 With 90 so far this year, 2022 is well on track to outpace 2021’s number of mega-seed rounds ($10M+) in the U.S. The 156 such rounds last year were almost three times as many as the figure posted by 2020. More: - For relatively young companies (i.e. founded three years or less prior to the round), 2022’s 68 mega-seed rounds are already more than half of 2021’s 118. The latter figure is moreover over twice as large as the 55 posted in 2020.
- The largest seed round went to Yuga Labs, creator of the Bored Apee Yacht Club NFT collection, for its $450M seed round, just two years post-founding.
- Despite the hype around crypto, mega-seed rounds went to startups operating in a broad spectrum, including fintech, employee benefits, pet care, crypto, spacetech, mental health, drug discovery, and more.
- Big investors known for late-stage strategies have gotten in on the action: Tiger Global led 18 seed deals worldwide, while Andreessen Horowitz signed off on 12 seed deals so far this year.
- According to Spencer Greene, managing partner at TSVC, a seed-stage outfit, the average seed-stage check was between $500,000 and $1M at a valuation under $5M ten years ago.
- Now, those figures have jumped to $2M to $5M and $6M to $29M, respectively.
| |
Chinese self-driving technology developer and robotaxi provider OnTime raised $153M (RMB 1B) in a Series A funding round led by state-backed Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC), its parent company. Participants in the round included Chinese ride-hailing companies WeRide and Pony.ai. More: - Further support came from Sparx and Pilgrim Partners Asia, in addition to government-associated funds Guangzhou Industrial Investment and Capital Operation, Lingnan Commerce and Trade Tourism, and Guangzhou Industrial Control.
- That Pony and WeRide got involved shows the degree to which the companies need to reduce costs in the face of regulatory pressure.
- The match-up has a lot going for it: Ride-hailing companies need robotaxis to drive down costs, while robotaxi companies need access to big fleets to reach the mass market.
- OnTime’s history began in 2019 as a way for GAC to compete with ride-hailing giant Didi.
- GAC moreover supplies vehicles compatible with WeRide’s driving solutions, while WeRide and OnTime have already begun offering trial rides at auto shows.
| |
 A message from SURELY Cheers to hangover-free mornings 🥂 What if we told you there was a way to enjoy the taste of wine without the negative effects of alcohol? Enter, Surely. A sophisticated, high-quality alternative for when you’ve chosen to drink less, or not at all. Surely sources full-strength wine from premium regions in California then delicately removes the alcohol. What’s left is a non-alcoholic alternative with the quality of fine wine but none of the drawbacks. Bonus: it’s low-sugar, low-calorie, and vegan and keto-friendly. For the next 48 hours use code INSIDE20 to get 20% off your first Surely purchase (and 100% off your headache). Join thousands of wine lovers who want to enjoy the night of and the day after. If you’re still skeptical (we get it), Surely offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you don’t love it, they’ll refund you no questions asked. Try it now
| |
Katerra, a now-bankrupt startup that attempted to shake up the construction industry, has sued its former executives and members of its board for unjust enrichment. The lawsuit, which is co-signed by construction and real estate firms to which Katerra owes money, alleges that executives and board members allowed self-dealing to persist despite clear signs that it would harm the company’s financial health. More: - Katerra reached a $6B valuation in 2019 and had a workforce of 8,000. It raised $2B from SoftBank alone prior to declaring bankruptcy last year.
- It also raised another $1B from Greenoaks, Khosla Ventures, and many other firms.
- A report commissioned by SoftBank in 2018 found that the company’s biggest customers were owned entirely or in part by its own co-founders and executives.
- The lawsuit primarily highlights the deals initiated by CEO and co-founder Michael Marks, who was given free rein to acquire companies for up to $5M and whose board rubber-stamped larger purchases.
- It accuses him of deliberately overpaying for companies with which he had connections.
- There are also several reports of execs using the company to pay for personal expenses, such as private jet travel and leases.
The wider lens: - It is fairly uncommon for startup executives to face lawsuits after a company fails; failure is the name of the game for most companies.
- However, when creditors and the bankruptcy estate have good evidence of a rampant violation of basic governance principles, it is not difficult to win a case again principals.
