Australian startups raised a collective 682 deals in 12 months, valued at over $10B. That figure is more than three times higher than the $3.1B in aggregate funding in 2020. Fintech and enterprise software made up the two largest sectors by deal count. More: - As the report by Folklore Ventures, a fund, and Cut Through Venture, a newsletter, notes, only 19% of total funding deals were for startups with at least one female founder.
- That is only one percentage point better than the previous year, despite total funding for such companies rising from $860M in 2020 to $2.2B in 2021.
- The two figures represent 28% and 22% percent of total funding in each year, respectively.
- Women make up 26% of all workers in the Australian tech industry.
The wider lens: - While those figures show an unequal terrain for female founders in the country, the proportion is closer to parity than in the U.S., where the latest data show female-co-founded companies pulling in 15% of all funding and 18.9% of deals in the U.S.
- Still, the main problem in both countries is the same: Startups with female (co-)founders tend to be at an earlier stage, meaning that they by default raise smaller amounts of money.
- At the same time, there are not enough early-stage, female-founded companies operating at the moment to substantially improve funding distribution in the next few years without substantial changes.
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South African crypto exchange VALR raised $50M Series B at a $240M valuation. The company claims that the round is the largest ever for an African crypto startup. Pantera Capital led the round with participation from Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures, Cadenza, CMT Digital, Distributed Global, GSR, Third Prime, and Avon Ventures. More: - VALR’s valuation rose by a factor of 10 after today’s round from its $3.4M Series A funding in July 2020.
- Its platform allows trading of bitcoin and 60 other currencies. It boasts 250,000 retail customers, most of whom are located in South Africa, as well as 500 institutional clients.
- It has processed $7.5B in trades since its launch in 2019.
The wider lens: - In the year leading up to June 2021, crypto adoption in Africa grew 1,200%, according to Chainalysis.
- Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania are regional crypto hubs.
- Funding for African fintech grew to $3B annually last year, making up 66% of the continent’s total haul.
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AppLovin, the mobile marketing platform provider, acquired Wurl for $430M in a 55%-45% cash-stock split deal. Wurl connects over 1,200 free, ad-supported connected TV streaming channels with distribution services in over 50 countries. More: - Wurl will continue to operate independently and will retain its existing management team.
- Reaching 30 million viewers, its programming partners include A+E Networks, AMC Networks, Bloomberg, BBC Studios, CNN, Reuters, and Sony.
- Distribution partners include Amazon IMDb TV, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, Rakuten, Twitch, and Vizio.
- The new tie-up extends AppLovin’s increased M&A appetite. The company acquired mobile app monetization platform MoPub from Twitter in a $1.05B all-cash deal last fall.
- Prior to that deal, AppLovin had absorbed marketing analytics firm Adjust for $1B, social network gaming producer Machine Zone for $500M, and three other companies.
- At the time of writing, AppLovin stock was trading for just over $60 on the Nasdaq, almost $20 less than at the time of its IPO.
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Cybersecurity posture automation platform Balbix raised $70M Series C led by Redline Capital. New investors Third Point Ventures, Nautilus Venture Partners, Modern Venture Partners, and Franklin Park and existing investors Mayfield, JC2 Ventures, Mubadala Capital, Alter Venture Partners, and Singtel Innov8 also participated in the oversubscribed round. More: - Balbix uses AI to unify cybersecurity automation for large enterprises.
- In addition to security posture automation, it targets unified asset inventory, software bill of materials, vulnerability management, and cyber risk quantification.
- The company has seen 2.5x growth in ARR over the last 12 months and closed four multi-million-dollar deals with Fortune 100 companies.
The wider lens: - According to Balbix, the overall cybersecurity market should grow at 13% CAGR to reach $400B by 2027, driven by increased digitization across all sectors.
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 Today’s Funding 💸 Agtech - Source.ag (San Francisco, Calif.), software to make greenhouses smarter: $10M led by Acre Venture Partners, participation from E14, Astanor ventures, Harvest House, Agrocare, Rainbow Growers.
Biotech/Health - MDClone (Be’er Sheva, Israel), independent healthcare data exploration platform: $63M C led by Warburg Pincus, Viola Growth, participation from aMoon, LightSpeed Venture Partners, OrbiMed.
- NextRNA (Cambridge, Mass.), non-coding RNAs to develop transformative therapeutics: $56M Seed led by Cobro Ventures, Lightchain Capital, participation from Circle Alternative Investments, et al.
- Selux Diagnostics (Boston, Mass.), precision diagnostics for infectious diseases: $50M C led by RA Capital Management, participation from Sands Capital, Schooner Capital, Northpond Ventures.
- Synapse (Bordeaux, France), platform dedicated to proper drug use: ...
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- Electric Capital closed its third crypto-startup-focused fund at $400M. It also closed a $600M fund intended specifically to place bets on tokens.
- Homebrew has transitioned to an evergreen structure, making it stage-agnostic (it was previously Seed-stage only) and self-funded. Co-partners Hunter Walk and Satya Patel will recycle gains from previous investments as they see fit.
- Serena Williams raised $111M for her early-stage venture capital firm Serena Ventures.
- Philadelphia-based instant delivery platform GoPuff will expand to France following its acquisition of Dija, which had already soft-launched in the country.
- General Motors sold its <5% stake in EV producer Lordstown Motors. Its 7.5 million shares had an initial equity value of $75M. Lordstown recently disclosed a widened loss of $81.2M, or $0.42 per share, in Q4’21.
- DoorDash has purchased Bbot, a startup that simplifies digital orders and payments processes for hospitality companies, for an undisclosed sum.
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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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