INTERESTING COMPANIES FOUND

ImmuneOncia (2016, Yongin, $10M) – Early-stage immuno-oncology biotech developing PDL-1 Monoclonal and Bispecific Antibodies. It has one candidate near IND application. Company is a JV between Yuhan and Sorrento, with $10M funding from Yuhan.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

• Johnson & Johnson commits $990M to land Protagonist’s oral Crohn’s drug. Read More
• Sanofi pays $30M for a string of Onco candidates, amends agreement with Immunogen. Read More
• Microbiome biotech Evolve BioSystems completes $20M Series B financing. Read More
• Sunovion slammed by FDA rejection of nebulized LAMA for COPD as rival lines up a competing NDA. Read More
• Gilead’s new HIV FDC’s meet endpoints in 4 Phase III trials. Read More

INTERESTING COMPANIES FOUND

ELMO (2016, Wroclaw) – Working on setting-up an all-electric car sharing service. The company aims to launch its service across cities in Poland.
ELP Group (2015, Moscow) – Focuses on developing technology solutions for conversion of biomass waste into liquid fuels. The company has developed and patented its fast ablative pyrolysis technology on on-site waste processing.

INTERESTING COMPANIES FOUND

Remotize (2016, Ann Arbor) – Peer-to-peer auction styled marketplace for student loans. Students post customized loan plans using available templates while investors browse the marketplace and place bids on student loans. Investors offering the lowest interest rates on a particular loan win the right to invest in that student.
MyRoundUp (2014, SF) – Web and mobile-based spare change donation platform. It automatically rounds up the purchases and donates the change from their linked bank account to pre-selected charities and causes.

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

RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – PAYMENTS

• CardConnect, a payment gateway technology provider, has been acquired by First Data, for approximately $750M. Link
• Total Merchant Services, a payment processing solutions provider to SMEs, has been acquired by North American Bancard. Link
• Doku, an Indonesian internet payment processing solutions provider, has been acquired by Emtek Group, an Indonesian media company. Link
• Signifyd, a fraud detection solutions provider for online commerce, has secured $56M funding in Series C round led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from Menlo Ventures, American Express. Link
• BangSun Financial Technology, a Hangzhou-based anti-fraud technology solutions provider, has secured CNY160M ($23M) funding in Series B+ round led by F&G Ventures, with participation from Legend Capital, Shenzhen Cornerstone Asset Management. Link
• Sthaler, a London-based biometric payment authentication solutions provider, has secured £3M ($3.9M) funding, valuing the company at £20M. Link
• Telr, a Singapore-based payment gateway, has secured $3M funding in Series B round from Innovations East. Link
• Precognitive, a Chicago-based fraud prevention startup, has secured $1.25M funding in Seed round led by Corazon Capital with participation from Flybridge Capital Partners, Hyde Park Venture Partners and Jeff Liesendahl, the co-founder and former CEO of Accertify. Link
• Iran and Russia to connect national payments systems. Link
  
• Barclays Bank is rolling out a service to enable customers to switch off debit cards direct from their mobile app. Link
  
• MasterCard has closed its $920M acquisition of Vocalink, a UK-based card network. Link
• PayPal has launches Business in a Box service for SMBs. Link

SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND

Mobile BioSecure (2017, Atlanta, null) – A patented face recognition technology for merchants, e-commerce solution providers for payment authentication at checkout.

LEADER BOARD – PAYMENTS

Payment Gateway
Safecharge (2006, British Virgin Islands, IPO) – A customized payment acceptance portal for merchants. Went public in 2014.
Stripe (2010, SF, $466M) – A merchant acquirer and a payment gateway API provider for web and mobile payments. Backed by Y Combinator, American Express, VISA, Redpoint Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Salesforce, Morgan Stanley, Sequoia Capital, SV Angel, Khosla Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Founders Fund, KPCB, General Catalyst Partners, Thrive Capital, Lowercase Capital, Allen & Company, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Alven Capital, TrueBridge Capital Partners, Entree Capital, Square Peg Capital, Golden Gate Ventures, Playfair Capital, Barclays, Designer Fund, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Darwin Ventures, BoxGroup, Google Capital.
Braintree (2007, Chicago, $80M, Acq.) – A payment gateway technology provider online and mobile platforms. Acquired by PayPal for $800M in September 2014.

Acquirer Processor
First Data Corporation (1971, Atlanta, Acq, IPO) – A global payments service provider specializing in merchant transaction processing, private label cards and e-check acceptance services. Was acquired by KKR in 2007 for $27.5B. Went public in October 2015.
Vantiv (1971, Cincinnati, IPO) – An electronic payment processor, payment gateway API and PoSsolutions provider. Went public in 2012.
WorldPay (1993, London, IPO) – A London-based payment processing company offering gateway and PoS services. Went public in October 2015.
Total System Services (1982, Columbus (Georgia), IPO) – A merchant acquirer and white label prepaid card solutions provider. Went public in 1983.
Adyen (2006, Amsterdam, $266M) – An internet-first merchant acquirer and omnichannel payment solutions provider. Backed by General Atlantic, Index Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Temasek, Iconiq Capital.

Payment Network
VISA (1958, Foster City, IPO) – An association of banks and other financial institutions, which facilitates card payment transactions. Went public in 2008.
MasterCard (1966, Purchase, IPO) – An interbank association facilitating card payments. Went public in 2006.
Vocalink (2007, Rickmansworth, $114M, Acq.) – A UK-based ATM switching platform and interbanknetwork. Aquired by MasterCard for £700M ($926M) in July 2016.
Ripple (2012, SF, $90.5M) – An open source, decentralized protocol to provide real time cross border payments and settlements. Backed by Standard Chartered, AME Cloud Ventures, Seagate, CME Group, IDG Capital Partners, RRE Ventures, Venture 51, Core VC, ChinaRock Capital Management, SBI Holdings, Route 66 Ventures, Camp One Ventures, Blockchain Capital, Santander InnoVentures, Digital Currency Group, SCB Digital Ventures.

PoS Suite
VeriFone (1981, San Jose, IPO) – Provides all kinds of PoS devices, along with a payment gateway. Went public in 2005.
Ingenico Group (1980, Paris, IPO) – A payment processing service provider specializing in NFC enabled PoS terminals, gateways and cross-border e-commerce solutions. Went public in 1985.

Wallet
PayPal (1998, San Jose, Acq., IPO) – An online payment and money transfer service, offeringpayment gateway, merchant accounts and wallet solutions. Acquired by eBay in July 2002 for $1.5B. Went public in July 2015.
Mozido (2008, Austin, $288.5M) – A white label web and mobile wallet solutions provider. Backed by MasterCard, TomorrowVentures, Atlanticus, Brentwood Associates, Wellington Management, Quabbin Capital.
Dashlane (2009, NYC, $52.5M) – A fully-featured password manager and secure digital wallet app. Backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, Rho Ventures, TransUnion, FinTech Innovation Lab.
Xapo (2012, Palo Alto, $40M) – A bitcoin wallet provider with cold storage facility. Backed by Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, Benchmark, Fortress Investment Group, Ribbit Capital.

Alternate Payment Methods
PayNearMe (2009, Sunnyvale (CA), $90M) – Provides offline payment services for online solutions. Backed by Khosla Ventures, Maveron, True Ventures, GSV Capital, Kapor Capital, Bullpen Capital, Floodgate, August Capital, Fenwick & West, Endeavour Partners.
TrialPay (2006, Mountain View, $56M, Acq.) – Enables merchants to offer free action based rewards to their customers. Acquired by VISA in February 2015 for an undisclosed amount.

Security
Signifyd (2011, Palo Alto, $106M) – A fraud prevention & payment validation techlogy provider for online retailers. Backed by American Express, Andreessen Horowitz, IA Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, QED Investors, TriplePoint Capital, Menlo Ventures, Data Collective, Tekton Ventures, Resolute Ventures, Allegis Capital, Lucas Venture Group, BYU Cougar Capital, Streamlined Ventures, Thinkplus, Allegis Capital.
Kount (2007, Boise, $80M) – A SAAS based fraud prevention service provider for card-not-present transactions. Backed by CVC Capital Partners.
ThreatMetrix (2005, San Jose, $92M) – A payment fraud prevention service and context-based authentication solution provider. Backed by US Venture Partners, Silicon Valley Bank, Adams Street Partners, Tenaya Capital, August Capital, Technology Venture Partners, In-Q-Tel, Talu Ventures.

