DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Zepz, a $5 billion fintech unicorn, is laying off more staff
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Zepz, the money transfer group that owns WorldRemit, made a fresh round of layoffs. "Zepz has entered a redundancy consultation which will could affect less than 2% of its global headcount," a Zepz company spokesperson said in an exclusive statement to CNBC. "Zepz values the contributions these colleagues have made to our company," the spokesperson added. "To fully realise our mission to unlock the prosperity of cross-border communities, we sometimes need to make tough decisions," Zepz told CNBC. The business was last valued at $5 billion, making it one of the largest and most valuable fintech companies in Europe.

Persons: Zepz, Zepz hasn't Organizations: TCV, CNBC, Sendwave Locations: British, Europe

[1/2] Executives of Norwegian company Adevinta celebrate the firm’s first day of trading at the Oslo stock exchange, Norway April 10, 2019. The consortium, which include funds General Atlantic and TCV, have offered to pay Adevinta shareholders 115 crowns per share. The deal for Adevinta comes at a difficult time for dealmaking in Europe. It is part of a trend of transactions where private equity firms have weighed buying back public companies they previously owned or still own stakes in. Shareholders can receive cash, or a mix of cash and new shares in the emerging private entity.

Persons: Nerijus, Adevinta, Stefan Dziarski, Dipan Patel, Permira, Shivani Tanna, David Goodman, Marguerita Choy Organizations: Adevinta, REUTERS, Permira, Blackstone, eBay, Adevinta ASA, Atlantic, dealmaking, Thomson Locations: Oslo, Norway, Europe, Adevinta, Bengaluru

☆ Revolut strikes share deal with SoftBank to remove barrier to UK licence - FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of SoftBank Group Corp is displayed at SoftBank World 2017 conference in Tokyo, Japan, July 20, 2017. Revolut and SoftBank had been locked in months of negotiations, with the Japanese investor demanding stiff compensation for giving up its priority class of shares, the report said. The fintech startup can only win a UK banking license if it gets rid of preference shares held by investors including SoftBank. The standoff was one of the reasons Revolut could not immediately get a banking license. The BOE and SoftBank did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment on the report, while Revolut and the FCA declined to comment.

Persons: Issei Kato, Revolut, SoftBank, The BOE, Akanksha, Maju Samuel Organizations: SoftBank, REUTERS, Financial Times, Bank of England, Tiger Global Management, Balderton, Ribbit, Financial, Authority, The, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, Japan, TCV, Bengaluru

☆ Israeli cyber firm Legit Security raises $40 million in private funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Israeli cybersecurity firm Legit Security said on Wednesday it raised $40 million in a private funding round led by venture capital fund CRV. Since its founding in September 2020, Legit has raised a total of $77 million. It noted that its customer base includes brands such as Google, the NYSE, Kraft Heinz and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. On Tuesday, Israeli cyber firm Cato Networks said it raised $238 million in a late stage funding round, valuing the company at $3 billion. Israel has emerged as a global leader in cyber security in recent years.

Persons: TCV, Kraft Heinz, Takeda, Steven Scheer Organizations: Bessemer Venture Partners, Google, NYSE, Kraft, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Cato Networks, Thomson Locations: CRV, Israel

☆ Cybersecurity startup Legit Security just raised $40 million in a Series B round led by CRV with this 12-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Cybersecurity startup Legit Security has raised $40 million in a round led by Airtable and DoorDash-backer CRV. The Palo Alto-based company has developed a platform that enables companies to spot vulnerabilities in their software supply chain. The startup provides companies with visibility over the delivery of software applications from initial code onwards. The $40 million Series B was led by CRV with participation from existing investors Cyberstarts, Bessemer Venture Partners, and TCV. Legit said developers were increasingly using AI-generated code but that they also introduced a "rapidly expanding class of new security threats."

