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Sequoia Capital has launched London-based Arc, which will see 15 startups participate in an eight-week program. The investment firm is calling the program a catalyst (as opposed to an accelerator or incubator) and will target outlier companies and founders. More: - Participants will receive a $1M investment, mentoring from partners and operators, and the chance to visit a successful startup to see its operations.
- While the associated mentors have not been disclosed, the first field trip will be to neobank Klarna.
- Applications are due on April 8, with the program to begin on May 23.
- The first cohort will spend one week in Sequoia’s offices in London, followed by six weeks working remotely, and then finally one week in Sequoia’s head office in Menlo Park, California.
- The emphasis on outlier startups is a response to the VC ecosystem’s successful exhaustion of the usual conduits to find top companies, such as Silicon Valley, certain universities, and prior positions.
- According to partner Jess Lee, who will co-run the program, the subsequent decentralization post-COVID of the startup industry makes it possible and imperative to seek investments beyond the usual haunts.
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 Total VC funding in February fell by $10B from January to total $52B. The latest figure entails a 24% increase from the same month one year earlier. Moreover, February’s haul was far below the 2021’s 12-month average of $55B. More: - Normally, such a steep decline comes as the result of a cutback in late-stage and growth-stage funding.
- Instead, seed-stage funding grew slightly month over month, while early-stage funding fell 17%, and late-stage funding dropped 19%.
- Growth funds such as Tiger Global and Insight Partners maintained or even accelerated their investment pace in February.
- The former placed 31 bets (30 in January) while the latter signed 20 checks (17 in January).
- Tiger Global’s participation as lead or co-lead investor in rounds worth $2.3B came in a distant second place to SoftBank’s $4.3B.
- While no longer at the heights of certain months last year, unicorn production last month totaled 47, slightly higher than in January.
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Best of Last Week M&A - SentinelOne, an endpoint security vendor, will purchase Attivo Networks, an identity platform, for $616.5M.
- Luna Innovations Incorporated, a leader in advanced optical technology, acquired LIOS Sensing, a division of NKT Photonics specializing in optic monitoring solutions, for $22M (€20M).
- French luxury second-hand resale platform Vestiaire Collective is buying U.S. rival Tradesy to create a company with $1B in annual revenue.
- Google has acquired Raxium, a startup that develops light-emitting diodes for the displays used in AR/XR devices, for an undisclosed sum.
IPO - Indonesia’s largest startup GoTo is planning to issue up to 52 billion shares on the country’s stock exchange next month, valued at $1.3B.
- Savage X Fenty, the lingerie company founded by Rihanna, is supposedly in talks with bankers about an IPO. The listing could value the company at $3B and see it raise up to $310M.
New Funds
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GM has purchased SoftBank’s stake in the self-driving startup Cruise for $2.1B, securing 80% ownership of the company. The sale provided SoftBank with more than double returns on its initial investment. More: - SoftBank’s primary placement in Cruise was for an 11% stake through its Vision Fund I.
- The total cost associated was to come to $2.25B, though only $900M was due prior to the company’s vehicles reaching the commercialization stage.
- Vision Fund I invested a further $300M into the company.
- The outstanding $1.35B will be paid out to Cruise by GM.
- The falling price of tech stocks has caused the value of Vision Fund I’s portfolio to drop by some $25B.
- It has begun borrowing heavily on its existing stakes, raising its loan-to-value ratio to dangerous levels.
- Honda, Microsoft, Walmart, and T. Rowe Price own the remaining 20% of Cruise.
- GM does not intend to push Cruse onto public markets. Instead, GM established a plan to allow Cruise employees to cash out of their stakes in the company.
- That could total $4B. GM expects to set aside $1B to $1.5B for the employee fund this year.
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 Today’s Funding 💸 Agtech - Apollo Neuro (Kenya), platform to help farmers access high-quality farm inputs: $40M B led by Softbank Vision Fund 2.
Biotech/Health - KayoThera (Seattle, Wash.), cancer immunotherapies: $8M A led by Accelerator Life Science Partners, participation from BioAdvance, 7G Bioventures.
Blockchain - C2X (Karnataka, India), universal blockchain gaming platform built on the Terra blockchain: $25M from FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto, Animoca Brands, Hashed, Terra, Transcend Fund, Galaxy Interactive, Skybound, Blockchain Coinvestors, et al.
- CoinRoutes (Miami, Fla.), algorithmic trading platform for digital assets: $16M B led by Ayon Capital, participation from Susquehanna International, Cboe Global Markets, Celsius, CMT Digital, Genesis Global Trading, Galaxy Digital, et al.
- Trailblazer (Singapore), blockchain gaming startup: $8.2M Seed led by Makers Fund, participation from Play Ventures, Fabric Ventures, et al.
Cannabis - Jointly (Los Angeles, Calif.), cannabis wellness: $5M Seed from undisclosed sources.
Consumer - Loveseat (Austin, Texas), eco-friendly online marketplace for home goods: $7M A led by Bessemer Venture Partners, participation from Gokul Rajaram, Gabriel Weinberg, Kal Vepuri.
Data/Analytics - YZR (Paris, France), AI to normalize data: $12M A from Nauta Capital, Orange Ventures.
Deeptech - Modern Intelligence (Austin, Texas), modular AI to every maritime problem by performing real-time sensor fusion: $5M Seed led by Geoff Lewis, participation of Vine Ventures, Air Street Capital, Contrary Capital.
Enterprise - Bambee (Los Angeles, Calif.), HR platform for SMEs: $30M C led by SoftBank, QED AlphaEdison, participation from Mucker Capital, Ken Chenault, Damian Maldonado, Gaingel.
- PlusPlus (San Francisco, Calif.), engineering onboarding and knowledge tools that fast-track productivity: $6.2M Seed led by Freestyle Capital, participation from Moxxie Ventures, Scribble Ventures, Sand Hill Angels, et al.
Fintech - Knock (New York, N.Y.), payments platform for homebuyers: $70M led by Foundry Group, participation from First American Financial, RRE Ventures.
- Wagely (Jakarta, Indonesia), financial wellness platform: $8.3M Pre-A led by East Ventures, participation from Integra Partners, the Asian Development Bank, Global Founders Capital, et al.
Transportation - Solo Advanced Vehicle (San Francisco, Calif.), battery-electric Class 8 truck: $7M Seed led by Trucks VC, participation from Maniv Mobility, Wireframe Ventures. The company also raised $150M in fresh debt.
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- Thoma Bravo will take business forecasting SaaS company Anaplan private at $66 a share, valuing the company at $10.7B. 2006-founded Anaplan went public in 2018 and saw its stock close at $50.59 on Friday. The move is a continuation of a wave of leveraged buyouts of tech companies.
- 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. The new fund brought the firm’s AUM to $1B.
- London-based Hoxton Ventures closed its third fund at $215M for seed-stage startups at home and in the U.S. market.
- Cricket NFT, provider of officially-licensed digital cricket collectibles, is in the process of raising $100M Series A from B Capital Group and Insight Partners, and reportedly Christian Ronaldo.
- 75% of businesses in the U.S. are underinsured by 40% or more. Find out if you’re one of them.*
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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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