Key deals of the week (September 14 - 20)

World activity continues to recover. As the lockdown eases and borders open in Asia and Europe, there is a slow resumption of international tourism. However, information from seetransparent.com suggests that hotel reservations have been negatively impacted by the rise in COVID-19 cases in many countries, and people are still wary of their travel plans.

At the beginning of March 2020, the global flight tracking service Flightradar24 recorded over 150,000 daily flights. Over the course of several weeks, overall flight levels were down more than 50%, an unprecedented decline for the industry.

Signs of recovery began at the end of April, but on 20 May 2020 alone Flightradar24 recorded over 100,000 daily flights. Now this figure is again at the level of 150,000. However, commercial traffic is recovering rather slowly.

Small deals (up to $ 15 million) Cryptocurrencies September 14, 2020. Estonian cryptocurrency payment processing service Mercuryo.io raised € 2.5 million from Target Global. According to the company, the startup has over 250,000 users. Mercuryo.io was founded in Estonia in 2018. A startup platform is a virtual account, a crypto wallet for money transfers and other payments. The company also plans to release a Mercuryo cryptocurrency card that ties into a user's bitcoin wallet. Mercuryo.io offers businesses to install a widget on the site and receive a percentage of transactions. Binance, Tozex, Trezor, STEX, Pemex, AAX, Tokens, PointPay, Invity.io, MCX and TrustWallet have become partners in the payment processing project. Healthcare · September 14, 2020. Russian developer of medical service NaPopravku announced raising $ 2.25 million from VNV Global and others. The NaPopravku service allows you to make an appointment with a doctor, compare prices and promotions from private clinics and state medical centers, and also choose a specialist based on reviews of other patients. The service operates in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and other cities. The monthly audience of the service, according to the company's own data, is 1 million users. "NaPopravku" is built into the "super application" of Tinkoff bank, services of "Yandex" and "2GIS". Gaming · September 14, 2020. American game developer with Russian roots Donut Lab raised $ 1.6 million. The French fund Level Up became the lead investor of the round. Donut Lab is developing the game Kids vs. Zombie ”is a multiplayer shooter set in a post-apocalyptic world where children fight zombies.

Soft launch is scheduled for autumn 2020, and Russia is one of the first countries to play the first versions of the game. The global launch of the game is scheduled for late 2020. Now more than 20 people are working on the project.

Event Management · September 15, 2020 - Virtual event platform creator Airmeet received $ 12 million in Round A from Sequoia Capital India, Redpoint Ventures, Accel India and others. According to various sources, Airmeet's estimate was $ 50 million, nearly double the March 2020 estimate.

Airmeet allows users and companies to host virtual events. Its platform replicates aspects of a physical event, for example by allowing participants to communicate with each other. Airmeet also enables event organizers to work with sponsors. Airmeet, currently in public beta, is available on a freemium model.

E-Commerce September 15, 2020. CashKaro, a coupon and cashback service startup, raised $ 10 million from Korea Investment Partners and Kalaari Capital. CashKaro has several products, including a price comparison site and a cashback service (EarnKaro). The user receives cashback if they go from the CashKaro website to the online store website and make a purchase there. The startup services have more than 5 million registered users and 1,500 partners among online stores (including Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and Ajio). The total amount of attracted investments by CashKaro is $ 15 million.

Gaming · September 17, 2020. My.Games Venture Capital (the international division of the gaming business of Mail.ru Group) has invested in the American game studio Hypemasters in exchange for a minority stake in the company. The Finnish fund Aii Corporation also invested in the company.

The structure of Mail.ru Group refused to disclose the amount of investments, specifying that they plan to include Hypemasters in the group in the future. We can talk about an amount of up to $ 5 million, taking into account marketing costs, a source in the market told the publication.

In 2019, Hypemasters released the first Hype City game, Idle Tycoon, with two more games in development. The company employs 22 people, and Hypemasters has offices in the UK and Russia.

EdTech

September 17, 2020. Forage (ex. InstaSherpa), an online internship at large companies, raised $ 9.3 million in Round A from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Arizona State University and others. Forage offers online programs from leading companies (Deloittee, Citi, BCG, GE, etc.) that give students an insight into working for a particular organization. Forage was founded in 2017. The total amount of attracted startup investments is $ 11.6 million.

Medium deals (from $ 15 million to $ 75 million)

AI September 15, 2020. Call center analyzer Observe.AI raised $ 54 million from Menlo Ventures, Next47 Ventures and NGP. Observe. AI's solution, for example, can detect a pause in a conversation, understand its length and context, and identify the cause. With Observe.AI, managers can automatically fill out customer forms, leave notes for themselves in a conversation transcript, and more. The company's clients include Pearson, Alcon Laboratories and Concentrix. The total amount of attracted startup investments is $ 88 million.

Robotics

September 15, 2020. Seegrid, a developer of self-driving vehicles for transporting goods in warehouses and other facilities, announced raising $ 27 million from G2VP and others. This is a new part of the round, the total amount of which has reached $ 52 million. Seegrid offers a pallet wagon capable of transporting up to 3.5 tons of goods and a "tractor" capable of transporting up to 4.5 tons. The company was founded in 2003. The total amount of attracted investments of Seegrid is $ 150 million.

BioTech

September 15, 2020. Brightseed, an AI platform for finding phytonutrients in plants, announced a $ 27 million raise from Horizons Ventures, S2GVentures, and more. Brightseed's product is the Forager platform. It can determine the presence of phytonutrients in plants, which can then be used in the manufacture of food ingredients. The startup's partner is Danone North America. According to Crunchbase, this is Brightseed's first outside investment.

