What the Tuesday morning internet outage tells us

A lot of high-traffic websites had a bad morning Tuesday, and there’s a good chance you ran into the issue, too.

On Tuesday, some high-traffic Internet destinations, including the websites of Bloomberg, the New York Times, Reddit, Stripe, Amazon, and—yes—the U.K.’s government, faced major downtime. But it wasn’t some Machiavellian cyberattack. Instead, the issue appeared to stem from a single source whose services the aforementioned sites depend upon: A company called Fastly. 

Fastly, a so-called content delivery network that helps reduce load times on websites, said a “service configuration” caused the disruption, and it says it was able to fix the problem within an hour.

Still, the mass outage reveals just how much of the internet’s infrastructure relies on a handful of players. Few content delivery networks have the capacity to support large websites the way Fastly does (its competitors include Cloudflare and Akamai), which has led large companies to flock to this handful of providers. As the pandemic drove much of life online, Fastly’s stock soared, although it lost much of its gains this year. The stock currently sits 60% below its all-time high, valuing the business at around $5.8 billion.

Will the outage fan cries for greater decentralization of the internet’s plumbing? Most certainly. 

But at least for Fastly, investors appear to be spinning it as a positive for the company. Think of Robinhood and the rise of the memetraders. Consumers cursed out the stock-trading app for its outages and restrictions, but its name also spread like wildfire, and the publicity helped push the company to record app downloads. Fastly’s stock, meanwhile, rose 2% in early trading Tuesday, outpacing the Nasdaq composite. Content delivery networks, after all, rarely surface into the public eye. And in this case, the outage has, for now, emphasized how many reputable names rely on Fastly.

NUBANK AND “NEW” BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: In another sign of the passing of the strategic baton at Berkshire Hathaway, the investing business agreed to acquire $500 million worth of shares in digital bank company Nu Pagamentos—or Nubank. The deal values the Brazil-based fintech company, which operates in one of the hottest economies for the space, at about $30 billion. The investment may not seem like a typical Warren Buffett buy, given its focus in tech—and the chances are, it isn’t. Berkshire Hathaway has in the last two years made large investments in emerging market fintech, with one of the company’s two portfolio managers, Todd Combs, spearheading deals in Brazil-based StoneCo and India-based Paytm.

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

VENTURE DEALS

- Flipkart, an Indian e-commerce company controlled by Walmart, is in talks to raise at least $3 billion from investors including SoftBank Group, per Bloomberg.

- Relativity Space, a Long Beach, Calif.-based company that focuses on 3D printing rockets, raised $650 million in Series E funding. Fidelity Management & Research Company led the round and was joined by investors including Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, Centricus, Coatue, K5 Global, Soroban Capital, Tiger Global, Tribe Capital, XN, Brad Buss, Mark Cuban, Jared Leto, and Spencer Rascoff’s 75 & Sunny.

- Stackline, a Seattle-based maker of subscription-based ecommerce tools, raised $130 million from TA Associates.

- Whatfix, a San Jose-based employee onboarding solution, raised $90 million in Series D funding. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the round and was joined by investors including Eight Roads Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, Dragoneer Investment Group, F-Prime Capital and Cisco Investments. 

- Waabi, a Toronto-based maker of self-driving technology, raised $83.5 million in Series A funding. Khosla Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Uber, Radical Ventures, 8VC, OMERS Ventures, BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund, Aurora Innovation, Geoffrey Hinton, Fei-Fei Li, Pieter Abbeel, and Sanja Fidler.

- Zenoti, a Bellevue, Wash.-based cloud platform for the beauty, wellness, and fitness industries, raised $80 million as an extension to its Series D funding round.  TPG led the round valuing the company at $1.5 billion.

- Airbase, a San Francisco-based spend-management platform for small to midsize companies, raised $60 million in Series B funding at a $600 million valuation. Menlo Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Craft Ventures. 

- Pattern Brands, a New York City-based home products seller acquiring direct-to-consumer businesses, raised $60 million. Investors included Kleiner Perkins, RRE Ventures, Primary Venture Partners, Victory Park Capital, HOF Capital and RSE Ventures.

- Strateos, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based remote access laboratories and lab control software maker, raised $56.1 million in Series B funding. DCVC and Lux Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Eli Lilly and Company, Ally Bridge Group, Black Diamond Ventures, Mack & Co., and Castor Ventures. 

- Credit Sesame, a Mountain View, Calif.-based online personal finance startup, raised $51 million. Investors included Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, Menlo Ventures, and ATW Partners. It values the company at nearly $1 billion.

- SIMULATE, a New York City-based maker of plant-based chicken nuggets, raised $50 million in Series B funding. SEVEN SEVEN SIX led the round and was joined by investors including Chris and Crystal Sacca, NOMO Ventures, McCain Foods, Imaginary Ventures, and Day One Ventures. 

- One Concern, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based maker of a platform to model responses to natural disasters, raised $45 million from Sompo Holdings.

- Briq, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based maker of tech for finance professionals in the construction industry,  raised $30 million in Series B funding. Tiger Global Management led the round.

