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| Hey Insiders, Today we are looking at why Sequoia reduced the size of the crypto fund, GlassPoint's $8M Series A funding, and DealShare's CEO stepped down. I hope you enjoy today's edition! Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Sequoia reportedly reduced the size of its cryptocurrency fund from $585M to $200M as it seeks to refocus investments into smaller startups. The venture capital firm is also said to have reduced the amount earmarked for investing in other funds from $900M to $450M. More: - Sequoia had reportedly notified its liquidity providers of its intentions to reduce fund sizes in March.
- The crypto fund was launched in Feb. 2022. At the time, the market capitalization of the entire sector had been reduced by 39.1% versus the all-time high of $3T in Nov. 2021.
- Sequoia was one of the investors in FTX with $214M, which by Nov. 2022, was marked down to $0.
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What the numbers say: GlassPoint, a startup that builds solar-powered steam generators, reemerged with an $8M Series A funding led by 300PPM. The firm liquidated in 2020 but reemerged a year later when investors bought out its assets. Relevance: The firm's current valuation is significantly lower than its $400M valuation under its previous guise in 2017. CEO Rod MacGregor expects significant tailwinds for its startup due to the greater focus on carbon-emission reductions. The company is also running leaner, employing just dozens of employees, down from hundreds. Where to see the impact: GlassPoint's resurgence comes amidst surging startup closures and bankruptcies. Epiq Bankruptcy's data shows that U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcies increased 68% YoY in the first half of this year. | | | |
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| 3 | | Co-founder Vineet Rao stepped down from the CEO role at Indian social e-commerce startup DealShare. The reason behind Rao's departure is currently unknown. However, the startup was struggling to grow and intends to "pivot to a hybrid online and offline model to enhance its services, and increase its customer retention & share of wallet," a DealShare spokesperson told TechCrunch. More: - Rao will assist the shareholders in finding a successor to take up the top role.
- Per ET, the firm laid off 100 employees earlier this January.
- DealShare has raised over $390M in funding from investors, the last of which came through a $210M Series E funding round led by Tiger Global Management and Alpha Wave Global in Jan. 2022.
- Other notable backers include Alteria Capital, InnoVen Capital, Matrix Partners India, and Westbridge Capital.
- The firm claims to have served 10 million customers since its launch in 2018.
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| 4 | | Fidelity disclosed the markdown of its stake in enterprise conversational messaging platform Gupshup from $10.15M in May to $8.08M at the end of June. The asset manager invested $16.2M into the SaaS startup through its Blue Chip Growth Fund in 2021. More: - Fidelity's investment was part of a $240M round along with Tiger Global Management, White Oak Global Advisors, and Malabar Investment Advisors, among others, which valued the company at $1.4B.
- According to a regulatory filing, Fidelity's stake in Meesho, Reddit, Discord, and X improved in value in June.
- In 2022, Gupshup went on an acquisition spree, which included OneDirect, an AI-driven customer support platform; AskSid Technology Solutions, which develops conversational AI for retail commerce; Active.ai, which works on micro-conversations for banks; Knowlarity Communications, a cloud company.
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| 5 | | Satellite company Leaf Space announced it raised a €20M ($22M) Series B by CDP Venture Capital and Neva Sgr. Leaf Space also raised €15M in venture debt from the European Investment Bank. More: - The company, based in Lomazzo, Italy, currently supports 80 satellites.
- Leaf Space plans to use the funds to expand its network of ground stations to provide more frequencies for remote-sensing satellites.
- The round included participation from Primo Space, RedSeed Ventures, and Whysol Investments.
- The startup last raised a Series A extension totaling €3.5M from the above-named funds in Jan. 2021, which followed the main round of €1.5M in Jun. 2020.
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| 6 | | Kimberly Bryant, the founder and former CEO of Black Girls Code, launched a new 12-week accelerator program called The Black Innovation Lab (BIL). The accelerator is housed under Bryant's newly formed VC firm Ascend Ventures. Bryant intends to launch the first cohort of BIL next fall in partnership with startup accelerator gener8tor. More: - The accelerator will have one to two cohorts of six early-stage startups.
- BIL aims to back Black-founded startups across AI, climate, and healthcare sectors.
- The accelerator will give each startup $100,000 in return for an equity stake in the business.
Zoom out: - Bryant filed a federal lawsuit against her former firm, Black Girls Code, for wrongful suspension after being put on an indefinite suspension in early 2022 after allegations of misgendering a staff member and creating a toxic work environment emerged.
- Bryant was removed as the CEO and board member after the federal lawsuit was filed in August.
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| 7 | | 
Last week, we asked our startups community, "What's the most valuable lesson you've learned from a startup other than your own?" Here's a highlighted response we received: Saeed Jabbar (p/saeedjabbar), Founder of Cadena, answered: Hiring; who you hire will make or break the company. All it takes is one "bad" apple to tank the entire ship. Next up would be the founding team focused on vanity or narratives in their heads vs what the actual data on the ground is telling you. Join the conversations at Inside.com, and we may shout out your name and business or contact you for more! ⭐️ | | | |
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- Vanquis Banking Group acquired the British money management app Snoop for an undisclosed sum. The firm had last raised a £15M ($19.2M) Series A round at a post-money valuation of £47M ($60M) in 2021.
- Tiger Global Management sold its stake in Indian e-commerce startup Flipkart to Walmart for $1.4B. The transaction gave Flipkart an implied valuation of $35B.
- Micromobility.com submitted a non-binding bid to acquire the bankrupt Dutch e-bike startup VanMoof.
- Woburn, Mass.-based clean technology startup Veir secured $24.9M in Series A-2 funding from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, The Engine Fund, Congruent Ventures, VXI Capital, and others.
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Term of the Day Management Buyout: An acquisition where the company's existing management acquires the controlling stake from the existing owners is called a management buyout (MBO). Question of the Week Have you ever regretted a career decision? What would you have done differently? Join the conversation |
INSIDE STARTUPS LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot.
Nicolas is a Sr. Analyst at Inside, covering startups and transportation trends. He is an avid map maker and data nerd. Nicolas has worked in the shared-scooter space, as well as advised e-bike and moped start-ups. | | This newsletter was edited by Vibha Chapparike | |
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