• StrictlyVC: July 22, 2015

    Happy Wednesday, everyone!

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    Top News in the A.M.

    Google is rolling out Your Timeline, a private way for users to visualize their real-world routines. More here.

    Yesterday was chockful of quarterly earnings reports. Apple beat expectations but its investors are pretty hard to please. Yahoo also beat expectations by a tiny bit, but its shares also slipped in after-hours trading. And GoPro outpaced expectations, but it, too, traded down on its news. (Geez, people.)

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    DataFox Hunts Down Another $5 Million

    DataFox, a 2.5-year-old subscription-based deal intelligence platform, has just raised $5 million in funding co-led by Goldman Sachs and earlier investor Green Visor Capital, with participation from another previous backer, Stanford’s StartX fund.

    The funding follows an earlier, $2 million seed round completed via convertible note. It also follows a slight pivot for the 15-person, Palo Alto, Ca.-based company, which was earlier considered a competitor to other deal intelligence platforms like Mattermark but has since begun emphasizing its ability to help accelerate sales. Its informal new tagline: It helps corporations use data science to find their next customers.

    We talked with cofounder and CEO Bastiaan Janmaat to learn more. We picked up some interesting details about the financing along the way. More here.

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    New Fundings

    500px a six-year-old, Toronto-based online platform for discovering and selling photography, has raised $13 million in Series B funding led by strategic investor Visual China Group, with participation from earlier backers Andreessen Horowitz, Harrison Metal, and ff Venture Capital. The company has now raised $23 million altogether. TechVibes has more here.

    Baixing, a 10-year-old, Shanghai, China-based online classified ads company, has reportedly raised a whopping $354 million in Series E funding from CITIC, Suzhou High-tech Venture Capital Group, Shenzhen Capital Group, and other investors in preparation for going public. More here.

    Beacon, a year-old, New York-based subscription flight service that will lease other airlines’ planes and launch its first route between New York and Boston, has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding led by Romulus Capital, with participation from MiVentures, Western Technologies Investment, and other early stage investors. TechCrunch has more here.

    Bima, a five-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based provider of mobile-delivered insurance in emerging markets, has raised $38.4 million in Series C funding from Investment AB Kinnevik, LeapFrog Investments and Millicom. More here.

    BrightBytes, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based data analytics platform that measures and links the use of technology to learning outcomes, has raised $33 million in Series C funding led by Insight Venture Partners, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Rethink Education, and Learn Capital. The company has now raised $51.5 million altogether, shows Crunchbase.

    Darktrace, a two-year-old, London-based cyber-security firm backed by former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch, has raised $22.5 million from  Summit Partners in a funding round that values the company at more than $100 million, reports Business Insider. The company has now raised $40.5 million altogether, shows Crunchbase. Others of its investors include Hoxton Ventures, Invoke Capital Partners, and Talis Capital.

    Flipboard, the 4.5-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based news and content aggregation app, has quietly raised $50 million in what may be a flat round, says TechCrunch, which uncovered new documents filed late last month in Delaware. According to Crunchbase, Flipboard has previously raised roughly $160 from investors, including Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Insight Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs and others. More here.

    Grana, a 10-month-old, Hong Kong-based fashion brand focused on affordable, high-quality wardrobe staples from T-shirts to men’s jeans, has raised $1.5 million from investors, including Golden Gate Ventures. Along with an earlier seed round from luxury retailer Bluebell Group, the company has so far raised $2.5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

    Granular, a year-old, San Francisco-based maker of software and analytics for farm management, has raised $18.7 million in Series B funding led by Tao Capital Partners, with participation from Emory Investment Management, Fall Line Capital, and H. Barton Asset Management, as well as previous backers Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures and Khosla Ventures. More here.

    Mallzee, a two-year-old, Edinburgh, Scotland-based personalized shopping app that invites users to swipe right or left depending on whether they like the items they see, has raised £2.5 million ($3.9 million) in funding led by the Royal Mail Group, with participation from Scottish Investment Bank, Par Equity, and individual investors. The company has raised a total of $4.8 million to date. More here.

    Mirakl, a three-year-old, Paris-based company that brings online marketplaces to retailers like Best Buy, has raised $20 million in Series B  funding led by 83North, with participation from Felix Capital, and Dave Strohm, a partner at Greylock and a founding investor and advisor to 83North. Forbes has more here.

    Mswipe Technologies, a four-year-old, Mumbai, India-based company whose hardware and software enables smart phones to be used as a mobile point of sale, has raised $25 million in Series C funding from Falcon Edge Capital, Ola Cabs and Meru Capital, as well as earlier backers Matrix Partners India, Axis Bank, and DSG Consumer Partners. More here.

    Simplus, a year-old, Salt Lake City, Ut.-based SaaS consulting and development firm, has raised $4.2 million in a seed round led by EPIC Ventures, with participation from Simplus employees, Silicon Valley Bank, Infinite Investments, Prelude, Service Provider Capital, Workfront CEO Eric Morgan, and SteelBrick CEO Godard Abel.

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    Exits

    Altimeter Group, a seven-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based research and advisory firm, has been acquired by the 23-year-old, San Francisco-based brand and marketing consultancy Prophet for undisclosed terms. Asked how this will affect Altimeter’s current customers, Altimeter Charline Li tells TechCrunch, “Nothing changes.”

    Blackberry is acquiring AtHoc, a 10-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based maker of mass notification systems for the military, government and other organizations, for undisclosed terms. AtHoc had raised $8.2 milion from investors shows Crunchbase. Its backers include Intel Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, and Greylock Partners. VentureBeat has more here.

    Sysomos, an eight-year-old, Toronto-based social analytics company, has acquired Expion, a five-year-old, Raleigh, N.C.-based enterprise social marketing platform that counts the likes of CocaCola, Heineken, Volvo and other major brands among its customers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. More here.

    The Singapore-based private lender United Overseas Bank is buying a 50 percent stake in the India-based venture debt firm InnoVen Capital (formerly SVB India Finance) as part of a larger plan to expand its focus to the rest of Asia. VCCircle has the story here.

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    People

    While Uber has been waging a war against New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio this week, CEO Travis Kalanick’s girlfriend Gabi Holzwarth tried a more personal appeal yesterday. Fusion has more here.

    Twitter hosted a fraternity-themed party. Which was maybe not such a good idea, given that it’s in the middle of a gender discrimination lawsuit. More here.

    Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is launching a new charitable social network called TPO.com. More here.

    Hollywood’s newest attempt to portray the “real” Silicon Valley, starring Dave McClure of 500 Startups and Brady Forrest of Highway1, debuts in September. If you’re eager to check it out, you can see the trailer here.

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    Jobs

    Arbor Ventures, a venture firm focused primarily on financial tech in Asia, is hiring an associate. The job can be in Hong Kong or Singapore.

    Peter Thiel’s Breakout Labs is still in the market for the right portfolio manager. The job is in San Francisco.

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    Data

    Virtual Reality devices, visualized by Silk.

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    Essential Reads

    Customers who hired Lifelock to monitor their identities after their data was stolen in a breach were in for a surprise. It turns out Lifelock failed to properly secure their data.

    Suddenly Huawei is hot, and Xiaomi is not.

    A movement in Silicon Valley to make sharing salary information less taboo.

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    Detours

    New York City’s most opulent private pools.

    The man who flies around the world for free.

    Truly incroyable.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    A wireless battery case that charges itself and your phone. Noice.

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: July 21, 2015

    Hi, everyone! If you missed yesterday’s newsletter, we had a little news about a.) going on vacation and b.) our upcoming event in September. (You can read about both here.)

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    Top News in the A.M.

    Chip maker Qualcomm is reportedly considering a breakup after an activist investor pushed for change, says the WSJ. It’s also preparing to lay off 10 percent of its 30,000-person workforce, reports The Information. (Subscription required.)

    Some of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies, including Facebook, Google, Dell, and eBay, have joined the patent war between Apple and Samsung. More here.

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    Y Combinator Unveils Its Newest Program

    For better or worse, Y Combinator is putting the pedal to the metal.

    On the heels of some of its biggest classes to date, the well-known accelerator yesterday introduced yet another new program. That initiative? The YC Fellowship program.

    The broad strokes are as follows: About 20 teams that are “very, very early” and haven’t yet received funding elsewhere will be chosen by Y Combinator to receive a $12,000 grant. The teams can be based anywhere.

    Much more here.

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    New Fundings

    Apprenda, an eight-year-old, Troy, N.Y.-based startup that helps companies create, update, and manage private and public cloud-based applications, has raised $24 million in Series D funding led by Safeguard Scientifics, with participation from New Enterprise Associates and Ignition Partners. The company has now raised $56 million altogether. More here.

