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SparkLabs Global Ventures Technology

and Internet Market Bi-Monthly Review


January 24th, 2016

Bi-monthly Highlights

Global Trends

Venture capitalist investments rise 44% to US$128B in 2015, but Q4 ends with a whimper
Venture capitalists invested US$128 billion worldwide in 2015, up 44 percent from US$89 billion 2014 and the
a biggest amount since the dotcom bubble year of 2000, according to the 2015 Venture Pulse Report by data
analysis firm CB Insights and accounting/consulting firm KPMG. What sets 2015 apart, however, lies in the
size and scope of the venture capital investments that were made, the report said. From healthcare to
FinTech, and retail to education, companies sparked changes that could affect every sector and every
business moving forward. Investors saw this potential and made significant investments. The report said that
71 VC-backed companies achieved unicorn status, or valuations in excess of US$1 billion, compared to 53 in
2014. There were a total of 7,872 deals struck in 2015, but only 1,742 deals in the fourth quarter. Big corporate
investors participated in 25 percent of all deals.

Investors threw US$686 million at virtual and augmented reality in 2015


The virtual and augmented reality future draws nearer, and investors want in. AR and VR attracted US$686
million in investment deals in 2015, according to Digi-Capital. This happened in a year when consumer VR
finally became available thanks to Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR for smartphones. Most of that
US$686 million is for video services, with gaming and solutions/services (stuff with practical uses for science
and industry) following. This makes sense, as video content is the cheapest to produce and most likely to
appeal to the largest audience. Head-mounted displays (HMD) for both AR and VR also show up in DigiCapitals breakdown below. Many of those devices, like the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift, will become
available this year. Digi-Capital expects a broader range of investments in 2016. Digi-Capital also noted that
AR/VR investments from 2011 to 2015 have already returned 128 percent of all money invested already, with
a lot of that coming from the US$2 billion Facebook/Oculus deal from 2014.

Esports viewership is up 100% in the U.S. over the past two years
The number of U.S. gamers who watch esports has grown 100 percent over two years, according to a national
study by market researcher Frank N. Magid Associates. The study showed that fans are into watching
competitive video games such as the online strategy games League of Legends and Dota 2, team shooter
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and card-battler Hearthstone. Esports has been a big phenomenon in Asia
for years, but only now is starting to really break out in the West, Magid said. ESPNs new esports effort this
week and Activision Blizzards New Years acquisition of event organizer Major League Gaming show just how
important esports is becoming to some of the biggest media companies in the world. About 70 percent of
Americans ages 8 to 64 say they play video games. Of that group 18 percent have watched esports
programming online or attended any events, the survey said. Last year, that number was 12 percent, and in
2013 it was only 9 percent. In other parts of the world, esports took off earlier and is much bigger. In 2013, 40
percent of the 600 million in China with smartphones said they had attended or viewed esports events.
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Asia Pacific
China

Chinese Gaming Firm Buys 60% Of Gay Dating App Grindr For US$93M
Grindr, the social network for gay men, has sold a majority 60 percent stake to Chinese gaming company
Beijing Kunlun Tech for US$93 million. The deal, which values six-year-old Grindr at US$155 million, is the
first time that the U.S. company has taken outside investment. The New York Times reported that Grindr has
two million daily users, who spend an average of 54 minutes inside the app. Those are impressive
engagement rates, and the company is reported to have generated US$32 million in revenue in 2014, up from
US$25 million one year previous. Grindr founder and CEO Joel Simkhai described the investment as a huge
vote of confidence in our vision to connect gay men to even more of the world around them, but stressed that
it would be business as usual despite the influx of capital.

Wearable IoT World raises US$4.5 million, launches accelerator in Hong Kong
San Francisco-based accelerator Wearable IoT World announced the launch of the U.S.-Pan Asia IoT
Superhighway, an IoT (Internet of Things) and emerging technologies accelerator in Hong Kong. The official
launch came after a US$4.5 million funding round led by China-based investor Radiant Venture Capital.
Superhighway, WIoTW said, will help early-stage Asian startups develop wearable and IoT technologies. This
marks a long-awaited milestone in our continued quest to build the easiest pathway to product creation, market
awareness, investment and distribution for related startups around the world, said WIoTWs CEO, Redg
Snodgrass. Wearable IoT World also announced a partnership with Hong Kongs Cyberport Management
Company. The Chinese communications company will house WIoTWs labs and offices. TEEC Angel Fund
and W Capital are also investors.

Chinese investment firm launches US$715 million fund for European startups to grow in China
A Chinese investment firm has launched a new 500 million (US$715 million) investment fund specifically for
European startups. London-based Cocoon Networks is a spin-off from China Equity Group, one of the first
investors in Baidu, Chinas Google-equivalent, and Hanxin Capital, a firm with a track record in biotech and
cloud computing investments. The ultimate aim of the new fund is to invest in startups whose products and
services show promise and potential for growth in the Chinese market, across medical, fintech, biotech,
fashion tech, and more. In addition to funding, Cocoon Networks is also launching an incubator space in the
U.K. capital. Many companies struggle to gain a foothold in the Chinese market due to regulatory and
legislative hurdles, with the likes of Google and Netflix currently facing resistance. Aid in circumventing such
obstacles will be part of what Cocoon Networks can offer startups it invests in.

