Billionaire investor-backed Snowflake said it would raise $3.4 billion in the largest-ever software IPO, giving it a value of over $33 billion.
September 16, 2020
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Daily Insights reports and categorizes financial news from U.S., Europe and Asia for full global insights.
U.S. & Canada
Buffet-Backed Cloud Unicorn Snowflake Nets $3.4B in Record Software IPO
Cloud startup Snowflake raised a record-breaking $3.4 billion on Wednesday, in the largest ever initial-public-offering for a software company on Wednesday, kicking off a big week for technology firms going public this week.
Read more on MarketsInsider Image: courtesy of Snowflake
Apple Rolls Out Virtual Fitness Service, Subscription Bundle
Apple Inc rolled out a new virtual fitness service and a bundle of all its subscriptions, Apple One, focusing a holiday-season product launch on services that are the backbone of Apple’s growth strategy and that cater to customers working at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
VC firm Greylock Partners announced its sixteenth fund on Tuesday. The Bay Area-based firm raised $1 billion to invest in both enterprise-focused and consumer-facing businesses. The last time Greylock raised a round of this size was in 2016. The firm hopes to bank on returns from portfolio companies expected to IPO soon. These include Airbnb and Sumo Logic.
Accenture to Buy Technology Consultancy SALT Solutions AG
Accenture announced its plan to acquire SALT Solutions AG, a Wrzburg, Germany, technology consultancy which implements and maintains IT systems for production, operations and logistics at German automotive, manufacturing, consumer goods and chemicals companies.
Read more on MarketsInsider Image: SALT CEO Maximilian Brandl
Zwift Raises $450 Million for Gamified Fitness
Zwift has raised an astounding $450 million to expand its online virtual fitness platform for runners and cyclists in direct competition with the likes of Peloton, Apple, and others. The money came from KKR, Permira, Specialized Bicycle Components’ venture capital fund, Zone 5 Ventures, and existing investors.
ByteDance will place short-video app TikTok's global business in a new U.S.-headquartered company with Oracle Corp ORCL.N investing as a minority shareholder, the Financial times reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Read more on Reuters.com Image: Luiza Kamalova / Shutterstock.com
Blackstone to Boost Mobile-Home Bet With $550 Million Deal
Blackstone Group Inc. is pouring more cash into mobile-home parks, a corner of the commercial real estate market that is holding up in the pandemic. The alternative asset manager is in exclusive talks to acquire roughly 40 parks from Summit Communities for about $550 million.
Verizon Buys TracFone Wireless for Up to $6.9 Billion
Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to buy TracFone Wireless Inc. from America Movil SAB for as much as $6.9 billion, as the largest U.S. wireless carrier seeks to expand its mobile business into the so-called prepaid market.
Read more on Themiddlemarket.com Image: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com
Monetizing Open Source: Business Models That generate Billions
Developer-focused software is the next trillion dollar opportunity in technology and open source provides a roadmap to this promised land. Open source companies are now commanding multibillion-dollar valuations.
Read more on Forbes.com Image: enzozo / shutterstock.com
The following capital raises were reported yesterday and this morning:
Seegrid, a company that builds self-driving vehicles to transport materials in industrial environments, has added a further $27 million to its recent equity funding, closing the round at $52 million. Menlo Park-based G2VP led the initial $25 million investment. Venturebeat.com
Bulletproof 360, a Seattle, WA-based lifestyle company offering food, beverages and supplements for human performance, closed a $13M funding round. Backers included Beliv, Rocana Ventures, existing investors CAVU Venture Partners and Trinity Ventures. Finsmes.com
data.world, whichcreates cloud-native data catalog maps of an enterprise’s data, closed on an oversubscribed $26 million round of venture capital funding led by Tech Pioneers Fund. Crunchbase.com
Brightseed, which closed on a $27 million round of growth financing, developed its artificial intelligence platform, Forager, to discover phytonutrients hidden in nature. Lewis & Clark AgriFood led the round. Crunchbase.com
nTopology, a New York-based developer of software used in design and manufacturing of 3D-printed parts and products, just raised $40 million in Series C funding. New investor Insight Partners led the financing. Crunchbase.com
Mantis, a new early-stage venture firm, closed its debut venture fund with some major investors including Mark Cuban, Keith Rabois, Jim Coulter and Ron Conway, who are among the individuals who provided the debut fund $35 million in capital commitments. Techcrunch.com
