The company declined to offer a breakdown of the round pertaining to equity investment and debt/credit.��

The financing comes from a handful of investors, including — ’ “credit-investing strategy offering flexible, customized debt and structured equity financing,” per its website.

Other investors include and .

Deepwatch’s MDR helps protect customers from the growing number of cyber threats. MDR platforms help investigate alerts and determine whether there actually is a threat at play. Such platforms use a combination of data analytics, machine learning and human intelligence.

“Our services have never been more vital,” CEO said in a . “Business transformation to cloud and digital, coupled with increasing levels of cyber risk, drives strong demand for advanced protection from Deepwatch.”

Tampa, Florida-based Deepwatch reported 100% sales growth in 2022 while announcing the funding. Founded in 2019, the company has now raised $256 million, per Crunchbase.

Big cyber funding rounds

Deepwatch joins other cyber firms already announcing large rounds this year.

On Tuesday, spinout raised a $500 million round. The startup is looking at how companies and the government can replace current public-key cryptography algorithms with algorithms that are resistant to quantum computer-based attacks.

In January, Santa Clara, California-based received a $401 million convertible note investment led by .��

In general, investment in cybersecurity has held relatively steady this year. Through the first six weeks-plus of the new year, cyber startups have received a total of about $1.7 billion, per Crunchbase . While that number is down from the same period last year — where startups raised more than $4 billion — it actually is ahead of the numbers from 2021 and 2020.

Investors still seem to prioritize cybersecurity as threats continue to grow and more scrutiny is put on how companies are protecting data.

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We’ve already looked at how Coatue has slowed and has had a rough year. One large firm not yet examined, however, has been . Because it has been so quiet recently, it is perhaps easy to overlook.

Dragoneer, which counts companies such as , and among its previous investments, significantly ramped up its investing pace in 2021. That year, the San Francisco-based firm took part in 80 different announced fundraisings, with those rounds totaling a whopping $28 billion, according to Crunchbase .��

Important to note, however: The amount any investor—including Dragoneer—invests as a specific stake in a round is not usually divulged.

Some of the large rounds Dragoneer took part in last year included:

• Co-leading ’s $520 million Series H in January.
• Taking part in ’ $1 billion Series G in February and $1.67 billion Series H in August.
• Co-leading ’s $596.2 million Series G in November.
• Taking part in ’s $1.3 billion Series D, also in November.

This year has presented a very different story. The firm has dramatically pulled back as the venture market has continued to slow every month. Through nearly three quarters of this year, Dragoneer has made only 21 deals, with those rounds totaling just more than $4.1 billion, according to Crunchbase data.��

The firm has not taken part in an announced deal thus far in the third quarter.

That does not mean the firm has pulled out of deals, or even big deals. In January it led ’s $235 million Series F, as well as ’s $300 million Series F in May. It also participated in ’s $1 billion raise in January.

Unicorn hunting

However, Dragoneer is on pace to add the fewest number of unicorns to its portfolio since 2020, according to Crunchbase data. Last year, the firm was one of the top investors in bringing aboard $1 billion-plus companies when it added 35 to its portfolio. This year, that number stands at only eight, the same number it added in 2019.

The slowing pace—and price—of deals is not surprising considering the softening venture market witnessed through the course of this year, with many saying it really started in late 2021. Dragoneer’s numbers would seem to bear that out, as the total value of deals in Q1—which likely closed in Q4 of last year—was substantially down from any quarter in 2021.

Many firms—especially large growth equity firms that must find a balance between their private and public market investments—have significantly pulled back in the venture market this year as inflation, interest rates and geopolitical issues have roiled the economy.

Large, late-stage growth rounds have been most dramatically affected in the market—a spot where Dragoneer thrives—as investors seem unwilling to pay for high valuations.

Whether that will change and valuations will come down, or investors will re-open their wallets remains a question we may not have answers to until next year.

Dragoneer did not respond to requests for comment.

