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The company, which is based in Indonesia, provides a wide range of services, from rides to payments to food delivery.

Gojek’s investors include , and . The company first raised money with its $2 million in December 2014, and has more than in funding, according to Crunchbase.

The financing deal was finalized over the past week, Bloomberg reported. It’s an impressive sum that comes as the world economy feels the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. stock market, for example, has sunk and investors have suggested that there will be a slowdown in venture capital funding.

“We’re not stopping there as we are still seeing strong demand among the investment community to partner with us,” co-CEOs Andre Soelistyo and Kevin Aluwi wrote in an internal memo to employees, which was obtained by Bloomberg. “There are a number of exciting ongoing conversations that we will be able to update you on very soon.”

Gojek competes perhaps most notably with Singapore’s , another ride-hailing giant that’s trying to be the “everything in one” app with rides, payments, food delivery and other services. Grab–which has nearly $10 billion in funding, according to Crunchbase–and Gojek were reportedly in talks about a merger, though Gojek denied it, according to Bloomberg.

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Southern California-based Procore said it has yet to determine neither the number of shares it plans to offer nor the price range. But it did list a proposed maximum offering price of $100 million. It also noted that it will list its common stock on the under the ticker symbol “PCOR.”

and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are serving as joint lead book-running managers for the proposed offering.

Last September, we reported that an IPO could value 17-year-old Procore at more than $4 billion, according to , which cited “people with knowledge of the matter.” In December, we covered how the company had tripled its valuation to nearly $3 billion after raising a $75 million Series H from . That was up from a $1 billion valuation just two years prior when Procore raised $50 million in a round from . Since it was founded in 2003, Procore has , according to Crunchbase data.

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Last August, I reported on Procore acquiring its third startup in 12 months as part of its plan to broaden its offerings through mergers and acquisitions.

The numbers

Procore, which operates as a SaaS company, has seen impressive growth in recent years. As of August 2019, it had more than 1,800 employees, up 600 compared to a year ago, across 13 offices globally. Procore saw its annual recurring revenue surge from under $10 million in 2014 last August. 

Last year, I talked with Procore Founder and CEO by phone about the company’s M&A strategy, and he told me then that was “just the beginning.”

In its S-1, Procore shed more light on its financials. It revealed both increased revenue and net loss in 2019.  Specifically, the company’s revenue surged 55 percent in 2019 to $289.2 million compared with $186.4 million in 2018. At the same time, its net loss was up by 46.5 percent to $83.1 million in 2019 compared to $56.7 million in 2018.

Also, Procore revealed it had an accumulated deficit of $300.8 million at the end of last year.

Meanwhile, customer count nearly doubled from 4,310 at the end of 2017 to 8,506 at the end of 2019. It also has more than 1.3 million users.

Elusive profitability

Like other SaaS operators, Procore sells its products on a subscription basis for a fixed fee with pricing generally based on the number and mix of products and the annual construction volume contracted to run on its platform. As its customers subscribe to additional products, or increase the annual construction volume contracted to run on Procore’s platform, the company generates more revenue.

In citing its risk factors, Procore acknowledges a couple of things. Notably, it admits “to a history of losses,” and that it “may not be able to achieve or sustain profitability in the future.” It also acknowledges that its business may be “significantly impacted” by changes in the “related reductions in spend across the construction industry.” No doubt that a downturn resulting in a slowdown in development would be harmful to Procore’s business.

As we’ve reported extensively, construction tech is one of those spaces that has not been considered traditionally sexy. It is, however, an industry that is growing both in terms of the number of companies receiving funding in the space and in terms of more mainstream investor interest. It’s also seeing more exits, as evidenced by this latest news.

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The company, which was founded in 2015, is something like a new-age bank: Users can create accounts in the Revolut app and deposit and send money with it. 

Revolut wants to bring in 100 million customers in the next five years and expand outside of Europe, CEO told TV on Tuesday.

