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Amazon may be an undeniable winner in the U.S., but in South Korea, a SoftBank-backed business holds the trophy.
Coupang, an e-commerce marketplace that has been called the “Amazon of South Korea,” has been downloaded as an app by over half of the country’s population.
Now it’s filing for an IPO in the U.S. Last valued at an estimated $9 billion, according to Pitchbook, Coupang filed to raise $1 billion on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.
As with many e-commerce players, the company’s revenues have soared in the pandemic to $11.1 billion in 2020—nearly double the figure from a year prior. But despite the sudden ramp up in operations, its losses fell 26% to $567.6 million compared to the same period the year earlier. (It also faced early struggles with coronavirus outbreaks in its facilities.)
The company is certainly a player to watch even as tech valuations look frothy across the U.S. Many other companies have matched their massive growth with even larger expenses (Roblox being among that crowd.)
I caught up with Coupang’s Chief Technology Officer, Thuan Pham, back in October. While he is working for a business based on the opposite side of the world, Pham is a well known figure within the U.S. Tech community: He was a longtime CTO at ride-hailing giant Uber. And in our conversation, his roots carried over. While our chat occurred in the very early stages of his time at the Coupang, Pham said he was considering ideas around last-mile delivery and dynamically adjusted prices in grocery delivery. Read it here.
A SLOWDOWN IN THE AFRICA VC SCENE: Despite early worries of a slowdown, startup funding in the venture capital space soared in many regions of the world in 2020, with the U.S. Raising a record $130 billion as investors doubled down on their biggest bets. But the same trend didn’t persist across all geographies.
In the nascent though high-growth continent of Africa, venture capital funding fell for the first time in nearly a decade, according to Partech Partners’ annual report on the region. Total venture capital funding fell 29% in 2020 compared to the year before, to about $1.43 billion.
The numbers, the report noted, “showed the effect of a crisis that grounded global investors, drove uncertainty in macro trends and froze frenetic African cities. In some respects, there was a slowdown as investors’ processes were disrupted, as founders delayed rounds for better times, as betting big tickets became harder.”
And that’s the thing: Investors are still betting on startups on the continent, but with significantly smaller check sizes. And as new unicorns are being made every minute in the U.S. (Just scroll below), it’s hard to imagine investors stateside aren’t also hoping for more moderated valuations.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR NEXT WEEK: Executives at Robinhood, Melvin Capital, and Citadel Securities are expected to testify before a House panel on Feb. 18 to speak on the recent trading in GameStop shares, per Reuters.
DON’T FORGET: It’s your last day to fill in our survey on your thoughts for 2021. The polls close at midnight.
Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: [email protected]
VENTURE DEALS
- Public, New York-based stock trading app with a social media element, is seeking to raise at a $1.2 billion valuation, per Business Insider. Tiger Global Management is said to be leading. Read more.
- Cameo, a Chicago-based maker of an app for celebrities and influencers to record paid personalized messages, is in talks to raise at a $1 billion valuation, Per Bloomberg. Read more.
- Cyteir Therapeutics, a Lexington, Mass.-based cancer therapies discovery and development platform, raised $80 million in Series C funding. A Capital Management led the round and was joined by investors including Janus Henderson Investors, Acuta Capital Partners, Ally Bridge Group, Avidity Partners, Ample Plus Fund, CaaS Capital Management, Novo Holdings, Venrock, Lightstone Ventures, DROIA Ventures, and Osage University Partners.
- Modern Health, a San Francisco-based mental health benefits platform, raised $74 million in Series D funding. Founders Fund led the round.
- Immunai, a New York and Tel Aviv based biotech company, raised $60 million in Series A funding. Investors include Schusterman Family Investments, Duquesne Family Office, Catalio Capital Management, and Dexcel Pharma, Viola Ventures, and TLV Partners.
- Human Interest, a San Francisco-based 401(k) administration startup, raised $55 million in Series C funding. Glynn Capital led the round and was joined by investors including NewView Capital.
- Capitalize, a New York-based company focused on helping consumers rollover their 401(k)s, raised $12.5 million in Series A funding. Canapi Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Bling Capital, Greycroft, RRE Ventures, and Walkabout Ventures.
- UpEquity, an Austin-based mortgage platform, raised $7.5 million in Series A funding. Next Coast Ventures led the round.
- Accord, a San Francisco-based business-to-business sales platform, raised $6 million in seed funding. Stripe and Y Combinator led the round.