Methodology

The total dollar amount of rounds the firm participated in reflects the total investment in those rounds, not the particular firm’s stake in those rounds—which is normally not released. All numbers relating to deals and deal size are from Crunchbase data.

Further reading:

• Bessemer Venture Partners Slows From 2021 Pace
• SoftBank’s Vision Fund Deals Show Slowing Pace, Smaller Rounds
• Coatue’s Funding Numbers Take Significant Dip in First Half Of Year
• Accel’s Deal Size Shrinks As Venture Market Pullback Continues

Illustration:

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Welcome to my small Friday roundup of things that I would have otherwise had to miss.

We’re looking at three things this morning. First, revenue growth ahead of . Second, the . And third, I did more public talking than usual this week, which I am supposed to share with you.

We’ll proceed in order, let’s go!

Incorta’s Revenue Growth

Hundreds of companies raise capital every month, making Incorta’s recent Series C merely one more round. Why should we care about it? Because its investor list is fascinating, and the company actually shared useful growth metrics.

Starting with the investors, the firm’s new $30 million round (check its , data via Crunchbase) was led by . also took part. But so too did , a venture arm of , and , venture capital team. (M12, GV, and Kleiner have led previous rounds into the company.)

Microsoft and Google in the same round? That got me thinking. Even more, one of those partners got a shoutout in the firm’s release, with Incorta saying that it is “one of twelve startups that Microsoft is actively promoting and selling through its AppSource certification.”

There are perks to taking money from companies that have huge sales channels.

Next, revenue growth. Incorta noted in its release that it posted “284 [percent] year-over-year growth in revenue during the trailing twelve months.” I’d like to thank the company for sharing a revenue number, and not a gross bookings metric. And, for giving a clear timeframe for the claimed growth. Many companies provide wish and wash in equal parts, making their pronouncements unclear at best.

Founded in 2013 and based in San Francisco, what does Incorta do? It helps companies build analytics dashboards quickly (), helping its customers enjoy “analytics without the overhead.” As a regular consumer of all sorts of analytics tooling, I must say that would be neat.

SmileDirectClub’s IPO Filing

As it turns out, if you dramatically inflate your sales and marketing spend, your company may grow more quickly! Write that down, that’s going to become conventional wisdom before you know it.

Jokes aside, , the Nashville-based player in the see-through-teeth-corrector business . The firm’s revenue growth is huge, its operating costs are spiking, and its losses are going up. This makes SmileDirect a very normal 2019 IPO candidate.

Inside the S-1 we see the company’s H1 2019 revenue reaching $373.5 million, up from $175.1 million in the year-ago period. Sales and marketing costs grew from $86.5 million to $209.1 million from the first half of 2018 to the first half of 2019. And, the firm’s net loss grew from $33.6 million to $52.8 million over the same time period.

SmileDirect while a private company, including cash from venture capital players and .

As a company, SmileDirectClub has greater than 100 percent revenue growth at scale. That’s always going to entice investment. But as a word of caution, its already-public rival took for lackluster forward guidance. If SmileDirect can dodge that shadow, this IPO could be a big one.

Podcasts, Shows

I hate promoting what I do because it feels cheap and too self-affirming. But, I spent way too much time and energy this week talking to not share it. So, here’s the list:

• : The Equity crew went to Boston to chat with one of our favorite nerds. It was a super-fun, super-fast paced chat.
• : The Equity crew put together an on-the-fly episode looking at The We Company’s IPO filing, working hard to parse the numbers beneath the hype.
• : The fine folks over at TWiT had me on this week to chat The We Company’s S-1. A video version of the podcast can be found . (I’m at the 39-minute mark, and apologize for my camera placement.)
• : I went on to riff about Cloudflare’s IPO filing and SmileDirectClub, keep your eyes peeled for the clip if you want to see me in a shirt with buttons and a collar.

And that’s that. Have a lovely Friday everyone, and make sure to to stay in the loop. Thanks for reading!

Illustration: .

