million in Series B funding led by Third Wave Digital Partners.

Other investors in the round include WPP Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and earlier investors Nu Horizons, Greycroft Partners, eVentures and Advancit Capital.

The company has now raised $18 million altogether.

ADD manages up-and-coming social video stars, writers, actors and hip hop artists. The company also produces and distributes its own original content through its own media properties, as well as via TV, movies, social channels, live events and, increasingly, via brand partnerships.

Indeed, Simmons also recently launched an in-house creative agency called ADHD that intends to help advertisers appeal to the same audience that ADD is targeting —  which is younger people with shorter attention spans, as Simmonstold AdWeek back in April.

As Simmons explained it at the time, “No one really understands this audience. It’s multiracial, but singularly cultural. It started out 95 percent black, and now it’s 45 percent non-black, and that’s going to keep growing . . . The audience we speak to is overlooked and underserved. A lot of the content Hollywood creates doesn’t serve this audience. . . ”

More here.

—–

New Fundings

Airbnb, the nearly eight-year-old, San Francisco-based temporary housing marketplace, is in talks for a new round of investment that would value the company at about $30 billion, says the New York Times. That’s three times what Airbnb’s valuation was two years ago. More here.

Ancera, a five-year-old, Branford, Cn.-based company whose tech enables food producers to detect contaminants faster than other methods, has raised $8.9 million in Series A funding from Glass Capital Management, which is a Florida-based family fund; corporate strategic backers Packers Sanitation Services and Metabiota; and other unnamed investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Compass, a 4.5-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that had previously raised $3 million from investors for its business monitoring and intelligence service, is now zeroing in on a new e-commerce analytics software product. Toward that end, the company just raised $1 million in seed funding from earlier backers New Enterprise Associates, PROfounders, and longtime VC Allen Morgan, who were joined by former Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer.More here.

Flip, a year-old, New York-based online marketplace that helps tenants find someone to take over their lease, has raised $1.2 million in seed funding. Investors include Joanne Wilson, Scott Belsky, Techstars Ventures, Built by Girls Ventures, V1 Ventures and MetaProp NYC.

Keen IO, a 4.5-year-old, San Francisco-based fully managed cloud API that helps developers build custom analytics and data science features directly into their web, mobile, or IoT apps, has raised $14.7 million in Series B funding led by Pelion Venture Partners. Other participants in the round include Rincon Venture Partners, Amplify Partners, and Rothenberg Ventures, along with earlier investors Sequoia Capital, Techstars, 500 Startups, Heavybit, and Galvanize Ventures. More here.

NeuroVision Imaging, a 5.5-year-old, Sacramento, Ca.-based company whose retinal imaging technology aims to help in the early detection and monitoring of amyloid pathology related to Alzheimer’s disease, has raised $5 million in Series B funding. Wildcat Capital Management, the family office of TPG co-founder David Bonderman, led the financing. A portion of the round has been reserved for strategic investors. More here.

PredictSpring, a three-year-old, Los Altos, Ca.-based startup that helps brands and retailers build mobile apps, has raised $11.4 million in Series A funding led by Felicis Ventures, with participation from Benvolio Group and earlier investors Beanstalk Ventures and Novel TMT Ventures. TechCrunch hasmore here.

Tuesday!

No column today.

—–

Top News in the A.M.

—–

The EU is taking steps that could lead to a third antitrust complaint against Google, this time over its lucrative advertising services, says Bloomberg.

Lyft has reportedly hired Qatalyst Partners, a boutique bank that helps tech companies find buyers. (Lyft could also be seeking new funding.) The WSJ has the story here.

Volkswagen just has agreed to pay more than $15.3 billion in a settlement with U.S. regulators over pollution caused by its diesel vehicles. Reuters has more here.

—–

New Fundings

Anki, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based entertainment robotics company, has raised $52.5 million in funding led by J.P. Morgan. Andreessen Horowitz and Index Ventures also joined the round, along with hedge fund Two Sigma. Fortune has more here.

Ayla Networks, a six-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based IoT company, has raised $39 million in new funding co-led by design manufacturer 3NOD andAnts Capital. Geektime has more here.

Boon + Gable, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that sends a personal stylist to customers’ homes with a curated selection of clothes to try on, has raised $2.5 million in seed funding. CrossCut Ventures led the round, with participation from Crosslink Capital, Female Founders Fund, Maveron,Fresco Capital, Structure Capital and 500 Startups. TechCrunch has more here.

Employment Hero, a two-year-old, Sydney, Australia-based cloud-based employee management platform, has raised roughly $2.2 million (in U.S. dollars) led by OneVentures, with participation from AMP New Ventures. More here.

FabHotels, a year-old, Gurgaon, India-based online aggregator for hotel rooms that aims to provide standardized services at affordable rates, has raised $8 million in Series A funding from Accel Partners and RB Investments. Livemint has more here.