App Annie gobbles up US$63M funding as apps eat the web


App Annie revealed that it has secured a fresh US$63 million in funding the analytics startups biggest
investment to date. The cash is not all VC funding. App Annie says its a mix of equity and debt financing, but
most of it is from the VCs. The Sino-US startup has now raised a grand total of US$157 million in disclosed
funding in the past five years. This series E round was led by new investor Greenspring Associates, with
participation from existing investors e.Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), and
Sequoia Capital. App Annie, which was started up in Beijing, has become the go-to service when app
developers want metrics and insights on how their app is performing on all the top app stores. It covers
Apples App Store for iOS and Mac, Google Play, the Amazon Appstore, and the Windows Store plus it
recently added support for monitoring Apple TV apps.

A Chinese tech firm just raised a world record funding round: US$3.3 billion
Chinese daily deals company Meituan-Dianping has confirmed that the company has raised a US$3.3 billion
round. That makes it the largest non-IPO funding round ever raised in the tech industry. The new round was
led by Tencent and Trust Bridge Partners, with additional participation from CDB Capital, Capital Today, Baillie
Gifford, Temasek Holdings, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, among others. MeituanDianpings valuation is now pegged at at US$18 billion. Meituan also raised one of the biggest investment
rounds of 2015, but that US$700 million series D from Sequoia Capital, Northern Light Venture Capital, and
Alibaba (among others) pales in comparison to this new round. Meituan merged with competitor Dianping last
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year, with guidance from their respective major investors Alibaba and Tencent. The two services continue to
be operated separately. Its not yet clear how the funds from the new round will be split between the two of
them, or precisely what those funds will be used for.

Online Lending Platform WeLab Gets US$160M Series B To Expand In China


WeLab, an online lending platform based in Beijing and Hong Kong, will launch more financial products in
China after landing an impressive US$160 million Series B. The round was led by Khazanah Nasional Berhad,
Malaysias strategic investment fund, with participation from ING Bank and Guangdong Technology Financial
Group, which is run by the Chinese government. The company operates two online lending platforms
Wolaidai, a lending platform for China, and WeLand.hk, its counterpart for customers in Hong Kongand has
now raised a total of US$182 million in venture funding. Founder and chief executive officer Simon Loong says
that WeLabs Series B will be used to improve its technology, which uses non-traditional sources of data to
assess a lenders risk profile, and strike partnerships with companies and banks.

Korea

Kakao to acquire stake in Loen entertainment in a US$1.6B deal


Kakao have announced the decision to acquire 76.4% shares in Loen Entertainment, a company that is known
to have pioneered the digital music service market in Korea through Melon for US$1.6B (KRW 1.9T). Melon is
the top music streaming service in Korea. Through this acquisition, Kakao plans to combine Loen's music
contents with their mobile platform and secure a new market by allowing content developers to be more
competitive. In securing the investments funds, Kakao have raised US$648M (KRW 750t) through Loen's major
shareholder, Star Investment Holding. The remaining capital will be raised independently by Kakao through
company cash and assets. If required Kakao will seek capital raising ousitde the Loen connection. Lim Ji Hoon
from Kakao commented, In the mobile generation, music content is the most beloved content which influences
lifestyles and is powerful enough to affect global cultures. The combination of Kakao mobile platform and Loen
contents create huge synergies that can open the path for global market.

Gaming MCN Kongdoo Company receives further investment of US$3.1M


Kongdoo Company, specializing in game Multi Channel Network (MCN) has succeeded in attaining a follow up
Series B investment of US3.1M (KRW 3.6M) from Stic Investment, K Cube Ventures and Partner Investments.
This investment comes within three months of the last investment in October of US1.7M (KRW 2B) investment
from K Cube Venture and Partner Investments in October. The combined total recent investments are
US$4.3M (KRW 5B). Established in March 2014, Kongdoo company is a gaming MCN, managing the content
services and the associated crews. The MCN is Koreas leading game specializing company. Through the
content development crews, the company develops and produced their gamins and e-sports contents. Their
contents are broadcast onto Afreeca TV, Daum TV. Youtube and Longzhu TV in China. With this latest
investment, Kongdoo plans on bolstering domestic growth as well as assist their establishment in China. The
company will also proceed with their plands for a Chinese game broadcast platform as well as establishment of
their own Game Academy.

NHN strengthening mobile advertising business with investment into Mocoplex


NHN Entertainments have revealed their investment into Mocoplex, a company specializing in mobile
advertising platforms. The motive for the investment was to strengthen NHN Entertainment's capabilities in
mobile advertising; a market which is experiencing tremendous growth. Once the investment of US$1.7M
(KRW 2B) is finalized, it is likely NHN will proceed towards full acquisition. This investment will combine NHN
Investment's technical capabilities with Mocoplex's various network capabilities to produce synergies for both
companies. MocoPlex's representative, Park Na Ra commented, "We are very pleased to be given this
opportunity to work with NHN entertainment in creating a fresh approach to online and mobile advertising".
"This investment will provide a boost in expanding the market share in Korea, and will allow new mobile
marketing and advertising products to be developed".