Persons: Airtable, CRV, Kraft Heinz, Roni Fuchs, " Fuchs, Fuchs Organizations: Google, New York Stock Exchange, Fortune, CRV, Bessemer Venture Partners

Sept 18 (Reuters) - Maplebear Inc , the parent of grocery delivery app Instacart, disclosed on Monday it fetched a $9.9 billion fully diluted valuation after pricing its initial public offering (IPO) at the top of its indicated range. The IPO was priced at $30 per share after the company marketed it with a range of $28 to $30 per share. The IPO raised $660 million based on 22 million shares sold. Arm's fully diluted valuation has risen to $62 billion following three days of its shares trading. These investors include Norges Bank Investment Management, a division of Norges Bank, and entities affiliated with venture capital firms TCV, Sequoia Capital, D1 Capital Partners and Valiant Capital Management.

Persons: Instacart, Echo Wang, Rosalba O'Brien, Jamie Freed Organizations: Inc, Nasdaq, U.S, Klaviyo Inc, Norges Bank Investment Management, Norges Bank, Sequoia Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Valiant Capital Management, Sequoia, D1, PepsiCo, CVS, Thomson Locations: TCV, Sequoia, New York

☆ Online grocery firm Instacart seeks up to $7.7 billion valuation in IPO
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In the filing, Instacart said it is setting an offer price of between $26 and $28 for its IPO. Instacart said it would issue 22 million shares in total, comprising 14.1 million of newly issued shares from the company and 7.9 million shares from selling stockholders. Instacart said its total common stock outstanding will be 276 million shares or 279.3 million if underwriters exercise an option to purchase additional shares. At 276 million shares total, Instacart will likely secure a valuation of about $7.7 billion. Alongside TCV, Sequoia Capital, D1 Capital Partners, and Valiant Capital Management, the fund would purchase up to roughly $400 million in the offering.

Persons: Instacart, Goldman Sachs Organizations: underwriters, PepsiCo, Norges Bank Investment Management, Sequoia Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Valiant Capital Management Locations: Sequoia

☆ Grocery delivery app Instacart aims for up to $7.7 bln valuation in US IPO
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

As the Federal Reserve raised borrowing costs to tame inflation, several high-flying startups have had to raise funds at lower valuations. Instacart too has had to cut its internal valuation to as low as $10 billion in December in its long walk toward a Nasdaq debut. Instacart would join SoftBank's (9984.T) chip designer Arm and marketing automation firm Klaviyo, which are also gearing up for market debuts in September. Instacart and its selling shareholders are looking to raise up to $616 million by offering 22 million shares priced between $26 and $28 each, it said in a regulatory filing. Reporting by Niket Nishant and Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun KoyyurOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Niket Nishant, Manya, Arun Koyyur Organizations: Federal Reserve, Nasdaq, Reuters, Instacart, Fed, Cornerstone, Norges Bank Investment Management, Norges Bank, Sequoia Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Valiant Capital Management, Manya Saini, Thomson Locations: United States, San Francisco, U.S, Ukraine, TCV, Sequoia, Bengaluru

A Wall Street sign is pictured outside the New York Stock Exchange in New York, October 28, 2013. Barclays (BARC.L), Goldman Sachs (GS.N), JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), and Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T) are the lead underwriters for the offering. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are lead underwriters on the offering, the company said in its filing. Its shares are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "KVYO". Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Bank of America are underwriters of the IPO, according to the filing.

Persons: Carlo Allegri, T Rowe Price, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Instacart, Fidji Simo, confidentially, Klaviyo, Morgan Stanley, Chibuike Oguh, Lance Tupper, Michelle Price, Aurora Ellis Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Arm Holdings, Japan's Softbank, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Apple, Nvidia, Devices, Intel, Samsung Electronics, AMD, Samsung, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Barclays, JPMorgan, Mizuho Financial Group, underwriters, Nasdaq, Norges Bank Investment Management, Norges Bank, Sequoia Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Valiant Capital Management, Facebook, Reuters, Summit Partners, Citigroup, VNG Corp, HK, Temasek, UBS, Bank of America, Thomson Locations: New York, U.S, Russia, Ukraine, Baltimore, TCV, Sequoia, Canadian, United States, Chi Minh City, Singapore

☆ Instacart files to go public on Nasdaq to try and unfreeze tech IPO market
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Instacart, the grocery delivery company that slashed its valuation during last year's market slide, filed its paperwork to go public on Friday in what's poised to be the first significant venture-backed tech IPO since December 2021. In May, Instacart said it was leaning into the generative AI boom with Ask Instacart, a search tool that aims to answer customers' grocery shopping questions. Instacart will try and crack open the IPO market, which has been mostly closed since late 2021. In March of last year, Instacart slashed its valuation to $24 billion from $39 billion as public stocks sank. Apoorva Mehta, Instacart's founder and executive chairman, plans to transition off the board after the company's public market debut, according to a 2022 release.

