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| 1 | | Payment, banking, and investment services company Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) acquired fintech startup Bond for an undisclosed sum. Bond is a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) startup that provides embedded finance products to fintech firms and banks. More: - The San Francisco, Calif.-based startup was last valued at $182M in 2020, per Pitchbook.
- Bond has raised $42M in total funding to date from investors, the last of which came through a Coatue Management-led $32M Series A round in 2020.
- Other backers of the firm include Mastercard, Goldman Sachs, B Capital Group, and Canaan Partners.
- FIS will be looking to integrate Bond's capabilities into its existing products.
- FIS's SVP of Platforms, Himal Makwana, will lead the post-acquisition planning activities.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: Employees exercised 28% of stock options before expiration in Q1 2023, the second-lowest total since 2018. The figure starkly contrasts Q1 2022, when employees exercised 44% of stock options. Exercising stock options trends mimics the overall macroeconomic trends that have impacted the startup landscape, including the slump in VC funding.
What happened: Scooping up stocks at a discount might sound enticing, but employees are holding onto their cash due to the economic uncertainty and rise in inflation rather than exercising stock options. Additionally, some portion of their previously vested options might have lost value due to an increase in the number of down rounds, further denting their motivation to exercise stock options. Where to see the impact: Many companies have extended the post-termination exercise period (PTEP). This gives laid-off employees some relief as they can liquidate their holdings when the market rates are more favorable. Companies offered the extended PTEP clause on 20% of the options for terminated employees in Q1. | | | |
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| 3 | | Cloud cost management startup CloudZero announced a $32M Series B, bringing the total raised to $52M. The company sees an opportunity in the digital business' struggle with visibility and control of cloud costs. More: - CloudZero has over 100 customers. While the company did not disclose its revenue, it claims to have grown 10x since 2021.
- The round was led by Innovius Capital and Threshold Ventures, with participation from G20 Ventures, Underscore VC, and Matrix Partners.
- According to an IDC survey, cloud spending comprises 32% of IT budgets.
- In February, ProsperOps, which focuses on cloud savings optimization, raised $72M.
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| 4 | | PartnerSlate, a San Francisco-based marketplace that connects food companies with manufacturers, raised $4M. The round was led by Supply Change Capital, with participation from ResilienceVC, Pacific Fin Capital, and Newlin VC, among others. More: - The startup claims to have connected more than $1B in food and beverage projects, with 3x growth in projects since launching four months ago.
- PartnerSlate has a database with 6,000 manufacturers, searchable by equipment, risk tolerance, and capacity.
- The company estimates the food and beverage contract manufacturing industry to be worth $200B.
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| A message from our sponsor, Pendulum. |  | | The powerful probiotic Halle Berry swears by to improve her sugar & carb metabolism Meet Metabolic Daily, the multi-strain probiotic blend that helps your body do more with the food you eat. As award-winning actor Halle Berry says, “Metabolic Daily is a probiotic that everyone can take to help maintain healthy blood sugar and curb sugar cravings.” Halle reached out to Pendulum—the company that makes Metabolic Daily—after experiencing life-changing results taking Metabolic Daily which led to her newest role as their Chief Communications Officer. Formulated with the next-generation strain Akkermansia muciniphila, Metabolic Daily optimizes how your body metabolizes sugar and carbs to support a healthy weight. And if that wasn't enough, it also helps break down fiber and supports beneficial postbiotics and hormones, such as butyrate and GLP-1. The result? Less sugar cravings and crashes—just balanced, sustained energy throughout the day. Don’t wait—Inside readers get 20% off the first month of any Pendulum membership with code INSIDE20. Claim your discount | |
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| 5 | | Nigerian startup Termii raised $3.65M in fresh funding led by Ventures Platform. Termii provides communication infrastructure to increase customer engagement via SMS, voice messaging, and email. The firm intends to use the proceeds to drive growth, develop new products, and promote products in new markets. More: - Termii has raised $5.2M from investors, of which $1.4M came through a seed funding round in 2021.
- The startup has over 10,000 clients using its API and no-code dashboard to increase customer engagement.
- The Y Combinator-backed startup claims its annual recurring revenue (ARR) has increased 30x.
- FinTech Collective, Launch Africa Ventures, Nama Ventures, Aidi Ventures, NOA Capital, and others participated in the current funding round.
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| 6 | | London-based startup Arda Biomaterials raised ~$1.4M through a round led by Clean Growth Fund. The company expects to make leather from brewery waste within the next 12 months. More: - "Arda's technology has the potential to disrupt traditional leather production and significantly reduce the environmental impact of highly polluting sectors," said Susannah McClintock, investment director of Clean Growth Fund.
- The round included participation from Plug and Play, Satgana, and Serpentine Ventures.
- The company was founded in 2022 by Edward T.J. Mitchell, a Ph.D. in chemistry, and Brett Cotten, who worked in the alternative protein sector.
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| 7 | | Last week, we asked our startups community, "How did you validate your startup idea?" Here are some highlighted responses we received: - Tim Nicholas (p/TimNicholas), Co-founder of GetReminded, answered, "It is an old adage that the best ideas are borne out of real-world experience. The inspiration for GetReminded came when we realized that people were incurring hundreds of dollars of unnecessary costs due to the 'loyalty tax' on recurring items like expired energy contracts, mobile phone plans and insurance policies. This sparked a discussion of how to help people stay in control of their personal contracts and policies – in fact, anything that has an expiry date and where on-time renewal can save money. Our free mobile app was created with that simple objective in mind."
- JP Charles (p/jean620771), Founder at EcommerceBoost.io, answered, "Depending on what type of product you have, it may vary. For me, I practically work in DTC, so I like to get a landing page up asap and run pre-orders or even run survey ad to get a rough estimation of demand."
Join the conversations at Inside.com, and we may shout out your name and business or contact you for more! ⭐️ | | | |
| 8 | | Quick Hits: - This ultimate guide covers partnership marketing fundamentals, best practices, and key things to consider when choosing the perfect partnership platform.*
- Navan, formerly known as TripActions, partnered with Mastercard and Visa to offer an automated expense management and reconciliation product called Navan Connect.
- Women's health and fertility startup Oova raised $10.3M in Series A funding led by Spero Ventures.
- Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures led a $6.5M seed funding into British open banking startup Atoa Payments.
- Massachusetts-based cancer therapy biotech startup Oncorus is shutting down and laying off most of its employees.
- Learn why leading investors have called whiskey casks the ultimate safe-haven investment. Start Investing.*
*This is sponsored content. | | | |
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Term of the Day Paid search: Paid search is a form of digital marketing in which advertisers pay per user click on an ad. Paid search ads appear on search engine results pages. Question of the Week What's the most bizarre work-related dream you've ever had? 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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