A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting start-ups globally

RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – FIELD FORCE AUTOMATION

• Handshake, A mobile sales and B2B eCommerce platform which also helps Field Sales teams in order management raised $14M. Link
• Librestream, An on-site mobile video collaboration solutions for energy, field service, manufacturing, and public sector industries raises​ C​$11M ($8.3M). ​Link
• Clovis Capital Management Lp buys $15.1 Million stake in PTC Inc (PTC). Link

SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND

​PlanwithPlank​ (2015, Toronto) – Artificial Intelligence based scheduling tool. Uses linear and mixed-integer modeling, constraint/logic-based programming and constraint-based local search to provide optimized scheduling and route planning.

LEADER BOARD – FIELD FORCE AUTOMATION

Suite – Field Service
Astea ​​(1979, Horsham, IPO) – Provides applications for lead generation, project quotation, service and billing, and asset retirement services for specific businesses requirements like campaigns, depot repair, field service, logistics, projects, field sales. It also offers infrastructure tools and services. Went public in 1995.
​ClickSoftware Technologies (1996, Burlington, IPO, Acq.) – Provides service optimization suite of solutions with features for service scheduling and routing by balancing resources and organizational preferences, performance measurements etc. Went public in 2000. Acquired by Francisco Partners in 2015.​

Suite – Field Service – CrowdSourced
FieldNation (2008, Minneapolis, $30M) – It is an online work platform for connecting businesses and workers.A Self-service web portal is used to find, manage and pay workers for any specific job on demand. Gives businesses a dashboard to see and track the progress of the project and communicate with workers while workers can find work, receive and track work details and receive payments. Backed by Susquehanna Growth Equity.

Suite – Field Service – Home Services
ServiceTitan ​(2012, Glendale, $18M) – Provides service and sales management software for services businesses. includes CRM, scheduling, dispatch, reporting, marketing management tools, mobile connectivity for field techs, GPS, Quickbooks integration and more. Backed by BVP, Mucker Capital, I2BF Digital, and AMENALAV Group.​
Jobber (2011, Edmonton, $7M) – Provides CRM, task & calendar management, job tracking, crew scheduling, automated quoting, invoicing, time tracking, including chemical tracking (as required in certain jurisdiction) QuickBooks integration and more. Backed by Point Nine Capital, Version One and OMERS ventures.

Suite – Field Service – Oil & Gas
LiquidFrameworks (2001, Houston, $5M) – Provides field management solutions for energy and environmental industry, streamlining processes between operations, field personnel, and accounting reducing DSO (Days Sales Outstanding). Features include sales quotes, equipment and personnel tracking, scheduling and dispatching, service tickets, domain specific functionality for oilfield, industrial and environmental operator and services companies. Backed by Houston Ventures.

Suite – Construction
Procore Technologies (2003, Carpinteria, $101M) – SaaS based tool for construction project management, provides a mobile app for bidding, document management, budgeting, creating RFIs and managing contracts. Backed by Iconic Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners.
Vela Systems (2005, Burlington, $22M, Acq.) – App for Jobsite worker to access documents and to complete QA/QC inspections, worklists, punch lists, field reports etc. Backed by Launchpad Venture, Common Angels, CommonWealth Capital Ventures. Acquired by Autodesk in 2012.

Suite – Sales​
Spring Mobile Solutions (2001, Seattle, $78M) – Provides SaaS-based solution for field sales marketing and distribution teams with features to plan routes for sales and delivery, messaging and collaboration, sales materials, territory management etc. Backed by Goldman Sachs, NEA, Sapphire Ventures.
Clari (2012, Mountain View, $26M) – Mobile app for sales personnel which enables sales managers and sales ops teams to view deal progress in real-time along with predictive analytics. Backed by Sequoia, Bain Capital, NorthGate Capital.​​

Collaboration – Document Management
Plangrid (2011, SF, $59M) – Plangrid is an application to store and publish construction document and plans in the cloud and publish changes so that all the users can get updated instantly. A Y-Combinator company backed by GV, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Navitas Capital and 500 startups.

Collaboration – Images & Video
Librestream (2003, Winnipeg, $21M) – Provides on site video collaboration solutions to service businesses. Provides features for sharing audio and video, circling and marking areas that need attention, adjusting lighting, and capturing still images and more. Backed by Emerald Technology Ventures, BDC and GrowthWorks Ventures.

