Top Insights from Alt Investments 2 event / Hello Heart secures $70M / Rise Capital sets up operations in India

Plus, Agtech firm Solinftec secures $60M

Inside.com Part of   Network May 02, 2022

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Last Thursday, my colleague Stephanie and I hosted Inside’s Alternate Investments 2 — Crypto Safety Standards event. The speakers included Jodie Gunzberg (Coindesk), Elena Nadolinski (Iron Fish), Nick Percoco (Kraken), and Giorgi Khazaradze (Aurox). A link to the entire event is available here. Jodie Gunzberg’s top insights: Jodie spoke about cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin, being a store of value assets. She highlighted that in the last year, Bitcoin outperformed the stock market by 30%. Jodie showed how investing in bitcoin helps increase portfolio efficiency.  For every 1% on average fall in the dollar, the value of bitcoin rose over 57%. She also mentioned the risks associated with cryptocurrencies: market risk, technology risk, and regulatory risk. Elena Nadolinski’s top insights: Elena spoke about the privacy aspect of cryptocurrency.  Iron Fish is building a universal privacy layer for crypto users.  A view key enables only read-only access for audits.  View keys also give systems a way to comply with Anti-Money laundering laws. Nick Percoco’s top insights: Nick spoke about how security is a top priority on their platform.  Proactive measures taken by platforms include: building security into the platform, testing systems by trying to “hack” their own platforms, instilling bug bounty programs, and taking proactive security monitoring, including suspicious activity and phishing activity monitoring. He mentioned a few best practices for customers who want to invest in cryptocurrency: Choose strong and unique passwords Use two-factor authentication, ideally FIDO2 Store crypto on hardware wallets Store seed phrases in secure locations Giorgi Khazaradze’s top insights: Giorgi highlighted the challenges related to investing in cryptocurrency, especially Web3 wallets, which are prone to hacks.  He spoke of the need to tackle the security, usability, and accessibility of web3 wallets.  He spoke about whitelisting smart contracts to ensure their customers know which platforms to invest in.

Digital therapeutic firm Hello Heart raised $70M in Series D financing. The application tracks blood pressure to derive wellness recommendations to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. Growth equity firm Stripes led the financing. Incoming funds will help scale the firm to meet demand and expand its line of products. More: Hello Heart’s recent fundraising brings its total funding to date to $140M, including an IVP-led $45M Series C round in May 2021. It received a $295M post-money valuation at the Series C funding. Co-founder Maayan Cohen informed Axios that valuation had more than doubled during its current financing, without disclosing the actual amount. Other funding participants include IVP, Resolute, and BlueRun Ventures. Hello Heart’s application helped save an average of $1,865 in one year's total employer medical spend, per a study conducted by The Validation Institute.

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San Francisco-based VC firm Rise Capital has set up operations in India to focus on investment in the technology sector in the nation. The VC firm founded by Nazar Yasin, formerly a Tiger Global executive, is looking to invest an estimated $150M-$180M in the country, with individual investments ranging from $100,000 to $10M. The firm is targeting seed to Series B stage investments. More: Yasin expects one-fourth of its global portfolio to be investments in Indian companies.  Rise recently invested in two Indian startups, namely investment app TradeX and new-bank SaveIn, last month.  The Indian arm of the VC firm will be led by Anuj Mehta.  Yasin is confident that the technology sector in the nation will have a market capitalization of over $1T by 2030.  Rise Capital debuted with a $100M fund in 2014.

Agriculture-technology company Solinftec received a $60M capital infusion led by Lightsmith Group. Unbox Capital, Circularis Partners, and others participated in the funding. The Brazil- and Indiana-headquartered firm provides real-time information regarding crop health, weather, and equipment using sensors and AI-powered software. More: Lightsmith Group provided $23M of funding in the current round.  Slinftech’s software is used across the U.S., Brazil, and Latin America to manage over 27 million acres of land.  Incoming funds will be used to expand reach in North America and South America.  Before the current financing round, Solinftec had raised $87M in total funding. Zoom out: Agtech firms funding topped nearly $5.7B in 2021.  So far this year, the sector has secured $1.6B in funding, with San Francisco-based Plenty securing this year’s largest fundraising of $400M in Series E financing.

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LinearB platform Developer workflow optimization platform LinearB secured $50M in a Series B financing round. Tribe Capital led the financing with backing from Salesforce Ventures, Battery Ventures, and 83 North. LinearB will deploy the proceeds from the funding to accelerate product development, scale its team, and back marketing and sales efforts. More: Along with the funds acquired under the Series B financing, the firm has raised a total of $71M to date.  A Battery Ventures-led Series A funding round in March 2021 saw a $16M capital infusion into the company.   Over 100,000 developers across 5,000 organizations use the company’s workflow optimization tool to identify automation opportunities.  Notable client organizations include Bumble, BigID, Unbabel, and Drata.  Client organizations have seen a 64% increase in deployment by leveraging LinearB’s platform.

Credit cards loyalty program developer and co-branded card provider Concerto raised $21.2M in funding. The funding round was led by Matrix Partners with backing from PayPal Ventures and GoldenTree Asset Management. Incoming funds will be used to scale the organization and form additional partnerships. More: The fintech startup leverages machine learning and advanced data analytics to develop credit card programs. Concerto is establishing a joint venture with GoldenTree to fund $2B in credit card receivables. The startup is forecasting to add 500,000 customers to its platform by the end of this year. Zoom out: Concerto’s peer Kard raised $23M in Series A financing last week. Read more about it here. Another competitor Cardless has raised $50M in total funding to date, with the last funding round being a $40M Series B fundraise in July 2021.

Quick Hits SeedInvest launches a pitch competition for historically underrepresented founders. Over $40,000 in prizes. Pitch to Baron Davis and Jesse Draper. Learn More.* Chinese hydrogen fuel cell manufacturer Shenzhen State Fuel Cell Corporation (SFCC) is gearing for a Nasdaq public listing via a SPAC merger. The company is anticipating a $1B valuation.  Indian dental startup Toothsi raised $40M in Series C funding led by Eight Road Ventures with participation from Paramark and IIFL.   No-code NLP platform Accern received $20M in Series B financing led by Might Capital with participation from Tribe Capital, Shasta Ventures, Gainagels, Fusion Fund, and others. Arlington, Virginia-based shared spectrum technology provider Federated Wireless secured $14M in follow-on funding toward its Series D funding round, bringing its total raised under the round to $72M. Fortress Investment Group, Giantleap Capital, and LightShed Ventures participated in the funding. Rinsed secured $12M in Series A financing led by Bedrock Capital and Founders Fund. The company provides CRM software for the car wash industry. B2B businesses are switching to e-commerce. Now, it’s your turn. Learn three persuasive approaches that communicate the value of digital to decision-makers.* *This is sponsored content

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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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