Japan

Japans fashion rental service AirCloset snags US$8M


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AirCloset announced that it has fundraised slightly less than 1 billion yen (about US$8 million) from several
companies. Participating investors in this round include Jafco, Nakazono Holdings (operator of the White
Kyubin laundry shop chain), Saison Ventures (investment arm of credit card company Credit Saison), and
Terrada Warehouse. With funding from such major companies, AirCloset will strengthen its structure by
securing its financial base and maximizing business synergies between the warehouse management and
laundry service businesses. Launched back in February of 2015, the company has been providing a
subscription-based fashion item rental service for females under the same name. Its users combined
surpasses 70,000 for now, which rapidly grew from 65,000 users in October of 2015.

Tokyo VR Startups sets up an incubator and funding for Japanese virtual reality
Tokyo VR Startups has launched a incubation fund program with leading virtual reality figures as mentors. The
Tokyo-based incubator will invite Japan-based startups to develop prototypes of VR products and services in a
six-month program from January through June. Participants will receive seed funding, work space, and backoffice services. The program will also provide mentors, staff assistance, and guidance from Japans Gumi
mobile game publisher. Hironao Kunimitsu, CEO of Gumi and Tokyo VR Startups, said in a statement, With
the rising demand for virtual reality technology across a wide variety of verticals and solutions, we believed it
was the right time for us to support the advancement of this market by bringing together the financial and
mentorship resources needed to accelerate open innovation in the Japanese technology industry. As such,
weve brought together some of the leading minds in the industry to help Japanese VR upstarts expand
globally, and were looking forward to the growth of this market in the coming years.

Sansan proves business cards arent dead with US$17M funding


Business cards arent dead, theyre just evolving. Thats the premise behind Sansan, a startup that digitizes
the woodpulpy rectangles we cant quite seem to get rid of, and creates contact databases in the cloud for
corporate users. Sansan has just received a strong validation for its business, announcing it has raised a
series C round worth S$24.2 million (US$16.8 million). The round was joined by existing investors of the
company, including Silicon Valley-based DCM Ventures, Japans Nissay Capital, and Salesforces corporate
investment group. Japan-based Sansan opened a Singapore office in late 2015 and will be ramping up growth
in this new market. The company will also continue developing its product, focusing on mobile to keep up with
current business strategies, and open up the platform to collaborate with other enterprise services.
Salesforces investment should provide a hint of this kind of collaboration. This way, Sansan hopes to expand
its services to larger businesses, beyond small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Less nerdy take on Slack snaps up US$12.8M series B funding


ChatWork, a workplace social network and messaging app, has raised JPY 1.5 billion (US$12.8 million) in
series B funding. Japanese venture capital firm JAFCO led the investment. The startup is based dually in the
US and Japan. If Slack is the go-to team chat app for startups and techies, ChatWork is gunning to be the
leader for more traditional small- and medium-sized businesses. It offers cloud-based team messaging, video
chat, file sharing, task management, and contact management all in one place. According to Hayato Ishida,
ChatWorks global product manager, the funding will be used to reach even more teams outside of Japan. The
startup is targeting growth in the US, Europe, and Latin America. ChatWork raised US$2.5 million in series A
financing led by Japans GMO Venture Partners last spring. GMO along with fellow domestic investors
Shinsei Corporate Investment and SMBC Venture Capital also joined the latest round.

India

SoftBank keeps Housing alive with US$14.7M transfusion


Indias real estate startup Housing announced a fresh round of INR 1 billion (US$14.7 million) in funding from
existing investor SoftBank. Thats a timely transfusion for the startup, which reportedly has been burning
through cash. It posted a loss of US$42 million for fiscal year 2014 to 2015, while its chief rival CommonFloor
cited a loss of US$12 million. Lately, there has been talk about the company and its backers attempting a
stake sale. Its founder-CEO Rahul Yadav had a protracted public battle with the investors, before being
sacked. Hundreds of employees were laid off too. But SoftBank, with billions at its disposal, is apparently not
ready to throw in the towel. It brought in Jason Kothari, who was co-founder and CEO of Valiant Entertainment
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in New York, to head Housing. Now the fresh infusion of funds extends the runway for Jason to execute his
plans.

More Money For Indias On-Demand Economy: Swiggy Raises US$35M For Food Delivery
Swiggy, a restaurant delivery startup that claims to be the largest in India after passing Rocket Internet-backed
Foodpanda last month, has raised US$35 million in a Series C round. The funding, which brings the total
raised up to just over US$53 million, included investment from SAIF Partners, Norwest Venture Partners,
Accel Partners, Harmony Partners, RB investments and an undisclosed global investment entity. Swiggy is
planning to use the new cash injection to expand its business in its home market, where the food delivery
business is estimated to be worth US$15 billion, it says. Swiggy is live now in eight cities Bangalore,
Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai but is still relatively small in size, with
some 5,000 restaurants on its platform and approaching 1 million orders each month. The plan is to invest in
hiring more engineering talent, expanding its platform and trying to crack delivery times, which today average
at around 36 minutes.

