Hi, all, happy Tuesday.
We’re running off in a bit to moderate a panel at the Post-Seed conference in San Francisco. The topic? The Tightening. (Are early-stage VCs reacting to “unicorn volatility“? We’ll find out!). Famed VC John Doerr kicks things off at 9. Looking forward to seeing some of you there.
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Top News in the A.M.
Tiger Global Management has raised another $2.5 billion to invest in private companies, according to an SEC filing. It’s the tenth fund of its kind. Its ninth fund closed with a separate $2.5 billion almost exactly one year ago.
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AppDyamics Raises $158 Million at a $1.9 Billion Valuation
Last month, based on an SEC filing, we told you that seven-year-old, San Francisco-based AppDynamics had raised a fresh $83.4 million in funding as part of a round that was targeting up to $150 million.
Turns out the company met that target and then some. CEO David Wadhwani — who joined the firm in September after spending more than a decade as an executive at Adobe, including as its digital chief — says the company just closed on $158 million in a round led by General Atlantic and Altimeter Capital.
Other participants in the round include Adage Capital, Industry Ventures, Goldman Sachs, and Cross Creek Advisors, as well as earlier backers Institutional Venture Partners, Greylock Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
AppDynamics makes software to monitor the performance of business applications, competing with some traditional firms like IBM, as well as younger outfits like New Relic, which went public last December and has seen relatively steady stock performance since. (New Relic, which raised $214 million in venture funding, has a current market cap of $1.8 billion.)
AppDynamics had previously raised roughly $206 million in debt and equity, including a $120 million round — $70 million equity and $50 million of debt — that closed in July of last year.
At the time of the funding announcement, the company told VentureBeat that the money represented “pre-IPO growth financing.” Asked yesterday what this new round means, Wadhwani said he “won’t speculate on the exact timing” of an IPO but added, “I was brought in to take this company public, and that’s what I intend to do.”
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New Fundings
Burpple, a four-year-old, Singapore-based food discovery service, has raised $6 million in Series A funding from Tembusu Partners, Singapore Press Holdings’ Media Fund and Triumph Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Nestio, a four-year-old, New York-based leasing and marketing platform for residential landlords, has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Trinity Ventures, with participation from earlier backers Freestyle Capital, Joanne Wilson, and David Cohen. TechCrunch has more here.
Mirador, a 1.5-year-old, Portland, Or.-based company that makes cloud-based borrower application software for lenders, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Core Innovation Capital. Other participants in the round include Nyca Partners, Jump Capital and seed backers Collaborative Fund, Wicklow Capital and Crosslink Capital. More here.
Revolar, a two-year-old, Denver-based company whose wearable device signals an alert to loved ones via text message and/or email message, has raised $3 million in seed funding from Foundry Group.
Soliton, a new, Houston-based stealth-mode startup whose technology will aid in methods for medical and cosmetic treatments using electro-hydraulic generated shockwaves (it was developed out of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center), has raised $9 million, according to an SEC filing. Houston Business Journal has more here.
ThreatConnect, a four-year-old, Arlington, Va.-based company that makes cyber threat detection software, has raised $16 million in Series B funding led by SAP National Security Services, a subsidiary of the enterprise software giant SAP. Previous backer Grotech also joined the round, along with other, unnamed strategic investors. More here.
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New Funds
Greycroft Partners has closed its fourth early-stage fund with around $220 million in commitments. The nine-year-old bicoastal firm, with an office in New York and L.A., raised $75 million for its debut fund in 2006; $131 million for its second fund in 2010; and $175 million for its third early-stage fund in 2013. Last year, the company, whose investments include Maker Studios, Buddy Media, and Huffington Post, also raised a growth fund for the first time to support its most promising investments. That fund, Greycroft Growth LP, closed with $200 million.
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IPOs
Enterprise software company Atlassian, which filed a month ago to go public on NASDAQ, has revealed in a new SEC filing that it plans to sell 20 million shares at between $16.50 to $18.50. If the company — which makes the Slack competitor Hipchat — sell its shares at the high end, it will raise a total of $370 million. TechCrunch has more here.
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Exits
Innography, an eight-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based company that sells software services designed to manage and protect patents, has been acquired for undisclosed terms by CPA Global, an intellectual property software and services specialist based in the Channel Islands. In early 2014, Innography raised $3.5 million in debt financing, according to an SEC filing. In 2010, the company raised $3 million in Series B funding, including from Austin Ventures and Covera Ventures.
Israeli marketing software company Perion Network has acquired the 13-year-old, New York-based digital advertising company Undertone in a deal valued at $180 million. The WSJ has more here.
In the first large consolidation deal in India’s frothy online property-selling sector, Quikr Homes, the real estate vertical of digital classifieds platform Quikr, will merge with seven-year-old real estate portal CommonFloor.com in a $200-million full equity swap deal, reports the Economic Times.
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People
Rufus Griscom, the founder of Nerve and Babble, has launched Heleo, a platform for “thought leaders.”
Lawrence Lenihan, the cofounder of FirstMark Capital, has left the firm for a new company he has cofounded, Resonance Companies, which will create and operate fashion startups. Lenihan isn’t leaving investing altogether, as Venture Capital Dispatch reports; Resonance will provide capital in exchange for equity in the fashion startups, but it will also provide plenty of operational help.
Analysts pick their top 10 choices to replace Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.
Revolution Growth, the Washington, D.C.-based venture firm co-founded by Steve Case, has brought aboard three new VPs: Kristin Gunther, Ashley Larson and Chris Hughes. Gunther joins the firm from Perseus, most recently as vice president. Larson joins from ABS Capital Partners, where she was a senior associate. Hughes joins the firm from the Boston Consulting Group, where he was a project leader in it is consumer and retail practice.
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Essential Reads
India is pulling further ahead of China as the world’s fastest-growing big economy.
The race to create Elon Musk’s hyperloop heats up.
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Detours
Autonomous electric cars races are coming, starting next year.
Five interview tips from a Goldman Sachs campus recruiter.
Why even skeptics fall for lies if they hear them often enough.
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Retail Therapy
Revols earbuds for your unique (and may we say lovely!) ears.