- Grabango, a Berkeley, Calif.-based grab-and-go checkout startup, raised $39 million in Series B funding. Commerce Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Founders Fund, Unilever Ventures, Honeywell Ventures, and WIND Ventures.

- Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation, an Austin-based medical cannabis provider, raised $21 million in Series B funding. AFI Capital Partners led the round.

- Pennylane, a French fintech company, raised $18 million. Sequoia Capital led the round.

- Mendel, a San Jose, Calif.-based clinical A.I. Company, raised $18 million in Series A funding. DCM led the round and was joined by investors including Olive Tree Capital and MTVLP.

- Rae Wellness, a Minneapolis-based women’s wellness company, raised $9.5 million in Series A funding. PowerPlant Partners led the round and was joined by investors including M13, Able Partners and Victress Capital.

- Horizon3.ai, a San Francisco-based cybersecurity startup, raised $8.5 million in funding. SignalFire led the round.

- Piglet, a British direct-to-consumer homeware brand, raised $8.5 million (£6 million). Active Partners led the round.

- WhereIsMyTransport, a London-based mobility tech company, raised $14.5 million in extended Series A funding. Naspers Foundry, Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund, and SBI Investment led the round. 

- InSpace, a Burlington, Vt.-based video conferencing platform focused on virtual classrooms, raised $6 million in seed funding. Boston Seed Capital, Gutbrain Ventures and PBJ Capital.

- Certificial, a Jersey City-based certificate-of-insurance issuance and compliance-management platform, raised $5.8 million in Series A funding. IA Capital led the round.

- YourBase, a Redmond, Wash.-based provider of developer productivity solutions, raised $5 million in seed funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Unusual Ventures and Fathom Capital. 

- Odie Pet Insurance, a New York City-based pet insurance startup, raised $3 million. Kevin Colleran and Slow Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including Walkabout Ventures.

- Nomad Data, a New York City-based company for finding data, raised $1.6 million in seed funding. Bloomberg Beta led the round and was joined by Alumni Ventures, Great Oaks Ventures, Correlation Ventures, and DataFrame Ventures.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Blackstone Group agreed to acquire data-center operator QTS Realty Trust, a data center operator, in a deal valued at about $10 billion.

- Civitas Resources agreed to buy Crestone Peak Resources, a Denver-based oil and gas producer, for $1.3 billion, per Reuters.

- Great Hill Partners invested $55 million in eloomi, a Copenhagen-based e-learning software company. 

- Angeles Equity Partners acquired Primus Aerospace, a Lakewood, Colo.-based manufacturer of precision components for the aerospace, defense, and space sectors. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Clarion Capital Partners invested in Ad.net, a Los Angeles-based provider of digital advertising services. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Foreside, owned by Lovell Minnick Partners, acquired Golden Bear Consulting Group, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based private equity consulting company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- LLR Partners invested in Archer, a Berwyn, Pa.-based outsourced operations provider to the investment management industry. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Oak Hill Capital Partners invested in Technimark, an Asheboro, N.C.-based provider of rigid plastic packaging solutions. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Platinum Equity agreed to acquire Urbaser, a Madrid-based environmental services company, from China Tianying. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- SocialChorus, backed by Sumeru Equity Partners, will merge with Dynamic Signal, a San Bruno, Calif.-based corporate communication platform. Sumeru will make a new investment in the combined company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Solera Holdings, backed by investors including Vista Equity Partners, acquired Omnitracs, DealerSocket and eDriving, providers of software and tech to the commercial fleet management industry. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

EXIT

- 1Life Healthcare agreed to acquire Iora Health, a Boston-based primary health provider, in an all-stock transaction valued at about $2.1 billion. Iora has been backed by investors including F-Prime Capital.

- Craneware agreed to acquire Sentry Data Systems, a pharmacy procurement, compliance and utilization management company, for $400 million. Abry Partners was the seller.

IPOS

- WalkMe, a Tel Aviv-based A.I.-based customer engagement and business insight platform, now plans to raise $282 million in an offering of 9.3 million shares priced between $29 to $32 apiece. Insight Partners and Greenspring Associates back the firm. 

- Convey Holding Parent, a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based provider of tech for government-sponsored plans, filed to raise $200 million in an offering of 13.3 million shares (13% insider sold) priced between $14 to $16. TPG backs the firm.

- Janux Therapeutics, a La Jolla, Calif.-based biotech developing therapies for cancer, now plans to raise $152 million in an offering of 9.5 million shares priced between $15 to $17 apiece. Avalon Ventures and RA Capital back the firm.

- Clear Secure, a New York-based biometric identity verification tech maker, filed to raise $100 million in an initial public offering. Investors include T. Rowe Price and General Atlantic.

SPACS

- Zimmer Energy Transition Acquisition, a SPAC from Zimmer Partners targeting the energy transition and sustainability space, now plans to raise $300 million, down from an expected $350 million.

F+FS

- Marlin Equity Partners, a Hermosa Beach, Calif.-based investment firm, closed Marlin Heritage Europe I I with €675 million ($657 million).