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Hello and welcome to Last Week In Venture, Crunchbase News鈥檚 weekly roundup of venture deals that may have flown under your radar.

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For being so close to the holidays, this week was chock full of late-breaking venture news. The Crunchbase News crew covered supergiant rounds raised by Vroom, Plaid, Minted, Niantic, and Faire. We chronicled the continuing saga of Grab鈥檚 extended Series H round, a software stack-tracking M&A deal, and a deep dive into seed-stage robotics companies. It鈥檚 hard to believe that Uber and Lyft filed draft paperwork with the SEC only a week ago, after about a decade of private competition. A lot is happening.

With so much news lately, it鈥檚 easy to miss what companies outside the unicorn spotlight are contributing to the global startup ecosystem. But that doesn鈥檛 mean their stories aren鈥檛 worth sharing.

Let鈥檚 dive into the week that was in venture-land!

A Bevy Of Beverage Deals

The $200 million Chinese cafe chain Luckin Coffee raised this week piqued our thirst for more interesting venture deals in the beverage space, and this week they came flooding in. Here are some of the highlights:

• Drizly. Have you ever wanted to have a drink or two but can鈥檛 be bothered to leave the house to buy some booze? For total shut-ins and spontaneous lushes alike, there are services like , which let you get alcohol delivered to your house. The capital-thirsty online liquor store led by hedge fund Tiger Global Management; Polaris Partners participated in the deal.
• Zest Tea. For those of you who prefer their not-for-kids drinks to be more on the stimulating side, there鈥檚 high-caffeine tea maker . The Baltimore-based beverage company brewed up from the , a venture-focused investment vehicle operated by the (USM). and unnamed individual investors participated, according to .
• Roar Organic. Vegan, low-calorie, low-sugar, electrolyte-infused drink-maker raised from NY-based food VC fund this week. (For the record, AccelFoods doesn鈥檛 appear to have any connection to the other, CA-HQ鈥檇 ). Breaking the fourth wall for a sec: In the last week, I鈥檝e seen these in airport shops in New York, a grocery store in suburban Chicago, and a couple of D.C. convenience stores. It seems to be everywhere all of a sudden.

Bring Your Own Grid

While part of the world enjoys the privilege of omnipresent access to electricity and (mostly) stable cellular networks that keep us connected at all times, other parts of the world are still getting there.

is a London-based company behind a single, portable hardware solution for business owners in rural parts of developing countries to grow revenues and increase foot traffic. The company 鈧�3.8 million in new funding, led by , to scale up. The company says it鈥檚 currently focused on bringing 鈥渋ts solar-powered mobile charging technology to the 1.9 million villages without power [across] India, giving over 240 million Indians access to free mobile phone charging in local stores.鈥�

The combines a solar charging panel, a high-capacity battery, enough ports to charge up to 28 phones at once, and, critically, network connectivity to facilitate mobile payments through SMS or its integration with .

A Home Away From Home

In the real estate business, a brand new apartment building brings a lot of rental inventory online all at once.

Washington, D.C.-based is a startup that helps new buildings generate revenue during the interstitial period between opening and full occupancy. How? By turning unrented apartment units into rooms in a pop-up hotel, temporarily operated out of the new building. The company funding this week, just six months after closing this past June.

WhyHotel currently operates out of Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Arlington, VA. says it is currently expanding across the U.S.

Other Interesting Deals

• As more people opt to work remotely, there鈥檚 an opportunity to start new community-driven spaces for people to get stuff done with like-minded folks. is 鈥渁 membership workspace and community platform for women and allies鈥� with multiple locations in Seattle and Los Angeles. The company secured this week, bringing its total funds raised to over $20 million. The Riveter to open more locations nationwide.
• Back in September, we spotted and wrote about an SEC filing indicating that a company called Solo.io had raised around $11.35 million, likely led by either or , based on the composition of its board. This week, the cloud back-end infrastructure company made it official by announcing . The deal was led by Redpoint; True Ventures participated in the deal.
• Ever see behind-the-scenes footage featuring an actor with bright white foam balls or stickers all over his body? That鈥檚 motion-capture tech at work, before all the visual effects are laid down. is a German startup in the industry, but instead of capturing an actor鈥檚 expressions for the silver screen, Wandelbots wants to help train industrial robotic systems to perform a set of actions, all without writing a line of code. shows someone using the technology to control a robot while wearing a hooded sweatshirt kitted out with LEDs at the joints. This week the company announced 鈧�6 million in Series A funding, co-led by and .

And for those of you who stayed with us to the end, a lagniappe: an of gifs an in the . Also, . ?

Image Credits: Last Week In Venture graphic created by聽听听