Enablers
Fidelity Information Services (1968, Jacksnville, IPO) – PCI Compliance, technology outsourcing and other payment security and back-end solutions for businesses and Financial Institutions. Went public in June 2001.
Clear2Pay (2001, Brussels, $127M, Acq.) – Provider of payment solutions to financial institutions. Also provides white label remittance services. Acquired by Fidelity Information Services in September 2014 for $493M.
Trustwave (1995, Chicago, $60M, Acq.) – Provides cloud-based enterprise security solutions for threat detection, prevention & risk mitigation, including PCI compliance. Acquired by Singtel in September 2015 for $770M.

B2B Payments
GlobalCollect (1994, Netherlands, Acq.) – An international B2B money transfer and payment gateway service provider. Acquired by Ingenico in September 2014 for $1.1B.
Viewpost (2012, Maitland, $79M) – e-Invoice exchange and electronic payment solutions provider. Backed by Western Technology Investment.

Payment Cards
Green Dot Corporation (1999, Monrovia (CA), IPO) – Reloadable prepaid card provider. Went public in 2010.
BlackHawk Network (2001, Pleasanton (CA), IPO) – Provider of white-label solutions for merchants and corporates. Also provides a marketplace for branded retail gift cards and reloading services for third-party prepaid cards. Went public in 2013.
Nubank Brasil (2013, Sao Paulo, $178M) – A MasterCard flagged credit card with mobile app. Backed by Sequoia Capital, Goldman Sachs, Founders Fund, QED Investors, Tiger Global Management, DST Global, Kaszek Ventures.

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 Payments feed.

INTERESTING COMPANIES FOUND

Arrevus (2017, Research Triangle Park, $1M) – Designer chaperone protein inhibitors (DPCs) for the treatment of bacterial infections such as MRSA. DPCs will inhibit heat shock protein in bacteria making it more prone to apoptosis.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

• China-based LYFE Capital raises $420M fund for US-biotechs in China. Read More
• InventisBio raises $19M Series B led by OrbiMed for taking cancer candidates to trial. Read More
• Inthera Biosciences raises $11M Series A led by Merck for targeted cancer drug. Read More
• Strekin AG secures CHF 10M financing for further development of STR001 in Sudden Hearing Loss. Read More
• Lilly’s ADHD drug goes off-patent, 4 drugmakers ready with FDA approval for generics. Read More

INTERESTING COMPANIES FOUND

Watt3 (2016, Lausanne) – Provides a platform for high-end load users to integrate energy storage and analytics. The platform helps with forecasting energy prices and provides recommendations for energy storage applications.
NLine Energy (2015, El Dorado Hills) – Develops solution for in-pipe hydro power generation. The company’s system is capable of harnessing energy from water flow in transmission and distribution network.

INTERESTING COMPANIES FOUND

Wilov (2016, Paris) – Usage based insurance provider (pay-per-mile car insurance) that offers a ‘badge’ to users to track the miles driven and charges based on the number of days user drove.
Swindl (2017, Perth) – Provider of accounts payable and supplier/vendor audit software. Swindl provides a secure platform to the suppliers to login with the bank accounts and to make payment. The bank information of the supplier is used for audit purpose. Swindl claims to have proprietary methods through which they can identify the fraudsters.

Let’s face it. Donald Trump has a knack for stirring controversies at the flick of a…well, thumb. The POTUS – yet again – awakened the troll forces from all corners of the world. The late night sleepy Tweet on #covfefe, followed by Trump’s challenge to decipher it set a domino spree of Twitterati trying to decipher what Covfefe means.

Was it an innocent thumbus interruptus or something deeper, more sinister than we think? Despite Trump’s challenge, We’ll never know.

Who can figure out the true meaning of “covfefe” ??? Enjoy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017

While Mrs. Clinton made a banter, Merriam Webster gave up and Urban Dictionary took things to a whole new level, we tried to find method in madness (our signature move) and came up with the list of startups that score high on Covfefe meter. So grab a cup of (no, not that pun again) coffee and enjoy our hand-curated list of these high covefefe startups.

Company	Info	What they do	Investors
	Moderna Therapeutics (2010, Cambridge, $2.13B)	Developing mRNA-based drugs to treat infectious diseases and cancer	Flagship Ventures, Astrazeneca
	Grail Bio (Menlo Park, 2016, $1B)	Developing Pan-cancer blood screening for measuring levels of circulating tumor DNA in the patient's blood, through liquid biopsy	Illumina, Google Ventures
	StoreDot (Herzliya, 2012, $66M)	Makers of fast charging bio-organic batteries	Rhodium, Samsung Venture Investment
	Microvast (Stafford, 2006, $430M)	Make fast-charging battery system products for applications in EV, Grid energy storage, and other applications	IFC, CDH Investments
	Your MD (London, 2013, $7.3M)	AI-Powered personal health assistant for self-diagnosis of symptoms	Smedvig
	Synchron (Campbell, 2016, $10M)	An endovascular neural implant which receives brain signals and provides feedback and assisting technology for paralyzed patients.	DARPA, United States Department of Defense
	Zwift (London, 2014, $45M)	Indoor exercise bike based gaming platform which allows users to have virtual group rides and races	Shasta Ventures, Novator Partners
	Sentient (San Francisco, 2017, $144M)	Provide large scale distributed AI platform for online commerce & finance industry	Horizon Ventures, Access Industries
	Plastic Logic (Dresden, 2000, $396M)	Developing flexible, glass-free display technology	Rusnano, Intel Capital
	DJI (Shenzhen, 2006, $605M)	Develops drones for consumers, prosumers and commercial operators. Recently released a pocket drone that can be flown using hand gestures alone	Accel Partners, KPCB
	Vicarious (San Francisco, 2010, $72M)	Developing technology to achieve human-level intelligence in vision, language, and motor control	Founders Fund, Good Ventures
	Auris Surgical Robotics (San Carlos, 2009, $233M)	Developing robotic technology applicable for broad spectrum of medical procedures	Mithril, Lux Capital
	Carbon 3D (Redwood City, 2013, $221M)	Has developed the fastest 3D printing technology currently in the market	Sequoia, North Gate, BMW Ventures
	Impossible Foods (Redwood City, 2011, $183M)	They manufacture meatless burger patty from plant matter, infused with lab-cultured real blood	Khosla Ventures, Horizon Ventures
	Memphis Meat (San Francisco, 2015, $3M)	Developing cultured meat in lab and claims that its product will be commercially available by 2021	New Crop Capital, SOSV
	Coravin (Burlington, 2011, $62M)	Manufacture a patented wine pouring sytem to pour wine without removing cork from the bottle	Crowdcube
	Blue River Technology (Sunnyvale, 2011, $30M)	They have developed robotic solutions for weed elimination in farms using computer vision and machine learning	Khosla Ventures, Pontifax AgTech
	Innit (San Francisco, 2013, $43M)	Developed a technology for consumers to cook food remotely using kitchen appliances powered by it
	Branch (Palo Alto, 2014, $113M)	Deep linking technology for mobile application growth	NEA, Triple Point Capital
	Clarifai (New York City, 2013, $41M)	AI-based image and video recognition technology for metadata management	Menlo Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures
	Uptake (Palo Alto, 2014, $135M)	Machine learning based predictive analytics platform catering to multiple industries	NEA, Trinity Ventures
	Zoox (Menlo Park, 2013, $290M)	Stealth mode autonomous mobility company	AID Partners, Lux Capital
	Quanergy (Sunnyvale, 2012 $135M)	Real-time 3D mapping & object recognition using LiDAR	Delphi, Samsung Ventures
	Inrix (Kirkland, 2004, $133M)	Real-time, historical, and predictive traffic information solutions	Intel Capital, Porsche
	Clear Motion (Woburn, 2008, $130M)	Developer of digital chassis for vehicle makers	Qualcomm Ventures, J.P.Morgan
	Hyperloop One (Los Angeles, 2014, $253M)	Developing the technology and hardware to make Hyperloop a reality	Khosla Ventures, GE Ventures
	Flexport (San Francisco, 2013, $94M)	Online freight forwarder	Y Combinator, Founders Fund
	Houzz (Palo Alto, 2009, $213M)	Content, Community & Commerce in Home Design	Sequoia Capital, NEA
	Nextdoor (San Francisco, 2010, $210M)	Private social network for neighborhoods	Greylock Partners,Tiger Global Management
	Rent The Runway (New York City, 2010, $190M)	Designer dress and accessory rentals	Fidelity Investments, American Express
	Kuai Shou (Beijing, 2011, $350M)	Video sharing mobile app with a focus on content popular among China's farmers and migrant workers	DCM Ventures, Tencent
	Go Euro (Berlin, 2012, $146M)	Online Platform for door to door travel planning in Europe	NEA, Goldman Sachs
	Stripe (San Francisco, 2010, $466M)	Payment gateway API provider for developers.	Capital G, General Catalyst Partners
	Sofi (San Francisco, 2011, $2.1B)	A marketplace for educational loans	SoftBank Group, Silver Lake
	7AC Technologies (Beverly, 2009, $16M)	Energy efficient singlestep cooling and dehumidifying HVAC solution	3M Ventures, CEVG
	Atom Bank (Durham, 2014, $269M)	UK-based licensed internet-first bank	BBVA, Woodford Investment Management
	Ripple (San Francisco, 2012, $91M)	An open source payment protocol utilizing DLT to provide a cross-border payment network for banks and market makers	Google Venture, A16Z
	Tala (Los Angeles, 2012, $42M)	Micro loans for consumers based on smartphone data	MESA Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners,
	Tanium (Berkeley, 2007, $402M)	Peer-to-peer connectivity based endpoint security & management	A16Z, Institutional Venture Partners
	Docker (San Francisco, 2008, $181M)	OS-level virtualization to package, ship and run distributed applications	Sequoia Capital, Goldman Sachs
	Mesosphere (San Francisco, 2013, $122M)	Container based Datacenter Operating System	Microsoft and Andreessen Horowitz
	Illusive Networks (Tel Aviv, 2014, $30M)	Adaptive decoys based threat deception & detection for network security	Microsoft Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners
	Cato Networks (Tel Aviv, 2015, $50M)	Cloud-based network security & SD-WAN optimization solution	Greylock Partners, U.S Venture Partners
	World View (Tucson, 2003, $22M)	They provide near-space tourism by balloon	Canaan Partners, Norwest Venture Partners
	Astroscale (Singapore, 2013, $43M)	They are into cleaning of space debris	Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, JAFCO
	SpaceX (Hawthorne, 2002, $1.2B)	Elon Musk's startup developing reusable space launch vehicles	Google, Fidelity Investments
	Spire (San Francisco, 2012, $66.7M)	Satellite-powered data company	Bessemer Venture Partners, Qualcomm Ventures
	Luminar (Clarksburg, 2012, $36M)	Makers of long range LiDAR for autonomous cars using its proprietary InGaAs design	Canvas Ventures, GVA Capital
	Innoviz Technologies (Kfar Saba, 2016, $9M)	Low-cost high definition solid-state LiDAR	Vertex Ventures, Magma Venture Partners
	Otonomo (Herzliya, 2015, $40M)	Cloud based SaaS solution enabling new connected car services including autonomous vehicles	Delphi Automotive, Bessemer Venture Partners