Lendingkart, a two-year-old, Mumbai, India-based startup that provides working capital finance to small and mid-size businesses, has raised $32 million in funding ($20 million in equity and $12 million in debt). Bertelsmann India Investment led the round, with participation from Darrin Capital Management and earlier backers Mayfield India, Saama Capital and India Quotient. Livemint has more here.

LOFT, a 7-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based company whose technology turns two-dimensional images into 3D models, has raised $13 million in Series B funding led by Antimeridian, with participation from Bertoia. More here.

Modern Meadow, a five-year-old, Brooklyn-based startup that “biofabricates” leather and aims to become a top source for the world’s makers of fashion and accessories, luggage, sporting goods, and furniture, has raised $40 million in Series B funding. Horizons Ventures and Iconiq Capital led the round, joined by ARTIS Ventures, Temasek, Breakout Ventures, Red Swan Ventures,Collaborative Fund and Nest Labs cofounder Tony Faddell. The company has now raised $53.5 million to date. TechCrunch has more here.

—–

New Funds

Lightspeed China Partners has closed Lightspeed China Partners III with $260 million in committed capital. The firm has held a “substantial closing” on its first RMB fund, which has a target of 500M RMB. More here.

The Paris-based venture firm Partech Ventures has closed its growth fund with $440 million, reports TechCrunch. More here.

—–

Exits

Cisco is spending $293 million in a mix of cash and equity to acquire CloudLock, a cloud-based security provider that uses APIs to let enterprises apply and monitor security on documents and other content that they share and store in cloud-based applications. CloudLock had raised $35 million in funding, including from Cedar Fund, Salesforce, and Bessemer Venture Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

—–

People

Just weeks after hackers gained access to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s social media accounts, those same hackers say they have claimed another prominent victim: Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Fortune has more here.

At a TechCrunch event in Shanghai yesterday, Flexport CEO Ryan Peterson said that, had he known investor Peter Thiel would be supporting Trump, Flexport might not have accepted capital from Thiel’s venture firm, Founders Fund. “I don’t think that supporting Donald Trump is an acceptable position, honestly,” said Peterson. “For our business, it would be disastrous.”

LendingClub has named Scott Sanborn as its permanent CEO and announced that it’s cutting 12 percent of its workforce, or 179 jobs, “in light of lower loan volumes in the second quarter and recognizing that fully restoring investor confidence may take time.” The WSJ has much more here.

Steven Trieu has stepped down as VP of finance at Quora, the question-and-answer site that he joined in late 2011 from Facebook. According to Fortune, Trieu was the person tasked with overseeing private financings for the company and creating a widely praised long-term option exercise program. Trieu writes on Facebook that he hasn’t taken time off across his last five jobs and just wants to enjoy his baby and the rest of his family for now. Last month, Quora’s head of business and community, Marc Bodnick, also left the company.

—–

Data

Americans still watch a ton of TV: 4 hours and 31 minutes per day in the first quarter of the year, says Nielsen, and just north of five hours a day if you count DVR viewing. Recode has more stats here.

A (graphical) look at the merging worlds of technology and cars. Courtesy of Bloomberg.

—–

Essential Reads

Airbnb sued San Francisco yesterday over a new regulation requiring short-term rental companies to list on their websites only legal housing listings. The San Francisco Examiner has more here.

—–
Detours

The indispensable guide to early American murder.

Longboarding through Seoul, with Ko Hyojoo.

If at first you don’t succeed . . .

—–

Retail Therapy

This summer, treat your guests to a cool refreshing drink, with a side of personality testing.

Hi, everyone, welcome back! Hope you had a nice weekend.

As some of you read one week ago, but we’re hosting our next StrictlyVC event on Thursday evening, September 29, and if you’re in the Bay Area, you won’t want to miss it. Half our seats vanished at first mention, so don’t wait too long to get yours.

Thanks to our partners Bolt, the early-stage hardware-focused fund, and Ballou PR, which represents many investors and startups (from Stripe to Accel Partners). It’s sponsors that make these fun nights possible and we appreciate them.

—–

Top News in the A.M.

Prime Minister David Cameron this morning rejected calls for a do-over vote on leaving the European Union and set up a team of officials to prepare for withdrawal following the referendum last week that stunned the world. The markets are being slammed again today as a result.

—–

Jason Lemkin Just Raised a $70 Million First Fund; Here’s How He Did it

Two-time entrepreneur Jason Lemkin just closed a debut venture fund with $70 million called SaaStr Fund.

It’s an impressive feat and the latest in a string of interesting opportunities that Lemkin has created for himself since selling his most recent company, EchoSign, to Adobe four years ago.

