Costa Mesa, California-based defense technology and security firm Anduril Industries Inc. nabbed $1.48B in fresh funding. The Series E funding round brings the firm’s total funds raised to date to $2.2B. The firm doubled its valuation from the previous round to $8.48B. More: - The Series E round was led by Valor Equity Partners, with participation from Series A lead investor Founders Fund, Series C lead investor Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and Lightspeed Ventures.
- Andreessen Horowitz led a $200M Series C round in July 2020.
- Anduril raised a $450M Series D round in June 2021.
- Oculus founder Palmer Luckey established Anduril in 2017.
- The company develops defense technology and software, such as underwater surveillance vehicles, anti-drone technology, and autonomous air systems, for the U.S. and half a dozen of its allied nations.
Zoom out: - Anduril’s fundraiser is the second largest of this year, after SpaceX’s $1.725B funding round in May.
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An increasing number of startups are raising capital through structured private financing deals, per the WSJ. The rounds are most common with startups that have shelved their IPO plans and want to avoid down rounds or convertible bonds. Organizations are luring private investors with warrants, additional dividends, and preferred shares. Publicly-listed organizations are also accessing such financing. More: - Publicly listed electric vehicle manufacturer Lordstown Motors raised $170M from Foxconn in early November.
- Health insurance firm Bright Health Group raised $175M in a similarly structured deal in October.
- According to WSJ, there are numerous such deals in the works, but many won't be made public.
- Until organizations submit the necessary paperwork to go public, some deals involving private companies aren't disclosed and probably won't be.
- Private credit lender Blue Owl Capital's managing director Kurt Tenenbaum notes that "Our backlog for these types of deals has never been larger, at least in my history of being here."
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According to a survey conducted by Ilya A. Strebulaev, a professor of finance at Stanford, the founder and management team are more crucial to venture capital firms' investment decisions than the actual product or technology. As the article puts it, investors invest "in the jockey rather than the horse." KayOne Consulting backs Stanford's findings and adds that 95% of VCs give importance to a founder's team over the business idea. Background: - A founder's intangible characteristics, such as integrity, passion, and level of commitment, are important factors that VCs consider while evaluating an early-stage investment opportunity, especially in the technology sector.
- However, when evaluating later-stage businesses, the business model was a crucial component.
Share your thoughts: - Should VCs invest in founders or business ideas?
- Which would VCs choose, a decent idea from a serial founder or a brilliant one from a fresh founder?
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Crypto venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG) and its subsidiary Genesis, a crypto broker for institutional investors, owe $900M to Gemini's customers. Gemini, founded by the Winklevoss twins, has established a creditors' committee in a bid to recover losses from Genesis, which halted customer withdrawals last month due to insufficient liquidity resulting from FTX's downfall. More: - Genesis is exploring its options, including potential bankruptcy, and has hired investment bank Moelis & Company to assist it in the matter.
- CEO Barry Silbert stated at a shareholders meeting that DCG owes Genesis' cryptocurrency lending division $575M.
- This amount was borrowed from Genesis in order to fund undisclosed investments and share buybacks from non-employee shareholders.
- Gemini had partnered with Genesis to offer a cryptocurrency lending product called Gemini Earn.
- The platform offered customers fixed returns for lending out their crypto.
Zoom out: - A second group of creditors, represented by law firm Proskauer Rose, claims they are also owed $900M.
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 A message from REALPHA Invest In the Startup Turning Airbnbs Into An Asset Class With vacation rentals in short supply, Airbnb hosts have been making bank. But most of us are still on the sidelines of this $1.2T short-term rental industry. reAlpha’s mission is to give millions of people the opportunity to become part-owners in property through their app-based platform. The company uses machine learning and AI to select the most viable investments, renovate them, maintain them, and allow users to buy shares of them like stocks. But even before they launch their platform, you can invest in the company itself. They’ve already begun building a portfolio of vacation properties with a new $200M financing deal (one of the largest in industry history) and $40.8 million in equity to acquire more properties. And this is just the beginning. Become a reAlpha shareholder before the December 8th deadline. Invest Here
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Early-stage venture capital firm K2 Global received $300M in capital commitments toward its latest fund. K2 will target its investments into fintech, food tech, consumer tech, deep tech, machine learning, and artificial intelligence startups. More: - The fund received backing from limited partners, including institutional funds, sovereign wealth funds, venture funds, and family offices across three continents.
- The firm will leverage its global network of strategic partners and limited partners to help portfolio startups expand internationally.
- Its partners are located across the U.S., Singapore, India, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and Australia.
- K2, led by Ozi Amanat, has backed 50 companies to date, the most notable of which are Uber, Spotify, Airbnb, Coinbase, Warby Parker, Palantir, and Paytm.
- The San Francisco-based firm has had 18 successful exits from IPOs.
- K2 Global’s last known fund per Crunchbase database is a $183M fund which closed in February 2017
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C5 Capital, a specialized venture capital firm, welcomed Alexandra Gardiner as its new chief financial officer (CFO). Gardiner joins the firm as it scales its assets under management to $1B. She is tasked with managing fund operations, finance, and tax. More: - Previously, Gardiner served as CFO for Capital Seniors Housing.
- A Big Four accounting firm and Cresa Global were among her previous employers.
- She has 30 years of experience in private equity and hedge funds.
- In addition to her CPA certification, Gardiner holds an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business.
- The Washington, D.C.-based C5 Capital invests primarily in cybersecurity, space, and energy security domains.
- The firm has international offices in the U.K., Austria, and Luxembourg.
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Quick Hits: - Final days to invest in the startup disrupting the $1.2T vacation rental industry. Become a reAlpha shareholder before 12/8.*
- Swiss startup Loft Dynamics secured $20M in fresh funding from Craft Ventures, Sky Dayton, and Up Ventures. The firm develops virtual reality simulator technology for training helicopter pilots. It rebranded itself to VRM Switzerland.
- Nigerian equity and gender-focused VC firm Aruwa Capital Management received $20M for a new fund from Visa Foundation and Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund. The firm will invest in women-led healthcare, renewable energy, and fintech startups in Nigeria and Ghana.
- Boulder, Colorado-based early-stage VC firm Boulder Ventures raised $58M for its eighth fund. The firm primarily backs IT and biotech companies in Colorado and the mid-Atlantic.
- Sequoia Capital liquidated a 3.7% stake in Go Fashion, an Indian women’s apparel company, for $27.8M (Rs. 228 crore). It held a 13.88% stake in the company on Sept. 30.
- Israeli climate tech startup RepAir nabbed $10M in fresh funding from Extantia Capital and venture arms of Shell and Equinor.
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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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