• StrictlyVC: November 8, 2016

    Election day! We’re excited, we’re optimistic, we’re distracted, we’re nervous. We’ll see what happens! Hope you’re having a happy Tuesday, everyone.:)

    Top News in the A.M.

    What the election could mean for the markets.

    Donald Trump is already suing one county registrar.

    Meet the Famous Guru Helping Startups Battle Bad Press

    To land a press interview with Brogan Bambrogan, the former CTO of the transportation company Hyperloop, who is currently suing the company over breach of fiduciary duty and more, you must first receive the blessing of Sitrick & Company, a 28-year-old, L.A.-based public relations firm whose other clients have included the wearable tech company Jawbone, the board of vegan food startup Hampton Creek, the HR software company Zenefits and, yes, the diagnostics company Theranos.

    It’s easy to appreciate why Bambrogan hired the firm to filter media inquiries. When it comes to handling crisis situations in particular, Sitrick is as well-regarded as they come. Its approach, neatly captured by its tagline, is: “If you don’t tell your story, someone else will tell it for you.”

    “We’ve been in a tricky position a number of times and the thinking [in Silicon Valley] has historically been to ignore [reporters],” says one Bay Area tech founder who has hired the firm but who asked not to be named in this story. “Sitrick takes a very opposite approach. You’re made to get into the trenches and engage. It can be a pain because it takes longer and you’re busy, but in many cases, the story is better and more balanced because of it.”

    At the center of it all is Mike Sitrick, Sitrick & Co.’s 69-year-old founder and chairman, who flies a Gulfstream to far-flung meetings and runs the firm with the help of 14 partners, numerous associates, and what seems like a boundless amount of energy. (Though he suffered from a collapsed lung last year, his office subsequently sent a picture of Sitrick to a concerned New York Post reporter, assuring her that he still starts his morning with 150 push-ups and 150 sit-ups.)

    “He’s usually one of the first people into the office and one of the last out,” says an employee who spent more than a decade with the firm and has since joined another communications outfit so asked not to be named. “It’s such an impulse to say, ‘No comment, I don’t want to be part of a story,’” says this person. “Mike is all about providing context so reporters understand the point of view of the company that Sitrick is advocating for.”

    To make those connections easier, Sitrick & Co. — which employs 50 employees and signs up roughly 250 clients each year — recruits top journalists from esteemed outlets. Among the firm’s current employees are Sallie Hofmeister, a former assistant managing editor at the L.A. Times; Seth Lubove, a former Bloomberg bureau chief in L.A.; and Wendy Tanaka, who was once the Bay Area bureau chief for Forbes.

    Says Sitrick, “I keep hiring journalists because it’s easier to teach them what PR does than teach PR what journalism does.”

    Spinning a yarn

    Some might call what these employees do – putting the best face of hostile takeovers, plant explosions, sexual harassment claims, and earnings disasters, among other things – straight-up spin. In fact, Sitrick authored a book by that title in 1998.

    Yet well-heeled clients — who pay $1,000 an hour, plus a retainer — insist that it works.

    Much more here.

    New Fundings

    Baidu, the 16-year-old, Beijing-based search engine giant, is reportedly looking to raise between $300 million and $500 in new funding for Waimai, its food delivery unit, amid a costly battle with other Chinese internet giants for customers. Bloomberg reports here.

    Beijing Byte Dance Telecommunications, the parent company of the hugely popular, 4.5-year-old news aggregator app Toutiao, is considering raising $1 billion in a new funding round that would value the company at $10 billion, according to the WSJ. More here.
    Electric Jukebox, a two-year-old, London-based music streaming service, has raised £1.5 million (roughly $1.9 million) in Series A funding from a long list of investors, including Yolo Leisure. TechCrunch has more here.

    Feelter, a three-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based retail review company, has raised $2 million in Series A funding led by Will Graylin, the founder of LoopPay. BostInno has more here.
    Fillr, a 1.5-year-old, Melbourne, Australia-based machine learning service that automatically fills out online forms for consumers, has raised roughly $3.9 million (in U.S. dollars) in Series A funding from SoftBank China Capital, Southern Cross Venture Partners and Reinventure. Australia’s Financial Review has more here.

    GuavaPass, a 1.5-year-old, Singapore-based service for finding gyms and fitness classes in Asia and the Middle East, has raised $5 million in new funding led by Vickers Venture Partners, with participation from other, undisclosed participants. TechCrunch has more here.

    Indeni, a six-year-old, Tel Aviv- and Bay Area-based computer networking company that allows network operations teams to conduct preemptive maintenance, has raised $10 million from Sequoia Capital, iAngels, and CIRtech. Globes has more here.

    Joy, a three-year-old, Seattle-based startup whose app aims to make wedding and honeymoon planning easier, has raised $4.5 million in seed capital co-led by Sierra Ventures and Matrix Partners, with participation from Fuel Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures and numerous individuals, including Joe Montana, Zynga founder Mark Pincus, and former TechCrunch editor Alexia Tsotsis.

    Periscope Data, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based company that lets data scientists quickly build customized, detailed visualizations of their data, is raising $25 million in Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Yesterday, TechCrunch mistakenly reported the round’s lead investor was earlier backer DFJ. More here.

    Quantified Care, a three-year-old, Baltimore, Md.-based mobile platform that helps health care providers remotely monitor their patients, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from KiwiVenture Partners. More here.

    Simple Contacts, a year-old, on-demand contact lens prescription app, has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Autonomous Venture, with participation from Twitch founder Justin Kan, Cruise Automation cofounder Kyle Vogt, and numerous physicians. The WSJ has more here.

    SmartStudy.com, a two-year-old, Beijing, China-based online education startup that helps students pass language exams, has reportedly raised $30 million in Series B funding from unnamed investors, after securing $10 million in Series A funding from Baidu. China Money Network has more here.
    Tend.ai, a months-old, Bend, Or.-based company whose robotic technology manages 3D printers, has raised $2 million in funding from True Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

    Zafin, a 14-year-old, Vancouver-based maker of relationship banking software, has raised $10 million in funding from Vistara Capital Partners and Beedie Capital Partners. More here.

    New Funds

    To keep promising companies from leaving Europe, the European Commissionannounced plans to day to commit up to 400 million euros ($441 million) to a new venture capital fund-of-fund. The fund will look to support a variety of venture funds that back small businesses and entrepreneurs across Europe. The Financial Times has more here.

    Fresh off the $17.7 billion sale of the cable company their family founded — Cablevision — married couple James and Kristin Dolan have announced the formation of a venture capital firm. Dolan Family Ventures will focus on investments in data, analytics and technology-related business. FierceCable has more here.

    Exits

    Online jeweler Blue Nile is being taken private after trading on Nasdaq for the last dozen years. The Seattle-based retailer, which was originally venture backed, is being acquired by Bain Capital Private Equity and Bow Street for about $500 million in cash. ValueWalk has more here.

    Karhoo, a two-year-old, New York-based startup that aimed to take on Uber by pulling together prices and offerings from competing car services into a single app, is shutting down after running out of money. The company had reportedly raised a whopping $250 million in funding last fall, including from former Sony Music Entertainment CEO Nick Gatfield, and from David Kowitz, the co-founder of hedge fund Indus Capital Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
    Tesla is acquiring Germany’s Grohmann Engineering, which develops automated manufacturing systems for batteries and fuel cells, as Tesla seeks to expand its production more than sixfold by 2018. Tesla is buying a 74.9 percent stake in the company from founder and majority owner Klaus Grohmann, and a further 25.1 percent stake that belongs to the private equity firm Deutsche Beteiligungs. Reuters has more here.

    People

    Docusign cofounder and former CTO Tom Gonser has joined Seven Peaks Ventures, an early-stage Bend, Ore.-based venture capital fund. Gonser left DocuSign in February. GeekWire has more here.

    VC Ben Horowitz is joining Lyft’s board of directors, replacing his fellow partner, Scott Weiss. Horowitz’s venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, first invested in Lyft in 2013 as part of its Series C round, and it participated in Lyft’s following round. It has since sold some of its shares to Prince Al-Waleed and his Kingdom Holding Co. Fortune has more here.
    Denver-based ad tech company Altitude Digital has replaced its CEO and founder Jeremy Ostermiller as it looks to shift from an ad network model to focus more on its tech offering. Business Insider has more here.

    Jobs

    Salesforce is looking for a summer MBA intern for 2017. The role is with the company’s corporate development unit in San Francisco.

    Essential Reads

    Facebook might muscle in on LinkedIn’s recruiting business with ways for business Pages to promote job listings. TechCrunch has more here.

    Snapchat‘s ambition is to be much more than just the app you use to send goofy selfies. It wants to be a leader in augmented reality. Business Insider has more here.

    Twitter might still sell Vine.

    Silicon Valley is putting lipstick on Tesla‘s proposed bid for SolarCity, argues Dealbook.

    Detours

    It’s election night! Here’s how to fix yourself an old-fashioned while you settle in for some poll results.

    Retail Therapy

    Golf ball chillers (for your old-fashioned).

