 The Nasdaq has officially hit "correction" territory. It dropped 166.64 points, or 1.1%, to 14340.26. That figure puts it 10.7% below its all-time closing high, or .7% beneath the official metric for an index correction. More: - Both the S&P and Dow Jones fell 1% yesterday. Still, the S&P 500's value index has been outperforming its growth index by around 7.4% this month, on track for the biggest monthly outperformance since Dec. 2000
- Investors are switching their portfolios away from riskier tech stocks to Mainstreet staples in anticipation of the pandemic becoming endemic.
- Instead of fintechs and EV battery startups, they are now focusing on traditional financial and energy companies.
- They are also bracing for the Fed and other major central banks to tighten monetary policy in the coming months.
- Yields on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes slipped to 1.826% from 1.866%
Focusing the Lens: - Recently-debuted fintech stocks are taking a beating, with over a dozen in Crunchbase's category of "truly terrible performers."
- They include Marqeta, Robinhood, and Bakt.
- Marqetaa debuted at $27 and now trades for $13. Robinhood fell from $38 in July to $15 today.
Long Term Predictions: - Yesterday I looked at VCs' predictions of what a serious public market correction will mean for the private markets.
- In short, while generalized and mid-sized firms will suffer, there are still reasons to be bullish on boutique investment outfits focusing on niche segments.
*Note: Inside.com's founder and CEO, Jason Calacanis, is an investor in Robinhood.
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Handshake, a platform to connect college students and alumni to job openings, raised $200M to hit a $3.5B valuation. The capital infusion was co-led by Coatue Management and Valiant Peregrine Fund. More: - Participation came from Base10’s Advancement Initiative and others. They joined existing investors, including GGV Capital, Spark Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, True Ventures, and EQT.
- San Francisco-based Handshake was valued at $1.5B after a funding round last year, meaning that the latest figure represents more than a doubling.
- Crunchbase data indicates that the company has raised $434M to date.
- CEO and co-founder Garrett Lord claims that the firm is on track to hit $100M in annual recurring revenue this year.
- While Handshake has the full intent to enter public markets in the next few years, Lord says that a SPAC merger would not come into question.
- It has placed special emphasis on targeting students from underrepresented backgrounds, such as at historically Black colleges.
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A recent Twitter Space conversation hosted by VC and angel Del Johnson asked why all-female founding teams have so much trouble fundraising. The discussion came as the latest data showed that all-female founding teams raised only 2% of all funding in 2021. That is a five-year low. More: - Johnson himself conjectured that male power brokers tend to support the female VC who share patriarchal biases. That means that they also continue to perpetuate discrimination.
- Entrepreneur Gentry Lane saw in the data proof for systemic misogyny in the VC ecosystem.
- The insistence on presentation and pitch decks as opposed to normal conversations as a basis for investment also serves to exclude women, according to Lane.
- There could be a simple statistical reason for the poor showing:
- Last year’s record-setting VC funding levels were driven by late-stage funding. Most female founders’ companies are at an earlier stage and would thus not benefit from boosted investment levels.
- Some good news: VC-backed companies with at least one female founder captured over 25% of last year’s total venture deals by count, representing 17.6% of overall deal value, according to Pitchbook,
Reminder: - Yesterday, I reported that Fearless Fund, an investment house focusing on early-stage startups founded by women of color, closed its $25M first fund. It is already shopping around its second vehicle, which it anticipates will come in at an oversubscribed $100M.
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Data-based revenue insights provider Clari raised $225 Series F at a $2.6B valuation. The company’s fresh funding came from lead investors Blackstone, Silver Lake, and Sequoia Capital. More: - The capital came on top of Clari’s previously raised $271M. Its investors include Light Street Capital, Maverick Capital, B Capital Group, Bain Capital Ventures, Madrona Ventures, Northgate Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Sequoia Capital Global Equities, and Tenaya Capital.
- Founded in Sunnyvale, Calif., in 2013, Clari counts over 450 companies worldwide to its client base.
- Its value proposition is simple: Through a big data platform integrating all aspects of a company, Clari can provide revenue visibility through its dashboard.
- This helps companies optimize pricing through enhanced conversions, reduce revenue leakage, and identify new revenue channels.
- Alone in 2021, 18 of Clari’s customers went public, including Confluent, UiPath, Procore, WalkMe, Hashicorp, Samsara, and ChargePoint.
- The company boasts a 500-strong team and wants to add another 300 in the next year.
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 Today's Funding 💸 Biotech/Health - Lyra Health (Burlingame, Calif.), workforce mental health platform: $235M led by Dragoneer.
- Iterative Scopes (Cambridge, Mass.), precision-based gastrointestinal (GI) disease technologies: $150M B led by Insight Partners, Clearlake Capital Group.
- Wheel (Austin, Texas), white-labeled diagnostic services: $150M C led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Tiger Global.
- Big Health (San Francisco, Calif.), digital therapeutics for mental health: $75M C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, participation from ArrowMark Partners, Octopus Ventures, Gilde Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, et al.
- Ceptur Therapeutics (New Jersey), oligonucleotide therapeutics: $75M A led by venBio Partners. Qiming Venture Partners USA, participation from Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund, Bristol Myers Squibb.
- 64x Bio (San Francisco, Calif.), synthetic biology: $55M A led by Lifeforce Capital, participation from Northpond Ventures, Michael Chambers, et al.
- Engitix (London, U.K.), human extracellular matrix drug target discovery platform...
Want to read about all of today's funding in one place? The funding roundup is only available to free users on Mondays and Fridays. Upgrade to Inside VC Premium for either $10/month, or $100 billed annually, to receive the full list in every issue! For a limited time, we are offering a 14-day free trial. Click here to sign up! | | | |
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- ByteDance has dissolved its investment unit in the face of regulatory pressure. The team will be distributed throughout the rest of the organization.
- Listen, which places bets on early-stage consumer startups, raised $92M for its third fund.
- 2048 Ventures raised $67M for its second early-stage fund to pursue an investment strategy targeting North American startups outside of major tech centers.
- Sony’s share price took a 13% dive following Microsoft’s acquisition of game studio Activision. The loss translates to $20B wiped off the company’s market cap.
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 |  | Inside VC's writer/curator Stephen currently lives in Berlin and is pursuing a Master's degree in philosophy. He otherwise spends his time trying his hand at recipes from India and Southeast Asia, escaping it all at the kickboxing gym, and offending aural sensibilities with his band. |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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