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

RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – VIRTUAL REALITY

• Improbable, developer of a platform to enable virtual worlds and large-scale simulations, raises $502M in Series B funding from SoftBank, Andreessen Horowitz and Horizons Ventures Link
• Vivid Vision, a health tech startup applying VR to treat vision disorders, raises $2.2M in Seed funding from Jeff Clavier, The VR Fund, CRCM Ventures, SOS Ventures, Anorak Ventures, and Liquid 2 Ventures Link
• Antilatency, developer of positional tracking solutions for mobile VR, raises $2.1M in Seed funding from IIDF Link
• GrowLib, a VR platform for interactive educational content, raises $1.5M in pre-Series A funding from Shanghai Zhonglu Group, Marathon Venture Partners Link
• The Rogue Initiative, a production studio with focus on VR, films and TV, raises a seven-figure round in Series A funding from CBT Capital Limited Link
• Mindesk, a developer of VR 3D CAD modeling interface, raises $730k in Seed funding from Invitalia Ventures, A11 Venture and others Link
• Advrty, a VR ad tech startup, raises $570k in Angel funding from business angels including Pontus Dahlström and Daniel Daboczy Link
• Chymera VR, a VR advertising network and monetization platform, raises an undisclosed amount in Angel funding from angels including Anupam Mittal, Varsha Rao, Surojit Chatterjee and Nirav Choksi Link
• Perfant, a developer of VR panoramic cameras, raises undisclosed amount from Hao Fang Group Link
• Camdora, a developer of consumer 3D cameras, raises undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding from Hefei High-tech Construction Investment Group Link
• Google acquires Owlchemy Labs, the VR game studio which had made Job Simulator, Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality Link
• Microsoft unveils Asus and Dell mixed reality headsets at Computex 2017 Link
• Google announces standalone Daydream VR headsets, which will be made by HTC and Lenovo, as well as have inside-out positional tracking Link
• Samsung shows an ultra-high resolution display for VR headsets which has nearly 3.5 times the pixels in Rift & Vive at Display Week 2017 conference Link
• Oculus Research announces new display technology Focal Surface Display to improve the vergence-accommodation conflict in VR headsets Link
• Google reveals a new surface light-field rendering technology for enabling high-quality CGI visuals in mobile VR at I/O 2017 Link
• Oculus partners with Crytek to share VR movement research through locomotion experiments Link
• Valve and Pixvana launch a VR video player to bring high-quality adaptive VR video to Steam Link
• NVIDIA releases VRWorks Audio SDK to build positional audio into any application at GPU Technology Conference 2017 Link
• Google releases VR app Audio Factory on Daydream platform to demonstrate their spatial audio engine for VR Link
• NVIDIA demonstrates Project Holodeck, a collaborative VR viewer for detailed CAD Models at GPU Technology Conference 2017 Link

SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND

Nomoko (2015, Zurich) – Reality capture camera and software pipeline for photorealistic 3D models.

LEADER BOARD – VIRTUAL REALITY

Studios
Wevr (2010, LA, $40M) – Develops open VR technology platform that enables storytellers to create, present, and publish projects on all VR headsets. Backed by Digital Garage, HTC, Samsung Venture Investment, Evolution Media Capital, AME Cloud Ventures and others.
Baobab Studios (2015, SF, $31M) – VR animation studio. Backed by Horizons Ventures, 20th Century Fox, Shanghai Media Group, and others.
The Virtual Reality Company (2014, LA, $25M) – VR content studio. Backed by Rothenberg Ventures, Jiangsu Hengxin Technology, Elementum Ventures.

Live Streaming
NextVR (2009, Laguna Beach, $115.5M) – Develops technology to stream live VR content. Backed by Formation8, Comcast Ventures, RSE Ventures and others.
SLIVER.tv (2015, Cupertino, $22M) – VR platform for viewing eSports competitions. Backed by Danhua Capital, DCM Ventures, Sierra Ventures, The VR Fund, Hollywood Media Investors, and others.

Content Creation Tools – End to end solutions
JauntVR (2013, Palo Alto, $100M) – Develops hardware, software, tools, and applications to enable content developers to make cinematic VR experiences. Backed by Walt Disney Company, Redpoint, SV Angel & Highland Capital Partners.
The Future Group (2013, Oslo, $42M) – Providers of tools for broadcast and entertainment applications in virtual reality. Backed by Ferd, Aker & others.

Content Creation Tools – Reality Capture
Lytro (2006, Mountain View, $200M) – Develops light field camera technology for cinematic VR imaging. Backed by NEA, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners and others.
360fly (1998, Pittsburgh, $60M) – Develops panoramic camera that can capture 360-degree views. Backed by Qualcomm Ventures, Voxx International, and others.
8i (2014, Wellington, $41.5M) – Holographic Virtual Reality. Backed by RRE Ventures, Boost VC, Samsung Ventures and others.
Pelican Imaging (2008, Mountain View, $37M) – Developing camera technology for next-generation 3D capture. Backed by Qualcomm Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners, Globespan Capital, Granite VC & Interwest Partners.

Content Creation Tools – Processing
Dirac Research (2001, Uppsala, $4.9M) – Provides a 3D audio rendering platform for VR. Backed by AAC Technologies.
VideoStitch (2012, Paris, $2.8M) – Provider of 360 video stitching software. Backed by Kima Ventures, Alven Capital.

