StrictlyVC: June 12, 2017

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StrictlyVC is being brought to you this week by Rosebud Communications:Public relations for startups.

Top News in the A.M.

Uber executive Emil Michael just announced his resignation internally. More on the latest twists and turns at the beleaguered ride-hailing company below.

Uber’s Board is Discussing a Leave of Absence for Travis Kalanick; Will Garrett Camp Replace Him?

According to a variety of media reports, Uber’s board met yesterday in Los Angeles for what may have been the most critical sit-down in the company’s eight-year history.

The biggest item on the agenda, according to the New York Times, was whether or not cofounder and embattled CEO Travis Kalanick should take a leave of absence. How strongly the board pushed for this will likely depend on the findings of a months-long investigation spearheaded by former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder.

In recent months, on Uber’s dime, Holder’s current employer, the white-shoe firm Covington and Burling, has interviewed hundreds of employees to obtain a picture of Uber’s culture; they were hired after the publication of a widely read account by former Uber engineer Susan Fowler Rigetti, who blogged in February about the company’s rampant sexual discrimination and harassment issues.

According to Recode, the findings, which are being presented to the company tomorrow, depict “a landscape of trouble.”

Uber didn’t respond to our requests for comment yesterday, but according to Recode, Uber’s chief business officer, Emil Michael, just announced his resignation internally.

More here.

New Fundings

Alto, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based digital pharmacy startup previously known as ScriptDash, has raised $23 million in Series B financing. Greenoaks Capital led the round, with participation from Jackson Square Ventures, Rahul Mehta of DST, Craig Sherman from Meritech Capital, Justin Kan from Y Combinator and Twitch, and Cruise Automation COO Daniel Kan (who happens to be Justin’s brother). TechCrunch has more here.

CloudCare, a Shanghai-based cloud computing company, has raised $14 million in Series C funding led by Fosun Group, with participation from earlier backer Sequoia Capital China. China Money Network has more here.

Compliance.ai, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based regulatory and compliance management platform, has raised $4 million in funding from Cota Capital. More here.

CrowdFlower, a 9.5-year-old, San Francisco-based AI platform for data science and machine learning teams, has raised $20 million in fresh funding led by Industry Ventures. Other participants in the round include Salesforce Ventures, as well as previous backers Canvas Ventures, Microsoft Ventures and Trinity Ventures. More here.

Drone Racing League, a two-year-old, New York-based racing series, has raised $20 million in Series B funding co-led by Sky, Liberty Media and Lux Capital. Other participants in the round incllude Allianz, World Wrestling Entertainment, CRCM Ventures and earlier investors Hearst Ventures, RSE Ventures, Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Courtside Capital. Variety has more here.

Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, a four-year-old, Israel-based drug developer, has raised $24 million in Series C funding led by Pontifax, with participation from Quark Venture and GF Securities. Globes has more here.

HelloSign, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based eSignature platform, has raised $16 million in Series B funding led by Foundry Group and investor Zach Coelius. Greylock Partners, U.S. Venture Partners and Zuora founder and CEO Tien Tzuo also participated. TechCrunch has more here.

Lyft, the five-year-old, San Francisco-based on-demand ride company, is just now disclosing it had raised $25 million in funding from InMotion Ventures a venture capital fund backed by Jaguar Land Rover — as part of a previously reported $600 million Series G round that closed in April. TechCrunch has more here.

Nomadic, a 1.5-year-old, San Rafael, Ca.-based immersive entertainment company, has raised $6 million in seed funding led by Horizons Ventures, with participation from Maveron, Presence Capital, Vulcan Capital, and Verus International. More here.

QingCloud, a five-year-old, Beijing-based enterprise cloud services company that was founded by a team of former IBM engineers, has raised $160 million in Series D funding from investors that include China Merchants Securities International Co., China Merchants Securities Zhiyuan Capital, River Head Capital, CICC Jiatai Fund and China Oceanwide Holdings Group. China Money Network has more here.

SoftWear Automation, a 10-year-old, Atlanta, Ga.-based a robotic sewing company, has raised $4.5 million in funding from earlier investor CTW Venture Partners. More here.

Stratumn, a two-year-old, Paris-based security company that partners with large organizations to secure their critical processes using blockchains and cryptography, has raised $7.85 million in Series A funding, including from Open CNP, Otium Venture, Nasdaq and Digital Currency Group. More here.

