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| Hey Insiders, Today we are taking a look at why Prosus marked down its stake in Byju's, how the VC slump has been modest for sustainability startups, and RTP Global's $1B fund. Scroll down for some quick hits, and then let us know what other content you'd like to see in future issues. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Prosus has marked down the value of its 9.6% stake in Indian edtech startup Byju's to around $493M, citing "the loss of board representation." The move gives Buju's an implied valuation of $5.1B, a significant drop over its peak valuation of $22B. Last week, representatives of Prosus, Peak XV Partners, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative stepped down from Byju's board of directors after the edtech firm failed to submit the financial statements for the year ending March 2022. More: - The resignation of board members was prompted by Deloitte's resignation as the firm's auditor a day earlier.
- Additionally, the firm is dealing with a legal battle with lenders and is being investigated by Indian authorities.
- Prosus is the largest non-founder shareholder in the firm and previously marked down its stake in November 2022, giving the firm a valuation of $6B.
- Byju's co-founder and CEO, Byju Raveendran, addressed stakeholders' concerns on a call last week and pledged to have the audits for the previous financial year concluded by September.
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What the numbers say: VC invested $17B into global sustainability-focused startups between seed through growth stages so far this year, per Crunchbase. At this rate, funding is expected to nearly touch 2021's totals by this year-end. However, it is likely to remain below the record-setting highs of 2022. The funding rate suggests that the sector has witnessed a modest decline in funding compared to the other sectors. Relevance: The trend is similar for U.S.-based sustainability-focused startups, which have raked in $7.2B so far this year. The rising need to mitigate the effects of climate change is the primary reason why the sustainability sector has defied the venture funding slump. The three most active investors in this domain are Lowercarbon Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures — a greentech fund backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos — and Fifth Wall. 
Where to see the impact: VCs have invested $6B into solar, $3.4B into battery technology, and $1.1B into recycling, waste management, and water treatment startups this year. Notable deals completed this year include utility-scale solar facility operator Silicon Ranch's $375M funding, wastewater treatment technology provider Gradient's $225M Series D round, and battery maker Northvolt's $400M round. | | | |
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| 3 | | British early-stage VC firm RTP Global has raised $1B in capital for its RTP IV fund. The fund will target AI/ML, enterprise software, fintech, e-commerce, and edtech startups across North America, Europe, India, and Southeast Asia. More: - $660M of the capital has been earmarked for RTP's early-stage investment strategy, with the remaining $340M set aside to double down on "breakout" companies within its portfolio.
- The new fund's size is 54% larger than its predecessor, which closed at $650M in 2020.
- Since its founding, the firm has backed over 110 startups, 10 of which have grown into multi-billion dollar businesses.
- Notable portfolio companies include cloud application monitoring and security startup Datadog, online food ordering platform DeliveryHero, and credit cards rewards platform Cred.
Zoom out: - The majority of the capital for the new fund came from RTP Global itself, with the firm reinvesting returns from previous investments.
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| 4 | | Uncork Capital secured $400M in capital commitments towards two new funds. $200M of the capital is earmarked for seed-stage investments, with the remaining half set aside for making follow-on investments. The firm intends to back startups across enterprise software, developer tools, and consumer marketplace sectors. More: - Uncork Capital's managing partner Andy McLouglin said the firm is not too focused on the AI sector, adding, "We're trying not to chase what's hot today, in favor of what's fundamentally excellent."
- While the firm invests in global startups, it primarily backs startups catering to U.S. customers.
- The firm typically invests in companies where the founders have relevant prior work experience, academic expertise, or anything else that might give the startups a competitive advantage over others.
- Notable startups in its portfolio include Poshmark, Human Interest, and LaunchDarkly.
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| 5 | | Indian fintech startup Innoviti is looking to raise $25M in funding at a $350M valuation. Early investors could also potentially sell shares worth $25M in the round, sources informed Bloomberg. More: - Innoviti provides payment processing, credit distribution, and payment management software solutions.
- The firm reportedly processes more than $10B in payments annually and has customers across 2,000 cities.
- The firm intends to use the proceeds to add more customer segments and introduce new products within its lending business.
- The firm is backed by Infosys founder Narayana Murthy's VC fund Catamaran Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, FMO, and SBI Ven Capital.
- Since its founding in 2002, the firm has raised $92.7M from investors, the last of which came in through a $25M Series D funding round in Jul. 2022 led by Panthera Growth Partners.
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| 6 | | Today's Funding: AI - Santa Clara, California-based Celestial AI, which provides scalable memory and compute resources to develop AI models, secured $100M in Series B funding led by IAG Capital Partners, Koch Disruptive Technologies, and Temasek's Xora Innovation Fund.
- European AI-powered medical imaging solutions startup Gleamer raked in €27M ($29.5M) in Series B funding co-led by Supernova Invest and Heal Capital.
- San Francisco-based data process automation startup Parabola nabbed $24M in Series B funding led by OpenView. Flexport, Matrix, Thrive Capital, Abstract Ventures, and others participated in the funding round.
Betting - Media and sports micro-betting platform Betr — co-founded by social media personality Jake Paul — secured $35M in Series A2 funding at a $300M pre-money valuation. The round is an extension of the firm's $50M Series A funding round from last year. Fuel Venture Capital and Roger Ehrenberg co-led the current round.
Biotech - Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech startup K36 Therapeutics secured $70M in Series B funding led by Nextech Invest. Bristol Myers Squibb Company, Atlas Ventures, F-Prime Capital, and Eight Roads Ventures joined the funding round.
Cloud - Public cloud infrastructure application deployment startup Fly.io raised $110M in Series C funding at a valuation of $467M. EQT Ventures led the round with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Dell Technologies Capital, and Intel Capital Corp.
Consumer tech - British consumer technology product maker Nothing raised $96M in fresh funding led by Highland Europe, with additional support from GV, EQT Ventures, and C Capital.
Crypto - Italian crypto trading platform One Trading, formerly operating under Bitpanda Pro, nabbed €30M ($32.8M) in Series A funding led by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures.
HR - New York-based SaaS recruitment predictability platform Datapeople secured $13M in funding from a Series A round co-led by GreatPoint Ventures and New Markets Venture Partners.
Sales tech - Unaric emerged from stealth mode with $35M in funding, consisting of $25M in debt and $10M in equity. The firm aims to acquire and grow startups in the Salesforce ecosystem. LocalGlobe, Concentric, FJ labs, and Atempo Growth provided the funding.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Kubernetes doesn't need to be complex. Join us for a conversation about how to increase developer productivity & reduce your pull request time by 75%.*
- Healthcare-focused VC firm Arboretum Ventures secured $268M in capital commitments towards a new fund aimed at backing startups that are trying to lower healthcare costs for patients.
- Liquidators are looking to recover $1.3B from Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, the co-founders of bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital. Court-appointed liquidator Teneo claims that the duo took on "significant leverage" before the fund's collapse in July 2022.
- Indian growth and late-stage investor Epiq Capital held the final close of its second fund at $225M. Average ticket sizes will be between $20M and $25M.
- Omnivore held the first close of its third agri-tech and climate sustainability fund at $150M. The firm expects to back 25 to 30 seed to Series A stage startups, with individual check sizes ranging from $1M to $5M.
- It's never been easier for your sales organization to accelerate growth. Learn how AI and more can help you sell in a whole new way.*
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 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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