- Kargo, a San Francisco-based smart loading dock company, raised $6 million in seed funding. Founders Fund led the round and was joined by investors including Sozo Ventures and Accomplice.
- Ubamarket, a London-based provider of scan-and go retail tech, raised £2.9 million ($4 million). IW Capital led the round.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Arlington Capital Partners agreed to acquire Triumph Group’s (NYSE: TGI) Red Oak, Texas operations. The unit makes structures for the aerospace sector. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Apax Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake of Herjavec Group, a Toronto-based cybersecurity company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Colibri Group, backed by Gridiron Capital, acquired BrightPath Education Services, a Raleigh, N.C.-based maker of continuing education for real estate appraisals. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Platinum Equity Advisors will not submit a higher figure to takeover Marston’s, a British pub operator, after its £666 million ($921.81 million) proposal was rejected.
EXITS
- IBM acquired Taos Mountain, a San Jose, Calif.-based cloud consulting firm, from Bunker Hill Capital. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Polypipe acquired ADEY, a U.K.-based provider of solutions for protecting water-based heating systems, for £210 million from LDC. Read more.
OTHERS
- Hormel Foods (NYSE: HRL) agreed to acquire Kraft Heinz’s (Nasdaq: KHC) nuts brands, including Planters and Corn Nuts, for about $3.4 billion.
- I-VI Incorporated (Nasdaq: IIVI) offered to acquire Coherent (Nasdaq: COHR), a laser technology company, valuing it at nearly $6.4 billion. The offer comes 24% Coherent’s merger agreement with Lumentum, per the company.
- The Biden administration has asked the federal appeals court to hold the Trump administration’s attempts to ban WeChat, the Tecent-created Chinese social app. Read more.
- IWG acquired a stake in The Wing, a female focused co-working startup. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
IPOs
- Roblox, the game maker, restated its financials and now says it plans to go public via direct listing in March. The company said revenue in the first nine months of 2020 rose to $613.9 million compared to $588.7 million in its previous filing, while its losses in that period were at $194.5 million, down from $213.3 million as reported before. Read more.
- loanDepot, a Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based mortgage and loan provider, raised $54 million in an of offering 3.9 million shares (38% insider sold) priced at $14. The company previously said it hoped to raise $300 million. Parthenon Capital backs the firm. Read more.
- Talis Biomedical, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based maker of diagnostic tests, now plans to raise $173 million in an offering of 11.5 million shares priced between $14 to $16. Investors include Baker Bros and ArrowMark. Read more.
- NexImmune, a Gaithersburg, Md.-based biotech developing immunotherapies for cancer, says it now plans to raise $94 million in an offering of 5.9 million shares to be priced between $15 to $17. ArrowMark Partners backs the firm. Read more.
- Samsara, a San Francisco-based cloud tech firm, is planning to go public as soon as March, per Bloomberg. Andreessen Horowitz backs the firm. Read more.
SPAC
- A Place for Rover, a Seattle-based pet sitting startup, will go public via merger with Nebula Caravel Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: NEBC), a SPAC. A deal will value the business at about $1.3 billion.
- Grofers, an Indian online grocer, is weighing plans to merge with a SPAC in the U.S., per Bloomberg. A deal could value it at about $1 billion. Read more.
- Atlantic Coastal Acquisition, a SPAC focused on the mobility sector, filed to raise up to $300 million. Shahraab Ahmad, founder of Decca Capital, is CEO and chairman of the SPAC. Read more.
- Arrowroot Acquisition, a SPAC formed by Arrowroot Capital focused on enterprise software, filed to raise $250 million. Read more.
- Figure Acquisition I, a SPAC from Mike Cagney’s blockchain lending startup Figure Technologies, filed to raise $250 million. Read more.
- FinTech Evolution Acquisition, a SPAC seeking a fintech business, filed to raise $200 million. Rohit Bhagat, former chairman of Asia Pacific at BlackRock, leads the firm. Read more.
F+FS
- Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, the New York-based private equity firm, plans to raise $1 billion for LLCP Lower Middle Market Fund III. Read more.
- Mill Point Capital, a New York-based middle market private equity firm, raised $886 million for its second fund. Read more.
- Peloton Equity, a Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity firm, raised $152.3 million for its second fund.
- Eurazeo, the Paris-based firm, closed Smart City II Venture fund at €80 million.
PEOPLE
- Coatue Management hired David Schneider as a general partner to focus on private investing, per Bloomberg. Read more.
- Huron Capital Partners named Jim Mahoney as managing partner.
