NFT marketplace OpenSea raised a fresh $300M funding round at a $13.3B valuation led by Coatue. Crypto/Web3-focused investor Paradigm is expected to co-lead the round. The funding was originally reported by Eric Newcomer. More: - Participation also came from Kathryn Haun's new crypto fund. Haun, who left Andreessen Horowitz last year after co-chairing the firm's crypto investment fund, is currently the only other board member at OpenSea aside from the company's two founders, Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah.
- Dan Rose at Coatue may also take a board seat following the funding round.
- OpenSea is just four years old, making its valuation all the more astonishing. It's also a pretty big jump from the $1.5B valuation it got from Andreessen Horowitz during its most recent funding round in July.
- It plans to double its staff, which currently clocks in at a headcount of 90, and build infrastructure to make blockchain more accessible to mainstream consumers.
- The company was recently the subject of controversy after it froze its marketplace following reports that NFTs valued at $2.2M were stolen.
- Users questioned the decision due to its implication for OpenSea's commitment to decentralization, the main tenet of blockchain protocols.
Some Context - The round comes after a year that saw $3B pumped into NFT startups, a category of companies that practically didn't exist prior to 2021.
- According to PitchBook data, global funding for all crypto startups hit $28B last year.
In related news: - Meanwhile, reports have also surfaced that OpenSea is in talks to acquire crypto wallet provider Dharma Labs in an all-stock deal valued between $110M-$130M.
- Dharma Labs has only raised $15M to date.
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 Of the $5B pumped into African startups in 2021, almost $3B went to fintech companies, reports Briter Bridges. The figure represents a doubling of 2020's sum and a tripling for the figure from 2019. More: - The data show the digital payments space in Africa experiencing the greatest funding growth over the last decade when compared to other sub-sectors within the fintech space.
- Financial Technology Partners, a fintech-focused investment outfit, said that the continent's growing population, underdeveloped financial infrastructure, and skyrocketing mobile usage make it a prime locale for fintech companies to expand.
- The number of mobile money accounts rose by 43% in 2020.
- Penetration varies by region; with the exception of South Africa, sub-Saharan countries have much lower user rates than other areas.
- According to a McKinsey study, Africa is regarded as the world's second-fastest-growing and second-most-profitable payments and banking market after Latin America.
- The African startup funding landscape is beginning to show contours similar to more established funding markets. Of the $5B in total funding, $3B went to 20 companies, while the 700 other startups raised nearly $2B.
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E-commerce company Fanatics has acquired Topps trading cards, according to sources for CNBC. The deal's terms were not disclosed, but experts put the price tag around $500M. The acquisition includes Topps' name and sports and entertainment division, but not the company's candy and gift cards line. More: - Fanatics is an online retailer of licensed sportswear, sports equipment, and merchandise. It was most recently valued at $18B following a $325B round that saw investments from SoftBank, Silver Lake, MLB, and others.
- Prior to acquiring Topps, which came as no great surprise given previous statements, Fanatics stole the company's largest client by acquiring the rights to MLB's trading cards.
- Topps was valued at $1.3B in a SPAC merger, which fell apart after Topps lost its MLB rights.
- The deal with MLB followed Fanatics' 2017 purchase of the MLB's apparel rights.
- It also has trading card licenses for the NFL and NBA. To land those deals, it offered a guaranteed $1B in annual revenue to leagues and player unions.
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Joe Lonsdale of 8VC faced swift backlash for comments on Twitter seemingly attributing race-based funding discrepancies to "average black culture." Lonsdale, who also co-founded controversial data company Palantir alongside Peter Thiel and Alex Karp, claimed that his comments were taken out of context. More: - Lonsdale asserted that the people attacking him had political motivations, are entirely on the far left, and engaged in divisive tactics. He also claimed that screenshots of his Tweets were edited.
- In now-deleted Tweets, Lonsdale wrote: "A real view: average black culture needs to step it up and stop having as many kids born out of wedlock (statistical indicator of underperformance) / who don't value education or spend as much time on homework."
- Lonsdale claims that critics do not understand his point, which is that past racism has resulted in issues in cultures today, which means that blaming a group's suffering 100% on racism is not "necessarily fair."
- Stealth-mode general partner Lolita Taub told anyone who agrees with Lonsdale to unfollow her.
- Lightship Capital GP Brian Brackeen said that any LP investing in Lonsdale's firm is complicit.
- Bessemer partner Elliott Robinson asserted that the problem of such sentiments lies not with Lonsdale himself but rather with the LPs, co-Investors, Founders, and decision-makers who either silently agree with him or remain silent out of fear or opportunism.
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Atmosphere, which provides audio-less visual content for commercial venues, raised $80M Series C led by Sageview Capital. Valor Equity Partners and S3 Ventures also participated. The company also pulled in a $20M debt facility from Bridge Bank. More: - Valor Equity Partners led Atmosphere's $25M Series B round less than a year ago. The latest funding brought the startup's total haul to date to $140M.
- While it did not disclose a valuation, CEO and co-founder Leo Resig said that the company is close to becoming a unicorn.
- Austin-based Atmosphere's business is based around free licensed, proprietary ad-supported video channels to be streamed in public places like bars, restaurants, and doctors' offices.
- Currently, 60% of its customers are gastronomy establishments.
- It doubled its customer footprint to 19,000 in the last year and now streams some 250,000 hours of content daily to 20 million unique viewers.
- It gets 215,000 impressions per advertisement, which is "comparable to a TV rating," according to Resig.
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 Today's Funding 💸 Adtech/Martech - Whitebox (Baltimore, Md.), e-commerce marketing and fulfillment technology: $20M led by Delta-v Capital, participation from Noro-Moseley Partners, TDF Ventures, MRE Capital, Kilkea Charles.
Biotech/Health - DNA Script (San Francisco, Calif.), on-demand DNA printing: $200M C from T. Rowe Price Associates, Baillie Gifford, et al.
- Intrance Medical Systems (New York, N.Y.), combination treatment of carbidopa, entacapone, and levodopa for enteral infusion in advanced Parkinson's disease patients: $17M A led by Erik Selin, Rutger Arnhult.
- Ianacare (Boston, Mass.), tech-enabled caregiver support through employers and health plans: ...
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Quick Hits - StageOne Ventures closed a $235M fourth fund with $135M to pursue a strategy of investing in seed-stage companies and $85M for follow-on investments.
- Sound Bioventures Fund I raised $124.4M from LPs including Novo Holdings, Saminvest, Vækstfonden, the European Investment Fund, and others. The fund invests in clinical or late pre-clinical-stage biotech companies.
- Defi platform WonderFi Technologies will buy Canadian crypto exchange Bitbuy for $161.8M (C$206M) in cash and stock.
- Tencent raised $3B by selling 14.5 million shares of Sea, the parent company of e-commerce firm Shoppe. Tencent's stake in the Singapore-based gaming and e-commerce group fell to 18.7% from 21.3%. Sea's share price fell 11.4% from $208 to $197.8.
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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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