Collaboration – Smart Glass
APX Labs (2010, Herndon, $29M) – Provides software platform Skylight SDK that companies use to create smart glasses applications.Used to sell optical wearable technologies to the military for applications ranging from connecting soldiers to unmanned aerial vehicles to tele-medical applications for medics in the field; before it focused on industrial applications. Backed by Salesforce, GE Ventures, NextGen Angels and others.
Atheer (2011, Mountain View, $28M) – Helps use their Augmented Interactive Reality (AIR) technology to enable interaction between humans. Primarily focused on increasing productivity in industries by overlaying digital information in workers visual space and thus enabling gesture based interaction. Focussed on field services, healthcare, oil & gas and warehousing industries. Backed by Mindful Ventures, Signature Capital, Flextronics Lab IX and others.​

Reporting & Data Collection
ProntoForms (2001, Ottawa, $33M, IPO) – Platform for field personnels to help in data collection, surveys, inspections with features for customization, work orders etc. Backed by Jefferson Partners, BDC Capital, Skypoint Capital Corp and others. Went public on Canadian Venture Exchange in 2005.
Canvas (2008, Reston, $23M) – Allows businesses to customize and publish data on mobile devices. Applications from Canvas’ App store can be used for improving their business productivity or use Canvas’ app builder to custom create their own apps meeting their business needs. Backed by Motorola, Camber Capital and others.

Reporting & Data Collection – Order Management​
​HandShake (2010, NYC, $23.5M) – Sales order management platform that lets your team write and receive orders on the iPad, iPhone and Web. Handshake is used globally by sales reps and teams selling B2B, to present their catalog, manage their customers and streamline their order fulfillment process. Backed by SoftTech VC, Point Nine, Emergence Capital Partners and others.​

​Reporting & Data Collection – Home Services
Gigwalk (2010, SF, $18M) – Provides crowdsourced field data collection as well as app for field workforce management and data collection for enterprises. Backed by Nokia Growth Partners, Greylock, August Capital, Soft Tech Ventures and Harrison Metal.

Productivity Tools – Sales
MobileForce Software (2005, Sunnyvale, $13M) – Cloud-based customer relationship optimization cand enterprise mobility company that helps enterprises optimize customer engagement and productivity by connecting field personnel with information at the right time across devices. The solution connects cloud and on-premise enterprise applications and data sources, to deliver contextually-relevant user experiences. Backed by eLab Ventures.

Productivity Tools – Home Services
HouseCall (2013, San Diego, $9M) – An App and Online marketplace that connects users to curated service professionals from your neighborhood. Homeowners can order everything from an electrician, emergency plumber, housekeeper to tech support. Select the service you need, view picture profiles, ratings, schedules and prices, book and pay online with credit card. Customers can find both scheduled and on-demand services. Backed by August Capital and others.

Leader board includes all the top funded, IPO and successfully running bootstrapped companies along with their location, founding year and funding amount.

For latest updates, visit Field Force Automation feed.

A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting start-ups globally 

RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY

• Fitbit acquires wearable payment assets of Coin,which makes devices that use near-field communication for making payments. Link
• Tile that developes tags for tracking items raises $18M in a Series B round. Link
• Codoon a China based startup that develops fitness tracking wearables has raises $50M in a Series C round. Link 
• Merge Labs that develops VR head sets has raised an amount of $10.11M in a new funding round. Link
• Pebble launches a Kickstarter campaign for its new product Pebble Core. Link
• Qualcomm launches new chip-set called the Snapdragon Wear 1100 for wearable devices. Link

SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND

​FlexTraPower (2015, NYC) – Developed a thin and flexible sensor called Bonbouton that can monitor body temperature, heart rate, sweating and muscle movements using Graphene.
ReVault (2015, Linkoping) – Developed a smart watch that acts as storage device for android, iOS and windows devices.

LEADER BOARD – WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY

A daily newsletter summarizing interesting Indian startups and recent activity both in India & globally

INTERESTING STARTUPS

The Thought Clinic (2016, Hyderabad), online counselling platform for intellectually disabled. Founder has experience in Snapdeal, Cipla and is alumnus of ISB and IIT-KGP. Local comparables are The Inner Hour 2016, Mumbai) and YourDost (2015, Bangalore, $400K). Global comparables are Breakthrough (2009, Redwood City, $5.9M) and HealthLinkNow (2010, Sacramento, $7.7M)

INDIA INTERESTING NEWS

Helpshift (2011, Pune), mobile first customer service helpdesk provider raises $23M in Series B funding round led by Microsoft and Salesforce with participation from Intel Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, True Ventures and others. Link

CreditVidya (2012, Mumbai), alternate credit scoring platform raises $2M in Series A funding round led by Kalaari Capital. Link

Krazybee (2016, Bangalore), student micro-loan platform KrazyBee raises $2M in seed funding from Chinese mobile ad network Yeahmobi and micro-loan/e-commerce player Fenqile. Link

Intgrea (2015, Bangalore), cloud based Merger & Acquisition solution provider, raised $100K in pre-Series A funding round from undisclosed angel investor. Link

Jugnoo (2014, Chandigarh), mobile app for booking and hyperlocal delivery through autorickshaws, launches multilingual interface for auto drivers. Link

LegalDesk (2014, Bangalore), online legal document drafting service, plans to launch an Aadhaar-based e-signing product for verification purpose in legal documents. Link

