Generation Investment Management launched a $1.7B fund to invest in sustainable startups. The investment company was co-founded and is chaired by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. The fund is the firm’s fourth and largest growth equity fund to date. Generation will focus its investments in companies working on lowering emissions, increasing financial inclusion, and creating accessible healthcare. More: - Generation Investment, co-founded by Al Gore and former Goldman Sachs executive David Blood in 2004, currently has over $36B in assets under management.
- The firm has made 60 investments to date, and its portfolio includes companies such as Asana, a work management platform; Back Market, a used gadget marketplace; and Convoy, a digital freight network company.
- It acquired a 13% stake in Octopus Energy, a firm that is working on reducing energy costs, for $600M last September.
- Generation also invested $30M in Seventh Generation, a recycled paper-towel manufacturer.
- Generation Investment hopes to be an active minority investor with individual investments ranging from $50M to $150M in startups with revenues ranging between $30M-$300M through the new Sustainable Solutions Fund IV.
- Potential portfolio companies will also be assessed for their system-positive contribution.
- Generation partnered with Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, and Harvard Management in October to support businesses working to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
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Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) launched a gaming sector-focused fund named Games Fund One with $600M in capital. The fund is the firm's inaugural dedicated fund for the gaming industry. A16z's primary investment targets include game developer studios, infrastructure, and related consumer-focused apps. More: - A16z has backed several gaming firms in the last decade but felt the need to launch a dedicated fund with a specialized focus due to the unique and evolving landscape of the sector.
- It previously invested in Zynga, Oculus, Riot Games, CCP, and Epic Games.
- The fund has launched at a time when there is a broad retrenchment in the venture capital industry.
- However, the firm is confident about the potential of the gaming industry especially due to increased consumer interest in VR/AR, Web3, and the metaverse.
- The firm strongly believes that gaming infrastructure and technologies will set the foundation for the metaverse industry.
- The global gaming business is estimated to be worth $300B, but a16z believes there is a larger market opportunity when considering the potential for Web3 and metaverse.
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Norwest Venture Partners and Eldridge Industries LLC led a $400M Series B financing round into distributed international workforce hiring and management platform Velocity Global. The talent hiring, onboarding, payroll management, and legal services platform secured a multi-billion dollar valuation, seven times more than its last valuation a year ago. The actual current valuation was not disclosed. More: - Velocity has reported profits every year since its founding in 2014.
- The company garnered $125M in revenue last year, with the current year’s annual net revenue projections topping $200M.
- The company has secured $100M in funding prior to the current investment, with FFL Partners leading its Series A funding round.
- CEO Ben Wright hinted at a possibility for an IPO, without disclosing any timelines.
- The company intends to use the proceeds to improve the customer experience, back strategic acquisitions, and grow its technology, sales, and marketing teams.
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Mobile payment technology company SpotOn nabbed $300M in financing from a Series F funding round. The round values the firm at $3.6B, 14.3% higher than its $3.15B valuation received at the Series E funding round. Existing backer Dragoneer Investment Group led the fundraising with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, Franklin Templeton, and Mubadala Investment Company, joined by new investor G Squared. More: - Prior to the current funding, SpotOn had secured $628M in funding, having raised funds twice last year.
- It secured $125M in Series D financing in May last year, at a $1.875B valuation, followed by a $300M in Series E financing in September.
- Both funding rounds were led by Andreessen Horowitz.
- SpotOn reported 100% YoY annual recurring revenue growth last year.
- The San Francisco-based company provides point-of-sale and mobile payment platforms to SMBs across the retail, food, and hospitality sectors.
- Proceeds from the fundraiser will enable the company to accelerate product development.
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Work assistant and knowledge management platform Glean secured unicorn status just eight months after emerging from stealth. The company secured a $100M Series C led by Sequoia Capital. The company provides a unified search platform that encompasses all of the company’s apps. More: - The Palo Alto, California-based company raised $55M in funding prior to the current fundraise.
- It last raised $39.7M in a General Catalyst-led Series B funding round.
- Prior to that, it secured $15.3M in Series A funding led by Kleiner Perkins and Lightspeed Venture Partner.
- Other funding round participants include General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and The Slack Fund.
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Chinese internet search engine platform and AI company Baidu Inc's chip manufacturing arm Kunlun is in talks to raise $317M (2B yuan) in a new funding round. Sources informed Bloomberg that the company is soliciting investors for the fundraise. The company is targeting a $2.5B (17B yuan) valuation at the fundraising. More: - At its last funding round over a year ago, Kunlun received a ~$1.9B (13B yuan) valuation.
- Kunlun manufactures semiconductor chips for artificial intelligence applications.
- The firm last received ~$222M (1.5B yuan) from IDG Capital and Legend Holding's venture arm last year.
- Baidu leverages Kunlun's chips to power its core search services.
- The incoming funds will help Kunlun to scale its operations to cater to additional clients.
- In its latest five-year plan, Chinese President Xi Jinping's administration pledged to increase spending and accelerate research into cutting-edge chips and AI.
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- Singaporean online classifieds marketplace Carousell Pte shelved its plans to go public via the SPAC merger route with L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp. Current macroeconomic volatility and valuation concerns played a role in the decision to end talks. Bloomberg’s January article valued the combined entity at $1.5B.
- British cloud-native banking technology company Thought Machine raised $160M in Series D funding at a $2.7B valuation. Temasek led the funding with participation from Intesa Sanpaolo, Morgan Stanley, Eurazeo, ING, JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds Banking Group, and SEB.
- MasterSchool, an Israeli technology talent sourcing platform, closed $100M in seed funding led by Group 11. Target Global, Pitango Ventures, Dynamic Loop Capital, and others participated in the funding round.
- Cambridge, Mass.-based Remix Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing small molecule therapies, secured $70M in Series B funding led by Surveyor, with backing from Foresite Capital, Atlas Venture, The Column Group, Arch Venture Partners, Alexandria Venture Investments, and Casdin Capital.
- Griffin Gaming Partners led a $46M Series A financing round into San Francisco-based blockchain gaming developer N3TWORK Studios. Kleiner Perkins, Galaxy Interactive, KIP, Floodgate, and LLL Capital backed the financing.
- California-based data security solutions provider Seclore raised $27M in Series C funding led by Origami Capital Partners and Oquirrh Ventures.
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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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