Monthly Archives: July 2021

News: Cybereason raises $275M at Series F, adds Steven Mnuchin to board

• July 14, 2021
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Cybereason, a US-Israeli late-stage cybersecurity startup that provides extended detection and response (XDR) services, has secured $275 million in Series F funding.  The investment was led by Liberty Strategic Capital, a venture capital fund recently founded by Steven Mnuchin, who served as U.S. Treasury Secretary under the Trump administration. As part of the deal, Mnuchin will

Cybereason, a US-Israeli late-stage cybersecurity startup that provides extended detection and response (XDR) services, has secured $275 million in Series F funding. 

The investment was led by Liberty Strategic Capital, a venture capital fund recently founded by Steven Mnuchin, who served as U.S. Treasury Secretary under the Trump administration. As part of the deal, Mnuchin will join Cybereason’s board of directors, along with Liberty advisor Gen. Joseph Dunford, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump until his retirement in 2019.

Lior Div, CEO and co-founder of Cybereason, tells TechCrunch that the startup’s decision to work with Liberty Strategy Capital came down to the firm’s “massive network” and the “understanding of the financial and government markets that Mnuchin and Gen. Joseph Dunford bring to our team.”

“For example, the executive order on cybersecurity put out by the Biden Administration recommends that endpoint detection and response solutions be deployed on all endpoints,” Dior added. “This accelerates the importance of solutions like ours in the public market, and Liberty Strategic Capital has the relationships to help accelerate our go-to-market strategy in the federal sector.”

This round, which will be used to fuel “hypergrowth driven by strong market demand,” follows $389 million in prior funding from SoftBank, CRV, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin. The company didn’t state at what valuation it raised the funds, but it is estimated to be in the region of $3 billion.

Cybereason’s recent growth, which saw it end 2020 at over $120 million in annual recurring revenue, has been largely driven by its AI-powered platform. Unlike traditional alert-centric models, Cybereason’s Defense Platform is operation-centric, which means it exposes and remediates entire malicious operations. The service details the full attack story from root cause to impacted users and devices, which the company claims significantly reduces the time taken to investigate and recover from an enterprise-wide cyber attack. 

The company, whose competitors include the likes of BlackBerry-owned Cylance and CrowdStrike, also this week expanded its channel presence with the launch of its so-called Defenders League, a global program that enables channel partners to use its technology and services to help their customers prevent and recover from cyberattacks. Cybereason claims its technology has helped protect customers from the likes of the recent SolarWinds supply-chain attack and other high-profile ransomware attacks launched by DarkSide, REvil, and Conti groups. 

Today’s $275 million funding round is likely to be Cybereason’s last before it goes public. Div previously said in August 2019 the company planned to IPO within two years, though he wouldn’t be pressed on whether the company is gearing up to go public when asked by TechCrunch. However, the company did compare its latest investment to SentinelOne‘s November 2020 Series F round, which was secured just months before it filed for a $100 million IPO.

News: Twilio’s new tools will let anyone add live video and audio to their apps

• July 14, 2021
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Twilio, a company best known for its tools that help developers build text message/phone call-powered apps, is branching out into a new category: live streaming. This morning the company announced Twilio Live, a platform meant to help developers more easily integrate live video/audio features into their apps. Details are still a bit light, but here’s

Twilio, a company best known for its tools that help developers build text message/phone call-powered apps, is branching out into a new category: live streaming.

This morning the company announced Twilio Live, a platform meant to help developers more easily integrate live video/audio features into their apps.

Details are still a bit light, but here’s what we know so far:

• Twilio Live is launching today but in invite-only Beta mode — so not everyone will get access immediately.
• It’ll support iOS, Android, and all “major browsers”.
• In addition to the content streaming tools, Twilio is also building out interactivity features to support things like text chat, audience polling, screen sharing, and bringing audience members up as speakers.

We saw a massive rush of Clubhouse clones hit the market after that app’s spike in popularity, with even huge names like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Discord rushing to replicate its best features. With Twilio effectively turning that feature set into a plug-and-play SDK here, I’d expect to see a lot more of that.