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

Weka.IO (2014, Tel Aviv), software defined storage startup, closes $32M in Series B funding round from Qualcomm Ventures, Gemini Israel Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, WRV II, L.P. and others. Link

Signal (2009, Chicago), cross channel marketing technology company, raises $30M in Series E funding round led by I2A with participation from Pritzker Group Ventures, Baird Capital, EPIC Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank. Link

Celonis (2011, Munich), business optimization B2B SaaS company, raises $27.5M in Series A funding round led by Accel Partners and 83North. Link

Zimperium (2010, SF) Provider of a mobile threat management platform closes $25M Series C funding round led by Warburg Pincus with participation from Sierra Ventures, Telstra Ventures and others. Link

DocPlanner (2011, Warsaw), online doctor appointment booking platform, raises $20M in Series C funding round led by Target Global. Link

Jiff (2009, Palo Alto) Enterprise health benefits platform raises $17.7M as an expansion to $23.5M Series C funding round received last year. Link

Embotics (2006, Ottawa), cloud management software company raises $12.1M funding in an undisclosed round. Link

Convercent (2013, Denver), enterprise compliance management software, raises $11M in Series C funding round led by Tola Capital with participation from Sapphire Ventures and others. Link

CrowdFlower (2008, SF), platform for data science teams raises $10M in an undisclosed round led by Canvas Ventures, Trinity Ventures, and Microsoft. Link

Biovotion (2011, Zurich), wearable physiology monitoring company, closes the first round of its ongoing $10M Series A funding round led by Swiss Re with participation from existing investor STMicroelectronics NV. Link

Longitude Capital, biotech & medtech VC firm closes its third fund at $525M. Link

Juggernaut Capital Partners, PE firm closes third fund at $380M. Link

Salesforce launches $50M Venture Capital fund and incubator. Link

From a funding high of $1.8B in 2015, the big data analytics sector has seen a decline in funding activity in 2016, with 25 funding rounds amounting to $399M. Average ticket sizes have come down across seed, Series A and B rounds in 2016.

The top funding rounds in 2016 went to search-based analytics firm ThoughtSpot, which raised $50M in a Series C round, business intelligence analytics and visualisation solution provider Looker, which raised a $48M Series C, and data preparation platform Trifacta, which raised a $35M in a Series D round.

2014 and 2015 witnessed a good amount of M&A activity, notably MasterCard’s acquisition of Adaptive Predictive Technologies for $600M. The trend seems to have continued into 2016 as well. Key acquisitions in this sector include Lexmark’s acquisition by Apex Technology and PAG Asia Capital, California-based data science platform Sense was acquired by Cloudera, AimLogic, which provides predictive analytics for lead scoring was acquired by NCC Direct, and Iris Analytics was acquired by IBM for its expertise in real-time analytics to mitigate payment fraud.

Contextual data analysis (Palantir, Guavus, Ayasdi), data analytics (Predictive Technologies, Alteryx), and data preparation (Attivio, Talend) are the top business models by funding. New Enterprise Associates, Andreessen Horowitz, Accel Partners, Intel Capital and Khosla Ventures are the top 5 investors in big data analytics, with over 10 investments each.

Notable macro trends observed include the rise of self service data discovery platforms which help business users to get insights from raw data by providing advanced visualization techniques. Platfora, built natively on Apache Hadoop and Spark launched Platfora 5.2 this year, enabling “citizen data scientists” to do self data preparation, visual analysis, and behavioral analytics.

Tracxn’s report on big data analytics profiles companies working on big data analytics solutions for data discovery, data integration, visualization, data science, and advanced predictive analytics. Read the full version of Tracxn’s big data analytics report below, or on Slideshare. 

Following an all-time funding high for the sector in 2015, when a record $839M was invested over 115 rounds, 2016 saw $257M invested in education IT over 37 funding rounds. The education IT sector saw peak founding activity in 2012, when 148 startups were established. The second highest peak was witnessed in 2015, when 121 companies were founded, coinciding with a 400% increase in funding activity as compared to 2011.

The top funding rounds in 2016 went to adaptive e-learning platform Knewton ($52M), Grovo ($40M) a SaaS-based learning management system for employee training, Huivo ($23M) a classroom teaching product for kindergarten students, and behavioural feedback platform ClassDojo ($21M).

Top business models by funding activity are learning management systems (D2L, Instructure), personalised learning platforms (VectorLearning, 17Zuoye), classroom management (101.com, Huivo), assessment platforms (Civitas Learning, Echo360, BrightBytes) and virtual classrooms (HotChalk, 2U).

Imagine K12 (Blendspace, ClassDojo, Front Row), NewSchools (eSpark Learning, Nearpod, BrightBytes), Learn Capital (Edunav, MasteryConnect), and Kapor Capital (Fidelis Education, Allovue) are the most active early stage investors in Education IT, while Bessemer Venture Partners (2U, Instructure) and First Round Capital (Knewton, Kno) are the most active late stage investors. As with most technology sectors, the United States has the most number of education IT companies, and eclipses the rest of the world in terms of interesting companies (editor’s picks, soonicorns and minicorns are defined as interesting companies).

