The venture capital market appears to be getting later, larger and more expensive. Fintech is evolving in a similar manner.
November 16, 2020
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Fintech VC Keeps Getting Later, Larger and More Expensive
For late-stage fintech companies, it’s great news. But for smaller players, is the shift toward bigger, more mature rounds undercutting their ability to attract capital and reach scale? Read more on Techcrunch.com
Image: jirsak / Shutterstock.com
NextView Ventures Closes Fourth Fund at $89M
NextView Ventures, a Boston-based venture capital fund, has raised an $89.6 million fund, according to SEC filings. The firm’s fourth fund, its largest to date, is oversubscribed, with early documents indicating a $70 million goal. Read more onTechcrunch.com
Image: Ahmetov Renat / Shutterstock.com
PenderFund Capital Launches Pender Ventures
Pender Ventures is a new group and brand, created to accelerate its private investments into technology companies across Canada. The firm is also announcing the appointment of a new partner and the final close of its latest fund, the Pender Technology Inflection Fund LP I. Read more on Finsmes.com Image: Natasha Azdic / Shutterstock.com
DoorDash Files for IPO
During the first nine months of 2020, the company reported $1.9 billion in revenue, up from $587 million a year earlier, with more than 18 million customers. more than 390,000 merchants, and about 1 million delivery workers. Read more on Theverge.com Image: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com
Instacart Taps Goldman Sachs to Lead IPO at $30 Billion Valuation
Instacart has picked Goldman Sachs Group Inc to lead its initial public offering (IPO), which could come early next year and value the U.S. grocery delivery app at around $30 billion Read more on Reuters.com
Image: Castleski / Shutterstock.com
BitTorrent Announces DLive Acquisition
BitTorrent Inc., the leader in peer-to-peer (P2P) technology, today announced plans to acquire live streaming platform DLive.tv and migrate all BitTorrent related services to one unified ecosystem named BitTorrent X. Read more on Finsmes.com Image: Stanslavs / Shutterstock.com
Cyndx Custom Comps Identifies the Right Comparable Sets For Your Deals
In seconds, you can now establish a framework for private company valuations, based on public company trading metrics. Edit and add comps on the fly with real-time recalculations. See it now on Cyndx
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U.S. Capital Raising and M&A Highlights
API3, a decentralized API network enabling data providers to become their own blockchain ‘oracles,’ closed $3M in a round led by Placeholder. Venturebeat
Aurora Innovation, the startup founded by three veterans of the autonomous vehicle industry who led programs at Google, Tesla and Uber, is in negotiations to buy Uber ATG. Techcrunch
BitTorrent Inc., the leader in peer-to-peer technology, announced plans to acquire live streaming platform DLive.tv. Finsmes
Comcast Corp said its corporate venture capital firm, Comcast Ventures, will be part of its strategic business development team at its cable segment. Reuters
Curbio, a Potomac, MD-based pay-at-closing home improvement company for real estate agents, raised $25M in financing led by Comcast Ventures. Finsmes
DERMALA, a consumer dermatology company, has closed a $6.73m Series A financing co-led by J&J Innovation and True Wealth Ventures. VCNewsdaily
GCOM, a provider of technology solutions focused on state and local governments, announced the acquisition of 20/20 Teknology, a leading managed services provider and systems integrator. Yahoo!Finance
Insurity, LLC, a provider of cloud-based core system solutions and data analytics, completed the acquisition of CodeObjects, a California-based provider of cloud solutions to the P&C space. Finsmes
Kira Pharmaceuticals, a startup developing complement-targeted therapies for immune-mediated diseases, raised an $18 million Series A and $28 million Series B from a slate of investors. Endpoints
Kyklo, a startup that helps wholesale distributors of electrical and automation products launch e-commerce stores, announced it raised $8.5 million in seed funding led by Felicis Ventures and IA Ventures. Techcrunch
MindTickle, a sales readiness platform, said on Monday it has raised $100 million in a new financing round by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Techcrunch
Nuvve, pioneering electric-vehicle-to-grid projects around the world, plans to go public via a merger with Nasdaq SPAC Newborn Acquisition Corp. Greentechmedia
Palo Alto Networks is to acquire Expanse Inc., an attack surface management company. The total purchase price of approximately $670m is to be paid in cash and stock and ~$130m in replacement equity awards. Finsmes
Simon Property Group Inc, the biggest U.S. mall operator, will cut its purchase price for an 80% stake of rival Taubman Centers Inc by 18%, as the coronavirus upends the retail industry sector. Reuters
Udemy— which provides a marketplace currently numbering some 130,000 video-based courses across 65 languages, is raising up to $100 million in a Series F round of funding valuing the company at up to $3.32 billion. Techcrunch
Utz Brands, Inc. said its subsidiaries Utz Quality Foods, LLC and Heron Holding agreed to acquire Truco Enterprises, a seller of tortilla chips, salsa and queso, from Insignia Capital Group for a total price of $480m. Nasdaq
US LBM, a leading distributor of specialty building materials in the U.S., announced the signing of a definitive agreement for Bain Capital Private Equity to acquire a majority stake in the company. VCAonline
Walmart Inc is selling a majority stake in Japanese supermarket chain Seiyu to investment firm KKR and e-commerce company Rakuten for over $1 billion, after years of struggling to make money amid stiff competition. Reuters
International News
Spain's BBVA to Sell U.S. Banking Arm To PNC for $11.6B
Spain's BBVA is to sell its U.S. business to PNC Financial Services Group Inc for $11.6 billion in cash, in one of the biggest global banking deals this year.. Read more on Reuters Image: courtesy of BBVA USA
London Becomes Top Global Hub for Impact Tech
VC investment into London’s purpose-driven tech companies has increased by almost 800% (7.8 times) since 2015, compared to 3.1 times in Europe as a whole. Read more on UKTN Image: IR Stone / Shutterstock.com
Will the UK Axe Private Equity Tax Break Worth Millions?
