Dear readers and friends,
I will be transitioning to Inside.com's crypto newsletter effective tomorrow. It was my pleasure to drop into all 50,000 of your respective inboxes these last few months.
If you'd like to keep the party going, head over to Inside Crypto and subscribe. ;)
Also, feel free to connect and reach out on Twitter!
Cheers,
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FTX Trading Ltd. announced that it has raised a $400M Series C at a $32B valuation. The round comes just a few days after its U.S. affiliate, FTX US, hit an $8B following its own raise. More: - The round's backers include SoftBank, Paradigm, and Tiger Global, among others.
- The investors all also participated in the FTX US round last week.
- FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fied expressed that public and private markets are disjointed. Where public tech stocks, and the liquid tokens for which FTX facilitates the trade, have watched their valuations plummet, FTX and other private crypto startups have found a relatively easy time receiving markups and fresh liquidity.
- FTX has watched its total user-base grow by 60% since Oct. 2021 while commanding the Bitcoin futures trading market.
- The firm is looking to expand to products like 401(k) and additional consumer financial products as well as stock trading.
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Phantom, a crypto wallet designed for the Solana ecosystem, has raised $109M in a Series B funding round, propelling it to unicorn status. In addition to the funding announcement, Phantom launched its IOS app. More: - Phantom is reportedly "doubling down" on the Solana ecosystem and is looking to build mobile apps that will help streamline its adoption.
- Despite its commitment to Solana, Phantom plans to support the Ethereum ecosystem by the end of 2022.
- Phantom's wallet application has already hit 2 million users only in only six months. There is still a long way to go to catch Metamask's more than 21 million users, however.
- With the funding, Phantom plans to grow its team from 20 to 40 and launch an Android app.
- Phantom's CEO Brandon Millman says its CEO isn't looking to raise another round anytime soon, but when asked about a token launch, he expressed that it is still "definitely on the table."
- Phantom's equity funding round was participated in by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Variant Fund, Jump Capital, DeFi Alliance, and Solana Ventures.
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 A message from ROOFSTOCK Don’t let geography limit your real estate investing strategy. Roofstock makes it possible to invest in single-family rental (SFR) investment properties with confidence. More than 90% of rentals purchased through Roofstock are more than 250 miles from where the investor lives. With Roofstock, you can: - Research SFR properties and portfolios through the Roofstock Marketplace. Filter your search by location, gross yield, cap rate, annualized returns, and more.
- Analyze property details with photos, tenant information, and inspection documents—all through the Roofstock platform.
- Connect with professionals who can support your lending, insurance, and property management needs.
- Transact with more confidence with our industry-leading 30-day money back guarantee and vacancy protection.
With surging demand for single-family homes and all-time high occupancy rates, it’s an opportune time to learn more about SFRs. Visit roofstock.com to browse properties now. Browse our properties
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Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) has raised a $460M fund to focus on investments into Series A-, B-, and C-stage startups. The new fund, called the Velocity Fund, will write $10M-$30M checks into rounds sized between $15M-$30M and is focused on helping shift companies from product-market-fit to scale up. More: - In addition to this new fund, TCV is also looking to raise up to $5.5B for its new flagship fund.
- Over the years, TCV has backed ~350 companies, including name stays like Airbnb, Netflix, Spotify, and Facebook.
- 14 of the firm's portfolio companies went public in 2021.
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U.K.-based rapid grocery delivery service Zapp has raised $200M in Series B funding, co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, 468 Capital, and BroadLight Capital. The company will use its fresh funding to expand its operations and business reach. More: - Atomico, Burda, and Vorwerk Ventures provided additional participation.
- The round was also backed by angels like Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton.
- Zapp's delivers everyday items like snacks, groceries, drinks, and OTC medications in regions like London, Manchester, Cambridge, Bristol, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Paris.
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Xavier Helgesen broke down how he used an SBA loan to buy $2M in cash flow for $300,000 down. In a Twitter thread, he detailed how SBA loans are the biggest cheat code to American Capitalism and how to use them to acquire cash flow businesses. Overview: - You can borrow up to $5M or $10M if the deal is real estate heavy.
- The writer recommends starting with a $1-$2M deal if you aren't experienced or wealthy.
- You should enlist a very good SBA banker due to the lengthy and difficult process.
- If you do it right, you can reportedly pay as little as 5% down
Read the full thread here.
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Quick Hits - Experience the Adobe Commerce technology suite in an interactive simulation and learn how Adobe has set the standard for hybrid eCommerce.*
- Better.com employees are "leaving in droves" as the company's infamous CEO returns.
- The Nigerian investment app Bamboo has raised $15M from Tiger, Greycroft, and others.
- Purely Elizabeth has raised $50M to grow its share of the $700B+ global health and wellness food market.
- The French insurtech Descartes Underwriting has raised $120M in Series B funding.
- Financial management platform Pennylane picked up $56M.
- We all know stocks are a great way to grow your money. But they're not the only way. That's why we've been reading the Alts newsletter.*
*This is a sponsored post.
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Upcoming events at Inside: - February 01 - Venturing in VC - Episode #5 with Janine Sickmeyer (Overlooked Ventures) (Register Here)
- February 03 - Blockchain Gaming & Play-to-Earn Economies (Register Here)
- February 09 - Interview with David King Lassman (GigXR) (Register Here)
- February 09 - A Twitter Spaces event with Bored Elon Musk (Register Here)
- February 10 - The Business of Wellness (Register Here)
- February 17 - Efficient Marketing Strategies in a Post iOS 14 World (Register Here)
- February 23 - Need to Know NoCoder: Derya Sousa (Kianda Technologies) (Register Here)
- February 24 - Alternative Investments (Register Here)
- March 03 - The $12B Appetite for Amazon Aggregators (Register Here)
- March 10 - NoCode's Impact on the Gig Economy (Register Here)
- March 23 - Need to Know NoCoder: Nichole Bestman (Bubble) (Register Here)
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 |  | Trevor Grant is an entrepreneur, investor, and writer based out of Chicago, Illinois. His primary area of interest is web3 venture capital, social tokens, and infrastructure. Other pursuits include screenwriting, yoga, and traveling. He holds a BS in biomedical engineering. Connect with him on Twitter @trevorisonline |   | | 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 Ford. | |
Roofstock makes investing in single-family rentals radically accessible, cost-effective, and simple. | |
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