It started with blogging. Lemkin also began actively answering questions about SaaS businesses on Quora — and people listened. Soon, he’d created a popular site that publishes SaaS-related tips and news, along with a growing events business, one whose yearly SaaStr Annual conference attracted more than 5,000 attendees earlier this year.

All have worked together to lead Lemkin (who also worked briefly at 16-year-old Storm Ventures) to this point. Last week, we asked him to share a little more about how he did it.

Your debut fund is huge, considering that you’re the only GP. Are your investors a mix of institutions and individuals?

No. I have a handful of VCs who know what they’re doing, but I think high-net-worth individuals are a terrible idea. No matter how sophisticated they are, venture is too illiquid. The timeline is too long. When you’re an angel investor, you can maybe see a 50x return on your dollars. But in a tiny fund – even with a Union Square Ventures — you’ll do 8x in the best-case scenario and it’ll take the fund 12 years. It’s stupid. And I don’t want unhappy customers.

So your backers are endowments? Pension funds?

Top endowments, big universities, hedge funds.

Hedge funds don’t mind being locked up for a dozen years?

They’re interesting. They want to find a place to play where they can see high returns, so they want exposure to the best managers so they can see the best companies at their “pre unicorn” phase. They don’t want to do the $3.5 billion round but the round before that, including [by way of special purpose vehicles, which VCs organize when they want to make aparticularly large bet in one portfolio company]. So if you squint and look at a lot of emerging managers, a lot of time they [feature hedge funds as LPs].

What’s in it for your VC investors — deal flow?

When you have a fund like this, you want to build two downstream layers. One of Series A VCs, and whatever the next stage is. So I have folks who are involved with my fund who’ve also put money into my companies and who I want to continue to [know], from Emergence [Capital], Social Capital, Bessemer [Venture Partners]. Then, in a perfect fund, you want folks who can invest even later. What you don’t want to do is take second check risk.

More here.

—–

New Fundings

Affiris, a 13-year-old, Austria-based developer of therapeutic peptide vaccines, has raised $10.9 million in funding from FCPG Affi, with participation from earlier backers MIG Funds and the Strüngmann family. More here.

Arevo, a three-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based company that says it has developed advanced materials, intelligent software, and “additive” manufacturing tech to create ultra-strong composite partners, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Khosla Ventures. More here.

D3 Banking, a nine-year-old, Omaha, Ne.-based company that helps traditional, mid-size banks digitize and simplify their own platforms, has raised $10 million from West Partners, a San Diego-based investment firm. More here.

MisterFly, a two-year-old, Paris, France-based online travel agency, has raised €20 million ($22 million) in first-round funding led by private equity firm Montefiore Investment, with participation from the e-commerce company Vente-Privee. Tnooz has more here.

Orbital Insight, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based geospatial big data company, has just raised $15 million in Series B funding led by previous investor GV, with participation from CME Ventures and earlier backers Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital, and Bloomberg Beta. Together, with an investment and development agreement from In-Q- Tel, the company has $20 million in fresh capital altogether. TechCrunch has much more here.

Quoine, a two-year-old, Singapore-based bitcoin trading platform, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by JAFCO. VentureBeat has more here.

Real World Retail, a three-year-old, Dublin, Ireland-based retail analytics start-up, has raised €920,000 ($1 million) in funding from angel investors and Enterprise Ireland. More here.

Thrive Market, a three-year-old, L.A.-based online discount marketplace for healthy foods, has raised $111 million in new funding led by Invus Group, with participation from Greycroft Partners, Cavu Venture Partners, Cross Culture Ventures and e-Ventures. Dealbook has more here.

—–

New Funds

Bee Partners, an eight-year-old, San Francisco-based seed stage firm, has closed a second fund with $30 million. Among its bets: TubeMogul, now a publicly traded ad-tech company. Bee was also an early backer of the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, drone tech startup Skycatch, and the second-hand fashion marketplace Tradesy. TechCrunch has more here.

—–

People

Nikesh Arora surprised the business world when he suddenly resigned last week from Softbank. In this interview with Fortune, he speaks candidly about what went down.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin says not to come to Silicon Valley to start a company. Here’s why.

B Capital Group, a new venture capital fund founded by Raj Ganguly and Eduardo Saverin, has brought aboard Gavin Teo as partner to lead the firm’s San Francisco office. (It also has an office in L.A. and Singapore.) Teo was most recently investor at Comcast Ventures, where he focused on digital healthcare, connected home and VR.

—–

Essential Reads

Amazon is doubling down on its Dash push-button ordering devices, getting dozens of consumer-products companies to invest in the gadgets even amid evidence that consumers are cool to them.

Some of the web’s biggest destinations for watching videos have quietly started using automation to remove extremist content from their sites, according to Reuters sources. More here.

Why a Palantir IPO may not be far off.

—–

Detours

This foul-mouthed parrot may be used as evidence in murder trial.