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September 18, 2020

Cyndx Insights is your daily window to the business world, focusing primarily 
on M&A activities, capital markets, and important technology trends.

Daily Insights reports and categorizes financial news from
U.S.Europe and Asia for full global insights.

U.S. & Canada

Ericsson to Buy Wireless Networking Firm Cradlepoint in $1.1 Billion Deal

Ericsson ERICb.ST has agreed to buy U.S.-based wireless networking company Cradlepoint in a $1.1 billion deal, the Swedish telecoms gear maker said on Friday. The deal, Ericsson’s largest in more than a decade, would give it access to tools that can connect devices using the so-called Internet of Things over a 4G or a 5G network.

Read more on Reuters.com
Image: JHVEPhoto / Shutterstock.com

Tonal, a Fitness Company Backed by Amazon and Steph Curry, Raises $110 Million

Strength training start-up Tonal is attracting more venture-capital cash as investors bet that Americans will continue working out from home after the pandemic. The San Francisco-based company announced a $110 million funding round on Thursday, from high-profile investors include Amazon’s Alexa Fund. 

Read more on CNBC.com
Image: courtesy of Tonal

Ron Howard and Brian Grazer Say Their Accelerator Can Help Diversify Hollywood

Impact Creative Systems (formerly Imagine Impact) is bringing a startup accelerator-style approach to finding fresh creative talent, and it announced this morning that, with funding from venture capital firm Benchmark,  it’s spinning out from Imagine Entertainment — the production company founded by director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer.

Read more on Techcrunch.com
Image: VideoBCN / Shutterstock.com

VCs Have to Train To 'Ask the Stupid Questions', Says Hoxton Ventures' Hussein Kanji

If venture capitalists could predict the future, why wouldn’t they just start companies themselves? That’s the question Hussein Kanji, founding partner at Hoxton Ventures, asked rhetorically at Disrupt 2020. “If anyone says that they have predictive power in this industry and says they know where the future is gonna be, I just question the wisdom of this”. The key to betting on the future is to learn to ask the stupid questions.

Read more on Techcrunch.com
Image: courtesy of Hoxton Ventures

You Don't Know SPAC!

Most people who buy stock would like to see ahead of time what kind of business they’re getting into. This year, the trend is to go in blindfolded. That’s the idea behind the SPAC. A study by Goldman Sachs of 56 SPACs since 2018 found they tend to underperform the broader market. “We’re in silly season in SPAC-land,” investor Martin Franklin told Bloomberg News this month.

Read more on NBCNews.com
Image: Gus Andi / Shutterstock.com

Larry Magid: Apple Evolving Into a Services Company 

In 2007, Apple changed its name from Apple Computer to Apple, Inc. There’s no reason for Apple to change its name again, but if things keep going the way they are, one might describe the company as “Apple Services Company,” kind of like the old AT&T which built and rented out telephones but made the bulk of its money by charging for phone service.

Read more on SiliconValley.com
Image: Ivan Marc / Shutterstock.com

Affirm Raises $500M Series G Round

Affirm, a San Francisco, CA-based fintech company that provides an alternative to credit cards, raised $500m in Series G funding. The round was led by GIC, a returning investor, and Durable Capital Partners LP. 

Read more on Finsmes.com
Image: courtesy of Affirm

Alternative Protein Companies Have Raised $1.5 Billion Through July This Year

Companies like Perfect Day, Impossible Foods  and a host of other startups that are developing replacements for animal-farmed goods used in food, clothes, cosmetics and chemicals have raised a whopping $1.5 billion through the first half of the year, according to a new report from The Good Food Institute.

Read more on Techcrunch.com
Image: Lori Butcher / shutterstock.com

Why Hasn't Digital Learning Lived Up to Its Promise?

Ironically, the business of edtech and digital learning has been booming. Billions of dollars have been invested in tools and platforms that promise to improve the learning outcomes and lives of students. But for all the investments, headlines and flashy IPOs, edtech has little to show in terms of transformative outcomes. Why hasn’t digital learning lived up to its promise?