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The firm raised a $50 million Series B, led by with participation from Inovia and Emergence Capital 1, to build out its international presence and hire more data scientists, according to firm founders and .

Next, through limited partners and , Clearbanc has created its third fund, a $250 million fund to invest in new verticals like SaaS.

The duo, which has spoken on how equity investments have stripped ownership from founders, are quick to point out this news isn’t hypocrisy at play. For them, a company with a 10 year horizon, is “exactly what equity [investing] should be used for,” said Romanow. They’re using the capital raised through its equity sale (the Series B) to help with sales, marketing, and experimentation in new geographies, said D’Souza.��

None of the Series B will be used directly toward investing in future companies. “It would be very counter intuitive to use equity dollars to fund other entrepreneurs,” said D’Souza.

So why did it make sense for Clearbanc to sell shares to raise capital, when it trumpets the opposite solution – non-equity financing – for others? It’s because the firm isn’t using the cash the way most founders do, it claims.

Clearbanc said founders make a mistake and sell shares in their company just to turn around and spend 40 percent of those venture capital dollars on Facebook and Google campaigns. In contrast, Clearbanc thinks that equity fundraising is effective when its being used to grow other areas of the business.��

In some ways, Clearbanc raising a Series B is giving in order to get back. The idea here is that the stronger, and more widespread the Clearbanc team is, the more equity-free investments we’ll see. This year so far, the firm has invested in 900 companies. (Crunchbase News asked for a list of investments from the company; it declined to disclose all.)

Regarding the new $250 million fund, the duo was inspired to create this third investment vehicle because they kept meeting founders who weren’t e-commerce focused, but wanted equity-free investment.��

So, Clearbanc started looking at other indicators of a healthy business that are tied to revenue. Like shipping volume, or sales. The company is still figuring out what exact focus the new fund will have, but said that while it previously cut checks between $10,000 and $10 million, it’ll now invest in larger companies, with checks greater than $10 million.

As Clearbanc inches toward 1,000 investments, D’Souza said Clearbanc’s data strategy is helping tear down bias in investment decisions, a rampant problem within venture capital.��

“You get VCs who are looking for pattern recognition for the 22-year-old Stanford dropout, wearing a hoodie that came from the right family, and you’re immediately at a disadvantage,” he said.

And for proof that Clearbanc’s data-driven approach avoids that: to date the firm has funded eight times more female founders than the venture capital industry average.

Illustration:

It was a week of scooters, startups born out of the failures of others, and Softbank. Whatever summer slowdown the venture world used to entertain now seems firmly passé. This late in the unicorn era, there are no reins.

Want this email every weekend? Subscribe here to Crunchbase News emails! 

Given the pace of news that’s coming out, we wind up covering many positive market indicators (new rounds and the like). But piggy-backing off an earlier column this week, it’s important to keep an eye on what could go wrong.��Tap here to find out what has us worried.

In funding news, we pored over several nine-figure rounds, including insurance unicorn Hippo scoring $100 million (it’s now a unicorn) and China-based ride-hailing company Didi raising six times as much. Gusto, formerly ZenPayroll, also raised $200 million to help power SMB HR.

Fintech, one of our favorite sectors, raised frugal and lavish rounds this week. Stackin’ picked up $4 million to text users advice on how to be better with their money. In contrast, MoneyLion raised $100 million in a Series C, and Robinhood raised a huge $323 million Series E.

In news that could help all of us: Tile,��which helps users track items like their phone and keys, raised $45 million. In news that could’ve helped Anki a few months ago: Freedom Robotics raised $6.6 million to make it easier and cheaper to be a robot startup.

Looking ahead, the funding landscape, especially for late-stage firms, is very bright given that Vision Fund 2 is a go. (What’s up with the Microsoft money?) Threshold also has new money to invest, and WeWork’s IPO is coming sooner than expected.

��������,��a growing share of global VC funding is going to the United States at the expense of China. Reminder, China’s share of the worlds supergiant rounds—venture rounds of $100 million or more—has fallen from its leading position to third place.