One of the biggest challenges of reinventing the wheel when it comes to live streaming is one of scaling; what might work beautifully for one hundred viewers could grind to a halt when you have that viral moment that brings a sudden influx of ten thousand. Twilio has spent the last decade figuring out infrastructure scaling and latency — chances are, they’re starting on pretty good footing here.

No details seem to be available currently as to how Twilio Live’s pricing will work.

News: Exhibit your startup at TC Sessions: SaaS 2021

• July 14, 2021
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Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is hardly new, but this sector — pretty much the default business model for B2B and B2C startups — just keeps growing along with a rapidly expanding ecosystem. TC Sessions: SaaS 2021, a day-long focused look at the current state and future generations of SaaS, takes place on October 27, and it’s designed

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is hardly new, but this sector — pretty much the default business model for B2B and B2C startups — just keeps growing along with a rapidly expanding ecosystem. TC Sessions: SaaS 2021, a day-long focused look at the current state and future generations of SaaS, takes place on October 27, and it’s designed to help startup founders, investors and developers keep tabs on this increasingly sophisticated industry.

It also provides a huge opportunity for startups to demo their SaaS tech and talent to the industry’s top movers, shakers and unicorn makers. We have a limited number of Startup Exhibitor Packages available, and procrastination is not your friend. Jump on this offer and secure your virtual demo booth right now.

The $299 Startup Exhibitor Package includes your virtual booth space, four passes and full access to the event, breakout sessions, lead generation capabilities, networking, videos on-demand and a free, one-month membership to Extra Crunch.

Here’s another great reason to exhibit. You might connect with and impress the SaaS equivalent of Rachael Wilcox. Wilcox, a creative producer at Volvo Cars, attended TC Sessions: Mobility 2020 (along with both Disrupt and Early Stage that same year). Here’s why:

“I go to TechCrunch events to find new and interesting companies, make new business connections and look for startups with investment potential. It’s an opportunity to expand my knowledge and inform my work.”

As for the conference programming, we’re busy building out our agenda. But like every TechCrunch event ever created, you can count on hearing from the leading experts, icons, founders and investors.

Speaking of investors, we can share that Sarah Guo, Kobile Fuller and Casey Aylward will join us to talk about what they look for in SaaS startups. We’ll announce other exciting speakers in the weeks to come, so watch this space.

Yes, you’ll be busy exhibiting and networking, but you’ll also have time to take in some of the presentations. Come ready to engage because these presentations will be highly interactive. That’s just one of the benefits of a virtual event — more time to get those burning questions asked and answered.

So, bottom line: Exhibiting at TC Sessions: SaaS 2021 on October 27 is your chance to place your innovative, ground-breaking SaaS startup in front of a very targeted, very influential audience. Buy your Startup Exhibitor Package now and get ready to impress for success.

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TC Sessions: SaaS 2021 – Marketing & Fundraising? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

News: Aidoc raises over $66M for AI radiology analysis technology

• July 14, 2021
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Aidoc, an artificial intelligence company that develops triage and analysis software, is about to double its funding. On Tuesday, the company announced a round of $66 million. Before that the company had raised about $67 million in its five-year lifetime.  Aidoc develops “decision support” software based on artificial intelligence. This software can read images like

Aidoc, an artificial intelligence company that develops triage and analysis software, is about to double its funding. On Tuesday, the company announced a round of $66 million. Before that the company had raised about $67 million in its five-year lifetime. 

Aidoc develops “decision support” software based on artificial intelligence. This software can read images like CT scans, detect certain abnormalities, and advise radiologists on what to do with certain patients. So far, the company’s algorithm, called BriefCase, has been approved by the FDA to evaluate patients with intracranial hemorrhage, large vessel occlusion (a type of stroke), cervical spine injuries, pulmonary embolisms, incidental pulmonary embolisms, intra-abdominal free gas, and rib fractures. 

The algorithms were approved via the FDA’s 510(k) premarket pathway – which allows for fast adoption of technology that is substantially similar to other products on the market. Most algorithms are approved via that pathway, as there is no specific regulatory pathway for these products in the US (though the FDA is continuously workshopping its oversight of AI and machine learning). 

“What’s really unique about us as a company is the breadth and scope of what we do. Instead of building one solution we spend the time building a platform that can accelerate AI development at a really rapid pace,” says Elad Walach, the company’s founder and CEO. “This is why today we have the most FDA cleared solutions on the market.”