Tracxn’s Education IT report also explores the history of this sector from the 1960s, its standards and functionality that technology companies have tried to address over the years. The report profiles companies which provide software solutions to schools, universities and corporates for learning management, assessment, administrative management and automation in educational institutes.

View an excerpt of the Education IT report below.

$4.1B has been invested in marketing tech 2015/16, with over 425 rounds of funding between Jan 2015 to date. 800M was invested in 2016 alone, over 93 rounds, down from a funding high in 2015 where $3.2B was invested in the sector over 332 funding rounds. Mobile, social, and content marketing focused startups were the top funded business models in marketing tech in 2016. The biggest investment rounds this year include AppAnnie’s $63M, Series E, BloomReach’s $56M Series D, and Sprout Social’s $42M, Series C.

Marketing automation, social, and content marketing are the top three business models by funding size in marketing tech. Marketing automation refers to platforms and software for companies to effectively market on multiple channels online (such as email, social media, websites, etc.) and automate repetitive tasks. ExactTarget, Infusionsoft, and Intercom are some of the leading companies in this space. 16 marketing automation automation companies were founded in 2015, and the sub-sector saw 33 funding rounds and $373M invested over the year.

Social encompasses tools like Hootsuite, Dataminr, Sprinkr, and Spredfast, which help businesses with with lead generation, profiling, engagement and monitoring across social media channels. 23 companies were founded in this space in 2015, from a 2012 peak of 54. 2013 saw the highest number number of funding rounds (81 rounds, $443M), while 2015 saw the highest funding activity in the sector (50 rounds, $533M).

Content marketing suites which help marketers create, source, curate, distribute and measure content performance saw a peak funding activity in 2014 ($403M, 56 rounds). The top funded companies in this space are Episerver, NewsCred, Visible Measures and Percolate, the top business models are built around distribution and performance analytics, suites, content creation and user-generated content.

Y Combinator and 500 Startups are the most active investors in marketing tech at the early stage, while Sequoia Capital, Battery Ventures and Salesforce Ventures are the most active late stage investors. Content marketing, social, and marketing automation focused startups have seen investments from almost all the leading VC firms.

Tracxn’s marketing tech landscape report covers companies that provide tools for marketers to create, manage and analyse their marketing campaigns across multiple channels ranging from email and social media to mobile. The report tracks investment activity in sectors like marketing automation, social, content marketing, mobile, customer experience management, user identity management, predictive marketing, and more. 

Preview the Marketing Tech Landscape June 2016 Report below.

A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting start-ups globally 

RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – BLOCKCHAIN APPLICATIONS

• Mediachain, a digital media association on blockchain, raised $1.5M in seed funding from RRE Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, DCG, LDV Capital, Union Square Ventures. Link
• Tokenly, a cryptographic tokenization solution provider, raised $10K in seed funding from undisclosed investors. Link
• Blockchain, the first bitcoin wallet, introduced Thunder, a lightning network processing bitcoin transactions at upto 100000 tps. Link
• Apache Software’s founder to lead IBM-Linux’s Hyperledger project.Link
• Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (WSBA) launched a certification program to support blockchain talent. Link
• Sydney Stock Exchange to implement blockchain technology in partnership with Bit Trade Labs. Link

SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND

Chainlab (2016, Tel Aviv) – Provider of blockchain and smart contracts technology for company creation and governance.
Eximchain (2016, Boston) – A P2P trade finance marketplace for SMEs.

LEADER BOARD – BLOCKCHAIN APPLICATIONS

FinTech
Digital Asset Holdings (2014, NYC, $60M) – Blockchain based trade settlement solution provider. Backed by ABN AMRO Bank, Accenture, ASX, BNP Paribas, Broadridge, Citigroup, CMEGroup, Deutsche, ICAP, J.P. Morgan, Santander InnoVentures, DTCC, PNC Bank.
Ripple Labs (2012, SF, $36M) – Open source payment protocol. Backed by IDG Capital Partners, AME Cloud Ventures, China Rock Capital, Core VC, RRE Ventures, CME Group, Seagate, China Growth Capital, Digital Currency Group, Vast Ventures, Venture 51, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mariano Belinky, Venture51, IDG Ventures, Camp One Ventures, Pantera Capital, Google Ventures.

Smart Contracts
Mirror (2011, NYC, $13M) – OTC trading and hedging platform provider. Backed by Boost VC, SecondMarket, Crosslink Capital, Battery Ventures, Pascal Bouvier, RRE Ventures.
Symbiont (2015, NYC, $8M) – Smart securities issuance and trading platform.

Enterprise Solutions
Filament Networks (2012, Reno, $11M) – A decentralized Internet of Things stack. Backed by VegasTechFund, Resonant Venture Partners, James Conlon, Verizon Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, Working Lab Capital, Techstars, Pantera Capital.
Keybase (2013, NYC, $11M) – Identity mapping service via a public key encryption tool. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz.