Content Creation Tools – Modeling
ObEN (2014, Pasadena, $8M) – Creates 3D avatar from images which can be used in VR. Backed by CrestValue Capital, Cybernaut Westlake Partners, and others.
Mindshow (2014, LA, $6M) – Platform to create narrative experiences through virtual reality. Backed by DFJ, Venture Reality Fund, BDM, Greycroft, and others.
WakingApp (2013, Rosh HaAyin, $5M) – Cloud platform for AR/VR content creation. Backed by Globis Capital Partners, Inimiti, and others.

Content Creation Tools – Dev Tools
Improbable (2012, London, $524M) – Develops OS for large scale simulations including VR and AR, for applications in gaming, defense, energy, city efficiency, health, and finance. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz.
Pixvana (2015, Seattle, $6M) – Cloud platform for AR/VR video processing. Backed by Madrona Venture Group and Vulcan Capital.
Visbit (2015, Sunnyvale, $3.2M) – Cloud streaming service for 360º virtual reality videos. Backed by Presence Capital, ZhenFund, Colopl Next, Amino Capital, and Eversunny.

Delivery
87870 (2010, Beijing, $30M) – Portal on VR-related content developments and app store to download games.
EveryScape (2002, Newton, $17.5M) – Platform to build 3D environments from 2D photography. Backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Dace Ventures & others.
Littlstar (2014, NYC, $6M) – Provides a multi-platform, device agnostic solution for content owners and brands to distribute 360 and VR content. Backed by Disney Accelerator, Sterling Equities, and others.

Display Devices
Oculus (2012, Irvine, $91M, Acq.) – Manufactures Virtual Reality Headsets. Acquired by Facebook for $2B in March 2014.
AntVR (2014, Beijing, $56M) – Provides open source VR hardware. Backed by Sequoia and Gosuncn Technology Group.
Baofeng Mojing (2014, Beijing, $45M) – Develops virtual reality display devices. Backed by CITIC Capital, Huayi Brothers, Green Pine Capital Partners and others.

Interactivity Enablers
Leap Motion (2010, SF, $44M) – Develops 3D motion control hardware and software using motion-sensing technology. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, SOSVentures and Highland Capital Partners.
eyeSight (2005, Herzliya, $33M) – Provider of gesture recognition technologies. Backed by CEVA, Mitsui Global, Kuang-Chi Group and others.
uSens (2013, San Jose, $30M) – Provides inside-out 3D hand tracking as well as head position tracking. Backed by IDG Capital, Morningside Ventures, Stone Point Capital & others.
Crunchfish (2010, Stockholm, IPO) – Provider of software for touchless gesture interaction. Filed IPO in 2016.

Chips & Sensors
InvenSense (2003, San Jose, IPO, Acq.) – Develops motion sensing solutions for mobile applications. Filed IPO in 2011. Acquired by TDK for $1.3B in December 2016.
Movidius (2005, San Mateo, $86.5M, Acq.) – Develops mobile vision processor chips. Acquired by Intel in September 2016.

Advertising/Marketing
Vertebrae (2015, Santa Monica, $10M) – Ad network for Native VR advertising.
MediaSpike (2011, Mountain View, $5M) – Product Placement Ads in Games. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, 500 Startups, and others.

Applications – Healthcare & Fitness
MindMaze (2012, Lausanne, $108.5M) – Develops interfaces for neuro-rehabilitation using VR/AR and neurophysiological recording technologies. Backed by Hinduja Group.
Surgical Theater (2010, Ohio, $11M) – Develops VR medical applications, for intra-operative navigation & surgical guidance. Backed by HTC.

Applications – Education & Training
STRIVR Labs (2015, Palo Alto, $5M) – Virtual reality-based sports training platform. for sports, Backed by Signia Venture Partners, Presence Capital, and others.
WoofbertVR (2014, NYC, $5M) – Immersive art education company.

Applications – Real Estate & Architecture
Matterport (2011, Mountain View, $56M) – Develops iPad controlled camera to create 3D models of physical objects and interior spaces. Backed by YC, Qualcomm Ventures & Felicis Ventures.
IrisVR (2014, NYC, $10M) – Developer of tools to view 3D files in virtual reality. Backed by Emergence Capital, Indicator Ventures, and others.

Applications – Retail
InContext Solutions (2009, Chicago, $36M) – VR solutions for in-store simulation. Backed by Intel Capital, Beringea, Plymouth Ventures.
Marxent Labs (2011, Dayton, $14M) – Develops AR and VR applications for sales and marketing. Backed by Detroit Venture Partners and Stage 1 Ventures.

Applications – Entertainment
THE VOID (2014, Lindon, $50M) – VR Theme park. Backed by Shanda Group.
UCVR (2015, Shenzhen, $30M) – Virtual reality modules offering military combat VR experiences. Backed by China Baoan Group.

Applications – Social
High Fidelity (2013, SF, $39.5M) – Builds Open Source software for building deployable virtual worlds. Backed by Google Ventures, Kapor Capital, Linden Lab, True Ventures and Vulcan Capital.
AltspaceVR (2013, Redwood City, $16M) – A social platform for virtual reality, for users to connect in virtual spaces. Backed by Tencent, Comcast Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, Raine Ventures and Lux Capital.

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

For latest update, visit Virtual Reality feed.

Total funding dollars hit a slump in 2016 falling by 26% with fundraising rounds dipping to 41 rounds from 2015. Round count fell for both seed (34%) and early (62%) whereas it increased by 100% for late stage.

By stage, funding dollars dipped across the board-the fall being most pronounced both in late and early-70% followed by a 38% dip in seed.

Average ticket size fell across the board-52% for Series B investments, 4% drop for Series A and 14% for seed.

Roseonly’s and Zola’s Series C fundraising rounds of $29M and $25M respectively constituted the top investments last year. 6 acquisitions marked this space the past year with Bed Bath and Beyond’s buyout of PersonalizationMall.com for $190M being the highest disclosed deal value.

By stage of entry, the top investor for seed was Y Combinator, First Round Capital for Series A, Bessemer Venture Partners for Series B and Accel Partners for later stage.

With $675M being ploughed till date, e-commerce has been the most funded business model in this sector with 1167 companies following this model. Most active investors in this space include Y Combinator, 500 Startups, Sequoia Capital etc.

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Total funding activity slowed down by 34% in 2016 from 2015 as fundraising round count increased by a marginal 19%.

By stage, funding dollars fell for both late (42%) and early (16%) whereas for seed it increased by an encouraging 54%. Fundraising rounds however, rose across the board-late (21%), early (11.7%) and seed (14%).

By stage of entry, 500 Startups led the leaderboard for most active investors for seed, NEA led for Series A, Route 66 Ventures led for Series B and Bain Capital Ventures led for later stage.

Clover Health’s Series C round of $160M led by GreenOaks and Sequoia among others and Metromile’s Series D round of $153M comprised the top investments last year. Two companies have gone public in the last three years in this space-Majesco and Connecture with 16 companies getting acquired till date since last year of which allstate.com’s picking up SquareTrade for $1.4B in Nov-2016 was the biggest disclosed deal value.

Internet first insurers having amassed $2.6B till date has been the most investment friendly business model in this sector. Startupbootcamp, Techstars, 500 Startups were the most active investors in this space as $2.08B has been infused in this sector in 2016-17 YTD.

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Overall funding dollars took a hit by 48% in the adtech landscape in 2016 with total funding rounds dipping by 37%.

By stage, the funding dip was most pronounced in the early stage-62% as late funding fell by 35% and seed by 49%. Fundraising rounds by stage fell across the board-33% for late, 39% for early and 35% for seed.

Early stage average ticket size dove by 41% for Series B and 25% for seed with Series A witnessing an increase by 19%.

Historically, ad network and exchange with companies like Inmobi and Millenial Media following its business model has amassed the highest funding ($4.6B YTD) followed by companies offering demand side platform solutions ($2.7B YTD).

Top investments in the last one year include Centerfield’s PE round of $156M and AppsFlyer’s Series C round of $56M. Most active investors in this sector are First Round Capital, Accel Partners, Silicon Valley Bank etc.

16 acquisitions marked this space last year with altice.net picking up Teads for $322M being the highest disclosed deal value.

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Download the Tracxn Industry Report on Adtech

Investor interest slowed down in the biopharma sector in 2016 as total funding dollars fell by 42% and funding rounds dipped by 13%.