All that and here’s a scooter story concerning a retreat, and one more that’s a bit more positive.

Ending on a note beyond the numbers: We chatted with Elizabeth Ashford for Proust Goes Tech this week. Just wait until you get to the part about how an anesthesiologist with pennies taped to his shoes inspired her.

Until next week,

Natasha (,��) and Alex (,��)

P.S.��.

Actual conversation I had today:

Me: what are you in SF for?

Friend from DC: work, but also going to see [friend] and help him build a deck

Me: oh, I didn’t know [friend] started a company!

FfDC: WTF you’re the second person today who thought that…….He’s building a porch.

— Austin Petersmith (@awwstn)

Featured image by

Welcome to the end of the week. You are probably pretty excited to go home and go straight to bed; the news cycle has been exhausting now for months. But it’s still morning out here in San Francisco, so let’s get caught up heading into the soporific weekend.

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Slack’s Impending Investor Day

What do you call a roadshow that isn’t? An “online presentation to prospective shareholders,” according to .

Yes, since is not going public in the traditional manner, the office messaging unicorn instead intends to host a webinar of sorts on May 13th, detailing its business and performance thereof. We’ll tune in. Recall that Slack is pursuing a direct listing, akin to what Spotify pulled off recently.

Uber’s IPO Date: A Reminder

We haven’t forgotten about the Uber IPO, never you worry. Indeed, IPO is still in the offing and we’re currently it to price on May 9th, and begin trading on May 10.

News out indicates that Uber has , albeit at the lower-end of its valuation. Given that, the company’s anticipated hope of raising its range may prove difficult. Expect more news to leak out early next week ahead of pricing.

And then prepare yourself for the anti-climactic existence of Uber as a public company, working to beat quarterly figures and keep growing while reducing deficits. Just like most recently-public tech shops.

Stripe Embraces Remote Work

The Crunchbase News team has been hard at work in recent months covering all sorts of places. Here’s some recent work on Austin, New Jersey, and Latin America, for example.

But we’re not the only band of nerds with eyes on the horizon. , the wealthy online payments company, has decided to set up its next development hub, well, nowhere. Here’s :

Stripe has engineering hubs in San Francisco, Seattle, Dublin, and Singapore. We are establishing a fifth hub that is less traditional but no less important: Remote…. Stripe will hire over a hundred remote engineers this year. They will be deployed across every major engineering workstream at Stripe.

Hiring engineering staff in the bay area is gladiatorial work, and those folks aren’t merely concentrated in four other cities. So, Stripe is making a big stab towards hiring people where they already are. Expect more of this in 2019.

Listen To Equity

If you want even more News Recap, . You’re welcome.

And that’s that, folks. Have a good weekend, get a nap, and I’ll see you bright and early Monday morning. (Oh, and if you want to sound smarter at dinner parties, .)

Illustration: .

Good morning and happy Friday everyone, it’s going to be a hell of a day.

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Instead of digging into something in the SaaS space this morning, or riffing on scooters (our own Mary Ann did that for us earlier today), or picking up a new round or fund (Jason has what you need here), I wanted use Morning Markets to share our podcast, as I haven’t done that yet.

Which is a bit late frankly as the show is around two years old. So, please meet , a podcast that we record with the TechCrunch crew. It’s a weekly, 20 to 30-minute show covering the biggest topics from the world of venture capital. As you can imagine, given the sheer scale of late-stage dollars that are flying around, we often wind up covering the Vision Fund, impending IPOs, and that sort of thing.

I’m bringing the show up today as a new episode , and I realized that aside from the occasional link I’ve never written about it here, despite doing a short post about each episode for TechCrunch. So, below is the most recent show, and below that the preceding show.

This week’s episode with and :

Last week’s episode with :

And that’s the show! Hope you like it, and if not, that’s cool too. I hear there are a bunch of other shows out there.

(Apple Podcasts , and  link.)

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias.