Sourcery (10/16-10/20)

3 years of Sourcery! ☀️ Nirvana, Procurify, Nova Credit, Prove Identity, Lanes & Planes, SynFutures, Matic, Statement, Bond Vet, Waymark, Allara, SecureW2, Hayden AI, Darwinium, Reality Defender

We hit a new milestone and totally forgot. 

Sourcery has been publicly publishing since Oct 13, 2020, we’re 3 years old! 

This silly little newsletter started internally over 4 years ago for my team when I was an investor at TMV, an early-stage VC fund in NYC (hi Soraya, Marina, & Emma!). I then began publicly sharing it in my role as an investor at NYL Ventures (hi Joel, Tim, & John!). Initially, I sent it to a couple of close friends.. which led to their friends.. then other investors, leaders in tech, sales, real estate, broader finance, etc.. And once we picked up more followers, new & different opportunities started coming our way. 

However, one of them was particularly special to me. Of my readers, a Partner at Upfront Ventures, reached out to me via a very thoughtful email, with an opportunity to move to LA & work with their investment team. Having lived in NYC for 7 years with a California dream, this was a no brainer. Needless to say, I said yes, and it was a great decision (hi team!). #LongLA

Sourcery now has over 5.4K readers including top GPs, LPs, Analysts, Hedge Fund Managers, Family Offices, Bankers, Founders, Sales Leaders, Students, Entrepreneurs & the tech curious.. as well as my mom, dad, & maybe my siblings? 👀

Note: Spikes tend to come from specific topics, news, events, conferences, tech weeks

Every Tuesday morning, I post between 6-9am EDT (3-6am PDT), I’ve hit 187 total posts, over 500K views (however, my Elon tweet hit 1M views & makes this now look small), and shared over ~12K handpicked deal announcements (yes, this is entirely manual, no bots, just 5-7hrs per week). Our readers are global, but in the US they’re almost evenly split between NY & CA, with a good mix among 45 other states (except we’re missing 3.. please share with your friends in Montana, Mississippi, & South Dakota).

Most of our organic traffic comes from LinkedIn, Google, Twitter (this is picking up), and surprisingly Instagram?

It has been an amazing forcing function to stay on top of what’s going on in the tech world, share our learnings, pick up signals on the types of deals & trends to come, and more importantly, it allows us to continue to build & maintain meaningful relationships.

Thank you!

A big thank you to everyone who reads, shares, comments, likes, replies via email, wins Sourcery hats, & inspires us with stories. It makes this extra worthwhile & fun. 😊

Shout out to the original Sourcerers +all of the new Sourcery readers!

Kate, Mark, Kobie, David, Dan, Cory, Arra, Megan, Soraya, Marina, John, Rick, Marissa, Aleks, Robert, Brian, Kesar, Julia, Lucas, Latif, Morgan, Darius, Jeffrey, Alex, Drew, Lacey, Jacques, Ruben, Malory, Patrick, Evan, Ashley, Nick, John, Peter, Bobby, Kristin, Kerry, Greg, Fred, Cody.. teams at Snowflake, MongoDB.. students at NYU, Stanford, Fordham, Columbia.. you’re the best!

If there is anything you’d like to see more/less of (topics, content, deals, musings) - let us know - reply directly via email!

Musings

Macro

• The State of Venture Capital with Samir Kaji, Animal Spirits

  • Covering: how VC has influenced everyday life, where private market prices should be today, remnants of the free-money era, how VC-backed start-ups are surviving 2023, what VC investment terms look like today vs 2019-2021, VC return dynamics and the power law, update on the IPO market

• Arnold Schwarzenegger’s viral X video on hate

AI

• Interview with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, Acquired

• The 3x CEO That Turned MongoDB Around, Logan Bartlett

  • Dev Ittycheria, president and CEO of MongoDB shares his take on AI, the real job of a CEO, how to build a culture where the best ideas win, and many other lessons from scaling MongoDB to a $25B company

  • Summary here

• State of AI Report 2023, Nathan Benaich

  • Deep dive in AI research, open source, industry, safety, and politics

• Top 10 Trends in Data & AI at the Impact Summit, Tomasz Tunguz

Misc

• Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett: How to Understand Emotions, Dr Huberman

  • Plot twist: ‘facial expressions’ aren’t universal depictions of ‘emotional states’

. . .

