Whatnot, a livestream shopping marketplace for sports cards, rare toys, and collectibles, raked in $260M in fresh funding. CapitalG and DST Global led the Series D funding round, joined by existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, YC Continuity, and Bond. The California-based company received a $3.7B valuation at the recent fundraiser, more than double its $1.5B valuation at its Series C funding round last year. More: - Prior to the current round, the firm had raised $224.7M in total.
- At its last fundraising, the firm clinched $150M in Series C investment led by current lead investor CapitalG.
- Andreessen Horowitz led the firm’s $20M Series A funding in March 2021, followed by a $50M Series B in May 2021 led by Y Continuity.
- The livestream shopping service, which has considerable popularity in China, is now gaining traction in the U.S., with Whatnot emerging as the largest start-up in this space.
- With the fresh funding, the firm intends to add a merchandise product category on its platform, build out additional features, and increase its headcount to 300.
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Los Angeles-based real estate technology-focused venture capital firm Fifth Wall closed its debut Climate Fund with $500M in capital commitments. The fund, which is reportedly the largest dedicated fund yet for decarbonizing the real estate industry, will back firms working on decarbonizing software, renewable energy, energy storage, smart buildings, and carbon sequestration technologies. More: - Limited partners in the fund include BBVA, CBRE, Hilton MGM Resorts, and NZ Super Fund, among others.
- With the new funding, the firm’s assets under management now total $3.2B.
- The company has already invested in Assembly OSM, Clarity AI, Electric Hydrogen, ICON, and Wildcat Discovery, with the funds collected under the new fund.
Zoom out: - According to the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, the real estate industry generates 40% of total global carbon dioxide emissions, 70% of which come from building operations with the remaining 30% from construction activities.
- Real estate industry climate tech R&D has, however, only received $94.6M in investments.
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Sequoia China, which recently raised $9B across four new funds, is reportedly changing its investment strategy, aligning the firm's investments in line with China's "common prosperity" policy goals. Neil Shen, the billionaire leader of the venture capital firm, hinted at investing in the deep technology sector, including domains such as artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, robotics, green energy, biotech, and pharmaceutical research. More: - Sequoia China, which has over $50B of assets under management, has been slowly pivoting its investments away from consumer-facing companies and into hard technology firms, including semiconductor manufacturing, electric vehicle battery technology, and high-end manufacturing startups.
- Shen confirmed last September that 80% of the firm's investments were now in hard-tech firms.
- The Chinese government's crackdown on technology companies resulted in valuation markdowns for the firm's portfolio companies, with Chinese technology company stock values being wiped away by $1.5T.
- Stocks of previous portfolio companies Meituan Dianping, Alibaba, and Didi have plummeted by 56%, 66%, and 78%, respectively.
- Earlier last week, Sequoia China diluted its stake in Meituan from 3.2% to 2.8% in a deal valued at $497M.
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Canadian financial conglomerate Power Corp.'s venture capital arm, Portage Ventures, received $655M in capital for its third fund. Fintech startups will be the focus of the firm's investments, with the firm hoping to take advantage of recent valuation drops. New investors account for half of the 34 institutional investors that contributed to the new fund. More: - Portage's co-founder and CEO Adam Felesky is undeterred by the drop in valuations of fintech companies, instead viewing them as a "greater opportunity" to make investments.
- The fund is almost twice as large as the firm's second fund, which closed at $355M, and over six times larger than its $102M first fund.
- From the first two funds, Portage has made 65 investments.
- Most notable of portage's portfolio companies include Canadian online financial services startup Wealthsimple, telemedicine startup Dialogue Health Technologies, and prepaid card firm Koho Financial.
- Portage owns an 8.7% stake in Wealthsimple, which was valued at $4B at its $580M (CA$750M) fundraiser last year.
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Swedish telehealth startup Kry secured $160M in Series D follow-on financing. The financing includes equity and debt tranches and was provided by Teachers' Venture Growth and P Capital Partners. Kry intends to build out its primary and secondary care offerings; however, it has put its international expansion plans on hold at the moment. More: - In May this year, it laid off 100 employees across non-clinical roles in a bid to focus on profitability.
- Public health care partnerships contribute 90% of the firm's revenue, while direct-to-consumer private healthcare offerings contribute the remaining 10%.
- The company reported 100% YoY growth in 2020 and 2021.
- As part of its expansion plans later this year, Kry will expand its physical clinics in Sweden and France, but no plans are currently in the works to establish additional clinics in the U.K., Norway, or Germany, where it also operates.
- Existing investors Index Ventures, Accel, Creandum, and Project A also participated in the fundraise.
- The new funding brings the firm's total raised to date to $728M.
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Boulder, Colo.-based alternative meat startup Meati Foods raised $150M from its Series C funding round, bringing the firm’s total funds raised to date to $278.6M. Revolution Growth led the funding round along with Wellington Management, CPP Investments, and Chipotle Mexican Grill’s venture arm, Cultivate Next. More: - This fundraise valued Meati at $650M, double its value during its previous Series B fundraise where it raised $50M.
- The company, according to sources close to Bloomberg, lowered its valuation during fundraising.
- Meati intends to use the funds to build out its Mega Ranch manufacturing facility in Colorado, which, once operational, will have an annual production capacity of 45 million pounds of its product.
- CEO Tyler Huggins expects Meati’s products to be available across 10,000 outlets by the end of next year.
- The company is targeting $1B in revenues by 2025.
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- Eurazeo held the final close of its $1B (€1B) PME IV fund to back French SMEs and strategic buyouts.
- The Netherlands-based biotech company NewAmsterdam Pharma BV is in talks to be listed in the U.S. after a SPAC merger with Frazier Lifesciences Acquisition Corp, with the combined entity’s valuation expected to be around $700M.
- TomoCredit, a credit card provider for immigrants and international students with no credit history, raised $22M in equity funding and $100M in debt funding from its Series B funding round. The equity tranche was provided by Morgan Stanley’s Next Level Fund and Mastercard, while the debt financing was given by Silicon Valley Bank. TomoCredit received a $222M post-money valuation at the fundraiser.
- Quad Partners led 15Five’s Series C funding round, bringing in $52M in financing. Next47, Origin Ventures, Edison Partners, Matrix Partners, and Point Nine Capital participated in the fundraising for the California-based performance management software provider.
- Productivity software provider TextExpander raised $41.4M in fresh financing led by Summit Partners.
- Foresight Group realized a 2.5x return on its investment after exiting from E.fundamentals, after the latter was acquired by CommerceIQ.
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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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