The current funding round was led by the New England VC firm General Catalyst. Chris Bischoff, a managing director of General Catalyst, says the firm was convinced by the strength of the Aidoc’s team, and the seven FDA clearances. However, they were most attracted to the company’s larger approach: create an algorithm (or series of them) that addresses many different conditions. 

In short, the company aims to help hospitals build an entire A.I strategy that can be applied to different conditions over time. 

“It’s this sort of consultative approach, that they’re going in as a partner rather than a vendor,” says Bischoff. “It’s not just effectively a point solution, it’s a workflow tool.” 

The biggest question facing Aidoc, or any other startup in the field of artificial intelligence, though, is whether it can convince hospitals and clinics to adopt an AI strategy in the first place. 

Aidoc is a software made for radiologists – a group that is dwindling faster than most would like to see. Though the US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 7 percent increase in need for radiologists by 2029 as the population grows older, The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts the country will experience a shortfall of specialists – a group which includes radiologists. 

That shortfall could range from 17,100 to 41,900 (these numbers include radiologists among other specialities, but the report doesn’t break down exactly how many radiologists are included in that count). 

The UK, however, is already struggling with a radiologist shortage that ranges from 27 to 37 percent, depending on location. 

AI has been proposed as one solution to the widening radiologist shortage – per the American Medical Association’s report: “advances in artificial intelligence could improve the productivity of radiologists, pathologists, and others,” it notes. 

It’s only a partial solution. Though we might be able to make each individual radiologist more productive with A.I., even Walach notes that A.I software can’t really diagnose a patient all on its own. 

“Definitely a radiologist needs to confirm the findings,” he notes.  “That the AI solution doesn’t do anything without the radiologist.” 

At this point, the pitch for AI in the world of radiology is that it’s a tool, not a replacement for a trained radiologist. And there’s been a lot of academic work done to develop these AI tools: There were an estimated 596 papers on the topic in 2010 and 12,422 by 2019.

Despite this, AI has yet to truly become a go-to for radiologists. A 2020 survey done by American College of Radiology found that just 30 percent of radiologists were using A.I in their practices – the authors called the penetration of the technology “moderate.” Only 20 percent of those not using A.I said they had plans to purchase it in the next one to five years. 

We may be poised to see a bit of an uptick in the use of A.I. in clinics or hospitals post-coronavirus. Some hospitals turned to A.I facing shortages of staff and high patient loads. 

That said, Walach says that it wasn’t a major boon to Aidoc. If anything he says it slowed the company’s growth (though it was still trending upwards anyway – Walach estimates the company increased contracted annual recurring revenue seven-fold between Q1 of 2020 and Q1 2021). 

Instead, he attributes the growth to a wave of research on A.I’s impact on patient welfare beyond initial diagnosis. He points to studies that have found A.I can reduce length of hospital stays by identifying which patients to send home. 

“I think the biggest trends in this market is that one more and more evidence is starting to come up that AI has significant downstream benefits,” Walach says. 

Despite barriers to widespread adoption of AI, Aidoc has a long list of commercial partners. The company has almost 600 partnerships with hospitals and clinics including Radiology Partners, Yale New Haven Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, UMass, University of Rochester Medical Center, LucidHealth, 4ways Healthcare, Telemedicine Clinic, Grupo Fleury, University Hospital of Basel, Sheba Medical Center, Hadassah Medical Center, and Global Diagnostics Australia.

Meanwhile, the company projects that it will be used in 10 percent of US hospitals within two years. 

To some extent, Bischoff argues that the adoption of Aidoc at other high profile health centers could help drive this growth. That could perhaps signal that the company may overcome the slower-than-expected leak of A.I from lab to clinic. 

“That ability to drive high levels of trust – that would allow that deeper integration,” he says. “There’s a little bit of a lighthouse type dynamic in healthcare where if the leaders do certain things others follow.”

Aidoc is headquartered in New York, with a research branch in Israel and has about 200 employees. With this new round of funding, the company plans to invest heavily into R&D and has plans to double the amount of conditions evaluated by the company’s algorithms.

