India-based cricket-focused NFT platform Rario raised $120M in fresh funds led by Dream Capital. The round was supported by Alpha Wave Global, which joined existing investors Animoca Brands, Presight Capital, and Kingsway Capital. More: - Rario has secured the rights to six international leagues and over 900 international cricketers.
- It most recently signed an exclusive partnership with Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association to create a gaming/collectibles metaverse using their IP.
- The investment from Dream Capital will also give Rario access to the 140 million users of Dream Sports, the investor’s parent company.
- Dream Sports is an Indian fantasy sports platform and claims to be the world’s largest.
- It was recently valued at $8B after raising $840M in November from investors including Falcon Edge, DST Global, D1 Capital, Tiger Global, and Redbird Capital.
- Up until now, Ratio’s NFT marketplaces use crypto, but the company is attempting to move to a different model given the new 30% tax on crypto transactions in India.
- It claims to have sold over 50,000 NFTs to buyers across 20 countries, predominantly from the U.K., U.S., Australia, and India.
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AWS has launched a new accelerator program for minority founders and outfitted it with $30M. The AWS Impact Accelerator is set to run for three years and will award accepted pre-seed startups up to $225,000. They will also receive training, mentoring, and technical guidance. More: - The funds come in the form of a $125,000 cash grant and up to $100,000 in AWS service credits.
- The entire run of the program is eight weeks and involves introductions to Amazon leaders and teams, networking opportunities, in addition to access to a virtual community of AWS experts.
- To pursue its mission of fostering diversity, the accelerator has partnered with Black Women Talk Tech, Digitalundivided, StartOut, Backstage Capital, and Lightship Capital.
- The program has been criticized for the gap between AWS’s expected revenue of $71B and the size of the fund.
- This poses the question of whether the program is much better than paying lip service to a large problem.
- Additionally, the awardees run the risk of being locked into using AWS, which means that they will be paying the accelerator after their service credits run out.
- The first cohort of Black founders will begin in June, while the cohort of Women Founders will meet in the second half of the year.
- They will be followed by cohorts of LGBTQIA+ founders and Latino founders in 2023.
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PayU, often called the PayPal of emerging markets, led a $46M round for Treinta, a financial superapp aimed at small businesses. It also acquired Ding, a mobile payments platform, for an undisclosed sum. Both companies are based in Colombie, while PayU, operated by Prosus, hails from the Netherlands. More: - The moves are of special importance for PayU:
- Latin America is projected to overtake the U.S. by the end of 2022 in terms of total online shoppers with 260.2 million. They are expected to make $167.81B in purchases.
- Colombia is estimated to have the fifth largest e-commerce market in Latin America.
- While PayU announced that it will continue operating in Russia, it is considering its investment in the country.
- It recently wrote down its investment in Russian startup VK for $770M
- Treinta is a YC alumnus with a previous $14.3M Sede round under its belt.
- Its previous backers include YC, Levels Up Ventures, Outbound Ventures, Luxor Capital, Mango.vc, and others.
- Despite having only existed for 18 months, it says that it has around 4 million SME customers in 18 countries.
- Ding provides businesses with facilities to accept payments by debit card, credit, and QR Codes. It did not disclose a valuation.
- Prosus has a $152B market cap, largely thanks to an early bet on Tencent.
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Creative Juice, a banking app for creators, has launched a $50M fund to support creator businesses. Creators can apply for funds upfront, which they then repay through a cut of their future revenue. The funds do not come as a loan, do not accrue interest, and if a creator cannot pay after a certain point, Creative Juice makes up the difference. More: - The firm secured the $50M from alternative lender HCGFunds, meaning that, should its creators not succeed, it is on the hook for the money.
- The company is very selective about which creators it chooses to fund, which has led to its recipients to date all being able to pay back their funds.
- The model is based on the insight that, while creators operate like small businesses, they tend to be unable to get loans from a bank due to their work being less established.
- This has led other startups to jump into providing them with financial services, such as Karat Financial, which offers creators access to business credit cards.
- Creative Juice has raised $15M in Series A funding led by Acrew Capital, with participation by Meena Harris, Larry Fitzgerald, and Jared Waldrom.
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 Today’s Funding 💸 Adtech/Martech - Mutiny (San Francisco, Calif.), no-code AI platform for marketers: $50M B led by Tiger Global, Insight Partners, participation from Sequoia Capital, Cowboy Ventures et al.
Biotech/Health - Nue Life Health (Miami, Fla.), mental wellness platform: $23M A/Debt led by Obvious Ventures, participation from MAGIC Fund, Myelin VC, Palm Drive Capital, et al.
- TestCard (U.K.), non-invasive testing: $10M from undisclosed sources.
- Cope Health (Los Angeles, Calif.), population health management analytics: $7.5M A from Mindtree, MSO Solutions 4 Community Health.
- Pathware (Denver, Colo.), point-of-care pathology: ...
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! | | | |
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- Lyft has acquired PBSC Urban Solutions, a Canadian supplier for bike share equipment and technology, for an undisclosed sum. Lyft will expand its micromobility offerings, which are currently available in 11 cities.
- Evok Innovations launched a new fund to support startups developing decarbonization technology with a target of $300M. The firm will focus on hard tech and industrial utility-scale.
- While equity and stock options remain a standard perk for startup employees, most do not know when to exercise them. Employees paid $11B last year in avoidable taxes by tapping their options too late, according to Secfi.
- Everi, a producer of analog and digital casino gaming content, acquired the strategic assets of XUVI, a private provider of a marketing platform. Terms were not disclosed.
- Here’s an innovative way to eliminate technical debt. Adopt this low-code technique to quickly clear your tech debt problem and return to innovating quality apps on AWS.*
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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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