Technology Enablers
Blockstream (2014, SF, $76M) – Provides sidechain solutions to improve blockchain. Backed by Khosla Ventures, Real Ventures, Future Perfect Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Mosaic Ventures, Ribbit Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, Cryptocurrency Partners, Horizons Ventures, AXA Strat Ventures, Garage.
Chain (2014, SF, $44M) – Provider of blockchain networks and applications to businesses. Backed by Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital, RRE Ventures, Pantera Capital, Capital One, Fiserv, NASDAQ, Orange, VISA, SV Angel, Crypto Currency Partners, Bitcoin Opportunity Corp.

Social Networks
Augur Project (2014, SF, $5M) – Decentralized prediction market based on blockchain.
The World Table (2013, Orem, $1M) – Decentralized comment system to improve online engagement and build writer credibility.

Marketplaces
Maidsafe (2013, Troon, $6M) – Crowd-sourced internet platform and identity storage.
OB1 (2015, Fairfax, $1M) – Blockchain based P2P marketplace that enables users to offer their goods and services directly to each other. Backed by Union Square Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.

Leaderboard includes all the top funded, IPO and successfully running bootstrapped companies along with their location, founding year and funding amount.

For latest updates, visit Blockchain Applications feed.

A daily newsletter summarizing interesting Indian startups and recent activity both in India & globally

INTERESTING STARTUPS

Numberz (2015, Bangalore), invoice discounting platform. Founders have experience at Intuit, AT&T, Reliance Infocomm and are alumni of Havard Business School, ISB and California State University. Local comparables are Kredx (2015, Bangalore, $750K) and MarketBills (2016, Delhi). Global comparables are FastPay (2009, Beverly Hills, $15M) and  FundThrough (2014, Toronto, $2.2M)

INDIA INTERESTING NEWS

Storeking (2012, Bangalore), e-commerce enabler for offline stores in small towns, raises $16M in an unattributed funding round from Malaysian telecom operator Axiata Group Berhad’s wholly owned unit Axiata Digital Link

GreyCampus (2014, Hyderabad), online learning solutions for professional certifications, higher education & test preparation, raises $1M in angel funding from Sarath Sura Link

ListUp (2015, Mumbai), hyperlocal mobile marketplace to buy and sell used goods, raises $500K in an unattributed funding round led by Kae Capital Link

6Degree (2015, Bangalore), online network for fashion artists and creative professionals, raises $200K in an unattributed round from India Angel Network Link

MadRat Games (2010, Bangalore), designer and provider of wholesome games for kids, raises about $200K in funding from Ratan Tata Link

Cookifi (2015, Bangalore), online marketplace platform for chefs, raises an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Kunal Shah, Aneesh Reddy, Tracxn Labs, Venkat Tadanki and other angels through TracxnSyndicate Link

Wired Hub (2016, Jaipur), co-working space provider for startups & freelancers, raises undisclosed amount of seed funding led by angel investors Ankit Maheshwari and Anand SinghLink

Shopwati (2015, Delhi), social platform connecting users with local fashion stores, raises undisclosed amount in seed funding from boutique investment company SRKK Advisors Link

Extraaedge.com (2014, Pune), cloud-based school management platform, raises an undisclosed amount in angel funding from a group of investors Link

OYO Rooms (2013, Gurgaon), marketplace for budget hotel accommodation, partners withItzCash (2006, Mumbai), digital payments firm, to facilitate payments for hotel bookings Link

UTOO Cabs (2016, Chennai), app-based taxi aggregator, mentored by former Aircel owner C Sivasankaran, set to launch in June 2016 Link

Alive Home (2015, Kharagpur), IoT-based operating in the smart home space, incubated at IIT-KGP launches in India Link

Express Bike Works (2013, Mumbai), provider of multiple services for motorcycle maintenance, partners with HPCL to set up outlets at over 12,000 sites across India Link

PayUMoney (2011, Gurgaon), payment gateway solutions to merchants and SMBs, launches a new POS terminal which enables small merchants to start accepting card based payments Link

Payments bank VP Vikas Purohit quits Paytm (2010, Noida), mobile wallet and e-commerce platform Link

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

Ginko Bioworks (2008, Boston), bio-tech startup, raises $100M in Series C funding round from YC’s Continuity Fund, Senator Investment Group, Cascade Investment, Baillie Gifford, Viking Global Investors and Allen & Company LLC Link

Cylance (2012, Irvine), cybersecurity company, completes initial closing of $100M Series D funding round led by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and Insight Venture Partners with participation from existing investors Link

Buildium (2004, Boston), cloud property management software company, raises $65M funding round led by Sumeru Equity Partners Link

Trax (2010, Singapore), image recognition software, raises $40M in Series C funding round from existing investors Link

