Katie Haun established Haun Ventures with $1.5B in capital to back startups in the crypto sector. The capital, the largest ever for a solo female founder-led venture, is split across two funds, with the first $500M tranche set out for backing early-stage startups. The remaining $1B "accelerator" fund will focus on late-stage well-established firms across Web3. More: - The firm is also expected to provide regulatory expertise to its portfolio companies.
- Prior to launching her own company, Haun was the head of the Andreessen Horowitz crypto investments division.
- a16z is a major investor in Haun Ventures.
- Katie remained unperturbed by the downturn in the cryptocurrency market and said, "There's a bit of a lag. We're still seeing very high valuations in crypto projects. Last time this happened, with macro market corrections, it took a while for that to translate over into crypto. I think the same could be true here."
Zoom out: - Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz, and Electric Capital debuted large crypto-focused funds in the last few months.
- The former raised a $2.5B fund in Nov. 2021.
- Andreessen Horowitz launched a $2.2B crypto-focused fund in June last year.
- Electric Capital allocated $1B for crypto-focused investments earlier this month.
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Jeeves, a corporate card and expense management platform for startups, secured $180M Series C financing led by Tencent Holdings. The fintech firm has raised $380M in the last 12 months. Jeeves' valuation crossed $2.1B at the recent funding. More: - Since its founding in March 2021, the fintech platform has processed over $1B worth of transactions to date.
- Other participants in the funding round include Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, U.S. venture capital firm CRV, and several additional funds
- It last raised $57M Series B funding, at a $500M valuation, led by CRV in Sept. 2021.
- Jeeves has since doubled its clients to over 3,000 and increased revenue by 900%.
- Incoming funds will fuel global expansion – specifically targeting Latin America, Canada, and Europe, scale the platform, and back customer acquisition efforts.
- Jeeves' platform is currently accessible in 24 nations across three continents.
Zoom out: - Another corporate card and expense automation platform, Ramp, raised $750M in debt and equity financing yesterday. In case you missed it, you can read Inside.com's coverage in yesterday's VC Newsletter here.
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San Francisco-based Webflow raised $120M Series C funding led by Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund. The no-code platform provides visual web development tools, eliminating the need for dedicated web developers. Webflow was valued at $4B at the recent financing round. More: - Participants in the recent funding included CapitalG, Accel, Silversmith, and Draper Associates.
- It has over 3.5 million users, with the company claiming that over 450,000 sites are built with the underlying Webflow platform.
- Typical users of the platform include freelancers, agencies, SMEs, and others.
- Webflow powers websites for notable clients such as PwC, MURAL, Rakuten, TED, and Univision.
- With the incoming funds, the company plans to expand into enterprise solutions, consider acquisitions, and invest in core community empowerment.
- It intends to establish a $10M grant to help creators build businesses leveraging the Webflow platform.
- Per Forbes, the company is said to receive $100M in annual recurring revenue.
- Webflow has raised $335M in total capital to date.
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Smartphone chipset supplier Qualcomm Inc is establishing a VC fund to invest in metaverse-focused startups named Snapdragon Metaverse Fund. The company is setting aside $100M for the investments, which will be made available to potential companies in the form of equity and grants. Qualcomm's venture arm currently has over $2B worth of assets under management. More: - The San Diego-based company expects the investments to bolster the growth of Qualcomm's chips and also develop metaverse-based products.
- It has already formed partnerships with Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp. to supply chips for their respective virtual reality headsets.
- The company's Internet of Things chip sales, including metaverse-related chips, account for 17% of total chip sales.
- The establishment of a metaverse-specific fund is in line with the company's larger objective of diversifying its business.
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Singapore-based Validus is set to acquire Citi Singapore's small business banking unit CitiBusiness. The acquisition is expected to be completed in April this year. The deal amount was not disclosed. More: - Validus is a lending and financing platform for small and medium-sized businesses.
- The acquisition is expected to further expand the product offerings, including account management and payment solutions, for its customer base.
- It acquired business payment solution provider KlearCard last year.
- Validus is financing the acquisition with a securitization facility sought from a group of global financial institutions.
- Validus co-founder and CEO Nikhilesh Goel expects to create synergies with the cumulative loan portfolio resulting from the acquisition.
- In January this year, the company had disbursed loans totaling over $1B to 50,000 SMEs across Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand. It last raised $20M Series B funding co-led by Vertex Growth Fund and Orion Fund in May 2020.
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San Francisco-based home electrification startup Span.IO Inc. raised $90M Series B. Fifth Wall Climate Tech and Wellington Management led the funding. The company has secured $134M funding to date. More: - Span provides a platform for homeowners to monitor energy consumption and redirect energy by prioritizing circuits via a smartphone app connected to its smart electrical panel.
- It recently added the Span Drive product to its product portfolio.
- The $500 vehicle charger, an add-on to its flagship $3,500 electrical panel, allows customers to choose the energy source charging their electric vehicle.
- Angeleno Group, FootPrint Coalition, Obsidian Investment Partners, and A/O PropTech joined existing investors in the funding.
- Incoming funds will be used to accelerate the development of home suite products.
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Eight Roads announced a new $350M Eight Roads China Technology Fund V for investments in the technology sector in China. The Shanghai-based firm is backed by Fidelity. The fund is primarily targeting seed and early-stage investments. More: - The fund will seek companies working in the enterprise technology, fintech, and consumer tech sector.
- The company has backed over 300 global firms, of which 130 are based in China.
- Notable portfolio companies include Alibaba, MediTrust, Pony.ai, Kazoo, Shadowfax, and others.
- It has offices in China, India, Japan, Europe, and the U.S.
- Eight Roads has over $8B worth of assets under management.
- It last launched a $400M healthcare fund last year to invest in early-stage medical companies across therapeutics, IT, and digital health.
- It recently participated in a $130M Series C fundraise for Tibber’s, a Norway-based smart energy provider.
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- Boston and Germany co-headquartered Affini-T Therapeutics, Inc. raised $175M financing co-led by Vida Ventures and Leaps by Bayer. The biotechnology company is developing T cell therapy for oncogenic driver mutations. The incoming funds will be used to accelerate the development of its platform discovery engine and pursue clinical trials of multiple programs.
- New York-based premium pet food and wellness brand Spot & Tango announced closing of its combined Series A and B financing worth $51.75M in total. The Series A tranche is $13.25M, while the Series B amounts to $38.5M, both led by Valor Equity Partners. The incoming funds will be used for R&D, expansion of product lines, and introduction of new pet food products.
- Chinese AR startup glasses startup Rokid secured $110M (700M yuan) Series C funding. Names of participating investors were not disclosed. Incoming funds will be used for global expansion and R&D.
- London-based D2C luxury fashion brand ME+EM raised $73M (£55M) funding led by Highland Europe. The company will use the incoming funds to expand globally, with the U.S. as its first priority, followed by Europe, Australia, and the Middle East.
- Boston-based NFT appraisal company Upshot raised $22M Series A2 funding. Polygon Capital led the funding.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | | | 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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