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: November 7, 2016

    Hi, everyone, happy Monday!

    The U.S. presidential is finally upon us, after this most surreal election season. (Pheeew.) Here’s the latest from FiveThirtyEight on tomorrow’s election forecast, which shows far higher odds of Hillary Clinton winning. Even still, this is the most wagered-on presidential election ever, according to Reuters. More important, there are 868 fewer voting places than in 2012; if you happen to live in one of these counties and haven’t voted, carve out extra time tomorrow if possible. You may be stuck standing in a very long line.

    Top News in the A.M.

    Soylent just found what it thinks was making people sick: algae.

    Scottish Equity Partners Just Raised One of Europe’s Biggest Funds of 2016

    Scottish Equity Partners (SEP), a 25-year-old, growth-stage venture capital firm, has closed on £260 million ($322 million) in commitments for its fifth fund, in one of the largest capital raises for a European venture firm this year.
    The firm plans to invest the capital mainly in the U.K. and Ireland, but it says investments in companies in other European countries will also be considered. The 45-person firm is now managing more £1 billion in assets across its London, Glasgow and Edinburgh offices.
    Managing director Calum Paterson suggests fundraising wasn’t much changed from past years, despite a challenging economic and political backdrop. Asked about the ripple effects Brexit might have on SEP’s business, he notes they “won’t be known until after negotiations have concluded and, in particular, there’s clarity with regard to access to the single market and the free movement of people.” He adds that SEP is “working closely with our portfolio companies to understand the possible implications and ensure that they have plans in place to mitigate against the risks.”

    SEP hasn’t had a big exit anytime lately, though one of its most valuable bets is reportedly on the cusp of one. According to an October report in Bloomberg, the global travel search business Skyscanner, which was valued at $1.2 billion back in January, is beginning to explore a possible sale or IPO.  The 13-year-old company, based in Edinburgh, is one of few “unicorns” in Scotland; SEP led its Series A round back in 2007.

    More here.

    New Fundings

    Anuvia Plant Nutrients, a 1.5-year-old, Zellwood, Fl.-based plant nutrient company, has raised $23 million in fresh funding led by TPG Alternative & Renewable Technologies, with participation from AIS-JV, Osceola Capital Management, Pontifax AgTech, Florida Opportunity Fund, and Evans Properties. The Orlando Business Journal has more here.

    Bizongo, a two-year-old, Mumbai-based online business-to-business marketplace for packaging products, has raised $3 million in Series A funding led by IDG Ventures, with participation from earlier backer Accel Partners. YourStory has more here.

    Bonobos, the nine-year-old, New York-based e-commerce-driven clothing brand for men, is reportedly looking to raise $100 million in fresh funding at a post-money valuation of $500 million. The company has raised about $127 million to date, including from Accel Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partnersand Nordstrom. VentureBeat has the story here.

    Cohero Health, a four-year-old, New York-based digital health company that helps respiratory patients to engage in their care through through a connected health platform, has raised $9 million in Series A funding led by Three Leaf Ventures, with participation from Zaffre Investments, BioAdvance, GIS Strategic Ventures, Heitkamp & Thumann Group and P5 Health Ventures. More here.

    PetCoach, a two-year-old, Plymouth, Pa.-based startup that connects pet owners with veterinarians, trainers, groomers, and nutritionists, has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Comcast Ventures, with participation from Maveron. GeekWire has more here.Periscope Data, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based company that lets data scientists quickly build customized, detailed visualizations of their data, is raising $25 million in Series B funding, according to TechCrunch, whose sources say the company’s pre-funding valuation was $100 million. Earlier backer DFJ is leading the round, says the report. More here.

    Rivigo Services, a two-year-old, New Delhi, India-based surface transport logistics provider, has raised $75 million in funding from the private equity firm Warburg Pincus in exchange for a minority stake in its business. The Economic Times has more here.

    Tailor Brands, a two-year-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based startup that provides quick and easy logo design and branding, has raised $4 million in Series A funding from Mangrove Capital Partners and Disruptive Technologies. TechCrunch has more here.

    Urban Volt, a two-year-old, Dublin, Ireland-based LED lighting company, has raised €30 million ($33.2 million) in funding from the Swiss private equity firm Susi Partners, according to the The Irish Times. More here.

    Zoox, a two-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based company at work on fully autonomous vehicles, has raised an undisclosed amount of new funding at a $1.55 billion valuation, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Composite Capital, a Hong Kong-based hedge fund that was recently launched by David Ma (previously a partner at Chinese fund manager Hillhouse Capital Group), is among the company’s new backers. More here.

    Exits

    IT security and data-protection firm Sophos has acquired the two-year-old, Cork, Ireland-based cybersecurity start-up Barricade for undisclosed terms. The startup had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from several investors, including Flight Ventures, Marc Bell Ventures, and Tribal.vc. The Irish Times has more here.

    People

    Luke Iseman, the head of Y Combinator’s push into hardware has quit, and the famous tech incubator isn’t replacing him. Iseman says not to read too much into his departure, that he’s leaving to focus on being a founder instead. In fact, he tells Bloomberg, he has already been accepted into the winter 2017 YC cohort with his new housing startup.

    Snap cofounders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy will control close to 74 percent of the voting rights after the company’s IPO. Which is a lot.  Bloomberg has more here.

    Magic Leap has yet to release a product, and it quietly lost its top marketing exec, Brian Wallace, last month. Still, it managed to secure yet another glowing profile, this time in Forbes.

    Jobs

    Launch Angels, a group that oversees alumni funds at Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, and MIT, is looking for a managing partner for its University of Pennsylvania alumni venture fund. The job is in Philadelphia.

    Essential Reads

    The billionaire chairman of China’s LeEco says his technology empire is running out of cash. Bloomberg has more here.

    Here’s who Goldman Sachs thinks you should pay attention to this year.

    Alphabet’s investment arm, Google Capital, quietly made an investment in Snapchat parent company, Snap Inc.  The investment was only revealed after Google Capital rebranded itself to CapitalG on Friday and added the Snapchat logo to its portfolio page.

    Uber is doubling down on its second business, UberEats. But UberEats has run into conflict with another new business, UberRush, and both programs have themselves run into resistance from the people running Uber’s core ride-sharing business, especially during peak ride-sharing times at night. The Information reports here.

    Speaking of Uber, at least two investment banks  — JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank — passed on selling shares of Uber to their high-net worth clients — shares eventually sold by other banks in January — because the ride-share company wasn’t willing to provide financial details about its business. Bloomberg has the story here.

    Tesla’s network of Superchargers have so far offered free, unlimited use to drivers of Tesla vehicles, but that was never going to last forever.

    Why is Benedict Cumberbatch so hot?

    Tweaking Kendall Jenner’s Instagram.

    Retail Therapy

    Bomber jackets galore. (Note: not an endorsement.)

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: November 4, 2016

    Friday! Hope you have a terrific weekend, everyone!

    —–

    Top News in the A.M

    Google yesterday formally rejected European Union antitrust charges of unfairly promoting its shopping service and blocking rivals in online search advertising. Reuters has more here.

    GoPro‘s stock took a 22 percent nosedive after the company reported dismal earnings. TechCrunch has more here.

    —–

    Cannabis Investor Privateer Holdings Adds Another $40M in Funding

    In just five days, nine states will vote on marijuana legalization measures, so it’s perhaps not a surprise that the five-year-old, Seattle-based marijuana private equity investor Privateer Holdings just raised $40 million in convertible debt from undisclosed investors.

    Cowen and Co. is predicting that within 10 years, legal pot sales will hit $50 billion in the U.S., up from $6 billion today.

    In an interview yesterday with Reuters, Privateer CEO Brendan Kennedy said he’s hoping his firm’s newest round of funding will reach $100 million but that many interested investors are waiting to see what happens this Tuesday. Those who provided the company with that $40 million will receive a 15 percent discount when they get equity in Privateer, he added.

    Privateer has so far raised $122 million altogether. Earlier investors include Founders Fund, which led the company’s $75 million Series B round in March 2015, and Subversive Capital.

    The company, which primarily invests in U.S. companies, owns or has stakes in at least three companies, including Leafly, a cannabis website and mobile application centered around user-generated reviews of cannabis strains, products and dispensaries. Another bet is Tilray, a startup that provides pharmaceutical-grade cannabis products to patients, researchers, pharmacies and governments around the world from a $25 million, federally licensed facility in British Columbia. The company is also a major stakeholder in Marley Natural, a cannabis lifestyle brand that makes, among other things, body oil infused with cold-pressed hemp seed oil and Jamaican botanicals. (In 2014, Privateer signed a 30-year licensing deal with the late musician Bob Marley’s family to launch the brand.)

    Privateer Holdings isn’t the only cannabis-focused fund, but it’s among few (so far).

    More here.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Apartment List, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based apartment rental marketplace that claims to feature five percent of listings in the U.S. on its site, is raising $30 million in new funding led by Canaan Partners, with participation from Matrix Partners, Tenaya Capital, Glynn Capital and Thumbtack co-founder Jonathan Swanson. TechCrunch has more here.

