Briefing Venture

The Briefing: Roku Eyes Quibi Content Buy, Googlers Form A Union, And More

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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.

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Roku eyes Quibi content catalog

Shuttered short-form video startup Quibi is in advanced talks to sell its content catalog to Roku, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Launched in 2018 and led by prominent tech and media executives Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg, Los Angeles-based Quibi raised $1.8 billion in funding.  The company made its public launch in April and shut down six months later, after its subscription offering had failed to gain sufficient traction.

A potential deal comes as Roku,  which sells the most popular streaming-media player in the U.S., is pushing more aggressively into content.

Color inks $1.5B valuation following $167M Series D

Health technology company Color, headquartered in Burlingame, California, announced $167 million in Series D funding.

This brings Color to $278 million in total financing, since its inception in 2013, and a valuation of $1.5 billion. Prior to this round, the company raised an $80 million Series C round in 2017, according to Crunchbase data.

The new round was led by existing investors General Catalyst and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., with participation from Viking Global Investors, the company said.

Color focuses on population-scale health care programs and clinical testing and said it will use the new funding to continue developing its public health technology and infrastructure for governments, employers and other institutions that serve large populations.

Other news

  • Hundreds of Google employees to unionize: More than 225 Google engineers and other workers have formed a union. The group, called the Alphabet Workers Union, is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America.
  • Turo plans public offering this year: Peer-to-peer car renting marketplace Turo is reportedly planning a public market debut later this year. The company also reportedly posted revenue of around $153 million in 2020.
  • Aeva SPAC deal raises another $200 million: Lidar startup Aeva is expected to add another $200 million to its upcoming SPAC deal from hedge fund Sylebra Capital Management, according to Bloomberg. The new funding will bring the deal to $563 million.

Funding rounds

  • India’s CRED lands $81M for payment rewards: Bengalaru-based CRED, a startup that offers rewards for customers who use its platform to pay their credit card bills, said it has raised $81 million in a financing round led by DST Global.
  • Oxygen inks $17M for digital banking: San Francisco-based Oxygen, a neobank developing tools for consumers and small businesses, announced a $17 million Series A round of funding led by Runa Capital.
  • Betterfly raises $9M for life insurance: Chilean insurtech startup Betterfly, which rewards good habits with social impact and life insurance, added $9 million in new funding led by QED Investors to its Series A. The total investment round is now $17.5 million.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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