EdTech

September 16, 2020. Norwegian education company Kahoot announced the purchase of Danish startup Actimo, which offers online training courses for staff. The transaction will be paid in the form of shares and cash. Actimo's value ranged from $ 26 million to $ 33 million. The deal is expected to close in October 2020. According to PitchBook, the total amount of attracted investments of Actimo is $ 500 thousand. Kahoot has over 70 million monthly active users.Electric BikesSeptember 16, 2020. Electric bike manufacturer and seller VanMoof raised $ 40 million from Norwest Venture Partners, Balderton Capital and Felix Capital. The company raised the previous round of $ 12.5 million in May 2020.

Electric Bikes September 16, 2020. Electric bike manufacturer and seller VanMoof raised $ 40 million from Norwest Venture Partners, Balderton Capital and Felix Capital. The company raised the previous round of $ 12.5 million in May 2020. VanMoof offers two models of bicycles that cost around € 2,000 ($ 2,300). Every bike has a location tracker built into it. Users can report the theft of their bike through the VanMoof app. The company has its own team looking for stolen bicycles. Through the VanMoof app, the user can also check the battery level, open the lock, change settings, etc. The total amount of attracted startup investments is $ 73 million.

Collaboration Tools

September 17, 2020. Developer of the Bunch game communication solution raised $ 20 million from General Catalyst, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and others. Bunch allows players to video chat during joint gaming sessions. The company releases both its own games and allows its solution to be used with games from third-party developers. According to the company's own data, Bunch is used for 1.5 million minutes a day. The total amount of attracted startup investments - $ 27.9 million.

Large deals ($ 75 + million)

Electronics

September 14, 2020. Nvidia acquired UK microprocessor manufacturer Arm Holdings from SoftBank. The deal amounted to $ 40 billion. Under the terms of the deal, Nvidia will pay SoftBank $ 21.5 billion in shares and $ 12 billion in cash. In addition, SoftBank could receive up to $ 5 billion in cash or stocks if Arm reaches certain financial targets. As an additional commitment, Nvidia will pay $ 1.5 billion to employees of the British company. The parties plan to close the deal within 18 months, which is how long it will take for regulators in the UK, China, the European Union and the United States to check if the deal violates antitrust laws. To date, Arm Holdings has shipped more than 180 billion chips to the market, according to Nvidia's website. The company's clients are Apple, AMD, Broadcom, Huawei, Samsung, Qualcomm and Intel.

Zero-code Tools September 14, 2020. Zero-code data management startup Airtable raised $185 million from Benchmark, Coatue, D1 Capital and others. The company's value has more than doubled - from $ 1.1 billion in November 2018 to $ 2.58 billion.

The Airtable service allows you to create tables, calendars, galleries, checklists and other tools without coding or database management skills. Everything you need for this is inside the service or among ready-made templates, the user does not need to write code. Airtable is used by 200,000 companies including Netflix, HBO, Conde Nast Entertainment, TIME and IBM. Airtable's total investment, according to Crunchbase, is $ 355.6 million.

FinTech · September 15, 2020. Swedish service Klarna has raised $ 650 million from venture capital fund Silver Lake Partners, GIC and other investors valued at $ 10.6 billion. The company offers buyers interest-free installments on various purchases. Its application is used by 12 million people, and the number of downloads is 55 thousand per day. Brands such as H&M, Adidas and Ralph Lauren collaborate with Klarna. In August 2019, investors estimated the installment plan service at $ 5.5 billion. In 2018, the Klarna company was estimated at $ 2.25 billion.

Fitness September 16, 2020. Zwift, an online training platform, raised $ 450 million from KKR, Permira and others. Zwift is an online fitness platform that creates a virtual world for runners and cyclists. For reliable impressions, the platform is able to synchronize the picture and the load of the simulator. For example, it is more difficult for a user to study when his avatar in the application rises uphill. Since its launch, Zwift has signed up 2.5 million people in 190 countries. Now the company wants to produce not only software, but also equipment for training. Previously, users had to buy smart sneakers and fitness equipment from other brands. The total investment of Zwift is $ 614.5 million.

September 17, 2020. Tonal, which offers a smart home gym with 3D modeling and artificial intelligence technologies, announced raising $ 110 million from L Catterton, Delta-v Capital, Alexa Fund (Amazon fund) and others. The main feature of the Toner complex is the presence of a built-in element for strength training. Partners include Andaz Scottsdale Resort & Bungalows, the Waldorf Astoria Boca Raton Resort and Club and the JW Marriott Anaheim. The total amount of attracted investments by Tonal is $ 200 million.

Foodtech

September 16, 2020. Food delivery service Delivery Hero announced the purchase of the Latin American part of the Glovo business, a Spanish startup that delivers meals, groceries, non-food items from restaurants, cafes, shops, markets and online stores. The deal will amount to € 230 million, € 60 million of which will be paid upon reaching certain KPIs. The deal is expected to close within a few weeks. The deal will include Glovo's businesses in Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

AgTech September 17, 2020. Vertical greenhouse developer Infarm raised $ 170 million in debt and equity from LGT Lightstone, Hanaco, Bonnier, Haniel, Latitude and others. This is the first part of Round C, which is expected to reach $ 200 million. Infarm partners include Albert Heijn (Netherlands), Aldi Süd (Germany), COOP / Irma (Denmark), Empire Company's Sobeys, Safeway, and Thrifty Foods (Canada), Kinokuniya (Japan), Kroger (USA), Marks & Spencer and Selfridges (UK). According to Infarm, they grow 500,000 plants every month. The total amount of attracted investments of the company is $ 304.5 million.