Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund has secured over $5B in fresh capital commitments for two new funds. Divided between $1.9B for early-stage and $3.4B for growth-stage investments, the funding brought the firm’s total AUM to about $11B. More: - The growth-stage fund is more than double the size of its last iteration, which came in at $1.75B in 2020.
- In statements given to Bloomberg, general partner Brian Singerman emphasized the firm’s geography-, stage-, and sector-agnostic formula.
- He also emphasized that his firm is not concerned about shrinking valuations, as that will make investments cheaper.
- General partner Keith Rabois recently moved to Miami and runs the firm’s office there.
- Partner and COO Lauren Gross noted that much of the industry is saturated.
- According to Gross, many funds are raising too much capital too soon. Founders Fund will devote much of its capital to doubling or tripling down on its portfolio.
- With the new funds, Napoleon Ta will be promoted to a general partner of growth and Matias Van Thienen will be promoted to partner.
| |
Insider, which provides a big data platform to predict consumer behavior, has raised $121M in fresh funds at a $1.22B valuation. QIA led the round and saw participation from Sequoia, Riverwood Capital, 212, Wamda Capital, Esas Private Equity, and Endeavor Catalyst. Insider has now raised $167M to date. More: - According to Crunchbase, Insider is based in Singapore. It was co-founded in 2012 by CEO Hande Cilingir and CRO Serhat Soyuerel, who met at the London School of Economics, and several others.
- The company’s platform connects customer data across channels like the web, apps, email, text, and messaging apps to personalize experiences.
- The basic idea is to create as many touchpoints as possible, enabling marketers to determine if a given person is likely to convert, buy, or become churn.
The wider lens: - While the global martech sector reached $121.5B in 2020, according to one study, many companies still struggle to effectively use the latest software.
- A Gartner survey found that 29% of companies struggled with upskilling and training marketing staff in new technologies.
- Another 27% reported that identifying efficient martech resources or integrating alternative solutions was a major impediment to their business.
- The latter statistic is Insider’s selling point, in that it offers a centralized platform that automatically integrates data.
| |
 A message from LABELBOX Building labeling operations into your core MLOps strategy As more ML teams shift their focus from iterating on models to improving the quality of their training data, labeling operations is becoming a central aspect of their broader MLOps strategy. Creating, managing, and maintaining an efficient labeling pipeline that produces high-quality training data is no easy task. Teams without the right people, processes, and tools in place will likely struggle to generate the training data they need at a cost-effective rate. In this guide, you’ll learn about: - Key labeling operations roles that will benefit every ML team
- Tips to finding the best labeling vendors for your use cases
- Every labeling metric your team should track to ensure quality and efficiency
- How to scale up your labeling operations as your projects change over time
Download the Guide
| |
Taiwanese beauty-focused AR company Perfect Corporation will merge with SPAC Provident Acquisition Corporation at a $1B valuation. The company secured early backing from Alibaba and Goldman Sachs and has raised a total of $75M to date. More: - Given that Provident is listed on the Nasdaq, the deal provides a rare example of a Chinese investor securing an exit on a U.S. stock exchange.
- Perfect will raise up to $335M in fresh funds from the deal, of which $230M comes from Provident’s own funds.
- At least a further $50M will come from PIPE, largely from strategic investors operating in or adjacent to the beauty and cosmetic space: Chanel, Shiseido, and Snap.
- Perfect’s platform uses AI and AR to assist cosmetic brands in creating more accurate product matching by creating a 3D face for users.
- Its flagship product is YouCam, a selfie editor app allowing users to try on make-up and hair dye virtually. It claims that the app has been downloaded 1 billion times.
- Its consumer-facing partnerships with Alibaba’s Taobao and Snap’s Snapchat give its customers direct access to consumers.
| |
Apollo.io has raised $110M Series C for its intelligence and engagement platform. Sequoia Capital led the round, with previous backers Tribe Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, and NewView Capital also participating. More: - Though the company did not disclose a valuation, a confirmed PitchBook report placed it at $900M.
- Apollo’s platform accesses 220 million would-be buyers to enable companies to seek out potential leads for their sales teams.
- Between its freemium and paid options, the company claims 160,000 companies are now using its sales tools, which works out to around 1 million individuals.
- Around 16,000 businesses currently pay for the service, constituting 10% of its customer base. That figure has risen by 60% since Apollo’s last funding round in Nov. 2021.
- A data breach in 2018 saw Apollo’s entire database, which contained 200 million entries, stolen by hackers.
- Subsequently, though the company claimed that its records are all based on public data and thus not sensitive, it has placed security at the forefront of its operations.
| |
 A message from SIGMA COMPUTING From marketing and finance to sales and operations, the decisions teams must make and the challenges they face are nowhere near the same as they were ten, or even two, years ago. The good news? Sigma’s cloud-native analytics and business intelligence (BI) solution was purpose-built to enable companies to navigate today’s toughest challenges and identify tomorrow’s biggest opportunities. Teams across industries use Sigma to easily conduct complex yet critical analyses to find the real-time answers they need to deliver business outcomes like reducing customer churn, improving operational efficiencies, and maximizing revenue. Want to see what’s possible with Sigma? From marketing spend attribution to supply chain optimization, read our latest playbook to discover which use cases our customers love the most. Read the Playbook
| |
 Today’s Funding 💸 Biotech/Health - Lynx (Boston, Mass.), healthcare payments, banking, and e-commerce platform: $17.5M led by Obvious Ventures, .406 Ventures, participation from Frist Cressey Ventures.