Last Week (10/16-10/20):

Relevant deals include the 60+ deals across stages below. 

I've categorized the deals below into five categories, FinTech, Care, Enterprise & Consumer, HardTech, and Sustainability, and ordered from later-stage rounds to early-stage rounds. Highlighted deals include Nirvana, Procurify, Nova Credit, Prove Identity, Lanes & Planes, SynFutures, Matic, Statement, Bond Vet, Waymark, Allara, SecureW2, Hayden AI, Darwinium, Reality Defender, Pantomath, Sidebar, Objective, Imbue, Warmly, Anyplace, ergo, Urban Sky, K2 Space, Auriga Space, Thermal Harvest, Natrx, Scope3, Volteras; Microsoft/Activision Blizzard, Thorne, OneSend/ActiveCampaign, Hifi, ChatCSV/Flatfile, Moment/Patreon

Final numbers on State of US VC Funding 2023 & Trust in Media Plummets at the bottom.

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Deals 

Fintech:

- Nirvana, a San Francisco-based insurance provider for commercial car fleets, raised $57 million in Series B funding. Lightspeed Ventures led the round and was joined by General Catalyst and Valor Equity Partners. 

- Procurify, a Vancouver, B.C.-based budget and spend management platform for companies, raised $50 million in Series C funding from Ten Coves Capital and Export Development Canada.

- Nova Credit, a New York City-based data analytics company for lenders, raised $45 million in Series C funding. Canapi Ventures led the round and was joined by General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Y Combinator, Geodesic Capital, Harmonic Capital, and others. 

- Prove Identity, a New York-based fraud reduction startup, raised $40m co-led by MassMutual Ventures and Capital One Ventures at a valuation north of $1b, as first reported by Axios Pro. https://axios.link/3tAHRAj

- Lanes & Planes, a Munich, Germany-based booking, billing, and management platform for corporate travel, raised $35 million in Series B funding. Smash Capital led the round and were joined by existing investors Battery Ventures, coparion, DN Capital, and Allron.

- SynFutures, a decentralized crypto derivatives exchange, raised $22m in Series B funding. Pantera Capital led, and was joined by Susquehanna International Group and HashKey Capital. https://axios.link/46wgeHc

- Membrane Labs, a cryptocurrency-focused trading and lending platform, raised $20m in Series A funding co-led by Brevan Howard, Point 72 and Jane Street. https://axios.link/491ZysW

- Matic, an embedded insurtech startup, raised $17m in Series B extension funding. IA Capital Group and Cultivation Capital co-led, and were joined by Intuit Ventures, TruStage Ventures and Assurity Ventures. https://axios.link/3rImAnV

- iink Payments, a Tampa, Fla.-based platform for property insurance claim payouts, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Headline led the round and was joined by Motley Fool Ventures, Chartline Capital Partners, Silver Circle Ventures, and others. 

- Statement, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based platform designed for financial teams to aggregate data, forecast cash flow, and automate tasks, raised $12 million in seed funding. Glilot Capital Partners led the round and was joined by Citi, Mensch Capital Partners, Titan Capital, and Operator Partners.

- Finzly, a Charlotte, N.C.-based payment and banking platform for companies, raised $10 million in Series A funding from TZP Growth Equity. 

- Lopay, a London-based instant payments startup, raised £6m in seed funding from BackedVC, Portage and the Venture Collective. https://axios.link/46JBh8W

- QuoteMachine, a customer quote and invoicing startup, raised $3.7m in seed funding, as first reported by Axios Pro. Manresa Ventures led, and was joined by Clocktower Technology Ventures and Precursor Ventures. https://axios.link/46RMeVZ

- Auquan, a London, U.K.-based compliance, analytics, and risk identification platform for financial services companies, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Neotribe Ventures led the round and was joined by Episode 1 and Stage 2 Capital.

. . .

