Lume Weekly Private Market News & Notes 9.12.2022
Covers news about startups, private deals, technology, and innovation in the private market
📊 Stats of the Week 📊
According to Gallup, Americans’ satisfaction with the ways things are going in the U.S. is nearly all time low since 1980.
📰 Portfolio Company and Past Transactions News 📰
Elon Musk says Starlink is in talks with Apple to hook up its internet service with iPhones (Sep 9)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the company's satellite internet division Starlink has been talking to Apple.
Bolt calls off $1.5B deal to acquire crypto outfit Wyre (Sep 12)
US-based online payments firm Bolt Financial has terminated its deal to buy cryptocurrency infrastructure platform Wyre for $1.5B. Meanwhile, Bolt stated that it would continue its alliance with Wyre.
Republic completes $100M acquisition of Seedrs for European expansion (Sep 12)
The US-based private investment firm Republic has completed its $100M acquisition of UK crowdfunding investment platform Seedrs.
💰 Fundraising & Merger and Acquisition 💰
VTS raises over $125M in Series E funding (Sep 6)
VTS, a New York-based provider of a real estate technology platform to improve strategic decision processes across the asset lifecycle, raised over $125M in Series E funding.
Bitwarden banks $100M to manage passwords (Sep 6)
Bitwarden, California-based startup helps manage passwords for both businesses and individuals, announced it secured a new $100M growth round.
Localyze, a SaaS for staff relocation, raises $35M (Sep 6)
Hamburg-based B2B SaaS platform Localyze is planning to launch in US in the coming months, powered by a fresh raise of $35M in Series B funding. Localyze aimed to help employers seeking immigration and relocation logistics support.
Mesh Payments lands on $60M as demand for its corporate spend offering surges (Sep 7)
Financial management startup Mesh Payments has raised $60M in new funding round led by Alpha Wave. Mesh says it saw its revenue run rate triple in the first half of 2022. It has over 1,000 customers and close to $1B in annualized payment volume flowing through its platform.
Crypto startup Mysten Labs raises $300M at $2B valuation (Sep 8)
Mysten Labs has raised $300M at a $2B valuation in a funding round led by FTX Ventures with contributions from an array of big names in the crypto industry.
Animoca Brands closes $110M round (Sep 8)
Animoca Brands announced that it has raised $110M in a Notes funding round led by Temasek, Boyu Capital, and GGV Capital. The funds were raised via the issuance of convertible notes to a small number of institutional investors at a conversion price of $3.03, valuing the Company similarly to its previous round $5.9B.
Stack raises $2.7M to teach teens, parents about crypto (Sep 8)
Stack, the subscription-based crypto trading app charges $3 per month per user, launches with more than 6,000 users on the waitlist and follows a $2.7M round raise.
True Food Kitchen raises over $100M in round (Sep 9)
True Food Kitchen, a Phoenix, AZ-based restaurant brand that has pioneered wellness-driven dining, raised over $100M in funding led by led by HumanCo and Manna Tree.
🗞 Others News 🗞
Binance launches crypto free trading (Aug 31)
Binance, one of the world’s biggest digital asset is waiving fees for Ethereum (ETH).
California State passes bill for licensing and regulating crypto firms (Sep 1)
The bill requires digital asset exchanges and crypto companies to have a license of operation in the state of California. The bill would come into effect on and after Jan. 1, 2025.
TikTok Parent ByteDance has no plans to go public (Sep 2)
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, the world’s most valuable unicorn, has no plans to go public, its chief financial officer told employees in an internal staff meeting.
Uber partners with Nuro in push for autonomous food, grocery delivery (Sep 4)
Uber will use Nuro autonomous delivery vehicles to shuttle meals and other goods to its Eats customers as part of a 10-year commercial deal between the two companies.
Bond introduces white label commercial charge card solution (Sep 8)
Bond Financial Technologies, an embedded finance platform, announced its white label solution that allows B2B SaaS platform providers to launch their own commercial charge cards without writing a single line of code.