News: Microsoft launches Windows 365

• July 14, 2021
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Microsoft today launched Windows 365, a service that gives businesses the option to easily let their employees access a Windows 10 desktop from the cloud (with Windows 11 coming once it’s generally available). Think game streaming, but for your desktop. It’ll be available for business users (and only business users), on August 2, 2021. Announced

Microsoft today launched Windows 365, a service that gives businesses the option to easily let their employees access a Windows 10 desktop from the cloud (with Windows 11 coming once it’s generally available). Think game streaming, but for your desktop. It’ll be available for business users (and only business users), on August 2, 2021.

Announced through a somewhat inscrutable press release, Windows 365 has been long expected and is really just an evolution of existing remote desktop services.

But hey, you may say, doesn’t Microsoft already offer Azure Virtual Desktop that gives businesses the option to let their employees access a Windows PC in the cloud? Yes, but the difference seems to be that Windows 365 is far easier to use and involves none of the complexity of setting up a full Azure Virtual Desktop environment in the Azure cloud.

But couldn’t Microsoft have made Azure Virtual Desktop easier to use instead of launching yet another virtual desktop service? Yes, but Azure Virtual Desktop is very much an enterprise service and by default, that means it must play nicely with the rest of the complexities of a company’s existing infrastructure. The pandemic pressed it into service in smaller companies because they had few alternatives, but in many ways, today’s launch is Microsoft admitting that it was far too difficult to manage for them. Windows 365, on the other hand, is somewhat of a fresh slate. It’s also available through a basic subscription service.

“Microsoft also continues to innovate in Azure Virtual Desktop for those organizations with deep virtualization experience that want more customization and flexibility options,” the company says. At least we know why the company renamed Windows Virtual Desktop to Azure Virtual desktop now. That would’ve gotten quite confusing.

Image Credits: Microsoft

This also gives Microsoft the opportunity to talk about “a new hybrid personal computing category” its CEO Satya Nadella calls a ‘Cloud PC.’ It’s a bit unclear what exactly that’s supposed to be, but it’s a new category.

“Just like applications were brought to the cloud with SaaS, we are now bringing the operating system to the cloud, providing organizations with greater flexibility and a secure way to empower their workforce to be more productive and connected, regardless of location,” Nadella explains in today’s press release.

But isn’t that just a thin client? Maybe? But we’re not talking hardware here. It’s really just a virtualized operating system in the cloud that you can access from anywhere — and that’s a category that’s been around for a long time.

“Hybrid work has fundamentally changed the role of technology in organizations today,” said Jared Spataro, corporate vice president, Microsoft 365. “With workforces more disparate than ever before, organizations need a new way to deliver a great productivity experience with increased versatility, simplicity and security. Cloud PC is an exciting new category of hybrid personal computing that turns any device into a personalized, productive and secure digital workspace. Today’s announcement of Windows 365 is just the beginning of what will be possible as we blur the lines between the device and the cloud.”

News: Mobile.dev launches with $3M seed to catch app issues pre-production

• July 14, 2021
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As mobile developers build apps, they push them out into the world and problems inevitably develop, which engineers have to scramble to fix. Mobile.dev, a new startup from a former Uber engineer, wants to flip that story and catch errors before the app launches. Today, the company emerged from stealth with a beta of their

As mobile developers build apps, they push them out into the world and problems inevitably develop, which engineers have to scramble to fix. Mobile.dev, a new startup from a former Uber engineer, wants to flip that story and catch errors before the app launches. Today, the company emerged from stealth with a beta of their solution and a $3 million seed investment led by Cowboy Ventures with participation from multiple tech luminaries.

While he was at Uber, company CEO and co-founder Leland Takamine says that he observed this workflow where an app was put out in the world, a company set up tooling to monitor the app and then worked to fix the problem as users reported issues or the monitoring software picked them up. At Uber, they began building tooling to try to catch problems pre-production.

When he started mobile.dev with COO Jacob Krupski, the goal was to build something like this, but for every company regardless of the size. “The insight that we had was that anything we could do to catch problems before releasing an app was 100 times more valuable than anything that you can monitor in production,” Takamine told me.

And that’s what the company aims to do.”Our mission at mobile.dev at a high level is to empower companies to deliver high quality mobile applications. And more specifically, stop sacrificing users and start catching issues before you release,” he said.

