Friday! [Cartwheels into padded wall.]
We have a shorter edition of SVC for you today as we unexpectedly have to run out the door. Hope you have a wonderful weekend, everyone. See you Monday.:)
Top News in the A.M.
Elon Musk to the two companies currently vying to build the first functional hyperloop: sorry, suckas, but I’m doing this myself.
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Mamoon Hamid is Leaving Social Capital for Kleiner Perkins
Mamoon Hamid, a longtime partner at U.S. Venture Partners who went on to co-found Social Capital with Chamath Palihapitiya in 2011, is moving on to Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
First reported by Axios and confirmed by Social Capital, Hamid will focus on early-stage tech investments, with a focus on enterprise software.
We’ve reached out to Hamid, whose auto-responder states he is currently on paternity leave. But Palihapitiya calls it “a great opportunity for Mamoon” and says that “we’re happy for him and Kleiner Perkins.”
He adds that Social Capital is “building a platform where people with potential can come, build a track record, do great and then try new things.”
The move is interesting for a wide variety of reasons, including, obviously, that Hamid isn’t simply a managing director with Social Capital. It isn’t every day that a venture firm co-founder breaks off to join someone else’s firm.
As Axios notes, too, this isn’t the first time that Social Capital’s world is colliding with that of Kleiner Perkins. Palihapitiya has said that in December 2014, Kleiner’s most famous investor, John Doerr, asked Palihapitiya if he might be interested in joining Kleiner to lead it. Palihapitiya told Fortune that Doerr said, “I want to talk about Kleiner 3.0.”
Palihapitiya declined the invitation. Meanwhile, Doerr stepped back from the day-to-day management of Kleiner last year, instead taking on the role of firm chairman.
Kleiner doesn’t seem to be faring much better at grooming a younger generation of VCs in the wake of that move.
New Fundings
Auris Surgical Robotics, a 10-year-old, San Carlos, Ca.-based surgical robotics company that was founded by star entrepreneur Frederic Moll, has quietly raised $280 million in Series D funding led by Coatue Management. The company had previously raised at least $184 million from investors, shows Crunchbase. Its other backers include Mithril Capital Management (cofounded by Peter Thiel and Ajay Royan), Lux Capital, NaviMed Capital, and Highland Capital Partners. We have more on this story for you here.
Interface Security Systems, a 22-year-old, Earth City, Mo.-based bundled managed service provider, has raised $125 million in funding, including from SunTx and Prudential Capital Partners. More here.
MojiLaLa, a year-old, San Francisco-based developer of an emoji and sticker database, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding, including from Great Oaks VC, Betaworks, and venture capitalist Dennis Phelps of IVP. More here.
Primary Data, a four-year-old, Los Altos, Ca.-based data storage service company, has raised $20 million in funding from Pelion Venture Partners, Accel Partners, and Battery Ventures. More here.
Quanterix, a 10-year-old, Lexington, Ma.-based developer of an ultra-sensitive diagnostic platform, has raised $8.5 million in funding led by T. Rowe Price Associates. More here.
Sugarfina, a five-year-old, Beverly Hills, Ca.-based boutique featuring featuring gourmet sweets from artisan candy-makers around the world, has raised $35 million in funding from Great Hill Partners. Fortune has more here.
Universal Standard, a two-year-old, New York City-based direct-to-consumer size-inclusive brand for women sizes 10 to 28, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding led by Red Sea Ventures. Fast Company has more here.
New Funds
Science, the L.A.-based venture firm and startup studio cofounded by Mike Jones and Peter Pham, say it’s using an ICO to raise up to $100 million to invest in blockchain startups. The WSJ has more here.
Exits
Yelp is selling the food delivery service Eat24 to GrubHub for $287.5 million. Yelp had acquired the company for $134 million in 2015. The move seemingly signals Yelp’s interest in returning to its core expertise as a content company. TechCrunch has more here.
People
Ousted Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has hired high-profile CEO advisory firm Teneo to help him repair his tarnished public image.
Jobs
LiveOak Venture Partners is looking to hire a principal. The job is in Austin, Tex.
Essential Reads
Uber managers in Singapore bought more than 1,000 Hondas that they knew were defective and had been recalled, then rented them to drivers without the needed repairs.
Coinbase, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has reversed its stance on Bitcoin Cash and said it will introduce support for the fork next year.
Detours
Post-millennials are safer than adolescents have ever been, because of their smart phones. They’re also on the brink of a mental-health crisis.
A dinosaur so well preserved, it looks like a statue.
Why newborn babies smell so delicious.
Retail Therapy
Now this, this is a BBQ.