Deals Week December 14th

Key deals of the week (December 7 - 13)

In late November - early December, several major reports were published on the state of venture capital investments in the US and Europe. The joint report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and CB Insights contains information mainly on investments in American startups, the vast majority of which are technology companies.

In the third quarter of 2020, they raised $ 36.5 billion, which is 30% more than in the previous quarter and 22% more than in the same period last year. This is the second-highest quarterly indicator in history (the absolute record was set in the IV quarter of 2018, $ 40.5 billion). The total investment in 2020 is still $ 92 billion, but by the end of the year it could well break the all-time record of $ 121 billion set in 2018.

The analytical agency Pitchbook notes that in the outgoing year there were 223 rounds of funding in the United States for an amount exceeding $ 100 million. And according to Renaissance Capital, in the third quarter of 2020, 81 IPOs were held in the United States, in which startups raised $ 28.5 billion. This is a record quarterly figure since 2000.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the numbers are smaller, but also record high. The venture capital firm Atomico's annual report on the state of the European tech sector, published on December 8, cites an all-time record of $ 5 billion in startup investment in September and a forecast of $ 41 billion in total for 2020, about $ 500 million more than in 2019. there is also an increase in the number of large rounds of funding ($ 100-250 million). In addition, in 2020, 19% of rounds attracted at least one American investor, compared with only 16% last year.

In Europe as a whole, there are now more than 144 thousand startups, of which over 43 thousand have carried out at least one round of funding this year. About 15 thousand of them raised amounts of less than $ 2 million, and only 74 companies raised funding in excess of $ 250 million.The largest investments were attracted by British startups - $ 12.5 billion, which is almost $ 1 billion less than last year, but still much more than in other major European economies. German startups raised $ 5.4 billion ($ 6.9 billion in 2019). France became the only one of the leading economies in Europe this year, investments in start-ups of which increased compared to last year - $ 5.2 billion ($ 4.8 billion in 2019), and this is a record figure for the country. Investment growth was also shown by Sweden, Finland and Belgium. Spain showed the largest drop in investments - from $ 1.6 billion in 2019 to $ 636 million this year.

Small deals (up to $ 15 million)

Entertainment

December 8, 2020. Reface, a startup developing a face-swapping video app, raised $ 5.5 million in a Seed Round from Andreessen Horowitz, TQ Ventures, and others. The Reface app (iOS and Android) has been downloaded 70 million times since its launch in January 2020. In August 2020, the number of downloads reached 20 million. In 100 countries, Reface is in the TOP 5 apps. The startup will spend the attracted investments, among other things, on the development of technology to determine the replacement of faces in the video so that their technology is not used for the wrong purposes. In August 2020, the Reface app became the most popular in the American AppStore, briefly beating Instagram and TikTok.

FinTech

· December 8, 2020. Indiegogo founder launched Vincent, a platform for finding alternative investments (real estate, art, etc.) and raised $ 2 million from Uncommon Denominator, ERA Ventures, The Fund and Humbition. In July 2020, the Vincent service was launched in beta test mode, but it will be available to everyone in the near future. The company has about 50 partner platforms, including WeFunder, SharesPost, Rally Rd. and Otis. People use Vincent to get information about trades, but as soon as they find an asset that interests them, they are redirected to the site or application of the partner platform in order to complete the trade. Vincent receives a commission when users are redirected to an affiliate platform.

HRTech

· December 9, 2020. MyInterview, a service for recording video responses during the selection process, raised $ 5 million from Entrée Capital, SeedIL Ventures and others. MyInterview has 2,000 corporate clients, mainly from the US and UK. The startup's clients include Ocado, B&M and P&O Ferries. At the moment, a total of 2 million applicants have used the platform. MyInterview partner is reed.co.uk, the largest job search site in the UK. MyInterview initially offered a solution that integrated with existing customer recruiting systems, but released a separate platform in early 2019.

Clients create a portal with a list of questions that candidates answer via video. Applicants can play and rewrite their answers multiple times before clicking the Submit button. Upon submission, myInterview generates a tagged transcript for recruiters to sort. One of the differences between myInterview is myInterview Intelligence. If the recruiter is using myInterview Intelligence, the platform analyzes responses and highlights keywords, phrases and tone.

InsurTech

· December 10, 2020. Pampadu, a Russian IT startup for online insurance, raised $ 400,000. The funds were received in round A from the Admitad Projects startup studio and will be used to develop the project. Pampadu is an online insurance service through which SMEs, webmasters and website owners, as well as individuals, can act as insurance intermediaries and issue electronic insurance policies remotely. The technology of the service allows users to register, including as self-employed, and to issue insurance products online. They can also connect other agents for themselves and officially withdraw commissions to their account after the sale of the policy. The service works with insurance companies throughout Russia and provides access to various types of insurance: OSAGO, CASCO, accident insurance, travel and real estate insurance.