As Covid-19 prompts a desperate need for revenue, the UK has launched a review of capital gains tax which threatens to hit private equity by raising the rate closer to, or in line with, income tax levels. Read more on Finanz Image : Dizain / Shutterstock.com
UK Taxpayers Pour £1bn into Venture Investments via BPC
British Patient Capital, a government-backed investment vehicle, has ploughed more than £1bn into the UK tech sector, primarily by stumping up funds for private venture capital firms to invest on its behalf. Read moreon Penews.com
Image: Andrii Koval / Shutterstock.com
Sanofi Pumps 50M Euros Into French VC Shop Jeito
Sanofi has invested €50 million ($59 million) in French VC firm Jeito Capital. The investment, Sanofi’s first in a private French fund, boosts Rafaèle Tordjman’s efforts to establish Jeito as an emerging force in the European biotech VC scene. Read more on Fiercebiotech.com Image: Photon Photo / Shutterstock.com
International Capital Raising and M&A Highlights
Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing said on Monday that the German lender will focus on the bank's restructuring over the next year rather than on mergers. Reuters
Glint Pay, a London-based fintech startup that enables users to store, spend and save their wealth in gold, has secured £2.5 million in funding. Finextra
Griffin, a London, UK-based Banking-as-a-Service provider, raised £6.5m in funding. The round was led by EQT Ventures. Finsmes
Harbr, which has built a secure platform to enable big data exchange, raised $38.5 million in a Series A round of funding led jointly by Dawn Capital and Tiger Global Management. Techcrunch
Infobip, a global cloud communications company, entered into a definitive deal with Amdocs Inc. to acquire OpenMarket, a provider of mobile messaging solutions to enterprises, for approximately $300m. Finsmes
Italy's Treasury has asked financial and legal advisers to pitch for a role in the privatisation of Monte dei Paschi as it strives to secure a merger deal for the Tuscan lender. Reuters
Myricx Pharma, a Stevenage, UK-based drug discovery company, raised £4.5m in seed financing from Sofinnova Partners and Brandon Capital Partners. Finsmes
Objective Platform, an Amsterdam scaleup providing marketing measurement and optimisation software received €2M funding in a round led by Newion. UKTN
Razor, a Berlin, Germany-based consumer holding company, raised $25m in combined equity and debt funding. The round included a $10m Series A funding led by Redalpine Capital IV. Finsmes
Sanofi has invested 50 million euros ($59 million) into Jeito Capital, an investment firm dedicated to biotech and biopharma. Reuters
Scoobic Group, the Sevilla-based startup specialized in electric vehicles for last-mile delivery, raised a €2 million investment led by Innoenergy. Eu-startups
Start Codon, a Cambridge, UK-based life science and healthcare business accelerator, closed Start Codon Fund I LP, at £15m. L.P. investors include Novartis International AG and Cambridge Innovation Capital. Finsmes
Stakester, based in NY and London, lets video-game players compete for money, announced a $2 million seed round led by RTP Global. Yahoo!Finance
Viking Venture acquired a majority stake in Danish software company TimeLog, with an investment of NOK 120m. Finsmes
Zenobe Energy, one of the largest independent owners and operators of battery storage in the UK. secured a £150m investment from Infracapital. UKTN
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