    Booktrack, a five-year-old, Auckland, New Zealand-based startup that creates soundtracks to accompany e-books, has raised $5 million in funding led by COENT Venture Partners and earlier backer Sparkbox Ventures. Other previous investors include Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures and filmmaker Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Productions. The company has now raised $10 million to date. TechCrunch has more here.

    KFit, a months-old, Kuala Lumpur-based startup that — like its U.S. peer, ClassPass — aims to make gyms and fitness more accessible in the region for one monthly membership, has raised $3.25 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

    Homer Logistics, a year-old, New York-based food delivery logistics company, is closing in on a $2 million convertible note seed round, including from Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, Vayner RSE, Rugged VC and Haystack. Venture Capital Dispatch has more here.

    Luxexcel, a six-year-old, Netherlands-based company that’s able to 3D print functional lenses, has raised €7.5 million ($8.1 million) in Series B funding led by the Flemish investment company PMV, with participation from earlier backers SET Ventures and Munich Venture Partners. More here.

    Medallia, a 14-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based company that make SaaS customer experience management software, has raised $150 million in new funding from Sequoia Capital, which has led numerous rounds in the company previously. (According to Crunchbase, Sequoia is the company’s only institutional investor, in fact.) Medallia, which has raised $255 million altogether, is now valued at $1.25 billion, reports Venture Capital Dispatch.

    One Animation, a seven-year-old, Singapore-based CG animation studio with a portfolio of children’s titles, has raised $7.5 million in Series B funding led by earlier investor Jungle Ventures, with particiption from numerous individual investors. The company has now raised at least $12.9 million altogether, reports DealStreetAsia.

    SemaConnect, a seven-year-old, Bowie, Md.-based provider of commercial electric vehicle charging stations and software, has raised $15 million in new funding led by Pear Tree Partners. Crunchbase shows the company has now raised at least $26.3 million to date.

    Sleepace, a four-year-old, Shenzhen, China-based company whose smart sleep monitor rests under a bed sheet to monitor the quality of a customer’s sleep, has raised $7 million in Series B funding from Luolai Home Textile and the business-to-consumer e-commerce company JD. The company had previously raised $3.2 million in Series A funding from Gobi Partners. The outlet e27 hasmore here.

    Zimplistic, a seven-year-old, Singapore-based product design company that specializes in smart kitchen devices that automate cooking, has raised $15 million in Series B funding, including from Robert Bosch Venture Capital and an unnamed local venture capital firm. Zimplistic’s flagship product is an automatic roti prata maker. DealStreetAsia has more here.

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    New Funds

    .406 Ventures, a 10-year-old, Boston-based venture firm that focuses exclusively on enterprise-related opportunities, has closed its third fund with $217 million. The total is slightly more than the firm assembled for its first two funds, closed in 2006 and 2011, respectively, with $169 million and $175 million. That’s by design, says senior associate Payal Agrawal Divakaran, who joined the firm five weeks ago, after nabbing a degree from Harvard Business School. “The goal is to invest in roughly 20 companies in each fund, through initial checks of between $2 million and $5 million,” with some multiple of that reserved for follow-on funding, she says. More here.

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    IPOs

    Payment processing giant First Data is looking to go public again. More here.
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    Exits

    EBay is is aquiring the second-hand clothing company Twice, which runs an online consignment shop, reports Recode. Terms of the deal aren’t known (yet); Twice had raised roughly $23 million from investors, including Felicis Ventures, IA Ventures, Upfront Ventures and many others.

    FanDuel, the fantasy sports startup that recently raised $275 million in Series E funding, is using some of that capital to acquire the eight-year-old, Scotland-based app business Kotikan.com. TechCrunch has more here.

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    People

    Apple has recruited Doug Betts, who led global quality at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles until last year. The company is declining to offer further specifics (though everyone assumes the hire has to do with its electric car plans). The WSJ has the story here.

    Niko Bonatsos, who joined General Catalyst Partners as a principal early 2011, is transitioning into the role of full-time venture partner, a move that will see him “write a bunch of checks in exciting new companies.” As for whether it also signals that Bonatsos — who has introduced Snapchat and other potentially lucrative deals to General Catalyst — may be planning his own fund or contemplating a startup, he tells us he is not, that he still very much likes GC, adding, “I love the opportunity we have ahead of us.”

    Evernote, the company behind the popular cloud-based productivity app of the same name, has a new CEO: Chris O’Neill, who recently ran the business operations at the Google X research unit. O’Neill replaces longtime CEO Phil Libin, who will remain as executive chairman. Recode has the story here.

    Conversations with more than a dozen people who know Google’s Chief Business Officer Omid Kordestani reveal that there are two primary reasons why he is back in the leadership seat. Recode has more here.

    Investors Ashton Kutcher, Chris Sacca and Troy Carter will join the show “Shark Tank” in its next season as guest stars. More here.

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    Jobs

    Learn Capital, a venture firm focused primarily on ed tech, is looking to hire ananalyst. The job is in San Mateo, Ca.

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    Data

    From the New York Times: “Twice as many Chinese investors have participated in $100 million or larger fund-raising rounds in China than American investors have in China. [Some of] these companies are now called unicorns. In 2014, 13 new unicorns were created by private investment in Asia compared with 30 in North America, according to CB Insights. So far this year, Asia has generated 11 unicorns to North America’s 19.” More here.

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    Essential Reads

    Without warning, Twitter removed wallpapers from users’ home and notifications timelines on Twitter.com yesterday, and they’re none too pleased.

    Many top YouTube creators are keeping Facebook at arm’s length — if they even bother with the social network at all. More here.

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    Detours

    If Frank Gehry made sand castles.

    The world’s first airport terminal for pets (looks a whole lot nicer than any terminal to which we’ve been relegated).

    This is scary.

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    Retail Therapy

    Tree snake houses. (Neat.)

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: July 20, 2015

    Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you had a fabulous weekend.

    Two quick things. First, beginning next week, StrictlyVC is dialing back for few weeks to max and relax with family. While we’re taking a bit of a break, our good friend and active investor Semil Shah is taking over the column portion of the newsletter, and he already has loads of great material planned for you. You can check out what’s coming here.

    Also, our next evening event is coming up quickly all of a sudden. Roughly two-thirds of tickets have sold; we’d love to see you there, too, on Wednesday, September 16. Chamath Palihapitiya of Social + Capital will be speaking, as well as famed investor Steve Jurvetson, investor-entrepreneur Tony Conrad, and Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg. (And there’s more on the content front.) Tickets can be purchased here. Giant thanks to the wonderful people at Bolt and Gerson Lehrman Group for their help with the event, which takes place at the Autodesk Gallery at 1 Market Street in San Francisco.

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    PayPal is now officially an independent company — and it’s already valued at more than $50 billion.

    Despite “steep losses and looming competition with Amazon,” reports the WSJ, the yet-to-launch online retailer Jet is in talks with investors for yet another round of funding that could value it at $3 billion. More here.

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    Survata Raises $6 Million to Take on Entrenched Survey Players

    Survata is a three-year-old, 10-person, San Francisco-based startup that creates consumer surveys for ad agencies, hedge funds, consumer packaged goods companies, and many others that are looking for feedback about their offerings. If Chipotle is thinking of introducing a new salsa concept, for example, Survata — which works with a network of publishers, from blogs to online magazines to video sites — will create a survey that targets the demographic from which Chipotle wants to learn.

    It’s easy to appreciate the company’s appeal. It’s a channel for consumers to access content for free. (Publishers ask readers to complete surveys to readers in lieu of paying.) It’s a cheaper, faster alternative to traditional research. To wit, Survata charges a flat rate of $1 dollar per survey response, in contrast with a company like Nielsen, whose starting costs can be around $30,000. Survata’s surveys also represent a new revenue stream for its publishing partners. Say Chipotle – a real customer – wants 500 responses about that new salsa. Survata shares the $500 it’s paid by Chipotle with its publishers.

    Despite heavyweight competition from the likes of SurveyMonkey and Qualtrics, among others, investors apparently like the traction it’s gaining. This morning, the company is announcing $6 million in Series A funding led by IDG Ventures, with participation from Bloomberg Beta and numerous angel investors, including Alexis Ohanian and Garry Tan. The company — a Y Combinator alum – has now raised $8.1 million altogether, including from earlier backers SoftTech VC and PivotNorth.

    To learn more about Survata and how it helps it clients (including VCs), we talked Friday with CEO Chris Kelly. Our chat, right here, has been edited for length.