Persons: Instacart, Fidji Simo, haven't, Japan's SoftBank, Uber, They've, Simo, Mark Zuckerberg, Apoorva Mehta, Barry McCarthy, Snowflake, Frank Slootman, Andreessen Horowitz's Jeff Jordan, Shipt, Goldman Sachs, Nick Giovanni Organizations: Nasdaq, PepsiCo, Maplebear Inc, Target, Walmart, Meta, Walmart Grocery, Google, Sequoia Capital, DJ Capital Partners, Norges Bank Investment Management, TCV, D1 Capital Partners, Valiant Capital Management Locations: what's

July 26 (Reuters) - Private equity firms Haveli Investments and General Atlantic have agreed to acquire business software vendor Certinia from Advent International for nearly $1 billion including debt, according to people familiar with the matter. Haveli, which was launched by former Vista Equity Partners president Brian Sheth, and General Atlantic will buy Advent's majority stake in Certinia as well as a minority stake held by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), the sources said. Haveli, General Atlantic and Advent declined to comment. Austin, Texas-based Haveli has invested in some technology ventures since it was launched by Sheth in 2021. Haveli has launched a fund seeking more than $3 billion for software deals, which will include this one.

Persons: Brian Sheth, Salesforce, Milana Vinn, Anirban Sen, Jamie Freed Organizations: Haveli Investments, General Atlantic, Advent International, Vista Equity Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures, Certinia, Siemens, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco Systems, Philips, Sheth, Haveli, Apollo Global Management, Thomson Locations: Certinia, Haveli, General, Jose , California, Austin , Texas, New York

☆ Meet the contrarian VC: Why Mayfield's Navin Chaddha is writing more checks than ever before while other investors pull back
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The longtime VC firm just announced a new $250 million seed fund focused on AI. In tough economic times, the firm's leader, Navin Chaddha, believes it's a prime time to invest. That has essentially been Navin Chaddha's mantra since he took over the reins at venture-capital stalwart Mayfield Fund in 2009. With a dedicated $250 million AI seed war chest, Mayfield is now prepared to lean in even more. "We believe that AI will emerge as our teammate and that the Gen.AI wave will create many iconic companies," Chaddha said in a press release.

Persons: Mayfield, Navin Chaddha, it's, Navin, that's, Chaddha, – who's, Forbes, –, Vijay Reddy, Reddy Organizations: VC, Mayfield Fund, Mayfield, Tiger, Insight Partners, Clear Ventures, Intel Capital, Wing Venture Locations: Bessemer, Sequoia

☆ Industry Ventures just raised $1.4 billion for one of the largest venture capital secondary funds ever
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Industry Ventures is one of the largest players in the VC secondary market, where shares of startups are bought and sold. Industry Ventures, a pioneer in the venture capital secondary market where shares of startups are bought and sold, has raised $1.4 billion for its latest flagship secondary fund, according to an SEC filing. The last time the industry saw a fund of this size was when StepStone Group closed its $2.3 billion secondary fund in 2021. "Everyone is gonna have to have a secondary strategy," said Ken Sawyer, co-founder of Saints Capital, another major player in the VC secondary market. This latest fundraise by Industry, which is backed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management among others, could be a sign of increased interest in the VC secondary market.

