The giants try to break into the club

If you have a hot and exciting social media app out there, it’s unsurprising—perhaps even expected—for the giants to take a swing at it. Here’s a mere sampling of the shenanigans that go about in social media: Facebook—perhaps the best-known offender of the bunch—has copied features from Snap any number of times. Twitter launched its own vanishing video feature late last year. And Snap has launched a TikTok-esque feature dubbed Spotlight.

As it so happens, one of the buzziest social media upstarts at the moment is Clubhouse. Just one year into its launch, many, many companies seem to be jumping on its turf. As China blocked the audio-only chat app, TikTok owner ByteDance moved to create a homegrown copy. Twitter is testing something dubbed Spaces that, for now, looks an awful lot like Clubhouse. And we can’t forget Facebook’s plans.

Then on Tuesday, LinkedIn said it too was building a Clubhouse-like feature. On the same day, Spotify also revealed it was entering the space with the acquisition of Betty Labs, a maker of a live audio app focused on sports—adding another industry to Clubhouse’s list of competitors.

It’s hard to say now who will win, and there may well be space for all. But the race will certainly prove whether audio-only works better as a feature of a product or as a standalone, especially as in-person interactions resume and become perhaps the ultimate competition.

INSURANCE IS SMEXY: Small-business insurance fintech Next has doubled its valuation to $4 billion in six months, my colleague Robert Hackett reports. Small businesses and the country as a whole are expecting a strong recovery as vaccine rollouts continue and summer weather returns.

The lead investors in Next’s latest financing round expect the economic uptick to continue too. As more mom-and-pop shops get back in gear, the investors are particularly excited about the opportunity presented by “embedded financial services,” a fancy way of saying plugging one’s financial products into other software.

“We can see this very strongly in Asia with companies like AliPay and WeChat, they provide their customers with insurance, which is embedded in their systems,” says Gil Arazi, who led the Next deal for FinTLV, a Tel Aviv-based venture capital fund that backs so-called insuretech startups. Read more.

Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email:  [email protected]

VENTURE DEALS

- HighRadius, a Houston-based order management software company, raised $300 million in Series C funding valuing it at $3.1 billion. D1 Capital and Tiger Global led the round and was joined by investors including ICONIQ Growth and Susquehanna Growth Equity. Other investors included Frank Slootman (CEO of Snowflake).

- Entrada Therapeutics, a Boston-based biotech treating diseases using intracellular biologics, raised $116 million in Series B funding. Wellington Management Company led the round Redmile Group, TCG Crossover, Greenspring Associates, Point72, Qatar Investment Authority (“QIA”), Moore Strategic Ventures, Goldman Sachs, and CureDuchenne Ventures.

- Manticore Games, a San Mateo, Calif.-based maker of a platform for user-built games, raised $100 million in Series C funding. XN led the round and was joined by investors including  SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and LVP, as well as Benchmark, Bitkraft’s new Opportunity Fund, Correlation Ventures, and Epic Games.

- Rightway, a New York-based healthcare technology and services company focused on pharmacy benefits, raised $100 million in Series C funding, valuing it at $1.1 billion. Khosla Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Thrive Capital and Tiger Global Management.

- ClimaCell, a weather prediction company, raised $77 million in Series D funding. Stonecourt Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Highline Capital. Read more.

- UnitedMasters, a Brooklyn-based music distribution platform for independent artists, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Apple led the round and was joined by investors including Alphabet and Andreessen Horowitz today. The Series B investment fuels the company's mission to enable artists to maintain full ownership over their work while expanding their economic opportunity and introducing them to millions of new fans. It also kicks off a strategic partnership with Apple, which will create dramatic new opportunities for UnitedMasters artists. 

- Productiv, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based management software company, raised $45 million in Series C funding. IVP led the round and was joined by investors including  Accel, Norwest Venture Partners, Okta Ventures, and Atlassian Ventures. 

- GoStudent, an Austria-based virtual tutoring platform, raised €70 million ($82 million) in Series B funding. Coatue led the round and was joined by investors including Left Lane Capital and DN Capital. Read more.

- Immune-Onc Therapeutics, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company, raised $73 million in Series B1 and B2 funding. Oceanpine Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Octagon Capital, Sphera Healthcare, Northern Light Venture Capital, and Vivo Capital.

- Substack, a San Francisco-based newsletter platform, raised $65 million in Series B funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round. The deal values the platform at $650 million, per Axios. Read more.

- AUDITORIA.AI, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based automation solutions for corporate finance teams, raised $15.5 million in Series A funding. Venrock led the round and was joined by investors including Workday Ventures, B Capital Group, Engineering Capital, Firebolt Ventures, and Neotribe Ventures.

- Nebula Microsystems, a Dallas-based analog startup, raised $15 million in seed funding. Morningside Group led the round.

- Spiral, a New York-based banking solution for the charitable sector, raised $14 million. Team8 led the round and was joined by investors including Communitas Capital, Phoenix, Nidoco AB, and MTVO.

- Living Security, an Austin-based cybersecurity company seeking to bring awareness to people, raised $14 Million in Series B funding. Updata Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Silverton Partners, Active Capital, Rain Capital, and SaaS Venture Partners. 

- Crosschq, a San Francisco-based recruiting software company, raised $13 million in Series A funding. Tiger Global Management led the round and was joined by investors including GGV Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Slack Fund, SAP, Intersect Capital, and Rocketship.VC.  

- Sonar, an Atlanta-based maker of software based on monitoring the Salesforce tech stack, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Craft Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Slack, Valor EP, and Parade VC.