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    New Fundings

    Axial Healthcare, a three-year-old, Nashville, Tn.-based company whose cloud-based data and analytics platform aims to help manage the cost and quality of patient care, has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by .406 Ventures, with participation from earlier backers BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners and Sandbox Industries. The company raised $1.75 million in funding roughly a year ago.

    Chinac, a five-year-old, Wuxi, China-based cloud computing firm, has raised $100 million in Series C funding from Haitong Securities, according to Chinese media reports. The company had previously raised “tens of millions” of dollars from investors, including the Yongjin Group, SIG Asia and Intel Capital.

    LivQuik, a three-year-old, Mumbai, India-based company behind a mobile payments platform called QuikWallet, has raised $1.6 million in funding from Snow Leopard Ventures. More here.

    Luna, a year-old, San Francisco-based company whose “connected” mattress cover can be adjusted for temperature and to track a user’s sleep patterns, has raised  $1.3 million in funding from undisclosed private investors. Earlier this year, the company — currently part of the Y Combinator summer class — raised $1 million via a crowdfunding campaign. TechCrunch has more here.

    Made.com, a five-year-old, London-based home goods e-commerce business that works directly with designers to create its goods, has raised $60 million in funding led by Partech Growth Fund, with participation from Fidelity Growth Partners and earlier backer Level Equity. The company has now raised $81.1 million altogether, shows Crunchbase. TechCrunch has more here.

    Protagonist Therapeutics, a 14-year-old, Bribane, Ca.-based biotech developing a drug candidate for inflammatory bowel diseases, has raised $40 million in Series C funding led by Canaan Partners, with participation from Adage Capital Management, RA Capital Management, and Foresite Capital. The company has now raised $67 million altogether. More here.

    Revolut, a year-old, London-based alternative foreign exchange service, has raised $2.3 million (£1.5 million) from Balderton Capital. TechWorld has more here.

    ShoCard, a months-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based maker of a digital identity card, has raised $1.5 million from Morado Ventures Partners, AME Cloud Ventures, Enspire Capital and Digital Currency Group. TechCrunch has more here.

    SuperAwesome, the two-year-old, London-based “kid safe” digital marketing platform that enables brands to put their wares in front of children, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by IBIS TMT, Twenty Ten Capital, and Sandbox and Co. Earlier backers, including Hoxton Ventures, also participated. TechCrunch has more here.

    Vroom, a two-year-old, New York-based startup that’s selling cars via smartphones, has raised $54 million in funding led by Catterton, with participation from General Catalyst Partners and, in a departure from funding later-stage deals, T. Rowe Price. Venture Capital Dispatch has more here.

    Zo Rooms, a year-old, New Delhi, India-based budget hotels marketing place, has raised nearly $15 million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from Orios Venture Partners, reports the Economic Times. More here.

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    New Funds

    A new accelerator and early-stage venture fund that’s targeting up to $50 million are coming to Newark, N.J., to help create a more vibrant technology industry in the city. Venture Capital Dispatch has the story here.

    London-based Fidelity Growth Partners Europe has a new, $150 million fund, and a new brand: Eight Roads Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
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    IPOs

    Apptio, an eight-year-old, Bellevue, Wa.-based maker of cloud-based software, is planning an IPO that could value the company at roughly $1 billion, reports the WSJ. Apptio has raised roughly $136 million over the years, including from Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Madrona Venture Group, and Shasta Ventures. More here.

    vTv Therapeutics, a 17-year-old, High Point, N.C.-based biotech company that’s developing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes, announced terms for its IPO today, revealing plans to raise $125 million by offering 7.8 million shares at a price range of $15 to $17. At the midpoint of the proposed range, the company — which is majority owned by billionaire Ronald Perelman, who holds a 73.6 percent stake  — would be valued at $525 million.

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    Exits

    Adallom, a three-year-old, Israel-based cyber security company that develops cloud security platforms, is being acquired by Microsoft for $320 million, the Calcalist financial newspaper reported earlier today. Adallom has raised about $50 million from Rembrandt Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, and Hewlett-Packard, among others. Reuters has the story here.

    Google is scooping up the technical team behind Homejoy, an on-demand home-cleaning services company that is shutting down operations at month’s end. Homejoy had raised roughly $40 million from investors, including First Round Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Pejman Mar Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, and Google Ventures. Recode has the story here.

    OrderUp, a six-year-old, Baltimore, Md.-based food-delivery marketplace for restaurants, has been acquired by Groupon for undisclosed terms. According to Crunchbase, the company had raised roughly $10 million from investors, including Revolution, Expansion Venture Capital, and Five Elms Capital.

    SimilarWeb, a six-year-old, London-based company whose esearch tools help users understand insights about any websites and mobile apps, has acquired the Tel Aviv-based content discovery platform Swayy for less than $5 million. Swayy had previously raised $550,000 from investors, including Elevator Fund, Star Farm Ventures and RSL Venture Partners. More here.

    SunEdison is strengthening its positiion in the solar power industry with a $2.2 billion purchase of rooftop panel installer Vivint Solar — paying a 52 percent premium over Vivint’s closing stock price last week. Bloomberg has more here.

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    People

    Nikesh Arora, Softbank’s new president, is winding down the conglomerate’s venture arm, Softbank Capital, in a move away from early-stage companies and toward bigger investments in fewer, more mature businesses. Recode has more here.

    A former Googler says she exposed company-wide pay inequality with a spreadsheet.

    Earlier today, at The Royal Society in London, investor Yuri Milner announced that he’s planning to spend up to $100 million over the next decade to fund the search for extraterrestrial life. His plan is called “Breakthrough Listen.” More here.

    Meet Maye Musk, the glamorous model mother of billionaire Elon Musk.

    —–

    Jobs

    Siemens is looking to add a principal to its corporate venture group. The job is in Boston.

    —–

    Data

    A decade of VC funding history: trend analysis dating back to 2005 by Mattermark. (Two of the fastest-growing areas of investment, says the report:bitcoin and space travel.)

    —–

    Essential Reads

    The SEC is quietly ramping up its regulation of the pre-IPO market.

    Online food delivery ordering is about to overtake phone ordering in the U.S.

    —–

    Detours

    A London pub where drinks prices rise and fall like stocks. (H/T: J. Michel.)

    The 10 best public universities in the U.S.

    Paul Rudd, unheroic super hero.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    The penthouse that hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen cannot sell.

    Connie

    , ,

  • StrictlyVC: July 17, 2015

    It is Friday, thank goodness. Hope you have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    U.S. presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton are already duking it out over the so-called on-demand economy and what it means to Americans’ financial security.

    Google’s stock soared yesterday after it reported that revenue had jumped 11 percent to $17.7 billion in the second quarter, and that it saw a 17 percent jump in net income to $3.93 billion. Here are the three reasons why it did so well.

    —–

    Employees Wise Up

    This week, a Bay Area founder was taken aback when an engineer being recruited by his startup asked for both its cap table and information regarding the liquidation preferences of its venture backers. The candidate presumably “worked somewhere where he discovered that these things matter,” says the founder, who asked not to be named in this story.

    Though the startup is still debating how much information to give to the candidate, it will likely need to come up with a policy around such requests soon. The amount of information that privately-held companies share with employees is becoming a bigger issue, largely owing to the rise of so many billion-dollar valuations.

    Just yesterday, CB Insights, the research firm, published an attention-grabbing report about “unicorn” valuations, reporting that 2015 has already seen growth of $143 billion in combined unicorn valuations year-to-date, a 47 percent increase over their aggregate valuation at the end of 2013. It also reported that the number of still-private companies now valued at $1 billion or more has grow by around 50 percent in 2015. (That jump represents a stunning 39 companies that have been assigned billion-dollar valuations by their investors this year.)

    More here.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Chrono24, a 12-year-old, Karlsruhe, Germany-based online marketplace for high-end watch collectors, has raised $22.8 million in Series A funding from Insight Venture Partners. More here.

    Common, a months-old, Brooklyn-based startup that offers shared housing in major cities, has raised $7.35 million in Series A funding led by Maveron, with participation from Lowercase Capital and Slow Ventures. Individual investors, including 500 Startups founder Dave McClure, also joined the round. More here.

    CredSimple, a two-year-old, Boston-based startup building a medical credentialing database, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding to help healthcare and insurance companies manage their doctor networks. Bowery Capital led the round, with participation from Primary Venture Partners and a handful of angels. TechCrunch has more here.

    Immunocore, a seven-year-old, Abingdon, England-based developer of T-cell receptor-based biological drugs to treat cancer, has raised a stunning $320 million in funding, including from Woodford Investment Management, Malin Corporation, Eli Lilly and Company, and RTW Investments. FierceBiotech has the story here.