CarTrade Gets US$145M To Ride Indias Flourishing Used Vehicle Market


CarTrade, a classified site for car dealers in India, has scored an impressive US$145 million in new funding to
fuel new acquisitions and expand its products. The round was led by Singapore-based investment firm
Temasek and March Capital, with participation from returning investor Warburg Pincus. Founded in 2009,
CarTrade claims it is now Indias largest car classifieds platform following its acquisition of rival CarWale,
which was announced in November 2015. The sites, which still operate separately, are used by 10,000 new
and used car dealers and see a total of 32 million visits every month. Used cars are a major vertical for
CarTrade. There are currently over 225,000 listings for secondhand vehicles on its sites. Used cars may not
sound sexy, but sales have already outpaced new vehicles in India and are expected to continue growing as
the economy improves and more people purchase their first cars.

Storm Ventures Launches US$10M Fund For Indian SaaS Startups


Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced a set of initiatives, called Startup India, designed to help the
countrys fledgling tech companies and their investors. One of the first Silicon Valley venture capital firms to
take advantage of Startup India is Storm Ventures, which just launched a new fund for SaaS startups in India.
The firm has allocated at least US$10 million to the Storm India SaaS Fund and plans to increase that amount
depending on how quickly capital is deployed, says venture partner Anshu Sharma. The money will come from
the US$180 million fund Storm raised last year. The Storm India SaaS Fund will look for companies with an
annual run rate between US$1 million to US$10 million and participate mainly in seed and Series A rounds.
hree of Storms five partnersSharma, Sanjay Subhedar, and Arun Penmetsagrew up in India. Sharma
says they want to find the next Salesforce or Zendesk in their home country.

Indian E-commerce Platform Shopclues Claims US$1.1B Valuation After New Funding, Plans IPO
Indian e-commerce company Shopclues has raised a Series E that the company claims boosts its valuation to
US$1.1 billion. The round was led by GIC, the Singaporean governments sovereign wealth fund, with
participation from returning investors Tiger Global and Nexus Venture Partners. Shopclues says that this is the
last round of venture capital it will raise before holding an initial public offering next year. Though the exact
amount of the Series E was undisclosed, a source close to the company says it is in the range of the US$150
million to US$200 million that Shopclues was reportedly seeking this fall. Its new unicorn valuation puts
Shopclues in the same league as competing Indian e-commerce companies Flipkart (another GIC and Tiger
Global portfolio company) and Snapdeal.


Indonesia

Gold farming marketplace Itemku snaps up seed funding from 500 Startups
FiveJack, the maker of Indonesia-based online game item and currency marketplace Itemku, announced a
seed funding round of US$225,000 from US-based venture capital firm 500 Startups. 500 Startups made the
investment through its Korea-based fund 500 Kimchi and Southeast Asia fund 500 Durians. The site allows
gamers in Indonesia to compare prices and trade in-game currency via an otherwise traditional marketplace
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web portal. Those familiar with the practice often refer to it as gold farming, where players hand over cold,
hard, real-life cash for in-game currency. According to a statement issued by FiveJack, the investment is
intended specifically for the development of Itemku. Itemku launched in July of 2014 as a price comparison
and classifieds platform, but repositioned itself the following June as a purveyor of game items and currency.

Hospital tech firm Medico catches a case of seed funding from East Ventures
Indonesia-based hospital management software (HMS) startup Medico announced that it closed a seed
funding round from venture capital firm East Ventures. The deal size was undisclosed. Medico is still in
development phase, with plans to officially launch in the second quarter of this year. The startup is co-founded
by Grace Tahir and Jonathan Sutantyo, two individuals with a combined 30 years of experience in the
healthcare industry. Grace is a relative in the family-owned conglomerate Mayapada Group, where she is the
director of Mayapada Hospital. This is not her first foray into tech entrepreneurship, however, as she also cofounded PilihDokter (now Dokter.id) in 2014, a platform that connects people with doctors and offers health
and medical advice.

Philippine

Airbnb for office spaces FlySpaces takes off in Singapore with US$500k seed funding
FlySpaces, which bills itself as an Airbnb for office and retail spaces, received a capital injection of
US$500,000 from a group of investors, including Future Now Ventures, COENT Venture Partner, and Narra
Ventures. Aside from the three investors, prominent European entrepreneurs Michael Brehm and Thomas
Baum, who have been early backers of ecommerce sites like Ensogo, Dealguru, and Foodrunner, contributed
some of the seed cash. Plus, one of Germanys leading real estate broker and service companies, Rubina
Real Estate, also took part. The company launched in the Philippine market last October, then went live in
Singapore in December after having acquired a good number of merchants in the Lion City. FlySpaces offers
offices, meeting rooms, and commercial spaces that businesses and entrepreneurs can lease for short
periods or whenever they need them.