OnCall Health a Toronto-based provider of back-end services for telemedicine which competes with services like Truepill, announced its $6 million capital raise, led by Base10 Partners. Techcrunch.com
vChain, a Houston, TX-based Open Source company for tamperproof ledger solutions, closed a $4m equity funding round, bringing the total raised in the last six months to over $11m. Finsmes.com
Hexagon Bio, Inc., a Menlo Park, Calif.-based biotechnology company turning nature’s genomes into medicines, raised $47m in Series A financing. The round was led by The Column Group. Finsmes.com
Volansi, which provides vertical takeoff and landing drone delivery services for commercial and defense customers, today announced a $50 million Series B funding round, led by Icon Ventures. Venturebeat.com
Medigate, a NYC-based IoT and medical device security and asset management platform, closed a $30M Series B funding round, led by new investor Partech. Finsmes.com
YAPI, a North Hollywood, CA-based software provider of patient communication and paperless solutions for dental practices, secured a growth investment from M33 Growth. Finsmes.com
Finch, a fintech startup that integrates the benefits of investing and the flexibility of checking into an all-in-one account, announced it raised $1.8M in seed funding led by Boston based Mendoza Ventures with participation from Barclays, Techstars Investors, and Draper Frontier. VCNewsdaily.com
Opendoor Labs Inc, the home-selling platform backed by SoftBank Group 9984.T, said on Tuesday it has agreed to go public through a merger with a blank-check company led by venture investor Chamath Palihapitiya in a deal that will value the company at $4.8 billion. Reuters.com
eFileCabinet, announced the closing of a Series C $11.5 million funding round to help more businesses increase operational efficiency. Funding was led by existing investors Allegis Capital and Signal Peak Ventures. VCNewsdaily.com
Violux, creator of the world's first smart UV light cleaning technology, announced the launch of Luma and Luma Pro clean tech countertop appliances, and a $1.2 million in seed funding led by Okapi Venture Partners. VCNewsdaily.com
ZenSports, a San Francisco, CA-based mobile peer-to-peer sports betting marketplace, raised $1.46M in seed funding. Backers included previous investors Launch, as well as new investors Cube Magic Gaming. Finsmes.com
ShoppingGives, the Social Impact Commerce platform offering turn-key social impact and donation processing for retailers announced its $5.5M Series Seed round led by Caffeinated Capital. VCAOnline.com
U.S. & Canada
Deals of the Day: M&A and Strategic Investments
Kraft Heinz Co said on Tuesday that it will sell several of its cheese businesses to a U.S. affiliate of France’s Groupe Lactalis for $3.2 billion. Reuters.com
Seattle Genetics is in line to receive $1.72 billion from Merck via a pair of deals, one for a cancer drug that’s still in development and the other for partial rights to a therapy that won FDA approval earlier this year. Xconomy.com
Alkahest, a company that analyzes blood proteins to develop therapies that address neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, is set to be acquired by partner Grifols in a $146 million deal. Xconomy.com
Cyndx International News - Europe & Asia
German Startup sennder Acquires Uber's European Freight Business
German freight startup sennder said on Wednesday it had acquired Uber's UBER.N European freight business in an all-stock deal that will see the U.S. ride hailing company become a minority shareholder. The deal marks the second acquisition this year by Berlin-based sennder.
Read more on Reuters.com Image: courtesy of Sennder
Alibaba, China Mobile Weigh $443 M Investment in Blacklisted Dahua
Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co Ltd, China’s second-largest surveillance equipment maker, is among Chinese tech firms that Washington last year placed on a blacklist of companies. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd are considering investing 3 billion yuan ($443 million) in the company.
Read more on Reuters.com
Image: hxdbzxy / Shutterstock.com
Martin Franklin-Led Group Launches London's First Blank Cheque IPO of 2020
Founders of investment firms Mariposa and Viking have launched an initial public offering for a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) on the London Stock Exchange to raise $750 million, a bookrunner said on Wednesday.
Read more on Reuters.com
Image: AntonSokolov / Shutterstock.com
Germany's Merck Says it Will Focus on Smaller Takeovers
German drugs and chemicals maker Merck KGaA MRCG.DE said on Wednesday it would until 2022 focus on cutting its debt from the takeover of electronic materials company Versum and any acquisitions thereafter would likely be smaller ones.
Read more on Reuters.com
Image: courtesy of Merck KGaA
EU Chief Says UK Cannot Change EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that the United Kingdom cannot unilaterally change the EU-UK bilateral withdrawal agreement without destroying global trust in the country.