    LogDog, a two-year-old, Israel-based company focused on personal cybersecurity (it alerts you if there’s suspicious activity in your Gmail, Dropbox, or other accounts), has raised $3.5 million in funding led by BRM Group, with participation from earlier backers Curious Minds Investments, FirstTime Ventures, Maxfield Capital and TheTime VC.

    When I Work, a five-year-old, St. Paul, Mn.-based employee scheduling and time clock app, has raised $5 million in fresh funding from earlier investors Greycroft Partners, e.ventures and Arthur Ventures. The company has also acquired for undisclosed terms Shifthub, a Toronto-based company that operates in the same space. When I Work has now raised at least $9 million in funding. The Minnesota Star-Tribune has more here.

    Upstart, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based online lending platform that uses unconventional data to rate borrowers, has raised $35 million in Series C funding led by Third Point Ventures. The company has now raised $56 million altogether, including from Khosla Ventures and First Round Capital.

    Workspot, a three-year-old, Cupertino, Ca.-based company whose techology promises to securely deliver business applications and data to any device, has raised $5 million in funding led by Helion Ventures, with participation from Translink Capital and Qualcomm Ventures. The company has now raised $14.6 million altogether, shows Crunchbase.

    —–

    New Funds

    Maven Ventures, a two-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based seed-stage venture fund, is looking to raise up to $35 million for it second fund, according to Fortune. (We’d heard this, too, for forgotten to report it.) Maven  was founded by Jim Scheinman, a entrepreneur and attorney who became the third employee at Bebo.com, a social network that AOL acquired for $850 million in cash in 2008. The sale, which made Bebo’s founders wealthy, also gave Scheinman the freedom to become an angel investor and advisor, then a micro VC. “I’m happy to make people money and get a dinner or a thank you,” he told StrictlyVC last year. “But I thought, ‘Why not pool some of that money and take 20 percent?’” Among Maven’s newest bets is Eden, a new, on-demand, in-home tech support startup that announced its funding earlier this week.

    —–

    People

    ABS Capital Partners, the San Francisco-bsaed late-stage growth company investor, has brought aboard Michael Avon as a venture partner. Avon was formerly CFO and EVP of Millennial Media.

    Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, the Vancouver-based venture firm, has promoted two associates to vice president: Joe Blair and Alfred Lam. Blair, once an associate at Cue Ball Capital in Boston, joined Chrysalix roughly two years ago. Lam has been with the firm for roughly three years. He was previously an analyst and researcher at the UBC-Clean Energy Research Centre, a multi-disciplinary research organization in Vancouver.

    Eric Friedman, Foursquare’s longtime Global Senior Director of Sales and Revenue Operations, has left the company to join the startup studio Expa as an executive-in-residence. (Expa was cofounded by Foursquare cofounder Naveen Selvadurai, so there are natural ties.) Business Insider has more here.

    Whisper, the anonymous social networking app, has hired a head of product for the first time: Jaime Mendez, who recently led the FarmVille 2 studio at Zynga. Recode has the story here.

    Former Treasury secretary Larry Summers has joined the board of Premise, a San Francisco-based company. Dealbook has more here.

    —–

    Jobs

    Fenox Venture Capital is looking for an intern. The job is in San Jose, Ca.

    —–

    Data

    Venture capitalists invested $17.5 billion in 1,189 deals in the second quarter of 2015, according to the newest MoneyTree report from PwC and the NVCA. That’s up 30 percent in dollars and 13 percent in the number of deals over the first quarter, when $13.5 billion was invested in 1,048 deals. This past quarter also marks the sixth consecutive quarter to see more than $10 billion in venture funding invested in a single quarter. The last time quite so much money was put to work was the third quarter of 2000. (Gulp.) You can find the full report right here.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    After months of built-up expectations, video artist Casey Neistat revealed his new app this morning, Beam. Check it out.

    Fresh from raising $2 billion in new funding, Didi Kuaidi — China’s most popular taxi hailing service — has expanded into a new form of transportation: buses.

    New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has taken on Uber with a proposed law designed to limit its growth in the city. Unsurprisingly, Uber has found a creative way to fight back.

    —–

    Detours

    A $40,000 film — to sell a house(!).

    The magic of Shin Lim.

    You have to love this guy.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Seaweed that tastes like bacon and is twice as healthy as kale. (You’re welcome.)

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: June 16, 2015

    Happy Thursday, everyone! We are back! Well, in your inbox, but we mean in San Francisco, too. Thank you, United Airlines, for getting the job done last night. (Note: never try flying out of Denver on a summer’s evening. Lots of these.)

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Netflix released its latest subscriber figures late yesterday during an earnings call, and the most up-to-date tally blew expectations out of the water, reports the Washington Post.

    —–

    Meet BoardList, a Growing Database of 600-Plus Board-Ready Women

    There are many in Silicon Valley who’d like to find better ways to integrate female operators and investors into the tech scene but who think it will simply take time – time for more women to enter engineering programs, time for more women to join tech startups, and time for more women to form their own venture firms, as some have begun to do.

    Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is not one of those people. Yesterday afternoon, Cassidy took the wraps off an idea she’s been working on for the last couple of months called BoardList. In a nutshell, it’s an online repository of more than 600 women who are “board ready” and who, Cassidy believes, can and should be placed on the boards of early-stage startups.

    Her argument is twofold: First, broadly speaking, most companies don’t think about an independent board member until they’ve hit their Series C (or even later) funding round. Until that point, they tend to rely heavily instead on advisers. But that’s a mistake, says Cassidy, who has held a variety of operational positions in Silicon Valley over the last 15-plus years and is today the founder and CEO of the venture-backed startup Joyus.

    Continue reading here.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Accolade, an eight-year-old, Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based consumer health engagement platform for large employers and insurers, has raised $22.5 million in strategic funding, including from a subsidiary of Independence Health Group and McKesson Ventures. The company had previously raised $53.7 million in venture and debt funding, shows Crunchbase.

    Advanced Microgrid Solutions, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based distributed storage company that’s planning to develop behind-the-meter storage systems in commercial and industrial buildings, has raised $18 million in Series A funding led by DBL Investors, the cleantech and sustainability focused firm founded by Nancy Pfund, who recently added longtime clean tech investor Ira Ehrenpreis to her team. Greentech Media has more here.

    AeroFS, a five-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based company behind a file-sharing and syncing service that doesn’t require a user’s files to be loaded or stored on third-party servers, has raised $10 million in Series B funding led by Avalon Ventures and NHN Investment. More here.

    Ampt, an eight-year-old, Fort Collins, Co.-based developer of power conversion technology for solar power plant optimization, has raised $20 million in Series C funding and $5 million in working capital led by Bohemian Investments, with participation from Ampt co-founder Doug Schatz. More here.

    AnaptysBio, a 10-year-old, San Diego, Ca.-based antibody development company, has raised $40 million in Series D funding, including from BVF Partners and its affiliates, BioMed Ventures, Cormorant Asset Management, Frazier Healthcare, HBM Healthcare Investments, Longwood Capital Partners, Novo A/S and additional undisclosed investors. According to Crunchbase, the company had previously raised $45 million over numerous venture and debt rounds. More here.

    Cinarra Systems, a three-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based ad tech company, has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by SoftBank, with participation from Almaz Capital and Siguler Guff & Company. More here.

    CrowdStrike, a four-year-old, Irvine, Ca.-based cybersecurity company, announced a few days ago that it had raised $100 million in Series C funding led by Google Capital, with participation from Rackspace, along with earlier investors Accel Partners and Warburg Pincus. The company has now raised $156 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

    Eden, a five-month-old, San Francisco, Ca-based provider on-demand, in-home tech help, has raised $1.3 million in seed funding led by Canvas Venture Fund, with participation from Eniac Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Maven Ventures, Y Combinator, Box co-founder Dylan Smith and Tilt co-founder and CEO James Beshara, among others. More here.

    Flipagram, a 1.5-year-old, L.A-based startup that lets people create and share photo slide shows set to music, has raised $70 million led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Index Ventures. Flipagram didn’t disclose its valuation, but notably, veteran VCs John Doerr and Michael Moritz are both becoming directors, marking the first time they’ve joining the same board since Google. Bloomberg has more here.

    Guidebook, a four-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based company whose mobile platform allows organizations to create mobile guides to better serve their customers (like event organizers and museums), has raised $10 million in seed and Series A funding, it disclosed this week. Backers include Mosaic Ventures and MHS Capital. More here.

