Visa closed the acquisition of Swedish open banking platform Tink for $2B (€1.8B) yesterday. Visa announced its intent to acquire Tink in June last year. Tink facilitates transactions between financial institutions, fintechs, and merchants via an API. More: - The Sweden-based fintech startup is estimated to have millions of European customers on its platform.
- Over 3,400 banks and financial institutions across 18 European markets are integrated with the Tink platform.
- The synergy resulting from the acquisition is expected to deliver improved finance control benefits to consumers.
- Tink will continue its operations as a standalone unit and will continue to be led by existing CEO Daniel Kjellén.
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Sorenson Ventures closed its oversubscribed second fund at $150M. The Utah-based firm has invested in over 30 early-stage companies. The VC firm has over $1.5B worth of assets under management. More: - Sorenson’s typical investments are between $3M-$5M.
- The firm backs seed-stage and Series A-stage investments across sectors, namely developer tools, machine learning, data infrastructure, enterprise management platform, and cybersecurity.
- Its portfolio of invested companies includes identity verification platform Socure, cybersecurity firm CyCognito, data-sharing platform Vendia, quality management service Qualio, and mobile commerce platform Via.
- Socure raised $450M last year at a $4.5B valuation.
- Of the previously invested companies, CloudKnow was acquired by Microsoft, and Openpath was acquired by Motorola.
- Another portfolio company, Bridgecrew, was acquired for $156M by Palo Alto Networks.
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 A message from STRV Creating your own digital product is exhilarating, terrifying, and a million other things. But whatever you'll experience — we've been there. We can help. We are STRV, a design and engineering team that's partnered with Barry’s, ClassDojo, Microsoft, Autodesk and hundreds of others. Since 2004, we’re proud to have earned the reputation of a global leader in the world of mobile apps, software products and data science solutions. You’ll find a more elegant (and fun) intro to us in our 2022 showreel and on our new web. The reason we bring up our 18-year history is to highlight not just who we are, but how we got here. That crazy founder journey? We've been through it, and we respect the hell out of it. As far as we're concerned, helping others with their own new beginnings is the most meaningful way to do our experience and craft justice. A bit about STRV: See what we can do
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San Francisco-based Hack VC is looking to raise $500M toward a new crypto fund, according to Blockworks’ sources. The VC firm has begun soliciting institutional investors, pension funds, and endowments. The timeline for closing of the fund is undisclosed. More: - The firm recently raised $200M toward an early-stage VC fund for investing in crypto startups.
- Reportedly, the new vehicle will fund Series A investments.
- Previous backers in the firm include Fidelity, Sequoia Capital, and Temasek.
- Notable portfolio companies include Anchorage Digital, BlockFi, Maker, and Terra.
- The new funds will focus on firms in Web3 and DeFi, especially in liquid cryptocurrency trading.
- Hack VC is led by managing partner Alex Pack, a former asset manager at Dragonfly Capital and Bain Capital.
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Indian Edtech company Byju’s raised an $800M funding at a $22B valuation. Founder Byju Raveendran is leading the investment with a $400M tranche. BlackRock Inc., Sumeru Ventures, and Vitruvian Partners participated in the funding. More: - The investment will raise Raveendran’s stake in Byju’s parent company Think & Learn Pvt. by 2%.
- After the investment, he will own a 25% stake in the company.
- Per Bloomberg, the company is in discussions with three SPAC companies for a public listing.
- Negotiations are ongoing with Churchill Capital, MSD Acquisition Corp., and a SPAC led by Harry Sloan.
- Byju’s is also looking to raise up to $1B in a pre-IPO round.
- The online learning platform boasts 150 million global users and 7.5 million paid annual subscribers.
- Byju’s product portfolio now includes personal tutoring in India.
- The company has also started tutoring services in the U.S., U.K., Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and Australia.
- It has raised $2.5B since the start of the pandemic.
- Byju’s recent acquisitions include coaching institute Aakash, Great Learning, Epic, and kids coding platform Tynker.
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Link Ventures led a $14M Series A funding into Stilt. Petrushka Investments, Hillsven Capital, Gokul Rajaram, Claire Hughes Johnson, Ott Kaukver, Rahul Vohra, and Josh Buckely participated in the funding. The financial service provider to immigrants intends to use the incoming funds for its B2B offering. More: - The San Francisco-based startup also raised $100M in debt financing. The debt facility will be used to cover its loan lending to customers.
- Since its establishment in 2015, the company has raised a total of $375M in equity and debt financing to date.
- Stilt announced the launch of its credit product for business owners named Onbo.
- The credit-as-a-service product will grant business credit without needing a sponsor.
- The Y Combinator-backed fintech firm lending customers span across 150 nationalities, as the company posted a 4x increase in annual recurring revenue in 2021.
- Stilt’s peers in the same domain catering to immigrants include Welcome Tech, TomoCredit, and Fair.
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Amsterdam-based genetic modifier provider Scenic Biotech raised $31M (€28M) Series A funding. EIR Ventures, BioMedPartners, and Vesalius Biocapital co-led the funding with backing from Inkef Capital, BioGeneration Ventures, and Oxford Science Enterprises. More: - Incoming funds will accelerate the development of three drugs focusing on rare genetic diseases.
- The biotech startup's aim is to expand its industry collaborations.
- Roche's Genentech has already signed a multiyear collaboration deal to leverage Scenic's cell sequencing platform to identify drug targets.
- The deal is estimated to be valued at over $375M.
- Scenic will also double its workforce over the next 18 months.
- Scenic spun out of the Netherlands Cancer Institute and the University of Oxford in 2017 and is led by Oscar Izeboud.
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- Santa Clara, California-based AiFi raised $65M Series B funding with participation from ALDI South Group, REWE, Żabka Group, Verizon Ventures, and others. AiFi’s AI-assisted platform helps retailers deploy autonomous shopping solutions.
- DNA Capital led a $30M Series A funding into Minneapolis-based Nice Healthcare. The clinic health company intends to use the incoming funds for expansion into more markets.
- Indian live video infrastructure setup firm 100ms raised $20M Series A funding, which it intends to use for expanding operations. Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI) led the funding round with backing from Accel, Matrix Partners India, LocalGlobe, and others.
- French online content moderation platform Bodyguard.ai raised $9.82M (€9M) in funding led by Keen Venture Partners and Ring Capital. The platform can moderate content on popular platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and more.
- New York-based job platform for creative professionals Creatively raised $8M in funding led by Thirty Five Ventures, Rich Kleiman, Link Ventures, and Tornante Company.
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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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