- Still, Michael Ohlrogge, an assistant professor of law at NYU, notes that it might be harder to get money out of them.
| |
Berkeley-based RelationalAI, a combined database system and knowledge graph, raised $75M, led by Tiger Global. The Series B round saw the participation of Addition and Menlo Ventures, plus previous investor Madrona Venture Group, which led the company’s Series A round last year. More: - RelationalAI has now raised $122M to date and declined to report a valuation.
- Its platform is designed to tackle problems related to how data-driven applications are built.
- The basic premise is that, although data from multiple siloed systems can now be moved into a single place thanks to Snowflake, the logic of each silo is stuck in their respective apps.
- By allowing developers to run queries and generate ML predictions while modeling domain knowledge, it enables dev teams to build out knowledge graphs and reflect over data, meta-data, and logic.
- Moreover, it claims to reduce coding requirements by a factor of 10 to 100.
- The service is now in early access. The company anticipates opening it up for self-service in early 2023.
| |
 A message from INVISION Collaborate like 100% of the Fortune 100 Try InVision Freehand, the online whiteboard backed by enterprise-grade security and trusted by 100% of the Fortune 100. Uplevel collaboration at your organization. - 100+ templates to get your team started
- Tools to interview, hire, and onboard in hybrid work environments
- Integrations with Atlassian, Zoom, WebEx, Microsoft Teams and more
- The most flexible pricing of any online whiteboard
Try InVision Freehand now, FREE FOREVER, no credit card needed, and hassle free to sign-up. Explain your thought process visually with your whole team on an infinite digital canvas. Try InVision Freehand
| |
 Today’s Funding 💸 Aerospace - Pyka (Oakland, Calif.), autonomous planes with cargo-carry capabilities: $37M A led by Piva Capital, Prelude Ventures.
- X-Bow Systems (Albuquerque, N.M.), solid rocket energetics: $27M A led by Crosslink Capital, Razor’s Edge Ventures, participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, Broom Ventures.
Agtech - Anuvia Plant Nutrients (Winter Garden, Fla.), sustainable field-ready fertilizers for the agriculture, turf, and lawncare industries: $65.5M D led by Riverstone Holdings, Piva Capital, participation from Morgan Stanley Investment Management, LK Advisers Limited, Pontifax Global Food, et al.
- Farmerline (Ghana), marketplace for various farming products and services: ...
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 - This platform was ranked as G2's best software for sales teams in 2022. Check it out here!*
- Wipro, an Indian multinational, will acquire SAP consulting firm Rizing for $540M from One Equity Partners.
- Ansa Capital, a new venture outfit, raised $100M for its maiden fund to place bets between $5M and $15M on new markets, reinventing distribution models, and modernizing legacy systems.
- Egyptian shared transportation services provider geared towards inter-city trips Swvl acquired Turkish Volt Lines, a B2B transportation-as-a-service operator, for an undisclosed sum.
- Lengow, an SaaS e-commerce automation startup owned by Marlin Equity Partners, will buy Spanish price and market intelligence company Netrivals for an undisclosed sum.
- To deliver real-time analytics on massive datasets, developers must balance latency, throughput, concurrency, and data freshness. Watch Molecula's Webinar.*
*This is a sponsored post.
| |
Upcoming events at Inside - April 28 - Alternative Investments 2: Crypto Safety Standards (Register Here)
- May 05 - [Live Webinar] Women in Sales: How to Build Your Personal Brand to Drive More Sales presented by Introhive (Register Here) *
- May 12 - Making Metaverse Dating a Reality (Register Here)
- May 18 - Need To Know NoCoder: Jatin Arora (Utilize) (Register Here)
- May 19 - Understanding Fractionalization (Register Here)
- May 24 - Meet Our Fund 3 (Register Here)
- May 31 - Ethereum Merge with Anthony Donofrio (Ethereum) (Register Here)
- June 01 - Selling Consumer Goods in Web3 (Register Here)
- June 09 - Empowering Content Creators with No Code (Register Here)
- June 22 - Security Lessons from the Log4Shell Vulnerability (Register Here)
*This is a sponsored post.
| |
 |  | 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. | |
| |
Uplevel collaboration at your organization with InVision Freehand, trusted by 100% of the Fortune 100. | |
Comments
Post a Comment