Are Secondaries Good?
Boston Tech Companies Raised Over $1.5B+ Last Week
A Question for Readers:
As we know, Boston founders, investors, and operators are notoriously quieter than those in other large ecosystems. I figure that having a mailing list that lots of them read could be a good way to collect and share some silent opinions on things happening in the market.
I wanted to experiment and ask a question to readers that you can reply and answer (anonymously or not) if you have any thoughts. If I get some good responses, I’ll definitely share them in the future. With that:
What are your thoughts on founders selling secondaries at the earlier stages?
The power dynamics have certainly shifted in the last few years in favor of founders vs investors. This has made things like taking lots of capital off the table early on possible. It’s not totally new though; Foursquare, Snapchat, and Secret each did it with multi-million dollar paydays at Series B. More recently, the Clubhouse founders did $2M at Series A.
Part of me says hell yeah, these people are committing a decade to something that could blow up in their face, maybe they deserve a little insurance policy? Another part understands that letting someone eat the carrot before the journey even begins could change their sense of initiative. I ask you:
Investors: Do you ever suggest it to founders? Is there a stage when you think it’s appropriate? Have you ever seen it create perverse incentives?
Founders: Have you ever done it, and would you do it again? Have you had investors talk you out of it? Do you find it uncomfortable to ask for?
Of course, if anyone else has thoughts I would love to hear them!
Reply to this email or email me if you have thoughts!
Stuff I’m Reading:
Knoq founder sues acquirer for discrimination, retaliation, and fraud
AngelList gives employees access to $100K to invest in startups
Profile on Coinbase Ventures, which has zero full-time staff!
Boston Tech Financing Announcements:
XtalPi 🧬
XtalPi, a Cambridge and China-based biotech startup specializing in AI-based drug development, just raised a $400M Series D led by OrbiMed and HOPU Investments, with support from Sino Biopharma, Sequoia Capital, and 5Y Capital. They’re building a platform for drug research and development, “with tightly interwoven quantum physics, artificial intelligence, and high-performance cloud computing algorithms.”
Emeritus 🧑🎓
Singapore and Boston-based EdTech company Emeritus just raised a monster $650M round led by Softbank’s Vision Fund and Accel. They offer online courses and specialized credentials online through partnerships with leading universities.
Reify Health 👩⚕️
Reify Health just raised a $220M round valuing the company at $2.2B. The round was led by Coatue, with participation from ICONIQ Growth, Adams Street Partners, Sierra Ventures, and Battery Ventures. They’re building a platform to enable decentralized clinical trials — making patient recruitment and trial enrollment easier so drugs can be brought to market at a much faster pace.
Ambri 🔋
Another long-duration battery company just disclosed a massive round. Ambri has secured $144M from Reliance Energy Solar. The eleven-year-old company uses a new type of liquid-metal battery technology to store energy without the need for coolants and without the risk of combustion. Just the other week, I covered Form Energy’s $70M Series C. They’re also using non-combustive “iron air” batteries for long-duration storage.
Tulip Interfaces 🌷
Frontline operations platform Tulip Interfaces just announced a $100M Series C led by Insight, with participation from Pitango Growth, TIME Ventures, DMG MORI, NEA, and Vertex Ventures. They’re making it easy create applications that track everything in production and logistics processes including machines, processes, products, and people. This funding brings their total raised to over $150M.
True Fit 👚
True Fit, a platform bringing data-driven personalization to fashion retailers, raised $11.7M according to a new filing. This is their first publicly disclosed funding since a $55M Series C back in 2018 led by Georgian, and brings their total raised to ~$120M+.
Machinery Partner 👷♀️
Techstars Boston alum Machinery Partner just announced a $4.5M Seed Round to simplify the heavy machinery procurement process. The round was led by One Way Ventures and Euclid Ventures, with participation from PJC and Techstars Ventures. They also announced the addition of Clement Cazalot to the team, the former Managing Director of Techstars Boston.
Tinyhood 👶
Tinyhood, a website offering parenting courses, raised $5M according to a new filing. The company is like Masterclass for raising infants, covering everything from breastfeeding and sleep tricks to CPR and discipline techniques. The courses are anywhere from $15 to $40 apiece, and all breastfeeding courses are currently free for parents during the COVID outbreak. They also offer a closed community to parents and one-on-one consultations. The founders have previously been through the female-focused accelerator MergeLane and have received ~$5M in capital from Pactolus Ventures and Trail Mix Ventures.
PaymentWorks 💸
Seven-year-old PaymentWorks, which offers a fraud detection platform for payments, raised $3.5M per a new filing. They have developed a platform for safely facilitating payments between corporate payers and payees. They automate the identification and verification of payment credentials for businesses to reduce costs, ensure compliance, and eliminate fraud.
BLDUP 🏘️
PropTech company BLDUP just announced a $2M pre-seed round. The company collects and publishes data on construction, design, and real estate projects for market intelligence or prospecting purposes. It helps consumers and real estate developers see what’s being built in their neighborhoods by collecting data from various sources.
SBM, a well-known manufacturer of mining machinery and equipment, has created a new website. The effect has already been seen. https://www.ownsbmmachine.com/