Persons: Industry Venture's, Ken Sawyer, Sawyer Organizations: Industry Ventures, Industry, SEC, StepStone Group, titans, Insight Partners, Tiger Global, Saints Capital, Goldman Sachs, Management

☆ Tiger Global pulls back on raising new capital and focuses on returns, amid brutal fundraising environment
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

At the same time the company continues to raise money for its latest venture capital fund. For years, Tiger Global, Chase Coleman's $50 billion investment fund, went on a fundraising tear, raising billions of dollars in fresh capital and dominating the venture ecosystem in the process. This includes the firm's flagship hedge fund as well its crossover fund, created in 2021, which combines Tiger's public and private investments into a single strategy. Between July 2022 and July 2023 the Tiger Global fund, the Tiger Global Crossover fund, and the Tiger Global Long Opportunities fund, through their US and Cayman Islands feeder funds, raised about $53 million in total. A spokesperson for Tiger Global declined to comment for this story.

Persons: Chase, Carlyle, TCV, Tiger Organizations: Tiger, SEC, Tiger Global, Apollo, TPG, Insight Partners Locations: Cayman Islands, PitchBook

☆ European software startup investor Notion Capital has raised $327 million for fifth and largest fund to date
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

London-based Notion Capital has raised its fifth and largest fund to date. The software-as-a-service investor has brought in $327 million from new and existing LPs. Notion has backed companies like fintech unicorn GoCardless and Currencycloud. London-based investor Notion Capital has raised 300 million euros (around $327 million) for its fifth fund. The fund focuses on software-as-a-service and fintech companies in the UK and Europe with its latest fund domiciled in Luxembourg and denominated in euros.

Persons: GoCardless, Stephen Chandler, we're, didn't, Chandler, Itxaso del Palacio, Stephanie Opdam, Kamil Mieczakowski Organizations: BlackRock, Visa, Tiger Global, Patient Capital, Novo Holdings, Cortes Capital, KfW, Itxaso Locations: Currencycloud, London, Europe, Luxembourg, Shelby County Tennessee, Upvest, Germany

☆ Some venture capitalists were probably a bit too hopeful about hitting fundraising goals this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Vishal Persaud | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Insight Partners and TCV are reportedly scaling back the size of huge venture funds they planned. The amount of money VC firms raised themselves hit $170.8 billion in 2022, according to PitchBook data, up from $158.5 billion in 2021. And it's also evident in two gigantic firms that had lofty fundraising goals but are now scaling back: Insight Partners and TCV. The firm has raised about 50% to 75% less for a $5.5 billion fund it planned for last year, The Information reported. Last month, Mayfield Fund announced that it raised $955 million across two new venture funds.

Persons: VCs, —, it's, they're, whittle, It's, Insider's Melia Russell, Brian, Lisa Sugar, Turner Novak, Monique Woodward, Navin Chaddha, who's, Chaddha Organizations: Insight Partners, Morning, Insight, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Tiger, Tiger Global, Street, Sugar, Banana, Cake Ventures, Mayfield Fund Locations: Mayfield, Silicon Valley

☆ $5 billion fintech Zepz looks to take on rivals like PayPal with digital wallet, M&A plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

With a $5 billion valuation, Zepz is one of the largest fintech companies in Europe, backed by leading investors including Accel, TCV and Leapfrog. The company enables users to send money from a smartphone or computer to people abroad, who can receive it in their bank account, mobile wallet, or as a mobile airtime top-up. Lenhard didn't identify which companies Zepz was looking to buy, but said the sharp slump in private fintech valuations made it an attractive time to kick off M&A exploration. A particular focus for Zepz product-wise in the near term is digital wallets, Lenhard said, with the company planning to launch its first digital wallet "imminently." He added that he hopes the company's upcoming digital wallet product will convince customers to rely more on Zepz, rather than using competing digital banks and other financial apps which have grown their services to offer a much wider range of products.

Persons: Mark Lenhard, Zepz, It's, Lenhard, Sendwave Organizations: Getty, CNBC, Accel, Bank of England, Sky News, PayPal Locations: Europe, Western Union

☆ Inside the demise of Vice, from turning away a $3.5 billion Disney offer to a 'painful' downward spiral that has the media giant scrambling for a buyer
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

The talks fizzled, Disney backed off, and Smith set off for California to drum up other interest in Vice Media. Vice Media Group co-CEOs Bruce Dixon, left, and Hozefa Lokhandwala. Vice Media GroupOne former Vice insider familiar with the current situation told Insider that staffers were warning vendors they needed to threaten to stop work in order to get paid. Just a few months later, Rupert Murdoch tweeted, "Who's heard of Vice Media? Refinery29 quickly lost key staff and was not well integrated into Vice Media, the two former staffers said.

