Grocery delivery startup Kurly decided to shelve its IPO plans at the moment, citing worsening economic conditions. The South Korean firm completed the initial screening process in August 2022 and was on track to be listed on the Korean Exchange (KOPSI) by Feb. 22, 2023. The company’s valuation registered a steep decline last year, dropping 78% from $3.3B in December 2021 to $669M now. Kurly’s statement reads that it will “resume the IPO at the optimal time when we can fully evaluate our valuation in the future.” More: - Kurly had raised $210M in a pre-IPO funding round in December 2021 led by Anchor Equity Partners.
- Since the last funding, the firm expanded into cosmetics, personal care products, and health supplements and entered the Singaporean market.
- Non-grocery products currently represent 20% of the firm’s total gross merchandise value.
- To date, the firm has raised $761M in total equity funding from notable backers like DST Global, Sequoia Capital China, MiraeAsset Venture Investment, and Hillhouse Capital.
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Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft manufacturer Archer Aviation is poised to receive a $150M equity funding infusion from European automaker Stellantis NV. Stellantis’ financing is a strategic investment, and the automaker will assist in the development of Archer’s new EVTOL aircraft, dubbed Midnight. More: - Archer will start manufacturing Midnight at its manufacturing plant in Covington, Georgia.
- In addition to providing manufacturing technology and experienced personnel to assist in the development of Midnight, Stellantis is aiming to be an exclusive contract manufacturer for Archer.
- Stellantis was an early investor in Archer before it was listed on the public market after its SPAC merger.
- The funding will be available to Archer in 2023 and 2024, subject to meeting certain targets.
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B2B edtech platform Uolo acquired coding tutoring platform Tekie for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will help Uolo expand its product offerings for K-12 schools. Tekie’s existing stakeholders and investors will receive a stake in Uolo, as the transaction is an equity swap agreement. More: - Tekie leverages animated storytelling to teach students HTML, Java, and Python coding.
- Tekie’s venture capital backers include GSV Ventures, Multiply Ventures, and Better Capital.
- It has raised $1.5M in seed funding co-led by GSV Ventures and Multiply Ventures in March 2021.
- Uolo has raised $25.5M in equity funding to date, including a Winter Capital-led $22.5M Series A round in December 2022 and a Blume Ventures-led ~$2.4M (20 crore rupees) seed round in November 2020.
- The acquisition will help Uolo advance its vision of catering to K-12 schools and providing them with STEM, English, and coding tutoring.
- It has currently partnered with 8,500 schools in India.
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San Mateo, California-based biotech firm Belharra Therapeutics emerged from stealth with a $50M Series A financing led by founding investor Versant Ventures. The firm secured an $80M worth multi-year collaboration contract with Roche Group’s affiliate Genentech. The firm intends to use the proceeds to advance its photoaffinity chemoproteomics-based drug discovery platform. More: - The firm was incubated in Versant’s Inception Discovery Engine.
- Belharra was co-founded by Christopher G. Parker, John Teijaro, Benjamin Cravatt, and Stuart Schreiber in 2021.
- The firm is led by Jeff Jonker, who previously served as a CEO for Ambys Medicines and a president for NGM Biopharmaceuticals.
- Versant is a healthtech venture firm with over $4.2B in assets under management.
- The firm has successfully exited 85 companies via acquisition or IPO.
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Unicorn crypto payments firm Wyre is shutting down operations after its deal to be acquired by Bolt fell through in September 2022. Bolt was reportedly planning to pay $1.5B for the acquisition. Wyre cited the ongoing crypto funding winter as the reason behind the shutdown. More: - CEO Ioannis Giannaros sent an email to employees announcing the decision.
- The firm had raised $29.1M in equity funding to date from nine funding rounds.
- Pantera Capital led the firm’s $8M Series B round in December 2018 and its subsequent $3M follow-on funding in August 2020.
- Notable venture backers of the firm include FJ Labs, Samsung NEXT, Kraken, Great Oaks Venture Capital, and Draper Associates.
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8vdX announced a new initiative to provide innovative funding solutions for early-stage startups. The initiative, dubbed Seedex Booster, aims to provide up to $1M in venture debt to pre-Series A startups to help them extend their cash runways. More: - Individual check sizes will range between $250,000 to $1M. Seedex Booster will provide 25% of the funding, with the remaining three-quarters coming from external investors.
- Venture debt usually comes with several covenants, but Seedex Booster's offering has no collateral, personal guarantees, or prepayment penalty requirements.
- The firm expects to recoup the principal and interest prior to a firm's Series A round. A founder, however, can extend the loan's maturity or create an amortization schedule if they cannot repay the loan by then.
- 8vdX provides bridge loans to Y-Combinator-backed startups.
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Quick Hits: - This year, try a resolution that sticks — going to therapy with BetterHelp. Save 25% off your first month.*
- Early-stage healthtech investor Digitalis Ventures welcomed Misti Ushio as its managing partner. She was formerly the CEO of TARA Biosystems, which was acquired by Valo Health last year.
- Jim O'Shaughnessy is looking to back creators through his new firm O'Shaughnessy Ventures.
- Mobile app performance monitoring tool Product Science secured $18M in seed funding from Slow Ventures, Coatue, K5 Global, and Mantis Ventures.
- British biopharmaceutical company Actimed Therapeutics closed its second seed stage funding tranche at £5M ($6M), bringing the total raised under the seed round to £10M ($12M). Funding for the second tranche was provided by Mankind Pharma.
- Spring Invest and Bleu Capital co-led a €7M ($7.4M) funding round into French customer data platform mediarithmics. To date, the firm has raised €20M ($21M).
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Upcoming Events: - January 05 - AMA with Gun.io - Building and managing software development teams w/ Deividi Silva (Watch On Demand)
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- January 10 - Inside Startups Coffee Break (Register Here)
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- January 31 - Growth Summit 2023 (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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