| Hi, all, happy Thursday. Hope for your sake that you’re still vacationing.:) |
| Top News |
| EPA chief Scott Pruitt resigned a bit ago, following a series of scandals in which Pruitt was discovered to be abusing his privileges as a government official. The European Parliament just sent a controversial digital copyright law back to the drawing board. Meanwhile, a revamped California net neutrality bill is moving forward again. |
| Sponsored By . . . |
| Today the Gullixson Team would like to present a one of a kind modern masterpiece. Designed by renowned architect Stanly Saitowitz, this incredible home is set on a 1.63 acre lot with incredible views of the Bay Area and surrounding western hills. There is no comparison to the quality, detail and design of this home. |
| New Fundings |
| Adlai Nortye Biopharma, a 14-year-old, Hangzhou, China-based biopharmaceutical company at work on 10 different cancer treatments, has raised $53 million in Series B financing funding, including from YuanMing Capital, Matrix Partners China, DT Capital Partners, and Yahui Precision Medicine Fund. More here. Booksy, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that provides a booking app for appointment-based beauty businesses, has raised $13.2 million in funding led by Piton Capital, with participation from OpenOcean and individual investors Sebastian Kulczyk and Zach Coelius. More here. Fever, a six-year-old, New York-based data-led entertainment and experience company, has raised $20 million in Series C funding co-led by Atresmedia and Labtech co-led the round, with participation from Accel Partners and 14W Ventures. TechCrunch has more here. MeWe, a 3.5-year-old L.A-based Facebook alternative engineered with privacy in mind, has raised $5.2 million Series A financing from individual investors. The company says it has now raised $10 million altogether. More here. |
| New Funds |
| Health Enterprise Partners, 12-year-old, New York-based venture firm, has closed its third fund with $188 million, including from what it describes as some of the largest healthcare organizations in the country. More here. |
| Exits |
| Zebra Technologies — a company that makes handheld scanners, printers and other portable hardware, and develops the technology to tag things to be read by them — is acquiring Xplore Technologies, an older maker of ruggedized tablets and other hard-wearing hardware. Both companies are publicly listed and Zebra says it will be paying $6 per share in cash for Xplore, which works out to about $90 million — a premium on the company’s current market cap of about $65 million. Zebra’s market cap is just under $8 billion. TechCrunch has the play-by-play here. |
| IPOs |
| Doubts are growing that an eagerly anticipated IPO of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Aramco will ever happen. It would create the largest public company in the history of capital markets, but Saudi officials tell the WSJ the country isn’t ready for an offering that could bring unprecedented scrutiny to the kingdom’s crown jewel. |
| Jobs |
| Pritzker Group Venture Capital is hiring an Associate for its LA team. To apply, email Associate Eric Duboe, at eduboe@pritzkergroup.com. |
| People |
| After more than a decade of winning and unconventional behavior, hedge fund manager David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital has shrunk by half, with frustrated clients bolting. According to the WSJ, the value of an investment in the firm’s main fund was down 11.3 percent at the end of 2017 from 2014’s end. The S&P 500 grew 38.3 percent over the same period. More than a third of Chinese millionaires want to leave the country, according to a new report. Here’s where they want to go. |
| Essential Reads |
| Uber’s exit from Southeast Asia — it saw Grab take over Uber’s local operations in exchange for a 27.5 percent stake — is coming under pressure in Singapore, where the country’s antitrust regulator has threatened to unwind the deal. Bugs are coming soon to your dining table. |
| Detours |
| The secret price of pets. A new study suggests men are “fighting to establish dominance” through their Patek Philippes. At Wimbledon, married women are still “Mrs.” Andrés Cantor thinks everything sounds better in Spanish. |
| Retail Therapy |
| A portable cooking set for kitchenless millennials. |