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| Collab Capital raised $50M to invest in startups with Black founders. Apple, Goldman Sachs, Google, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mailchimp, and PayPal invested in the fund. (Click To Tweet) |
| Noom, a digital health and wellness platform, raised $540M in a Series F funding round. Two new board members will join the startup: Silver Lake managing director Adam Karol and former TaskRabbit CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot.More:The new funding was financed by Silver Lake, Oak HC/FT, Temasek, Novo Holdings, Sequoia Capital, RRE, and Samsung Ventures.The company’s product is a data-driven, psychology-based, consumer-first platform and weight management program. It combines technology, human coaches, and behavioral science. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recognized the application as a certified diabetes prevention program.Founded in 2007, the company has raised $657.3M to date. Its application has seen 45 million downloads in 100 countries, including the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.Noom’s revenue:$400M in 2020,$237M in 2019,$61M in 2018,$12M in 2017.Noom will use the new funding to expand its product in order to address a broader range of conditions, including stress and anxiety, diabetes, hypertension, and sleep problems. Noom also plans to scale up operations in other regions and for new business verticals such as employee benefits programs.Some funds will be used for stock repurchases following its capital allocation plan.According to Bloomberg, the startup is considering an IPO by the end of this year at a $10B valuation.Zoom out:Launched as Noom Weight Loss Coach, the company’s Android app has seen 5 million downloads between 2007 and 2012.According to a report by the American Psychological Association, 61% of adults in the U.S. gained weight during the pandemic.According to Bloomberg, U.S. digital health startups have raised $6.7B in funding during Q1 2021, compared to a total of $1.1B poured into digital health in 2011. Seventeen companies raised rounds of +$100M in Q1 — equal to the number of companies that crossed that funding threshold in 2019 and 2018 combined.Dozens of startups raised more than one round last year.Some of the notable recent corporate actions in the healthcare venture capital space:JPMorgan Chase’s new business unit Morgan Health will invest up to $250M in companies looking to improve employer-sponsored healthcare.Cigna’s Evernorth acquired virtual care provider MDLive.Walmart Health announced its acquisition of MeMD, a multi-specialty telehealth provider. CVS Health launched a $100M VC fund to invest in early-stage companies, bringing innovation and disruption in digital healthcare. |
| Perch, a consumer products company that focuses on “fulfillment by Amazon” (FBA) business acquisitions, raised $775M. Since its foundation in 2019, the company has raised $909M. SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Victory Park Capital, and Spark Capital participated in the round.More:Perch’s business model involves acquiring and operating Amazon FBA businesses with a leadership track record in their respective categories.Its software platform is used for sales analytics, pricing, advertising and marketing strategy, and inventory. It helps identify targets and grow them once acquired.Perch will use the new funding to acquire new businesses, add staff, and develop its technology platform.According to Chris Bell, founder and CEO of Perch, the company is profitable since its inception.It now owns 70 brands, including Satina, Cali White, and Flathead. Bell said his company is present in offline retail supplier brands and expanding in online marketplaces like Walmart’s and Target’s e-commerce platforms.Zoom out:It is the largest Series A round ever raised by a consumer packaged goods company. Investors might have been willing to pour such funds into Amazon FBA businesses acquisitions as they are in the post-product market fit stage. Such an approach implies much lower risks than investing in traditional startups. Although, according to Spark Capital General Partner Alex Finkelstein, the company’s software platform is a primary reason for the strong investor interest.Third-party sellers on Amazon account for 55% of the platform’s total transaction amount. More than 50 companies that aim to buy those retailers have raised $4B combined in the last 12 months, according to Marketplace Pulse.Perch’s direct competitor, Thrasio, recorded $100M in profits on $500M in revenue in 2020, reports Forbes. The company, founded in 2018, has raised $1.75B to date.Other companies that acquire and grow FBAs, and their recently announced funding rounds:Branded Group, $150M.Elevate Brands, more than $55M.unybrands, $25M.Technology Commerce Management, $28M.Win Brands Group, $50M. |
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| Virtual reality startup Virtuix raised $19M from investors to launch its VR treadmill for homes later this year. More than 6,500 investors took part in the round for the Omni One, the consumer version of its original commercial VR treadmill, the Omni Pro.More:Virtuix started crowdfunding for the business- and arcade-focused Omni in 2013, raising more than $1M at the time.Its latest Series A-2 financing round allowed investors to purchase shares in the company in exchange for a discount on the treadmill. The minimum investment was $1,000.The Omni One ($1,995) is a full-body controller that allows users to run, jump, crouch, and kneel in place. The smaller consumer version comes with a standalone VR headset.The treadmill, for home use, has a foldable body and a lighter frame than its predecessor. Users wear special low-friction shoes and move their feet on the low-friction parabolic surface to simulate exercises while remaining in place.View a demo of the prototype here.This story first appeared in Inside XR. |
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| QUICK HITSOn-site teams are a thing of the past. Learn how the shift toward remote work may be the key to your business growth.*Clara, a startup that provides end-to-end spend management for companies in Latin America, raised $30M and secured $50M in revolving debt. This round was obtained at a $130M valuation, according to TechCrunch. The new financing will allow Clara to apply a more aggressive go-to-market strategy.Collab Capital raised $50M to invest in startups with Black founders. Apple, Goldman Sachs, Google, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mailchimp, and PayPal participated in the round. Investments of $500,000 to $750,000 will go to 50 companies in the next few years.Uptycs, a cloud-native security analytics platform developer, raised a $50M Series C round. The funding raised from Norwest Venture Partners, Sapphire Ventures, and ServiceNow Ventures will be used for sales and marketing acceleration.Brazilian fintech startup Ebanx is exploring potential acquisitions in Latin America as it could go public via an IPO in the U.S.Here are 10 tips for creating a consent management platform (CMP) that meets compliance requirements, helps maximize opt-ins, and builds trust with customers.** This is sponsored content. |
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  Ravil Rakhmatullin is a Business Researcher at Inside and has worked on developing complex data-intensive products that transformed the core way the businesses are run. Passionate about moving the needle when it comes to the adoption of deep AI that informs business strategy and transforms enterprises, instead of running specific functions in secondary tasks. Morbidly interested in following the continuous evolution and growing economic and social importance of platforms/marketplaces and FinTech. A big believer in using self-learning algorithms for the good of humanity, fostering transparency in decision making, holding people and institutions accountable, and fighting institutionalized inequality and injustice. EDITOREduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. |
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