He says that when he speaks to app developers about a solution like this, they are intrigued because as he says “it’s really a no-brainer” question, but unless you have the scale of a company like Uber and vast engineering resources there hasn’t been a solution like this available for the average company or individual developer. And it was that deep technical expertise he built at Uber that laid the groundwork for what they are building at mobile.dev.

The two founders launched the company a year ago and have been working with design partners and initial customers, particularly Reddit. The product goes into beta today. For now, they are the only two employees, but that is going to change with the new capital as they look to add more engineering talent.

With a very specific set of skills required to build a solution like this, it makes it even more challenging to hire diverse employees, but Takamine says that the goal is to build a diverse team. “I think it’s making sure that we look beyond just our immediate network and making sure that we’re looking at diverse sources,” he said.

The company launched during the pandemic and with just the two founders involved have been fully remote up until now, and they intend to keep it that way as they add new employees in the coming months.

“We’re going to be fully remote, I think we have a great advantage that we’re starting from remote, and it’s much more difficult to transition from an office to remote. So we’re starting from first principles here and building our culture around remote work,” he said.

News: Dear Sophie: Tell me more about the EB-1A extraordinary ability green card

• July 14, 2021
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I’m a postdoc engineer who started STEM OPT after failing to get selected in the H-1B lottery. A colleague suggested I apply for an EB-1A green card, but I have not won any major awards. Tell me more?

Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies.

“Your questions are vital to the spread of knowledge that allows people all over the world to rise above borders and pursue their dreams,” says Sophie Alcorn, a Silicon Valley immigration attorney. “Whether you’re in people ops, a founder or seeking a job in Silicon Valley, I would love to answer your questions in my next column.”

Extra Crunch members receive access to weekly “Dear Sophie” columns; use promo code ALCORN to purchase a one- or two-year subscription for 50% off.

Dear Sophie,

I’m a postdoc engineer who started STEM OPT in June after failing to get selected in the H-1B lottery.

A colleague suggested that I apply for an EB-1A for extraordinary ability green card, but I have not won any major awards, much less a Nobel Prize. Would you tell me more about the EB-1A?

Thanks!

— Bashful in Berkeley

Dear Bashful,

Thank you for reaching out to me! Most people who get green cards through the EB-1A process are far from achieving a Nobel Prize — don’t worry, it’s still possible!

My law partner, Anita Koumriqian, recently talked with Lanie Denslow, a cultural competence and business protocol consultant who helps companies and professionals navigate cultural differences in today’s complex, fast-moving and global business environment. In the Immigration Law for Tech startups podcast episode, they talked about how culture drives behavior and how we need to understand the culture an individual comes from in order to understand their actions and approaches.

Image Credits: Joanna Buniak / Sophie Alcorn (opens in a new window)

Along those lines, I often find that many international professionals and students who qualify for an EB-1A are extremely modest and underestimate their abilities and achievements. In American culture, professionals are expected to promote their abilities and accomplishments or personal branding. While that practice is accepted in the United States, it’s frowned upon in many other countries, where modesty is more culturally valued.

That means many international professionals and students — perhaps even you — may feel out of their comfort zone when submitting an application for an EB-1A extraordinary ability green card and gathering the five to eight recommendation letters from individuals who are qualified to assess their work and achievements.

Before I dive in further, I suggest you consult an experienced immigration attorney who can assess whether you would be a strong candidate for an EB-1A or if other options would better suit your situation and goals. You should consider talking to your employer about sponsoring you for a green card, and know that you can also file a petition on your own. The EB-1A and EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) are two employment-based green cards for which the beneficiaries can self-petition (without an employer sponsor).

Qualifications for an EB-1A

To qualify for an EB-1A, you must meet any three of the following:

1. You have received nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence. These awards should be post-university level and might be able to include such things as VC funding, pitch competitions and international hackathons.
   

   

News: Simpplr raises $32M for its intranet platform

• July 14, 2021
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Simpplr, a modern platform for building intranet sites (or ’employee communications and enablement platforms,’ as the company calls it), today announced that it has raised a $32 million Series C round led by Tola Capital. Norwest Ventures, which led the company’s Series B round last year, as well as Salesforce Ventures and George Still Ventures

Simpplr, a modern platform for building intranet sites (or ’employee communications and enablement platforms,’ as the company calls it), today announced that it has raised a $32 million Series C round led by Tola Capital. Norwest Ventures, which led the company’s Series B round last year, as well as Salesforce Ventures and George Still Ventures also participated. This brings Simpplr’s total funding to just over $61 million.

