StrictlyVC: August 19, 2016

Oh, sweet Friday, is it really you at long last? [Collapses.]

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Top News in the A.M.

Vevo, the online music video service owned by the world’s largest record labels, has hired Goldman Sachs to raise up to $500 million from new investors, says the Financial Times. More here.

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Quero Education Looks to Educate U.S. VCs

Much has been written about Brazil during the Rio Olympics. But one facet of the country that’s relatively unknown to foreigners is how 9 percent of the population – or the roughly 17 million Brazilians between the ages of 15 through 19 – can get a decent, affordable college education.

If U.S. investors were to take an interest, says Quero Education, they might be rewarded for it.

We chatted with Quero’s co-founder and CEO Bernardo de Pádua about his six-year-old, online college marketplace and the opportunity it’s chasing.

TC: You say the education industry is very different in Brazil versus the U.S. What are some of the biggest differentiators?

BDP: About 20 years ago, for-profit colleges took over the market, and now almost 85 percent of students are attending them. A company called Kroton this year acquired the second-largest college on the stock market in Brazil and it’s now the world’s largest school corporation, with 1.6 million students and more than $3 billion in annual revenues. And they only own a small share of the market — around 10 percent.

TC: Quero is helping match students with these for-profit schools. Is that correct?

BDP: Yes. These [for-profit] colleges have been fighting for new students and partnering with companies that have large databases and giving them discounts in exchange. Or, for example, if you have a church or soccer team, you can partner with a college and [because you’re sending multiple people to the school], you’ll get a 10 to 50 percent discount on tuition. But there’s a great mismatch of information that exists for the students.

TC: So you’re saying these colleges suffer from oversupply?

BDP: That’s right. There are six million seats open every year, and three million people enroll, so something like 50 percent of the seats are available. Some schools get oversubscribed. Public colleges are a very different story. They’re free to attend but have a limited number of seats [so it’s very competitive to attend them] and just 10 percent of people who take a national exam are really eligible for those slots. Medical schools are very heavily regulated. But there’s an oversupply in most other fields of study.

More here.

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New Fundings

CellSavers, a year-old, Bay Area-based on-demand mobile repair platform, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Carmel Ventures, with participation from earlier backer Sequoia Capital. Reuters has more here.

DevMynd Software, a five-year-old, Chicago-based digital strategy firm, as raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from Motorola Solutions Venture Capital. More here.

Dexter, a year-old, New York-based bot-building platform, has raised $2.3 million in seed funding led by Rakuten Ventures, with participation from Social Starts and Betaworks. TechCrunch has more here.

Ecobee, a nine-year-old, Toronto, Ontario-based smart thermostat maker, has raised $35 million in funding from the Amazon Alexa Fund, Thomvest, and Relay Ventures. The company has now raised more than $51 million altogether. VentureBeat has more here.

Histogen, a nine-year-old, San Diego-based regenerative medicine company, has raised $6 million in Series D funding led by Pineworld Capital, an affiliate of Huapont Life Sciences. More here.

KRY, a two-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based health startup that connects patients with healthcare professionals for consultations via video, has raised €6.1 million ($6.9 million) in seed funding  led by Index Ventures and Creandum, with participation from Berlin-based Project A. TechCrunch has more here.

NVBots, a three-year-old, Boston-based company whose 3D printing technology that can print multiple metals in the same build, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding led by Woodman Asset Management. BostInno has more here.

SmartFile, a seven-year-old, Indianapolis, In.-based secure enterprise file management and sharing platform, has raised $1.1 million led by VisionTech Angels, with participation from Elevate Ventures. More here.

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New Funds

Darwin Ventures, a 12-year-old, San Francisco-based venturee fund of funds, is looking to raise $100 million for its fourth fund, shows an SEC filing. Darwin closed its last fund with roughly $60 million in early 2014.

London’s Octopus Ventures just launched a new accelerator — Octopus Labs — to capitalize on the financial tech boom. Details here.

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Exits

Foodpanda, the food delivery startup backed by Rocket Internet, is selling its operations in Indonesia and evaluating its presence in the rest of Southeast Asia as part of a push towards profitability. TechCrunch has more here.

Rakuten has acquired the assets of Bitnet, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based bitcoin wallet startup that was reportedly struggling. Terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed, but according to CrunchBase, Bitnet had raised $14.5 million, including from Rakuten, ARTIS Ventures, Commerce VenturesWebb Investment Network, and Highland Capital Partners. More here.

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People

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick talks with Business Insider about his vision of our self-driving future, where “a million fewer people are going to die a year. Traffic in all cities will be gone. Significantly reduced pollution and trillions of hours will be given back to people . . .”

Remember Eric Martin, who won a Jet.com contest whose prize was 100,000 shares? Media outlets seemed to think he was in line for up to $20 million following Jet’s sale to Walmart. Turns out it’s closer to $900,00 — pre tax, says Fortune. (We’d take it!) More here.

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Essential Reads

A legal battle is escalating between the venture-backed software startup Domo and one of its former managers who’s fighting the company for financial information. The WSJ has more here.

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Detours

They’re calling this the most lavish dorm room in America.

The strange brain of the world’s greatest solo climber.

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Retail Therapy

Extreme Series Roof Top Tent. (Extremely sweet.)


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