Here’s what you need to know today in startup and venture news, updated by the Crunchbase News staff throughout the day to keep you in the know.
Triller to go public in SPAC deal
Video platform Triller said Wednesday it will go public through a SPAC merger valuing the company at $5 billion. Triller, a social video platform commonly viewed as a rival to TikTok, is merging with the blank-check company SeaChange International. After the merger is complete, SeaChange will change its name to TrillerVerz Corp. Triller has raised at least $33 million and is backed by investors like Pegasus Tech Ventures and Lowercase Capital.
— Sophia Kunthara
Facily raises $135M Series D extension for LatAm social commerce
Facily, a social commerce platform based in São Paulo, Brazil, said it’s raised a $135 million Series D-1 investment led by Prosus and Goodwater. The round is an extension of Facily’s $250 million Series D announced last month, the company said, and means it’s now raised more than $500 million in the past year. The company said it has more than 7 million active users.
— Marlize van Romburgh
Tech companies bail on CES
Several large tech companies said they won’t be attending CES in-person in Las Vegas next month due to rising COVID-19 cases. According to The Verge, T-Mobile, Amazon and Meta are among the companies to opt out of having a presence in Vegas, with Lenovo as the latest company to announce it won’t have any on-site activity. CES 2021 was all-digital because of the pandemic, and 2022 was set to be the event’s big return in person.
— Sophia Kunthara
Property tech
• Ambar raises $36M Brazil-based construction tech company Ambar has raised $36 million in a Series C round, according to a report. Echo Capital and Oria Capital led the round, which brings the company’s total funding to around $100 million, per TechCrunch. Other investors in the company include TPG Capital and Argonautic Ventures. Ambar’s funding follows a year of construction tech being increasingly in the spotlight, with both Procore’s IPO and Katerra’s shutdown.
— Sophia Kunthara
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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