    Arex, a two-year-old, Dublin, Ireland-based startup that’s taking a marketplace approach to invoice financing for small and mid-size businesses, has raised €3 million ($3.3 million) in funding led by Finland’s Lifeline Ventures, alongside London’s LocalGlobe and unnamed angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.

    Borrowed & Blue, a five-year-old, Charlottesville, Va.-based wedding vendor marketplace, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Foundry Group, with participation from Foxhaven Asset Management, Accomplice, Galvanize Ventures and Service Provider Capital. More here.

    Droit Financial Technologies, a four-year-old, New York-based fintech company whose real-time decision-making engine provides point-of-execution compliance for sales and trading systems at financial institutions, has raised $16 million in Series A funding led by Goldman Sachs, Pivot Investment Partners and Wells Fargo, with participation from DRW. More here.

    Gfresh, a two-year-old, Shanghai-based mobile marketplace and logistics service that helps industry players buy, sell and transport live seafood as efficiently as possible throughout and beyond China, has raised $20 million in Series A funding from Alibaba affiliated Riverhill Fund and Legend Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

    iOmx Therapeutics, an eight-month-old, Martinsried, Germany-based biopharmaceutical company that’s developing cancer therapeutics, has raised €40 million ($44.5 million) in Series A financing funding co-led by MPM Capital and Sofinnova Partners, with participation from Wellington Partners and Merck Ventures. More here.

    Planetary Resources, a six-year-old, Seattle-based asteroid mining startup, has “struck pay dirt” in Luxembourg, reports TechCrunch. The tiny European country is directly investing €12 million in the company, with another €13 million coming from public investment bank SNCI. That comes to $27.7 million, American readers. TechCrunch has more here

    StyleTribute, a three-year-old, Singapore-based consumer-to-consumer marketplace focused on luxury clothing and accessories, has raised $1.1 million in Series A funding from an unnamed European family office and private individuals. Tech in Asia has more here.

    Sunflower Labs, a seven-month-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based startup that wants to build a “home awareness” system that monitors homes beyond the doorway through smart lights and a camera-equipped quadcopter that flies to where the action is(!), has raised $2.1 million led by General Catalyst Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

    Wish, the five-year-old, San Francisco-based mobile shopping app that’s become wildly popular by selling goods for next to nothing, is raising $500 million in new funding, including from Temasek, reports Recode. The company should be valued at more than $3.5 billion but less than $5 billion at the end of this process, the report adds.  More here.

    —-

    New Funds

    KEEN Venture Partners, a new venture capital firm co-founded by former Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen, has closed a €90 million ($100 million) debut fund to focus on companies with “breakaway momentum” in Europe, with a particular focus on the U.K., the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany. The firm, which will operate from London and Amsterdam, looks to make fairly concentrated bets despite its size. It says it’ll be investing between €5 million to €10 million per company. More here.

    —-

    People

    Steve Ballmer says smartphones strained his relationship with Bill Gates.

    Hedge fund manager Stevie Cohen is rehabilitating his tarnished image by focusing on aiding veterans.

    Elon Musk: It’s only a matter of time before AI takes down the internet.

    Chamath Palihapitiya on the opportunity in India.

    —–

    Jobs

    Route 66 Ventures is looking to add an analyst to its venture capital team. The job is in Old Town Alexandria, just outside of Washington.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Instacart workers are earning a lot less money after changes to the company’s pay structure — changes CEO Apoorva Mehta told BuzzFeed News are necessary for the company’s continued growth, but that hundreds of vocal Instacart shoppers say are threatening their livelihoods. More here.

    Good news for WeWork: Microsoft is moving 30 percent of its workforce in New York to co-working spaces to help it better connect with startups, and its doing it through WeWork memberships.

    And ICYMI: Confessions of a tech entrepreneur who lied to his investors.

    —–

    Detours

    2 Trainspotting(!).

    Interview scenarios at famous companies.

    The unlikely new refuge of the megarich.

    Oh, Buzzfeed.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Put that in your vaporizer pipe and smoke it.

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: November 3, 2016

    Well, our team couldn’t pull off a win last night, but we wholeheartedly agree with Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant, who told an interviewer yesterday that last night’s game was “one of the best games anybody is ever going to watch.” It truly was. And now we return to staring blankly out a window. [Sigh.]

    Hope you’re having a happy Thursday, everyone.:)

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    In an earnings call yesterday, Facebook showed Wall Street that even with more than 1 billion users, it can still post blockbuster growth. But one of the main drivers of its expansion will taper off next year, an executive said.

    Yesterday, the Fed signaled plans to hike interest rates next month for the first time this year.

    A court ruled today that any Brexit plan will have to be approved by all U.K. lawmakers, which has potentially changed the outlook for the country’s split with Europe.

    —–

    In Labdoor, Floodgate Sees an E-Commerce Giant in Disguise

    Fish oil. Protein shakes. Vitamin D pills. The packages look alike. Does it matter which you buy? It certainly does, according to Labdoor, a four-year-old, South San Francisco-based startup that tests about 50 supplements and energy drinks each month that it buys off retail shelves, then ranks for consumers.

    What it finds might intrigue you. Vitamin C degrades in water, for example, so any water-based Vitamin C tablets are basically worthless. More than a quarter of fish oil products are rancid on the shelves, even when their expiration date may be two years out. Many protein powders don’t live up to their claims, either. Some are largely composed of amino acids rather than the 100 percent whey protein isolate advertised on the label. Others  contain so much sodium that consumers confuse bloating for muscle mass.

    Why are these things allowed? FDA loopholes, says Labdoor founder and CEO Neil Thanedar, who says that in the case of protein powders, for example, manufacturers need only test the nitrogen content of their product. And to a nitrogen test, amino acids and why protein isolate look the same.

    Thanedar, who studied chemistry and molecular biology at the University of Michigan, seems almost destined to be taking on the $36 billion-dollar-per-year supplements industry. He says his father, Shri, ran testing labs his entire life, and he was intrigued from a young age in the science behind the labs. In fact, though his father had retired by the time Thanedar was graduating from college, he pulled him back into the business. “I decided I wanted to start a lab instead of get a job, so I kind of wrangled him in and we ran it together for three years and now he runs that lab independently” in Michigan, says Thanedar.

    The reason he left to start Labdoor, he says, centers on the work the lab did for supplement companies, many of which looked to sabotage their competitors by sending competing products for testing. “They’d ship stuff and ask what’s wrong with it. We’d see energy drinks with caffeine levels that featured well over 200 milligrams per each two-once shot, or protein products with lead, or fish oil with half as much omega-3 [fatty acids] as companies were claiming.”

    While lucrative, Thanedar saw an opportunity to cater to customers and let them know what, exactly, it is that they’re ingesting.

    Investors are gobbling it up, too. Labdoor just closed on $3.4 million in Series A funding led by Floodgate, with participation from Correlation Ventures, Fyrfly, Zeno Ventures, Heroic VC, and Seabed VC. The company has now raised $6.6 million altogether, including from seed investors Mark Cuban, Rock Health, and Y Combinator. (Labdoor passed through Rock Health and Y Combinator’s accelerator programs in 2012 and 2015, respectively.)

    More here.

    New Fundings

    Atomized, a three-year-old Atlanta, Ga.-based visual content marketing calendar for brands and creative agencies, has raised $2.5 million in seed funding, including from Paul Ollinger, a former West Coast sales VP at Facebook. More here.

    Catchpoint, an eight-year-old, New York-based digital performance analytics platform, has raised $22.5 million in Series C funding led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from earlier backer Battery Ventures. More here.

    Convertr Media, a five-year-old, London-based customer acquisition management company, has raised £3 million ($3.7 million) in Series A funding from Albion Ventures. More here.

    DJiT, the 7.5-year-old, Paris-based startup behind a popular DJ app and, more recently, a hardware device called Mixfader, has raised $2.6 million co-led by XLR Capital and Bpifrance, with participation from individuals who include David Guetta’s manager Jean-Charles Carré and DJ Martin Solveig. TechCrunch has more here.

    The Future Group, a three-year-old, Oslo, Norway-based social entertainment platform that blends virtual interactivity with TV, has raised $20 million in Series C funding from Ferd and Aker ASA, along with dozens of angel investors. Tech.eu has more here.

    German Autolabs, a seven-month-old, Berlin-based startup that’s using AI to develop speech and gesture recognition software to keep drivers safe on the road, has raised €2 million ($2.2 million) in seed funding from Target Partnersand business angels. Tech.eu has more here.

    Gousto, a four-year-old, London-based startup that delivers recipe ingredients to allow users to create meals at home, has raised £10 million ($12.5 million) in new funding from BGF Ventures, Unilever Ventures, MMC Ventures, Angel CoFund, and Barclays. More here.

    Hollar, a year-old, Santa Monica Ca.-based startup offering dollar store-like finds in the form of a mobile app, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, with participation by Comcast Ventures, Greycroft Partners, and earlier backers Lightspeed Venture Partners, Index Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, and Pritzker Group. The company has now raised $47.5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

    Indio, a five-month-old, San Francisco-based commercial insurance platform for brokers, has raised $2 million in seed funding from New Enterprise Associates, Compound, Merus Capital, 500 Startups, and insurance carrier Hiscox. Insurance Journal has more here.