    Main Street Hub, a five-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based marketing platform for small businesses, has raised $25 million in Series C funding led by Vista Equity Partners. The round follows a $20 million debt round last February and brings the total the company has raised to $65 million. TechCrunch has more here.

    Omaze, a four-year-old, L.A.-based charitable giving platform that raises awareness for causes by offering users the chance to win glamorous experiences (for a donation of just $10 or more), has raised $9 million in Series A funding led by FirstMark Capital, with participation from Michael Eisner’s Tornante Company, Vayner/RSE, Warby Parker co-founder Dave Gilboa, Boulevard Capital’s Dave Leyrer, Crosscut Ventures, FFVC, and entrepreneur and philanthropist Adam Press. More here.

    Plated, a three-year-old, New York-based cook-at-home meal service, has raised $35 million in new funding from earlier investors, including Greycroft Partners and Formation 8. The company had previously raised $21.4 million from investors, shows Crunchbase.

    Readz, a four-year-old, Woodland Hills, Ca.-based online content-creation platform that helps marketers deploy interactive sites, web magazines, white papers and reports, has raised $7.15 million in funding from Belgium-basedParana Management. More here.

    Rokk3r Labs, a three-year-old, Miami Beach, Fla.-based startup that partners with entrepreneurs to co-build companies, has raised $5 million in funding from data scientist and investor Jon Gosier and the New York City-based venture capital firm Scout Ventures, among others. The Miami Herald has more here.

    Room.me, a year-old, San Francisco and Berlin, Germany-based roommate matching service, has raised $1.1 million in seed funding from Axel Springer Plug and Play, Grazia Equity Partners and International Business Angel Pool.

    Showbox, a two-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based online video editing platform for amateurs, has raised $8 million from investors, including Charles Petruccelli, the former president of American Express Global Business Travel; Brad Wechsler, chairman of IMAX; Wix co-founder and CTO Giora Kaplan; and TPG Capital senior partner Karl Peterson. TechCrunch has more here.

    Sportlogiq, a year-old, Montreal, Canada-based company that uses feeds from broadcast cameras to track and analyze player movement and provide context to game analysis, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding led by investor-entrepreneur Tim Tokarsky, with participatiom from Mark Cuban, TandemLaunch, and Anges Quebec Capital S.E.C., along with numerous other angel investors.

    StellaService, a six-year-old, New York-based company that evaluates and rates businesses based on the overall quality of their online customer experience, has raised $15 million in Series C funding led by Comcast Ventures, with participation from Toba Capital. The company has now raised $37 million altogether.

    Sysdig, a two-year-old, Davis, Ca.-based container visibility company, has raised $10.7 million in Series A funding led by Accel Partners and Bain Capital Ventures. (Bain had previously led the company’s undisclosed $2.3 million seed round in June 2013.) More here.

    Trace Live Networks, a two-year-old, Venice Beach, Ca.-based maker of a camera that can autonomously lock onto and follow any subject (while live-streaming HD footage to social and content networks), has raised $7 million in Series B funding led by Salman Partners and Varo Capital. The company had previously raised $2.5 million in funding. More here.

    TradingView, a three-year-old, Chicago, Il.-based online platform for amateur and professional investors and traders to share insights and ideas, has raised $3.6 million in Series A funding led by iTech Capital, with participation from other seed investors and angels. More here.

    TrapX, a five-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based cybersecurity company, has raised $9 million in Series B funding led by earlier investors Intel Capital and Liberty Venture Capital. The company has now raised $14 million altogether, shows Crunchbase. More here.

    VTS, a four-year-old, New York-based company whose cloud-based platform gives asset managers and leasing teams a single platform to track deals, manage space and collaborate, has raise $21 million in Series B funding led byOpenView Venture Partners. The Real Deal has more here.

    Ziften, a six-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based company that develops security software, has raised $24 million led by Spring Mountain Capital, with participation from earlier investor Fayez Sarofim. The company has raised $35.3 million altogether, shows Crunchbase.

    —-

    New Funds

    Entrepreneur First, a four-year-old, London-based startup accleration space that invests in technical talent from universities and companies before that talent has a team or an idea, has raised a £8.5 million ($13.3 million) fund that it plans to use to invest in and mentor roughly 200 people per year. Investors include Encore Capital, Singapore’s Infocomm Investments, and various angel investors, including Index Ventures’s partner Robin Klein and Zoopla CEO Alex Chesterman. TechCrunch has the story here.

    —–

    Exits

    EBay has confirmed plans to sell its enterprise services business, eBay Enterprise, for $925 million to a syndicate of investors, including the private equity firms Sterling Partners and Longview Asset Management; the fulfillment company Innotrac; and undisclosed other parties. The unit specializes in developing and managing e-commerce sites for retailers with offline businesses. VentureBeat has more here.

    Facebook’s Oculus division has made another acquisition, nabbing Pebbles, an Israel-based computer vision specialist, for a reported $60 million. The WSJ has more here. Pebbles had raised $11 million from investors, according to Crunchbase. Its backers include Robert Bosch Venture Capital, SanDisk Ventures, Share Capital Partners, Shunwei Capital, Xiaomi, iNetworks 360, Heliant Ventures, and Giza Venture Capital.

    —–

    People

    Billionaire investor Mark Cuban: “I don’t want [my kids] to be entitled jerks.”

    Ben Kaufman, the chief executive of Quirky, has just $12 million in cash; here’s how he expects to save the two companies for which he’s responsible.

    Jay Kidd has joined Wing Venture Capital in Menlo Park, Ca.,  as “Partner, Market Acceleration,” a role that will see him helping Wing’s portfolio companies identify and achieve product/market fit as fast as possible. Kidd previously held several executive positions at NetApp, including as CTO and CMO, and at Brocade, where he was CTO and VP of product management.

    Runa Capital, a five-year-old, Moscow, Russia-based venture capital firm, has announced that partner Andre Bliznyuk will move to the U.S. to open an office in San Francisco. The firm has also hired Marcos Sanchez, formerly the VP of global communications for App Annie, to run its global communications from the new office, located in the China Basin area of San Francisco, across the street from AT&T Park. Runa Capital is just the latest Russia-based venture firm to open a Bay Area office, preceded by RTP Ventures and Target Ventures, among others. The outfit is in the process of raising its second fund, a $200 million vehicle. It hit the fundraising trail in late December 2013 and held a first close on an undisclosed amount last year.

    —–

    Jobs

    500 Startups is looking to add a conference producer or content marketer to its business development and events team. The job is in San Francisco.

    Harrison Street Real Estate Capital is looking to hire a venture capital associate to help it identity real estate tech-focused opportunities. The job is in Chicago.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    The Hollywood Reporter takes readers inside Amazon Studios for the first time.

    To boost video views, Facebook is testing a “watch later” button.

    An identity thief explains the art of emptying your bank account.

    —–

    Detours

    Children with older parents may have a leg up on their peers, suggests new research.

    NFL salaries still trail those in the MLB and NBA by a wide margin.

    Every Judd Apatow movie, ranked from worst to best.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Tron-Club packages. “Because you should learn about electronics, that’s why.”

    Connie

  • Meet BoardList, a Growing Database of 600-Plus Board-Ready Women

    img-article-sukhinderThere are many in Silicon Valley who’d like to find better ways to integrate female operators and investors into the tech scene but who think it will simply take time – time for more women to enter engineering programs, time for more women to join tech startups, and time for more women to form their own venture firms, as some have begun to do.

    Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is not one of those people. Yesterday afternoon, Cassidy took the wraps off an idea she’s been working on for the last couple of months called BoardList. In a nutshell, it’s an online repository of more than 600 women who are “board ready” and who, Cassidy believes, can and should be placed on the boards of early-stage startups.

    Her argument is twofold: First, broadly speaking, most companies don’t think about an independent board member until they’ve hit their Series C (or even later) funding round. Until that point, they tend to rely heavily instead on advisers. But that’s a mistake, says Cassidy, who has held a variety of operational positions in Silicon Valley over the last 15-plus years and is today the founder and CEO of the venture-backed startup Joyus.

    Continue reading here.

    Connie

    , , ,

  • StrictlyVC: July 15, 2015

    Happy Wednesday, everyone. It’s our last day up here in Aspen and we’ll be sorry to leave it, though we’re pretty zonked at this point. Big thanks to Battery Ventures for hosting a very fun dinner at the end of a long day yesterday, one that included an equally lively cocktail party hosted by venture capitalist Gary Lauder and his wife, Laura. It’s been great seeing so many StrictlyVC readers, especially those of you we hadn’t met in person previously.:)

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    More Americans are getting their news on Facebook and Twitter, according to a new Pew survey.

