The Crunchbase News Briefing: Mon., Sept. 28

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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Allbirds grabs $100M in Series E funding

Sustainable footwear unicorn Allbirds closed on a $100 million Series E round of funding last week to bring its total funding to date to more than $200 million.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the round gives the 4-year-old San Francisco-based company a valuation of $1.7 billion. The new funds will go toward growing its brick-and-mortar stores, adding new products, and accelerating growth of its direct-to-consumer sales operation.

Franklin Templeton Investments led the round and was joined by T. Rowe Price, Baillie Gifford, TDM Growth Partners and Rockefeller Capital Management. The Series E follows a $25 million Series D announced in January, according to Crunchbase data.

Poshmark files confidentially for IPO

Peer-to-peer online clothing marketplace Poshmark has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement to U.S. securities regulators for a planned IPO.

Founded in 2011, the Silicon Valley-based company offers an online platform where users can buy and sell clothes, with a focus on designer brands and below-retail prices.  Poshmark has raised just over $150 million in known funding to date, per Crunchbase data, from several well-known venture firms.

The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined.

Funding rounds

• Koneksa closes $16M Series B: Koneksa, developing and implementing patient-centric digital biomarkers for drug development, said it secured a $16 million Series B round of funding to expand the development of its digital platform for integrating wearables, sensors and other patient-facing technologies into clinical research. Spring Mountain Capital led the financing, with participation from new investors including McKesson Ventures, Novartis Pharma AG and MBX Capital. Koneksa’s existing investors, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Waterline Ventures, also participated in the round.
• Noyo lands $12.5M Series A: Noyo, a startup that provides tools that link players in the health insurance space, announced it has closed on $12.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Costanoa Ventures and Spark Capital.

M&A

Awake Security acquired by Arista: Network detection and response platform Awake Security agreed to be acquired by cloud networking firm Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET) for an undisclosed amount. In a blog post, Rahul Kashyap, CEO of Awake, said the “promise of this acquisition is a stronger and more secure network and we will continue to grow the team and invest in future innovation.” The transaction is expected to close in Arista’s fiscal fourth-quarter 2020.

Other news

• TikTok gets a reprieve: A federal judge has issued an order temporarily blocking the Trump administration from enforcing a ban on downloads of the popular TikTok video-sharing app from U.S. app stores.

Illustration: Dom Guzman