The Briefing: Airbnb Seeks $35B Public Valuation; GoSite Gets $40M, And More

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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Airbnb seeks valuation up to $35B in IPO

Airbnb set a price range of $44 to $50 per share for its upcoming IPO, which would set a valuation of up to $35 billion, according to a new securities filing.

The company is looking to raise $2.5 billion in the offering. It’s expecting to complete its public market debut later this month, listing on the Nasdaq under the ticker ABNB.

The planned offering comes on the tail end of a rough year for the travel and hospitality space, which has been rife with cutbacks and cancellations among the pandemic. Airbnb itself reported a year-over-year decline in Q3 revenues for 2020. However, investors are optimistic the travel space will rebound at some point next year.

Olive brings in $225.5M to become unicorn

Olive, which has developed an AI workforce for the health care industry, said it closed $225.5 million in financing to bring its valuation to $1.5 billion. [Read more]

Report: GitLab gets $6B valuation in secondary share sale

GitLab, a platform for software developers to manage and collaborate on code, is valued at more than $6 billion in a secondary share sale, CNBC reported Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The transaction reportedly values GitLab at more than double the $2.7 billion valuation the San Francisco-based startup fetched when it raised a $270 million venture round led by Goldman Sachs and Iconiq Capital in September 2019. GitLab, which competes with Microsoft-owned GitHub, has raised $434.2 million in total venture funding, according to Crunchbase data.

Funding rounds

• GoSite gets $40M to bring businesses online: San Diego-based GoSite, a provider of cloud software for small and mid-sized businesses to build and grow their online operations, raised $40 million in a Series B funding round led by Left Lane Capital.
• Surfline\Wavetrack rides in $30M: Surfline\Wavetrak, a Huntington Beach-based surf forecasting company, raised a $30 million investment by TCG. The company also announced the appointment of former Amazon and The Walt Disney World executive  Kyle Laughlin as CEO.
• Ankorstore secures $29.9M: Paris-based online B2B marketplace Ankorstore raised approximately $29.9 million in Series A funding, led by Index Ventures, to enable the company to expand further into Europe, including the U.K. in early 2021.
• EclecticIQ raises $24M: Dutch cybersecurity startup EclecticIQ has raised 20 million euros ($24 million) in a Series C financing led by Ace Management. The company serves government entities and large enterprises, and hopes to expand its global footprint and product portfolio with the new investment.
• Trint raises $6.7M for speech-to-text platform: London-based Trint, a speech-to-text platform for content creation, closed on a $6.7 million Series A acceleration round. The round was opened in August by The New York Times Company.
• ConnexPay adds $6.1M: Payment technology company ConnexPay secured $6.1 million in additional funding from existing investors and new investor F-Prime Capital, to bring its total funding to $15 million. The new funding will be used for growth and to increase digital payment offerings for the travel industry.
• Fakespot inks $4M to monitor e-commerce scams: Fakespot, a platform consumers can use to monitor online marketplaces for e-commerce scams, secured $4 million in Series A funding led by Bullpen Capital.
• uMed banks $4.8M for clinical study support: Research technology company uMed raised $4.8 million in venture capital, backed by AlbionVC, Delin Ventures and Playfair Capital, to help health care specialists and hospitals run patient research more efficiently and safely.

More news

• Seismic acquires Grapevine6: Seismic, a sales enablement and marketing orchestration platform provider based in San Diego, announced the acquisition of Toronto-based digital customer engagement platform Grapevine6. The acquisition will result in a new, integrated offering called Seismic LiveSocial that will be an engagement tool for sales and client-facing teams through social media.

Illustration: Dom Guzman