    —–

    Bill Maris on Rising Valuations, Biggest Misses, and More

    At Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference yesterday, senior editor Dan Primack hosted a panel of investors who were asked to share their thoughts on the current – and future – state of the venture market.

    The VCs covered a lot of ground. We happened to focus in on what Bill Maris of Google Ventures had to say. You can find some notes from the discussion here.

    —–

    New Fundings

    CircleBack, a three-year-old, Vienna, Va.-based contact intelligence platform, has raised $12 million in new funding led by TDF Ventures, with participation from earlier backers Grotech Ventures, Syncom Venture Partners, and CNF Investments.

    Credit Benchmark, a three-year-old, London-based company that operates a contributed data model that’s focused on gathering credit risk information from major global banks, has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Balderton Capital. Index Ventures, which led the company’s $7 million Series A round last year, also participated in the funding. More here.

    Crew, a two-year-old, Montreal, Quebec-based curated platform connecting designers and developers with vetted clients that need website, mobile app, or other design work done, has raised $8.5 million in funding led by Accomplice (formerly Atlas Venture), with participation from iNovia Capital, Real Ventures, Boldstart Venture Capital, BDC Capital, AngelList, Launch Capital, and LDV Capital. The investment brings Crew’s total funding to date to $11 million. More here.

    DataCamp, a two-year-old, New York-based online data-science learning platform, has raised $1 million in seed funding led by Accomplice. The company had raised $300,000 in seed money previously. More here.

    Delphix, a seven-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based “data-as-as-service” startup, has raised $75 million in new funding led by Fidelity Management and Research Company. Other participants in the round include Credit Suisse, The Kraft Group, and returning investors Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Icon Ventures. The company has now raised a total of $119.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

    DemandBase, a nine-year-old, San Francisco-based marketing software company, has raised $30 million in fresh funding led by SageView Capital, with participation from earlier backers Adobe Systems, Altos Ventures, Costanoa Venture Capital, Greenspring Associates, Salesforce Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, and Sigma West. The company has now raised $90 million altogether. Fortune has more here.

    Freshly, a three-year-old, New York-based company that delivers ready-made, gourmet meals inspired by the paleo diet to customers’ doors, has landed $7 million in Series A funding led by Highland Capital Partners, with White Star Capital and Jason Finger, a co-founder of Seamless, participating. Venture Capital Dispatch has more here.

    HackerRank, a three-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based technical talent platform used by programmers to hone their skills, has raised $7.5 million in funding from Recruit Holdings. The company has now raised $19.9 million altogether, shows Crunchbase. More here.

    HopSkipDrive, a year-old, San Francisco-based “Uber for kids” that let’s parents set pre-scheduled pick-up times for their kids with vetted drivers (it competes directly with another startup called Shuddle), has raised $3.9 million in seed funding led by Upfront Ventures, with participation from FirstMark Capital, Maveron, BBG Ventures, and Joanne Wilson among others. TechCrunch has more here.

    InVision, a four-year-old, New York-based company whose prototyping tools allow designers to build interactive, high-fidelity, realistic web and mobile mockups and prototypes, has raised $45 million in Series C funding led by Accel Partners, with participation from earlier investors FirstMark Capital and Tiger Global Management. More here.

    Mobikon, a six-year-old, Singapore-based company that makes cloud-based software to help restaurants manage almost all aspects of their businesss, has raised $2.3 million in new funding led by returning investor Jungle Ventures. It has now raised $5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

    Picwell, a three-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based predictive recommendation engine focused around health plan selection, has raised $4 million in Series A funding led by MassMutual Ventures. More here.

    Rescale, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based cloud simulation platform company, has raised $6.4 million in funding from a long list of big-name investors, including Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Paul Graham, Ron Conway, Chris Dixon, and Peter Thiel. TechCrunch has more here.

    Scratch, a year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based online and mobile shopping service that connects consumers with “experts” who send recommendations for things like gifts, clothing, home decor and other items, has raised $3.6 million in seed funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from NextView Ventures, Red Swan Ventures and Blue Apron CEO Matt Salzberg. More here.

    Spoon University, a 1.5-year-old, New York-based  website to share recipes, health and lifestyle stories, restaurant reviews, quizzes, and other food-related content, has raised $2 million in seed funding led by SoftTech VC, with participation from Joanne Wilson, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Box Group,Vayner RSE, BBG Ventures, MATH fund, Howard Morgan, Project Mayhem Ventures, Kosinski Ventures, and RuggedVC. More here.

    Ticketfly, the seven-year-old, San Francisco-based software company that runs a ticketing platform for all kinds of live events, has raised $50 million in Series D funding led by the private equity firm Riverwood Capital. The company has now raised at least $87 million from investors, shows Crunchbase. More here.

    Zesty, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based food-delivery startup that offers an office catering program, has raised $17 million in Series A funding led by Index Ventures, with participation from Founders Fund and previous investor Forerunner Ventures. The company has now raised $20.7 million in funding altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

    Zeta Interactive, an eight-year-old, New York-based big data and marketing analytics company, has raised $125 million in new equity funding from GSO Capital Partners and Franklin Square. The company has now raised $205 million altogether, shows Crunchbase. Fortune has more here.

    —–

    Exits

    Wish, a well-funded four-year-old, San Francisco-based mobile commerce platform, has acquired Locket, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that makes lockscreen apps for Android handsets. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Locket had raised $3.2 million from Great Oaks Venture Capital, Turner Broadcasting and Tyra Banks. TechCrunch has more here.

    —–

    People

    Brad Feld of Foundry Group guts a venture firm and a co-founder who were formerly business partners of Foundry over a recapped seed round. Interesting stuff.

    Flipkart, India’s biggest e-commerce company, is making two tech hires from West Coast: Yahoo’s VP of analytics, Eric Lange, and Dan Rawson, who has been serving as the general manager of North America Fulfillment at Amazon. Flipkart’s chief product officer Punit Soni “is building his team A, [and] there will be more talent coming from the Valley,” says a source, talking to the The Economic Times.

    Uber has reached a tentative settlement in a lawsuit brought by the family of a 6-year-old girl who died in a San Francisco car accident, according to court filings. Reuters has more here.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Google has confirmed that a buy button is coming soon to mobile search results.

    OkCupid‘s founders want to bring encyrpted email to the masses (and Andreessen Horowitz has given them $10.8 million to try).

    Twilio, the startup that lets developers integrate voice, text and other communications services into mobile and web apps by way of a set of APIs, is offering early shareholders liquidity via a repurchase offer. TechCrunch has more here.

    —–

    Detours

    Six super weird potential side effects of the California drought.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    A 1964 904 GTS Porsche. Wowza.

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: July 14, 2015

    Happy Tuesday, dear readers! We’re still at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, which is crammed with great content. As we arrived, we caught a talk by YouTube head Susan Wojcicki, who said the video unit’s priorities right now are “mobile, mobile, mobile.” We were also wowed by former Googler turned U.S. CTO Megan Smith, who made a persuasive case (over the loudest thunderstorm we’ve ever heard) for why many others in tech should consider public service, at the state, federal, and even international level. “Show up where you are rare,” she told attendees.

    We’re actually racing off to yet another panel discussion this morning, so apologies for a somewhat abbreviated newsletter. More soon!

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    A hoax story this morning suggested that Twitter is on the verge of being acquired for $31 billion. While it lit up Twitter for a while, Twitter cofounder Evan Williams suggested at the Brainstorm conference this morning that the company isn’t interested in being bought (at least right now). “No, not at this time,” he answered when asked if Twitter might be better off under an umbrella company.

    —–

    Andrew Braccia’s Big Bet on Slack

    Andrew Braccia of Accel Partners doesn’t tweet or write blog posts. He rarely talks with the media. But that doesn’t mean the 39-year-old isn’t working it. In fact, Braccia may have landed as big a deal for Accel as Facebook, whose $12.7 million Series A investment produced billions of dollars for its investors.

    That company? Slack.

    I had coffee with Braccia last week to ask about his early bet on the company, which Accel led with help from Andreessen Horowitz. It could become the defining deal of Braccia’s career, despite his other prescient bets, including on the high-profile Hadoop software company Cloudera (expected to go public sooner than later); Vox Media (owner of The Verge, SB Nation, Vox and Recode); and the 30-year-old, fast-growing online learning company Lynda.com, which had raised nearly $300 million from investors in recent years and announced in April that it was being acquired by LinkedIn for $1.5 billion.

    Our chat, edited for length, here.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Arivale, a year-old, Seattle-based company that combines genetic analysis with personal coaching to put individuals on a scientific path to wellness, has raised $36 million in Series B funding led by ARCH Venture Partners and Polaris Partners, with participation from Maveron. Geekwire has more here.

