U.S.-based venture capital funds are on track to receive $880M from Chinese investors this year, per data compiled by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Since 2010, Chinese organizations have invested more than $4B in U.S. venture firms and $3.5B in U.S. private equity firms. More: - The investment for this year is expected to be the second highest over the last 12 years.
- In 2020, U.S. venture funds received $1.2B from Chinese organizations.
- The report suggests that the actual amount received might be higher than reported since many venture firms do not publicly disclose amounts invested by their limited partners.
- Chinese investments make up 1.59% and less than 5% of Foothill Ventures' and GSR Ventures' current assets under management, respectively.
- The U.S. government officials are concerned that Chinese investors may gain access to critical technical information, including strategically important technology such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence.
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Adobe Inc. announced it will acquire Figma Inc. The cash and stock deal is valued at $20B. Figma’s platform helps creators collaborate in-real time to design UX, build UI prototypes, and design interfaces. More: - Figma is used by Airbnb, Google, and Herman Miller, amongst others.
- The San Francisco-based company was valued at $10B when it raised $200M in Series E funding in mid-2021.
- To date, the firm has raked in $332.9M.
- Notable investors in the firm include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, and others.
- Figma’s total addressable market is estimated to be $16.5B by 2025.
- The firm is on track to nab $400M in total annual recurring revenue by the end of this year.
- The move comes as investors grow skeptical about Adobe’s software suite, which was under increasing threat from web-based offerings such as Figma, Lightricks, and Canva.
- Despite posting higher than expected revenue in the recent quarter, this is Adobe’s third consecutive quarter where its growth has dipped below 15%.
- The company’s revenue rose 13% to $4.43B.
- The deal may be financed by Adobe using cash or a term loan.
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Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo’s venture capital arm, Neva Sgr, closed its debut fund at $249.9M (€250M). The growth-stage fund is sector agnostic; however, it will prioritize fintech and deeptech investments. $149.9M (€150M) of the capital has already been invested into 26 startups. More: - Neva Sgr was established in August 2020.
- There is a 30% quota on investments in Italian companies that Chairman Luca Remmert wants to raise.
- Notable portfolio companies include Casavo, Yolo, and Mirta.
- Individual investments will average $4M (€4M), with an upper limit of $9.99M (€10M) for the most promising startups.
- The firm intends to deploy all the capital by 2024, as it intends to close a second fund by the end of 2024.
- Intesa Sanpaolo is the largest investor in the fund.
- Other limited partners include Compagnia di San Paolo, Cariparo, and Carilucca.
Zoom out: - VC investments into Italian startups reached record levels in 2021, totaling $1.4B.
- Despite doubling investments over the previous year, the investments are less than 10% of VC funding received by French or German startups.
- Scalapay is the only unicorn startup founded in Italy since the early 2000s.
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Axel Payments, a freight and logistics fintech platform, rebranded to Denim. The firm secured $126M in Series B funding, of which $26M is equity and $100M is debt. Denim intends to use the incoming funds to scale its business and provide working capital to customers. More: - The equity fundraiser was led by Pelion Venture Partners.
- Crosslink Capital, Anthemis, Trucks VC, Tribeca Early Stage Partners, and others participated in the funding round.
- Co-founder Bharath Krishnamoorthy revealed that the company received a “nine-figure” valuation.
- The fresh capital brings the firm’s total funding to over $165M.
- Crosslink led the firm’s $10M Series A funding in May 2021.
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Mountain View, California-based multi-cloud security company Fortanix closed its Series C funding round with $90M in financing. Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s growth equity division led the funding round. The firm will expand its product offerings with the fresh funding. More: - Existing investors Giantleap Capital, Foundation Capital, Intel Capital, and Neotribe Ventures backed the recent funding.
- The latest capital influx brings the firm’s total funds raised to date to $122M.
- Intel Capital led the firm’s $23M Series B round in January 2019.
- Fortanix has 125 enterprise clients, most notable of which are Google, Paypal, and the U.S. Department of Justice.
- Over the past three years, the company claims its business has grown by 500%.
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Majority, a banking platform catered for migrants, nabbed $37.5M financing. The Series B round consists of $30M in equity financing and $7.5M in debt funding. The equity tranche is led by Valar Ventures. More: - The Houston-based firm provides bank accounts, debit cards, free international money transfers, and subsidized international calling for $5.99 per month.
- Majority reports that revenue has grown fivefold, and monthly transactions have grown fourfold over the past year.
- This is the firm’s third fundraise since June last year.
- Series B lead investor Valar led the firm’s $19M seed round in June 2021 and $27M Series A round in December 2021.
- Majority’s competitors include Fair, TomoCredit, and Welcome.
- Majority accepts international government identification and U.S. residency proof to open a bank account, eliminating the need to provide U.S. documentation or a social security number.
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- LatinxVC hired Mariela Salas as the firm's new Executive Director. She is tasked with growing the Latinx venture capital ecosystem.
- Billionaire Venture Incubation (BVI) partnered with DBS Bank to invest $200M in about 150 startups across India. Fintech and education are two of the 16 sectors that the firm intends to focus on.
- San Diego, Calif.-based impact investor HCAP Partners closed its second SBIC fund at $353M.
- Buy-now-pay-later payment solutions fintech Ratio raised $411M in equity and debt funding. $400M of the funding is a credit facility. Participants in the funding include Streamlined Ventures, Cervin Ventures, 8-Bit Capital, and others.
- Former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Caffeinated Capital co-led a $28M Series B funding into professional network Polywork. Andreessen Horowitz, Bungalow Capital, and others backed the funding.
- Andreessen Horowitz led $16M into flexible office leasing platform Codi. The funding was a Series A round.
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- September 21 - Hired's Navigating Market Uncertainty: The State of Tech Hiring Webinar (Register Here) *
- September 21 - AMA with Kristen Ruby (Founder of Ruby Media Group) (Register Here)
- September 22 - "Top 10 Overlooked VxWorks Features" with Brian Kuhl (Register Here) *
- September 28 - AMA with Leigh-Ann Buchanan (Founder of aīre ventures) (Register Here)
- October 05 - AMA with Ram Bartov (Chief Accounting Officer at TripActions)* (Register Here)
- October 11 - AMA with Mike Malone (Smallstep) (Register Here)
- October 12 - AMA with Bill Glenn (Executive Chairman at Crenshaw Associates) (Register Here)
- October 19 - AMA with Zecca Lehn (Responsibly VC) (Register Here)
- October 25 - Meet Our Fund 4, an Inside.com Summit (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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