Fundraising rounds took a hit by 56% in late and 19% in early with seed showing a marginal 7% increase in rounds. The sector went through a slump as funding dollars fell across the board-56% in late, 43% in early and 6% in seed.

Average ticket size fell by 32% for Series B investments, 10% for Series A and 33% for seed.

Top investments in the past year include Highland Therapeutics’ Series D round of $263M and Denali Therapeutics’ Series B round of $130M.

By stage of entry, Atlas Venture led the tally for the most active investor for seed and Series A, NEA for Series B and Orbimed for later stage in this space.

11 acquisitions marked this space in the last one year with lilly.com’s buyout of CoLucid Pharmaceuticals for $960M being the highest disclosed deal value.

Companies offering solutions for neurodegenerative diseases like Denali and Samumed have amassed the highest funding till date ($6.5B YTD) followed by those offering solutions for pain like Kalypsys($4.75B  YTD). Most active investors in this sector include NIH, Michael J Fox Foundation etc.

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Download the Tracxn Industry Report on Biopharma

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

INTERESTING STARTUPS

AuthMetrik (2017, Delhi), user behavior based identity & authentication solution provider. Founder is ex – e-GMAT, MakeIntern and alumnus of NIT Raipur. Local comparables include InCights (2010, Hyderabad, $160k) and AuthMe (2016, Nanded). Global comparables include Behaviosec (2007, Lulea, $7.6M) and Intensity Analytics (2009, Warrenton, $5M).

INDIA INTERESTING NEWS

Tripeur, a travel enterprise resource planning platform operated by Shorebird Technologies (2015, Bangalore), web-based enterprise travel management solution provider, raises an undisclosed amount in Seed round of funding led by Grace Grace Techno Ventures with participation from Rajul Garg and others. Link

Adesaa Wellness (2017, Mumbai), wellness startup focussed on providing yoga training, raises an undisclosed amount in funding from undisclosed investors. Link

Happiest Minds (2011, Bangalore), IT services providing company, acquires OSSCube (2006, Houston), big data and cloud services provider, for an undisclosed amount. Link

ValueFirst (2003, Gurgaon), digital engagement technologies and services provider, acquires Octane (2007, Delhi), SaaS platform for email and web marketing, for an undisclosed amount. Link

Careers360 (2008, Delhi), online career counselling and education services provider, is selling NoPaperForms (2009, Thane, acquired by Careers360), a web-based enrolment management system for educational institutions, to its chief strategy officer Naveen Goyal. Link

Telangana government, partners with financial technology startup Transaction Analysts (2011, Bangalore), payment system solutions provider like switching and prepaid cards, to launch T-Wallet, the state’s official wallet for both government and private transactions. Link

Tata Cleantech Capital, a NBFC that funds renewable energy projects, raises $31M from its promoters Tata Capital and International Finance Corporation to grow its loan book. Link

20 Indian startups are selected to setup business in London as a part of the India Emerging Twenty (IE20) programme, created by London & Partners. Link

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

Bright Health (2015, Minneapolis), health insurance provider, raises $160M in Series B round of funding led by Greenspring Associates with participation from Greycroft Partners, Redpoint Ventures and others. Link

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals (2003, Waltham), clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on addressing key mechanisms of tumor drug resistance, raises $52M in Series C of funding led by Viking Global Investors, Redmile Group, Sphera Global Healthcare Fund and New Leaf Venture Partners. Link

Bicycle Therapeutics (2009, Cambridge), developer of highly constrained bicyclic peptides as therapeutics, raises $51.3M in Series B round of funding led by Vertex Ventures HC with participation from Cambridge Innovation Capital and others. Link

Brave (2015, SF), ad-blocking internet mobile browser, raises $35M through initial coin offering (ICO). Link

RiskRecon (2015, Boston), SaaS provider of objective, vendor security assessments and insights, raises $12M in Series A round of funding led by Dell Technologies Capital with participation from F-Prime Capital Partners, General Catalyst, and Paul Sagan. Link

Evolve (2010, Denver), online booking agency for vacation rentals with marketing and booking services, raises $11M in funding led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates with participation from Annox Capital, Allen & Company LLC and PAR Capital Ventures. Link

Boston Logic (2004, Boston), SaaS platform for real estate marketing, acquires Propertybase (2010, Berkeley), provider of CRM & marketing solution for real estate industry professionals, for an undisclosed amount. Link

CIC Capital Canada, Montreal-based subsidiary of CM-CIC Investissement, the private equity arm of French banking group Groupe Credit Mutuel, launches a new $500M North American growth fund. Link

A weekly newsletter summarizing recent activity in the Chinese startup ecosystem.

DEALS OF THE WEEK

Alibaba, Ant Financial Lead $1B Round In China Online Food Delivery Startup Ele.me
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and its financial services affiliate Ant Financial are planning to invest $1B in Ele.me (2008, Shanghai), an online platform for users to search for restaurants nearby and place orders.

INTERESTING FUNDRAISING ACTIVITY IN CHINA

Minsheng Investment Leads $262M Pre-IPO Round In P2P Lender Tuandaiwang
Tuandaiwang (2012, Dongguan City), a peer-to-peer lending company, raises $262M in pre-IPO investment round led by China Minsheng Investment Group with participation from Beijing Yisheng Innovation Technology and Beihai Hongtai Investment.

Chinese Online Steel Transaction Platform Ouyeel Raises $140M
Ouyeel (2015, Shanghai), an online steel transaction platform, raises $140M in funding from Benxi Steel Group Corp., Beijing Shougang Fund Investment Company, Global Logistic Properties Ltd., CCB Trust Co., Jiangsu Shagang Group Company and Mitsui & Co.

Warburg Leads $120M Round In Chinese Online Education Firm Yuanfudao
Yuanfudao (2012, Beijing), an online test preparation platform for K-12 students, raises $120M in funding led by Global private equity giant Warburg Pincus with participation from Tencent Holdings.

OrbiMed Asia Leads $19M Series B Round In Biotech Start-Up InventisBio
InventisBio (2015, Shanghai), a biotech company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel medicines raises $19M in series B round of funding led by Healthcare-focused investment firm OrbiMed Asia Partners with participation from Lilly Asia Ventures.

New Oriental Education Leads $13M In Chinese Children’s Stories Content Start-Up
Kaishuo Jianggushi, a children’s stories content provider, raises $13M in funding led by New Oriental Education & Technology Group with participation from Chinese growth capital firm Trustbridge Partners, Shanghai-listed Zhejiang Daily Digital Culture Group and iResearch Capital.

Zenlayer Raises $10M in Series A Funding
Zenlayer (2016, Shanghai), a global software network and services provider, raises $10M in series A round of funding led by F&G Venture with participation from NSFOCUS and others.

Dobot’s robotic parts development in China raises Series A fund
Dobot (2015, Shenzhen), a robotic parts manufacturer that mainly focuses on the development and upgrading of industrial robotic parts, raises $10M in series A round of funding from Shenzhen Capital Group and Qianhai.

Northern Light Joins Round In Chinese Autonomous Driving Tech Start-Up Qingzhi
Qingzhi Technology (2016, Tianjin), startup developing autonomous driving technology for commercial vehicles, raises an undisclosed amount in Angel round of funding led by Northern Light Venture Capital, Legend Star and Longjitaihe Group’s Harmony Fund.

Sequoia Leads Funding Round In Chinese Online Reading Firm Zongheng Literature
Zongheng Literature (2008, Beijing), a Chinese online reading platform, raises an undisclosed amount in funding led by Sequoia Capital China and Perfect World with participation from Shengjing Fund and Share Capital.

China LeEco’s sports unit valued at $3.5B after new funding round
LeSports (2014, Beijing), an online sports video streaming website and a Chinese tech conglomerate LeEco’s sports unit, raises an undisclosed amount in funding from HNA Capital and others, is now valued at $3.5B.

Alibaba Acquires 18% Of Supermarket Unit Of Bailian Group
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, a Chinese e-commerce giant, announces a deal to buy an 18% stake in the Lianhua Supermarket chain, owned by Shanghai-based Bailian Group.

