StrictlyVC: December 13, 2016

Hi, all, happy Tuesday!

Top News in the A.M.

Bitcoin doesn’t care what Silicon Valley thinks—it’s trading at a 34-month high, notes Quartz.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey interviewed CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden this morning. You can watch that conversation here.

New Fundings

Boatsetter, a three-year-old, Miami, Fla.-based online boat rental marketplace, has raised $13 million in Series A funding from Great Oaks Venture Capital, Stanford University DAPER Fund, ZG Ventures and Peninsula Ventures, as well as numerous angel investors. More here.

BreezoMeter, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based air quality analytics provider, has raised $3 million in Series A fundraising led by Phi Square Holdings and Entrée Capital, with participation from Launchpad Digital Health and SeediL. Globes has more here.

Clear Labs, a three-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based food analytics platform that helps its customers determine the objective quality and safety of their products, has raised $13 million in Series B funding led by Wing VC, with participation from Google Ventures, Tencent, Khosla Ventures, and Felicis Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Codementor, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based on-demand marketplace for software developers, has raised $1.6 million in funding led by WI Harper. More here.

CommLoan, a two-year-old, Scottsdale, Az.-based commercial mortgage lending tech startup, has raised $2.25 million in seed funding, including from Social Leverage and ViaWest Group. More here.

Inkling, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based mobile communications platform for deskless workers, has raised $25 million in Series E funding led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from earlier investors Sequoia Capital and Tenaya Capital. VentureBeat has more here.

Indifi Technologies, a 1.5-year-old, Gurgaon, India-based enabler of financing for micro, small and mid-size enterprises in India, has raised $10 million in Series funding led by Omidyar Network, with the participation of earlier backers Accel Partners and Elevar Equity. Business Line has more here.

Iterable, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based growth marketing and user engagement platform, has raised $23 million in new funding led by Index Ventures, with participation from CRV and other past investors. VentureBeat has more here.

Kenna Security, a five-year-old, Chicago-based cybersecurity startup, has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by PeakSpan Capital. Other participants in the round include OurCrowd, USVP, Costanoa Venture Capital and Hyde Park Angels. Built in Chicago has more here.

Lola, a two-year-old, New York-based organic tampon startup, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Spark Capital, with participation from actress-writer Lena Dunham and earlier backers Lerer Hippeau, Brand Foundry, BBG Ventures, and BoxGroup. Forbes has more here.

Lygos, a six-year-old, Emeryville, Ca.-based biotech company that’s employing microbugs to convert sugar into specialty chemicals used in manufacturing, has raised $13 million in Series A funding. OS Fund and IA Ventures led the round with participation from First Round Capital, Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund, Fifty Years, Vast Ventures and various angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Nasuni, a 7.5-year-old, Natick, Ma.-based storage services company, has raised $25 million in new funding, including $17.5 million in Series E funding led by Sigma Prime Ventures, with participation from earlier backers Flybridge Capital Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners, Sigma Partners, and an unnamed strategic investor. The company also closed on $7.5 million in venture debt financing from Eastward Capital. Xconomy has more here.

Numerai, a 14-month-old, San Francisco-based hedge fund that makes its investments based on models submitted by data scientists who can remain anonymous and are paid in Bitcoin, has raised $6 million in new funding. Union Square Ventures participated in the deal, as did Peter Diamandis, a founder of Singularity University, and Howard Morgan, a founder of the hedge fund firm Renaissance Technologies. The New York Times has more here.

ObservePoint, a nine-year-old, Salt Lake City, Ut.-based maker data quality assurance software for digital marketing platforms, has raised $19 million in Series B funding led by Mercato Partners and Pelion Venture Partners. More here.

OfBusiness, a year-old, Gurgaon, India-based B2B marketplace that aims to solve the problem of price discovery when it comes to manufacturing and construction materials, has raised $11.1 million in Series B funding led by Zodius Capital, with participation from Matrix Partners and angel investors. More here.

Privacy, a 2.5-year-old, New York-based software company that generates a new virtual card for every credit card transaction a shopper makes, to protect them from credit card fraud, data breaches, and identity theft, has raised $2.2 million in seed funding led by Index Ventures, with participation from Rocketship.vc and angel investors. More here.