Singapore

Serviced apartments site MetroResidences raises funds from investors led by 500 Startups
MetroResidences, a Singapore-based startup that just raised funding, rents out fully furnished apartments to
corporates without the steep markups that landlords usually charge business-class travelers.
MetroResidences just raised a S$1 million (US$695,000) seed funding round, led by Silicon Valley-based
venture capital firm 500 Startups. Participating investors include Phey Teck Moh, ex-CEO of Pacific Internet;
Lim Dershing, ex-founder of JobsCentral; Linus Lim, co-CIO at Phillip Capital Management; and Ashok
Melwani, CEO of A B Melwani. With the funding, MetroResidences wants to grow its reach, with the aim of
capturing 10 percent of the serviced apartment market in Singapore. It also plans to expand to another Asian
city this year, but it didnt specify exactly where. The company was founded by James Chua and Lester Kang,
who also created the Airbnb clone PandaBed.

Food delivery startup Grain gets funding from NSI, 500 Startups, DMP, Thai Express founder
Grain, a food delivery startup in Singapore that promises healthy food in a heartbeat, has raised an
undisclosed amount of funding in a series A round led by NSI Ventures. 500 Startups, Digital Media Partners,
and Thai Express founder Ivan Lee also participated. A source familiar with the deal tells us its worth S$2.45
million (US$1.70 million). This means we will be able to build up better infrastructure to help everyone eat
better and conveniently, it said about how it intends to use the funding. The company is looking out for a
marketer, web and mobile developers, and an office manager. The slate of investors includes strong expertise
in the F&B industry. NSI Ventures founding partner Hian Goh sold off the Asian Food Channel before starting
NSI.

United States

Healthline Media receives US$95 million in equity funding


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San Francisco-based Healthline Media received US$95 million in funding from Summit Partners to compete
with other consumer health information sites like WebMD. The funding will be used to invest in content
development and social-media programs as well as launch new media types, platforms and adjacent
categories. Currently, Healthline manages 21 online chronic disease communities that amass more than
421,000 patient influencers. It has the largest number of patient influencers in the US, said Healthline's former
general manager and newly appointed CEO David Kopp. The company also announced that Healthline Media
will operate as an independent company, separate from the Healthline Networks umbrella.

Evergage raises US$10 million Series B, targets real-time web personalization


Evergage, a website personalization vendor, is announcing that it has raised US$10 million in Series B
funding. The company, which works with both B2B and B2C companies like Intuit, Lending Tree, TiVo, Rue
La La, and Travelzoo says year-over-year revenue and average contract value have more than doubled. It
has also expanded its product set with new testing functionality, machine learning capabilities, and accountbased marketing features, and extended its personalization capabilities to mobile apps. Evergage plans to use
the funds to support its growth, and hopes to increase its headcount over 70 percent by the end of 2016. The
new round was led by Arrowroot Capital, and joined by existing investors G20 Ventures and Point Judith
Capital.

App monitoring company Datadog takes on US$94.5 million


Datadog, a company with a cloud service for monitoring the performance of applications and their underlying
infrastructure, is announcing a US$94.5 million round of funding a hefty pile of money considering that the
company revealed a US$31 million round less than a year ago. Datadog offers developers and operations
staffers a way to keep track of how everything in their tech stack is doing. It can provide dashboards, send
alerts, and store information on who fixes bugs and how. Plugins for cloud infrastructure, databases, operating
systems, and other software elements are available. Iconiq Capital led the new round in Datadog with
participation from Amplify Partners, Contour Ventures, Index Ventures, and OpenView Venture Partners. To
date, the company has taken on nearly US$148 million in funding.

Envelop VR adds Google Ventures to US$5.5 million round for enterprise virtual reality
Envelop VR, which is creating virtual reality software for enterprises, has closed its Series A round of US$5.5
million. The newest investor in this round is Google Ventures, which recently branded as GV. Envelop VR
previously announced the initial investors in the round, which was led by Madrona Venture Group. Envelop VR
is creating productivity software that allows enterprises and consumers alike to create, work, and play in a
virtual reality environment. The company previously raised US$2 million, bringing its total raised to US$7.5
million. The Seattle-based company is continuing to work on its software, the Envelop Virtual Environment
(EVE) and plans to make that software publicly available when virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift
(targeted for March 28) and HTC Vive come to mass market later this year.

Zerto Announces US$50 Million Growth Financing led by IVP


Zerto, setting the standard for protection, recovery and migration of data in cloud and virtualized data centers,
announced it has secured a US$50 million Series E financing led by IVP. The additional capital will support
continued product development to increase the flexibility of software defined, hybrid cloud infrastructures for
easier adoption and use by business leaders in a wide range of industries. As a later stage venture capital
investor, IVPs noteworthy successes include high profile technology companies AppDynamics, Domo,
Marketo, Netflix, Pure Storage, Snapchat, and Twitter.

Mitu raises US$27M from AwesomnessTV, Verizon for its Latino digital media company
Mitu announced that it has raised a US$27 million Series C round of funding, bringing in new investors
AwesomenessTV, WPP Digital, and Verizon. The latest investment gives the company capital to further
develop its products and technology, while also expanding its content publishing platform and audience data
tools. It also plans on launching its influencer marketing platform soon. Specializing in producing digital
content for Latino youth, Mitu has emerged as a popular destination for this demographic. It currently has 2
billion monthly views worldwide and a community of more than 6,000 Latino creators.