SundaySky (2007, NYC), personalized video engagement platform for brands, completes additional $30M Series D funding round led by Viola Private Equity with participation from Carmel Ventures, Globespan Capital Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Comcast Ventures and NTT DOCOMO Ventures Link

Impact Radius (2008, Santa Barbara), digital marketing management platform, raises $30M in an unattributed funding round from Boston-based Silversmith Capital Partners Link

Omicia (2009, Oakland), provider of clinical genome interpretation and reporting software, raises $23M in Series B funding round from investors UPMC Enterprises, Roche Venture Fund, LDV Partners, Ping An Ventures and others Link

Midokura (2010, Tokyo), network virtualization specialist, raises $20M in Series B funding round from Japanese fintech company Simplex and existing investors like Allen Miner and the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan Link

Aktana (2008, SF), decision support platform, raises $17.5M in an unattributed funding round led by Safeguard Scientifics with participation from existing investor Starfish Ventures and othersLink

Amplitude (2012, SF), mobile analytics and business intelligence platform, raises $15M in Series B funding round led by Battery Ventures with participation from Benchmark, Data Collective, Merus Capital and Quest Venture Partners Link

When I Work (2010, St. Paul), mobile workforce management platform, raises $15M in Series B funding round led by Drive Capital with participation from Arthur Ventures and High Alpha Link

Comfy (2013, Oakland), provider of smart building control software, raises $12M in an unattributed funding round led by Emergence Capital with participation from CBRE Group, Microsoft Ventures and others Link

Nuxeo (2000, Paris), open source content management platform, closes $10M funding round from Kennet Partners Link

Monster (1994, NYC), online job board, acquires Jobr (2014, SF), tinder for jobs, for an undisclosed amount Link

SoftTech VC, Venture Capital firm closes two funds totalling $150M Link

Artificial intelligence, Internet of things and smart technology are now making their way into all possible verticals and foodtech is no exception. Powered by artificial intelligence, apps are now able to suggest recipes based on raw material available in a user’s kitchen. Users can now judge the state and quantity of food with the help of internet connected devices in order to make the cooking process easier. Here’s an overview of some of the most interesting foodtech companies which employ AI and IoT technologies. 

Every week, we at Tracxn curate some of the most interesting blogs and articles from the VC community. Here is a compilation of them that you can add to your reading list.

Video is the new HTML by Benedict Evans

“Snapchat Discover certainly looks like Flash – though technically the delivery format might be h264 video, the actual content looks a lot like what people were doing with Flash 10 years ago – rich, engaging, moving content blending sound, motion, animation and, sometimes, actual live-action footage. We’ve gone from delivering video with Flash to delivering Flash with video. That is, video is a new HTML – a new content delivery format, and not necessarily about live action at all.”

Benedict Evans, Partner at Andreessen Horowitz examines leading content distribution platforms and their strategies around media and draws parallels between how Flash was used a decade ago, and how video is used in Snapchat Discover.

Read Evans’s post here.

Internet Trends by Jeffrey Carter

“This is why we have to rely on individuals, innovation, and capitalistic free markets to drive growth in the future. The more we legislate and obfuscate outcomes via centralization, the worse it will be for all. The salt water economist solutions are totally backward.”

Jeffrey Carter, an independent trader and angel investor weighs in on dismal US macroeconomic trends cited in Mary Meeker’s latest Internet Trends report, and chalks it up to poor US government policy.

Read Carter’s post here

The Coming Paradigm Shift in Manufacturing
by Albert Wenger

“The good news is that we are finally finding ourselves on the cusp of a paradigm shift in manufacturing away from mass production to fast, low cost, small series (including single part) capabilities.”

Albert Wenger, partner at early stage VC firm Union Square Ventures (USV) says that we are on the cusp of a paradigm shift in manufacturing, and highlights four companies that are making headway in the on-demand manufacturing space – Plethora (metal parts), PCB:NG (circuit boards), Unmade (knitting) and Shapeways (3D printing).

Read Wenger’s post on on-demand manufacturing here

Changes in the Venture Capital Funding Environment by Mark Suster

“The most important shift I would characterize as the market moving from “high conviction” and thus strong follow-ons to “limited conviction” and lots of gamesmanship / games of chicken … at your expense.”

Mark Suster, Partner, Upfront Ventures takes a macro view of how the venture capital funding environment has changed over the last decade, and predicts trends for the coming year – predicting growing VC infighting and warns entrepreneurs against seeking leaderless rounds.

Read Suster’s post on the VC funding environment here

Not All Software M&A Is Created Equal
by Scott Kupor

“They represent growth deals — product-line extensions, geographic extensions, and so on — orchestrated to increase top-line growth for the acquirer.”

Scott Kupor, Managing Partner at Andreessen Horowitz examines the surge in M&A activity over the last month, and pays attention to three recent cloud services deals – Salesforce.com’s acquisition of Demandware, and Oracle’s acquisitions of Opower and Textura. He attributes it to declining core revenue growth among ‘unencumbered’ tech incumbents, with high cash balances, and an increasing/stable PE multiple.