Read more on Techcrunch.com
Image: saravutpics / shutterstock.com

U.S. Funding & Capital Raising Round Up

The following capital raises were reported yesterday and this morning:

RapidAI (formerly iSchemaView), a startup developing a portfolio of stroke imaging and assessment products, today closed a $25 million round, led by Lennertz & Co. Family Equity Fund. Venturebeat.com
Bunch has raised $20 million in venture funding to help friends party up with each other in multiplayer mobile games. The round was led by General Catalyst. Venturebeat.com
Treez, an Oakland, Calif.-based company focused on retail automation for the cannabis industry supply chain, closed a $13m Series B funding round. The round was led by Intrinsic Capital Partners. Finsmes.com
InsideSherpa, which hosts virtual work experience programs for college students all around the world, announced that it raised $9.3 million in Series A funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partner. Techcrunch.com
Palleon Pharmaceuticals, a Waltham, Mass.-based company pioneering the field of glycan-mediated immune regulation to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases, completed a $100m Series B financing, led by Matrix Capital Management. Finsmes.com
Pachama, the forest carbon sequestration monitoring service that tracks how much carbon dioxide is actually captured in forestry offset projects, has raised $5 million in funding from high profile investors including Amazon, Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Techcrunch.com
Olive, a Columbus, OH-based healthcare AI workforce company, secured $106m in financing round led by an equity investment from General Catalyst and Drive Capital, along with Ascension Ventures, Oak HC/FT and SVB Capital. Finsmes.com
Questa Capital Management, a Washington, DC and San Francisco, CA-based venture growth equity firm dedicated to the healthcare industry, closed Questa Capital Partners II, LP, with $348m of capital commitments. Finsmes.com
Boosted Commerce, a Los Angeles, CA-based startup building a comprehensive portfolio of 100 e-commerce brands, raised $87M in funding. The company, which has acquired six Amazon fulfillment companies. Finsmes.com
Demand Sage, a new startup from the founders of recently-acquired mobile analytics company Localytics, announced this morning that it has raised $3 million in seed funding led by Eniac Ventures and Underscore VC. Techcrunch.com
Lava Therapeutics, an Utrecht, The Netherlands- and Philadelphia, PA-based biotech company pioneering the development of bispecific antibodies to engage gamma-delta T cells for cancer therapies, closed an $83m (€71m) Series C financing, co-led by new investors Novo Ventures and Sanofi Ventures. Finsmes.com
Cardea Bio, who is integrating tiny bits of biology into modern electronics, via their Graphene-based Biology-gated Transistors announced the first closing in their A2 financing round. The round was led Tsingyuan Ventures, Lifespan Investments, and Serra Ventures. VCNewdaily.com
PWNHealth, a New York, NY-based provider of healthcare diagnostic testing enablement solutions, received a growth investment of undisclosed amount.  The round was led by Spectrum Equity. Finsmes.com
Synthekine, an engineered cytokine therapeutics company, today announced the closing of an $82 million Series A financing. The financing was co-led by Canaan Partners, Samsara BioCapital and The Column Group. VCNewsdaily.com
Bloomerang, an Indianapolis-based donor management software provider to thousands of nonprofits, received a growth investment from JMI Equity. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. Finsmes.com
TCARE Inc., a St. Louis-based family caregiver support platform, closed a $3m financing round. The round was led by SixThirty Ventures. Finsmes.com
ETS, a Princeton, N.J.-based nonprofit educational assessment and measurement organization, created ETS Strategic Capital, a new unit that will focus on growing the business and advancing its mission through strategic equity investments, growth partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions. Finsmes.com
Five years after LoanDepot ditched plans to go public, the California-based lender, now worth as much as $15 billion, is giving the idea a second look. The firm, which offers mortgages and other direct-to-consumer loans, is planning an initial public offering (IPO), sources told Bloomberg. PYMNTS.com
Graphite Bio today announced a $45 million Series A financing led by founding investor Versant Ventures, together with Samsara BioCapital. VCAOnline.com
Riverstone Holdings LLC, one of the oil and gas sector’s largest private equity investors, is planning a blank-check acquisition company that will buy a business in the clean energy industry. Reuters.com

U.S. & Canada
Deals of the 
Day: M&A and Strategic Investments

PWNHealth, a leading provider of healthcare diagnostic testing enablement solutions, has received significant growth investment led by Spectrum Equity, a leading growth equity firm focused on internet-enabled software and information services companies. VCAOnline.com
Sun Capital Partners, Inc., a leading private investment firm focused on investing in market-leading companies, announced that its affiliate has made an investment in Mancini’s Sleepworld, a mattress retailer serving the Northern California market. VCAOnline.com
An affiliate of Peak Rock Capital, a leading middle-market private investment firm, announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Halo Foods Ltd. in partnership with the management team of Halo. VCAOnline.com

CyndInternational News - Europe & Asia

SoftBank Exists Cellphone Distributor Brightstar in Telecoms Sell Down

SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T said on Friday it would sell U.S. cellphone distributor Brightstar for an undisclosed price, marking the latest sale of telecoms assets as the Japanese conglomerate builds a cash pile. Brightstar Capital has $2.1 billion in assets under management

Read more on Reuters.com
Image:NP27 / Shutterstock.com

Google Pulls India's Paytm App from Play Store for Repeat Policy Violations

Google  has pulled popular Indian financial services app Paytm from the Play Store for violating its gambling policies. Paytm  is India’s most valuable startup and claims over 50 million monthly active users. Its marquee app, which competes with Google Pay in India, disappeared from the Play Store in the country earlier Friday.