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

RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – SUBSCRIPTION COMMERCE

• iFlix, a subscription-based video on demand service, raised $90M in Series C funding from Liberty Global, Middle East and Africa-focused operator Zain and existing investors. Link
• Soylent, a meal replacement product that provides essential nutrients, raised $50M in Series B funding led by led by GV, formerly Google Ventures. Link
• Tubi TV, premium movies and TV shows streaming service, raised $20M in Series B funding, led by Jump Capital. Link
• Hubble Contacts, a subscription service for daily disposable contact lenses, raised $16.5M in Series A funding led by FirstMark Capital. Link
• SunBasket, a recipe box subscription service with pre-measured ingredients, raised $9.2M Series C funding led by Unilever Ventures. Link   
• BeautyCon, a quarterly subscription for beauty products and fashion accessories curated by influencers, raised $9M in Series A funding. Link
• Epic, an ebook subscription service for kids, raised $8M Series C round led by Reach Capital. Link 
• Friction Free Shaving, a subscription box for grooming products for women, raised $1.56M in Series A funding from Athene Capital. Link
• Datebox, a subscription box service for couples date, raised $2.6M in Seed funding led by Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund. Link
• BloomThis, online flower delivery service, raised $600k from Singapore-based VC REAPRA. Link
• Snackible, a subscription-based snacks delivery, raised $175,000 in an angel round of funding led by a clutch of individual investors and high-net-worth individuals (HNIs). Link
• Snackexperts, an online subscription-based healthy snack box delivery service, received undisclosed Pre-Series A funding from Angel investors. Link

SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND

The Box (2016, Mumbai, Undisclosed) – A grocery subscription service.
Care/of (2016, NYC, Undisclosed) – A monthly subscription box for vitamin supplements.
Bandit (2016, NYC) – Subscription service for plus-size bra delivery.

LEADER BOARD – SUBSCRIPTION COMMERCE

Digital Media – Music Streaming
Spotify (2006, Stockholm, $2.06B) – Music streaming over the internet on a subscription basis. Backed by TCV, Goldman Sachs, and more.
Deezer (2006, Paris, $259M) – Subscription-based music streaming service. Backed by CM-CIC Capital Prive, Access Industries, Idinvest Partners, and Orange.
KKBox (2004, Taipei, $114M, Acq.) – Digital music service provider in Asia on a subscription basis. Backed by HTC Corp, Chunghwa Telecom, KDDI Corporation, and more. Acquired by KDDI Corporation in 2010.

Digital Media – Online TV and Video
Netflix (1997, Los Gatos, IPO) – Subscription-based online and offline video rental portal. Went public in 2002.
Quickflix (2003, Perth, IPO) – Subscription-based online movies and TV shows streaming with offline DVD rentals. Went public in 2005.
Xunlei Kankan (2005, Shenzhen, IPO) – Subscription-based video-on-demand portal. Went public in 2014.
Hulu (2007, LA, $100M) – Subscription-based online movies and TV streaming. Backed by 21st Century Fox, The Walt Disney Company, and Providence Equity Partners.

Digital Media – eBooks
Scribd (2007, SF, $48M) – Premier ebooks digital library featuring a subscription service. Backed by CRV, Khosla Ventures, Red Point Ventures, YCombinator, and more.
Oyster (2012, NYC, $17M, Acq.) – eBook subscription service. Backed by Highland Capital Partners, SV Angel, Founder Collective, Founders Fund, BoxGroup, and Advancit Capital. Acquired by Google in 2015.

Food & Beverage – Recipe Ingredients
HelloFresh (2012, Berlin, $367M) – Delivers portioned groceries and corresponded recipes to cook at home. Backed by Baillie Gifford, Rocket Internet, Insight Venture Partners, Phenomen Ventures, and more.
BlueApron (2012, NYC, $194M) – Weekly subscription based recipe ingredients for meals. Backed by Fidelity Investments, Stripes Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, and more.
Plated (2012, NYC, $80M) – Subscription-based recipe box and meal kits. Backed by Greycroft Partners, ff Venture Capital, Formation 8, and more.

Food & Beverage – Snack Box
NatureBox (2012, San Carlos, $60M) – Subscription-based healthy snacks provider. Backed by General Catalyst Partners, Softbank, Canaan Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Plug and Play Tech Center and Global Founders Capital.

Food & Beverage – Grocery
Door To Door Organics (2007, Lafayette, $43M) – Online organic grocery delivery subscription service. Backed by Greenmont Capital Partners and Arlon Group.

Food & Beverage – Alcohol
Tasting Room (2009, NYC, $6M, Acq.) – Subscription-based personalized wine delivery. Acquired by Lot18 in 2013.

Fashion – Horizontal
JustFab (2010, El Segundo, $300M) – Subscription-based fashion commerce site. Backed by Passport Special Opportunity, Shining Capital, Matrix Partners, and TCV. Acquired Shoedazzle and FabKids.

Fashion – Accessories
Shoedazzle (2009, El Segundo, $66M, Acq.) – Online-first shoe brand providing subscription services. Acquired by JustFab in 2013.
Eleven James (2013, NYC, $40M) – An online luxury watch subscription-based rental service. Backed by WGI Group, Structure Capital, BoxGroup, and Great American Capital Partners.
RocksBox (2012, SF, $10M) – Premium jewelry rentals on subscription. Backed by MuckerLab, Matrix Partners, and more.

Fashion – Apparel
Outfittery (2012, Berlin, $60M) – Curated shopping service for men’s clothing. Backed by Highland Capital Partners, Northzone, Octopus Ventures, and more.
StitchFix (2011, SF, $47M) – Subscription-based personal shopping and delivery service. Backed by Benchmark, Baseline Ventures, LSVP, and WTI.
Le Tote (2012, SF, $26M) – Subscription-based rentals for women clothing, jewelry, and accessories. Backed by AITV and Azure Capital Partners.

Essentials
Harrys (2012, NYC, $285M) – Subscription-based online shaving supplies brand. Backed by Tiger Global, Wellington Management, Thrive Capital, and more. Acquired The Feintechnik Factory.
Dollar Shave Club (2011, LA, $165M, Acq.) – Subscription for razors and grooming supplies for men. Backed by Venrock, TCV, Forerunner Ventures, Dragoneer Investment Group, and more. Acquired by Unilever in 2016.

Beauty – Horizontal
Ipsy (2011, San Mateo, $107M) – Personalized make-up and beauty sample subscription. Backed by TPG Growth, Sherpa Capital, Crosscut Ventures, 500 Startups, Amalfi Capital, and more.
Julep (2007, Seattle, $58M, Acq.) – Private label of beauty products that provides beauty subscription boxes. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz and more. Acquired by Glansaol in December 2016.
BirchBox (2010, NYC, $87M) – Subscription-based grooming and beauty samples provider for men and women. Backed by First Round Capital, Accel Partners, Viking Global Investors, and more. Acquired JolieBox.
GlossyBox (2011, Berlin, $72M, Acq.) – Monthly beauty subscription box. Acquired by Lust Have It! in 2012.

Infants and Kids – Essentials
Honest (2011, Santa Monica, $228M) – Customized eco-friendly and organic infant products subscription service. Backed by Glade Brook Capital Partners, Wellington Management, Institutional Venture Partners, General Catalyst Partners, and more.

Infants and Kids – Toys and Books
Speakaboos (2008, NYC, $25M)  – Interactive storybooks for kids on mobile platforms on a subscription basis. Backed by [212]Media, Advancit Capital, and Kyowon Group.
Pley (2013, San Jose, $17M) – Subscription-based rental for Lego sets. Backed by Sozo Ventures, Allegro Venture Partners, and more.
Epic (2013, Palo Alto, $21M) – Subscription-based ebook service for kids. Backed by TransLink Capital and more.

Infants and Kids – Clothing
Rockets Of Awesome (2016, NYC, $19.5M)  – Personalized subscription box for kids’ apparel. Backed by August Capital and more.

Infants and Kids – Activity Box
Kiwicrate (2011, Mountain View, $10M) – Monthly subscription for hands-on activity box for kids. Backed by Comcast Ventures, First Round, Funders Club, and more.

Healthcare – Prescription Drugs
PillPack (2013, Boston, $94M) – Subscription-based periodic delivery of prescription medicines. Backed by CRV, Accel Partners, Atlas Venture, Founder Collective, and more.

Healthcare – Supplements
BuluBox (2012, Lincoln, $4M) – Subscription for vitamins and supplements of premium brands. Backed by Flyover Capital and more.
Nootrobox (2014, SF, $2.57M) – Subscription for nootropic supplements. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz and more.