Read Kupor’s take on the surge in M&A activity here

A compilation of the most interesting videos highlighting news and tech innovations from around the world. 

Jessica Livingston Speaks at Female Founders Conference 2016

Jessica Livingston has seen over 1000 companies go through YC and shares her learnings about what it takes to succeed as a founder.

Elon Musk – Code Conference – Full Interview June 2016

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk spoke with Recode at the 2016 Code Conference about his plans to send a one-way rocket to Mars in 2018.

Jeff Bezos vs Peter Theil & Donald Trump – Code Conference 2016

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos talks with The Verge about the gigantic potential of artificial intelligence to change everything from shopping to self-driving cars.

Robotic Laundry Folding Machine – FoldiMate

Now you can free up your time and spend it with your loved ones by handing over your laundry folding to FoldiMate – the robotic laundry folding machine.

Welcome to Larry Page’s Secret Flying Cars Factory

Google may have a lot of projects on the go at the moment – but none quite like this one. The company’s co-founder, Larry Page appears to be secretly investing in flying cars.

Avvinity Therapeutics (2016, Cambridge (UK), $7.5M) – Immune-oncology therapeutics based on alphamer technology. JV between Horizon Discovery and Centauri Therapeutics. Link
Avro Bio (2016, Cambridge (US)) – Gene therapies to treat Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Fabry disease. Lentivirally engineered autologous Cancer/ Stem cell therapies. Link

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

• Ginkgo raises $100M to build synthetic food, fragrance business. Read More
• GSK, J&J’s RA drug pulls off clean sweep of major endpoints in PhIII trial. Read More
• Vaxxim, Immunocore and 10 other European Biotechs that stole the show at ASCO 2016. Read More  
• FDA panel recommends approval of Teva’s abuse-deterring opioid, despite reservations. Read More  

Aid Tech (Dublin, 2016) – Aid distribution and payments solutions for NGOs. Leverages blockchain to address the crisis solution needs in places where traditional payment providers and banks do not exist. Link
Qwil (SF, 2015, $125K) – Prepaid account with a linked debit card for independent contractors. It allows independent contractors to get paid in real time instead of waiting for the invoice cycle. Link

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

• Tradeshift, an e-invoicing and dynamic discounting solutions provider, secured $75M in Series D funding led by Data Collective. Read More  
• Bento for Business, an employee expense management platform, raised $7M Series A funding led by Comcast Ventures. Read More
• China to open up to Visa and MasterCard. Read More

Synops (2015, London) – Foreign exchange risk management solution provider. Online risk management tool for businesses for autometed risk reduction of foregin currency and trading plans. Link
Simper (2016, Guadalajara (Mexico)) – Blockchain based US-Mexico remittances services. They also plan to facilitate payments of Mexican services from the US, providing rudimentary banking services for the recipients of money. Link

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

• Mozido, a white label mobile wallet provider, partnered with Western Union on mobile remittances to Sri Lanka. Read More  
• IBM plans to invest in blockchain and AI technologies across Asia starting with opening of The Watson Centre at Marina bay in Singapore. Read More
• White House officials met with regulators and leaders in the FinTech industry to discuss govt. involvement in the sector, it is noteworthy after the recent Lending Club fiasco. Read More

Vitruvian Networks (2016, Menlo Park) – Software and manufacturing platform for cell and gene therapies. Joint venture between GE Healthcare and the Mayo Clinic. Link
Z53 Therapeutics (2016, Cleveland)  – Zinc metallochaperones as drugs to reactivate the function of mutant p53 protein in cancer cells. Launched by BioMotiv.Link

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

• Merck KGaA doubles size of VC fund, bringing cap up to $340M. Read More
• Biogen’s $8B market cap drop makes Thermo Fisher Scientific the new king in Massachusetts, but GE Corporation’s coming to town. Read More
• Amgen, Novartis’ migraine drug hits endpoint in PhII trial. Read More  
• Flexion Therapeutics offering $77M in common stock. Read More  

The 15th edition of the UEFA European Championship is already underway – with Europe’s finest soccer playing nations competing for supremacy. For readers who aren’t in the know, we present the startup shootout, a quick capsule summary of countries to watch out for at the UEFA Euro 2016, based on their rankings, semi-finals and final appearances, lined up next to acclaimed startups and VC funds that they are known for.

