 PitchBook reports that the rush into VC investing has resulted in a sharp shift toward founder-friendly terms. The increased competition for deals means that investors have begun accepting fewer protective deal terms in exchange for access to deal flow. More: - While this made sense with guaranteed valuation increases during exits given a bull stock market, the current market situation makes it risky.
- Losses are a distinct possibility, with stock market tumbles now becoming the rule for recently-listed tech companies.
- Tech-heavy public market composites are down more than the 10% year-to-date figure for markets at large. For example, the NASDAQ is currently down 12.1%.
- Nontraditional investors (NTIs) have increased their VC exposure to 76.9%.
- With contributions at over $60B per quarter in Q2’21 and Q3’21, if NTIs decide to pull back from their VC bets, the shock could seriously hurt investors who will have little in the way of insurance against falling portfolio valuations.
- Whether this turns LPs off VC, in general, will depend largely on whether inflation continues growing faster than the yields on low-risk government treasuries.
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Santa Clara-based contactless store platform AiFi raised $65M Series B from retail partners Aldi, Zabka, and Verizon Ventures. The company has now raised $80M to date. No official valuation was given. More: - AiFi’s value proposition comes from its ability to deploy new contactless stores much more quickly than competitors.
- Whereas it took around six months to get a store ready two years ago, the company claims to have shortened that time to under one week.
- After emerging from stealth four years ago, AiFi still had no public-facing stores in 2020.
- Now, it boasts 40, including 30 with Zabka and a 10/10 Flash concept store with Carrefour in Paris.
- Its largest retail location is a 6,000-square-foot Aldi store in London.
- It has expanded to NFL stadiums and music festivals, where its platform has reduced average transaction and queue time by 50% and increased per capita sales by 170%.
- The company reported revenue growth of five to six times YoY. It has boosted its headcount from 40 employees in 2020 to 115 people all over the world today.
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 South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang has seen its value drop by 46% since its $4.6B IPO. That makes it the public company in Asia with the second-largest first-year losses, behind only Japan Display’s 53% drop from 2014 to 2015. More: - SoftBank, one of Coupang’s largest backers, sold $1B worth of its stock in the company. The sale was of 50 million shares at $20.87 each, leaving the investment powerhouse with 461.2 million.
- This is the second sale by SoftBank, which also sold stock worth $1.69B at a share price of $29.69 in September.
- Despite Coupang’s dip in price, the sale resulted in a big return for SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which invested in Coupang at an average of $4.80 per share.
- The decision to sell comes as SoftBank is looking to switch its focus to its second Vision Fund and a share repurchasing program to the tune of $9B.
- The move comes as SoftBank’s own stock has fallen by around 20% in the last year, driven by losses by its extensive Chinese tech holdings.
Darks cloud forming: - Another big SoftBank bet, Paytm, India’s largest payment platform, saw its share price fall over 13% after the country’s central bank barred its digital division from signing up new customers.
- Paytm has hit several roadblocks since its IPO last year, which saw it set a new record for Indian companies by raising $2.5B in local currency.
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Best of Last Week M&A - Google reached an agreement to buy Reston, Virginia-based cybersecurity firm Mandiant Inc. for $5.4B.
- Visa closed the acquisition of Swedish open banking platform Tink for $2B (€1.8B).
- Swiss investment management firm Partners Group has acquired ERP software provider for SMEs Forterro from Battery Ventures at a value of $1.1B (€1B).
- E2open, a provider of an end-to-end supply chain management platform, acquired Logistyx Technologies, a global parcel and e-commerce shipping and fulfillment tech provider, for $185M.
- Los Angeles-based System1, an omnichannel customer acquisition platform, acquired NextGen Shopping’s CouponFollow, an NYC-based large coupon platform for online shoppers, for $115M.
- Microsoft completed its acquisition of conversational AI platform Nuance Communications for an undisclosed sum.
- Blockdaemon, a Blockchain infrastructure platform that raised $207M Series C earlier this year, will snap up crypto on-ramp company Gem for an undisclosed sum.
- Public, an investment app with a crypto facet, has acquired Otis, a platform to buy and trade fractional shares in individual alternative assets, for an undisclosed sum.
- Niantic, the maker of Pokémon Go, acquired 8th Wall, a company that helps developers make web-based augmented reality apps, for an undisclosed sum.
IPO/SPAC - Jack Ma has delayed the Ant Group IPO, which was initially scheduled for H2’22 or H1’23.
- Didi has reportedly delayed its Hong Kong IPO due to regulators’ demands that the company overhaul its cybersecurity infrastructure.
- Games Global, founded just last year to supply the online gaming industry, will merge with SPAC Tailwind International Acquisition Corp. at a $3B valuation.
New Funds - Tiger Global has reportedly begun an investment push into early-stage startups. The PE giant will commit $300M to various seed funds each year and aims to invest an unprecedented final sum of $1B.
