Sequoia Capital China is reportedly planning to raise about $8B in fresh funds to be distributed over four vehicles. While the plans are still in talks and subject to revision, the new funds would include a seed fund, a venture fund for slightly older startups, and two growth funds for more mature companies. More: - Sequoia Capital China is the country’s largest measured by assets under management.
- According to one source, it was managing about $40B in assets as of last year.
- If successful, the fundraising would be one of the largest in the country’s history, despite headwinds from regulatory pressure and a global tech stock slump.
- Sequoia has invested in Alibaba, Meituan, and Didi, the last of which saw its stock collapse following a state-mandated cybersecurity probe.
- Restrictions from both the U.S. and China have made it difficult for Chinese companies to enter U.S. stock markets, blocking a popular exit for many investors.
- Furthermore, The Seng Tech Index in Hong Kong, which includes Chinese internet giants such as Tencent, Meituan, and Kuaishou, has fallen over 40% over the past 12 months.
The wider lens: - Despite challenges, other big Chinese investors are raising fresh funds.
- Qiming is looking to raise more than $1.2B, while Matrix China is seeking at least $1.5B, though neither has announced the close of their latest vehicles.
- While Sequoia set up an open-ended fund for its operations in North America and Europe, Sequoia Capital China has maintained its standard 10-year fund timeline.
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 As retail funding more than doubled in 2021 to total $109B invested, sustainability is becoming a bigger focus of producers. The so-called circular economy will present problems for companies, but it is a huge opportunity for tech companies to provide sustainable technology. More: - 52% percent of textile industry experts say consumers are driving the heightened focus on sustainability in fashion.
- According to CB Insights, the secondhand apparel economy is projected to reach $64B by 2028.
- It will be driven by high-end clothing and will grow 11x faster than the broader retail clothing sector over the next three years.
- Resale platforms like thredUp and Trove compete with clothing rental platforms such as Rent the Runway, which saw a 92% increase in subscribers from May 2020 to May 2021.
- Beyond more sustainable textile consumption, electronics resale has become a site of interest, with French marketplace Back Market raising over $1B to date and now-public Chinese company Aihuishou selling 26.1 million devices to date.
- 65% of consumers report a desire for sustainable food products, including alternative proteins and compostable packaging.
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Spending on software and information-processing equipment rose 14% in 2021 compared to a year earlier. The biggest spending increases come from non-tech firms: About 75% of retail executives surveyed by Morgan Stanley last year reported intent to increase spending on IT, up from only 21% in 2019. More: - A big driver of the increased investment in technology comes from a tight labor market. The U.S. labor force was about 1.4% smaller in Dec. 2021 than in Feb. 2020.
- That, combined with the switch to remote work for many white-collar jobs, has forced many firms to pay for technology to enable the new workplace standards.
- About 20% of workdays will be at home post-pandemic versus 5% before the pandemic, according to researchers at Stanford and the University of Chicago.
- Because workers are spared workplace distractions when working from home, the Department of Labor estimates that more remote work could boost worker productivity by 1%.
- That has already panned out to a certain extent: Productivity grew an average of 2.2% a year in 2020 and 2021, up from an average of 0.9% between 2011 and 2019.
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Best of Last Week M&A IPO/SPAC New Funds - Advent International, a 37-year-old buyout firm with a penchant for placing venture bets, raised $23B for its tenth fund.
- Tiger Global has pulled in $12.7B for its latest venture growth fund, outstripping its latest $11B vehicle and almost doubling its previous growth vehicle.
- Katie Haun established Haun Ventures with $1.5B in capital to back startups in the crypto sector.
- FTV Capital, a PE firm, closed its seventh fund at $2.3B to make control and minority equity investments ranging from $20M-$300M.
- Asana Partners raised a third real flagship estate fund at $1.5B.
- Griffin Gaming partners, founded by Nick Tuosto, Phil Sanderson, and Peter Levin, raised its second fund at $750M.
- GRO Capital closed its third fund at $663M (€600M) to target established B2B software companies across Europe.
- GHK Capital Partners LP closed its debut fund at $410M in total commitments.
- China-based NIO Capital closed its second oversubscribed fund at ~$400M.
