Keep up with the latest technology money movements
Despite the slowdown In venture capital activity, there is still a mountain of money flowing through startups today. TechCrunch+ is launching a series of posts looking at recent and notable venture rounds, exit activity, and other news related to the financial side of creating tech startups.
While banks are dealing with the crisis sparked by the bankruptcy of the well-known startup-friendly Silicon Valley Bank, tech startups are still more than busy raising capital. They are also looking for ways out. Older than second, given the frozen IPO market. But while we await the awakening of a key exit point for startups, we can still control where and how money flows in your world.
Featured rounds of the week
Etoro recharges at $3.5B valuation
- After its SPAC deal fell through, consumer trading service eToro was left without an expected new equity tranche and new valuation mark. However, it had previously secured a promise of new funding if its SPAC deal fell through, capital which it has now raised.
- The round is important for its size (nine digits), the industry (fintech has taken a valuation hit in recent quarters), and the underlying financial results. Despite posting some growth since 2020, in 2022 the company shrank compared to the 2021 period last year. This means that we are seeing a large consumer fintech company set a new valuation under difficult conditions. Fintech founders should take note.
Seed Club Ventures Escapes Stealth With $25 Million To Make DAO Dreams Come True
- Many people assumed that interest in DAOs, or decentralized autonomous organizations, had faded in the past year along with the crypto fortunes. But it turns out that there are still a number of people very invested in the concept of communities who make their own decisions about how to spend millions of dollars.
- Seed Club Ventures, a consortium of 63 VC members, individual investors, family offices, and various entities still believing in web3, recently came out of hiding with a $25 million fund to help DAOs do just that.
- This is important because that $25 million will go to early-stage projects that create much-needed tools for DAO. It has already backed projects like Guild, Stability AI, Lens, and Metalabel. Such tools will really help bring DAOs to a level where they can take advantage of some, if not all, of the potential that fully decentralized systems provide.
IntegrityNext raises $109 million to help companies ensure their supply chain is ESG compliant
- There is a lot of politics around environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment policies for good reason: ESG compliance requires companies to examine the breadth and depth of their operations to ensure things are done the right way. responsible way. That can be expensive, tedious, and time consuming.
- Munich-based IntegrityNext is doing something very special to help companies solve that problem: It helps companies audit their supply chains so they can quickly discover where and how they can optimize the supply chain and meet compliance requirements. ESG requirements.
- This fundraiser is actually good news for European companies as it will make it easier for them to adopt ESG policies that were previously “nice to have” and will soon become “must haves” as regulations in the EU tighten. .
Kream rushes to a $742 million valuation because fashion nerds like the circular economy
- In a world of plenty, some things are rare, which is why luxury resale platforms exist. Spun off from Korean e-commerce giant Naver, Kream has only been around for two years, but the company has seen incredible success as fashion-savvy customers flooded its store for sneakers, watches, bags, accessories and rare and high-end accessories. clothes.
- Kream’s $168 million fundraiser is interesting because the company will invest heavily in its peers to build a reseller network that spans a large part of Asia, meaning someone in Japan can buy limited-edition sneakers that only They were released in Japan.
- It’s also great news for Asia’s growing resale market, as it signals consumer interest in collectibles and other luxury items, which could prompt further investment in this space.
Kredivo raises mammoth $270M Series D to make credit more accessible for unbanked Asians
- It’s no secret that the huge unbanked population in developing Asia’s economies is a huge market for fintech to disrupt, and Kredivo, which aims to increase access to credit in Indonesia and Vietnam, has certainly struck gold. with a user base that is almost as big as Indonesia’s. Population with credit card.
- The company’s oversubscribed $270 million Series D is proof of the fact that growth can be achieved to make people’s lives easier and help them access banking services easily and smoothly.
Other startup and venture capital news
Business slowdown is slowing down even the fastest startup categories
- It’s a sad fact of the world that even diamonds sometimes don’t have buyers, and that seems to be working right now in startup land: even previously popular API startups are suffering from business slowdowns.
- According to data from GGV, which tracks funding for 63 API companies, startups in this category raised around $2.15 billion in 2022, less than half what they raised the year before. Bid counts have also dropped. In the fourth quarter of 2022, these startups raised a paltry $134 million, less than in the previous three quarters of the year. That has to be hard.
- We are concerned about this because even though API startups are leading the charge with usage-based pricing models, arguably the future of software sales, they are still subject to broader market pressures. Their fight indicates that no matter how hot the sector you’re in, dollars are likely to become harder and harder to come by.
Coinbase Execs Are Angry About SEC Raining On Their Parade
- The cryptocurrency world is not happy with the way lawmakers treat it. Coinbase’s CEO recently said the government should decide on regulations already after the SEC sent him a notice from Wells, which basically means the government will go after Coinbase and similar companies for “violations of federal securities laws.” “. ”
- We agree with Coinbase here: there really isn’t much precedent for what the crypto world is going through, and adapting the SEC’s nearly century-old laws to the crypto economy sounds a lot like a triangle hole situation.
- It’s clear that the SEC really needs to consolidate its beliefs about how cryptocurrencies should be traded so that the broader ecosystem can simply play by the rules.
Roofstock cuts 27% of staff in second round of layoffs
- Proptech startups are having a moment and their employees seem to be paying for it. Rising mortgage rates and the general slowdown in housing have not been good for businesses that depended on people realizing their American dream.
- But buying a house in this economy? A lot of people basically said, “yeah, sure,” which basically led to Roofstock, which allows people to buy and sell rental homes in dozens of US markets, to decide that it needs to lay off 27% of its staff. for the second time in less than two quarters.
- The company is trying to stay afloat in a sinking housing market, which makes sense, but what doesn’t is that it was valued at $1.9 billion just a year ago. This is not good news for the proptech market in general at the moment.
4 Indian investors explain how their investment strategy has changed since 2021
- Indian startups started 2022 with a pretty good outlook as the global business slowdown had yet to hit the country. But it did come, causing a 70% drop in funding in the second half of the year.
- While we’re sure investors in the country saw this coming, how did they recalibrate their sensors for the new weather? After surveying some investors, jag reunion found that they slowed down a lot to begin with, chose to make safer bets, and generally made sure their portfolio companies had enough runway to last as long as this downturn lasts.
- Indian investors are also telling their startups to step back, solidify their business models and focus on the basics to reach the next milestone. And if you must, raise a round down, because life > death.
When the tech IPO market reopens, keep an eye out for HR unicorns
- Do you hear that? That’s Alex laughing at the excited anticipation of all the S-1s we’re likely to get if the HR unicorns continue to grow as fast as they have.
- The startup group’s ARR growth and so-so EBITDA output, and hence valuations, appear to be all but immune to the slowdown, as unicorns like Deel, Velocity Global, Gusto and Ripple continue to grow into new markets and categories.
- This means that when IPO season rolls around, HR tech companies will likely be among the first to go. However, we are curious about one thing: how long can the startups in question grow without going to war with each other, perhaps in the form of price cuts?