AI

December 10, 2020. Papercup, an AI solution for automatic dubbing, raised $ 10.5 million from LocalGlobe, Sands Capital Ventures and others. The cost of dubbing a video is quite high, for example, translation of a 90-minute video can cost from $ 30,000 to $ 100,000. Papercup's algorithms identify a human voice in a video and then generate a soundtrack in a new language with a human-like voice. Video content producers upload their videos to the Papercup, specify the target language, and wait for the Papercup media teams to check the quality of the translated audio track and then receive the dubbed video. The startup's clients include Sky News and Discovery. According to Crunchbase, Papercup's total investment raised is $ 13.2 million.

Collaboration Tools

· December 11, 2020. Cosmos Video, a startup offering a solution for communicating with other people, has announced a $ 2.6 million Seed Round from LocalGlobe, Entrepreneur First and others. Cosmos Video allows users to create virtual venues by combining a game element with video chat. Users create their own avatar, move around the map, and when approaching another character, they can start a video chat. The app is currently in closed beta testing. People use Cosmos Video solution for corporate events, family gatherings, etc.

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

Foodtech

· December 7, 2020. Dutch food tech startup Mosa Meat announced an additional $ 20 million in round B. The round itself was held in several stages. Round B, which brought together Mitsubishi Corporation, Target Global, Blue Horizon Ventures, ArcTern Ventures and Rubio ImpactVentures, totaled $ 75 million. Mosa Meat was launched in 2015. The startup specializes in the production of cultured beef patty hamburgers. It is raised on the basis of cow cells, rather than killing the whole animal. Currently, more than 50 scientists are working on burgers, who managed to reduce the cost of a burger by 88 times compared to what it was in 2013. The first burger cost € 250,000 - funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin - but now the startup predicts that each burger will cost € 9.

Sales

· December 7, 2020. GetAccept, a platform developer that helps salespeople close deals remotely, has raised $ 20M from Bessemer Venture Partners and BootstrapLabs. The platform allows you to make video calls with clients, chat, track documents and sign documents remotely. The main clients of GetAccept are small and medium businesses. GetAccept was founded in 2015. In 18 months, the company's staff has grown from 30 to 100+ people. According to Crunchbase, the startup's total investment raised is $ 28.7 million.The previous round of $ 7 million GetAccept raised in July 2019.

EdTech

· December 8, 2020. Mail.ru Group, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Russian-Chinese Investment Fund (RCIF) are investing in the educational online service Uchi.ru. The amount of investments has not been specified, as a result they will receive a minority stake in Uchi.ru. According to Mail.ru, the Internet company is acquiring 25% of the service for 3.75 billion rubles. (about $ 51 million) with the possibility of bringing the share to the controlling one through an option. The first option involves an increase in the stake in Uchi.ru to 49.5%, it can be exercised at the end of 2021. The deal is expected to close before the end of the year.

MedTech

· December 8, 2020. Calm meditation service raised $ 75 million in its latest round from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Insight, Goldman Sachs, TPG and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. The company's valuation was $ 2 billion. According to Calm's own data, the number of downloads for the year increased to 100 million from 40 million. In total, 4 million subscribers use the service - in 2019, 1 million users paid for a subscription. In 2020, users listened to over 1 billion minutes of content - 100% more than a year earlier. In 2019, Calm attracted about $ 143 million valued at $ 1 billion. According to Crunchbase, since its foundation in 2012, the company has raised $ 218 million in total.

FinTech

· December 9, 2020. Fintech company Outfund raised £ 37 million (about $ 49 million) in debt and equity from Fuel Ventures, Force Over Mass and TMT Investments. Outfund provides entrepreneurs with an alternative funding channel. With its help, online companies can get funds on credit by providing profit calculations.

According to the startup, the terms of issuing loans in Outfund are more flexible and the issuance procedures are faster than in traditional banks. According to Outfund technology, lending decisions are made solely on the basis of business income and performance data. A startup's algorithm extracts information from multiple sources to determine how a client's company is performing. Outfund's services are available to businesses that accept online payments, have a monthly turnover of at least £ 10,000 and have been doing business for at least 6 months.

December 10, 2020. Cleo, which develops a virtual assistant that helps in solving financial issues, raised $ 44 million from EQT Ventures, Balderton Capital and others. The AI-powered Cleo app connects to bank accounts and provides tips, financial information, and timely prompts to help you stay within budget. The application has 4 million registered users, 96% of whom are from the United States. The service has a free version as well as a $ 5.99 monthly subscription. The company's ARR is $ 10 + million and the CAC is at $ 2. According to Crunchbase, Cleo's total investment raised is $ 57.3 million.

