Hi, all, hope you had a terrific weekend! We’re in the thick of Disrupt so don’t have a column prepared for you, but you can catch our on-stage interview from earlier this morning with Josh Kopelman of First Round Capital, Andy Weissman of Union Square Ventures, and Chris Douvos of Venture Investment Associates. (The topic, broadly speaking: how in the world institutional investors get paid in today’s market.)
—–
Top News in the A.M.
Lending Club shares are down more than 25 percent this morning after the company announced that CEO and founder Renaud Laplanche would resign following an internal review of $22 million in near-prime loan sales to a single investor. TechCrunch has more here.
The lawsuit over the mental competency of the ailing mogul Sumner Redstone was dismissed this morning, after the judge viewed videotaped testimony from the 92-year-old billionaire that was shown on Friday. The New York Times has more here.
—–
New Fundings
CoreOS, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based company behind the container-centric CoreOS Linux distribution and Tectonic container management service, has raised $28 million in Series B funding led by GV, with participation from Accel Partners, Fuel Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and the Y Combinator Continuity Fund. The company has now raised $48 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Musikki, a 5.5-year-old, London-based image management and distribution platform, has raised $1 million in fresh funding from Portugal Ventures, the biggest venture firm in Portugal. TechCrunch has more here.
Pivotal, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based software company that helps its customers build up their own software development capabilities, has raised more than everyone thought. Recode reported last Friday that it had garnered $253 million in Series C funding at a $2.8 billion valuation from Ford, Microsoft, EMC, VMware and GE. Turns out that was the tip of the iceberg; according to an SEC filing turned up Friday, the company has received a total of $653 million in new funding. Fortune has more here.
—–
New Funds
The private equity firm TPG has announced a final close of its latest North American- and European-focused private equity fund, TPG Partners VII with $10.5 billion in commitments, including $400 million from TPG and its personnel. More here.
—–
IPOs
Talend, a Redwood Shores, Ca.-based software firm that helps corporations organize and analyze data, has hired investment banks for an IPO, say Reuters sources, who tell the outlet that Talend has already registered its IPO confidentially with the SEC. More here.
—–
Exits
Bango, the U.K.-based mobile payments company that provides tech to enable consumers to charge app store purchases directly to their phone bill, has acquired the U.S.-based carrier billing service BilltoMobile from Danal for $3.5 million in mostly cash and newly issued Bango shares. TechCrunch has more here.
—–
People
Point72 Asset Management, which manages hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen‘s fortune, has made its first venture investment as it looks to refine investment decisions and improve returns. Reuters has more here.
Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir Technologies, has fired back at a report published by Buzzfeed alleging that the data analysis firm he now advises has been struggling. Fortune has more here.
Ruby Lu, cofounder of DCM China, has joined H Capital, a China-focused venture capital firm founded by Tiger Global Management‘s former China managing partner, Chen Xiaohong. DealStreetAsia has more here.
John McAfee, America’s favorite (and most entertaining) cybersecurity expert has a new gig. TechCrunch has more here.
Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures thinks Uber could go public “at around $25 billion” (and not its private-market valuation of $60 billion) if it were to IPO today.
Norman Winarsky, the former president of SRI Ventures and co-founder and board member of Siri, has joined Relay Ventures as the firm’s first executive-in-residence.
—–
Jobs
Union Square Ventures is hiring an analyst. The job is in New York. (Work those connections; this is one of the best entry-level gigs in the business.)
—–
Data
The law firm Fenwick & West just analyzed the terms of 148 venture financings closed in the first quarter of 2016 by companies headquartered in Silicon Valley, finding small declines in the number of up rounds, as well as average and median prices. More here.
—–
Essential Reads
Here’s the first demo of Viv, the next generation AI assistant built by Siri creator Dag Kittlaus.
Twitter has cut off U.S. intelligence agencies from access to a service that sifts through the entire output of its social-media postings, the latest example of tension between Silicon Valley and the U.S. government. The WSJ has more here.
The company developing Elon Musk‘s 700 mile-per-hour maglev train has announced new details about the levitation system it plans to use.
—–
Detours
What the science of touch says about us.
The 50 best dive bars in New York.
—-
Retail Therapy
The perfect customizable sofa system (says Design Milk).