JPMorgan's turbulent relationship with bitcoin appears to be rapidly softening, after the bank added its first crypto exchange customers
October 28, 2020
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JPMorgan - Bitcoin's 'Biggest Enemy' - Suddenly Appears to Be Going All In on Crypto
JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon called bitcoin a "fraud" in September 2017. Now Dimon reportedly hosted secret meetings with the boss of major bitcoin and crypto exchange, Coinbase. Read more on Forbes
Image: grejak / Shutterstock.com
Menopause is a $600 Billion Opportunity, Report Finds
Responding to the needs of women experiencing menopause is a $600 billion opportunity for companies, according to a new report by venture capital firm Female Founders Funds. Read more on Fortune.
Image : Faizal Ramli / Shutterstock.com
The Engine Raises $230M
Technical risk is something many VCs like to avoid, but The Engine has built an entire brand and thesis around it. The Engine debuted a couple of years ago with a focus on “tough tech” problems. Read more on Techcrunch.com
Image: Natasa Azdic / Shutterstock.com
Rockefeller Foundation Pledges $1 Billion for 'Green' and 'Inclusive' Covid Reocvery
The Rockefeller Foundation pledged $1 billion on Monday to help address the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath, with a focus on expanding access to coronavirus tests and vaccines in the U.S. and globally. Read more onForbes
Image: Natata / Shutterstock.com
Intuitive Launches $100 Million Venture Capital Fund
Intuitive, a global technology leader in minimally invasive care and the pioneer of robotic-assisted surgery, today announced the launch of Intuitive Ventures. The inaugural $100 million fund will invest in the future leaders of minimally invasive care. Read more on Finance.yahoo.com
Ansys, a company that specializes in engineering simulation software, announced it intends to acquire space data services provider Analytical Graphics Inc. for $700 million. Spacenews.com
Apeel, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based agtech company focused on emerging markets, raised $30M in funding from backers included the International Finance Corporation, Temasek, and Astanor Ventures. Finsmes.com
Applied Intuition, Inc., a provider of a software platform to bring autonomous systems to the market, raised $125m in Series C financing round from Lux Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and General Catalyst. Finsmes.com
AssureSign, an Atlanta, GA-based eSignature platform, secured funding from Recurring Capital Partners. Details were not disclosed. Finsmes.com
Caris Life Sciences, an cancer research firm, has closed on equity financing of $235 million from Highland Capital Management, Coatue and other institutional investors. Dallasnews.com
DataFleets, which can safely accesse and analyze data without the possibility of privacy breaches or abuse, has raised a $4.5 million seed round from a large group of investors. Techcrunch.com
DriveWealth, a provider of API-based brokerage technology that provides real-time access to the US equities market through fractional share trading, has raised $56.7 million Series C funding led by Point72 Ventures. Finextra
Eightfold AI, an AI-powered Talent Intelligence Platform, announced that it has raised a $125M Series D funding round led by General Catalyst. PRnewswire
Francisco Partners has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Forcepoint from Raytheon Technologies. Yahoo!Finance
Human API, a San Mateo, California-based company developing an AI pipeline that structures health data into a standardized format, raised its Series C $20 million round led by Samsung Ventures. Venturebeat.com
InVideo, a Mumbai-based startup that has built a video creation and editing platform, has raised $15 million led by Sequoia Capital India. Tiger Global, Hummingbird, RTP Global, and Base. Techcrunch.com
INX, the global trading platform currently in the midst of an initial public offering using its security tokens, will acquire Chicago-based broker-dealer Openfinance Securities. Reuters.com
J.M. Smucker Co. is cutting out the fat from its food holdings and will sell its Crisco brand to the owner of Green Giant, B&G Foods Inc., for $550 million in a cash deal. MSN.com
Leading Edge Equipment has raised capital for its novel silicon wafer manufacturing equipment. The $7.6 million financing came from Prime Impact Fund, Clean Energy Ventures and DSM Venturing. Techcrunch.com
Lone Wolf Technologies, a Cambridge, ON and Dallas, TX-based residential real estate software company, received an investment from funds managed by Stone Point Capital. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. Finsmes.com
Lux Health Tech Acquisition, a blank check company formed by Lux Capital targeting a healthtech business, raised $300 million to target businesses at the intersection of the healthcare and technology industries. Renaissancecapital.com
Newegg Inc., an e-commerce company, filed with the SEC on Monday to go public by merging with publicly-traded Lianluo Smart Limited, and plans to offer $30 million in stock. Renaissancecapital.com
Obsess, an experiential e-commerce platform for interactive, shoppable online virtual stores, closed a $3.4m seed funding round led by Venture Reality Fund, WXR Fund and Jump Capital. Finsmes.com
Ordermark, a provider of online ordering management solutions for restaurants, announced the close of its $120 million Series C funding round led by Softbank Vision Fund 2 and joined by Act One Ventures. VCNewsdaily
PredictSpring, a San Francisco, Modern POS company, received a strategic investment from Salesforce Ventures. Details were not disclosed. Finsmes.com
Primmune Therapeutics, advancing the development of orally-administered, small molecule toll-like receptor 7 agonists, closed a $27.4 million Series A financing co-led by CAM Capital and Polaris Partners. News.Yahoo!