Blockchain - Lido (Mumbai, India), liquidity platform for staked coins: $70M from Andreessen Horowitz.
Climatetech - Aether Diamonds (New York, N.Y.), diamonds made from atmospheric carbon: $18M A led by Helena, TRIREC, participation from SOUNDWaves, Khosla Ventures, Social Impact Capital.
Consumer - EverWash (Philadelphia, Pa.), car wash membership and subscription management provider: $6M B led by Spring Mountain Capital.
Cybersecurity - Viso Trust (San Francisco, Calif.), cybersecurity due diligence platform: $11M A led by Bain Capital Ventures, participation from Work-Bench, Sierra Ventures, Lytical Ventures.
Data/Analytics - Loyal Guru (Barcelona, Spain), SaaS customer data platform: $8.7M A led by Nauta Capital.
Deeptech - Luminous Computing (Mountain View, Calif.), photonic chips for better computing: $105M A from Bill Gates, Gigafund, 8090 Partners, Neo, Third Kind Venture Capital, Alumni Ventures Group, Strawberry Creek Ventures, Horsley Bridge, et al.
DevOps - Decipad (London, U.K.), no-code tools for spreadsheet management: $5M Seed led by Entrée Capital, Target Global, participation from Flybridge Capital, Founder Collective, Shilling VC, Angel Invest Ventures, et al.
Enterprise - Owner.com (Menlo Park, Calif.), online ordering tools for independent restaurants: $15M led by Altman Capital, participation from Redpoint Ventures, Day One Ventures, SaaStr Fund, Browder Capital, et al.
- Daybase (New York, N.Y.), on-demand, professional-grade workspaces for hybrid workers: $10M Seed led by True Ventures, participation from Company Ventures, et al.
- Knapsack (Portland, Ore.), SaaS design system platform provider: $5.5M led by Gradient Ventures, participation from Parade Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Founder Collective, Slack Fund.
Fintech - Shares (London, U.K.), investment app with social features: $40M A from Valar Ventures, Singular, Global Founders Capital.
- Atomic (Salt Lake City, Utah), provider of payroll APIs: $40M A led by Mercato Partners, Greylock.
- Delio (London, U.K.), alternative assets access platform for financial institutions: $8.3M led by Octopus Ventures.
Greentech - H2U Technologies (Chatsworth, Calif.), green hydrogen producer: $11M A from Jericho Energy Ventures, Freeflow Ventures, VoLo Earth Ventures, Hess Corporation.
Proptech - MyPlace (New York, N.Y.), social network that helps friends share their homes: $5.8M Seed led by Freestyle, participation from Haystack, Oceans, OnDeck, et al.
SocialTech - FreeWill (New York, N.Y.), provider of philanthropy and estate planning tools: $30M B led by Bain Capital Double Impact, participation from ICONIQ Growth, QED Investors, Ulu, Highland, Pear, HearstLab.
Did you enjoy reading 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! | | | |
Quick Hits - Skip the dentist and save up to 80% with Remi custom night guards and teeth whitening kits sent directly to you.*
- New Zealand’s first operator-run fund, NZVC, has raised $10M of a $15M fund for a seed-to-Series A fund. It has already deployed $4M into 25 companies.
- Tel Aviv-based AI-powered transcription and captioning service Verbit has acquired Take Note, a U.K.-based transcription and note-taking service for the market research sector, for an undisclosed sum.
- Microsoft has partnered with several incubators and accelerators in Africa to support startups on the continent. It claims that the initiative will unlock $500M in potential investment for 10,000 companies over five years.
- Moroccan B2B e-commerce and retail startup Chari bought Axa Credit, the credit branch of Axa Assurance Maroc, for $22M.
- Get world-class wine tailored to your taste & delivered to your door with Firstleaf! Try 6 wines for $29.95 + free shipping. Satisfaction guaranteed.*
*This is a sponsored post.
| |
Upcoming events at Inside: - March 08 - Digital Identity in the Age of Virtual Worlds with David Lucatch (Liquid Avatar) (Register Here)
- March 08 - Venturing in VC - Episode #10 with Alda Leu Dennis (Initialized Capital) (Register Here)
- March 10 - NoCode's impact on the Gig Economy with Sharath Kuruganty (Register Here)
- March 17 - Understanding Million Dollar Virtual Real Estate with Neil Mandt (Metaverse Rights) (Register Here)
- March 23 - Need to Know NoCoder: Nichole Bestman (Bubble) (Register Here)
- March 31 - How To Build In Web 3.0 (Register Here)
- April 04 - Blockchain and the Law (Register Here)
- April 06 - Entertainment in the Metaverse (Register Here)
- April 14 - Shopping In The Metaverse (Register Here)
- April 28 - Alternative Investments 2: Crypto Safety Standards (Register Here)
*This is a sponsored post.
| |
 |  | 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. | |
Labelbox is a training data platform designed to increase model performance faster and with less data. | |
| |
Comments
Post a Comment