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Has anyone listened to the first season of StartUp, Alex Blumberg's OG Gimlet podcast? That's what I thought I was doing and I felt like a proud mom this week by reading articles about Spotify's acquisition of its podcast production company, Gimlet, which is a first of its kind. Spotify has also purchased Anchor, a podcast monetization platform, marking the beginning of a new era for the podcasting industry.
In addition, Himalaya, a free podcast app I had never heard of until this week, raised $ 100 million in venture capital to "establish itself as a new force in space. podcast distribution ", by Variety.
Podcasting has definitely taken center stage, but Lime and Bird made the headlines, as usual, a new unicorn appeared in the area of mental health and Instacart, he finds himself, gets his independent subcontractors screwed up.
As mentioned, Spotify, or shall we say Spodify, engulfed Gimlet and Anchor. More about it here and a full badysis of the case here. Remember: it's the dawn of podcasting; expect much more venture capital and mergers and acquisitions over the next few years.
The biggest highlight of this week was when Instacart made up for its salaries with client advice. An independent contractor brought a clbad action against the food distribution company, claiming that it had "paid gratuities intentionally and mischievously misappropriated to pay the plaintiff's salary, even though Instacart Megan Rose Dickey, from TechCrunch, describes the whole story here, as well as the apologies of the CEO of Instacart.
Slack has asked to be made public this week, its first step towards an IPO or a direct listing. If he chooses the latter, as Spotify did in 2018, he will not issue new shares. Instead, he will sell existing shares held by insiders, employees and investors, which will allow him to bypbad a presentation tour and part of the exorbitant Wall Street IPO fees. Postmats clbadified confidentially, too. The 8-year-old company turned to JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America to run its next float.
Steve Huffman, CEO of Reddit, speaks on "Redesigning Reddit" on the third day of the Web Summit at Altice Arena on November 08, 2017 in Lisbon, Portugal. (Horacio Villalobos-Corbis / Contributor)
It was particularly difficult to decide which contract was the most notable this week … But the winner is Reddit, the online platform for substantive discussions on niche topics – ProgMetal if you are Crunchbase. editor Alex Wilhelm . The company raises up to $ 300 million with a valuation of $ 3 billion, according to Josh Constine of TechCrunch. Reddit has been in existence since 2005 and has raised a total of $ 250 million in equity. The next round of the D series would be led by the Chinese technology giant Tencent, with a valuation before the $ 2.7 billion money.
Calm is the app that helps users reduce their anxiety, sleep better and feel happier. The startup has brought a $ 88 million Series B worth $ 1 billion. With 40 million downloads worldwide and over a million paying subscribers, the company claims to have quadrupled its revenue in 2018 from $ 20 million to $ 80 million. It's now profitable – it's not a word you hear every day in Silicon Valley.
Here's your weekly reminder to email me tips, suggestions and more at [email protected] or @KateClarkTweets.
Last week, I listened to the conversation between Bird's CEO and Mark Suster of Opfront Ventures and noted some important things to remember, including the challenges of seasonality and safety in the scooter business. I also mentioned a Consumer Reports survey that found that electric scooters were responsible for more than 1,500 accidents in the United States. I also want to mention that the Licorne Licor E-scooter has finally closed its highly anticipated $ 2.4 billion cycle. The news arrived just days after the company strengthened its management team with a hiring of CTO and CMO.
Databricks raises $ 250 million for $ 2.75 billion valuation for its badytics platform
Relex retail technology platform raises $ 200 million from TCV
Grape raises $ 114 million for its pan-European savings and investment products market
A self-driving truck startup, Ike collects $ 52 million
Signal Sciences Secures $ 35 Million to Protect Web Applications
Ritual Raises $ 25 Million for Women's Daily Vitamin Program
Little Spoon Receives $ 7 Million for its Organic Baby Food Delivery Service
By Humankind Raises $ 4 Million To Rid Your Morning Routine Of Single Use Plastic
We do not spend a lot of time talking about the fast-growing, venture-backed and technology-based logistics industry, but a startup in the sector has garnered special attention this week. Turvo has poached three Uber keys Freight employees, including two co-founders of the unit. What does it mean for Uber Freight? Well, probably not a ton … According to my conversation with the new Turvo employees, Uber Freight is a spaceship waiting to take off.
Who knew investing in women-focused brands could be profitable for investors? I'm kidding, I knew it and this week, I have even more evidence! This is L., a direct subscription retailer of tampons, pads and condoms made from organic materials and sold to P & G for $ 100 million. The company, founded by Talia Frenkel, was launched by Y Combinator in August 2015. According to PitchBook, it was supported by Halogen Ventures, 500 startups, Fusion Fund and a few others.
Talking about women doing things, Bessemer Venture Partners Talia Goldberg has been encouraged to join this week, making this 28-year-old one of the youngest venture capital fund partners in Silicon Valley. In addition, Palo Alto's Eclipse Ventures, just after a $ 500 million fundraiser, added two general partners: former Flex CEO Mike McNamara and former Global Foundries CEO Sanjay Jha.
If you like this newsletter, do not miss the TechCrunch, Equity podcast. In this week's episode, available here, Crunchbase Editor-in-Chief Alex Wilhelm and I discuss the growing industry of podcasts, major Reddit crashes and scooters.
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