StrictlyVC: November 22, 2017

November 22, 2017

 

Wednesday! Quick mention: as you might guess, we aren’t publishing StrictlyVC tomorrow or Friday in observance of Thanksgiving. We’ll be too busy trying to figure out how to cook a dozen different dishes without ruining them, then recovering from that failed effort (because who are we kidding) on Friday.

 

We do wish you a very happy Thanksgiving with your own families! See you early next week.:)

 

 

Top News

 

Uber paid hackers to delete stolen data on 57 million people. Now the New York State Attorney General has launched an investigation into the cover-up.

 

 

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AltSchool Wants to Change How Kids Learn, But Fears That It’s Failing Kids are Surfacing

 

Earlier this week, Business Insider reported that numerous families have grown frustrated with the education their children are receiving at AltSchool, an ambitious San Francisco-based ed tech company that four years ago began opening physical grade schools and promising a personalized learning approach that would far surpass the standardized education most kids receive.

 

It’s not just parents who have growing concerns about AltSchool, however. Educators also question whether AltSchool is the next best thing in education, or whether instead the for-profit company could hamper the prospects of the children with which it works, and those it might impact down the road.

 

Seemingly, exasperation with AltSchool has been building over the last year. It was then that the company — which had originally touted plans to expand its network of schools and classrooms —  publicly switched gears, announcing it would instead license its nascent program to other schools that want to embrace more individualized techniques.

 

Frustration has more recently reached a boiling point, with one mother comparing her children to “guinea pigs” in conversation with BI.

 

You got the right to be mad

 

The term echoes conversations that we’ve also had with a handful of  AltSchool families in recent months. At a September birthday party attended by numerous families, one mother told us she’d pulled two children out of the program and placed them in a neighborhood public school; the rest of the parents in attendance said they were actively working to place their children elsewhere next fall. The biggest reason they cited was that their kids are falling behind academically. One mother, who asked not to be named, told us that in addition to paying yearly tuition of roughly $30,000, “We’re all spending a fortune on tutoring to supplement what our kids aren’t learning.”

 

Another mother of two at AltSchool told us she spoke recently to the head master of one of San Francisco’s toniest private schools, and he suggested to her that she transfer her children elsewhere if she’s hopes to see them admitted to the institution he oversees.

 

Compounding their anger these days is AltSchool’s more recent announcement that its existing network of schools, which had grown to seven locations, is now being pared back to just four — two in California and two in New York — leaving parents to wonder: did AltSchool entice families into its program merely to extract data from their children, then toss them aside?

 

Asked about such unhappiness, Max Ventilla, the former Google executive who founded and runs the company, tells us the decision to shrink AltSchool’s physical footprint can be traced to “greater demand than we were expecting” for AltSchool’s software — which it has already licensed to half a dozen private and public school systems, and for which it’s charging between $150 and $500 per student per year, depending on the size of the school.

 

“Our motivation for reducing the number of schools is so we can deliver the highest-quality experiences at schools that remain and with our limited resources, grow [the software side of AltSchool’s business] faster than originally planned,” says Ventilla.

 

He adds that the decision to close locations in Palo Alto, San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood, and New York City’s East Village, has nothing to do with the company’s finances, as recently reported in Bloomberg. On the contrary he says, AltSchool is about to close its Series C round. It also has “$60 million in the bank and additional debt and funding we can draw on.”

 

They say you gotta let it go

 

Still, it’s probably valid to ask whether AltSchool should be productizing and selling its software to other schools already.

 

More here.

 

 

New Fundings

 

ADAY, a two-year-old, U.K.-based direct-to-consumer fashion company, has raised $2 million in funding, including from H&M CO:LABADG, and SoGal Ventures.More here.

 

Buildup, a four-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based mobile collaboration and task management platform for construction job sites, has raised $7 million in Series A funding from TLV PartnersUpWest Labs01 Ventures and Abstract Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.

 

Candid, a months-old, New York-based teeth-straightening startup that 3D prints aligners, has raised $15 million in Series A funding from Greycroft Partners,Bessemer Venture Partners and e.ventures, among others. TechCrunch hasmore here.

 

Divergent 3D, a three-year-old, L.A.-based developer of 3D printing technology for auto manufacturing, has raised more than $65 million in funding. O Luxe Holdingsof Hong Kong led the round, with participation from Horizons VenturesShanghai Alliance Investment and Altran Technologies. Forbes has more here.

 

Kona Deep, an 11-year-old, Hawaii-based bottled water company, has raised $5.5 million from the venture arm of Danone and Grand Crossing Capital. CNBC hasmore here.

 

LeafLink, a two-year-old, Denver, Co.-based marketplace for wholesale cannabis, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Nosara Capital, with participation from Lerer Hippeau VenturesCasa Verde CapitalWisdom VCPhyto PartnersTIA Ventures, and Brand New Matter. Business Insider has more here.

 

Letus Legend, a China-based fresh produce chain supermarket operator that provides fresh food and kitchen supplies, has raised $30 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital China. China Money Network has more here.

 

Overclock Labs, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that says it’s developing protocols, tools, and infrastructure to make foundational elements of the internet open, decentralized and secure, has raised $1.3 million in seed funding from CrunchFund and individual angels. TechCrunch has more here.

 

PacketZoom, a four-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based mobile application performance company, has raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Baseline Ventures, with participation from First Round CapitalTandem Capital andArafura Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

 

Step Pharma, a three-year-old, Paris-based developer of CTPS1 inhibitors for autoimmune disorders, has raised €14.5 million in Series A funding led by Kurma Partners, with participation from BpifranceInserm Transfert Initiative,IdinvestSygnature Discovery and the Imagine Institute. FierceBiotech hasmore here.

 

 

New Funds

 

Ten-year-old Seedcamp has closed its new pan-European seed fund with £41 million ($54.6 million) in capital commitments. TechCrunch has more here.

 

Scale Up Venture Capital, a two-year-old, Palo Alto-based early-stage venture firm, is looking to raise a second fund, shows an SEC filing that doesn’t list a target. The firm was cofounded by Alex Lazovsky, a co-founder of CIRTech Fund and a former investor at Rusnano. According to LinkedIn, the new fund is targeting investments in AI and robotics, Ar and VR, insurance and finance, data and analytics, and next-generation infrastructure. More here.

 

 

Exits

 

Apple has acquired Vrvana, a 12-year-old, Canada-based maker of a virtual reality headset for the gaming community, for approximately $30 million, says TechCrunch. According to Crunchbase, Vrvana had raised just $350,000 in funding. More here.

 

Ion Investment Group  will buy a controlling stake in Dealogic, a U.K.-based provider of financial content and analytics, from Carlyle Group and Britain’s Euromoney Institutional Investor, says Reuters. More here.

 

 

Essential Reads

 

Facebook says it will help some users figure out if they saw Russian propagandaduring the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

 

Why the tech giants’ secret war against fake news is still too secret.

 

 

Detours

 

Is your personality right for your job?

 

How to decorate your Thanksgiving table in style.

 

Butterball helpline.

 

 

Retail Therapy

 

Ira Glass’s Chelsea apartment.

 

The “ultimate driving jacket,” brought to your courtesy of Jaguar and the menswear label Private White V.C.

 


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