Omnipresent, a hiring/recruitment platform for workers located abroad, raised $120M led by Kinnevik and Tencent Holdings. Targeting the hiring needs of small businesses, the 2019-founded company saw revenue increase 25 times in 2021. More: - In addition to Kinnevik and Tencent, San Francisco-based Uncorrelated Ventures also participated in the round.
- Though founded in London, Omnipresent stays true to its mission and operates as a remote-first company.
- It has seen its team grow 10x the last year by 230 people spread across 40 countries.
- The company plans on hiring several hundred new employees to keep up with demand.
- It requires no leap of imagination to understand how the pandemic vindicated Omnipresent’s fundamental proposition.
- As companies began switching over to remote work, they eventually realized that they could save on labor costs by hiring people who were located away from big hubs.
- Omnipresent helps companies navigate the different regulations around compliance, health insurance, pensions, and paid leave for employees based in 160 countries worldwide.
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Dave, a publicly-traded banking app, took a $100M investment from FTX Ventures, the venture arm of the eponymous crypto company. It has also entered into a partnership to introduce digital asset payments onto Dave’s platform. More: - The investment took the form of a convertible note and came from FTX’s $2B venture fund, which it supports through its own balance sheet.
- FTX will be Dave’s exclusive partner for cryptocurrencies, though there was no word on how exactly tokens should be integrated into the money app.
- Dave is best known for financial tools such as debit cards, spending accounts, and budgeting tools. Its most used feature is its cash advance platform.
- Launched in 2017, Los Angeles-based Dave went public in January through a $4B merger with SPAC VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings III.
- Its shares closed up 4.85% in yesterday’s trading and were up about 3% after-hours.
- Excluding debt, before its listing, Dave had raised around $66M.
The wider lens: - A crypto company investing in a SPAC-listed fintech company shows how two of the novel fundraising strategies in the tech world can collide.
- It is no coincidence, of course, that the meeting place should be in the hot fintech sector, which saw its funding figures explode last year.
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 The drop of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s coins shows how the presence of VC investors can interfere with crypto’s decentralized mission. Of the 1 billion ApeCoins dropped, 14% went to venture investors a16z and Animoca Brands, providing them a potential windfall effectively for free. More: - The coin distribution gives the investors an outsized say in the goings-on of the platform.
- To mitigate this problem, firms including a16z delegate the voting of their DAO stakes to organizations like student clubs in an effort to dilute their influence.
- Should a16z and Animoca sell their tokens and lessen their influence in ApeCoin DAO, they could also stand to make a tidy profit.
- ApeCoin’s price was at $14.36 as of Friday evening, an increase of 66% from the day before
- At that price, the amount of ApeCoin allocated to launch partners is equivalent to more than $2B.
- Yuga Labs, the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, also received 15% of the total drop, with its founders taking 8%.
The wider lens: - VCs pumped $32.5B into the crypto industry in 2021, according to Pitchbook
- The way DAOs are shaping up, they are starting to resemble SPACs, according to the crypto investor and writer Aaron Brown.
- Controlled by a small group of individuals, ApeCoin DAO is a “placeholder attempt to capture future potential business under the Bored Ape brand.”
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Edith Yeung, general partner at Race Capital, does not think VC investors are prepared for placing bets in a Web 3.0 world. While several big firms have taken strides to support the crypto ecosystem, a more robust investor infrastructure needs to be built to support innovation. More: - Firms must take the plunge to become legally allowed to place bets on tokens, which for most can only consist of 20% of investments.
- Small funds will be hard-pressed to pay for a new compliance officer and pay the fees, which means that setting up a hedge fund could be a better option.
- VC needs to learn that the ownership culture of crypto companies differs from those of standard startups. They will have to be prepared to have little say in a company.
- That also means they will have to accept that they have no pro-rata rights.
- It will be tough to find lawyers who understand the ins and outs of crypto, while founders will tend to want to remain anonymous.
- Web 3.0 companies go public much faster but list on crypto exchanges. That means that exit timelines will move up, and standard exit strategies no longer apply.
- The extended lock-up period can take years, so investors will have to learn to hold on to their tokens and eventually learn to operate with crypto-wallets.
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 Today’s Funding 💸 Aerospace - Ursa Space (Ithaca, N.Y.), global satellite intelligence infrastructure: $16M C led by Dorilton Ventures, participation from Razor’s Edge Ventures, RRE Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, et al.
AI/ML - Gensyn (London, U.K.), distributed computing power platform: $6.5M Seed led by Eden Block, participation from Galaxy Digital, Maven 11, Coinfund, Hypersphere, Zee Prime.
Biotech/Health - Woebot Health (San Francisco, Calif.), behavioral mental health platform:...
Want to read 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 - Struggling to hire? Download Checkr and Everee’s State of the Worker Report to learn what drives employees to leave their job and what candidates are looking for in a new role.*
- Advent International, a 37-year-old buyout firm with a penchant for placing venture bets, raised $23B for its tenth fund. Its previous fund shows a 3x net multiple and 129.4% net IRR.
- 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. Growth Fund XV has 900 investors, with $1.5B from employees.
- AgFunder, an agtech news website with a weekly newsletter, has raised $60M on a $100M venture fund.
- Toronto has become North America’s third-largest tech hub after Silicon Valley and New York. The New York Times has more here.
- Validus, a Singapore-based lending platform for SMEs, will buy CitiBusiness’ loan portfolio for an undisclosed amount.
- 75% of businesses in the U.S. are underinsured by 40% or more. Find out if you’re one of them.*
*This is a sponsored post.
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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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