Care:

- Bond Vet, a New York-based urgent and primary veterinary care provider, raised $50m from insiders Warburg Pincus and Talisman Capital Partners. https://axios.link/3M54LGC

- Waymark, an SF-based Medicaid provider enablement startup, raised $42m. Lux Capital led, and was joined by CVS Health Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and NEA. https://axios.link/3FmH20z

-  Petfolk, a Charlotte-based vet care company, raised $40m in Series B funding, as first reported by Axios Pro. Movendo Capital led, and was joined by White Star Capital and Idea Farm Ventures. https://axios.link/492gkrC

- Allara, a New York-based provider of virtual care for women's chronic hormonal conditions, raised $10m in Series A funding, as first reported by Axios Pro. GV led, and was joined by Great Oaks Venture Capital, Humbition, Vanterra and Gaingels. https://axios.link/45Dkjbt

- Arctop, an LA-based developer of cognition software, raised $10m in Series A funding co-led by Fifth Growth Fund and Supermoon Capital. https://axios.link/48TPjqC

- Pair Team, a provider of community-based health care to Medicaid populations, raised $9m in Series A funding, as first reported by Axios Pro. Next Ventures led, and was joined by YC, PTX Capital, Kapor Capital and Kleiner Perkins. https://axios.link/3MvijeL

- Ventricle Health, a Greensboro, N.C.-based virtual cardiology care network, raised $8m in seed funding, as first reported by Axios Pro. RA Capital Management led, and was joined by Waterline Ventures. https://axios.link/46Tty8l

- Thoughtful, a mental health app designed to combat loneliness, raised $7m in seed funding led by VCP Ventures, as first reported by Axios Pro. https://axios.link/45AGQph

- Leucine, a New York City-based company using AI to digitize pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Ecolab led the round and was joined by Pravega Ventures, Axilor Ventures, Techstars, and others. 

- Ilant Health, a New York-based obesity and weight management startup, raised $3m in first-round funding from individual angels, per Axios Pro. https://axios.link/3QjyNIT

- Plan Forward, an Indianapolis-based dental software startup, raised $2m in seed funding. Elevate Ventures led, and was joined by IU Ventures and Revere Partners. https://axios.link/3PYEPNZ

. . . 

Enterprise & Consumer: 

- SecureW2, a Seattle-based zero-trust passwordless security software provider, raised $80m from Insight Partners. www.securew2.com

- Hayden AI, a San Francisco-based developer of AI-powered platform that monitors traffic law enforcement, raised $53 million in Series B funding from Drawdown Fund. 

- Society Brands, a Canton, Ohio-based company designed to acquire and grow e-commerce brands, raised $25 million in additional funding from Gullane Capital, Callais Capital, and North Coast Ventures.

- Joor, a New York-based wholesale management platform, raised $25m in equity and debt funding co-led by Brightwood Capital and Tamarix Capital Partners, as first reported by Axios Pro. https://axios.link/45uMx8h

- FieldPulse, a Dallas-based provider of field service industry software, raised $21m in Series B funding. Fulcrum Equity Partners led, and was joined by insiders Capri Ventures and Superseed Ventures. www.fieldpulse.com

- Darwinium, a San Francisco-based fraud detection platform for businesses, raised $18 million in Series A funding. U.S. Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Blackbird, Airtree Ventures, and Accomplice. 

- Last Country, a media company founded by Tucker Carlson, raised $15 million in seed funding from 1789 Capital, according to the Wall Street Journal.

- Reality Defender, a New York-based deepfake and AI-generated media detection platform, raised $15m in Series A funding. DCVC led, and was joined by Comcast Ventures, Ex/ante, Parameter Ventures and AI Grant. https://axios.link/3rNfPkL

- Pantomath, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based data observability platform, raised $14 million in Series A funding. Sierra Ventures led the round and were joined by Bowery Capital and Epic Ventures.

- Sidebar, a San Diego, Calif.-based platform that places professionals in small networking groups, raised $13.6 million in seed funding from Steve Vassallo, Elizabeth Weil, Evan Sharp, Tim Kendall, Alex Schultz, and others. 

- Objective, Inc., a San Francisco-based AI-integrated search platform, raised $13 million in new funding. Matrix led the round and was joined by Two Sigma Ventures and others. 