    ObEN, a 2.5-year-old, Pasadena, Ca.-based developer of artificial intelligence technology to combine a person’s image and voice to create virtual reality and augmented reality experiences, has raised $7.7 million in Series A funding led by CrestValue Capital, with participation from Cybernaut Westlake Partners, Leaguer Venture Investment, Third Wave Digital, Dream Maker Entertainment, CEO Gordon Cheng, Cameron Pace Group China and Idealab. More here.

    Owlet Baby Care, a 3.5-year-old, Lehi, Ut.-based maker of a baby monitor that includes heart rate and oxygen level measurements, has raised $15 million from the National Institutes of Health, Trilogy Equity Partners, the Amazon Alexa Fund, RTP-HC, Capital Integral, Broadway Angels, and earlier backers Eclipse and Eniac. The company has now raised $25 million altogether. More here.

    pi-top, a two-year-old, London-based learn-to-code startup, has raised  £3.5 million ($4.3 million) in Series A funding led by Hambro Perks, with participation from Committed Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

    PlushCare, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based telehealth company that invites patients to be diagnosed, treated, and prescribed medication by U.S. doctors via phone, has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by GGV Capital, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Exponent. Vator has more here.

    Recondo, a 10-year-old, Greenwood Village, Co.-based company that makes revenue cycle management software, has raised $16 million in debt and equity. The round was led by Lemhi Ventures, with Bridge Capital serving as the debt partner. More here.

    SatixFy, a four-year-old, Israel-based satellite communications startup that’s designing its own silicon chips, has raised $25 million led by Catalyst CEL Fund. Reuters has more here.

    Silvair, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based smart lighting platform, has raised $12 million in Series A funding from Trigon TFI, Digital Garage, CyberAgent Ventures, and New Europe Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

    Zarget, a 1.5-year-old, Walnut, Ca.-based marketing automation platform, has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia India, with participation from earlier backers Accel Partners and Matrix Partners. VentureBeat has more here.

    Zipongo, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based personalized digital nutrition platform, has raised $18 million in Series B funding led by Mayfield, with participation from Excel Venture Management.The company has now raised $28 million altogether. More here.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Jubilee Capital Management, a year-old, Singapore-based cross-border venture firm that looks for deals in the U.S., China, and Asia Pacific, has held a first close of $30 million on a fund that is targeting $100 million. DealStreetAsia has more here.

    Relay Ventures, a 10-year-old, Toronto- and Menlo Park, Ca.-based early-stage venture firm, has closed its third fund with $150 million in commitments. It had closed its previous fund with the same amount in 2012. We have more here for you over at TechCrunch.

    —-

    Exits

    Rocket Internet-backed food delivery business Foodpanda is divesting yet more of its international holdings. Today the company announced that it would sell Russian Delivery Club, its operations in Russia, to Mail.Ru Group for $100 million. TechCrunch has more here.

    Intel has made another acquisition to build out its virtual reality strategy and business: the chip giant has acquired a startup called VOKE, which specializes in immersive sports video experiences and counts both Intel and the Sacramento Kings among its investors. Terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.

    —–

    People

    Marvell Technology Group, a Santa Clara-based fabless chip company, plans to cut 900 jobs, from 5,300, and sell off non-core assets in an effort to bring its costs down. The Silicon Valley Business Journal has more here.

    Alphabet chair Eric Schmidt helped early development of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, according to newly released emails from WikiLeaks, suggesting the company could retain close ties to a Clinton White House. The WSJ has more here.

    —–

    Jobs

    SeedInvest, a three-year-old equity crowdfunding platform, is looking to hire a director to lead its venture capital sourcing team in New York. More here.

    —–

    Data

    Amazon’s investment in its own private label products has been paying off, according to new data out today.

    Wing VC digs into the state of the IoT industry, taking a look at the 2335 deals that took place between early 2103 and August to suss out where we are and what’s coming.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Google‘s “Home” is here, and it wants to kick Amazon’s Echo to the street.

    Stealing a page from Apple, Slack took out a full-page ad in the New York Times to welcome its new competitor, Microsoft.

    Why light bulbs may be the next hacker target.

    —–

    Detours

    Honest diversity in tech report.

    Oh, baby pandas are such little rascals.

    Top designers’ favorite notebooks.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Quadsaw. (Can someone explain to us how this thing works?)

    Connie

  • In Labdoor, Floodgate Sees an E-Commerce Giant in Disguise

    neil_a_01Fish oil. Protein shakes. Vitamin D pills. The packages look alike. Does it matter which you buy? It certainly does, according to Labdoor, a four-year-old, South San Francisco-based startup that tests about 50 supplements and energy drinks each month that it buys off retail shelves, then ranks for consumers.

    What it finds might intrigue you. Vitamin C degrades in water, for example, so any water-based Vitamin C tablets are basically worthless. More than a quarter of fish oil products are rancid on the shelves, even when their expiration date may be two years out. Many protein powders don’t live up to their claims, either. Some are largely composed of amino acids rather than the 100 percent whey protein isolate advertised on the label. Others  contain so much sodium that consumers confuse bloating for muscle mass.

    Why are these things allowed? FDA loopholes, says Labdoor founder and CEO Neil Thanedar, who says that in the case of protein powders, for example, manufacturers need only test the nitrogen content of their product. And to a nitrogen test, amino acids and why protein isolate look the same.

    Thanedar, who studied chemistry and molecular biology at the University of Michigan, seems almost destined to be taking on the $36 billion-dollar-per-year supplements industry. He says his father, Shri, ran testing labs his entire life, and he was intrigued from a young age in the science behind the labs. In fact, though his father had retired by the time Thanedar was graduating from college, he pulled him back into the business. “I decided I wanted to start a lab instead of get a job, so I kind of wrangled him in and we ran it together for three years and now he runs that lab independently” in Michigan, says Thanedar.

    The reason he left to start Labdoor, he says, centers on the work the lab did for supplement companies, many of which looked to sabotage their competitors by sending competing products for testing. “They’d ship stuff and ask what’s wrong with it. We’d see energy drinks with caffeine levels that featured well over 200 milligrams per each two-once shot, or protein products with lead, or fish oil with half as much omega-3 [fatty acids] as companies were claiming.”

    While lucrative, Thanedar saw an opportunity to cater to customers and let them know what, exactly, it is that they’re ingesting.

    Investors are gobbling it up, too. Labdoor just closed on $3.4 million in Series A funding led by Floodgate, with participation from Correlation Ventures, Fyrfly, Zeno Ventures, Heroic VC, and Seabed VC. The company has now raised $6.6 million altogether, including from seed investors Mark Cuban, Rock Health, and Y Combinator. (Labdoor passed through Rock Health and Y Combinator’s accelerator programs in 2012 and 2015, respectively.)

    More here.

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: November 2, 2016

    What a game last night! We weren’t so crazy about the outcome (especially after we’d talked trash to our native Chicagoan friends), but we’re excited to catch game seven tonight. Go, Tribe! Please!

    No column today.

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Microsoft unveiled its new Slack competitor this morning. You can learn more here.

    It’s official. Broadcom bought Brocade Communications Systems today for $5.9 billion in an all-cash transaction, giving the company a strong offering in networking storage business — and providing Brocade shareholders with a tidy 47 percent premium over Brocade’s closing price on Friday.

    Facebook is reporting its third quarter earnings today, and Wall Street’s expectations are waaay up here.

    Uber just simplified its app.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Ando, a year-old, New York-based delivery-only restaurant founded by Momofuku chef David Chang, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led Forerunner Ventures, with participation from BoxGroup, Wildcat Venture Partners, and angel investors that include Jimmy Fallon, Aziz Ansari, Elizabeth Cutler and William Lauder. The New York Times has more here.

    Atlas Recall, a 1.5-year-old, Seattle-based search engine for users’ entire digital life, has raised $20.7 million from Microsoft, Nathan Myhrvold, and Aspect Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

    Axonify, a five-year-old, Waterloo, Ontario-based next-gen corporate learning platform, has raised $27 million in fresh funding led by JMI Equity and BDC Capital. More here.

    Biohaven Pharmaceutical, a two-year-old, New Haven, Cn.-based startup focused on treating orphan neurologic diseases, has raised $80 million in funding led by Venrock, with participation from RA Capital Management, Vivo Capital, Aisling Capital, Rock Springs Capital, and a long list of others. FinSMEs has more here.

    Catapult Health, a six-year-old, Dallas, Tex.-based preventive healthcare practice that brings tech-enabled checkups to worksites across the country, has raised $10 million in Series B funding, including from UCHealth and earlier investors in the company, including Health Enterprise Partners. More here.

    Fleetsmith, a 10-month-old, San Francisco-based company that manages apps, settings, and security preferences across a company’s fleet of Mac computers, has raised $3.1 million in seed funding led by Index Ventures and Harrison Metal. Individual investors participating in the round include Arash Ferdowsi, co-founder of Dropbox; Kevin Mahaffey, founder and CTO of Lookout; Scott Cannon, co-founder of Mailbox; and Zane Lackey, co-founder and CSO of Signal Sciences. VentureBeat has more here.

    Genos, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based company that aims to build a large cohort of individuals with sequenced exomes and genomes and to make their data available to the research community for a fee, has raised $6 million in funding from Patrick Soon-Shiong’s NantWorks, says Fortune. More here.

    Interana, a three-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based behavioral analytics company, has raised $18 million in funding in a round led by Vertex Ventures, with participation from Battery Ventures, Data Collective, Allen Company, Fuel Capital, and Index Ventures. The company has now raised $46.2 million altogether. More here.

    MiRagen Therapeutics, a nine-year-old, Boulder-based biotech company focused on treating cardiovascular and muscle diseases, has raised $40 million in funding from investors, including Fidelity Management and Research Company, Brace Pharma Capital, Atlas Venture, Boulder Ventures,JAFCO, MP Healthcare Venture Management, MRL Ventures, and Remeditex Ventures. MiRagen also announced has agreed to merge with publicly traded Signal Genetics, a Carlsbad, Ca.-based molecular diagnostic company, in a bid to go public. Xconomy explains how here.

    Octane, a newly formed, San Francisco-based bot-generating startup (it plans to cater to businesses that don’t have developers adept at creating bots), has raised $1.5 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst Partners. More here.

    Otonomo, a 1.5-year-old, Tel Aviv-based connected car startup, has raised $12 million in Series A funding. Bessemer Venture Partners and StageOne Ventures led the round, with participation from Maniv Mobility and LocalGlobe. VentureBeat has more here.

    Relayr, a three-year-old, Berlin-based startup creating technologies for industrial customers to harness the Internet of Things (its sensors monitor equipment), has raised $23 million in funding led by Munich Re Group, with participation from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Munich Venture Partners. The WSJ has more here.

    Spongecell, a 10-year-old, New York City-based ad tech company, has raised $10.5 million in equity and debt financing. Earlier investor Safeguard Scientifics participated and was joined by venture debt company Pivotal Capital. FinSMEs has more here.

    Teforia, a two-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based company that makes an internet-connected tea infuser that can brew teas from the company’s own line of pre-packed “Sips,” or from loose leaf teas, has raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Translink Capital. Other investors include Mousse Partners, Correlation Ventures, and earlier backers Upfront Ventures and Lemnos Labs. TechCrunch has more here.

    Turnstone Biologics, a 1.5-year-old, Ottawa, Ontario-based biotech company that develops viral immunotherapies to treat cancer, has raised $41.4 million in Series B funding led by OrbiMed, with participation from F-Prime Capital Partners, and earlier backers FACIT and Versant Ventures. More here.

    ValiMail, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that helps enterprises protect their inboxes by making it easier to authenticate incoming emails, has raised $12 million in Series A funding by Shasta Ventures, with follow-on investments from Flybridge Capital and Bloomberg Beta. The company has now raised $13.5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

    Voyager Labs, a four-year-old, Israel-based artificial intelligence company, has emerged from stealth mode with $100 million in funding from investors that include OCAPAC Holding Company, Horizons Ventures, and angels, including British investor Sir Ronald Cohen and Lloyd Dorfman, who founded the Travelex foreign currency retailer. Haaretz has more here.

    Xiaozhu.com, a four-year-old, Beijing-based booking website for daily rental and short-term rooms, has reportedly raised $65 million in previously undisclosed Series C and Series D funding, including from Capital Today, Joy Capital, Bertelsmann Asia Investments, Morningside Ventures, and Heyu Capital. DealStreetAsia has more here.

    —–

    Exits

    Spotify, the music streaming service, has acquired four-year-old, San Francisco-based Preact, a cloud-based platform and service developed for companies that operate subscription models to reduce their churn and build up their numbers. Terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed. Preact had raised roughy $13 million from investors, including Trinity Ventures, Launchpad LA, and Atlas Venture. TechCrunch has more here.

    Talkshow, an app that launched in April to allow anyone to exchange text messages in front of an audience, is being shut down. Founder (and former Twitter VP of product) Michael Sippey raised $2.3 million from investors last year, and sources hint he has more left for other projects. More here.

    —–

    People

    Gawker founder Nick Denton reflects on the “hard peace” he just negotiated with Hulk Hogan. Denton doesn’t dive into details, but court documents show Gawker is paying Hogan $31 million to settle the case against it, plus part of the proceeds of Gawker’s $135 million sale to Univision. CNBC has more here.

    There are leadership changes afoot at Highway1, the hardware accelerator arm of PCH. Co-founder Brady Forrest is stepping down from his role as the accelerator’s top banana and transitioning into an advisor role. (Sounds like he has other projects lined up.) Meanwhile, Kurt Dammermann, co-founder of PCH Lime Lab, the company’s design/engineering division, will begin leading Highway1 beginning next month. More here.

    Investor Chris Sacca had some rather harsh words about Peter Thiel on Twitter yesterday. (I think it’s safe to assume we won’t see these two teaming up anytime soon.)

    Forget headphones and earbuds. Will.i.am wants to put buttons in your ear.

    —–

    Jobs

    Chain, a two-year-old, blockchain platform for enterprises that has raised around $43 million, including from RRE Ventures, is looking to hire a VP of corporate development. The job is in San Francisco.

    —–

    Data

    Accenture says one-third of all corporate cyber attacks succeed, according to a new survey of 2,000 security officers representing large companies around the world. More here.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Grab CEO Anthony Tan is bracing for a fight of “biblical proportions” with Uber.

    Amid concerns about a slowdown in the growth of the Chinese economy, Alibaba is showing that — for now — business on its platforms is holding steady.

    Free shipping is a top priority for online shoppers, but many merchants are struggling to keep up with the costs.

    —–

    Detours

    The thrilling competence of Joe Maddon and Terry Francona.

    On Wall Street, a high-ranking few still eschew email.

    Apparently, we’ve been treating appendicitis wrong for years. (Wish we’d known this when we were 18!)

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Tailgating will never be the same with Shaze, the ultimate lounge chair.

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: November 1, 2016

    Hi, happy Tuesday, everyone (and happy November). Not sure what it says about us that we woke up thinking it was Thursday(!).

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Gannett, publisher of USA Today among other properties, has ended its monthslong attempt acquire its rival, Chicago Tribune publisher Tronc, over terms it deemed to be unacceptable. The WSJ has more here.

    Fantasy sports sites DraftKings and FanDuel are closing in on a merger, says Recode, which reports that FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles will become chairman of the new company and DraftKings CEO Jason Robins will run the entity as CEO, if and when a deal gets done.

    —–

    How to Sell Your Company to China

    Michael Levit knows a thing or two about China. As an executive vice president at the e-commerce services company Vendio, he stayed with the company for six months after Alibaba agreed to acquire it in 2010. (It marked the Chinese conglomerate’s first U.S. acquisition.)

    Levit says it was long enough to develop a consumer shopping project called Dealio that Alibaba had no interest in owning. So, he helped spin it off, renamed it Spigot, and eventually turned it into an application advertising company. (Users installing one app would receive a suggestion for another.) Roughly a year ago, Spigot also sold to a China-based company, publicly traded Genimous, for a reported $252 million.

    Now Levit is taking the lessons learned from those experiences, and turning it into his next startup. Specifically, he has teamed up with longtime friend and advisor Rick Marini — cofounder of Tickle (sold to Monster) and Branch (picked up by Hearst) —  to form Dragonfly Partners, a new advisory firm that’s matching U.S. companies looking to get sold with China-based companies that are hungry for revenue.

    They’ve also brought in a third partner, Gary Hsueh, who was most recently Yahoo’s global head of search partnerships and an investment banker with Goldman Sachs before that.

    I sat down with Levit yesterday to learn more about the business, and how it might help Silicon Valley founders who might be ready to hand over the keys.

    TC: This business sounds perfectly timed. What inspired it?

    ML: Selling Spigot was wonderful, but the sales process was very challenging and tedious, and partially that’s because there aren’t many people who understand cross-border transactions and specifically how you take a U.S. company and sell it to China. Thankfully, I still have a number of friends from my Alibaba days, including David Wei (who was Alibaba’s CEO when Vendio was bought). He remains one of my mentors and helped us through that process.

    TC: How many companies have you been working with, and have you sold anything yet?

    ML: The first two companies that we advised informally are [the ad tech company] Media.net, sold to a Beijing-based company called Miteno for $900 million in August, and [mobile ad tech company] AppLovin, which sold last month to the private equity firm Orient Hontai Capital for $1.4 billion.

    TC: You’re not an investment bank, but it sounds like you’re not far afield from one.

    We’re akin to being an investment bank, though frankly there are a lot of people on the ground in China who are formal investment bankers [working with us]. What [we’re more focused on is talking with entrepreneurs about] whether China is real, what do the numbers look like, what do [China-based companies] want, how do you create your financial forecast, how do you create the right PowerPoint presentation, and help put those materials together before you even meet with a bank. Then we make the introduction to the bank.

