Sequoia has launched two new funds for its India and Southeast Asia operations. Totaling $2B for early-stage and growth investments in India and $850M earmarked for a similar multi-stage strategy in Southeast Asia, the vehicles demonstrate the firm’s belief in the regions. More: - The funds are the largest of their kind specifically targeting the two regions, and come as Indian and Southeast Asian startups are suffering a veritable funding drought after last year’s monsoon.
- It is not difficult to understand Sequoia’s gung-ho attitude, given that nine of its portfolio startups, including Freshworks, GoJek, and Truecaller, went public in the past 18 months.
- Based on an analysis, those exits brought in a total of $4B in realized and unrealized gains at the current market value.
- All said, Sequoia is an investor in 36 of the ~100 unicorns active in India and Southeast Asia.
- The firm has been active in India for 16 years and later expanded to Southeast Asia.
- To date, Sequoia India and Southeast Asia now have about $9B of AUM.
- Beyond its traditional investment strategy, Sequoia also operates Surge, an accelerator for early-stage firms, and Spark, a fellowship program for female founders.
- The Surge program, launched three years ago, has grown to encompass 112 startups operating in many different sectors.
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Construction software provider Alice Technologies pulled in $30M Series B led by Vanedge Capital, with participation from Access Partners, Bouygues, Gaingels, GRIDS Capital, JLL Spark, and MetaPlanet. The 2013-founded company will use the funds for hiring and product development. More: - The Menlo Park, California-based company has over 50 employees and plans to hire 20 more by the end of the year.
- To date, it has raised $76.2M in VC but did not disclose a valuation or revenue.
- Alice’s tech is designed to help construction firms better plan their projects, which tend to take 20% longer to finish than scheduled and can be up to 80% over budget, according to a 2016 McKinsey analysis.
- Its fundamental proposition is offering a platform that can easily generate thousands of scheduling scenarios.
- This allows builders to change parameters, such as adding extra manpower or equipment, and see how these affect total cost and run time.
- While projects are ongoing, the platform can help predict delays given unexpected variables.
The wider lens: - While construction tech hit a record $4.5B in investment in 2021 and the U.S. industry sees between 3 million and 5 million workers on job sites every day, reticence among operators to try out new technologies makes it a difficult domain for startups.
- A case in point is SoftBank Katerra, which collapsed one year ago after promising to revolutionize the industry.
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SpaceX has raised an additional $1.68B in fresh equity capital from a group of 74 investors. The total funding sum was less than the $1.72B it had initially offered the group. While it is unknown how the deal valued the company, reports from May claimed that the company was aiming for a $125B valuation. More: - If those reports were accurate, the latest valuation represents a 25% bump on SpaceX’s last valuation following a fundraising event late last year.
- They would also indicate that the shares were sold at $70 apiece, a $14 increase from the $56 price tag the stock commanded after the company undertook a 10-to-1 stock split in February.
In other news: - The filings came on the heels of an announcement by the FAA that it had accepted a request by the company for an accelerated approval process for its next launch.
- The agency gave its environmental clearance but listed requirements other agencies will need to see met before they sign off.
- Specifically, SpaceX needs to perform state-level air emissions tests for its Texas site, as well as to its rockets’ impact on endangered species.
- Only after all outstanding adjustments are made and approved will the FAA issue its final launch license.
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Prenda, which provides a platform to deliver materials for microschools, has raised $20M, led by Seven Seven Six. Learn Capital, Modern Venture Partners, Peak State Ventures, and several angels also participated in the round for the Arizona-based company. More: - Prior to today’s round, Prenda raised a total of $26M from Y Combinator (2019 cohort), AngelList, Learn Capital, Eric Ries, Mango.vc, and others.
- The company disclosed neither its valuation nor its revenue figures.
- The microschools run by Prenda charge no tuition and total no more than 10 students.
- To date, its network totals some 300 microschools, which are run by hundreds of its so-called guides, who can be parents, former teachers, or people from local communities.
- Currently, 3,000 students are enrolled across six states.
- Prenda partners with local school districts, which provide the school-of-record for students and teachers for the microschools, which are frequently housed in private domiciles.
- Prenda also collects fees from the schools or districts, which it then splits with its guides.
The wider lens: - The microschool model took hold during the pandemic as larger institutions were forced to shutter, but they are not without detractors.
- A National Education Association report singled out Prenda and its platform as flawed and exploiting.
- Another early mover in the area, AltSchool, abandoned running microschools and rebranded, eventually offering only learning management software and later selling itself.
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 A message from NANOVMS NanoVMs is running an equity based crowdfund and is now open to the public for investment. NanoVMs is creating a new server-side operating system with unikernels. Current highlights: - Revenue from 11 countries including a $950M ID/IQ from the USAF
- 4 Patent Issued, 4 More Filed
- Raised $3M to date
- 3 Grants from the US Air Force, Dept. of Energy, and National Science Foundation
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 Today’s Funding 💸 Agtech - Crop.Zone (Aachen, Germany), organic alternative to non-selective synthetic herbicides: $11M from Nufarm Limited, Demeter Investment Managers, Madaus Capital Partners.
Biotech/Health - Corvia Medical (Tewksbury, Mass.), medical device for the treatment of heart failure: $54M from Third Rock Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, AccelMed, Lumira Ventures, Edwards Lifesciences.
- Elektrofi (Boston, Mass.), monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins, and other large molecule drugs: ...
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- Qualcomm has acquired Tel Aviv-based telecoms efficiency platform Cellwize Wireless Technologies for an undisclosed sum. Cellwize had raised $56.5M to date prior to the deal, most of it during a $32M round last November.
- Coinbase has begun rescinding its job offers, according to reports from multiple snubbed workers. It is unclear how many people have been affected.
- Israel Secondary Fund has raised a third fund with $312M in fresh capital. Migdal Insurance, Altshuler Shaham, and Bank Hapoalim, as well as institutional investors from the U.S. and EU, signed on as LPs.
- Colorful Capital, a Chicago-based funding outfit focused on the LGBTQ+ community, launched with a seed and pre-seed stage fund. It will target investments of up to $1M for LGBTQ+ founders operating in a variety of sectors.
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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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NanoVMs is a privately held deep tech company from SV. Learn more about investing here. | |
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