Lume Weekly Private Market News & Notes 8.8.2022
Covers news about startups, private deals, technology, and innovation in the private market
✨ Upcoming Event ✨
Lume’s Emily will be joining a Ping Pong Social Event organized by Berkeley Haas Alumni Network Silicon Valley. If you are around, come to play some 🏓 and have fun! No experience is necessary! Reserve your spot(s) here.
📊 Stats of the Week 📊
How big is the secondary market for venture capital?
According to Industry Ventures, the global total addressable market for venture secondary transactions reached $100B in 2021 and is on track to exceed $130B in 2023.
📰 Portfolio Company and Past Transactions News 📰
SpaceX had Six Launches in 17 Days (Jul 26)
SpaceX has successfully launched six Falcon 9 over a 17 day period. SpaceX has launched 33 missions in 2022 and is almost on pace for nearly 60 Falcon 9 launches this year. This would nearly double the 31 Falcon 9 flights accomplished in 2021.
South Korea Launches First Moon Mission on SpaceX Rocket (Aug 4)
Last week, Korea launched its first-ever lunar mission, named Danuri, carried by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
💰 Fundraising & Merger and Acquisition 💰
Biotech company Senzo raised a $2M pre-seed (Jul 27)
At-home diagnostics have proved to be a crucial need during the pandemic. Seeing this, Senzo aims to create similar at-home tests for the majority of common diseases using their new ALF technology.
A “financial data management solution”, Leapfin, raised $12M (Jul 28)
Leapfin, raising $12M in their Series A, promises to simplify how the financial data of your company is accessed, making it faster and more efficient to get what you need compared to the ongoing list of tools typically used.
FTX and Coinbase invest in 'Bloomberg for crypto' Coinfeeds (Jul 28)
Coinfeeds, wants to become the Bloomberg for crypto, raised a $2M seed round from FTX and Coinbase. Founded by former Uber data scientist Moyi Dang and Robinhood veteran Bhavya Agarwal, Coinfeeds grew out a crypto news summary bot and API.
Kompliant raises $14M to help companies tackle financial compliance challenges (Aug 1)
Kompliant, a compliance tech startup, raised $14M in Seed funding led by Level One Fund with participation from former president of Visa and more.
Parafin raises $60M to help every company launch embedded financial services for small businesses (Aug 2)
Parafin, a fintech infrastructure startup that companies such as marketplaces, vertical SaaS, and payment processors rely on to launch and embed financial services for their sellers, raised a $60M Series B led by GIC.
Bounty raises $4.7M to help everyday TikTokers make money from reviews (Aug 2)
Bounty, an online service that helps TikTok creators monetize brand reviews and recommendations, announced it closed on a $4.7M seed round led by M13.
The new service is designed for everyday TikTok users — not just professional creators — who want to earn money by reviewing brands’ products.
Savana a builder of financial software for banks and fintechs raises $45M (Aug 2)
Savana, a financial software player that helps banks and fintechs go digital, has raised $45M in a Series A funding round led by growth-stage investor Georgian.
Shopify makes $100M strategic investment in marketing automation startup Klaviyo (Aug 3)
E-commerce marketing automation platform Klaviyo has received a $100M strategic investment from Shopify. Klaviyo last raised a $320M Series D at a $9B valuation in May 2021.
Geek+ raises $100M at $2B valuation (Aug 8)
Beijing-based Geek+, a developer of autonomous robots for warehousing, closed a new $100 million Series E1 that values the company at more than $2B. Investors in the round included Intel Capital, Vertex Growth and Qingyue Capital Investment.
Product Launches 🚀
Crypto exchange FTX US expands stock trading, plans options next (Jul 27)
Crypto exchange FTX US is expanding its no-fee stock trading service to all US users, including non-crypto investors, in a move to expand its customer base and increase assets under custody.
Gemini let its users to buy crypto through their bank accounts (Jul 28)
Crypto exchange Gemini, has connected with open banking and payments platform Plaid, to provide UK customers with the option to buy cryptocurrency through their bank accounts.
Charles Schwab to launch crypto-themed ETF on New York Stock Exchange (Jul 29)
Charles Schwab will launch its first crypto-themed ETF, saying it offers the lowest expense ratios in the category. The fund, which will trade on the New York Stock Exchange Arca under the STCE ticker, will offer indirect exposure to the “crypto ecosystem”.
Extend launches shipping protection to help Merchant increase profits, reduce costs (Aug 3)
Extend, a leader in technology-enabled product protection, announced that it is launching Shipping Protection which provides protection for replacement when customers’ packages are lost, damaged, or stolen in transit.
Clubhouse is allowing users to set up private chatroom (Aug 6)
Clubhouse, the social audio app, begins beta testing private communities called Houses feature, allowing its users the ability to exclusively chat with each other.
🗞 Others News 🗞
Oxygen tapped by Brex for small business customer transition (Jul 26)
Oxygen, a financial platform, announced that it has been tapped by Brex to provide their small business customers a smooth transition as Brex has decided to focus on serving startups and scaled companies.
Pony.ai forms a joint venture with Sany Heavy Truck to create autonomous delivery trucks (Jul 27)
With Pony.ai, an autonomous vehicle startup, as the brain and Sany Heavy Truck as the muscle, the two’s partnership is planned to roll out with both EV and diesel autonomous trucks that will simplify delivery of goods.
TikTok, the popular short-video sharing app, has plans to possibly enter the music streaming industry (Jul 29)
TikTok parent company ByteDance filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in May for a service called “TikTok Music.” The filing indicates that the trademark could be applied to a mobile app that would allow users to purchase, play, share and download music.
Fidelity’s Instacart and Reddit valuations rebound after the first half of the year (Aug 1)
After five consecutive months of markdowns, the asset manager Fidelity increased the value of their Instacart stake by 8.5% and raised the share price of Reddit by 6.5%.
Meta partner with Dapper Labs and Coinbase for NFTs on Instagram (Aug 4)
The partnership will enable creators and collectors to share their NFTs on Instagram. Prior to the expansion, the support was only available to select creators in the United States. Now it supports more than 100 countries across Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas.
Databricks says it has surpassed $1B in annualized revenue (Aug 5)
Databricks, an enterprise software company focused on data and analytics, announced that it has surpassed a $1B annual revenue run rate. The milestone comes after the company raised a $1.6B round last August at a $38B valuation.
If you liked this article, please show your appreciation by “liking ❤️” and “subscribing to” the page. Thank you!