Tiger Global has reportedly raised over $11B for its latest VC fund. The fund, Private Investment Partners 15, is set to close in March with $15B in capital commitments, a 50% increase over its original $10B target. More: - The past three months have seen the fund’s LPs add $2B to its coffers, making it one of the top 10 largest VC funds ever, even before its final close.
- It still trails the largest fund to date, which was raised by Insight Partners at $20B. That vehicle was expected to close at $16B.
- The continuing funding arms race comes as U.S. VC firms raised a record $128.3B last year and despite the stock market downturn, which has already resulted in Tiger Global and other investors cutting portfolio valuations.
- Tiger closed its last venture fund at $6.65B in March last year, nearly double its initial target of $3.75B. It wrote over 300 checks in 2021.
- Its AUM ballooned to $80B in 2021 from $65B in 2020.
- Employees were responsible for $1.5B of that total sum.
- While the firm has turned its attention to private markets, its public market hedge fund lost 14.8% in January after a loss of 7% in 2021, its first annual loss since 2016.
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Trust Machines, a bitcoin-based NFT and DAO platform, raised $150M at an undisclosed valuation. Participating investors included Breyer Capital, Union Square Ventures, Digital Currency Group, GoldenTree, Hivemind, and others. More: - Trust Machines was founded by Princeton doctoral graduate Muneeb Ali and his professor Dr. JP Singh in 2017.
- It operates using Stacks, a smart contracts network linked to bitcoin. The company’s underlying premise is that bitcoin can, beyond being a store of value, be used as a settlement layer and platform for Web3.
- Stacks, formerly known as Blockstacks, is the product of a company called Hiro, also founded by Ali. It has raised a total of $75M from investors including Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator, Winklevoss Capital, and Harvard Management Co.
- The opportunity to bring bitcoin into the Web3 fold comes as it increasingly correlates with risky stocks.
- The majority of decentralized finance is currently locked in Ethereum and other Layer-1 chains such as Solana.
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The average salary for a blockchain engineer grew to $164,694 in Dec. 2021, up nearly 10% from $150,138 in Jan. 2020. That growth comes as VC-driven competition in the crypto sector has forced companies to offer bigger perks and salaries. Previously, top engineers were happy to be compensated largely in tokens. More: - Crypto salaries have also outstripped regular tech salaries, which grew only 3% from $155,071 to $160,463 in the same time period.
- Crypto-related job postings also grew 395% from 2020 to 2021, compared to a 98% increase in listings for roles throughout the tech industry at large, according to data from LinkedIn.
- According to compensation-software company Payscale, the average salary for a Coinbase employee is $132,000, compared to $120,000 at Google and $122,000 at Microsoft.
Some Context: - To a certain extent, the crypto sector is following a well-known trajectory in the startup world:
- Younger companies are forced to offer skimpier compensation during their bootstrapping phase and can only compete with established firms after they get infusions of VC.
- The difference is that crypto firms have even outpaced the companies known for setting the standard for compensation models.
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PalmPay, an Africa-focused payments platform, apparently raised $100M last year. The U.K.-based company’s capital came from Chuangshi Capital, Yunshi Equity Investment Management, Trust Capital, Chengyu Capital, and AfricaInvest. More: - The round closed in August but wasn’t widely announced at the time. TechCrunch found it mentioned in Partech Africa’s end-of-year report on venture capital investments on the continent.
- The funding round was one of only a handful of mega-rounds ($100M+) for African startups last year.
- PalmPay got its start in 2019 when it entered the Nigerian payments ecosystem. At that point, it had raised a $40M seed round, the largest in the continent’s history.
- Since then, it has expanded into Ghana and reportedly grown its transaction volume to $100M as of June 2021.
- The investor list being heavy with Chinese firms is no accident: PalmPay partners with Chinese mobile brands Tecno, Infinx, and itel to reach consumers.
- While its growth is more than respectable, the competition is hot: Dominant player OPay, backed by SoftBank and Sequoia Capital China, has 8 million users with monthly transaction volumes exceeding $3B.
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 Today's Funding 💸 Agtech - Agritask (Tel Aviv, Israel), SaaS agronomic intelligence: $26M led by Liechtenstein Group, participation from Bridges Israel, Smart Agro Fund, et al.
- Phylos (Portland, Ore.), cannabis and hemp genetics: $7.6M from Merida Capital Holdings, Accomplice, Entourage Effect Capital.
Biotech/Health - Dewpoint Therapeutics (Boston, Mass.), biomolecular condensates: $150M C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, participation from General Catalyst, Mubadala Capital, 3E Bioventures, Mirae Asset Capital, et al.