    FanDuel, the six-year-old, New York-based daily fantasy sports startup, has raised $275 million in new venture funding at a valuation “well north” of $1 billion, according to a Recode source. The round was led by KKR and included new investors Google Capital and Time Warner Investments with Turner Sports. Existing investors Shamrock Capital, NBC Sports Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Bullpen Capital, Pentech Ventures and Piton Capital were also involved. More here.

    Fastacash, a three-year-old, Singapore-based fintech startup— it acts as an intermediary for banks that want to get into social payments — has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by Rising Dragon Singapore, Life.SREDA, UVM 2 Venture Investments, and undisclosed existing investors. The company had previously raised $8.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

    MySmartPrice, a four-year-old, Hyderabad, India-based price comparison and search site, has raised $10 million in fresh funding led by Accel Partners, with participation from Helion Venture Partners. The startup had previously raised $1.3 million across two prior funding rounds. TechCrunch has more here.

    Pager, a year-old, New York-based healthcare on-demand service, has raised $14 million in Series A funding from New Enterprise Associates, Sound Ventures and earlier investors Goodwater Capital, Lux Capital andMontage Ventures. Crain’s New York has more here.

    Paktor, a two-year-old, Singapore-based social networking platform for singles, has raised $7.4 million in Series B funding from earlier investor Vertex Venture Holdings and new backers Majuven, and Convergence Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

    RealtyMogul.com, a two-year-old, L.A.-based leading online marketplace for real estate investing, has raised $35 million in Series B funding led by Sorenson Capital with additional funding from Canaan Partners, the lead investor in the company’s Series A financing.

    StyleSeat, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based company that helps independent beauty pros schedule clients and manage their business, has raised $25 million in Series B funding led by Fosun Kinzon Capital. Lightspeed Venture Partners, Cowboy Ventures and Slow Ventures also participated. The company had previously raised $14 million, including from Uber cofounder and CEO Travis Kalanick and entertainer Ashton Kutcher. Fortune has more here.

    —–

    New Funds

    Workday, the 10-year-old, Pleasanton, Ca.-based publicly traded human resources software maker, is launching its own investment fund called Workday Ventures that will solely focus on data science and machine learning startups. Business Insider has more here.

    —–

    Exits

    The Seattle-based mobile remittance app Remitly — which lets people in the U.S. send money to India or the Philippines — has acquired Talio, a picture messaging app co-founded by ex-Amazon engineers. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. TechCrunch has the story here.

    Match Group, the IAC subsidiary, is acquiring the dating site PlentyOfFish for $575 million in cash. TechCrunch has more here.

    —–

    People

    The rapper known as 50 Cent filed for bankruptcy protection in Connecticut yesterday as a lawsuit against him over a controversial online video plays out in a New York court. His boxing promotion company, SMS Promotions, has also filed for bankruptcy, listing assets and debt of $100,000 to $500,000 in May. 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, is also a tech entrepreneur: In late 2011, he formed a consumer electronics company in Delray Beach, Fla., called SMS Audio. The company, which stands for studio mastered sound, makes headphones and other electronics. No word on what happens to that company now. Bloomberg has more here.

    Chris Gomersall has spent the past three years working with brands and agencies at Facebook, where he was the first creative strategy leader. Now he’s leaving to run his own startup, Atomized. More here.

    Tumblr, Yahoo’s microblogging and social service, has tapped Comedy Central’sDon Steele as head of audience development. Tumblr also has named Evan Minskoff, previously with Ovation TV, head of marketing strategy and operations. Variety has the news here.

    In a post on Reddit late Sunday, Yishan Wong, Reddit’s former chief executive and Ellen Pao’s predecessor, accused Alexis Ohanian, a Reddit co-founder, of firing a popular employee, Victoria Taylor, which caused a major-league backlash against the company and led to the resignation last week of Pao.“When the hate-train started up against Pao,” Wong wrote, “Alexis should have been out front and center saying very clearly ‘Ellen Pao did not make this decision, I did.’” Wong added, “I used to respect Alexis Ohanian. After this, not quite so much.” The New York Times has the story here.

    In related Reddit news, the company’s chief engineer of the last two months, Bethanye Blount, has just quit, saying she has lost confidence in the direction of the company. Recode has the story here.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Facebook’s new security chief, Alex Stamos, is calling for Adobe Flash to be killed off.

    Venture-backed Wealthfront was called out yesterday by Mozilla Firefox co-creator Blake Ross, who thinks the company is wrongly charging its clients “Wall Street prices” for “Silicon Valley tech.”

    —–

    Detours

    How to behave at the airport.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Calm Before the Storm beer. (We could use these in Aspen right now.)

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: June 10, 2015

    Happy Friday, everyone, we hope you have an outstanding weekend!

    Quick reminder that we’ll be in transit en route to Fortune’s Brainstorm conference early Monday so we will not be publishing. We’ll see you back here Tuesday, though.:)

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Samsung is reportedly bumping up the launch of its smartphone line-up to August to gain some ground against Apple, which typically has some big reveals of its own in September. The WSJ has the story here.

    —–

    Y Combinator’s Big Future

    There’s been a lot of talk in venture circles lately about “signaling risk” and seed-stage investments. The gist: When earlier backers are high-profile venture firms, and these firms decide not to participate in a startup’s next round, it hurts the company’s ability to raise a Series A round.

    Although this concern isn’t exactly new, recent numbers published by the firm CB Insights suggest that the issue is worth revisiting. According CB Insights’s findings, while 35 percent of all venture-backed, seed-funded companies go on to raise a Series A, a company that counts a respected venture firm among its seed backers has a 51 percent chance of raising a Series A if that firm participates in the round.

    That’s the good news. The bad: If the venture firm decides not participate in the startup’s Series A, the company’s chances of closing its Series A round drop to 27 percent.

    The study made us think about Y Combinator, the popular accelerator program, and its plan for the future. Right now, Y Combinator has the best of both worlds. It can make seed-stage investments at scale, for sizable stakes in startups, and not worry in the least about signaling risk: no one expects it to pour more of its capital into follow-on rounds. Its very model is premised on finding and funneling smart companies to other Series A, B, and C investors.

    Recently, however, some have speculated that Y Combinator is heading into a future where it is both seed and growth-stage investor.

    More here.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Aptimmune Biologics, a five-year-old, Champaign, Il.-based mucosal vaccine company developing novel swine vaccines, raised $2.75 million in funding from Arsenal Capital Management, Fox Ventures and a group of Midwest angel investors. More here.

    BeneStream, a four-year-old, New York-based health technology company, has raised $4.26 million in Series A funding led by TLSG Investments, with participation from Kapor Capital, Relativity Healthcare Partners, and earlier backers, including Serious Change and individual investors. More here.

    BitFury Group, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based bitcoin blockchain infrastructure provider and transaction processing company, has raised $20 million in funding from backers, including DRW Venture Capital, iTech Capital and Georgian Co-Investment Fund. TechCrunch has more here.

    Octopus, a 2.5-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based startup that provides physical security systems for large facilities, has raised $2.5 million in funding from Singulariteam. TechCrunch has more here.

    —-

    New Funds

    BioStar Ventures, a 12-year-old, Petoskey, Mi.-based venture capital firm focused on medical device and connected health technologies in cardiovascular and orthopedic medicine, has raised  $68 million for its third, and largest, fund. FierceBiotech has more here.

    Not a new fund exactly, but: Cisco said yesterday that it plans on pouring $1 billion into the United Kingdom over the next three to five years years to boost the country’s technology sector, especially the burgeoning Internet of things market. Fortune has more here.

    —–

    Exits

    Splunk, the publicly traded operational intelligence software company, announced last night that it has purchased Caspida, a Palo Alto-based cybersecurity and threat detection company, for $190 million. The deal has already closed, the company reported. Caspida had raised $11.5 million from investors, shows Crunchbase (though it doesn’t list its backers). TechCrunch has more here.

    —–

    People

    Uber moved aggressively on Thursday to shut down a high-stakes case over the company’s designation of drivers as independent contractors, arguing among other things that most Uber drivers don’t even want to be employees. The Recorder has more here.

    Peter Read has left the European arm of Google Ventures almost a year after it was unveiled, reports TechCrunch. No word on why he left, though his departure leaves Eze Vidra, Tom Hulme, and Avid Larizadeh as the remaining GPs of the European arm.

    Intel Capital’s outgoing head honcho Arvind Sodhani on his career — and what’s next.

