Grocery delivery firm Instacart raised its internal valuation to nearly $12B in late February, up 18% from its previous valuation of $10B, sources informed CNBC. The move is a turnaround for the firm, which slashed its internal stock prices four times last year. Despite the bump, internal stock prices are still down 70% from their peak valuation of $39B in March 2021. More: - Instacart's valuation hike was confirmed at its 409a valuation appraisal conducted by third-party agencies.
- The firm was able to increase its valuation after posting strong financial results from December 2022 to February 2023.
- Instacart is eyeing a public listing to give investors a chance to exit their investments but is waiting for the IPO window to open up.
- Investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Capital Group, and others, have invested $2.5B into the firm to date.
- Its current valuation of $12B represents a 4.8 multiple over its last year's revenue of $2.5B.
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Irvine, California-based savings and investing platform Acorns acquired money management and financial education platform GoHenry and its European division Pixpay for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is an all-stock deal through which GoHenry's backers will be added to Acorns' capitalization table. The acquisition will enable Acorns to expand into the U.K., France, Italy, and Spain. The merged entity will reportedly have over 6 million subscribers. More: - Acorns was last valued at $1.9B at its $300M funding round in March 2022.
- It scrapped its IPO plans via a SPAC merger in January 2022 due to volatile market conditions.
- To date, Acorns has raised over $500M from TPG, BlackRock, Greycroft, Owl Rock, Bain Capital, Thirty Five Ventures, and others.
- GoHenry's valuation at its $55M round in October 2022 is estimated to be between $250M and $500M.
- The British startup posted $42M in revenue in 2021.
- GoHenry has raised $125M in venture funding to date from investors including Edison Partners, Gaia Capital Partners, Citi Ventures, and Muse Capital.
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Emad Mostaque, the founder and CEO of Stability AI, suggested that the company may go public in the next few years while dismissing the possibility that it would ever be acquired. The 17-month-old startup intends to validate its business model next year, which would give it a clear indication of its revenue, margins, and distributions. Mostaque added that Stability would need to get these metrics right before exploring an IPO. More: - Per reports from earlier last month, the firm is reportedly in talks with investors to raise additional funding at a $4B valuation.
- The valuation sought is four times higher than its $1B post-money valuation from its $101M seed funding round in October 2022.
- Coatue Management, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and O'Shaughnessy Ventures led the funding round.
- Earlier last month, Stability AI acquired Init ML for an undisclosed sum.
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Miami-based early-stage VC firm Fuel Venture Capital is looking to raise $300M for its Flagship Fund II. Investors can participate in the funding by purchasing The Fuel VC Note, a listed and transferable note that can be traded anytime throughout its duration. More: - The fund will support technology and digital startups that are reshaping business and consumer transactions, consumption, and employment.
- Fuel will also use the funds to make follow-on investments in portfolio companies, including Betr, Curve, RecargaPay, AEXLAB, and Novopayment.
- The current fund is nearly twice the size of its predecessor, Flagship Fund I, which closed at $162M in February 2017 and thrice the size of its last $100M fund, FinTech Growth Fund, from January 2020.
- Jeff Ransdell is the founding partner and managing director at Fuel Venture Capital.
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Staircase Ventures, a VC firm launched by Janet Bannister, secured $22M in capital commitments toward its debut fund. The firm is aiming for a final close of $30M and seeks to back 10 to 12 Canadian software startups. More: - Limited partners in the fund include the Royal Bank of Canada, PointClickCare co-founder Mike Wessinger, and former Shopify chief product officer Craig Miller.
- Individual check sizes will range from $500,000 to $2M.
- Staircase will back startups that have some early adopters and achieved a product-market fit.
- Bannister, who is the firm's solo general partner, will re-invest one-fifth of the profits from the fund to founders and advisers.
- She hopes that founders and advisers "are incentivized to support one another" with the move.
- Typically, GPs rake in profits by charging a 2% management fee and 20% carried interest.
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Indian fintech startup Zamp Finance raised $21.7M in seed funding led by Sequoia India and Southeast Asia. Amit Jain, the former leader of Uber's Asia Pacific division, founded the startup, which offers businesses a platform to invest in U.S. Treasury bills as a hedge against bank failures. More: - The platform saw hundreds of new signups within two weeks following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
- According to Jain, the majority of the company's clients are startups that are opting for the platform to protect their capital against currency risks and bank failures rather than multiplying their money.
- Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, former SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure, and Doordash CEO Tony Xu participated in the seed round.
- Jain was formerly a partner at Sequoia India and Southeast Asia.
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- Massachusetts-based Mercy BioAnalytics closed its oversubscribed Series A funding round at $41M in funding from Novalis LifeSciences.
- Payments startup Alchemy Pay secured $10M through a strategic partnership with DWF Labs at a $400M valuation.
- NightDragon, a cybersecurity, security, safety, and privacy-focused VC firm, expanded its operations by opening its first international office in Tel Aviv, Israel.
- Indian VC and PE funding totaled $6.64B in Q1 2023, down 60.5% YoY compared to Q1 2022's totals of $16.8B.
- Spanish VC firm Moonbase Capital held the first close of its Search Fund Squared at €5M ($5.4M), against a target of €15M ($16.3M). The fund-of-fund will back 40 funds that are backing startups with a proven track record and stable revenue.
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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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