INTERESTING COMPANIES FOUND

p2p Safety (2015, SF) – Safety solutions provider for P2P lending platforms. It is developing products to fight against the crowfunding, crowd investing and p2p lending fraud and help investors to decrease their risk. Link
Tender Armor (2015, Miami) – Security solutions provider for payment cards. It offers a daily changing CVV code which is provided to customers via mobile app or text. The code can be used for authentication in lieu of static code printed on the back of a card. Link

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

• Walmart Canada to refuse VISA credit cards as interchange row heats up. Read More  
• P2P payments firm Tapp Commerce raised $9M Series A funding. Read More
• Better Mortgage, an NYC-based technology-driven direct mortgage lender, closed a $30M Series A funding. Read More

Image courtesy: Google.com

With companies like Google, Tesla, Uber, and Ford at the forefront, the self-driving car revolution is upon us. At the Recode conference, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that automobiles will be completely autonomous in two years – “I consider autonomous driving to be a basically solved problem,” he said.

In May 2016, Uber announced that it will be testing self-driving capabilities on a hybrid Ford Fusion. While they will be putting a lot of people out of work, the company said driverless cars have the potential to save millions of lives and improve quality of life for people around the world. Uber’s rival Lyft announced a tie-up with Chevrolet to use autonomous driving capabilities. Apple’s rumoured yet unconfirmed electric car to go into production by 2020, according to news reports, and it is quite likely that it will have self-driving capabilities.

The self-driving car race isn’t just relegated to a handful of big tech and auto players – Chinese car and tech firms are stepping up the pace – earlier this year, Chongqing Changan Automobile Co completed a 1200 mile road trip across China,  BMW and Baidu are testing a self-driving car in China, and Geely, which owns Swedish car maker Volvo said that it plans to test 100 self-driving cars in public roads. China-based LeEco teased its very own autonomous electric car called the LeSee. In light of all the action we’re seeing in this space, here’s a roundup of notable acquisitions and top funded startups that are working hard to let you literally take a nap in your car.

Notable Acquisitions in Self-Driving Cars

Investors in Startups Working on Driverless Cars
Driverless cars have given rise to a recently minted  unicorn – Zoox. Other well-funded startups to watch out for include TriLumina, Cruise Automation, and Drive.ai, which have raised over $10 million in funding. Comma.ai, founded by infamous iPhone jail-breaker George Hotz has been backed by Andreeseen Horowitz.

In the diagnostics space, the funding activity has been centred around various business models, including oncology, genetic testing, cardiovascular disease imaging, and pharmacogenomics to name a few. Interestingly, of the top 20 funded companies in this space, 19 are based out of US and 1 out of UK. The top 20 companies have accounted for a total of 2.6B in funding.

Most Active Diagnostics Investors in the Top 20 list

Based on the number of investments made, the top investors in the list of top 20 diagnostics companies are Illumina, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, and Google Ventures.

Illumina – 4 (Adaptive BioTech, 23andMe, Grail Bio, Helix)
Johnson & Johnson Development Corp – 3 (Atlas Genetics, 23andMe, Astute Medical)
Google Ventures – 2 (Grail Bio, 23andMe)

Top Business Models: Oncology – Liquid Biopsy, Consumer – Genetic Testing

Oncology – Liquid Biopsy: Four out of the top 20 funded diagnostics companies have a liquid biopsy focussed business model (Guardant Health, Biodesix, Grail Bio, Exosome Diagnostics). While Guardant Health develops diagnostic technologies to improve cancer management, Biodesix discovers and commercializes blood-based cancer tests.

Consumer – Genetic Testing: Out of 20 investments in diagnostics companies, three were in consumer genetic testing (23andMe, Helix, Counsyl). 23andMe is the the top funded company in the space, it provides gene indexing services to people and highlights significant findings.

Below is the list of top funded Diagnostics Companies

Disclaimer: The list includes only the companies founded after 2005.

Alternative lending companies have seen a steady rise in founding activity since 2010 – 2014 and 2015 saw over 300 companies being incorporated. There are over a 100 insurance tech companies in four countries – the US has more than twice the number of companies compared to China, UK, and India.

In terms of funding activity, 2015 witnessed an all-time funding high for the sector – with $12.1B in 2015 over 401 funding rounds, and $5.1B in 2016 over 141 funding rounds. There have been 16 150M+ funding rounds in the last 12 months, the largest funding round went to Shanghai-based Lufax, which secured $1.2B in its Series B. There were two other $1B funding rounds – Beijing-based JD Finance, provider of internet-based financial services and products for consumers and SMEs secured a $1B Series A at the start of the calendar year, and educational loans marketplace SoFI bagged $1B in funding in its Series E in September 2015.

QED Investors, Sequoia Capital, and Victory Park Capital are the most active investors in alternative lending, with portfolio investments in the top funded business models – consumer loans (LuFax, SoFi), business loans (Kabbage, Funding Circle), enablers (Zest Finance, Think Finance), and alternative financing (LSQ, Fundbox).

A number of banks are tying up with online lending platforms to lend money via them in order to leverage their online platform and credit risk assessment technologies, some banks have launching their own online lending products as well.

The report covers the ecosystem of companies that enable alternative lending (credit scoring, aggregators, while-label platforms), and excludes companies that are not backed, operationally, by a traditional/brick and mortar financial institution. Preview an excerpt of the report below.