- French PE firm InfraVia Capital Partners raised $5.5B (€5B) towards its fifth fund for infrastructure.
- Griffin Gaming Partners announced a new $750M Fund II to invest in gaming content, infrastructure, social platforms, and gaming-related Web3 companies.
- Bain Capital Ventures (BCV) launched a $560M fund to invest exclusively in crypto companies.
- Makers Fund announced a third $500M fund targeting the interactive gaming sector.
- Two venture capital firms announced new capital, with a cumulative size of $500M, to invest in Texas startups: S3 ventures with $250M for its Fund VII,
- Tacora with $250M for its $300M debut fund.
- Wesley Chan, founder of Google Analytics and Google Voice, has partnered with Morgan Stanley tech banker Pegah Ebrahimi to launch a $350M early-stage VC firm.
- S3 Ventures closed its seventh fund at $250M for Series A-B rounds for business technology, digital experiences, and healthcare technology companies.
- Sorenson Ventures closed its oversubscribed second fund at $150M.
- Singapore-based crypto fintech platform Cake DeFi launched a venture capital arm with $100M to invest in technology startups.
- Neotribe Ventures closed a $90M Ignite Fund to invest in early-stage companies working on breakthrough technologies.
- Pi Labs, a London-based venture outfit looking to support the next generation of proptech startups, raised $90M for its latest fund.
- Contrary Capital raised $75M for its oversubscribed third fund. The firm has a global approach to investing.
- New Stack Ventures raised a $42.6M second fund to invest in early-stage ventures.
- Curated, a new $30M fund devoted to buying and holding NFT artwork, clinched support from Silicon Valley luminaries including Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, Andrew Chen, and others.
- Lolita Taub is launching an early-stage venture capital firm, Ganas Ventures, with a target of garnering a $9.99M fund.
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 Today’s Funding 💸 Biotech/Health - Nice Healthcare (Minneapolis, Minn.), in-home and virtual primary care, mental health therapy, and physical therapy: $30M A led by DNA Capital, participation from Waterline Ventures, Conductive Ventures, Santa Barbara Venture Partner, Brown Venture Group, et al.
- Mikra Cellular (Canada), cellular therapeutic compound designed to help boost energy and mental focus: $8.5M from Lifeist Wellness.
- Zeta Surgical (Boston, Mass.), surgical robotics and mixed reality company: $5.2M Seed led by Innospark Ventures, participation of TSVC, Y Combinator, Trevor Fetter.
Blockchain - Mirror World (New York, N.Y.), content matrix with AI-powered virtual life forms via NFTs: $4M Seed led by Alameda Research, Republic Crypto.
- Metasky (Sweden), user-friendly Web3 Wallet for the creator economy: $1.8M Pre-Seed from Sequoia Capital India, Woodstock Fund.
Cybersecurity - Cider Security (Tel Aviv, Israel), unified code protection platform: $32M from Tiger Global Management.
Enterprise - Birdeye (Palo Alto, Calif.), customer experience platform: $60M C led by Accel-KKR.
- Reejig (Sydney, Australia), workforce intelligence platform: $21M A from Skip Capital, Airtree Ventures, Culture Amp’s Didier Elzinga.
- Flowingly (Auckland, New Zealand), provider of a process mapping & workflow automation platform: $4.5M Pre-A led by GD1, participation from Icehouse Ventures.
Foodtech - Mori (Boston, Mass.), silk-based proteins to protect food from spoilage: $50M B1 led by Prelude Ventures, participation from The Drawdown Fund, Acre Venture Partners, The Engine, Refactor Capital, Blindspot, Closed Loop Partners, et al.
Legaltech - Proof Technologies (Denver, Colo.), platform to connect legal teams to couriers for legal documents: $7M A led by Blue Heron Capital, The LegalTech Fund, participation from Clio Ventures.
- Justpoint (Boulder, Colo.), intelligence-powered platform for the legal system: $6.9M Seed led by Divergent Capital, Charge Ventures, participation from Crossbeam Venture Partners, Honeystone Ventures, Interplay.vc, Weekend Fund, Vijay Krishnan, Jackson Moses, Ali Moiz.
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Quick Hits - Discover the world’s only community-owned car club.*
- Navi Technologies, an Indian personal loan platform, filed for an IPO that could see the company raise $440M. The company’s most recent attempt to raise private capital at a $4B valuation from SoftBank fell apart after it failed to secure a banking license. The company was founded by Flipkart founder Billionaire Bansal.
- The valuation adjustment for U.S. startups continues: Fidelity marked down its stake in Instacart to $102 apiece, an 18% decline from the $125 it paid during its Series G round; T. Rowe Price reduced its shares 5% to $119 on Dec. 31 from $125 in the Feb. 2021 fundraising.
- Sorenson Ventures raised a $150M second fund to invest in early-stage companies.
- Web3 platform Yuga Labs, creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, acquired the IP of the CryptoPunks and Meebits collections from Larva Labs for an undisclosed sum.
*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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