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Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch on January 12th, 2022! Today we have to talk about serious and less serious things. So we’re going to look at the global venture capital results for 2021 and Wordle. Delayed IPO and the fact that a panda-themed startup is now a unicorn. You have the idea. Let’s go! – Alex
The TechCrunch Top 3
- 2021 was a venture capital year par excellence: The data shows that 2021 was by far the greatest year ever for venture capital and related investments in the private market. TechCrunch has delved into key figures in the world, select regions, and both the fintech and cybersecurity markets. Yes, you know last year was a little bit crazy on the capital front lines. But we doubt you know how crazy.
- Checkout.com raises $ 1 billion on a valuation of $ 40 billion: Today’s mega-round of voting is one of the largest and most expensive in terms of rating that we can remember. And since Checkout.com was valued at $ 15 billion a year ago, the company had one of the fastest paper growth rates we can remember. The lesson here is that the payments section is hot and not entirely owned by Stripe.
- Justworks is delaying its IPO, which bodes badly for unicorn exits: While venture capitalists were busy putting more money into work than ever last year – and 2022 begins in a similar way as the Checkout.com news shows – an IPO has just been put on hold. Why? Justworks cited the market conditions. For unicorns hoping to get out this year, the Justworks news isn’t good.
Startups / VC
What is a startup? TechCrunch has this question pierced now and then (and I have that too disputed with me the Internet). But sometimes we are interested in technical products that are not startups. Wordle, the popular word game, is perhaps an example of the concept. Since this is more of a website than a company, its large audience wins – TechCrunch has the key interview with the Wordle founder here – do not shower the creator of Wordle with all the benefits of his success. Owen Williams argued for our side that the service is “To be punished by app stores for choosing the open web.”
If you still have Wordle, are you in the tech at all?
Carry on, publicly Appointed New Indie Board Members After Its Funded Account Increased 700% last year. Competitor Robinhood decided last year to avoid paying for order flow, a key revenue driver for its well-known competitor. TechCrunch is excited to see what’s in store for the company on the revenue side after Public hits physical user size.
And before we get into the daily overview of the financing events, Dorm Room Fund brings up a new, larger fund according to our own keen eyes Natasha Mascarenhas, and Headspace has acquired an AI-powered mental health startup.
Now the rounds:
- DeepScribe raises $ 30 million for medically focused transcription: Doctors have to be medical service providers and paperwork if they want to leave their jobs on time. DeepScribe is betting that a little tech will help on this matter. The startup offers “Ambient Voice AI technology that summarizes natural patient-doctor conversations,” writes TechCrunch. Clean!
- Helping governments create digital IDs is big business: That seems to be the lesson from the new round of Merit. The startup just raised $ 50 million – bringing its capital base to a total of $ 80 million – to help governments get past plastic cards and into the digital realm. Of course we have privacy concerns about the concept, but at the same time, the fact that there could be big problems if someone steals my social security card is 19th century nonsense.
- SeekOut receives $ 115 million to help companies recruit from a wider pool of candidates: Gone are the days when you could hire a team of white guys and not get a few questions about your prejudices. Even the least educated companies want to do better. SeekOut can be helpful. The startup, TechCrunch writes, “aims to help companies hire from a more diverse talent pool.” And Tiger Global has just doubled the startup with another major check. One to watch.
- Pluang raises more capital to help Indonesians invest: The goal of a number of startups has been to use fintech services to make investments more accessible to less wealthy people. Pluang is one such company that offers its users a range of potential assets that they can buy for small amounts. And it just landed $ 55 million in an Accel-led round. (The notable fact here is that Robinhood’s post-IPO share price decline doesn’t stop investments in private companies that could qualify as comps.)
- What do you call a horned panda? It turns out the answer to that question is BigPanda, a startup that just raised $ 190 million on a valuation of $ 1.2 billion. Based on the company’s materials, it uses AI to analyze information from IT systems and also helps automate routine tasks.
We have even more laps on TechCrunch for your enjoyment, including $ 40 million for ecommerce brands, $ 115 million for TravelPerk, and $ 15.6 million for Superchat. If you want to know how these deals are verified, the equity team has you covered.
Blockchain Gaming Survey: 7 Investors Discuss Regulation, Opportunity, and NFT Hype
Credit: Bloomberg (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
The game distribution platform Steam banned blockchain-based games in October 2021: All titles that contain NFTs or cryptocurrency were unceremoniously booted from the service.
Meanwhile, in Axie Infinity, an NFT-based online game, new players pay hundreds of dollars to purchase mythical pets and love potions.
Blockchain gaming is catching on with some consumers, but what do investors think given the lack of regulatory guidance and the speculative nature of many crypto holdings?
To find out, we asked seven investors who are active in the space:
Anton Backman, Director, and Kenrick Drijkoningen, General Partner, Play Ventures
Banafsheh Fathieh, Head of Investments, America, Prosus Ventures
Josh Chapman, managing partner, Konvoy Ventures
Eddie Thai, General Partner, 500 Startups and General Partner, Ascend Vietnam Ventures
Beryl Li, co-founder of Yield Guild Games
Rajul Garg, Founder and Managing Partner, Leo Capital
(TechCrunch + is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams move forward. Here you can sign up.)
Big Tech Inc.
- Apple patches iOS for HomeKit errors: Updated iOS builds for the iPhone and iPad will “fix the so-called ‘doorLock’ bug that was uncovered by security researcher Trevor Spiniolas earlier this month,” TechCrunch reports.
- PC deliveries are increasing: If you bought a new PC last year, you were nowhere near the only one who did. TechCrunch has the latest PC shipments numbers for 2021, and if you own Apple or Microsoft stock, the news isn’t bad.
TechCrunch experts
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