Legal tech startup Everlaw raises US$8.1 million, led by Andreessen Horowitz
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Everlaw, a startup with a cloud service that law firms can use to store documents and make them easily
searchable and accessible, is announcing an US$8.1 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Lots
of e-discovery tools are available for law firms to choose from, but Everlaw stands out partly because its
cloud-based, and partly because it calls on artificial intelligence to help people do their work. Plus, Everlaw
comes with data visualization tools, activity tracking, messaging, and a Story Builder to assist in the creation of
narratives. Now, Everlaw founder and CEO AJ Shankar wants to further improve several aspects of the tool,
including its AI. Everlaw (formerly known as EasyESI) got its start in 2011 in Shankars bedroom and now has
a team of 22, with headquarters in Berkeley, California. K9 Ventures is another backer, in addition to
Andreessen Horowitz and others.

Data analytics startup Looker raises US$48 million, led by Kleiner Perkins
Looker, a startup selling data analytics software, is announcing a US$48 million funding round led by Kleiner
Perkins Caufield & Byers. Looker can visualize data from many sources, including Amazon Web Services
(AWS) Redshift, Cloudera Impala, HP Vertica, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Snowflake. Its available as onpremises software or as a cloud service. Looker started in 2012 and is based in Santa Cruz, California. The
startup says it has more than 450 customers, including Cigna, Docker, Etsy, Jet, Lyft, Sony, and Yahoo. The
startup has raised US$96 million since launching in 2013, including the US$30 million round from last year.
Alongside Kleiner, Meritech Capital Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and Sapphire Ventures also participated in
Lookers new funding round. Kleiner has previously backed data analytics startup Ayasdi.

President Obama proposes spending US$4B over 10 years for self-driving cars
The Obama Administration has announced that the United States Department of Transportation will be making
it easier for companies to innovate around driverless vehicles. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said
that the president proposed spending nearly US$4 billion over the next decade to make autonomous cars
safer. We are on the cusp of a new era in automotive technology with enormous potential to save lives,
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and transform mobility for the American people, said Foxx in a statement.
As part of the administrations plans are milestones that state within six months, the National Highway and
Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) will collaborate with those in the industry on standards to safely
deploy and operate autonomous vehicles.

With US$90 Million In New Funding And Unicorn Status, Anaplan Looks Ahead to IPO
Anaplan announced a US$90 million round at a valuation of US$1.09 billion after funding, putting the company
squarely in unicorn territory, those companies with valuations of a billion or more. Whats more, CEO Fred
Laluyaux said this will be the last private round prior to an IPO some time in the not-too-distant future. To that
end, he announced that the company has hired James Budge, former Genesys and Rovi CFO and COO, as
its Chief Financial Officer. The round was led by Indian firm Premji Invest with help from Baillie Gifford (a
Scottish firm), Founders Circle Capital, and Harmony Partners, as well as Anaplans current investors
Brookside Capital, Coatue Management, DFJ Growth, Granite Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners,
Salesforce, Sands Capital Management and Shasta Ventures. Anaplan, which sells financial planning as a
service to large organizations, tends to compete with more traditional vendors like Oracle, IBM and SAP. Over
the next year, as they prepare to go public the company will continue to expand internationally and plans to
add more engineering and go-to market personnel as well as build up the cloud infrastructure that supports the
product.

Foursquare replaces CEO Dennis Crowley, raises US$45 million


The rumors were almost true: Foursquare announced its raised an oversubscribed US$45 million round from
existing investors Union Square Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and others, plus new investor Morgan
Stanley. News of this surfaced last month, and with it, Foursquare reportedly cut its valuation by more than
half from US$650 million to US$250 million. What we didnt know and this is the real meat of this
announcement is that Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley is out as CEO; hes now executive chairman.
Replacing Crowley is the companys chief operating officer Jeff Glueck, former Skyfire CEO and Travelocity
CMO, who joined Foursquare in 2014. Dennis Crowley said, This is like the best possible sign that we could
give people. Weve got this business thats performing very well, and were taking the two strongest business
executives at the company and were putting them in charge.
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Jawbone confirms US$165M funding round and president Samats departure to Google
Jawbone has raised a new round of funding, bringing in US$165 million from The Kuwait Investment Authority
to fund its operations. The company also revealed that president Sameer Samat will be leaving to take another
job at Google. However, hell remain associated with Jawbone both as an advisor and investor. Itll use the
new investment to fund operations and growth and bring new products to market. Additionally, in an effort to
retain its talent, Jawbone has also created a 30 percent equity pool for its current employees. Although the
company declined to provide information about its valuation for this round, its size is almost half of the one it
raised in April 2015. Previous rounds had pegged Jawbones valuation at around US$3.3 billion. Previous
investors in Jawbone include Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, Deutsche Telekom, JP Morgan, Khosla
Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake Waterman, SV Angel, and Wells
Fargo. To date, it has raised more than a billion in funding.

