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| Hey Insiders, Today's newsletter covers: - JOKR's 40% valuation haircut at its down round
- Contraction in median FoodTech VC rounds
- Former President Bill Clinton and Israeli billionaire Ziv Aviram's $1B climate fund
Watch this space for our interview with Sierra Ventures' managing partner, Tim Guleri, which will be live this Friday. If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Online grocery delivery startup JOKR raised a down round with a 40% lower valuation than its previous round. Wine and spirits giant Pernod Ricard's investment division Convivialité Ventures led the $50M Series D funding round at a $800M post-money valuation. JOKR's founder and CEO, Ralf Wenzel, accepted the 40% valuation haircut as it reflected the current market conditions and came without any additional preferences and board seat requirements. More: - The firm's post-money valuation at its previous $50M Series C round from February was $1.3B.
- Lombard Odier, G Squared, GGV, Balderton Capital, Monashees, Greycroft, and Tiger Global Management participated in the current funding round.
- The firm will use the proceeds to reach profitability and solidify its market position in Brazil.
Zoom out: - In mid-2022, JOKR decided to stop business activities in the U.S. to focus on the LatAm region.
- Later in the year, the firm also stopped operations in Chile and Colombia to focus solely on Brazil.
Q: What factors should VCs consider when participating in a down round? Join the conversation here. |     | |
| 2 | | Median VC deal size for the food tech sector contracted to $3M in Q2 2023, marking the first decline in seven years. 
What the numbers say: The median deal size was 12.4% lower than in 2022, per Pitchbook. The deal size contraction came despite an increase in the number of deals made, which increased by 13.1% QoQ to 268 in Q2. Overall deal value continued its downward trajectory for the sixth consecutive quarter, ending Q2 with $2.2B. Number of deals and deal values have dropped by 39.3% and 75.1%, respectively, over the past 12 months. What happened: Within the food tech sector, fermented protein space VC deals increased value by 65.5% QoQ. Investors' interest in the fermented protein space is growing due to the innovative scaling methods employed by startups in the domain. Scottish mycoprotein startup Enough raised $43.6M in funding, which it intends to use to double the production capability of Abunda, a meat replacement made from fungi. | | | |
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| 3 | | Former President Bill Clinton and Israeli billionaire Ziv Aviram launched a $1B climate fund called EcoBridge Impact. The fund will back startups working on addressing the challenges posed by global warming. Clinton will serve as the chair of the advisory board. More: - Aviram co-founded EcoBridge Impact along with Itai Lemberger and Robert Citrone.
- The founders have collectively invested $100M in the fund, with the firm planning to raise the additional capital throughout 2024.
- The firm will invest primarily in later-stage companies looking to scale globally.
- Aviram, who previously co-founded automotive software firm Mobileye, and Clinton have pledged their returns toward philanthropy.
Zoom out: - The new fund comes amidst a recent selloff in some climate stocks, which are struggling due to rising interest rates and project delays.
- Aviram is undeterred by the selloff and said, "Of the many challenges we face, there is perhaps none which requires our collective action as urgently as climate change."
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| 4 | | VC firm Runa Capital made an unsolicited bid to acquire database management software firm MariaDB, per an SEC filing seen by The Register. Runa Capital intends to buy 100% shares of MariaDB. The firm is currently evaluating the buyout proposal. More: - MariaDB was struggling recently and was on the verge of running out of cash.
- The firm told investors, "We are currently seeking additional capital to meet our projected working capital, operating, and debt repayment needs for periods after September 30, 2023 ... Going forward, we cannot be certain when or if our operations will generate sufficient cash to fully fund our ongoing operations or the growth of our business."
- The firm reported $13M in total revenue for the third quarter of fiscal year 2023, up 22% YoY.
- MariaDB failed to raise money by issuing warrants after its share prices dipped below the $11.50 threshold.
Zoom out: - Last December, MariaDB debuted on the NYSE, listing its shares at $11.55 a piece, which generated $104M in funding and $18M through a PIPE investment.
- However, the share prices dipped nearly 40% to $6.70 per share on the first day of trading.
- Currently, MariaDB's shares are trading at $0.43, giving the firm a market cap of $29.49M, down 96% from its peak valuation of $672M and 92% from its $368M valuation at the time of its public debut.
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| 5 | | Online grocery delivery firm Instacart raised $660M at its IPO listing by selling shares at the top end of its price range of $30 apiece. Instacart's IPO debut was the fourth-largest listing in the U.S. this year. The shares started the trading day at $42 per share and closed at $33.70, giving the firm a 12% gain on its first day of trading. More: - The closing price gives the firm a market cap of $11B on a fully diluted basis.
- The firm sold 14.9 million shares, while existing investors sold 7.9 million on the debut.
- Instacart co-founder and former CEO Apoorva Mehta sold shares worth $21M at the offering.
- He stepped down from the role of executive chairman after the IPO debut but still retains a 10% stake in the company, making him the single largest individual shareholder.
- Instacart's successful IPO debut could bring in significant returns for its early backers, including Khosla Ventures, which stands to make "a potential return worth hundreds of millions of dollars," per Bloomberg.
- The firm's successful IPO debut was partly due to its strategy of lining up cornerstone investors, who were willing to take up to 60% of the shares, per its prospectus document.
- Cornerstone investors named in the prospectus include Norges Bank, TCV, Sequoia, D1 Capital Partners, and Valiant Capital Management.
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| 6 | | Today's Funding: Biotech - TOLREMO Therapeutics, a Swiss biotech startup targeting novel drug-resistant pathways in cancer therapy, closed its Series A funding round at $39M (CHF 34.1M). The funding round was led by BioMedPartners AG.
Cybersecurity - Legit Security, a cybersecurity startup identifying vulnerabilities in code, secured $40M in fresh funding. CRV led the Series B round with additional backing from Cyberstarts, Bessemer Venture Partners, and TCV.
Data - Apache Iceberg-based independent data platform Tabular bagged $26M in fresh capital. Altimeter Capital led the funding, with Andreessen Horowitz and Zetta Venture Partners participating in the round.
Energy - Tech-powered propane distribution platform Tankfarm closed its Series B funding round at $23M.
Healthcare - Vivante Health, a digital healthcare company for managing chronic conditions, raised $31M in Series B funding led by Mercato Partners. Health Catalyst Capital, 7wireVentures, Intermountain Ventures, Distributed Ventures, Human Capital, and SemperVirens participated in the funding round.
- Prosus Ventures and Atomico co-led a $60M Series B round into Corti, a healthtech startup developing an AI "co-pilot" for healthcare clinicians.
Transportation - EV automaker Harbinger Motors raised $60M in Series A funding led by Ridgeline and THOR Industries.
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INSIDE VENTURE CAPITAL LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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