Healthcare – Personal Care
Lola (2014, NYC, $11M) – Cotton tampons in a customized box delivered to subscribers. Backed by  Expansion Venture Capital, Brand Foundry Ventures, Vayner/RSE, 14W, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, BoxGroup, and BBG Ventures.
FabFitFun (2010, Beverly Hills, $3.5M, Acq.) – Women personal care products subscription box. Acquired by MeetCharlie in 2010.

Pets Products
BarkBox (2011, NYC, $22M) – Monthly subscription for toys, treats, and gifts for dogs. Part of Bark&Co. Backed by Resolute.vc, RRE Ventures, Lerer Ventures, Polaris Partners, 500 startups, and more.
PetFlow (2009, NYC, $15M) – Monthly subscription of pet food for dogs and cats. Backed by LSVP and Westwood Ventures.

Flowers
H.Bloom (2009, NYC, $17M) – Subscription-based luxury flower arrangements delivery service. Backed by Battery Ventures, Shasta Ventures, and more.

Household Products
Soma (2012, SF, $10M) – Subscription for high design sustainable water filters. Backed by Baseline Ventures.
FilterEasy (2012, Raleigh, $5M) – Subscription for air filter delivery service. Backed by IDEA Fund Partners, Azure Capital Partners, and RTP Capital Associates.

Niche Products
Loot Crate (2012, LA, $18.5M) – Monthly subscription for tech and gamer gear. Backed by Upfront Ventures, Montage Capital, Team Downey, TimeInc, and Breakwater Investment Management.
Quarterly (2011, LA, $5M) – Quarterly subscription for gift box service. Backed by True Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and VegasTechFund.

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

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

RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – REAL ESTATE TECH

• Opcity, a cloud-based platform to match the real estate agents to buyers/sellers, raises $27M in Series A led by Icon Ventures. Read more
• Mydream+, co-working space startup based in Beijing, raises $20M in Series B led by Joy Capital. Read more
• Awfis, co-working space marketplace, raises $20M in Series B from Sequoia Capital. Read more
• McMakler, online real estate brokerage service provider, raises $17.9M in Series B from Frog Capital, Piton Capital, and Cavalry Ventures. Read more
• Appear Here, a retail space booking platform, raises $12M in Series B led by Octopus Ventures. Read more
• Urbanplace, managed co-working space located in Tel Aviv, raises $12M in Angel funding. Read more
• Exporo, a real estate investment platform, raises $8.9M in Series B from E.ventures, Holtzbrinck Ventures, and Sunstone. Read more
• Local Agent Finder, online platform connecting homeowners with local real estate agents, raises $5.5M in Series A led by Wentworth Global Capital Partners. Read more
• Clarocity, data & analytical solution for the valuation of residential housing, raises $4M in Post IPO from StableView. Read more
• NestAway, marketplace for furnished shared rentals, acquires Zenify, property management service company, for an undisclosed amount. Read more
• CoStar Group, a parent company of commercial real estate solution provider, acquires LandWatch, listing platform for rural properties and land, for an undisclosed amount. Read more
• Crowdcube partners with WeWork to boost European expansion. Read more

For latest update visit RealEstate Tech feed.

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

INTERESTING STARTUPS

Vwavo (2015, Pune), cloud-based digital warranty management solution provider. Founders are ex-executives from iNautix and SunGard. Local comparable includes Tavant Technologies (2000, Bangalore, Undisclosed). Global comparable includes Warranteer (2014, Tel Aviv).

INDIA INTERESTING NEWS

Goomo (2006, Mumbai), horizontal OTA platform providing accommodation and travel services, raises $50M in a round of funding from Emerging India. Link

Sequoia Capital tops up India-focused Fund IV with $125M, taking its overall corpus to $850M. Link

MagicX (2015, Bangalore), AI-enabled chat based personal assistant app, halts operations. Link

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

Monoqi (2011, Berlin), private shopping club for handpicked contemporary design, raises $16M in Series C round of funding from Al Jazeera Al Hadina. Link

New Engen, a digital marketing services company, raises $8M in funding from undisclosed investors. Link

Greenlight (2014, Atlanta), parent-managed debit card provider for kids, raises $7.5M in funding from Relay Ventures, Social Capital, New Enterprise Associates and TTV Capital. Link

Panaseer (2014, London), big data based enterprise security analytics solution, raises $3.25M in Series A round of funding from Albion Ventures, Notion Capital, Winton, Paladin Capital Group and Evolution Equity. Link

Hubble (2013, London), marketplace to book short-term co-working space, raises $1.5M in Seed round of funding led by Firestartr with participation from 500 Startups and Maxfield Capital. Link

GTCR, a private equity firm, acquires Sage Payment Solutions (1981, Newcastle Upon Tyne), accounting, HR and ERP solutions provider for SMEs, for $260M. Link

A weekly newsletter summarizing recent activity and interesting startups in South East Asia.

INTERESTING COMPANIES FOUND

Tomo App (2016, Ho Chi Minh City) – Social Q&A community with video-based answers. Global comparable include Reveal (2014, San Francisco, $1.5M).
FundYourselfNow (2016, Singapore) – Cryptocurrency based crowdfunding platform. Global comparable include Idea.me (2011, Wilmington, $125k) and BitGive Foundation (2013, Sacramento, $70k).

SEA – FUNDING UPDATES

SDiX raises funding
SDiX (2015, Singapore), a real-time diamond exchange marketplace platform, raises $10M in Series B+ led by existing investors Vertex Ventures and SDiX Chairman Alain Vandenborre.

SWAT raises funding
Swat (2015, Singapore), an algorithm based ride sharing platform, raises $2.2M in Pre-Series A round from undisclosed investors.

Stendard closes pre-seed funding
Stendard (2016, Singapore), an online service that helps medical device manufacturers fulfill international standardization regulations, closes an undisclosed amount from undisclosed investors.

Gilmour Space Technologies raises funding
Gilmour Space Technologies (2012, Pimpama), develops UAVs, rockets and space technologies, raises $3.7M in Series A from Blackbird Ventures, and 500 Startups.

SEA – RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

SGX, IMDA partner to facilitate IPOs for accredited ventures
SGX, IMDA partner to facilitate IPOs for accredited ventures.

SUTD partners 6 VC firms to boost startup ambitions
SUTD partners 6 VC firms to boost startup ambitions.

JustCo partners PwC Venture Hub
JustCo partners with PwC Venture Hub.

AIRmaker-Arrow Electronics pact
AIRmaker partners with electronic manufacturer Arrow Electronics pact.

Vemanti to acquire Vietnam’s tech conglomerate, Two Group
US firm Vemanti to acquire Vietnam’s tech conglomerate Two Group.

Naiise to enter Malaysia, its first step outside of Lion City
Naiise to enter Malaysia, its first step outside of Lion City, Singapore.

BEAM launches new platform to help startups raise funds
BEAM, Malaysia-based platform and events management company, launches new platform Dealflow with an aim to get more private investors involved in startup funding.

Bukalapak to launch gold transaction feature on its platform
Bukalapak to launch gold transaction feature on its platform and expand its fintech offering.

iflix officially opens its Africa HQ
iflix opens its Africa HQ, plans to roll out in five African markets.

AdAsia Holdings expands to Hong Kong
AdAsia Holdings, a cross-device advertising network, expands to Hong Kong.

Gobi Partners sells stake in Malaysian startup Hermo to Tokyo-listed Istyle
Gobi Partners sells its stake in Malaysian startup Hermo to Tokyo-listed Istyle.

WebTVAsia buys Indonesia’s Layaria, picks stake in S.Korea’s Duble Kick
WebTVAsia, youtube certified multi-channel network, buys Layaria, a multi-channel network certified by youtube, and picks stake in S.Korea’s Duble Kick.

Flutter Asia acquires Perfect Match Jakarta
Flutter Asia, mobile app-based dating platform, acquires Perfect Match Jakarta, an online matchmaking platform for dating.

Araneta completes majority stake acquisition in Philweb for $40.5M
Araneta, shopping mall in Quezon City, completes majority stake acquisition in Philweb, a Philippine Internet company, for $40.5M.

Vulpes to close Myanmar focused VC fund by July
Vulpes to close Myanmar-focused VC fund by July.

