StrictlyVC: December 20, 2017

Hi, happy Wednesday, everyone! We’re running out the door, but a couple of quick things in case you missed yesterday’s newsletter.

 

A.) We have a date and a place and even our first guest speaker for our first StrictlyVC event of 2018! Date: February 27, a Tuesday night. Place: The lovely South Park space of New Enterprise Associates in San Francisco. Our first guest announcement: Tina Sharkey of the young, e-commerce company Brandless has agreed to come (yay). We’ll have much more for you as the event comes together. In the meantime, roughly one-third of the tickets disappeared yesterday so don’t wait too long to get yours. (NEA is providing a beautiful home for the evening but it can only accommodate so many of us.)

 

B.) We will not be publishing StrictlyVC next week or the week after, because kids. You could probably use a break from us anyway.:)

 

We’re working on a year-end slideshow at the moment so no column today.

 

 

Top News

 

Snap and Twitter now have roughly the same market cap as of this writing.

 

Sponsored By …

 

Get the pulse of the innovation economy. Download the State of the Markets Report from Silicon Valley Bank for insights on the venture ecosystem, market dynamics, M&A and exits, and fundraising. This quarter we explore how new sources of capital, including Corporate Venture, Family Offices and ICOs, are disrupting the venture ecosystem. Terms and conditions apply. Silicon Valley Bank, Member FDIC.

 

 

New Fundings

 

Ataata, a 1.5-year-old, Bethesda, Md..-based cybersecurity training platform, has raised $3 million in Series A funding led by Next Frontier Capital, with participation from TEDCO2MSaaS Ventures and ARRA Capital. Technical.ly DC has more here.

 

Bigfoot Biomedical, a three-year-old, Milpitas, Ca.-based medical device company that ties smartphones to its automated insulin delivery pump for sufferers of Type 1 diabetics, has raised $37 million in Series B  funding co-led by Janus Henderson Investors and return backer Quadrant Capital Advisors. Other backers in the round include Cormorant Asset ManagementSenvestVisionnaire Ventures,JDRF T1D Fund and T1D Exchange. FierceBiotech has more here.

 

Carbon, a four-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based digital 3D manufacturing company, has raised a whopping $200 million in Series D funding. Investors includeBaillie GiffordFidelity Management & Research CompanyARCHINA CapitalGeneral ElectricJSR CorporationSequoia CapitalSilver Lake Kraftwerk, and Reinet Investments. TechCrunch has more here.

 

Common, a two-year-old. New York-based co-living startup, just raised $40 million in Series C funding led by Norwest Venture PartnersMore here.

 

ExPace Technology, a 1.5-year-old, China-based commercial space company, has raised $180 million in Series A funding from unnamed investors. China Money Network has more here.

 

Happy Returns, a two-year-old, L.A.-based technology, logistics and service provider for online retailers, has raised $8 million in Series B funding led by USVP, with participation from Upfront Ventures and Trunk Club founder Brian Spaly. TechCrunch has more here.

 

Juul Labs, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based maker of nicotine vaping devices, has secured $112 million of what could become a $150 million convertible note offering, per an SEC filing flagged by CNBC. More here.

 

Maana, a five-year-old, Bellevue, Wa.-based company that helps large companies in industries like oil and gas, manufacturing, healthcare, and insurance extract knowledge from their employees and internal data, has raised $28 million in Series C funding. China International Capital Corporation and Eight Square Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Accenture Ventures and Sino Capital, among others. GeekWire has more here.

 

Mobike, the two-year-old, Beijing, China-based bike rental company, has raised funding of an undisclosed amount from Line to boost its presence in Japan. TechCrunch has more here.

 

Nuritas, a three-year-old, Dublin, Ireland-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery and use of bioactive peptides through artificial intelligence and genomics, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Cultivian Sandbox VenturesMore here.

 

Orchard Therapeutics, a two-year-old, London-based developer of gene therapies for orphan diseases, has raised $110 million in Series B funding co-led by Ballie Gifford and ORI Capital, with participation from TemasekCowen Healthcare InvestmentsJuda CapitalF-Prime Capital and UCL Technology Fund. FierceBiotech has more here.

 

Passport, a seven-year-old, Charlotte, N.C.-based company focused around mobile payments for the transportation industry (think parking, transit and tolling payments, parking enforcement, and permit management), has raised $43 million in Series C funding led by Bain Capital Ventures. The company has now raised $60 million altogether, including from Grotech VenturesMK Capital and Relevance Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

 

 

New Funds

 

Flagship Pioneering, a 17-year-old, Cambridge, Mass.-based venture capital and private equity firm, has closed its newest fund with $618 million, pushing its total capital under management to roughly $2.3 billion. FierceBiotech has more here.

 

Hadean Ventures, a two-year-old, Norway-based early-stage venture capital firm, says it has raised $118 million for its life sciences fund. More here.

 

Jesse Draper, daughter of longtime VC Tim Draper, has closed a $10 million venture fund focused on female founders. Called Halogen Ventures, Draper is looking to back  early-stage consumer startups, from plus-size clothing to interior design, says the WSJ.

 

 

IPOs

 

E-commerce company Stitch Fix was kind of clobbered last night in after-hours trading on the heels of its first earnings report as a public company. It hasn’t quite recovered today. More here.

 

Exits

 

Docusign is acquiring the IP rights and the employees of Appuri, a Seattle-based machine learning and data platform startup that had raised $6 million in funding from Baseline VenturesTDF VenturesDivergent Ventures, and Vulcan Capital. GeekWire has more here.

 

People

 

Natalie Bruss has joined the young, real-estate-focused venture firm Fifth Wall Ventures as a partner. More here.

 

Uber has hired former Orbitz CEO Barney Harford as its first-ever COO. More in Recode.

 

 

Essential Reads

 

At long last, Magic Leap has shared a first look at what they’ve been building with the nearly $2 billion it has raised from Google, Alibaba, and others. Here’s its three-part offering.

 

Coinbase launched, then was forced to suspend, Bitcoin Cash yesterday amidst allegations of insider trading. More here.

 

Marc Lore is shaking up Wal-mart in two new ways.

 

Detours

 

So trippy: A 26-year-old woman just gave birth to a baby that was conceived 25 years ago.

 

A year of climate change in photos.

 

You know you need a vacation when you accidentally send your phone number to 16 million people.

 

Retail Therapy

 

And oldie but a goodie.


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