- Koya Medical (Oakland, Calif.), lymphatic and venous care: $26M B led by 3×5 Partners, participation from Asahi Kasei Ventures, Cadence Healthcare Ventures, et al.
- Formus Labs (Auckland, New Zealand), automated 3D planner for joint replacement surgeries: $5M led by GD1, participation from Punakaiki Fund, Icehouse Ventures, Pacific Channel, Flying Kiwis.
- CND Life Sciences (Phoenix, Ariz.), neurodegenerative disease diagnostics: $5M Seed from undisclosed sources.
Blockchain - Dune Analytics (Oslo, Norway), web3 analytics platform: $69.4M B led by Coatue, participation from Multicoin Capital, Dragonfly Capital.
- RareCircles (New York, N.Y.), platform for building NFT memberships: $7.5M Seed led by Tiger Global, participation from White Star Capital, Hashed, Alpaca, Crew Capital, Global Founders Capital, et al.
Consumer - Future (San Francisco, Calif.), digital fitness coaching service: $75M C led by SC.Holdings, Trustbridge Partners, participation from Kleiner Perkins, et al.
- Doing Things Media (Atlanta, Ga.), shareable content creator: $21.5M A led by Volition Capital.
- Zero Grocery (San Francisco, Calif.), sustainable two-hour grocery delivery platform: $11.8M led by Sway Ventures.
DevOps - Digibee (Weston, Fla.), low-code integration platform: $25M A led by SoftBank Latin America Fund, participation from Kinea, G2D Investments.
Edtech - Mos (San Francisco, Calif.), platform to connect students to scholarships: $40M led by Tiger Global, participation from Sequoia, Lux Capital, Emerson Collective, Plural VC.
Energy - Zeta Energy (Houston, Texas), battery for the electric vehicle and energy storage markets: $23M A led by Moore Strategic Ventures.
Enterprise - Snapshift (Paris, France), HR platform for managing the deskless workforce: $45M led by Highland Europe, participation from Bpifrance, UL Invest.
- Jobilla (Helsinki, Finland), talent acquisition startup: $9.5M led by Juuri Partners, Trind VC.
Fintech - Tribal Credit (San Francisco, Calif.), B2B payments and financing platform for emerging markets: $60M B led by SoftBank Latin America Fund, participation from Coinbase Ventures, et al.
- Jar (Bengaluru, India), investment platform: $32M A led by Tiger Global.
- Billhop (Stockholm, Sweden), B2B payments platform: $12M led by EQT Ventures.
Greentech - Novi (California), B2B marketplace for sustainable, innovative ingredients and packaging: $40M from Tiger, Defy, Greylock.
- Modern Electron (Seattle, Wash.), system that captures the emissions and produces clean hydrogen: $30M B led by At One Ventures, participation from Extantia, Starlight Ventures, Valo Ventures.
Insurtech - 180º Seguros (São Paulo, Brazil), digital insurance marketplace: $31.4M A led by 8VC, participation from Dragoneer, Monashees, Atlantico, Quartz, Norte.
Robotics - Viam (New York, N.Y.), hardware and language-agnostic platform to create robotics: $30M A led by Tiger Global, participation from Union Square Ventures, Battery Ventures.
Transportation - TTTech Auto (Vienna, Austria), automotive safety software: $285M from Aptiv PLC, Audi.
- Soelect (North Carolina), EV batteries: $11M A led by Lotte Chemical, participation from KTB Network, General Motors, et al.
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Quick Hits - For Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute, the Gartner Magic Quadrant named Adobe a Leader among 17 vendors — See why here.*
- Thanks to a 70% jump in 2021 and a final push in the last few weeks, the global unicorn herd has reached 1,000 with a $3.3T valuation. Check out the complete list here via CB Insights.
- Marathon Ventures held the first close at $46.8M (€40M) for its second fund for early-stage Greek startups.
- Wag Labs, a dog walking app, will go public via a merger with SPAC CHW Acquisition Corp at a $350M valuation. The company will raise $175M in gross proceeds.
- Tripp, an XR wellness and digital psychedelics platform, acquired VR meditation community EvolVR for an undisclosed sum.
- Despite no one really knowing what a metaverse is, 552 apps use the term in their title or description. Check out this TechCrunch article to find out how they are attracting customers with the buzzword.
- Your money matters. Let's make more of it. Stocks are great, but there are many more options now. That's why we've been reading the Alts newsletter.*
*This is a sponsored post.
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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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