Pre-IPO Sector News

August 16, 2021

• Bluecore raised $125 million at a $1 billion valuation.

• Dataiku raised $400 million at a $4.6 billion valuation.

• Hootsuite acquired HeyDay, a conversational customer service software firm that develops chatbots.

• Impossible Food’s appointed Leilani Gayles as its Chief People Officer and David Borecky as its Chief Financial Officer. Gayles was previously the Chief People Officer for the SF Giants. Before becoming Impossible Food’s CFO, Borecky held the Interim Chief Financial Officer role. In addition, Borecky was a Controller at Stripe and Principal of Corporate Development at Square.

• Rapyd raised $300 million at a $8.5 billion valuation.

• Airtable acquired Bayes, a data visualization startup.

• Chime raised $750 million at a $25 billion valuation.

• Gusto raised $175 million at a $9.5 billion valuation.

• Niantic acquired Scaniverse, a 3D scanning app.

• Plaid reached a $58 million settlement for a class action lawsuit for not obtaining customer consent prior to utilizing its user’s banking data.

• Reddit raised $700 million at $10 billion valuation.

• Turo confidentially filed documents for its IPO.

• Upgrade raised $105 million at a $3.325 billion valuation.

AIRTABLE

“Airtable Makes Bayes its First Acquisition to up its Data Visualization Game”

• https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/11/airtable-makes-bayes-its-first-acquisition-to-up-its-data-visualization-game/

CHIME

“Chime Raises $750 Million, Earns Big Jump in Valuation as Another Fintech Moves Closer to IPO”

• https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/13/chime-earns-big-valuation-jump-in-latest-financing-nears-ipo.html

GUSTO

“HR Software Company Gusto Raises $175 Million”

• https://www.axios.com/gusto-fundraising-175-million-f2bb33ba-fced-4343-8a7b-0aa6a5d6dbbe.html

NIANTIC

“Niantic Acquires 3D Scanning App Scaniverse”

• https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/10/niantic-acquires-3d-scanning-app-scaniverse/

PLAID

“Fintech Company Plaid, Consumers Reach $58M Settlement Agreement in Privacy Suit”

• https://www.cyberscoop.com/plaid-58-million-fintech-class-action-suit/

REDDIT

“Reddit, Fresh off a $10 Billion Valuation, plans a Strong International Push, CEO Says”

• https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/13/reddit-fresh-off-a-10-billion-valuation-plans-a-strong-international-push-ceo-says-.html

TURO

“Car-sharing Startup Turo has Filed Confidentially for an IPO”

• https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/09/car-sharing-startup-turo-has-filed-confidentially-for-an-ipo/

UPGRADE

“Upgrade Closes $105 Million Series E Round at $3.325 Billion Valuation”

• https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/upgrade-closes-105-million-series-e-round-at-3-325-billion-valuation-301352490.html

BLUECORE

“Bluecore Raises $125M to Drive Retail Customer Retention With Big Data”

• https://venturebeat.com/2021/08/05/bluecore-raises-125m-to-drive-retail-customer-retention-with-big-data/

DATAIKU

“ Dataiku Gets $400M at a $4.6B Valuation, led by Tiger Global”

• https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/05/dataiku-gets-400m-at-a-4-6b-valuation-led-by-tiger-global/

HOOTSUITE

“Hootsuite Acquires Heyday, a Conversational AI Company, for $48 Million”

• https://www.wsj.com/articles/hootsuite-acquires-heyday-a-conversational-ai-company-for-48-million-11628123818

IMPOSSIBLE FOODS

“Impossible Foods Appoints New Chief People Officer and Chief Financial Officer Ahead of Category Expansion”

• https://finance.yahoo.com/news/impossible-foods-appoints-chief-people-130000095.html

RAPYD

“Rapyd Raises $300M on $8.75B Valuation as Fintech-as-a-Service Continues to Boom”

• https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/03/rapyd-raises-300m-on-8-75b-valuation-as-fintech-as-a-service-continues-to-boom/