As Simpplr CEO and founder Dhiraj Sharma told me, the Series B round was meant to help the team accelerate product innovation and development. Unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic only increased demand for digital workplace solutions like Simpplr. As Sharma noted, the company’s thesis was always that the world was moving toward remote/hybrid work. The pandemic only accelerated this process and with that, the sense of urgency in its customer base to modernize their own platforms for communicating with their employees. To keep up with this growth, the company doubled its team since last August (though Sharma, just like many other startup founders I’ve recently talked to, also bemoaned that it’s becoming increasingly hard to find talent).

The company says that it added 100 enterprise customers over the course of the last year. Today, its customer base includes a number of early adopters like Splunk or Nutanix, which were always building toward a global workforce and always had a need for a product like Simpplr. But due to the pandemic, more traditional businesses like Fox, AAA insurance or Renewal by Andersen also needed to quickly find ways to support their newly remote workforces.

“When this pandemic happened, there were lots of traditional companies who didn’t think that they would be doing remote work as much in the near future as they had to,” Sharma said. “For them, things changed and then what they realized is that they did not have effective means of formal employee communication and also lacked the digital employee experience — and they realized that very quickly.”

Simpplr is obviously not the only intranet solution on the market, but Sharma argues that the service isn’t just recognized by analyst firms like Gartner and Forrester, but also highly reviewed by its customers, in large parts thanks to its focus on user experience. “UX is our number one strength and differentiator. We have been pushing the boundaries of intranet for last five years,” he said and cited features like the company’s auto-governance engine, which he likened to a “Roomba for your intranet.”

Image Credits: Simpplr

Analytics, too, is another area where Simpplr is trying to differentiate itself. “Our company’s mission is to help companies build a better workplace — and unless we can show the areas of improvement and provide insights like how to do something better, we just become a dumb tool,” he said. “For us, what is very important is not only that you are communicating but helping our customers to understand what’s working and what’s not working. What’s the impact of the communication and how are your employees feeling about it?”

Looking ahead, the company is working on building more AI into its tools – including its analytics — to help companies better communicate with their employees and understand the impact of those messages.

As for the new funding round, Sharma noted that he bootstrapped his previous two companies, which has made him take a somewhat conservative approach to fundraising. “When I used to hear that your investors or VCs expect growth at all costs, I just could never understand that,” he said. “So while building this company, even though this is a venture-funded company, I still wanted to make sure that I use the finances responsibly and I build a business in a sustainable manner. I wanted to make sure that if we raised a large investment, we have a proper use for that investment and that this investment will bring the right results.”

Tola Capital principal Eddie Kang will now join Simpplr’s board. “The future of work is hybrid and Simpplr is essential to a company’s ability to engage with employees,” he said. “As enterprise software investors, what excites us about Simpplr’s platform is that it allows leadership teams to streamline communications across channels and provides a turnkey platform that drives value to customers very quickly. Our partnership with Simpplr will accelerate its roadmap to meet the needs of global business leaders and communications teams.”

News: M1 Finance raises $150M in SoftBank-led Series E, boosts valuation to $1.45B

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Just over four months after announcing a $75 million Series D, M1 Finance today is announcing a new $150 million Series E round of funding led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2. The financing, which also included participation from existing backers, propels the Chicago-based fintech to unicorn status with a valuation of $1.45 billion. It also

Just over four months after announcing a $75 million Series D, M1 Finance today is announcing a new $150 million Series E round of funding led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.

The financing, which also included participation from existing backers, propels the Chicago-based fintech to unicorn status with a valuation of $1.45 billion. It also marks M1’s fourth funding round in just over a 13-month time frame, and brings its total raised since its mid-2015 inception to over $300 million. Previous investors include Coatue Management, Left Lane Capital, Jump Capital and Clocktower Technology Ventures, among others.  

At the time of its Series D in March, M1 was “near unicorn status,” according to founder and CEO Brian Barnes.

The startup combines three different traditional fintech services into one (automated investing, borrowing and banking/spending) and has seen rapid growth over the past couple of years. At the time of its last raise in early March, for example, it had reached $3.5 billion in AUM (assets under management). Today, the company says it now has $4.5 billion in AUM, which is up more than fivefold compared to 18 months prior, according to Barnes.

Since July 1, 2020, the company has more than doubled its user base and tripled its AUM.

Image Credits: M1 Finance

M1 first launched to the public in late 2016 with the mission of building a platform that would help people manage and grow their money “with control and automation – for free.” (For more details on just how M1 makes its money, check out its blog here).

Today, the company says it has “hundreds of thousands” of customers that either invest, conduct digital checking or access portfolio lines of credit through its platform.

Like many other companies, M1 saw a pandemic-driven boost in business.

In particular, there seemed to be a surge of new interest in investing, particularly by millennials, according to Barnes. 

Image Credits: M1 Finance founder & CEO Brian Barnes

“Lockdown led many to decrease their spending, while an uncertain future increased the appetite to build wealth for the long-term through investing,” he told TechCrunch. “M1 experienced this firsthand. We quadrupled our assets under management since the start of the pandemic last March… and saw a 3x increase in signups in January 2021 compared to the month prior.”

Last December, M1 launched Smart Transfers, allowing its “Plus” clients to automate financial goals based on pre-set rules. In February of this year, it released Custodial Accounts, giving M1 Plus parents or guardians the ability to invest in portfolios for younger generations. In June, M1 launched Send Check, which allows M1 Plus clients to send physical checks from their M1 Spend Plus checking accounts.

“We always want to be the ones pushing for change, just as we have by moving away from the manual input of every trade or one-size-fits-all portfolios,” Barnes said. “Our plan is to continue to innovate across Invest, Borrow and Spend, finding ways to make complex processes seamless.”

Munish Varma, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, says his firm believes M1 is “well-positioned to consolidate users’ financial lives on a one-stop super-app with its Invest, Spend and Borrow products.”

The company plans to use its fresh capital to build new products and features, further “innovate” its platform and do more hiring. M1 has grown its headcount from 40 at the start of 2020 to 250 employees today.

As my colleague Alex Wilhelm pointed out when covering M1’s Series D, the company is not the only service in the savings, investing and spending spaces that has seen growth in the last year. Robinhood and Public have done well on the investing side of things, and Chime has scaled quickly in the spending and saving markets.

News: Your funding round isn’t special, but you might be

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Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. For this week’s deep dive, Alex and Natasha and Danny decided it was time to chat about funding rounds. Yep, everyone’s favorite topic, just in time for the return of our wonderful producer Chris. To help us navigate these particular waters, we had

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

For this week’s deep dive, Alex and Natasha and Danny decided it was time to chat about funding rounds. Yep, everyone’s favorite topic, just in time for the return of our wonderful producer Chris.

To help us navigate these particular waters, we had our friend and friendly competitor Alex Konrad on the show. Konrad is a senior editor over at Forbes, and part of the founding duo behind the Midas Touch newsletter. We like him – and his puppy!

With four of us around the Zoom table, here’s what we got into:

• An overview of the venture capital market in Q2. You can read TechCrunch’s coverage of the global numbers here, and our further exploration of the US market here. TechCrunch has more coming on the matter, so stay tuned.
• While the show includes the staggering statistics on the current funding frenzy, we soon broadened the conversation to why it all matters.
• Consider this a peek into the reporter’s notebook! We spoke about the supply and demand for covering funding rounds, the imbalance in who receives what money, and how an overall reader ad writer numbness to that $2 million pre-seed impacts the headlines.
• Which landed us into our final section: how to stand out in the overall deluge of funding rounds. Here we all had a take, because all reporters find different things interesting. Here we answer questions about what metrics to pay attention to, how to be more than a number in your pitch, and the value of talking about topics other than your startup’s success.

Thanks again to Alex K. for joining the show! Find him on Twitter,https://twitter.com/alexrkonrad and check out his work at Forbes.

Chat with everyone on Friday, a show that is already coming together to be a scorcher. A bit like the weather. Except in San Francisco. Natasha is cold!