Thursday!
No column today.
Top News in the A.M.
The global ransomware attack that’s still spreading: what we know and don’t know.
Immigrants and refugees from six majority-Muslim countries will be barred from entering the U.S. beginning tonight unless they can prove a relationship with a U.S. person or entity.
Tech stocks are diving right now.
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New Fundings
Abl Schools, a nearly two-year-old, San Francisco-based company that makes time and resource management software for middle schools and high schools, has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding. Rethink Education led the round, with participation from Sinovation Ventures and earlier backers Owl Ventures, Reach Capital, and First Round Capital. The company, which had raised $4.5 million last year, has now garnered $12 million in funding altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
ClauseMatch, a five-year-old, London-based Saas platform offering smart document management to banks, has raised $1.6 million in seed funding, led by Speedinvest, with participation from earlier backers SparkLabs Global Ventures, Techstars, former Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer and former SunGard CEO Cristobal Conde. TechCrunch has more here.
Highcon, an eight-year-old, Yavne, Israel-based company that sells digital finishing materials for applications ranging from packaging to marketing collateral, has raised $20 million in new funding led by JVP, with participation from earlier backers Landa Ventures, LR Group, OurCrowd and Go Capital. More here.
iKongjian, a three-year-old, Beijing-based online platform for home renovation, has raised $31 million in Series C funding led by Gome Holdings. The company is now reportedly valued at $2 billion. China Money Network has more here.
Kinetica, an eight-year-old startup that builds databases that harness fast graphical processing chips to perform everyday business applications, now has $50 million in Series A funding led by Canvas Ventures and Meritech Capital Partners, with participation from Citi Ventures and earlier backer Ray Lane. (That’s a lot of Series A funding.) The company has now raised $63 million altogether. Fortune has more here.
LogicBio Therapeutics, a three-year-old, Foster City, Ca.-based company at work on disease-modifying gene therapies for orphan pediatric diseases, has raised $50 million in Series B funding. London’s Arix Bioscience led the round; other participants include OrbiMed Advisors, Edmond De Rothschild Investment Partners, Pontifax and SBI. More here.
Pray.com, a year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based interfaith mobile app that helps religious leaders keep in touch with their congregants, has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Science Inc., with participation from Greylock Partnersand Spark Capital. More here.
Science Exchange, a six-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based platform for outsourced research and development, has raised $28 million in Series C funding led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from earlier backers Union Square Ventures, Maverick Capital, and Collaborative Fund. The company has now raised $58 million altogether. More here.
Spruce Finance, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based consumer financing company centered around residential energy efficiency and solar technology, has raised $25 million in strategic funding from HPS Investment Partners. More here.
Super League Gaming, a three-year-old, L.A.-based e-sports platform, has raised $15 million in Series C funding including from Nickelodeon, DMG Entertainment, Jeff Vinik and aXiomatic. More here.
Terran Orbital, a four-year-old, Irvine, Ca.-based nanosatellite company, has raised an undisclosed amount of strategic funding from aerospace giant Lockheed Martin. The company had previously raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Marc Bell Capital and Staton Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Zai Lab, a four-year-old, Shanghai-based biopharma company led by former Sequoia Capital China managing director Samantha Du, has raised $30 million in Series C funding led by OrbiMed Asia Partners, with participation from Vivo Capital, Cormorant Asset Management and Rock Springs Capital. China Money Network has more here.
New Funds
Upfront Ventures, the 19-year-old, L.A.-based early-stage venture firm, has closed its sixth fund with $400 million in capital commitments. Partner Mark Suster has more here.
Kairos Ventures, a nearly two-year-old, L.A.-based early-stage venture firm founded Jim Demetriades, founder of the software company SeeBeyond, has raised $74.7 million toward a $150 million venture fund, according to an SEC filing. More here.
IPOs
Blue Apron opened for trading at $10 per share this morning and . . . that’s where the shares are trading hours later, meaning its IPO investors have yet to reap any gains. TechCrunch has more here.
Tintri, a venture-backed company that’s focused around VM-aware storage for virtualization and cloud environments, has called off its IPO, which was supposed to price last night. It hasn’t explained why yet, though based on what’s happening in the market today, it was probably a good move. Business Insider has more here.
Exits
Staples agreed yesterday to be acquired by private equity firm Sycamore Partners for $6.9 billion, an 11 percent premium over its share price as of yesterday afternoon. The deal is expected to dramatically restructure the struggling office supply retailer. USA Today has more here.
Cloudyn, a company that helps customers manage their cloud billing across multiple clouds, is officially being acquired by Microsoft. Sources tell TechCrunch the price was between $50 million and $70 million. According to Crunchbase, Cloudyn had raised roughly $20 million from investors over four rounds. Its backers included Carmel Ventures, Infosys, Titanium Investments. More here.
The Muse, a six-year-old, New York-based recruitment site for millennials, has acquired Brand Amper, a three-year-old, Chicago-based startup whose Mad Libs-like web app makes it easier for companies to capture employee sentiment. Brand Amper had raised a small friends-and-family round of funding; terms aren’t being disclosed, though The Muse says it was a cash deal. More here.
People
Ann Lai, a former principal at Binary until May 2016, is suing the firm for harassing and defaming her after she resigned. In the lawsuit, Lai claims that Binary cofounder and all-around miscreant Justin Caldbeck texted her repeatedly after she left the firm, threatening her not to disparage or divulge information about the company. TechCrunch has the filing here.
Anthony Levandowski was making an s-load at Google.
Julie Sandler, who spent the last six years an investor with Madrona Venture Group, has joined the two-year-old startup studio Pioneer Square Labs. The Seattle Times has more here.
A passenger who says she was raped by an Uber driver in Kansas City has filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that Uber ignored previous warnings that the driver was not fit to drive for the company. More here.
Data
Finnish startups attract the most venture capital in Europe — but there’s one big problem. (Turn page to see more.)
Essential Reads
As Uber stumbles, Lyft sees an opening, and bites its tongue.
Feeling good about the markets? Maybe you shouldn’t read this.
Detours
Once a model city, Hong Kong is in trouble.
Thirteen ways to be better at grilling.
So very presidential. So pride much.
Retail Therapy
We could probably live in Seattle.