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| Here’s a look at today’s Startups briefing. - 🦄 Tamara cemented its unicorn status with a $340M equity round.
- 📈 Median round sizes increased across most stages in Q3, except the seed stage.
- 👥 Flyhomes conducted another round of layoffs.
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Saudi Arabian fintech startup entered the unicorn club with a $304M equity round that pushed the firm's valuation over the $1B mark. Saudi sovereign wealth fund Sanabil and the kingdom's largest bank's unit, SNB Capital, provided the funding. More: - The latest equity funding comes just a month after Tamara availed an undisclosed debt facility from Goldman Sachs.
- Tamara had previously secured a $150M debt facility from Goldman earlier this March.
- Tamara has about 10 million users and 30,000 merchants across the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
- The buy-now-pay-later solutions startup could probably hold an IPO a few years later, said CEO and co-founder Abdulmajeed Alsukhan.
Zoom out: - In the first nine months of this year, VC funding for startups in the Middle East and North Africa dropped 44% compared to the same time last year, per Magnitt.
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| 2 | | Median venture funding deal sizes increased at nearly every stage in Q3, except for the seed stage, per Carta. 
What the numbers say: Series A median deal sizes increased by 25% QoQ to $9.6M. Median Series B and Series C rounds increased by 8% QoQ. Series B rounds increased from $12M to $15M, while Series C rounds grew from $23M to $25M. On the other hand, median seed rounds remained flat at $3M in Q3, the same as the previous quarter. While deal sizes are still far from the peaks of 2021 and 2022, rounds are still higher than in 2018 and 2019. Relevance: Signal Peak Ventures and Oquirrh Ventures co-founder and general partner Ron believes that the venture funding landscape is set for a "seismic change." Heinz added, "Now, I think there's a lot more focus on profitability or path to profitability, a lot more focus on rigor and discipline." | | | |
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| 3 | | Real estate startup Flyhomes laid off an undisclosed number of employees, the company announced in a post on LinkedIn. "This decision comes in the face of persistent and worsening industry headwinds which have prompted us to restructure our business to best meet the needs of our customers in a rapidly evolving real estate market," the firm said in the statement. Flyhomes' VP of growth marketing, Kyle Munson, was let go a few weeks ago. More: - This is the firm's fourth round of layoffs in the past two years.
- The firm held the first round of layoffs in June 2022, then in July and November.
- Flyhomes fired 20% of its workforce in July 2022.
- Flyhomes has raised $200M in total funding since its founding in 2016, of which $150M came in through a Series C round in June 2021.
Zoom out: - The high mortgage interest rates and broader economic volatility have severely affected real estate startups, forcing many, including peers Redfin, Opendoor, and Compass, to announce cutbacks and layoffs.
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| 4 | | British publicly-listed video game developer Keywords Studios acquired The Multiplayer Group (MPG) from metaverse startup Improbable for £76.5M ($97.1M). Keywords financed the acquisition through cash and its existing revolving credit facility. The acquisition will help Keywords strengthen its Create division. More: - Multiplayer game development studio MPG was founded in 2018 and has worked on popular gaming titles such as Fallout 76 and Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond.
- Improbable acquired MPG in 2019 for £30M ($38M) as a part of its venture builder strategy, through which it invests and acquires businesses with the option of expanding or spinning them off later.
- Improbable has raised $600M to date from investors, the last of which came in the form of a $150M round led by Andreessen Horowitz and SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 last year.
Zoom out: - Keywords has 70 game development studios across the U.S., France, Brazil, Mexico, and Spain and has allocated $100M to new acquisitions.
- Keywords' share prices dipped 49% YoY after it reported earnings per share of 18.48 euro cents in the first half of 2023, down 40% YoY.
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| 5 | | Norwegian private equity firm Verdane is acquiring an 11% stake in media monitoring startup Meltwater for $65M. The transaction gives the startup a valuation of $592M (€542M). More: - Verdane indirectly acquired the stake after taking a substantial stake in Fountain Venture, the investment vehicle founded and controlled by Meltwater's chairman, Jørn Lyseggen.
- Verdane opted for the indirect investment path as that would provide it more opportunities to invest in startups in the future alongside Fountain Venture.
- The deal also gives Verdane an equity stake in HR startup Jobylon.
- PE firms Altor, Marlin, and Fountain took Meltwater private earlier this year.
- The firm debuted on the public market at a $1B valuation in Dec. 2020.
- Its current valuation is less than the over $700M equity funding it raised as a privately-held startup.
- The firm has an annual recurring revenue of €500M ($546M).
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| 6 | | The European Innovation Council (EIC) Work Programme 2024 will invest €50M ($54.65M) to help startups and small businesses scale up the production of alternative proteins. The program will support startups working on precision fermentation, animal-free foods, and foods that can be produced using existing sidestreams. More: - The program is part of the broader Horizon Europe initiative to "improve the sustainability, efficiency, and resilience of the European food supply chain."
- Funding will be allocated to startups through EIC's Accelerator Challenge.
- The program will open applications in May next year.
- In addition to working on precision farming, the startups will need to have scalable technology and ensure a closed-circle production process to prevent the release of contaminants into waste streams.
Zoom out: - Last year, the precision fermentation sector bagged $842M in funding, per the Good Food Institute.
- So far this year, the sector bagged a $273M investment, nearly double the amount raised by plant-based proteins and triple that of cultivated proteins.
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- 3D laser engraver maker startup Glowforge laid off 30 employees. The firm is offering the affected employees "outplacement support, severance, visa assistance, and 12 months of paid medical coverage to support them."
- Croatian cloud communication firm Infobip has supported 327 startups across 64 countries through its Startup Tribe Programme since its launch in May 2021. The firm has provided startups with products and services worth more than €1.8B.
- Four-dimensional cardiac imaging and navigation platform maker LUMA Vision raised $22M in Series A3 funding. Existing investors EQT Lifesciences, ABV Uni Fund, and imec.xpand led the round.
- Waste management payments software platform CurbWaste secured $10M in Series A funding led by Flourish Ventures, with additional support from TTV Capital, Mucker Capital, and B Capital.
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 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Vibha Chapparike | |
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