    Joshua Topolsky, the top digital editor at Bloomberg, has been fired from the company due to Michael Bloomberg’s frustration with the website. Politico has more here.

    A dozen candidates for Twitter‘s seach committee (plus Snoop Dogg).

    —–

    Essential Reads

    In recent weeks, Facebook has held preliminary discussions with the major record companies, seeking licensing deals to insert music videos into Facebook users’ feeds, reports the New York Times.

    The coder who encrypted your texts.

    —–

    Detours

    The curious truth about belly button fluff.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    A replica of the bluetooth communicator used in the original “Star Trek.”

    Also amazing: The Knight Rider K.I.T.T. USB car charger.

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: July 9, 2015

    Hi, good morning, readers. It is Thursday!

    A few quick things: If you are interested in coming to our Wednesday, September 16 event, you may want to pick up a ticket soon. (More than half have sold.) Speakers include Chamath Palihapitiya of Social + Capital; DFJ’s legendary cofounder Steve Jurvetson; investor-entrepreneur Tony Conrad of About.me and True Ventures; and Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg, among others. (We’re very excited about the full line-up.) If you’re interested in a sponsorship opportunity, we’d love to talk with you.

    We also want to let you know we will not be publishing StrictlyVC this coming Monday, as we’ll be en route to Fortune’s Brainstorm conference at a very early hour. We’ll be back in full-form on Tuesday, though.:)

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Jawbone has just filed its third legal action against rival fitness tracker company Fitbit, this one seeking to block Fitbit from importing fitness trackers or their parts. The WSJ has the story here. (Interestingly, shareholders don’t seem phased; Fitbit’s shares have doubled in price to roughly $42 since their public market debut roughly a month ago.)

    IBM is this morning announcing new computer chips that are more powerful than any in existence.

    Uber has dropped out of the running to buy Nokia’s mapping business. Reuters has the story.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Afferent Pharmaceuticals, a six-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based drug developer focused on debilitating neurogenic disorders, has raised $55 million in Series C funding led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, with participation from Jennison Associates, New Leaf Ventures, Partner Fund Management, Redmile Group, Tekla Healthcare Investors, Tekla Life Science Investors, and an undisclosed public investment fund. More here.

    Amistad Energy Partners, a newly formed, Houston, Tex.-based independent oil and gas company, has raised $150 million in funding from Kayne Anderson Energy Funds and members of the management team, which includes four former BP executives. More here.

    Apester, a four-year-old, New York City-based digital storytelling platform for publishers that enables them to embed interactive units – polls, surveys, personality tests and video quizzes – in stories, has raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Mangrove Capital Partners, with participation from former AOL Video CMO Tal Simantov and other individual investors. More here.

    Clara Foods, a nine-month-old, San Francisco-based biotech that’s creating egg whites out of genetically modified yeast, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding from David Friedberg, Gary Hirshberg, Ali and Hadi Partovi, Scott Banister, and SOS Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

    Collectabillia, a three-year-old, Bangalore, India-based celebrity commerce company that sells memorabilia autographed by celebrities, as well as fan merchandise, has raised $7.5 million in Series B funding from earlier investor Accel Partners. VCCircle has more here.

    Curely, a year-old, Newport Beach, Ca.-based mobile application that connects doctors and consumers around the world, has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Exponential Partners. More here.

    DigitalOcean, a four-year-old, New York-based cloud-hosting service built for developers, has raised a $83 million in Series B funding led by Access Industries, with participation from earlier backer Andreessen Horowitz, which led the company’s $37 million Series A round last year. The company has now raised $173.2 million altogether.

    Emma, a 12-year-old Nashville, Tenn.-based email service provider, has raised $5 million in equity and debt funding from Nashville Capital Network and Square 1 Bank. More here.

    Genymobile, a four-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based company at work on three different products that aim to make using Android much easier for Android developers, has raised $7.7 million from Alven Capital, with Bpifrance also participating. TechCrunch has much more here.

    Influitive, a 4.5-year-old, Toronto-based company focused on advocate marketing, has raised $30.5 million in Series B funding led by Georgian Partners, with participation from OurCrowd, DoCoMo Capital, BDC Capital IT Venture Fund, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Illuminate Ventures, Resolute Ventures, Relay Ventures, CommonAngels Ventures and First Round Capital. The company has now raised $41.8 million altogether, shows Crunchbase.

    Jinfuzi, a three-year-old, Shenzhen, China-based online wealth management firm, has raised $50 million in Series B funding led by the Chinese social networking firm Renren, according to China Money Network. Earlier backer Sequoia Capital also participated.

    Foody, a three-year-old, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam-based restaurant review app, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series B funding from the Singapore-based Internet company Garena. The company has previously raised two other rounds; its other investors include CyberAgent Ventures and Pix Vine Capital Investment. DealStreetAsia has more here.

    Karmic Labs, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based business-to-business payments infrastructure company, has raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Greycroft Partners. More here.

    Lendingkart, a year-old, Gujarat, India-based online lending company focused on small businesses, has raised $10 million in Series A funding from Saama Capital, Mayfield, and individual investors. More here.

    Lybrate, an 18-month-old, New Delhi, India-based, mobile-based platform that connects patients and doctors, has raised $10.2 million in fresh funding fromTiger Global Management, with participation from earlier backer Nexus Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

    The Medical Memory, a seven-year-old, Phoenix, Az.-based medical video messaging platform that lets doctors record and securely share videos of patient visits, has raised $2.1 million in seed funding led by Provenance Venture Partners. More here.

    mLevel, a three-year-old, Chicago, Il.-based game-based learning platform for corporate customers, has raised $5 million in Series A funding from BIP Capital. More here.

    News In Shorts, a two-year-old, New Delhi, India-based mobile news app, has raised $20 million in Series B funding from earlier backer Tiger Global Management, which also led the company’s $4 million Series A in February. TechCrunch has more here.

    PandaDoc, a two-year-old, South San Francisco, Ca.-based company whose software product sits atop customers’ CRM tools to help manage quotes, proposals, contracts, and other collateral, has raised $5 million in funding led by Altos Ventures, with participation from TMT Investments and other unnamed investors. TechCrunch has more here.

    Pickup, a year-old, Addison, Tex.-based developer of an on-demand delivery app, has raised $600,000 in seed funding from undisclosed sources. The Dallas Business Journal has more here.

    Secoo, a four-year-old, Shanghai, Chinese-based luxury e-commerce site, has raised $55 million in Series E funding led by Ping An Ventures. More here.

    Touchten, a six-year-old Indonesia-based gaming studio, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series C funding led by Japanese mobile and social firm GREE, with 500 Startups as a follow-on investor. VentureBeat has more here.

    —–

    New Funds

    TLV Partners, a new Tel Aviv, Israel firm cofounded by Eitan Bek and Rona Segev, both formerly of Pitango Venture Capital, is looking to raise up to $100 million for its debut fund, shows an SEC filing first flagged by Fortune.

    —–

    Exits

    AOL, recently acquired by Verizon for $4.4 billion, is in the process of buying mobile ad network Millennial Media, sources tell TechCrunch. The rumored price: betwen $300 million and $350 million, a premium to its public market capitalization of $217 million.

    The 17-year-old security company Avast Software has acquired Remotium, a 2.5-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based company whose enterprise security services protect mobile devices. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. According to Crunchbase, Remotium had raised $1 million from Draper Nexus Ventures.

    ViralNova, a one-person content company run by Canton, Ohio-based entrepreneur Scott DeLong, has been acquired by Zealot Networks in a deal worth roughly $100 million in cash and stock. Zealot was founded by former Maker Studios chief executive Danny Zappin last year. TechCrunch has the story here.

    —–

    People

    Netscape billionaire Jim Clark has a new super yacht — Comanche — and it’s expected to make a big ol’ splash at the upcoming Transatlantic Race. The WSJ has the story here.

    Ben Huh, the entrepreneur who founded Cheezburger, parent company to site I Can Has Cheezburger, is stepping down as CEO, with the company’s president and COO Scott Moore assuming the role. Huh announced the news on Medium. More here.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Nick Bilton of the New York Times visited Twitter recently to see how its CEO search is coming along. He walked away more concerned than ever.

    Yahoo is introducing a more intense, daily form of fantasy sports that allows competitors to compete with real money. The San Jose Mercury News has more here.

    You can now tell Facebook what you want in your News Feed.

    9to5mac is reporting new details about Google Glass’s “enterprise edition.”

    —–

    Detours

    The people who barely sleep (and are fine)!

    The work the rest of us do when we’re in dreamworld.

    The 10 best islands in the world, according to travelers.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Zip line kit. You never know; it could come in handy(?).

    Connie

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