Replicated, an operations and security management software service company, has raised $25 million in a round led by Two Sigma Ventures. Techcrunch.com
Rockset, the real-time indexing database company, announced it has raised $40 million in Series B funding, led by Sequoia. Globenewswire
Skan, the AI-enabled Process Discovery and Operational Intelligence Company, announced the close of a $14 million Series A funding round led by Cathay Innovation. VCnewsdaily.com
StackHawk, a Denver, CO-based application security startup, raised $10m in Series A funding. The round was led by Sapphire Ventures. Finsmes.com
Stark, a New York-based design software startup has raised pre-seed funding of $1.5 million co-led by Darling Ventures and Indicator Ventures. Techcrunch.com
Swit Technologies Inc., a San Francisco, CA-based remote work tech solution company, raised $5m in additional funding from SV Investment. Finsmes.com
Theta Lake, Inc., a leader collaboration security and compliance solutions, announced it raised $12.7 million in Series A funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. DRJ.com
TY-Harbor will be merged with Lion Equity Partners’ existing portfolio company, Riegel Linen, an importer, manufacturer, and supplier of linens. Lionequity.com
Wells Fargo is exploring a sale of its corporate-trust unit that could fetch more than $1 billion and is considering whether to find a buyer for its student loan portfolio. Americanbanker.com
International News
UBS to Invest $200 Million in Fintech Startups
UBS is to invest $200 million in fintech startups through a new venture fund that will underpin internal modernisation efforts and strengthen strategic partnerships. Read more on Finextra Image: Mino Surkala / Shutterstock.com
Westpac Sells Stake in BNPL Firm Zip for $337 Million
Westpac has sold its stake in Australian buy now, pay later firm Zip just days after entering into a relationship with POS financing rival Afterpay. Read more on Finextra
Image: Marlon Trottman / Shutterstock.com
Aston Martin: Mercedes to Take 20% Stake in Luxury Brand
Germany's Mercedes-Benz is to raise its stake in Aston Martin Lagonda, which has haemorrhaged cash since a disastrous stock market flotation. Mercedes will increase its holding "in stages" from 5% to 20%. Read more on BBC.com
Image: Max Earey / Shutterstock.com
UK 'Impact Startups' See Investment Surge
Data released by entrepreneurial network Tech Nation and market intelligence firm Dealroom shows that investment in these firms, also known as “impact startups”, increased by 9.5 times between 2014 and 2019. Read more onComputerweekly.com Image: rawpixel.com / Shutterstock.com
India's FreshToHome Raises $121M
FreshToHome, an Indian e-commerce startup that sells fresh vegetables, fish, chicken and other kinds of meat, has raised $121 million in a new financing round as the Bangalore-headquartered firm reports accelerated growth. Techcrunch.com
Image: Gustavo Frazao / Shutterstock.com
International Capital Raising and M&A Highlights
Accenture is to acquire OpusLine, a Paris, France-based consulting company that provides strategic advisory and transformational services to public- and private-sector healthcare providers. Finsmes.com
Anything World, a UK deep tech startup, has announced raising €550K from Warner Music. Eu-startups
Boom, which offers a two-sided tech platform to let companies book and manage commercial photo shoots, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Italy's United Ventures. Techcrunch.com
Deci, a Tel Aviv-based startup building a new platform that uses AI to optimized AI models and get them ready for production, announced a $9.1 million seed round led by Emerge and Square Peg. Techcrunch.com
Duel, a brand advocacy platform, has secured a £1.8 million funding round led by Downing Ventures, Publicis Groupe, London Co-Investment Fund and University of Bristol Enterprise Fund. UKTN
Eagle Eye Networks, an Amsterdam, The Netherlands- and Austin, TX-based cloud video surveillance company, raised $40m in Series E funding. Accel made the investment. Finsmes.com
Eagle Genomics, a Cambridge, UK – based pioneer in applying network science to biology, closed $9m a scale-up funding round from backers including Environmental Technologies Fund. Finsmes.com
Global Processing Services, a payments issuer processor, secured a strategic investment from Visa Inc. Details were not disclosed. UKTN
Panoply, Tel Aviv, Israel and San Francisco-based cloud data platform provider, raised an additional $10m in funding. Backers in the round included Ibex Investors and C5 Capital. Finsmes.com
Psyomics, a UK-based healthtech and University of Cambridge spin-out, has closed a £1.5 million funding round from existing and new investors. UKTN
Salto, which brings software development methodologies to configuring SaaS platforms, announced $27 million in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures. Finance.Yahoo!
Sidekick Health, a Reykjavik, Iceland-based digital therapeutics company, completed a $20m Series A financing led by Wellington Partners and Asabys Partners. Finsmes.com
SimilarWeb, an Israeli-based internet measurement company, has raised $120 million in its latest fundraising round co-led by ION Crossover Partners and Viola Growth. Axios
Streetbees, a ‘next gen’ market research startup, announced closing an ~€34 million Series B round led by Lakestar. Eu-startups
Toka, the cyber capacity-building company to defend against terror and crime, announced it raised a $25 million Series B funding round led by Eclipse Ventures. Yahoo!Finance
Third Financial, a London, UK-based investment platform and software provider, received a £7m majority investment from Grafton Capital. Finsmes.com
TVM Capital Life Science, a Munich, Germany and Montrwal, Canada-based life sciences venture capital firm, closed its latest fund, at US$478m. Finsmes.com
Vinted, Europe’s largest online C2C marketplace dedicated to second-hand fashion, has announced the acquisition of United Wardrobe, the largest second-hand fashion platform in the Netherlands. Eu-startups
Zivver, a Dutch challenger business in secure communications, announced it raised ~€14.4 million in an early-stage round led by DN Capital. Eu-startups
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