Card and payment solutions platform Marqeta is looking to acquire credit card program management startup Power Finance for $275M in an all-cash deal. The deal includes a $52M additional payment, which is subject to reaching an undisclosed milestone over the next 12 months. The acquisition is a first for Marqeta and will enable the firm to increase its product offerings for customers and businesses, launch a new rewards program, embed Power Finance's data science toolbox into its products, and enhance the capabilities of the credit product. More: - One-third of the initial $223M deal value will be transferred over a two-year period, subject to certain conditions.
- Oakland, Calif.-based Marqeta is a publicly listed firm that provides a cloud-based open API platform for card transaction processing to clients such as Block, Uber, Google, DoorDash, JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Goldman Sachs, and others.
- The firm currently has a market value of $3.7B.
- Power Finance was established by Randy Fernando and Andrew Dust in 2021
- The New York-based startup has secured $16.1M in seed funding and a $300M credit facility.
- Backers of the firm include Anthemis, Fin Capital, CRV, Restive Ventures, Dash Fund, and others.
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AI chatbot startup Character is in talks with investors to raise $250M in funding. The San Francisco-based startup — established by two former Google researchers, Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas — met up with several VC firms, including Sequoia Capital. The majority of the funding will be diverted toward cloud-computing costs. However, sources confirmed that the firm is also looking to ink deals with cloud-computing providers. More: - Per The Information, the firm is targeting a unicorn valuation of over $1B at the funding round.
- Final deal terms and size may change since discussions are still in the very early stages and the company's platform is currently in beta.
- Character's platform can create chatbots that mimic celebrities and film characters.
- The firm previously raised an undisclosed sum through a seed round from A Capital, Elad Gil, SV Angel, Paul Buchheit, and Nat Friedman.
- At Google, Shazeer and Freitas were instrumental in developing the LaMDA language model.
Zoom out: - Character's peers Anthropic and Adept AI are looking to raise new capital at $5B and $1B valuation, respectively.
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 A message from 360LEARNING How to Create the Flexible Working Culture Your Teams Need to Thrive Work has changed. Employee expectations have changed. People long for systems of trust and flexibility, but organizations are still unwilling to offer it, despite the many studies that tell us that employees are more productive at home. At 360Learning, we’ve developed our Convexity culture—a system to deliver fully flexible lifestyles for employees without compromising on business impact. Now, we’re sharing our best kept secrets on flexible working. - How to make remote, asynchronous, and autonomous work a reality
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Corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) participated in 2,375 European venture funding rounds in 2022, representing over a fifth (21.7%) of the entire VC deals occurring during the year. The value of participating deals is estimated at $46.3B (€42.6B). More: - CVCs participated in fewer rounds in 2022, down from the previous year's tally of 2,661 deals.
- Despite this, CVCs were able to participate in a higher share of deals due to the year's lower overall deal volume.
- CVCs mainly focused on late-stage deals, participating in 37.3% of all late-stage rounds.
- CVC Porsche Ventures backed Rimac's €500M Series D round, and CVC Prosus Ventures participated in GoStudent's €300M Series D round.
- CVCs are poised to continue backing startups in the downturn due to the structure of CVCs funds — the majority of which are evergreen funds — and the fact that they invest based on strategic interests.
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Salesforce closed its Australian venture capital division following global layoffs at the firm that impacted 10% of its global workforce, or 8,000 employees. The Australian venture arm's managing director, Mike Ferrari, was also laid off. The firm will manage and engage with its 17 local portfolio companies through the U.S. venture division. More: - Salesforce established the VC arm in Australia and armed it with $50M in 2019 to invest in local technology companies.
- The local venture division was an extension of its U.S.-based venture division that has invested over $5B in startups to date.
- Notable Australian startups in its portfolio include Go1, Culture Amp, Athena Homeloans, Marketplacer, and Airwallex.
- Ferrari was formerly a managing director at CIA's venture capital firm In-Q-Tel before joining Salesforce.
- Salesforce's local representative insisted Ferrari's departure will not affect the company's Australian interests.
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Andreessen Horowitz led the most number of investments into crypto startups last year. The firm led 28 and participated in 47 funding rounds, per data compiled by Architect Partners. The majority of the deals were inked in the first half of the year before the crypto market slump and venture funding pullback started. More: - Coinbase, FTX/Alameda, and Animoca Brands participated in the most funding rounds in the year at 95, 82, and 79, respectively.
- Crypto startups secured $29B in venture funding last year, up from $27B in 2021.
- In December last year, a16z partner Chris Dixon told The Block that the firm had deployed less than 50% of its $4.5B crypto fund.
- This year, venture capital firms will slow their investments in the crypto sector because of the crypto winter.
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Spanish courier service startup Glovo laid off 250 employees, or 6.5% of its staff, citing a drop in order volume. The majority of the employees have been laid off at the Barcelona headquarters from the business support, recruitment, and data management divisions. More: - The move is a culmination of nine-month-long cost-cutting efforts as the company aims for double-digit growth.
- The Spanish Labour Ministry fined the company $62M (€56.7M) last week for violating hiring laws related to delivery drivers, citing 8,000 workers who were not properly hired or did not have work permits.
- Glovo was acquired by the German local delivery platform Delivery Hero.
- The venture-backed firm has raised $1.2B in total funding to date from institutional investors like Lugard Road Capital, Luxor Capital, Lakestar, Cathay Innovation, and Rakuten.
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Quick Hits: - This year, try a resolution that sticks — going to therapy with BetterHelp. Save 25% off your first month.*
- Dutch hedge fund and crypto venture capital firm Theta Capital Management announced a third Theta Blockchain Ventures fund to back early-stage blockchain infrastructure startups during the downturn. The fund size was not disclosed.
- Cybersecurity firm Tenable launched a $25M venture fund to back startups working in attack surface and exposure management.
- AllCargo Group partnered with VC firm Northstar to explore and co-invest in logistics and supply chain startups across North America, Europe, and Asia.
- Australian quantum sensing software firm Q-CTRL secured $27.4M in Series B extension funding, adding to the initial $25M Series B round from November 2021. Salesforce Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Mindrock Capital, and others participated in the funding round.
- Crypto security startup Hypernative emerged from stealth with a $9M seed funding led by boldstart ventures and IBI tech fund.
- Automation is your finance team's best productivity strategy. See five finance tasks you should be automating today.*
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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. | |
360Learning is the LMS for collaborative learning that enables companies to upskill from within. | |
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