    TC: Which banks are you working with?

    ML: There are a couple that we work with, including CV Capital. We’re also starting to work with [the private equity firm] CSC Venture Capital [the private equity firm that has committed to invest $400 million on the AngelList platform].

    You have massive pools of capital in China that want to be deployed in the U.S.; you have entrepreneurs in the U.S. who want do business in China. What’s missing is a level of trust and understanding of how the two sides do business with each other. CSC solved that problem in part by partnering with AngelList. We’re doing something similar for much bigger deals and for M&A.

    Frankly, some companies in China will promise you the sun, moon, and stars, and won’t give you any of it. Conversely, there are other companies that are soft-stated and that you’d never find and that have $90 billion [in market cap]. There are multiple entities like that because of the scale of China. We want to be the trusted layer that helps founders find those entities.

    More here.

    —–

    New Fundings

    AirPR, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based company that provides analytics, insights, and measurement tools to the PR industry, has raised $5 million in Series B funding led by Storm Ventures, with participation from Salesforce Ventures and earlier backers Mohr Davidow and Correlation Ventures. The company has now raised $10 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

    Cirina, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based startup developing non-invasive tests for early cancer screening, has disclosed $12 million in Series A funding led by Shanghai-based Decheng Capital. More here.

    Classy, a 10.5-year-old, San Diego, Ca.-based fundraising platform for social enterprises, has raised $30 million in Series C funding led by JMI Equity, a growth equity firm. Earlier backers Bullpen Capital, Galileo Partners, Mithril Capital Management and Salesforce Ventures also joined the round. TechCrunch has more here.

    Cross River Bank, an eight-year-old, Fort Lee, N.J.-based community bank that’s become a major player in the marketplacing lending space, has raised $28 million in growth-equity funding led by Battery Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Ribbit Capital. The WSJ has more here.

    CounterTack, a nine-year-old, Waltham, Ma.-based maker of endpoint detection and response technologies for the enterprise, has raised $10 million in new funding from TenEleven Ventures, Fairhaven Capital, Goldman Sachs, Razor’s Edge, ManTech International, Siemens Venture Partners, Alcatel-Lucent, EDBI, and Mitsui & Co. More here.

    Emissary, a three-year-old, New York-based service that connects salespeople with executives at companies they are targeting, has raised $10 million in Series A funding co-led by Canaan Partners and G20 Ventures. The company has now raised $12 million altogether. More here.

    Freshdesk, a five-year-old, San Bruno, Ca.-based startup whose software enables companies to provide multichannel support via phone, email, chat, website, social networks and mobile apps, has raised $55 million in new funding led by Sequoia Capital India, with participation from earlier backer Accel Partners. The company has now raised $150.5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

    Gauzy, a seven-year-old, Tel Aviv-based startup that develops liquid crystals that can double as both glass surfaces and computer screens, has raised $7 million in Series B funding led by Lazarus Fund. More here.

    GoMeta, a three-month-old, San Diego-based augmented reality startup started by former Google group product manager Dmitry Shapiro, has raised $2 million in seed funding from angel investors, including former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, Science Inc. cofounder Mike Jones and others. Variety has more here.

    Graphcore, a nearly year-old, Bristol, England-based company whose server hardware system aims to accelerates the processing of complex machine learning models, has raised $30 million in Series A funding led by Robert Bosch Venture Capital, with participation from Samsung Catalyst Fund, Amadeus Capital Partners, C4 Ventures, Draper Esprit, Foundation Capital, and Pitango Venture Capital. More here.

    Headset, a 1.5-year-old, Seattle-based market research and analysis service for the marijuana industry, has raised $1 million in seed funding, says Fortune. More here.

    Hubble Contacts, a six-month-old, New York-based startup offering more affordable disposable contact lenses, has raised $7.2 million in seed funding from Founders Fund, Greycroft Partners, Wildcat Capital Management, Two River, and two individual angels: Oscar Salazar,  a cofounder of Uber, and Brian Levy, formerly Bausch and Lomb’s chief medical officer. TechCrunch has more here.

    Hungry Marketplace, a months-old, Arlington, Va.-based service that connects professional chefs with consumers, has raised $2.5 million in seed funding from private equity firm Timeless Capital. More here.

    Ministry Brands, a four-year-old, Lenoir, Tn.-based company that sells software as a service to churches and private schools, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Insight Venture Partners, in a transaction valued at north of $1 billion, according to the WSJ. The company already had backing from Genstar Capital and Providence Equity Partners. More here.

    Nurx, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based drug prescription and delivery app, has raised $5.3 million in Series A funding led by Union Square Ventures, with participation from six Y Combinator partners and other angel investors. Mashable has more here.

    Lilt, a 1.5-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based machine translation service, has raised $2.35 million in seed funding co-led by Redpoint Ventures and Zetta Venture Partners, with participation from XSeed Capital. VentureBeat has more here.

    Ola, the six-year-old, India-based ride hailing startup, is reportedly in talks to raise about $600 million and may close the deal by year end, says Bloomberg. More here.

    Paktor, a three-year-old, Singapore-based Tinder-like dating app, has raised $32.5 million in new funding led by U.S.-Asia-based K2 Global and Indonesia’s MNC Media Group, with participation from other, undisclosed investors. Paktor’s previous investors include Yahoo Japan-affiliate YJ Capital and Singapore’s Vertex Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

    Postmates, a five-year-old San Francisco-based on-demand delivery company, has officially closed its newest round of funding with $140 million led by Founders Fund. (TechCrunch had reported the company was fundraising last month, in case this sounds familiar.) The company’s post-money valuation is $600 million. More here.

    Promethera Biosciences, a seven-year-old, Belgium-based cell therapy and regenerative medicine company focused on treating liver diseases, has raised €10 million ($11 million) in additional Series C funding round. Investors include Vesalius Biocapital, SRIW, Fund+, MGI Global Fund, Mitsui & Co., Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, SMS Investments, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Cell Innovation Partners, and LifeLiver in South Korea. More here.

    Terra’s Kitchen, a two-year-old, Baltimore-based fresh meal delivery kit startup that uses eco-friendly packaging, has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from KiwiVenture Partners. More here.

    Tiff’s Treats, a 16-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based warm cookie delivery company, has raised a fresh $11 million in funding, led by Dallas-based CIC Partners. The company had previously raised $14 million in August 2014. More here.

    uBiome, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based company whose platform helps users understand their microbiomes, including through testing the DNA of microorganisms found in their fecal matter, has raised $22 million in Series B funding led by 8VC, with participation from Slow Ventures, Stanford’s StartX Fund, and various angel investors. The company has now raised $27 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

    Unbabel, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based translation startup, has raised $5 million in Series A funding co-led by Notion Capital and Caixa Capital.

    —-

    New Funds

    Israel-based equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd is launching a sector specific fund fully focused on digital health and touting it as Israel’s first fund with such a focus. The fund, called OurCrowd Qure, will invest in early-stage startups at the seed and Series A level. Fundraising is starting now, with a target of $50 million for the first raise. TechCrunch has more here.

    —–

    Exits

    Nitrous.io, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based cloud development platform, is shutting down. The company had raised roughly $7 million from investors, including from Bessemer Venture Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

    —–

    People

    Brad Garlinghouse, who joined the payments company Ripple as president and COO last year, is becoming its CEO, as longtime CEO Chris Larsen stepping into a role as executive chairman of the company. Garlinghouse was previously CEO of Hightail, as well as a former AOL and Yahoo senior executive. TechCrunch has more here.

    San Francisco’s most expensive home on the market has been sold to 30-year-old tech entrepreneur Kyle Vogt, who paid more than $21 million. Vogt cofounded the autonomous driving startup Cruise Automation, which sold to GM back in March for reportedly more than $1 billion. Vogt also founded the “ESPN of gaming,” Twitch, which sold to Amazon for $1.1 billion in 2013. NBC Bay Area has more here.

    —–

    Jobs

    Prehype, a six-year-old venture development firm in New York, is looking to hire a venture associate. More here.

    —–

    (Alarming) Data

    Female CEOS get more tough press than male leaders do, according to a new analysis by the Rockefeller Foundation and public-relations and research firm Global Strategy Group. It finds that nearly 80 percent of media stories about companies in crisis cited the CEO as a source of blame when the company’s leader was a woman, compared with 31 percent of stories assigning blame to male CEOs. The WSJ has more here.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Palantir Technologies has won a second chance at a contract to build the next phase of the U.S. Army’s integrated combat data system, an undertaking potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

    “In a stunt that begs to be spoofed by Mike Judge for his HBO series ‘Silicon Valley,’ Menlo Ventures portfolio company Flirtey delivered socks from the sky above the Rosewood Hotel during the firm’s annual limited partner meeting,” reports TechCrunch. More here.

    —–

    Detours

    LeBron James hosts a Warriors-themed Halloween party.

    How hitting the snooze button messes with your mind.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Mahabis slippers. They got soles. (H/T: Uncrate.)

