Kyle Davies and Su Zhu, the co-founders of the bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), are looking to raise $25M in seed funding for their new venture called GTX. The platform is reportedly looking to capitalize on the distressed crypto debt marketplace by helping lenders settle their claims. More: - According to GTX's pitch deck, the founders claim that the new firm could potentially "dominate" the sector, which they estimate to be worth $20B, within three months.
- Davies and Zhu are joined by Mark Lamb and Sudhu Arumugam, the co-founders of the fallen crypto trading platform CoinFlex.
- Crypto VC firm Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter says the new firm "is akin to arsonists returning to the scene of the crime and offering to charge their victims for buckets of water."
Zoom out: - BlockFi, Celsius, and FTX are a few of the large cryptocurrency companies that have filed for bankruptcy in recent months.
- Three Arrows Capital was a $10B hedge firm that filed for bankruptcy in mid-2021.
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Michele Romanow, the co-founder of Clearco, is stepping down from the CEO role but will remain with the firm as its co-executive chairman. The move comes amidst news that the firm is slashing its workforce by 30% this week after it already reduced team strength by 25% last July. Andrew Curtis, who helped the company raise funds, is poised to take over the CEO role. More: - The Canadian fintech firm is also in talks with investors to raise a new $50M funding, of which the firm has reportedly already secured $30M.
- Clearco, once valued at $2B in 2021, has faced tough times of late due to rising interest rates and volatile market conditions.
- It generated $100M in revenue in 2021, but business growth has stalled since then, according to sources close to the matter.
- The firm counts SoftBank Vision Fund, Y Combinator, and Silicon Valley Bank as its backers, who have helped the firm raise nearly $1B to date in equity and debt funding.
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Indian HR software solutions firm Darwinbox has raised an undisclosed sum from a Series D extension round led by Microsoft. Microsoft will incorporate Darwinbox’s solutions into its ecosystem via Microsoft Azure in a bid to provide talent management and retention tools to customers. The partnership will also boost Darwinbox’s go-to-market strategy, with the firm poised to take advantage of Microsoft’s network across existing markets like Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the U.S. More: - Darwinbox, founded in India in 2015 and headquartered in Singapore, was valued at $1B at the initial Series D round in January 2022.
- It counts Sequoia Capital and Salesforce Ventures as its backers.
- Per Economic Times, the State Bank of India has also backed the current extension round.
- Crunchbase data shows that the firm has nabbed $115.9M in total funding to date.
- Darwinbox has over 700 corporate clients, most prominent of which are HDFC Bank, Starbucks, Dominos, AXA, and Aviva.
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Impel, an automotive digital engagement solutions provider for manufacturers and dealers, raised $104M in growth funding. The firm intends to use the proceeds to accelerate product development and back strategic M&As. More: - Boston-based growth equity firm Silversmith Capital Partners led the funding round, with existing backer Wavecrest Growth Partners participating in the fundraiser.
- Silversmith’s Todd MacLean and Ned Kingsley have joined Impel’s board as a result of the investment.
- The Syracuse, N.Y.-based firm, legally known as Augmented Reality Concepts Inc., had raised $26M in funding prior to the latest equity infusion.
- Wavecrest led the last $22M venture round in October 2018.
- The firm has seen revenue growth of over 100% in the last two years, driven by its two recent acquisitions.
- Impel has over 4,000 customers.
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Real estate firm CBRE's investment arm, CBRE Investment Fund, led a $15M Series A funding into electric trucking startup Forum Mobility. CBRE, along with Homecoming Capital, also invested an additional $400M for a joint venture to create charging infrastructure in California and procure additional electric trucks. More: - The funding closed at the end of December but was revealed today, per Axios.
- Amazon participated in the funding through its Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, joined by new investor Elemental Excelerator.
- Existing backers Obvious Ventures, Edison International, Overture, and Homecoming Capital backed the current funding.
- The firm provides EV trucks on a monthly subscription basis and also owns and manages charging stations.
- Forum emerged from stealth with a $7.5M seed funding in December 2021, co-led by Obvious Ventures and Homecoming Capital.
- CBRE has reportedly provided $300M, with Homecoming investing the remaining $100M.
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The mismatch between valuations expected by startup employees looking to sell their shares in the secondary market and buyers has resulted in an increase in bid-ask spread to around 22%, per Forge Global. Stock owners are faced with the prospects of either selling the shares at lower valuations now or waiting for the market to recover, the latter of which looks like a riskier proposition in case their firm were to raise a down round. More: - Trading activity in the secondary markets has declined, according to Forge Global and EquityZen.
- Last November, Forge Capital and EquityZen saw trades occurring on their secondary share trading platforms at 47% and 40% lower values, respectively.
- Stock owners are unwilling to budge and are expecting to liquidate holdings at peak valuations from previous years, however; laid-off employees are often faced with no other choice.
- Forge says that the bid-ask spread needs to come down to 11% in order to resume normal trading in the secondary market.
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- Global solar sector startups were able to nab $7B in venture and private equity funding in 2022, 56% higher than the $4.5B total in 2021, per Mercom Capital.
- SV Health Investors’ biotech crossover opportunities fund has received a $48.6M (£39.8M) commitment from British Patient Capital. The fund has also received commitments from Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund Mubadala Capital.
- African Web3 mobile games publisher Carry1st raised $27M in fresh funding led by Bitkraft Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz.
- Fortytools was acquired by German HR SaaS provider Zoove Group for an undisclosed sum.
- Indian startup GoMechanic, backed by Sequoia Capital, has reportedly laid off 70% of its employees and asked the rest to work without pay for the next three months, highlighting serious financial concerns. The firm was unsuccessful in raising funds over the past year.
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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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