WeWork founder Adam Neumann's new company Flow has gained the backing of prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, as confirmed by the latter in a blog post today. A16z is investing $350M, per sources close to the NY Times. Even before the formal launch of its platform scheduled for 2023, Flow is already a unicorn firm with a $1B+ valuation. More: - A16z's check size will be the largest issued by the firm to date.
- Marc Andreessen will join Flow's board.
- Flow intends to disrupt the rental market by creating a branded product with added services and features.
- Neumann has purchased over 3,000 apartment units in cities such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, and Nashville.
- Flow will also extend its services to other third-party firms.
- A16z is confident about Neumann's new venture and believes that he can "build on past successes by growing from lessons learned."
Zoom out: - Neumann's other firm Flowcarbon, which offers a carbon marketplace through its carbon-backed token, received $70M in May, led by a16z.
- The round included $32M in Series A equity financing, with the rest secured through a token sale.
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TerraPower LLC, a nuclear power startup backed by Bill Gates, has raised $750M in funding. South Korean conglomerate SK Group will contribute $250M in financing. In addition to further advancing its nuclear technology, the Bellevue, Washington-based firm will use the incoming proceeds to work on developing new cancer drugs using nuclear isotopes. More: - TerraPower, founded by Bill Gates in 2006, is developing advanced small modular reactors (SMRs).
- The firm helps reduce costs and construction delays associated with building a nuclear reactor by assembling SMRs in factories and delivering them on site.
- Its pilot project in Wyoming is scheduled to enter service in 2028.
- Around half of all nuclear reactors by 2050 are expected to be small reactors, according to SK Group’s executive VP Kim Moohwan.
- The group has pledged to reduce 200 million tons of carbon emissions by 2030.
Zoom out: - According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, 70 SMRs are currently under development across the world.
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 A message from CAPGEMINI ENGINEERING The Metaverse: A Digital Frontier. In this webinar, Capgemini Engineering and NVIDIA will discuss their partnership to build immersive experiences in the metaverse. We’ll go over an overview: - What is the metaverse? How is it built?
- What are the opportunities/metaverse applications in manufacturing, automotive, consumer products, retail & distribution (CPRD) industries?
- What is NVIDIA Omniverse? Demos of what Omniverse customers are doing today
Partnership discussion: - How the business models of Capgemini Engineering & NVIDIA complement each other
- Values & short-term deliverables of the partnership
You will also learn about NVIDIA’s integrated hardware/software solution and Capgemini Engineering’s role as a services arm and digital asset creator. Presenters: - Walker Sherk, Head of Emerging Technologies at Capgemini Engineering
- Madison Huang, Product Marketing Manager, Omniverse at NVIDIA
- Weihan Wu, Omniverse Partner Ecosystem at NVIDIA
The webinar takes place on August 25, 2022 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Register Here
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British venture capital firm 2xN announced a new $120M Fund II. The firm seeks to back up to 25 early-stage quantum computing startups across Europe. 2xN will invest between pre-seed and Series A stages. While quantum computing is the primary focus of the fund, the firm is also keen on backing startups in mobility, collaborative working, marketplaces, and edtech sectors. More: - Individual check sizes will range from $3M to $5M.
- 2xN will set aside half of the new fund for follow-on investments into portfolio companies.
- To date, the firm has backed 21 firms through its first $50M fund, which was launched in stealth mode in 2021.
- Prominent startups in the portfolio include Quantinuum, QuantrolOx, Kvantify, Monta, and StudySmarter.
- Danish Growth Fund and founders of Voi, Vivino, and Quantinuum backed the new fund.
- The firm has invested along with leading institutional investors such as Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Accel, and others.
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German energy company E.ON's venture capital division, Future Energy Ventures, launched a new venture fund to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. The focus of investments will be on three key areas: future energy, cities, and technologies that accelerate the transition to net zero emissions across the energy value chain. The firm expects to raise ~$255M (€250M) before the final close. More: - 100% of the capital will be invested in accordance with Article 9 of SFDR.
- The Luxembourg-domiciled fund is expected to close in 2023.