Tantan, a three-year-old, Beijing-based mobile dating app that’s been called China’s Tinder copycat, has raised $70 million in Series D funding led by YY Inc. Some of its earlier investors include Bertelsmann Asia Investments, DST, and Vision Plus Capital. China Money Network has more here.

Vertos Medical, a 12-year-old, Aliso Viejo, Ca.-based developer of minimally invasive treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis, has raised $28 million in funding led by MVM Life Science Partners. Earlier backers also joined the round, including Leerink Revelation Partners, Pitango Venture Capital, ONSET Ventures, and Aweida Venture Partners. More here.

New Funds

Centana Growth Partners, a two-year-old, New York-based growth equity firm that’s focused on financial services and aims to invest between $5 million and $30 million in each portfolio company, has closed its debut fund with $250 million. More here.

Firstminute Capital, a new London-based seed fund that was cofounded by Lastminute.com’s Brent Hoberman, has raised $60 million to invest in European tech companies. VentureBeat has more here.

Silicon Valley Bank has raised a $10 million venture fund called Qualified Investors Fund, shows a new SEC filing. According to the document, 79 investors are involved in the offering.

Sway Ventures, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based venture firm focused on early-to-mid stage startups, is raising up to $165 million for its second fund, shows an SEC filing. More here.

Also Sponsored By . . .

This week’s StrictlyVC is also being brought to you by the Financial Solutions Lab at CFSI. Later this week, they’ll announce the startups selected for their 2017 class. The 18 companies that have been through the FinLab so far have collectively raised more than $110 million in follow-on capital, and now serve 1.3 million Americans with innovative fintech solutions designed to improve Americans’ financial health.

IPOs

Altice, a 16-year-old, Bethpage, New York-based cable and telecom company that filed to go public in April, has revealed more plans about that offering this morning in an updated filing that shows it will offer roughly 46.5 million shares at between $27 and $31 per share. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and BC Partners are the company’s biggest outside shareholders. Altice is the U.S. arm of European telecom company Altice NV and the fourth largest cable operator in the country. More here.

Tintri, a nine-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based enterprise cloud technology company, has updated its original registration statement for its IPO with an initial declared amount of $100 million. The company’s biggest shareholders are New Enterprise AssociatesSilver Lake KraftwerkInsight Venture Partners, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company has revealed mounting losses in its filings. More here.

People

Amazon is going after a former high-ranking executive, saying he violated a non-compete agreement when he joined a well-funded startup earlier this month. GeekWire has more here.

David Byttow and Ben South Lee, who cofounded the somewhat famous flameout Secret and more recently founded an enterprise blogging tool called Bold, have been acqui-hired by the delivery company Postmates, says TechCrunch.

Gautam Gupta, Uber’s outgoing finance chief, is headed to home-buying startup Opendoor as its chief operating officer, the company tells Axios.

GE said this morning that Jeff Immelt will step down as its CEO after a 16-year run; he’s being replaced by the head of the company’s health-care business, John Flannery. The WSJ has more here.

As Uber looks to address a series of management and cultural failings, the ride-hailing company plans to appoint Wan Ling Martello, an executive vice president at Nestle SA, to the board, says Bloomberg.

Jobs

Cruise Automation is looking for a head of M&A. The job is in San Francisco.

S&P Global is looking to hire a VP of corporate development. The job is in New York.

Data

The average number of days between a company’s IPO and its next stock sale (or follow-on offering), is on pace for a record low this year, according to Dealogic data through Thursday that goes back to 1995. U.S.-listed companies launching their first stock sales in 2017 are doing so roughly 500 days after their IPOs, the data show, compared with an average of more than 900 days since the start of the data. The WSJ has the story here.

More family offices are skipping private equity firms and going direct, reports Barrons. (VCs, take note.)

Essential Reads

Andy Rubin’s Essential phone may struggle to find widespread distribution; it announced today that Sprint, the fourth-largest U.S. carrier, is its exclusive partner, which the company is spinning as a positive but TechCrunch suspects could doom the effort.

Meet Silk Road’s successors.

Detours

Inside the chaotic battle to be the top reply to a Trump tweet.

Retail Therapy

For drop-offs at undisclosed locations.


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