- Cionic, a San Francisco-based developer of bionic clothing for those with mobility issues, raised $12 million in a Series A extension. L Catterton led the round and was joined by THVC and existing investors. 

- Imbue, a San Francisco-based A.I. research lab, raised $12 million in additional Series B funding ($212 million in total) from Eric Schmidt and the Amazon Alexa Fund. 

- Warmly, a San Francisco-based program that tracks website visitors to assess their intent to purchase a product, raised $11 million in Series A funding from Felicis, NFX, Zoom, F-Prime Capital, Maven Ventures, and others.

- SwiftConnect, a New York City-based provider of software designed to let users store physical access credentials on mobile devices and smart watches, raised $10 million in new funding. Quadri Ventures led the round and was joined by others.

- Creative Force, a San Diego-based provider of content ops workflow software for online retailers and brands, raised $8.9m in Series A funding from Hearst Ventures and Export and Investment Fund of Denmark. https://axios.link/3M2pXNi

- Anyplace, an SF-based hospitality startup, raised $8.3m in Series B funding from Launch Fund, CapitalX, Gaingels, Riverside Ventures, Potluck Ventures, MSIVC, FreakOut Shinsei Fund and Delight Ventures. https://axios.link/3tEEgRV

- Snappy, an Ontario, Canada-based software provider designed to help restaurants build apps, set up online ordering, and other services, raised $7 million in Series A funding from Golden Section Ventures.

- Gardenuity, a gardening lifestyle startup, raised $5.5m in seed funding co-led by Anchor Capital and Retail Connection, as first reported by Axios Pro. Anchor Capital and Retail Connection. https://axios.link/3M6PWDb

- Quote Machine, a Montreal, Québec-based provider of digital sales software for companies, raised $3.7 million in seed funding. Manresa Ventures led the round and was joined by Clocktower Technology Ventures and Precursor Ventures.

-  Zelus Analytics, an Austin, Texas-based sports data firm, raised $3.6m from RedBird Capital Partners, Gametime Capital, Teamworthy Ventures, 35V and Billy Beane. https://axios.link/3RYtxfd

- Jam & Tea Studios, a Los Angeles-based video game developer, raised $3.2 million seed funding. London Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Sisu Game Ventures and 1Up Ventures.

- Grandstand, a startup that helps athletes monetize their fan bases, raised $2.75m in seed funding from Will Ventures. www.grandstand.io

- Morty, a Los Angeles-based escape room and haunted attractions review app, raised $2.2 million in seed funding. Protagonist led the round and was joined by General Catalyst, Animo VC, Marketplace Capital, Wedbush, Unpopular Ventures, and angel investors. 

- ergo, a New York City-based browser plugin that allows consumers to make offers on goods, raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding from Anthemis and Wischoff Ventures.

. . .

HardTech:

- Urban Sky, a Denver, Colo.-based developer of aerial imagery balloons, raised $9.75 million in Series A funding. New Legacy Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, and Lavrock Ventures led the round and were joined by Catapult Ventures, Union Labs VC, DA Ventures, and TenOneTen Ventures. 

- K2 Space, an LA-based spacecraft startup, raised $7m from such backers as Alpine Space Ventures. https://axios.link/3S6vF4v

- Auriga Space, an LA-based developer of electromagnetic space-launch systems, raised $5m from Trucks VC, Seraphim Space, Possible Ventures, Unlock Ventures, DNX Ventures, Monte Carlo Capital, Vermillion Ventures, Heuristic Capital and Syndicate 708. https://axios.link/3tqyF1h

- Thermal Harvest, a Kensington, Calif.-based manufacturer of thermal batteries for heat pumps, raised $4 million in new funding. Earth Foundry led the round and was joined by MUUS Climate Partners, Starshot Capital, and Portfolia.

- Natrx, a Raleigh, N.C.-based developer of coastal resilience infrastructure, raised $3.5m in seed funding. Ponderosa Ventures and Oval Park Capital co-led, and were joined by Fulcrum Financial Partners, Silverstrand Capital and Titan Cement. https://axios.link/3tzTkjz

. . .