Norwest Venture Partners raises US$1.2 billion for its 13th fund
Norwest Venture Partners announced that it has raised US$1.2 billion for its 13th fund, which itll use to
support its sector and stage independent investment strategy. With this fund, the firm now has a total capital
and commitment size of more than US$6 billion. Started more than 55 years ago, Norwest Ventures Partners
functions differently from most investment firms in that it doesnt break its fund into specific groups. Instead, its
focus is on the entrepreneur and supporting them throughout the startups growth. In the past, Norwest has
made investments in the health care, consumer Web, infrastructure, and enterprise spaces, and it doesnt
show any signs of slowing down. This is the third consecutive US$1.2 billion fund that Norwest has raised. The
firm has made investments in companies like Blue Jeans Network, Casper Sleep, Honybook, IFTTT, Jet,
Lumosity, Modcloth, Spotify, Uber, and Udemy. Norwest said that in the past 18 months, its portfolio has seen
seven public offerings in the United States, India, and Israel, and 15 acquisitions.

FreedomPop raises US$50 million to take its free mobile SIM plans global
FreedomPop, a wireless Internet provider whose SIM cards include free basic mobile service plans, has raised
a fresh US$50 million in capital, taking its total funding to almost US$110 million. Founded out of Los Angeles
in 2011, FreedomPop has built its mobile offering around giving away free mobile data, text messages, and
talk time, in the hope that those who require more than the bundled allowance will pay to upgrade. This cash
influx represents FreedomPops biggest funding to date, almost doubling the US$30 million it raised from
Partech Ventures last June. But more importantly, the funding will be used to expand its footprint into new
markets. While the service is still limited to members in the U.S. and U.K. for now, FreedomPop is introducing
a new global hotspot and SIM, meaning its users can roam free in 25 countries, including France,
Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Portugal, Finland,
Norway, Greece, Denmark, and the U.S. and U.K.

Kumu Networks snags US$25 million led by Cisco, Verizon Ventures


Cisco and Verizon Ventures led a US$25 million investment for Kumu Networks, the wireless design startup
announced. Deutsche Telekom and Swisscom also participated in the series C round. Kumu Networks said it
developed a telecommunications technology called Full Duplex, which doubles the capacity of existing
wireless spectrum and enhances existing LTE by canceling self-interference. Kumu Networks had partnered
with Deutsche Telekom to test the startups technology. Full Duplex offers significant advantages and
removes roadblocks from wireless endeavors as diverse as LTE Advanced, general Radio Frequency
planning and future standards and protocols, said Rachid El Hattachi, Deutsche Telekoms senior VP of
architecture and blueprints, in a statement. To date, Kumu Networks has raised at least US$45 million.

Hospitality Platform ALICE Raises US$9.5M Series A Led By Expedia


ALICE, which allows hotels to manage and complete guest requests across various service departments with
ease thanks to its intuitive host of mobile suite products, announced that it had closed a US$9.5 million Series
A funding round. The round was led by Expedia with participation from Laconia, 645 Ventures, and
Neuehouse founders as well. The company has raised US$13 million to date. These funds will enable the
team at ALICE, which is actually an acronym that stands for A Life-Improving Customer Experience, to

SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in


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January 24th, 2016
continue to build out the technology and significantly expand the team hiring sales, engineering, product, and
account management roles, according to a release from the company.

Cumulus Networks raises a US$35 million down round


Cumulus Networks, a startup selling a version of Linux for data center networking hardware, has closed a
US$35 million round of funding. The valuation of Cumulus has fallen below what it was two years ago for an
earlier round, cofounder and CEO J.R. Rivers said. Participants in the round include Andreessen Horowitz,
Battery Ventures, Sequoia Capital, SV Angel, Wing Venture Capital, and one new investor, Top Tier Capital,
Rivers wrote in an email. Rivers wouldnt provide specific valuation figures. Cumulus is seen as a challenger to
Cisco, the ruler of the data center switching market. Rivers happens to be a former Cisco executive. Cumulus
Networks started in 2010 and is based in Mountain View, California. It announced a partnership with Dell in
January 2014.

Europe

Mambu, The SaaS Banking Platform, Picks Up US$8.5M Funding


Mambu, the SaaS banking platform, has raised a further 8 million(~ US$8.5M) in funding. The round was led
by Acton Capital Partners and CommerzVentures, with participation from existing investors. The additional
capital will be used to expand its commercial team, invest in the platform and to open new offices in Asia and
the Americas. Founded in 2011, Mambu started out servicing micro-lenders, primarily in emerging markets but
has since expanded with most of its growth coming from Europe and Asia Pacific with companies that provide
anything from consumer lending and SME lending to the backbone of P2P organizations and new consumer
banking offerings.

