Hey everyone! My name is Darren and I’m a high schooler passionate about venture capital. In an effort to learn more about tech and entrepreneurship, I have summarized some of the top news that stood out to me throughout the week, and will be posting on a weekly basis going forward to help me recap learnings.
Recap of the Startup World in the US 4/19–4/25
Largest Deals and Acquisitions:
- Octopus Deploy, a company developing automatic enterprise software deployment tools, has received its first outside investment of $172.5M from Insight Partners after a decade of bootstrapping
- Continuous delivery software is a extremely competitive field, with similar products launching from Jenkins, CircleCI, and GitLab
2. Deel, a startup implementing payroll and hiring tools, has raised $156M in Series C funding led by YC and a16z, driving its valuation to $1.25B (new unicorn!)
- With the pandemic, remote hiring has been extremely tough for some companies, so companies like Deel are on the rise and are expected to prosper throughout and beyond the pandemic
3. PicPay, a Brazilian mobile payment app, has filed to list itself on the Nasdaq, in which the IPO may be valued upwards of $100M
- Giants like Apple Pay, PayPal, and Venmo dominate the field, but PicPay has special social networking features that differentiate the product
4. BigID, a late-stage startup selling privacy and security solutions, has expanded its Series D funding round to $100M, bringing its valuation to $1.25B
- Competitors include OneTrust, who in 2020 reached a $5.1B valuation, Egnyte, and TrustArc
5. Sift, a startup that aims to prevent online fraud, has raised $50M in a funding round which brings its valuation to over $1B
- During the pandemic, cybersecurity experts are seeing a 400% increase in online scams, which increases the demand for services like Sift, protecting consumers and their valuables
6. MANTL, a startup making it easier for people to open accounts at community banks, has raised a $40M Series B round led by Alphabet’s CapitalG
- MANTL directly competes with TurnKey Lender, nCino Bank Operating System, and Numerated, but MANTL is the only one who focuses on community banks and empowering locals
7. Welcome Tech, a startup equipping immigrants with banking and education services, has completed a $35M Series B funding round led by Softbank and TTV Capital
- Currently, this space with focus on connecting immigrants through data and technology is not very crowded, so Welcome Tech has the capacity to gain more market share, potentially reaching over 9M new immigrants every year
8. Outlier.org, an affordable method to take intro-level college courses, has raised $30M in its Series B funding
- Received the award for TIME Best Inventions of 2020 and was founded by the Co-Founder of MasterClass
9. Universal Hydrogen, a startup developing hydrogen aviation solutions, has announced a $20.5M Series A round led by Playground Global
- Global warming has accelerated the creation of hydrogen-powered planes, including Airbus which promises to have a model prepared for service by 2035
10. Medchart, a startup providing accessible access to electronic health records, has secured $17M across its Series A and seed rounds led by Crosslink Capital
- Medchart is updating an outdated system which Availity, TriZetto, and MedTrainer are aiming to do as well