E-Commerce

December 10, 2020. Indian startup InfraMarket raised $ 20 million in Round B from Sistema Asia Fund, Evolvence India Fund and Foundamental Gmbh. The round was also attended by the current investors of the project, including Accel, Tiger Global and Nexus. InfraMarket is a building materials marketplace that provides businesses with a comprehensive procurement solution. The company plans to use the raised funds to enter new markets, develop its own brands and D2R (Direct-to-Retail) sales. Today Infra.Market operates in 10 Indian states (headquartered in Mumbai). About 10% of a startup's revenue comes from international activities (exports to countries such as the UAE, Singapore, Malaysia and others). The startup's revenue this year has grown 5.5 times over the previous year. The annual turnover is currently $ 180 million; by March 2021, the company expects to increase its turnover to $ 300 million.

Large deals ($ 75 + million)

EdTech

· December 8, 2020. Uber has agreed to sell its flying taxi division Uber Elevate to California-based startup Joby Aviation. Under the terms of the deal, Uber will invest $ 75 million in JobyAviation.The companies have collaborated since 2019, and in January 2020, Uber invested $ 50 million in the startup in a series C funding round. The deal will close in early 2021. Joby will be able to use the Uber app to suggest air taxi rides. The company should enter the first aircraft in service in 2023.

Joby, which was founded in 2009, develops electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxis. The vessel develops a speed of up to 320 km / h, the maximum flight range is about 240 km. The salon accommodates four passengers and a pilot. The company conducts test flights at a private airfield in Northern California. Joby raised $ 590 million in January 2020 from Toyota, Intel and other investors. The company said it would receive commercial passenger clearance from the FAA and other regulatory agencies around the world in the next 3-5 years.

Cybersecurity

December 8, 2020. American startup Dragos raised $ 110 million from National Grid Partners, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and others. Dragos was founded in 2016 and offers solutions to detect cyber threats faced by industrial control systems - critical devices for the operation of power plants, water suppliers, and other critical infrastructure. The Dragos team consists of 220 people. The company plans to open offices in Australia, the UAE and the UK. According to Crunchbase, Dragos' total investment raised is $ 158.2 million.

Foodtech

· December 9, 2020. American food delivery service DoorDash has conducted an IPO. The company's capitalization reached $ 38 billion. During the IPO, the delivery service raised $ 3.37 billion, selling 33 million shares at $ 102 per share. DoorDash's placement was the third-largest in the U.S. in 2020, behind Bill Ekman's SPAC and software maker Snowflake. The company's shares are traded under the ticker DASH. DoorDash food delivery service was founded in 2013 by Stanford students Today, 390 thousand restaurants are connected to the service, it has 18 million users. DoorDash in July-September received a loss of $ 43 million with revenue of $ 879 million.For the same period last year, the loss was $ 152 million, revenue - $ 239 million.

December 10, 2020. China's Missfresh grocery delivery service raised $ 305 million from a joint venture between Qingdao Guoxin, Sunshine Venture Capital and Qingdao Municipal Government Guidance Fund. Missfresh offers delivery in 30 minutes in 20 cities in China. To do this, the company creates a network of small warehouses that cover an area within a 3 km radius. The service offers 2,000 SKUs. Products are supplied from all over the world. Excluding this round, the total amount of attracted investments Missfresh is $ 1.4 billion.

Healthcare

December 10, 2020 Cityblock Health, a low-income healthcare solutions company, raised $ 160 million from General Catalyst, Wellington Management and others. Cityblock Health enables users to receive medical advice at home, in the clinic, by phone or online. In addition to medical care, the startup offers psychological help as well as help with household chores such as grocery shopping. In four major US cities, 70,000 people use Cityblock Health. The total amount of attracted investments of the company is $ 300 million.

FinTech

· December 11, 2020. Cloud banking platform developer Tink raised € 85 million (about $ 103 million) from Eurazeo Growth, PayPal Ventures, ABN AMRO Ventures and others for a post-money estimate of € 680 million (about $ 825 million). Tink offers products such as invoice aggregation, payment initiation, data enrichment, and personal finance management that can be used to develop standalone services or integrated into existing banking applications. Tink connects 3,400 banks, reaching about 250 million people. The company's partners include PayPal, NatWest, ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas, Nordea and SEB. 8,000 developers use the Tink API. In January 2020, the startup raised € 90 million ($ 105 million).

Robotics

· December 11, 2020. Hyundai has officially announced the purchase of a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics: the company will receive 80%, the rest will be retained by SoftBank through one of its affiliates. The deal will be closed by June 2021 subject to regulatory approval ․ Boston Dynamics was valued at $ 1.1 billion as a result of the deal. Hyundai's investment will help develop robots for service and logistics purposes. Over time, the company hopes to create robots for patient care. Hyundai is also interested in self-driving cars and smart factories. Hyundai will become the third owner of Boston Dynamics from 2013. Founded in 1992, the company was bought by Google in 2013, and in 2017 it was taken over by SoftBank. The amount of the deal was not disclosed.