Hi, happy Monday, everyone.:)
We’re sure that some of you, like us, found it disconcerting to wake up to ashes and smoke in the air in San Francisco this morning. (As many readers may already know, multiple fires are raging right now in Napa and Sonoma counties.) Sounds like nothing is contained quite yet. In the meantime, we’re thinking of friends and their families across the bridge.
Top News in the A.M.
Google for the first time has uncovered evidence that Russian operatives exploited its platforms in an attempt to interfere with last year’s presidential election. The Washington Post has more here.
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New Fundings
Ascendify, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based social recruitment for talent management platform, has raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Canaan Partners, with participation from GE Ventures and Cisco Investments. SiliconAngle has more here.
Docker, an eight-year-old, San Francisco-based container software maker, is raising up to $75 million new funding, according to an SEC filing that shows the company has already raised at least $61.8 million. The company’s previous investors include Greylock Partners, Insight Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital. More here.
GitLab, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based web-based open source Git repository manager, has raised $20 million in Series C funding led by GV. TechCrunch has more here.
Harmony Biosciences, a newly formed, Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based biotech focused that was spun out of Paragon Biosciences and is focused on sleep and CNS disorders, has raised $270 million in new equity funding from Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity, HBM Healthcare Investments, Vivo Capital, venBio Partners, Novo Holdings and Nan Fung Life Sciences. Some of that capital is being used acquire the exclusive U.S. rights to a narcolepsy drug from France’s Bioprojet. More here.
Laundryheap, a three-year-old, London-based laundry on-demand startup, has raised £2 million ($2.6 million) million in angel funding, with an additional £1 million if equity crowdfunding via Seedrs planned for later this year. The round is being led by Simon Smith and QVentures. TechCrunch has more here.
Sight Sciences, an eight-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based commercial-stage ophthalmic medical device company, has raised $10 million in Series C funding led by Allegro Investment Fund, with participation from all previous investors. FierceBiotech has more here.
Sourcegraph, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that aims to make exploring code anywhere as painless as searching and browsing the web, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led byRedpoint Ventures and Goldcrest Capital. More here.
Supreme, a 23-year-old, New York-based streetwear brand, has reportedly sold a 50 percent stake in its business to the Carlyle Group for roughly $500 million. Highsnobiety has more here.
TSC Apparel, a 17-year-old, Cincinnati, Oh.-based B2B distributor of imprintable apparel products and accessories, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from CenterGate Capital. More here.
Veeba Food Services, a four-year-old, New Delhi, India-based condiments and sauce maker, has raised a little more than $6 million in Series C funding led by earlier backer Verlinvest, the Belgium-based investment holding company of Anheuser-Busch InBev founding families. Other investors in the round include DSG Consumer Partners and Sixth Sense Ventures. LiveMint hasmore here.
Wheels Up, a five-year-old, New York-based private aviation company, has raised $117.5 million in funding co-led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and T. Rowe Price Associates, with participation from New Enterprise Associatesand others. The Miami Herald has more here.
Zume Pizza, a two-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based store-less pizza company that uses robots to bake its pies, has raised $48 million as part of a venture round that looks to have targeted $50 million, per an SEC filing. The company previously raised over $23 million from AME Cloud Ventures, Maveron, SignalFire, andKortschak Investments. CNBC has more here.
New Funds
IvyCap Ventures, a 6.5-year-old, Mumbai, India-based firm, is planning to launch a $76 million debt venture in the next three months, according to a senior executive. The venture firm typically invests in early-to-growth stage companies. The debt fund will focus on mid-stage start-ups that are at the stage of seeking out Series B or Series C funding. LiveMint has more here.
Vertex Ventures, the venture capital arm of Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings, says it has closed a new, $210 million fund to invest in southeast Asian and Indian startups, exceeding its original target size of $150 million. Reuters has the story here.
Holy IPOs!
