Stanford University is now vying to get a higher allocation within the prominent venture funds, according to The Information. The university, which has a $37.8B endowment, invested a third (33%) of its assets in venture capital and private equity funds in 2021. Stanford made a $700M gain from Airbnb and $200M from DoorDash when both startups went public in 2020. More: - Robert Wallace, the CEO of Stanford Management Company, has reduced the number of investment funds in Stanford’s portfolio from 300 to 175 since joining in 2015.
- In 2015, the university allocated 25% of its assets for private equity investments.
- The university’s endowment gained 40.1% returns from VC investments in fiscal 2021.
- In the same year, Harvard and Yale recorded 33.6% and 40.2% gains.
- Stanford has made $10.9B in returns by investing in venture capital funds across the U.S., China, and India over the past decade.
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A new platform launched by JPMorgan Chase aims to remove roadblocks in the venture capital fundraising process for startups. The move comes as the bank is trying to establish relationships with startups in the early stages. The new platform, dubbed Capital Connect, can help founders network with investors, access investment benchmarking data, trade company shares on the secondary market, and raise capital. More: - Venture capital investors can leverage the platform to discover new potential deals.
- Michael Elanjian, the head of digital investment banking at JPMorgan, said, "We want to be the one-stop shop for all things private for servicing companies and investors of all sizes."
- Elanjian also leads the Capital Connect team, which has a strength of 125 employees.
- The bank will be using fintech startup Payloads' solution to facilitate inbound and outbound payments, according to Pymnts.
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Bill Gates’ climate-focused venture capital firm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, is expanding its scope of investments and adding climate adaptation to its investment category. Historically, the firm has invested in climate mitigation-focused startups, centering around its “five grand challenges,” namely reducing emissions from manufacturing, electricity production, agriculture, transportation, and buildings. More: - The firm announced the changes at the Breakthrough Energy Summit.
- In an effort to help startups scale up technologies and build plants, BEV has also established a late-stage fund called Select.
- Most of the funding from the Select fund will be invested as follow-on funding into existing portfolio companies.
- Under the new climate adaptation theme, the firm intends to back startups working on drought mitigation technology, like advanced desalination or extracting water from air moisture in arid regions; and increasing crop productivity, like indoor farming and genetic alteration.
- BEV also announced that it would raise a new fund, with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek contributing.
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General Atlantic plans to increase its stake in Indian insurtech startup Acko. Sources told TechCrunch that the New York-based firm is looking to be the lead investor in Acko’s upcoming $100M funding round. Reportedly, General Atlantic will invest $50M in Acko’s new funding round. More: - Acko’s valuation will remain mostly flat, rising from $1.2B to $1.25B, according to sources.
- To date, the firm has nabbed $458M in funding.
- General Atlantic led the firm’s last $255M Series D fundraiser in October 2021, which cemented the firm’s unicorn status.
- The upcoming round will mostly be funded by existing backers.
- According to earlier reports, Acko had tapped PayU for a potential $200M round with a valuation of $1.8B.
- Reportedly, PayU had offered a term sheet to Acko, but the deal did not materialize.
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British startup Sensat raised $20.5M in Series B funding. Energy company National Grid’s investment arm, National Grid Partners, led the current funding round. Incoming funds will be used to support its infrastructure projects. More: - The firm develops digital twin software for construction, mining, energy, and other industries.
- Sensat uses physical sensors, satellite imagery, lidar tech, and drones to create digital twins of infrastructure.
- Clients use the technology to generate real-time insights about their infrastructure.
- British water supply firm United Utilities has roped in Sensat to detect water leakages in their supply lines.
- The firm had raised $15M in total prior to the Series B round.
- Tencent led the firm’s $10M Series A round in 2019.
- The firm is looking to expand in the U.S. with the help of National Grid.
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Emend Vision Fund I will receive up to 10% of its capital from lead anchor investor TELUS Ventures. Canadian non-profit organization Alacrity Canada has established the fund to support early-stage tech startups, with a special focus on cleantech firms. Alacrity will match TELUS Ventures’ investment and invest 10% of the initial capital. More: - The firm is aiming to raise $70M in capital for Fund I.
- The fund is looking to invest in cleantech “technologies that help transform traditional industries, protect critical infrastructure, and maintain food and water security for communities,” according to the press release.
- Investments will be led by Owen Matthews, Richard Egli, and Todd Tessier.
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- Climate-tech-focused venture firm Propeller nabbed $100M for its debut fund. The firm will back startups working on ocean carbon removal, offshore wind, desalination, and shipping decarbonization.
- Share prices of venture-backed U.S.-based real estate startups that went public in the past two years are 85% lower than their initial public offering prices, according to Crunchbase. Firms have collectively lost more than $42B in market capitalization.
- Automated expense management platform Banyan secured $43M in Series A funding, consisting of $28M in equity funding and $15M in debt financing. Fin Capital led the financing.
- Strategic portfolio management software developer Shibumi nabbed $30M led by Guidepost Growth Equity.
- True Ventures led a $15M Series A funding round into automated warehouse optimization and data learning platform Keebo. Neotribe, Pear, 406 Ventures, and Uncorrelated Ventures backed the funding.
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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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