Scottish tech titan Skyscanner raises US$192 million to grow its travel search engine globally
Skyscanner, one of the oldest and largest flight search engines on the Web, has raised its first major round of
funding, to the tune of 128 million (US$192 million). Before this announcement, Skyscanners biggest
investor was Scottish Equity Partners, which had previously plowed US$4 million into the company. Sequoia
had also invested an undisclosed amount in a secondary round back in 2013, purportedly valuing Skyscanner
at US$800 million. There are five new participants in this latest round: Artemis, Baillie Gifford, Khazanah,
Vitruvian Partners, and, somewhat interestingly, Yahoo! Japan, which is already a strategic partner for
Skyscanner in Japan. The latest investment values Skyscanner at US$1.6 billion, conferring on it the muchcoveted unicorn status (a private company with a US$1 billion+ valuation) and making it one of Britains
biggest tech companies. Skyscanner CEO Gareth Williams says the company plans to use its latest cash
influx to accelerate growth in the US$500 billion online travel market, and to build more new products and
tools for its customers.

Vivino raises US$25M round, led by Moet Hennesseys CEO, for its wine discovery app
Finding a good wine to pair with your food can be difficult, but thats what Vivino is banking on. It specializes in
technology to turn you into a wine connoisseur, and its success has attracted the attention of investors outside
of the United States. The company disclosed that it has raised a US$25 million Series B round, led by SCP
Neptune International, the investment arm of Moet Hennessys global CEO Christophe Navarre. Originally
based in Copenhagen, Denmark, Vivino established a U.S. presence in 2014. Its app utilizes image
recognition technology to identify the wines youre drinking by scanning the bottles. With this new investment,
Vivino stated that it will expand its marketing efforts in the worlds top wine consumption regions, including the
U.S., Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, and Germany. It currently counts 13 million users across 228 countries. A
company spokesperson said that Vivino has aspirations to reach 25 million users by the end of 2016 and
expand by 50 million per year after that.

Deezer raises US$110M to keep pace in music streaming wars with Apple and Spotify
Three months after Deezers scrapped IPO raised questions about its future, the Paris-based music streaming
company announced it had raised US$110 million in a critical vote of confidence from its partners. We can
see that we are still at the beginning of a very fast-growing market, said Deezer CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht.
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We want to capture that growth and momentum. Without the money from a public offering, Deezer turned
back to its investors to raise money to fuel marketing and product development. The latest round was led by
Orange, the French telecom company and a Deezer partner. Deezer has a direct consumer product, but a big
part of its strategy is to offer its service via partners like Orange or Sonos or BMW. Deezer doesnt go head-tohead with Apple or Spotify in the U.S. The company is still looking for opportunities in the U.S. to hook up with
mobile telecom partners who would offer music streaming data plans that include Deezers service.

Glu announces US$7.5M investment in QuizUp developer ahead of TV show, may lead to a full
acquisition
Mobile-game publisher Glu Mobile (Glu) has announced its investing up to US$7.5 million in Plain Vanilla,
the Icelandic game studio behind popular multiplayer trivia game QuizUp. As part of the deal, Glus CEO and
chairman, Niccolo de Masi, will join Plain Vanillas board of directors. And Glu has also confirmed that it has
the option to acquire the company outright at an undisclosed pre-agreed price if the partnership goes well.
Based out of San Francisco, Glu has a number of well-known brands in its free-to-play mobile-gaming arsenal,
including Kim Kardashian, James Bond, The Terminator, RoboCop, and Dragon Slayer. The company went
public on the NASDAQ in 2007. Headquartered in Icelands capital of Reykjavik, Plain Vanilla launched in
2012. This news takes the companys total amount raised past the US$40 million mark.

Israel

Neura raises US$11 million to create digital identities from consumers connected lives
Neura, an Israeli Internet of Things startup that pulls together data from users connected devices, has raised
US$11 million to expand its business reach and make the service ubiquitous. The Series A round was led by
AXA Strategic Ventures and Pitango Venture Capital, with participation from Liberty Israel Venture Fund and
Lenovo Group. Founded in 2013, Neura launched in the U.S. out of UpWest Labs, a Silicon Valley-based
accelerator specifically for Israeli startups. The following year, Neura announced a US$2 million funding round.
Neuras core raison dtre is to serve up back-end analysis to the Internet of Things industry, and its
technology can gather data on individuals from a range of connected devices, including phones, tablets, apps,
and more. Neuras artificial intelligence recognizes and analyzes human behavior and develops what it calls a
digital identity for each person, insight that can be used to personalize applications, services, and devices.

TravelersBox raises US$10M series A to help tourists with their leftover foreign change
Israel-based TravelersBox, which provides a solution to the pesky foreign currency left in your pocket after a
holiday or business trip, announced that it has closed a US$10 million series A round led by Arbor Ventures.
Existing investors including Pitango Venture Capital, IPE Ventures, Pereg Vent ures, iAngels, and Global Blue
also participated. The startup did not disclose post-money valuation figures. Through the startups kiosks,
travelers can deposit their leftover foreign currency and redeem it for a multitude of things, such as Skype
credit, Paypal, Nike gift cards, or charitable donations. In Israel, its also possible to process direct bank
transfers. Theres no minimum amount necessary. TravelersBox kiosks are currently present in Italy, Canada,
Turkey, Georgia, Israel, and the Philippines. Theres a range of currencies supported, including US dollar,
Euro, British pound, Phillipines peso, Russian ruble, Turkish lira, and Georgian lari.

SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in


Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul.
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