Allena, a seven-year-old, Newton, Ma.-based company developing metabolic disorder treatments (and has recently experienced two Phase 2 flops), has filed to raise $92 million in an IPO. The company’s biggest outside shareholders include Frazier Healthcare Partners, Third Rock Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Fidelity, among others. FierceBiotech has more here.
Aquantia, a 13-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based Ethernet manufacturer, has filed to raise $86 million in an IPO. The company’s biggest outside shareholders include Pinnacle Ventures, Walden International, Rusnano, and Mubadala Investment Company, among others. MarketWatch has (slightly) more here.
Erytech Pharma, a 13-year-old, Lyon, France-based biotech that’s developing cancer treatments, has filed to raised $100 million in an IPO that will be used to help fund a Phase 3 pancreatic cancer trial. The company’s biggest outside shareholders include Baker Bros Advisors and Auriga Partners. FierceBiotech has more here.
Funko, a 19-year-old, Everett, Wa.-based company best known for its Pop! series of big-eyed, square faced vinyl figurines., has filed for an $100 million IPO, with plans to list on the Nasdaq. CEO Brian Mariottibought Funko from founder Mike Becker in 2005, and sold it to private equity firm Fundamental Capital in 2013. The company changed hands again in 2015, with the sale of a controlling stake toAcon Investments, another private equity firm. The Seattle Times has more here.
Loton, a seven-year-old, Beverly Hills, Ca.-based online network for streaming live music, has revealed plans to raise $100 million in an IPO. The company’s biggest outside investors include Robert Ellin, a managing member of Trinad Advisors; Sandor Capital; andPrimary Investments. More here.
Sea, Southeast Asia’s most valuable startup that’s known for its Garena gaming and shopping platform, aims to raise as much as $696 million in a U.S. IPO. The Singapore-based company, formerly called Garena, is marketing 49.7 million American depositary shares for $12 to $14 apiece, according to a new regulatory filing. Bloomberg has more here.
Spero Therapeutics, a four-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based company seeking a treatment for drug-resistant bacterial infections, has filed to raise up to $86 million in an IPO. The company’s biggest outside investors include GlaxoSmithKline, Atlas Venture, andGV. More here.
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Exits
Cruise, the self-driving car startup that GM acquired last year, has acquired a startup of its own – Strobe, three-year-old, Pasadena-based LiDAR sensor maker that reduces an entire LiDAR array down to just one chip, which Cruise says will be instrumental in helping it reduce the cost of LiDAR on a per vehicle basis by nearly 100 percent. TechCrunch has more here.
The Belgian Post Group, a logistics and supply chain company that’s based in Brussels and also known as bpost, has acquired Radial, the fulfillment company formerly known as eBay enterprise, for $820 million. Why it matters: Radial is considered to be Amazon’s largest competitor for fulfillment in the U.S., tapping into deliveries not just from huge retailers but hundreds of smaller businesses and startups. TechCrunch has more here.
Guidewire Software has agreed to acquire Cyence, a four-year-old San Mateo, Ca.-based startup that helps insurers assess cyber risk. Cyence had raised $40 million in funding just last fall led byNew Enterprise Associates, with participation from IVP andDowling Capital Management. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. 451 Research has more here.
People
Uber’s HR chief Liane Hornsey talks with the WSJ about what steps the company has taken, and what’s still ahead.
Facebook’s chief security officer, Alex Stamos, has let loose at critics on Twitter over the company’s algorithms.
Data
U.S. startup investors were good at putting capital to work this past quarter. They weren’t as good at getting it back. More here.
Essential Reads
How a Silicon Valley striver became the alt-right’s tech hero.
Detours
Jeff Koons’s augmented reality Snapchat artwork gets “vandalized.”
Comic Nathan Macintosh does not want to talk with robots.
This company says its software can pick soccer stars.
Retail Therapy
Jennifer Lopez has listed her New York City penthouse for $27 million, should you want to take a look.
Guess it’s a good time to buy that private jet.