Lume Weekly Private Market News & Notes 10.23.2022

Covers news about startups, private deals, technology, and innovation in the private market

📊 Stats of the Week 📊

Late stage and technology growth in Q3 2023

• Overall, investors poured $16.8B in late- and growth-stage venture investments in Q3, per Crunchbase data. That’s an increase of 8% from the prior quarter, but still a decline of 15% from the same period a year ago. 

💰 Fundraising 💰

Stash raises $40M in funding (Oct 15)

• Stash, an investing app, raised $40M in funding led by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc.. The CEO says that the company is moving toward an IPO. Stash has 2 million active subscribers and the company was projecting to end 2023 with a nearly 75% growth margin.

Prove Identity nabs $40M at a $1B+ valuation (Oct 17)

• Prove Identity the smartphone-based identity verification startup has raised $40M. The company has around 1,000 business customers and has grown its international business 40% in the last year and is cash-flow positive according to TechCrunch.

Fintech Nova Credit raises $45M Series C (Oct 17)

• Nova Credit, which offers cross-border and alternative data credit products, raised a $45M Series C funding led by Canapi Ventures. The company tries to help immigrants overcome the obstacles of applying for things like loans with no credit history in the U.S.. Its CEO and founder said that the company has grown its revenues by 10x since that 2020 funding round and that it more than tripled its data transaction volumes since the start of 2023. 

HqO lands $50M Series D to digitize real estate experiences (Oct 18)

• Workplace startup HqO locked up a $50M Series D to help landlords and building operators retain occupancy. The company has created what it calls the Real Estate Experience Platform that lets owners and managers gauge and understand how their tenants use their facilities.

Passwordless authentication startup SecureW2 raises $80M (Oct 18)

• Passwordless security startup SecureW2 Inc. said that it has closed on a $80M funding round from Insight Partners LLC. According to the founder, the company has been bootstrapped until now — and profitable with free cash flow. But it took on funding for two reasons: expanding its go-to-market efforts and ramping up software development and R&D in “product categories that surround SecureW2’s space”.

SoftBank looks to invest $75M in 1X Technologies, humanoid robotics startup (Oct 19)

• SoftBank is looking at leading a $75M to $100M round for Norway-based Robotics startup 1X Technologies at a $375M pre-investment valuation, per a report in The Information.

OpenAI’s valuation reportedly set to hit at least $80B (Oct 20)

• OpenAI, the startup behind the artificial intelligence tools ChatGPT and DALL-E, will see its valuation jump to at least $80B per The Information. Last tender offer valued the company roughly $27B in the April. The new valuation would be more than 60x its annualized revenue, per a report.

🗞 Others 🗞

OpenAI said to be considering developing its own AI chips (Oct 6)

• Openai reportedly exploring making in-house AI chips to deal with GPU deficit. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has made the acquisition of more AI chips a top priority for the company, Reuters reports.

Block acquires music financial services startup Hifi (Oct 12)

• Block, the fintech company previously known as Square, has acquired Hifi, a music-focused fintech startup. The company declined to share deal terms. For Block, the deal is expected to complement its existing position at the intersection of fintech and the music industry. It previously bought majority stake in music streaming service Tidal.

Patreon acquires livestream ticketed events startup Moment (Oct 17)

• Patreon is acquiring Los Angeles-based livestream ticketed event platform Moment, the company announced last week. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

US fintech Plaid hires first chief financial officer on road to potential IPO (Oct 18)

• Fintech startup Plaid has hired former Expedia CFO Eric Hart to serve as its first chief financial officer, a milestone in its highly anticipated plans to go public following a failed sale to Visa two years ago.

Product Hunt layoffs impacting 60% of staff (Oct 19)

• Product Hunt, the product discovery site for startups, apps, tech tools and developers’ side projects, announced layoffs. According to TechCrunch, the cuts impacted around 60% of the team.

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