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

RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – ONLINE VIDEO

• YouTube adds more details, and restrictions, around which videos can be monetized. Link
• Malaysia-based iflix gears up to launch its video streaming service in Africa. Link
• Brightcove Expands into India through its key customer wins and launch of a new office in Mumbai. Link
• New Twitch Channel Lets You To Play The Stock Market With Real Money. Link
• Pluto TV, an on-demand video platform signs streaming rights deal with Gravitas Ventures. Link
• Jakarta-based mobile broadcasting App BIGO LIVE increases Focus on the Indian Market. Link
• Huya.com, a live gameplay broadcasting platform raises $75M in Series A. Link
• China’s Industrial Securities leads $140M Series B investment in the online entertainment company focusing on broadcasting live e-sports, Panda TV. Link
• Tian Ge Interactive Invests $14M In Chinese Live Streaming Platform Huajiao. Link
• Video news Startup Cheddar Raises $19 Million from Amazon, AT&T, NYSE, Broadway Video, and Others. Link
• Video streaming app ‘Dekkho’ partners with Amazon for digital content. Link
• Ooyala files a federal lawsuit against Brightcove for the misappropriation of proprietary trade secrets. Link
• Amazon adds live TV channels to Prime Video. Link
• I/O 2017: YouTube Crosses 1 Billion Hours Per Day, Launches New Super Chat API. Link
• Samsung Southeast Asia & Oceania, iflix team up to enhance TV viewing experience. Link
• Netflix Will Stop Running on Rooted, Unlocked Android Devices. Link
• ALTBalaji, the OTT platform of Balaji Telefilm joins hand with Ola for Ola Play. Link
• uZoom, an application for broadcasting live streams raise $2 million. Link
• Vidooly, a video marketing, and analytics platform raise $1.4 million from GVFL. Link
• Tubi TV added Yelena Shkolnik and Joanne Chen to its Board and announces $20m funding round led by Jump Capital. Link

SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND

Shred Video (2015, SF) – Automatic video editing tool enabling users to create adventure sports videos with matching background scores.
Flicksys (2016, Manipal) – Chrome extension to obtain real-time information from YouTube videos by leveraging machine learning algorithms.

LEADER BOARD – ONLINE VIDEO

Content Creation
Animoto (2006, NYC, $30M) – Cloud-based video creation app. Runs a freemium service that lets users create short video slideshows from collections of pictures and videos. Backed by Amazon, SoftTech VC, Madrona Venture Group, Spectrum Equity.
StudioNow (2007, Nashville, $21M) – Global marketplace of services and technology tools designed to match video content producers with enterprises. Backed by Claritas Capital, FCA Venture Partners, Clayton Associates, Launch Tennessee.

Video Content Management
Brightcove (2004, Boston, IPO) – Online video platform suites. Offers product to distribute and publish digital media. Went IPO in 2012.
Qumu (2002, San Bruno, IPO, Acq.) – Enterprise video platform. Provides tools to create, manage, secure, deliver and measure the success of videos. Acquired by Rimage Corporation in October 2011. Went public in 2011.

Video distribution- On demand
Netflix (1997, Los Gatos, IPO) – Subscription-based online and offline video rental portal. Went public in 2002.
Hulu (2007, LA, $100M) – Subscription-based online movies and TV streaming. Backed by Time Warner, 21st Century Fox, The Walt Disney Company and Providence Equity Partners.
iQIYI (2010, Beijing, $350M) – Ad-supported television and movie portal. Provides fully-licensed, high-definition, professionally produced content. Part of Baidu. Backed by Baidu, Providence Equity Partners, Xiaomi, Shunwei.

Video distribution- Infrastructure
Ustream (2007, SF, $49M, Acq.) – Provider of live and on-demand video solutions.  Backed by  DCM, Band of Angels, Western Technology Investment, SoftBank, Fenwick & West, KT Corp. Acquired by IBM in 2016.
Elemental Technologies (2006, Portland, $43M, Acq.) – Provider of software-based video solutions for content delivery to any device. Acquired by Amazon in 2015.

Multi-Channel Networks
Tastemade (2012. Santa Monica, $80M) – YouTube Multi-Channel Food Network. Backed by Goldman Sachs, Comcast Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Liberty Media, Raine Ventures, Scripps Network Interactive and Third Wave Digital.Provides gamer content across multiple video platforms. Backed by MK Capital, Google, Redpoint Ventures, Warner Bros.
Machinima (2000, West Hollywood $99M, Acq.) – Provides gamer content across multiple video platforms. Backed by MK Capital, Google, Redpoint Ventures, Warner Bros. Acquired by Warner Bros. in 2016.

Social Videos – Live Streaming
Azubu (2011, Sherman Oaks, $94M) – Offers live streaming eSports videos, news, and analysis from tournaments, teams, and players across multiple devices. Backed by Sapinda, Sallfort Privatbank AG.
Twitch (2011, SF, $35M, Acq.) – Live and On-demand eSports streaming website. A website for gamers to stream and watch live and recorded video games. Acquired by Amazon in 2014.
Periscope (2014, SF, Acq.) – Live video streaming and broadcasting mobile app. Acquired by Twitter in 2015.

Social Platforms – Social Sharing
YouTube (2005, San Bruno, $11.5M, Acq.) – Video sharing website. Acquired by Google in 2006 for $1.65B.
Keek (2011, Toronto, IPO) – Web and mobile short video sharing platform. Allows users to create 36-second videos (“keeks”) using webcam, iPhone or Android devices and share them with others around the world. Went IPO in 2014.
Vine (2012, NYC, Acq.) – Video taking and sharing platform. Lets users record and edit up to six-second-long looping video clips and revine, (share other’s posts) with followers. Acquired by Twitter in 2012.

Video Marketing and Syndication
SundaySky (2007, Tel Aviv, $67M) – Offers personalized video marketing platform. Helps to create, manage and optimize real-time personalized video programs throughout the customer lifecycle. Backed by Norwest Venture Partners, Viola Group, Globespan Capital Partners, Carmel Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, NTT Docomo Ventures and Liberty Global. 
Vidyard (2011, Kitchener, $61M) –Video marketing and analytics platform. Backed by Y Combinator, SV Angel, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, SoftTech VC, Battery Ventures, Salesforce, Inovia Capital and OMERS Ventures.

Video Advertising – DSP
TubeMogul (2006, Emeryville, IPO, Acq.) – Video Demand Side Platform. Programmatic (desktop only) video advertising platform used by brands and agencies. Went IPO in 2014. Acquired by Adobe in 2016.
Extreme Reach (2007, Needham, $196M) – Enables advertisers and agencies to manage, execute, and track advertising campaigns across all video mediums (broadcast, cable, website, mobile, VOD). Backed by Village Ventures, Long River Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Spectrum Equity, TD Bank.

Video Advertising – SSP
Liverail (2008, SF, $12.5M, Acq.) – Supply-side video advertising platform. Provides premium publishers with RTB-based video ad targeting technology to serve better ads in the videos that appear on their websites and apps. Acquired by Facebook in 2014.
Altitude Digital (2009, Denver, $54M) – Independent video Supply-side platform. Backed by Cypress Growth Capital, Mercato Partners, Silicon Valley Bank, FastPay.

Video Advertising – Ad Networks
YuMe (2004, Redwood City, IPO) – Develops video advertising technology for both the supply side and the demand side of the digital video ecosystem. Went IPO in 2013.
SpotX (2006, Denver, $12M, Acq.) – Programmatic video advertising platform. Connects thousands of publishers with trusted demand sources, running top brand campaigns through its marketplace. Acquired by RTL Group in 2014.

Video Advertising – Ad Exchanges
Tremor Video (2005, NYC, IPO) – Provides online video advertising services for advertisers, agencies, and publisher partners. Went IPO in 2013.
Brightroll (2006, SF, $46M, Acq.) – Delivers, manages and measures the performance of digital video ad campaigns across web, mobile, and connected TV. Acquired by Yahoo in 2014.

Video Advertising – Interactive Video
Innovid (2007, NYC, $53M) – Interactive Video Ad delivery platform. Provides advertisers with the tools to create, deliver, and measure video campaigns in any format on any screen, publisher, and ad network. Backed by Sequoia Capital, Cisco Investments, NewSpring Capital, Silicon Valley Bank.
Interlude (2010, NYC, $37M) – Designs, develops and markets interactive video technology. Backed by MGM, Warner Music, Samsung, Sequoia Capital and Intel Capital and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Video Analytics 
Visible Measures (2005, Boston, $80M, Acq.) – Analyzes the performance of video advertising for publishers and advertisers. Backed by Advance Publication, Commonfund, Northgate Capital, DAG Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures, General Catalyst Partners.

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