Read more on Techrunch.com
Image: ALensAndSomeLuck / Shutterstock.com

Bank of England Eyes Sub-Zero Rates in Face of Virus, Bexit

The Bank of England indicated Thursday that it could cut interest rates below zero for the first time in its 326-year history as it tries to shore up a U.K. economic recovery that is facing the dual headwinds of the coronavirus and Brexit. It unanimously decided to maintain the bank's main interest rate at the record low of 0.1%.

Read more on USNews.com
Image: ZGPhotography / Shutterstock.com

Macquarie Puts in Offer For Enel's Open Fiber Stake

Enel has received a bid from Macquarie for its stake in Open Fiber valuing the group at more than 7 billion euros ($8.3 billion), signaling strong interest from big funds for Rome’s plans for a national broadband network.

Read more on Reuters.com
Image: bluejay / Shutterstock.com

Richard Branson Seeks $400M To Fund Next Business Foray

Branson is inviting investors to buy shares of a listed shell firm, known as a special purpose acquisition company or SPAC, with the aim of later buying an existing business using proceeds from an initial public offering. His VG Acquisition Corp., as the entity will be known, plans to raise $400 million.

Read more on Themiddlemarket.com
Image: Prometheus72 / Shutterstock.com

Czech Billionaire Kretinsky Ups Bets on Retail With Sainsbury's Stake

Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has built a 3.05% stake in J. Sainsbury SBRY.L to become the UK supermarket group's fourth-largest shareholder, expanding a portfolio of retail investments that also includes France's Casino and Germany's Metro.

Read more on UK.reuters.com
Image: Tana888 / Shutterstock.com

Alicia Bank Launches £100m Fundraise

Business bank Allica Bank, is launching a £100m funding round to help it meet the current high levels of demand for finance it is experiencing from British businesses, and continue broadening services and product lines.

Read more on UKTech.news
Image: anton Violin / Shutterstock.com

Europe & Asia Funds & Capital Raising Round Up

The following capital raises were reported yesterday and this morning:

Metacore, a Finnish mobile game company, formerly known as Everywear Games, has raised $17.7 million in funding from mobile gaming giant Supercell. It has also launched Merge Mansion on iOS and Android. Venturebeat.com
Wix.com, Ltd., a Tel Aviv, Israel-based global website creation company, launched Wix Capital, its own venture capital arm, which will invest in tech innovators that are focused on the future of the web. Finsmes.com
Buster + Punch, a London-UK-based luxury interior fashion label, raised £7m in funding. Mobeus Equity Partners made this second investment in the company, taking the total committed to approaching £10m. Finsmes.com
Seeqc, a Digital Quantum Computing startup has announced it has secured $22.4 million in its Series A fundraising, led by the EQT Ventures fund to advance commercially viable application-specific quantum computing systems. UKtech.news
AegiQ, a UK quantum photonics start-up has announced that it has secured a total of £1.4 million in funding from Innovate UK to develop secure quantum communications for fibre-optic and satellite based applications. UKTech.news
Sternum, the IoT cybersecurity company providing embedded protection and unprecedented real-time visibility for connected devices, has announced it has raised $6.5 million in Series A funding. The round, led by Square Peg. UKTech.news
Joint Academy, a Malmo, Sweden-based digital health company tackling the increasing prevalence of chronic joint pain, raised $23M in Series B funding. The round was led by international investment company Kinnevik. Finsmes.com
Holidu, a Munich, Germany-based travel tech company, received an investment of more than €4m former Booking.com CEO Kees Koolen. Koolen has invested into the company from his personal fund. Finsmes.com
Fixably, the software allowing repair shops and technicians to manage their workflow more efficiently to get hardware fixed, has secured approx. €1.6 million in funding, led by Icebreaker.vc – the early stage venture capital fund. Eu-startups.com

Making the News

The following stories have made financial news:

China’s ByteDance is planning a U.S. initial public offering of TikTok Global, the new company that will operate the popular short video app, should its proposed deal be cleared by the U.S. government, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Reuters.com

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