Read more on USNews.com Image: rawf8 / Shutterstock.com
UK Unemployment Nears 2-Year High in July
The coronavirus pandemic cost 750,000 people their jobs in the UK between March and August and pushed the unemployment rate above 4% for the first time since October 2018, according to data released Tuesday by the national statistics agency.
Read more on MarketsInsider
Image: BasPhoto / Shutterstock.com
'Support Community' Asobu Wants to Grow Indie Gaming in Japan
As gaming continues to shift, more developers in Japan are starting indie studios. But that scene is still growing out of its infancy with efforts like the BitSummit showcase. Now, a new indie developer accelerator program called Asobu wants to speed up the scene’s growth.
Read more on Venturebeat.com
Image: canyalchin / Shutterstock.com
Uber Says it is Fit and Proper in Battle to Win Back London License
Taxi app Uber told a London court on Tuesday it had addressed concerns over safety as it fights to win back its operating licence in one of its most important markets, the latest stage of a long-running battle with the regulator. Transport for London refused to grant the Silicon Valley-based company a new licence in 2019 due to what it called a “pattern of failures” on safety and security.
Read more on Reuters.com Image: Ink Drop / Shutterstock.com
Europe & Asia Funds & Capital Raising Round Up
The following capital raises were reported yesterday and this morning:
dLocal, a cross-border payment processor became Uruguay’s first unicorn after securing $200 million to give it a $1.2 billion valuation. Existing investor General Atlantic led the round. Crunchbase.com
Hetz Ventures, based in Tel-Avid, closed on a $77 million second fund that will invest in Israel-based companies in the B2B enterprise technology space. Crunchbase.com
Spotawheel, the “end-to-end” digital platform for buying a used car in Poland and Greece, has raised €10 million in debt and equity funding, led by VentureFriends. Techcrunch.com
Bangalore-based Acko, which is is taking on the country’s antiquated insurance industry with a digital-first product, said on Tuesday it has raised $60 million in its Series D financing round, led by Germany-based Munich Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurers. Techcrunch.com
Varada, a Tel Aviv-based startup that focuses on making it easier for businesses to query data across services, today announced that it has raised a $12 million Series A round led by Israeli early-stage fund MizMaa Ventures. Techcrunch.com
Sternum, headquartered in Tel Aviv, provides an embedded integrity verification technology, which verifies that the app hasn’t been maliciously altered in some way. The company raised $6.5 million Series A round, led by Square Peg. Techcrunch.com
Crista Galli Ventures, an early-stage health tech fund in Europe with $65 million in deployable capital, is officially launching today. The firm offers “patient capital” — with only a single LP (the Danish family office IPQ Capital). Techcrunch.com
Private equity firm Ardian has raised 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) for its ‘Ardian Expansion Fund V’, which the company said on Wednesday highlighted investors’ interest in European high-growth companies. UK.Reuters.com
Gravity Sketch, the London-based product design and collaboration platform that utilises virtual reality, has raised $3.7 million in funding. The seed round was led by Kindred Capital. Techcrunch.com
Observe.ai, a startup developing AI call center software, today closed a $54 million funding round, led by Menlo Ventures. Venturebeat.com
European + Asian
Deals of the Day: M&A and Strategic Investments
LIGC, an Israeli startup has raised $3 million in funding to build an air filter that uses an electric current and graphene to zap germs and air impurities. The funding comes from China’s publicly traded Hubei Forbon Technology. Venturebeat.com
The main shareholders in Spanish lenders Bankia and Caixabank have given their green light for the merger between the two lenders to go ahead, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. Reuters.com
French waste and water management company SuezSEVI.PA is pressing ahead with asset sales as it works out a response to what it sees as a hostile bid from rival VeoliaVIE.PA. Reuters.com
Making the News
The following stories have made financial news:
Britain offered tentative concessions on fisheries in trade talks with the European Union last week, just as London was publicly threatening to breach the terms of its divorce deal with the bloc. Reuters.com
The Securities and Exchange Commissionannounced a settlement with esports-betting cryptocurrency firm Unikrn today for alleged violations of securities laws. Unikrn will shutter its UnikoinGold cryptocurrency token and pay a $6.1 million fine, which is all of the assets of the company. Venturebeat.com
Goldman Sachs Group IncGS.N promoted Kim Posnett to co-head of its global investment banking services unit, Bloomberg News reported here on Tuesday, citing an internal memo. Reuters.com
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