    Connie

  • Serial Entrepreneurs Rick Marini and Michael Levit are Selling Companies to China — for a Lot of Money

    img_0755Michael Levit knows a thing or two about China. As an executive vice president at the e-commerce services company Vendio, he stayed with the company for six months after Alibaba agreed to acquire it in 2010. (It marked the Chinese conglomerate’s first U.S. acquisition.)

    Levit says it was long enough to develop a consumer shopping project called Dealio that Alibaba had no interest in owning. So, he helped spin it off, renamed it Spigot, and eventually turned it into an application advertising company. (Users installing one app would receive a suggestion for another.) Roughly a year ago, Spigot also sold to a China-based company, publicly traded Genimous, for a reported $252 million.

    Now Levit is taking the lessons learned from those experiences, and turning it into his next startup. Specifically, he has teamed up with longtime friend and advisor Rick Marini — cofounder of Tickle (sold to Monster) and Branch (picked up by Hearst) —  to form Dragonfly Partners, a new advisory firm that’s matching U.S. companies looking to get sold with China-based companies that are hungry for revenue.

    They’ve also brought in a third partner, Gary Hsueh, who was most recently Yahoo’s global head of search partnerships and an investment banker with Goldman Sachs before that.

    I sat down with Levit yesterday to learn more about the business, and how it might help Silicon Valley founders who might be ready to hand over the keys.

    TC: This business sounds perfectly timed. What inspired it?

    ML: Selling Spigot was wonderful, but the sales process was very challenging and tedious, and partially that’s because there aren’t many people who understand cross-border transactions and specifically how you take a U.S. company and sell it to China. Thankfully, I still have a number of friends from my Alibaba days, including David Wei (who was Alibaba’s CEO when Vendio was bought). He remains one of my mentors and helped us through that process.

    TC: How many companies have you been working with, and have you sold anything yet?

    ML: The first two companies that we advised informally are [the ad tech company] Media.net, sold to a Beijing-based company called Miteno for $900 million in August, and [mobile ad tech company] AppLovin, which sold last month to the private equity firm Orient Hontai Capital for $1.4 billion.

    TC: You’re not an investment bank, but it sounds like you’re not far afield from one.

    We’re akin to being an investment bank, though frankly there are a lot of people on the ground in China who are formal investment bankers [working with us]. What [we’re more focused on is talking with entrepreneurs about] whether China is real, what do the numbers look like, what do [China-based companies] want, how do you create your financial forecast, how do you create the right PowerPoint presentation, and help put those materials together before you even meet with a bank. Then we make the introduction to the bank.

    TC: Which banks are you working with?

    ML: There are a couple that we work with, including CV Capital. We’re also starting to work with [the private equity firm] CSC Venture Capital [the private equity firm that has committed to invest $400 million on the AngelList platform].

    You have massive pools of capital in China that want to be deployed in the U.S.; you have entrepreneurs in the U.S. who want do business in China. What’s missing is a level of trust and understanding of how the two sides do business with each other. CSC solved that problem in part by partnering with AngelList. We’re doing something similar for much bigger deals and for M&A.

    Frankly, some companies in China will promise you the sun, moon, and stars, and won’t give you any of it. Conversely, there are other companies that are soft-stated and that you’d never find and that have $90 billion [in market cap]. There are multiple entities like that because of the scale of China. We want to be the trusted layer that helps founders find those entities.

    More here.

    (Pictured above: Michael Levit.)

    Connie

    , ,

  • StrictlyVC: October 31, 2016

    Good morning, everyone. We’re running over to a Halloween parade that we know will feature at least one San Francisco 49er and one “infected zombie chimp” so today’s edition is a tad short on funding news, but we’ll have more for you tomorrow. Happy Halloween; enjoy your office costume parties.:)

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Massive telecom merger alert. To expand its fiber optic network and high-speed data services, CenturyLink said this morning it will buy Level 3 Communications in for about $24 billion. Reuters has more here.

    —–

    In Speech, Peter Thiel Defends Idea of Trump Above Actual Candidate

    Billionaire investor Peter Thiel may have been trying to drum up more support for Republican candidate Donald Trump this morning at the National Press Club in Washington. But a 15-minute long speech he delivered sounded more like a plea to Americans to understand what’s so wrong with this country, rather than a case for Trump. His pitch: American is broken, and there’s nothing crazy about supporting change — despite Trump.

    He didn’t talk about Trump’s intellect, his command of the issues, or his suitability for the office of president.

    Instead, Thiel spoke at length about the condition of the U.S., citing a litany of statistics mean to alarm: 64 percent of people age 55 in the U.S have less than a year’s worth of savings. Healthcare costs are “10 times” the cost of “simple medicines” anywhere else in the world. College tuition has risen faster than the rate of inflation. Millennials expect their lives to be worse than the lives of their parents. Incomes are stagnant, with the median household making less money today than 17 years ago. The government is “wasting trillions of dollars of taxpayer money” on foreign wars in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia.

    Trump, argued Thiel, is a vote against the status quo, even while Thiel offered nary a detail about how Trump would address any of these issues.

    In many ways, follow-up questions that followed Thiel’s presentation were more interesting than the speech itself.

    Asked about Trump’s vulgar, decade-old comments about women that aired earlier this month, Thiel said they were in “extremely poor taste” and “extremely inappropriate” but he argued that Trump wouldn’t make the same comments today.

    Asked about his recent,  widely reported $1.25 million donation to Trump’s campaign, Thiel said he “didn’t think about it as much as I should have.” He noted that neither candidate’s campaign has been hugely successful on the fundraising front, adding that Trump specifically hasn’t raised much, so “I didn’t think he needed the money, and I hadn’t donated.”

    When the campaign finally asked him for help — apparently after it became clear that none was forthcoming — “I thought I’d go ahead and write a check,” Thiel said.

    Thiel was also asked about Trump’s personality traits and whether he is concerned about his temperament. Thiel mostly dodged the question, saying instead that when it comes to president, he’s more concerned with world view than temperament, and that he’s more worried about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, saying he thinks she has the propensity to get the U.S. into “more wars.”

    Asked about other government regulations, including around small businesses, Thiel said he thinks Trump “viscerally” understands them.

    What about Trump’s track record as a businessman? He has a “huge number of zeros” in his net worth, said Thiel.

    Pressed on what he thinks of Trump’s four (or more) bankruptcies, Thiel said he suspects that “real estate is very different than tech. It’s a fairly zero sum business — a very tough industry especially in big cities like Manhattan or San Francisco. I suspect in many ways what [Trump] did was par for the course in that context.”

    What about the tax returns that Trump has refused to admit? Here, Thiel suggested that government focuses too much on transparency, suggesting that it’s why we “in some ways have a less talented group running [for office] than 30 or 40 years ago.”

    More here.

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    New Fundings

    Everything But The House, an eight-year-old, Cincinnati, Oh.-based startup creating a digital marketplace for estate sales, has raised $41.5 million in new funding led by earlier backer Greenspring Associates, with participation from returning investors Greycroft Partners and Spark Capital. The company has now raised $84.5 million altogether. Fortune has the story here.

    Giphy, a 3.5-year-old, New York-based search engine for the short, looping video files, has raised a fresh $72 million in funding led by DFJ, with participation from Institutional Venture Partners, China Media Capital, and earlier backers Betaworks, Lightspeed Venture Partners and GV. The company has now raised roughly $150 million altogether, and is valued at $600 million, says the WSJ. More here.

    Riskalyze, a five-year-old, Sacramento, Ca.-based company whose software helps investment advisors assess their client’s risk tolerance and find investments that fit them, has raised $20 million in growth equity led by FTV Capital. More here.

    —-

    New Funds

    Chicago Ventures, a 3.5-year-old early-stage venture firm focused on startups in Chicago and the central U.S., has closed its second fund with $66 million. The firm has also added to its roster of “entrepreneur partners” and advisors, which now includes Signal’s Eric Lunt, OkCupid’s Sam Yagan, Trunk Club’s Brian Spaly, and SteelBrick’s Godard Abel. Chicago Ventures closed its debut fund with $40 million in 2013. The Chicago Tribune has more here.

    Third Rock Ventures, the 10-year-old, Boston-based firm focused on fields such as oncology, immunology, neurological disorders, cardiovascular and rare genetic diseases. has closed its fourth fund with $616 million. It’s the firm’s largest fund yet. The Boston Globe has more here.

    —–

    Exits

    Starbreeze, an 18-year-old, Stockholm-based game development studio that also makes a VR headset, has purchased Nozon, a Belgium-based visual effects studio for about $7.75 million. More here.

    —–

    People

    Justin Kan, Y Combinator partner, serial entrepreneur, and one of the internet’s most-loved reality stars, has started another venture called Whale, a video Q&A app. More here.

    —–

    Jobs

    Cisco‘s corporate development team is looking to hire a senior manager. The job is in San Jose, Ca.

    Energy Capital Partners, a year-old early-stage venture firm that’s focused primarily on energy technologies, is looking to hire an associate. The job is in New York.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Tesla unveiled new solar roof tiles on Friday and they look amazing. No one saw them coming, either.