☆ Private venture-capital returns from one of the largest endowments reveal Union Square Ventures has been wildly successful. Sequoia and Y Combinator have lost money so far.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

USV's 2004 fund returned more than $305 million in cash from a $22 million UTIMCO investment, with an IRR of 66%. Thrive Capital, the venture firm Joshua Kushner founded in 2009, has delivered -34% IRR on two funds from late 2021. UTIMCO's $6.7 million invested has been marked down to $4.6 million. Two funds UTIMCO invested in the VC firm Initialized at the beginning of 2022 have a -5.5% IRR. Upfront Ventures, the most prominent early-stage firm in Los Angeles, has returned only $31 million though UTIMCO invested $110 million since 2015.

☆ 11 VCs working in the payments space investing in the next wave of fintech darlings
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Payments investments reached $3.9 billion in Q3 2022, a well-performing area despite VC pullback. VCs plan to continue to focus on the payments space as it gets more embedded in other industries. Here are 11 of the top investors in the space searching for the next fintech darling. Insider compiled a list of the top VCs investing in the space based on submissions from VC firms and data on their investing histories. Here are the 11 VCs who are bullish around payments and why they think it's going to gain traction soon, listed alphabetically:

☆ Cognite: 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Cognite is an industrial software company focused on the oil and gas, power and utilities, renewable energy, and manufacturing sectors, helping with the digital transformation of heavy-asset industries and increasing the safety, sustainability and efficiency of their operations. In May 2021, Cognite closed a $150 million investment round led by TCV that valued the company at $1.6 billion. Saudi Aramco acquired a 7.4% stake in the company in February, and Cognite launched a joint venture with the energy company in June to support industrial digitalization in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East and North Africa region. The 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise list is powered and inspired by the members of CNBC's Technology Executive Council (TEC). Learn more about CNBC Councils.

☆ Aviatrix: 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

In 2014, Sherry Wei, Aviatrix's CTO and founder, left Cisco to create Aviatrix on the premise that cloud networking is far different than data center networking from the perspective of an enterprise customer. Steve Mullaney, who had been CEO of software-defined networking pioneer Nicira, came out of retirement in 2019 to join Wei in her mission after he too saw the massive growth in cloud demand from enterprise companies. The Santa Clara, California-based Aviatrix provides a networking platform that companies use to manage the flow of data traffic in their cloud environment. In September 2021, the company raised $200 million in funding with growth equity firm TCV leading the round. The 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise list is powered and inspired by the members of CNBC's Technology Executive Council (TEC).

☆ As Big Law looks to tech to help draft legal briefs and log billing hours, top firms like Orrick and Shearman & Sterling are using AI to fast-track work on M&A deals
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Top Big Law firms like Shearman & Sterling, White & Case, and Orrick use artificial intelligence. AI tools by companies like Thomson Reuters, Litera, and Evisort are helping firms manage M&A work. Shearman & Sterling uses a wide variety of AI tools for different uses — one of the firm's go-tos for deals due diligence is Kira, a tool owned by Litera, a document-technology company that works with law firms. Even more said that over the next five years, they expected most M&A work at their firms to be supported by AI. The company uses tools such as Brainspace and Relativity, Janet Sullivan, the firm's global director of practice technology, said.

☆ Read the pitch deck machine learning startup Arize AI used to raise $38 million from investors including an early backer of Netflix and Airbnb
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Machine-learning observability startup Arize AI recently raised $38 million in a Series B round. Insider got an exclusive look at the pitch deck Arize used to secure its latest funding round. The company has raised $61 million to date, including $38 million in a recent series B round led by TCV. Its competitors include companies like Arthur, which announced a $42 million Series B round of funding in September, and Fiddler, which raised a $32 million Series B round in 2021. Insider got an exclusive look at the pitch deck Arize used to secure its Series B round of funding.

Search resuls for: "TCV"

24 mentions found