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.
Subscribe to the Crunchbase Daily
Deliveroo shares dive in London debut
Shares of food delivery app Deliveroo fell as much as 30 percent in first-day trading in London on Wednesday, shaving as much as $2 billion from the company’s valuation.
The much-anticipated market debut was reportedly marred as some of Britain’s biggest investment companies shunned the listing, citing concerns about gig-economy working conditions and the share structure.
Founded in 2012, Deliveroo has raised at least $1.7 billion in private funding prior to its public debut, drawing backing from a long list of venture and growth investors as well as Amazon.
— Joanna Glasner
Tonal valued at $1.6B following $250M Series E
Connected personal training platform Tonal is back with a $250 million Series E round of funding, which values the company at $1.6 billion. The new round comes six months after the San Francisco company announced a $110 million Series D round led by L Catterton.
This time, Dragoneer led the round and was joined by Cobalt Capital, L Catterton and Sapphire Ventures, as well as a group of new athlete investors, including Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Maria Sharapova, Mike Tyson and Sue Bird. The new funding brings Tonal’s total funding to more than $450 million since the company was founded in 2015, according to Crunchbase data.
The global health and wellness market was valued at $3.31 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $4.24 billion by 2026. This demand resulted in Tonal’s sales growing more than 8x in 2020. It also partnered with retailer Nordstrom in 40 locations to expand its retail footprint to 60 points of distribution, the company said.
Tonal intends to put the new capital to use for scaling the business, which includes accelerating marketing and content initiatives, hiring, logistics and manufacturing.
— Christine Hall
Compass slashes IPO price range
Tech-enabled real estate company Compass has lowered its IPO range from between $23 and $26 to between $18 and $19, according to a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. At the new proposed maximum price, Compass would have a valuation of about $7.1 billion, excluding underwriters’ options. The company would’ve been valued at around $10.3 billion if it priced at the top of its previous range ($26). Compass was last privately valued at about $6.4 billion, and is expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.
— Sophia Kunthara
Entertainment
UnitedMasters raises $50M Series B: New York-based UnitedMasters, a startup for musicians to distribute music across platforms and earn revenue without needing a label, raised $50 million in a Series B round led by Apple, as part of a broader strategic partnership. Existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Alphabet also participated in the round.
— Joanna Glasner
Fintech and e-commerce
Harry’s raises $155M: Harry’s is now valued at $1.7 billion after reportedly raising $155 million in Series E funding, according to Forbes. The round was led by Bain Capital and Macquarie Capital, and brings the company’s total known funding to date to $652.4 million, according to Crunchbase data. Earlier this year, the New York-based company launched the Headquarters hair care line and will use the new funding to continue building out personal care categories and expanding its Flamingo brand, as well as on potential acquisitions, the company said.
Spiral inks $14M for charitable banking: Spiral, a 2-year-old neobank combining banking and charitable organizations, secured $14 million in funding, led by Team8, to launch its tool that enables customers to support charitable causes while earning interest and monthly cash bonuses on their deposits. Nonprofits use the app to share engaging content with supporters, increase donations and collect funds without fees. New York-based Spiral also matches donations up to a limit, the company said. The app is live and will launch to the public next quarter.
Spiral joins other startups focused on the charitable organization sector that have received funding in the past six months: Vennfi, an Atlanta-based financial technology company for tax-exempt payments, announced $2.3 million in seed funding for its charitable giving platform, CharityVest, led by Tom Blaisdell. CharityVest enables anyone to create a Donor-Advised Fund, or charitable giving account. Meanwhile, fintech company Amicus.io is democratizing access to donor-advised funds following an $8.7 million Series B raise toward its platform development.
Price.com banks $10M for online shopping: Money savings platform Price.com announced a $10 million seed round led by Ricky Caplin, chairman of Caplin Family Offices, to scale its network expansion and product development. The San Francisco-based company is developing an all-in-one money savings platform that combines comparison shopping, cashback, coupons, price history and price alerts.
— Christine Hall
Health care
Outpace Bio raises $30M for cell therapy: Biotechnology company Outpace Bio closed on a $30 million round of Series A funding led by ARTIS Ventures and Lyell Immunopharma to create the next generation of smart cell therapies aimed at improving efficacy and safety. Seattle-based Outpace will also collaborate with Lyell Immunopharma to develop and commercialize a potential immune cell therapy for the treatment of cancer.
— Christine Hall
New funds
Harlem Capital closes on $134M for second fund: Harlem Capital Partners, a diversity-focused venture capital firm, closed its oversubscribed Harlem Capital Partners Venture Fund II after raising $134 million. The New York firm intends to invest in 45 companies from this fund and is introducing “Culture Carry,” which will enable founders to split 1 percent of the fund’s carry as a way to benefit directly from each other’s success, the firm said. Although the fund will remain industry agnostic, the firm says there will be a deeper focus on enterprise and consumer technology. The firm’s first fund was launched in November 2019 with $40 million and invested in 23 companies. It now has $174 million in assets under management, according to the firm.
— Christine Hall
Clocktower fund eyes Latin America: Clocktower Technology Ventures said it is launching its first venture capital fund targeting financial services innovation in Latin America. The Santa Monica-based firm intends to raise $25 million for the strategy. CTV has already made four investments in the region in the past year, including Flink, Habi, Kushki and ontop.
— Christine Hall
M&A
Spotify acquires Betty Labs: Streaming platform Spotify is acquiring Los Angeles-based Betty Labs for an undisclosed sum. The startup, which has raised $9.3 million in funding to date, per Crunchbase, is best known for a sports app called Locker Room.
— Joanna Glasner
Enterprise software
Productiv closes $45M round: Palo Alto-based Productiv raised a $45 million Series C led by IVP with additional participation from existing investors Accel, Norwest Venture Partners, Okta Ventures and new strategic investor Atlassian Ventures. The company, which helps companies manage their SaaS application usage, more than tripled revenue and doubled its headcount in the last year.
Productiv has raised $73 million to date, according to the company.
— Chris Metinko
Illustration: Dom Guzman
Stay up to date with recent funding rounds, acquisitions, and more with the Crunchbase Daily.
67.1K Followers