- Eight Roads announced a new $350M Eight Roads China Technology Fund V for investments in the technology sector in China.
- ADQ and Türkiye Wealth Fund launched a $300M venture capital fund, named Türkiye Technology Fund, for investing in emerging startups in the country.
- London-based Hoxton Ventures closed its third fund at $215M for seed-stage startups at home and in the U.S. market.
- Abu Dhabi-based early-stage venture capital firm Shorooq Partners launched Bedaya Fund II with a target of up to $150M.
- Nexo, a cryptocurrency lending, storage, and credit card provider, established a venture arm with a $150M debut fund.
- AgFunder, an agtech news website with a weekly newsletter, has raised $60M on a $100M venture fund.
- Colorado-based insurtech VC firm Markd closed its inaugural fund at $100M. The fund will focus on early and growth-stage startups in the insurance sector.
- Qbic, a Belgian inter-university VC outfit focusing on sustainability investments, closed its third fund with $53.8M (€49M) in its coffers.
- Daniel Weinand, a Shopify co-founder, has co-launched a $50M fund to back national security companies.
- Smartphone chipset supplier Qualcomm Inc is establishing a VC fund to invest in metaverse-focused startups named Snapdragon Metaverse Fund.
- Musician Pharrell Williams has relaunched his incubator for Black and Latino entrepreneurs, Black Ambition.
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 Today’s Funding 💸 Biotech/Health - Smartee (Chinese), digital invisible orthodontics: $80M D led by Beijing Taikang Investment, participation from China Resources Consumer Fund II, Jiaxing Science City, Zhangjiagang Industrial Investment, et al.
- Geneos Therapeutics (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.), neoantigen targeted personalized immunotherapies: $17M A2 led by Flerie Invest, participation from Santé Ventures, Korea Investment Partners, Global Bio Fund, et al.
- Nalagenetics (Singapore), genetic testing solutions in Southeast Asia: $12.6M A2 led by Intudo Ventures, Vulcan Capital, participation from Diagnostics Development Hub, et al.
ClimateTech - Zesty.ai (San Francisco, Calif.), predictive data analytics in the climate risk space: $10M Debt from Brex.
- Climate X (London, U.K.), climate risk analytics platform provider: $5.4M Seed led by CommerzVentures, A/O PropTech, participation from Voyagers Climate Tech Fund, Blue Impact Ventures, et al.
Energy - SparkMeter (Washington, D.C.), grid management services, equipment, and software solutions: $10M U led by Accurant International, participation from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Clean Energy Ventures.
Enterprise - Lucca (Paris, France), HR tech scenario: $72.1M led by One Peak.
- Leapsome (Berlin, Germany), employee retention platform: $60M A led by Insight Partners, participation from Creandum, Visionaries Club.
- The Mothership (London, U.K.), e-commerce acquisition and development: $22M from Glenn Elliott, Jonathan Quin, et al.
Fintech - Zepto (Australia), account-to-account merchant payments platform: $18.8M A led by AirTree Ventures, Decade Partners.
Logistics - Bigblue (Paris, France), order fulfillment platform for brands to sell with e-commerce logistics: $15M A led by Runa Capital, LPV.
RegTech - Trustero (Palo Alto, Calif.), Compliance-as-a-Service platform for emerging enterprises: $8M Seed led by Zetta Venture Partners, participation from Engineering Capital, Vertex Ventures.
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- PE and VC firms are coming under fire for connections to Russian oligarchs. While relations were set up such that every member could plead ignorance about the source of money, reports show that many investors knew who they were working for.
- U.C. Berkely’s SkyDeck venture firm closed its second fund at $60M. The fund hosts 300 global and UC-affiliated startups per year across three programs. It has helped startups from 30 countries raise $1.7B in aggregate funding to date.
- InPost, a Polish provider of self-service lockers for e-commerce, has become an object of interest for buyout firms including CVC Capital Partners and Hellman & Friedman. Debuted in Amsterdam in Jan. 2021 with a $2.9B valuation, the former startup has lost about 66% of its value since then.
- Amazon aggregator Society Brands acquired an Arkansas-based Amazon brand management agency for growing brands OmniiX for an undisclosed sum.
- Malt, a French marketplace focused on consultants and industry experts, will buy German competitor Comatch 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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