Keep up with the latest pre-tech moves
Despite the slowdown in venture capital, there is still a mountain of money flowing through startups today. TechCrunch+ is rolling out a series of posts about recent notable venture rounds, exits, and other news related to the financial side of building new tech companies.
While banks are dealing with a crisis stemming from the failure of the popular, startup-friendly Silicon Valley Bank, emerging tech companies are still busy raising funds. capital. They are also looking for a way out. The former more than the latter, given IPO market freezes. But while we await the reawakening of an important exit point for startups, we can still watch where and how money is flowing into their worlds.
Notable rounds of the week
Etoro reload at $3.5 billion valuation
- After the SPAC deal fell through, consumer trading service eToro was left without an expected new round of capital and a new valuation milestone. However, it has previously secured a commitment for new funds should its SPAC deal fail, the amount of capital it has now raised.
- The round matters for its size (nine figures), industry (fintech has increased in value in recent quarters) and underlying financial results. While there is some growth since 2020 in 2022, the company is down from 2021 last year. This means we are seeing a major consumer financial technology company establish a new valuation under difficult conditions. Fintech founders should take note.
Adventure Seeds Club sneak out of stealth with 25 million dollars to make the DAO dream come true
- A lot of people assume that interest in DAOs, or decentralized autonomous organizations, has faded over the past year along with the fortunes of crypto brethren. But it turns out that there are still some people who are very interested in the concept of a community making its own decisions about how to spend millions of dollars.
- Seed Club Ventures, a 63-member consortium of VCs, individual investors, family offices, and various institutions that still believe in web3, recently surreptitiously raised a $25 million fund dollars to help the DAO do it.
- This is important because that $25 million will be used to build early-stage projects much needed tool for DAO. It has supported projects like Guild, Stability AI, Lens and Metalabel. Such tooling would really help take DAOs to a level where they could realize some, if not all, of the potential that fully decentralized systems offer.
IntegrityNext $109 million increase to help companies ensure their supply chains are ESG compliant
- There are a lot of political issues surrounding environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment policies for good reason: Compliance with ESG standards requires companies to examine breadth and depth depth of their operations to ensure everything is done responsibly. That can get expensive, tedious and time consuming.
- Munich-based IntegrityNext is doing something very special to help companies solve that problem: It’s helping companies check their supply chains so they can quickly figure out where and how how they can optimize their supply chain as well as comply with ESG requirements.
- This fundraising is indeed good news for European companies, because they will have an easier time adopting previously “good to get” ESG policies that will soon become “mandatory.” yes” as EU regulations tighten.
Kream hits $742 million valuation because fashion enthusiasts love the circular economy
- In a world of abundance, some things are rare, which is why luxury reseller platforms exist. Separated from South Korean e-commerce giant Naver, Kream has only been around for two years, but the company has already achieved incredible success as fashion-savvy customers flood their stores, searching Find high end and rare sports shoes, watches, bags, accessories. clothes.
- Kream’s $168 million fundraising is exciting because the company will be investing heavily in industry peers to build a reseller network that spans Asia — meaning someone in Japan. limited edition sneakers that were only released in Japan.
- This is also great news for Asia’s burgeoning resale market, as it signals consumer interest in collectibles and other luxury items, which could boost invest more in this area.
Kredivo rose Huge Series D worth $270 million to make credit more accessible to underbanked Asians
- It’s no secret that large unbanked populations in Asia’s developing economies are a big market for fintech to disrupt, and Kredivo aims to increase accessibility. access to credit in Indonesia and Vietnam, has certainly been a huge success with a user base as large as Indonesia’s. population with credit cards.
- The company’s $270 million oversubscribed Series D is proof of the fact that there’s growth to make people’s lives easier and give them easy access to banking. easy and seamless.
Other startup and venture capital news
Joint venture slowdown is slowing down even the fastest launch categories
- It is a sad reality of the world that even diamonds sometimes go without a buyer, and that seems to be happening right now in startup land: Even hot start API before are suffering in the joint venture slowdown.
- According to data from GGV, which tracks funding for 63 API companies, startups in this category have raised around $2.15 billion in 2022, less than half what they raised. raised a year earlier. The number of transactions has also decreased. Q4 2022 saw such startups raise $134 million, lower than the previous three quarters of the year. That must be difficult.
- We care about this because even though API startups are leading the charge with usage-based pricing models, arguably the future of software sales, they still suffer broader market pressure. Their struggle indicates that no matter how hot a niche you’re in, dollars can get harder and harder to earn.
Coinbase CEO is angry with the SEC rain on their parade
- The crypto world is not happy with the way lawmakers treat it. Coinbase CEO has pretty much said recently that the government should decide on regulations after the SEC sent them a Wells notice, which basically means that the government will deal with Coinbase and the companies. Liked it for “violating federal securities laws.” “
- We almost agree with Coinbase on this point: There really isn’t much precedent for what the crypto world is going through and the SEC’s almost century-old regulation of the economy to the economy. Cryptocurrency is like a right triangle hole situation.
- It is clear that the SEC needs to really solidify its beliefs about how cryptocurrencies should be traded so that the broader ecosystem can follow the rules.
roof cut 27% of staff in the second round of layoffs
- Proptech startups are having a moment, and their employees seem to be paying for it. Rising mortgage rates and a general slowdown in housing conditions aren’t good for companies that depend on people realizing their American dream.
- But buying a home in this economy? So many people basically said, “yes, that’s right,” which essentially led to Roofstock, the company that allows people to buy and sell rental homes in dozens of U.S. markets, deciding that they need to lay off 27% of their employees for the second time in a year. less than two quarters.
- The company is trying to stay afloat in a slumping housing market, which makes sense, but what doesn’t make sense is that it was valued at $1.9 billion just a year ago. This is not good news for the broader proptech market right now.
4 Indian investors explain How has their investment strategy changed? since 2021
- Startups in India start 2022 with a pretty good outlook as the global venture downturn has yet to affect the country. But it came, leading to a 70% drop in funding in the second half of the year.
- While we’re sure local investors have seen that happen, how do they recalibrate their sensors for the new climate? After polling a few investors, Jagmeet found that for starters, they slowed down, chose safer bets, and generally made sure that the companies in their portfolios had enough runway to survive no matter how long this recession will last.
- Indian investors also advise their startups to take a step back, strengthen the business model and focus on the basics to reach the next major milestone. And if necessary, increase one round of decrease, because life > death.
As the tech IPO market reopens, keep an eye out for the HR unicorn
- Did you hear that? It was Alex giggling with excited anticipation of all the S-1s we could get if the HR unicorn continued to grow as fast as they already have.
- The startup pool’s regular ARR growth and EBITDA output — and thus valuation — appear to be largely immune to decline as unicorns like Deel, Velocity Global, Gusto, and Ripple continue to grow into new markets. new markets and categories.
- This means that by IPO season, HR tech companies will likely be among the first to go public. However, we’re curious about one thing: How long can the startups in question grow without going to war with each other, perhaps in the form of discounts?