The new round brings Revolut’s total funding to about , according to Crunchbase. Its last valuation was $1.5 billion, but with its new $5.5 billion price tag, it’s tied with Swedish payment installment startup for the title of Europe’s most valuable fintech startup, according to .

led the new round, and the company is also backed by investors like , and. It last raised a $250 million Series C, led by DST Global, in April 2018. 

Fintech startups are certainly hot right now–they’re getting plenty of funding and a couple have seen high profile exits. announced plans to acquire for $5.3 billion last month, and just yesterday confirmed rumors that it would be acquired by for $7.1 billion.

Revolut has more than 10 million customers and has processed more than 350 million transactions, according to the company’s website.

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wants to plug the institution’s financial services to Grab’s users, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the deal.

Although Grab started off as a ride-hailing app, its services now go far beyond that. The company wants to be an “everyday everything” app–it currently lets users book rides, meals and hotels, and offers payment services, among other things.

The company operates throughout southeast Asia, including in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The new investment makes Grab extremely well-capitalized. It last raised an extensive Series H round in 2018 and 2019. In 2019, it received a investment from the , followed by a infusion with as the lead investor as part of the Series H round.

With the new funding from Mitsubishi UFJ, Grab’s total funding comes to about , according to Crunchbase.

While it attracts large amounts of venture capital, Grab also invests. Last year it participated in ’ $8 million Series A.

Grab is backed by firms including SoftBank Vision Fund, Invesco, , and automakers like and .

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-backed has reportedly shut down operations, according to an by Protocol’s Biz Carson.

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Brandless, a direct-to-consumer startup focused on food, beauty and personal care products, had announced it had raised a total of $292.5 million since its inception in 2016, according to .

led its last funding round, , which valued the company at $500 million, according to Crunchbase. At that time, our former editor-in-chief Alex Wilhelm pointed out the fact that it was “a huge check at a large cost in equity terms.” But it turns out that SoftBank had only provided about $100 million upfront with a commitment to “fund around another $120 million if certain milestones were met. That final tranche never came,” according to Axios.

led its $35 million Series B in July 2017, a round that also included participation from NBA player , , and , among others.

Back in 2017, Crunchbase News sat down with  , co-founder and CEO of  to talk about how the company wanted to eliminate the inefficiency of the brand tax while changing the way people shop and live.

Background

It was bound to happen eventually. With all its misteps over the past couple of years, SoftBank was bound to have a portfolio company shut down.

The news that Brandless has shuttered is not entirely shocking, considering that last June, it got a new CEO amidst “turmoil” within the company, according to .

Looks like Brandless’ vision of $3 home goods just couldn’t keep up with the steep competition from rivals like . In fact, soon after it got that big cash infusion from SoftBank, the startup’s strategy seemed to change. According to TechCrunch’s Connie Laizos, in January 2019, the “company added baby and pet products to its stable of offerings, some of them at a ”

In a statement to , Brandless blamed a “fiercely competitive” retail market that was “unsustainable” for its business.

The news is the latest in a string of bad publicity for SoftBank. In January, we reported on how SoftBank-backed Colombian delivery unicorn had been hit with a trade secrets lawsuit. Also in January, we covered how two SoftBank-funded startups were in the news for either confirmed or rumored layoffs: Rappi had , according to Axios. And published an article that discount lodging provider reportedly was “firing thousands of staff across China and India.”

That followed pizza-making robot startup , also backed by SoftBank, laying off  53 percent of its employees.

SoftBank, a Japanese investment conglomerate, has been accused of overinflating valuations with its fat checks, and it’s not ending well for many companies. But the practice of investing too much, perhaps too soon, may be catching up with SoftBank. Earlier this year, that SoftBank is cutting its ties with startup investments, even after signing term sheets.

In fact, SoftBank’s heavy-handed check-writing is leading investors and startups alike to rethink sky-high valuations in favor of a path to profitability.

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