- FEV will back Series A- and Series B-stage startups across Europe, North America, and Israel.
- The firm has completed 50+ investments to date and has successfully exited 10 investments, realizing a 39% IRR.
- Notable exits include traffic management platform Waycare and global AI company Rekor System.
- FEV most recently participated in Buildots' $60M Series C funding round led by Viola Growth and O.G.Tech Partners.
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 A message from ADOBE MARKETO Marketing automation is your key to agile evolution. Not only is the “new normal” often bewildering, but the marketplace is growing increasingly competitive as well. In a survey of 330 business leaders in the US and Europe, 57 percent said they’ve had to reconsider their entire business model in the wake of COVID-19. The one thing all businesses know is that they must deliver an exceptional experience—in fact, more than 80 percent of business buyers are willing to pay more for it. The only problem is that what those customers want is changing, too. Right now, they crave reassurance and responsiveness. Marketers have two tasks: to empathize with their customers’ challenges, and to offer practical solutions as new ones crop up Read Key Characteristics of Agile, Customer-First Marketing Automation to learn the five ways marketing automation can help you deliver the customer experiences your buyers need — all while supporting sales — as business fundamentals evolve in real time. Read Now
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Shopify and Transpose Platform led a $30M Series C funding round into Gorgias. The San Francisco-based firm provides a customer service ticketing management, analytics, and support automation tool for e-commerce companies. The firm’s valuation doubled to $710M at the recent funding, up from $305M at its Series B round in late 2020. More: - The Series C brings the firm’s total funds raised to date to $72.4M.
- Sapphire Ventures led the firm’s $25M Series B round in Dec. 2020.
- Over 10,000 online stores use Gorgias’ platform, including Princess Polly, Steve Madden, Olipop, Marine Layer, and others.
- In late Dec. 2020, the firm’s client base totaled 4,500.
- The firm reported doubling its annual recurring revenue since the Series B round.
- Incoming funds will be used to accelerate the development of its automation and revenue optimization features.
- Other participants in the funding round include Jason Lemkin, Rajeev Dha, CRV, and Alven.
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Lifesciences company Monod Bio raised $25M in a seed financing round. The Seattle-based firm is developing new modular biosensors from engineered computational proteins. The financing was led by Matrix Capital. More: - Global Health Investment Corporation, Cercano Management, Boom Capital Ventures, Sahsen Ventures, and Pack Ventures participated in the funding round.
- Currently, Monod uses biosensors to detect COVID-19 spike proteins, cancer receptors, and the cardiac troponin molecule – which is released by the body after a heart attack.
- Nature Biotechnology applied this technology to detect COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies in vaccinated patients.
- The incoming funding will be used to double the size of the research team, increase the applications of Monod's LucCage platform across biotech and medical disciplines, and apply machine learning methods to build custom biosensors.
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- Private equity firm Arsenal Capital Partners closed Fund IV and Growth Fund with $4.3B and $1.1B in capital commitments, respectively. The firm is looking to back industrial growth and healthcare startups.
- Due to BitGo's failure to submit audited financial accounts for the year 2021, Galaxy Digital canceled its acquisition of the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency custodian platform. The deal was valued at $1.2B in May.
- Cryptocurrency venture firm Dragonfly acquired hedge fund MetaStable Capital for an undisclosed amount. MetaStable was co-founded by Naval Ravikant in 2014. The firm has invested in Ethereum and other blockchains, with its current assets under management totaling $400M.
- British EV car leasing and charging networks infrastructure provider Gridserve received $241M (£200M) in financing from M&G's equity investment arm. The firm will use the incoming funds to add 5,000 new high-power chargers to its network by 2025.
- Personal loans and salary advances provider EarlySalary is looking to raise $100M in a new funding round. TPG is said to be leading the funding with participation from Norwest Venture Partners.
- AI-powered sensing solutions provider MatrixSpace secured $10.1M in financing.
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Upcoming Events: - August 17 - AMA with Atin Batra (27V) (Register Here)
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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 and 1972 Fords. | |
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