Sustainability:

-  Scope3, a New York-based decarbonization startup focused on the media and advertising industries, raised $20m in Series B funding. GV led, and was joined by Room40 Ventures and Venrock. www.scope3.com

- Volteras, a London-based developer of EV charging software, raised $2.9m from Exor, Long Journey Ventures and Scott Banister. https://axios.link/3Qidq9Z

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Acquisitions & PE: 

- Microsoft closed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based video game studio, for $69 billion. 

- L Catterton took Thorne HealthTech, a New York City-based vitamin maker, private for about $680 million.

- ActiveCampaign, backed by Silversmith Capital Partners, acquired OneSend, a Chicago, Ill.-based suite of tools that include email and SMS sending services and account management services. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Block (NYSE: SQ) acquired Hifi, a New York-based financial rights group focused on music. Hifi had raised around $8m from firms like Bonnier, Hestia Holdings, Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Gaingels. https://axios.link/3ZQn8EP

- Flatfile acquired ChatCSV, a Burnley, Great Britain-based app designed to use AI to analyze data and produce insights from CSV files. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

- Elliott Investment Management is considering a takeover offer for E2open (NYSE: ETWO), an Austin, Texas-based supply chain management SaaS provider, as disclosed in a Form 13D in which it disclosed nearly a 14% ownership stake. https://axios.link/3ZVfSYj

- Rho Technologies, a New York-based SME banking startup valued at $475m by VCs like Dragoneer, is in talks to acquire Creative Juice, an Austin, Texas-based provider of upfront financing for creators, per The Information. Creative Juice has raised over $20m from firms like Acrew Capital, Index Ventures and Inspired Capital. https://axios.link/3trVqSu

-  Spin Master Corp. (TSX: TOY) agreed to buy Westport, Conn.-based toy brand Melissa & Doug from AEA Investors for $950m in cash. https://axios.link/3tAsvvK

- Patreon, which connects creators with paying fans, acquired Moment, a livestream platform for events and ticketed experiences, per Axios' Sara Fischer. Moment had raised around $13.5m from investors like Halsey, UTA Ventures, Zaiko and Forerunner Ventures. https://axios.link/401e0Nt

- Avenue Capital Group, led by Marc Lasry, is partnering with Stephen Curry and other athletes to buy a San Francisco franchise for TGL, a new prime-time pro golf league co-founded by Tiger Woods. https://axios.link/46ugtCF

. . .

OOB:

- Early this week Convoy announced layoffs impacting the majority of the company’s remaining 500 employees. After the announcement, the company announced it was shutting down operations after having raised $670 million in funding. The company saw its revenue drop from $630 million in 2022 to $320 million this year.

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Funds:

- Shield Capital, a VC firm focused on "frontier tech" for national security and commercial markets, raised $186m for its debut fund. www.shieldcap.com

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State of US VC Funding 2023

Source: PitchBook. Data through Sept. 30, 2023.

Trust in Media Plummets

Articles of faith

As the threat of fake news mounts amid escalating global conflicts, it appears that faith in America’s newscasters as veritable information sources is dwindling.

This week, a Gallup poll found that only 32% of Americans say that they would trust the mass media — including newspapers, TV, and radio — either “a great deal” or “a fair amount” to report the news accurately and fairly, matching the all-time low that was set in 2016. In that year, coinciding with a bot-ly contested US election, adults were most likely to have “not very much” trust in the media, with 41% taking this stance.

In 2023, however, it seems that people have become yet more jaded by unreliable journalism: a record-high 39% of US adults report having no trust at all in mass media — 28 percentage points more than just 20 years ago. This marks only the second time, along with last year, that no confidence whatsoever has surpassed having even a middling amount of trust in mass media news reporting.

The material presented on Molly O’Shea’s website are my opinions only and are provided for informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice. It is not a recommendation of, or an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy, any particular security, strategy, or investment product. Any analysis or discussion of investments, sectors or the market generally are based on current information, including from public sources, that I consider reliable, but I do not represent that any research or the information provided is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied on as such. My views and opinions expressed in any website content are current at the time of publication and are subject to change. Past performance is not indicative of future results.