- Price.com, a San Francisco-based price-comparison platform, raised $10 million in seed funding . Ricky Caplin (Chairman of Caplin Family Offices) led the round and was joined by investors including Founders Fund, Social Capital, Dick Costolo (former Twitter CEO), Vanja Josifovski (Airbnb CTO).

- Celential.ai, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based virtual recruiting service, raised $9.5 million in Series A funding. GSR Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Spider Capital and TSVC.

- SuperRare, a Delaware-based NFT art platform, raised $9 million in Series A funding. Velvet Sea Ventures and 1confirmation led the round and were joined by Collaborative Fund, Shrug Capital, Third Kind, SamsungNext, Sound Ventures, Mark Cuban, Marc Benioff, Naval Ravikant and Chamath Palihapitiya.

- Gro, a London-based blockchain finance company company, raised $7.1million. Galaxy Digital, Framework Ventures and Northzone invested.

- Materna Medical, a Mountain View-based company focused on women’s pelvic health, raised $6 million in extended Series A funding. Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health led the round and was joined by investors including Kimera Limited, Texas Halo Fund, Band of Angels, and Houston Angel Network. A second close is expected in June.

- Upswing, an Austin-based online student engagement company, raised $5 million as part of its Series A funding round. Imaginable Futures led the round and was joined by investors including JP Morgan Chase, Bonsal Capital, the Agave Fund, and Sustain VC.

- Acadeum, an Austin-based course sharing platform, raised $5 million in funding. Investors include Rethink Education, Socratic Ventures, Lumina Foundation, and LearnStart.

- Tugende, a Uganda-based finance company, raised $3.6 million in additional funding.  Partech led the round and was joined by investors including Enza Capital.

- Tyltgo, a Canadian company enabling white-labelled delivery for retailers, raised C$2.3 million ($1.8 million) in seed funding. TI Platform Management led the round.

- Gryps, a New York-based robotic process automation startup focused on the construction industry, raised $1.5 million in seed funding. LDV Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Pear VC and Harvard Business School Graduate Syndicate.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Brighton Park Capital invested $125 million in  OPSWAT, a Tampa-based cybersecurity solutions.

- Align Capital Partners recapitalized Custom Veterinary Services, a Miami-based formulator and contract manufacturer exclusively focused on the animal health industry. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Cérélia, backed by Ardian, acquired US Waffle, a South Carolina-based producer of pancakes and waffles. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Aspen Surgical Products, a portfolio company of Audax Private Equity, acquired BlueMed Medical Supplies, a Canada-based maker of single-use shoe coverings for medical end-markets. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Potter Electric Signal Company, a portfolio company of Gryphon Investors, acquired SureCall’s emergency responder in-building communication systems. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- VRC Engineered Solutions, a portfolio company of Blue Point Capital Partners, acquired Cascadia Custom Molding, an Idaho-based molding company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Wellbeam Consumer Health, an American Pacific Group portfolio company formerly known as Yukon Wellness Holdings, acquired Penetrex, a joint and muscle relief and recovery brand. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- SK Capital acquired the Blow-Fill-Seal sterile contract development and manufacturing business, a Woodstock, Ill.-based company, from Catalent Pharma Solutions. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

EXITS

- EQT is nearing a deal to acquire Cerba HealthCare, a French laboratories company, from Partners Group, per Bloomberg. A deal would value it at about 4.5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) including debt. Read more.

- Finch Capital acquired Wirecard Turkey, a subsidiary of German fintech Wirecard. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Investcorp acquired Investis Digital, a London-based provider of digital corporate communications and marketing services, from ECI Partners. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Ontario Teachers Pension Plan agreed to acquire a majority stake in Mitratech, an Austin-based provider of legal and compliance software, from TA Associates and Hg. A deal values the firm at $1.5 billion, per Bloomberg. Read more.

- Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) acquired Pineapple Payments, a Pittsburgh-based payments technology provider, from PSP. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

OTHER

- Greenlane Holdings (NASDAQ: GNLN) and KushCo Holdings (OTCQX: KSHB), two cannabis companies, agreed to merge with KushCo will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Greenlane. The deal values the duo at about $400 million.

IPO

- Deliveroo, the U.K.-based food delivery company,  is expected to raise 1.5 billion pounds ($2.1 billion), the bottom of its range. Read more.

- GogoX, a Hong Kong-based van and logistics company, is weighing an IPO that could raise between $400 million to $500 million, per Bloomberg. Read more.

- Oxford Nanopore Technologies, a U.K.-based gene sequencing company, plans to IPO in London in the second half of the year, per Bloomberg. Read more.

- Treace Medical Concepts, a Ponte Vedra, Fla.-based company developing treatments for bunions, filed to raise $100 million. Read more.

SPAC

- 5G Edge Acquisition, a SPAC focused on telecom, media, and tech, filed to raise $300 million.

- Waverley Capital Acquisition 1, a SPAC from Waverley Capital targeting media, tech, and entertainment, filed to raise $300 million. 

- two, a SPAC from Eventbrite founder Kevin Hartz, raised $200 million.

F+FS

- BlackRock Private Equity Partners, a New York-based division of BlackRock, closed its debut secondaries and liquidity strategy with $3 billion.

- Zigg Capital, the New York-based venture capital firm investing in companies operating in the real estate technology sector, closed its second fund with $225 million.

- Enern, a Prague-based investment firm, launched  KAYA VC with €72 million ($80 million) to focus on Central and Eastern Europe.