Signal Media, a three-year-old, London-based AI platform that helps companies sift, monitor, and gain insight from the news, has raised £5.8 million ($7.3 million) in Series A funding by Hearst Ventures, MMC Ventures, and Frontline Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Socure, a four-year-old, New York-based digital identity verification technology company, has raised $13 million in funding led by Flint Capital, with participation from ff Venture Capital, Santander InnoVentures and Two Sigma Ventures, among others. More here.

SupportPay, a 5.5-year-old, Sacramento, Ca.-based child support payment startup, has raised $4.1 million in Series A funding led by Fenway Summer Ventures, with participation from Moneta Ventures, Continental Advisors, and earlier backers. More here.

Survios, a three-year-old, Culver City, Ca.-based VR game maker, has raised $50 million over a pair of funding rounds, including from MGM and Lux Capital, with participation from Shasta Ventures, Danhua Capital, Shanda Holdings, Felicis Ventures and Dentsu Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Swap.com, a four-year-old, Bolinbrook, Il.-based online consignment shop, has raised $20 million in new funding led by eEquity, a Swedish private equity group. The WSJ has more here.

Traxo, an 8.5-year-old, Dallas, Tex.-based traveler data aggregation platform, has raised $5.2 million in Series B funding led by TripAdvisor, with participation from Aristos Ventures and earlier backers Thayer Ventures, Advantage Capital Partners, and Silver Creek Ventures. More here.

XSEED Education, a Singapore- and Gurgaon, India-based K-12 startup focused on enhancing school learning, has raised “significantly more” than $10 million in new funding from Verlinvest, a Belgium-based venture firm. LiveMint has more here.

New Funds

Jeff Carter, who co-founded Hyde Park Angels, has raised $3 million toward a planned $30 million venture fund called West Loop Ventures that will back financial technology startups.The idea is to write initial checks of $500,000 into seed-stage companies. Crain’s Chicago Business has more here.

Pitango Venture Capital, one of the most active venture firms on the Israeli startup scene, has closed its seventh early-stage venture firm with $175 million in commitments. The announcement comes almost exactly a year after Pitango closed its first growth fund, a $250 million vehicle that focuses on later-stage companies. TechCrunch has more here.

People

Donald Trump officially asked Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn to become his top economic policy adviser yesterday. Dealbook has more here.

Oscar Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio has become a special advisor to a Boston-based venture firm called Data Point Capital. The outfit was founded by Scott Savitz, who earlier founded and sold Shoebuy.com. BostInno has more here.

Brendan Iribe, the cofounder of VR company Oculus, is no longer the CEO. He’s stepping down in a move that will result in Oculus splitting its mobile-based and PC-based VR divisions. More here.

Wang Jianlin, the billionaire owner of China’s property-to-entertainment conglomerate Wanda Group, has warned Donald Trump that more than 20,000 US jobs will be put at risk if Trump “mishandles” Chinese investment in the U.S. The Economic Times has more here.

Jacob Mullins, who in recent years founded and served as CEO of the software-powered M&A marketplace Exitround, has joined Shasta Ventures as a principal. It’s a bit of a homecoming for Mullins, who worked at Shasta as an associate for nearly two years before launching his startup. Shasta was also an investor in his company. More here.

Jobs

The venture arm of New York Life Insurance Company, the mutual life insurance giant, is looking to hire a senior associate. The job is in New York.

Data

Andreessen Horowitz partner Benedict Evans on the future of mobile: All the slides, plus highlights.

Essential Reads

Google‘s self-driving unit was just spun out as an independent business under the Alphabet umbrella. Its name: Waymo. The new company is reportedly more focused on technology than on building new cars, which helps explain this new partnership with Fiat Chrysler.

A group of nearly 60 engineers and employees from major tech companies — including Google, IBM, Slack, and Stripe — have pledged never to build a registry of people based on their religious beliefs. More here.

Slack calls: now with “100 percent more video.”

Detours

It takes more than 42,000 tires to get through a Formula One season (and other, related stats that might interest you).

The celebrity breakups we took the hardest in 2016.

How to gracefully let your friends know it’s time to head home.

Retail Therapy

So when we told you to scratch those AirPods off your holiday shopping list? Bad info. You can order them here and they’ll be delivered in about 10 days.


Filed Under:

Don’t Miss Out!

Sign up today to receive a free daily email with everything you need to start your day. Plus, keep track of the companies and personalities that will shape the industry in the months and years to come. Let StrictlyVC be your very own venture capital concierge.


StrictlyVC on Twitter