    This past summer, Facebook made an unsuccessful bid to acquire Snow, a Snapchat-like service from Naver, the $25 billion-valued Korean firm behind chat app Line. TechCrunch has more here.

    A new study finds discrimination against women and black people by Uber and Lyft drivers.

    —–

    Detours

    Apparently, you can be asleep and awake at the same time.

    Forget bomb-sniffing dogs, we can now use spinach to detect explosives.

    A New York man just returned a book that was 42 years overdue.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    Even if you have more money than you know what to do with, this seems wrong.

    Connie

  • StrictlyVC: October 28, 2016

    Friday!

    Quick mention: Our next SVC event will be in San Francisco on February 8, so mark your calendars, babies! (We were shooting for December 1, but we couldn’t make the timing work. We do hope to see some of you the following week, at London Disrupt.) Details to come. If you’d like to get involved as a sponsor, let us know; we’d love to talk.

    See you Monday, everyone.:)

    —–

    Top News in the A.M.

    Apple, why do you hate us?

    —–

    Accel Cofounder Jim Swartz: It Hasn’t Burst, But It’s a Bubble All Right

    Earlier this week, the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, a “hub for entrepreneurship” in the center of Carnegie Mellon University’s Pittsburgh campus, was officially launched in an event attended by upwards of 600 students, alums, and professors. They’ll have even more to celebrate when construction on the 300,000 square-foot business school where it’s being housed is completed in 2018.

    At the center of all: Jim Swartz, who cofounded the storied venture firm Accel Partners in 1983 and who last year donated $31 million to CMU, where Swartz nabbed his master’s degree in 1966. The native Pennsylvanian says the gift is designed to help Pittsburgh cement its new role as a thriving tech center. (Google, Microsoft, and Uber are among a growing number of companies with local campuses.)

    We talked with Swartz earlier today about the donation, as well as whether he remains active on the venture scene, and, if so, what he makes of the current state of things. Our chat has been edited for length.

    TC: You founded Accel with Arthur Patterson in 1983. When did you step back from the firm, and do you still invest in startups?

    JS: It’s been a continuous process and I’m still involved to a significant degree. Arthur and I ran the firm, then we brought in Jim Breyer, and the three of us ran it, then he ran it, then we created an operations committee that ran it, and now there’s a fourth generation. But we’re still involved, [mentoring the VCs there], helping wherever we can with new projects, or selling our ways into things. We’re not under the gun anymore, though, which is a good feeling.

    TC: How active an angel investor are you?

    JS: I’m not San Francisco bubble crazy, but I’m reasonably active, funding two or three companies a year, something like that. I still look for really good technology and great people.

    TC: What do you make of the current environment?

    JS: It won’t end well. I’ve been at this since 1970 and Arthur and I have seen five or six cycles at this point. This one is prolonged for sure. In truth, I thought [the last bubble] was over in 1997 and let it run and thank goodness because we made a ton of money. I think the difference here is Sarbanes-Oxley, which has made it incredibly different and unsavory to take companies public. The regulatory environment is too difficult. Before, if you had $50 million in revenue and could show a profit, you could go public; today that number is what, $200 million, $300 million?

    New funds are filling the funding gap. Accel Growth is one of them, and lot of other firms have taken advantage of things, too. But it creates questions about whether [founders] ever want to go public and how investors will get out.

    TC: Do you see an actual “crash”? It’s hard to see how that happens, with new capital continuing to come in.

    More here.

    —–

    New Fundings

    Ather Energy, a three-year-old, Bangalore-based company that sells premium electric scooters, is raising $31 million in new funding from Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest seller of motorcycles and scooters. Hero will own as much as 30 percent of the startup. Tech in Asia has more here.

    Conekta, a five-year-old, Mexico City-based payments processing company, has raised $6.6 million in Series A funding from VARIV Capital, FEMSA Comercio, Jaguar Ventures, and Conconi Growth Partners. Forbes Mexico has more here (in Spanish).

    CubeWorks, a three-year-old, Ann Harbor, Mi.-based millimeter-scale computing company (its tech aims to enhance existing devices like wearables with its new energy harvesting methods), has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Intel Capital. More here.

    KNL Networks, a five-year-old, Oulu, Finland-based wireless communications startup that provides IP communications to isolated and inaccessible areas, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Creandum, with participation from Inventure, Butterfly Ventures, and angel investors. Tech.eu has more here.

    Libryo, a year-old, London-based legal tech startup, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Nextlaw Labs, Seedcamp, and an unnamed seed-stage fund. More here.

    MPower Financing, a 1.5-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based peer-to-peer lending platform for student loans (it connects students to loans from investors without the need for a co-signer), has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Zephyr Peacock, with participation from 1776 Ventures, Goal Structured Solutions, VilCap Investments, DreamIt Ventures, Fresco Capital, and University Ventures. Zephyr will help the company set up a location in Bangalore. The Tech Portal has more here.

    Orvibo, a four-year-old, Shenzhen, China-based maker of smart light switches, smart electrical plugs and smart fire alarms, has raised $16 million in Series B funding led by Shenzhen Topband, itself a manufacturer of a wide range of electronic products. Earlier backer SAIF Partners and others also joined the round. China Money Network has more here.

    Retention Science, a five-year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based AI-driven retention marketing startup, has raised $750,000 in seed funding led by Forerunner Ventures. The company reportedly raised $1.3 million in seed funding led by Baroda Ventures back in 2012. Best Techie has more here.

    Unity Biotechnology, a year-old, San Francisco-based company that’s targeting diseases related to aging and focusing its early work on halting the progression of atherosclerotic disease, has raised $116 million in funding. Arch Venture Partners, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Partner Fund Management, Venrock, and Bezos Expeditions participated, along with earlier backers WuXi PharmaTech and Mayo Clinic Ventures. FierceBiotech has more here.

    —–

    New Funds

    MIT President Rafael Reif announced Wednesday night that the Institute will launch The Engine, a new accelerator program with a planned $150 million venture fund to support startups innovating in the science and technology spaces (and hopefully address Boston’s retention problem). BostInno has more here.

    System.One, a new, Berlin-based pre-seed venture capital fund with a global mindset and a single GP — Maximilian Claussen, who has formerly worked at Earlybird Ventures, Goldman Sachs and elsewhere — has launched with €8.2 million (roughly $9 million) in commitments. More here.

    —–

    IPOs

    China’s ZTO Express, the company that provides shipping and delivery services to Alibaba among others, saw its shares trade downward on its first day of trading yesterday on the NYSE. More here.

    Myovant Sciences, a Brisbane, Ca.-based drug company focused on women’s health diseases, raised $218 million in its IPO, making it the largest biotechnology IPO this year to date. Its shares hit the trading floor this morning (you can catch the action here). MedCity News has more here.

    Quantenna Communications, a Fremont, Ca.-based provider of Wi-Fi video networking for whole-home entertainment, has raised $107 million by offering 6.7 million shares at $16 per share, the top end of its range. You can see how the shares are trading here.

    —–

    Exits

    Earlier this year, Alibaba acquired a controlling stake in Lazada, the Rocket Internet-backed e-commerce company in Southeast Asia, for $1 billion. Now it’s taking steps to turn the business into the “emerging market Amazon,” says TechCrunch, which reports that Lazada is in advanced talks to acquire Redmart, a Singapore-based grocery delivery service. Much more here.

    PowWow Mobile, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based app mobility company, is spending an undisclosed amount to acquire its 4.5-year-old, Atlanta-based competitor StarMobile. StarMobile had raised more than $6 million from investors, shows Crunchbase. PowWow has meanwhile raised $8.3 million from its backers. SearchMobile Computing has more here.

    —–

    People

    Carmen Chang, a partner at New Enterprise Associates, has a new title: Chairman and Head, Asia. The firm also promoted two investors to general partner: Mohamad Makhzoumi, head of the firm’s healthcare services/IT investing practice; and Chetan Puttagunta, a tech investor focused on enterprise software. More here.

    Ryan Collins, the hacker who stole nude photos of female celebrities in 2014, has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, officials announced yesterday.

    Renowned iPhone hacker-turned-entrepreneur George Hotz has cancelled his autonomous driving startup’s first official product, an aftermarket add-on that would’ve allowed certain cars to gain Autopilot-like highway driving assistance abilities. He says it wasn’t worth providing detailed answers to 15 questions from the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration about the technology.

    Vinod Khosla sat down with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang this morning to talk investing strategy, and how he feels about clean tech investing today.

    —–

    Jobs

    Verizon is looking for a strategy and corporate development manager. The job is in Palo Alto, Ca.

    —–

    Essential Reads

    Meal replacement powder maker Soylent has now halted sales of its main product as part of an investigation into why some customers have been getting sick after eating its products. Soylent has raised roughly $22 million from investors. More here.

    —–

    Detours

    Stand-up comedian Bobby Lee versus hot wings.

    Millennials aren’t cheap; they’re thrifty.

    I’m not an assh_le. I’m an introvert.

    —–

    Retail Therapy

    A beautifully designed toaster (really!).

    Connie

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