el producto #253 đ
Levels of creator economy, Metaverse opportunities, Binance growth, Rivian & Nextdoor IPOs, Netflix games, GoPuff launches in UK and Getir in US, & more
đ° The week in figures
$300B: Former executives at Binance estimated that the value of the exchange is around $300B. This estimated valuation would be three times as much as Coinbase if the company went public. The crypto exchange records $76B in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) transactions per day, which is more than its 4 biggest competitors combined
$12B: Rivian closed up 29% in its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday; the company priced shares at $78 each, and trading closed at $100.73, valuing the EV firm at $86B (~$100B fully diluted); Rivian raised ~$12B with the offering, more than any other US IPO since 2014
$8.1B: On-demand delivery giant DoorDash will acquire Finnish food delivery platform Wolt for $8.1B (âŹ7B). The deal is DoorDash's sixth acquisition to date and its second in 2021. The tie-up is the most expensive takeover in Europe's rapid delivery market. Wolt was listed as Europeâs second-fastest-growing company in 2020.
$1.3B: Ride-hail and food delivery firm GoTo raises $1.3B from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Fidelity International, Google, and others in a pre-IPO round; established through the merger of ride-hailing company Gojek and e-commerce firm PT Tokopedia, Jakarta-based GoTo seeks to raise up to $2B at a valuation of $25-$30B before listing domestically and in the US
$725M: Blockchain-gaming startup Forte has raised $725M Series B. The round included participation from a16z.Forte allows game publishers to incorporate blockchain technology, including NFTs, into their games
$674M: Nextdoor closes up 17% in its NYSE debut; the neighborhood-centric social network began trading under the symbol "KIND" on Monday; Nextdoor saw ~$674M in gross proceeds from the deal
$500M: Confluence, which provides software for automating fund administration, to acquire Investment Metrics, which offers software for investment analytics and benchmarking, for $500M; Investment Metrics serves 400+ clients representing $14T in assets under management; the firms expect the deal to close in Q4
$500M: China-based e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu closed a $500M Series E
$250M: Data intelligence platform Collibra raises $250M Series G for a $5.25B post-money valuation; investors valued the company at $2.3B for a $112.5M Series F in April of last year; the platform unifies siloed data for connecting apps, expediting data migration, and more
$205M: B2B sales platform Lusha raises $205M Series B for a $1.5B post-money valuation; the software crowd-sources data on 100M+ contacts, enabling clients to connect with and convert prospects; customers include Google, Microsoft, and Uber
$162.5M: Zenwork, which provides tools for tax automation, regulatory compliance, and more, raises $162.5M; the startup's Tax1099 product supports electronic filing of 1099s, 1095s, W2s, 940-series, and other forms; the company claims 100k US small businesses as clients, including 30k CPA firms
$150M: Â New York-based OpenWeb, a social engagement platform, closed a $150M Series E. The round values the company at more than $1B
$145M: HawkEye 360, which uses satellites to monitor and analyze radio frequency signals in targeted areas, raises $145M Series D; the company geolocates emissions and provides data for specific frequencies, serving government clients in intelligence and defense
$125M: Razor Group, which acquires and scales third-party Amazon marketplace businesses, raises $125M Series B for a $1B+ post-money valuation; the Berlin-based firm says it is on track to generate $400M in revenue this year and $1B+ next year
$120M: Banking-as-a-service platform JUMO raises $120M at a $400M valuation; the African firm uses AI to power credit products in emerging markets and offers banking infrastructure, fintech services, more
$120M: Weave, a customer communications platform for SMBs, closes down 21.7% in its NYSE debut; the company priced shares at $24 each, and trading closed at $18.79, valuing the firm at $1.18B; Weave raised $120M with the offering
$100M: Drata, a platform for automating security and compliance processes, raises $100M Series B at a $1B valuation; the company promises continuous SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliance; customers include Notion, SmartRecruiters, and Tenable
$100M: H2O.ai, which helps business clients to create and operate AI-powered services, raises $100M Series E for a $1.7B post-money valuation; the startup provides an open-source framework and tools for building fraud detection, price optimization, credit scoring, and other features
$62M: Reprise, a platform for creating and controlling product demos and tours, raises $62M Series B; the company provides a Chrome extension for capturing the front-end experience, enables changes to content, and allows "wow" highlight moments that draw attention to key featuresÂ
$50M: Matter Labs, which offloads Ethereum transaction processing to improve transaction speed and reduce fees, raises $50M Series B led by a16z Crypto; the startup closed a Series A in March; Matter Labs launched zero-knowledge rollup product zkSync in December 2019
8% of Kazakhstanâs power is used by crypto mining operations, with 2/3 of the operations being unregulated
đ¸ Q3 financials
PayPal ($269.58BÂ market cap) Q3 mixed: $6.18B revenue, up 13% YoY ($6.23B expected); $310B total payment volume, up 26%; the company added 13.3M new accounts (net) for a total of 416M users; as eBay transitions away from PayPal, Amazon will integrate Venmo payments
Roblox ($44.86BÂ market cap) Q3 beats: $637.8M revenue, up 28% YoY (adjusted, $636.5M expected); 47.3M average DAU, up 31%; $74M net loss, compared to $48.6M for the year-earlier period; shares jumped as much as 35% in extended trading following the report
đ° Whatâs going on
Spotify ($53B market cap) acquires audiobook company Findaway; terms undisclosed; Findaway offers services for creating and distributing audiobooks; the company pairs narrators with authors for audiobook production; Spotify said it would likely launch new audiobook content early next year and would develop discovery tools
Patreon is building a video hosting solution with a native player so creators can build subscription businesses without relying upon other platforms such as YouTube; CEO Jack Conte disclosed the initiative when announcing his new podcast, "The Creator Economy," which will feature interviews with those funding and building tools for creators
Netflix plans to launch individual games on Apple's App Store; Netflix recently launched gaming service for Android, with titles appearing on a dedicated tab in the Netflix app but downloaded separately from Google Play; Netflix reportedly plans a similar strategy for iOS
Philadelphia-based instant delivery GoPuff just expanded into the UK, the first market chosen for the companyâs phased international expansion
Adobe rolls out new tools to take on Figma (online collaboration) and another to help NFT artists (via a content verification program in Photoshop)
Istanbul-based delivery services company Getir expands to the US with Chicago launch, plans launches in New York City and Boston; Getir has launched in a number of European in recent months; the firm, which offers rapid delivery of grocery essentials, has raised ~$1B this year
đ Good reads
Gaming isnâs Netflix best opportunity for growth. Growing into adjacent markets makes the most sense when it allows a company to cross-sell or create an entirely new kind of revenue-generating business. Neither is true in this case. The HBR article offers 3 alternative strategies that Netflix could use to move into adjacent markets that fit better with its core business and are more likely to help it grow revenue
So, what is the Metaverse exactly? Ars Technica shares a good article explaining the different types of metaverse, how they are monetized, what problems they solve, and existing players. Remember Habbo hotel? Complement this read with another good article by HRB on How NFTs (an important piece of the metaverse) can generate value
Data-driven culture as a competitive advantage. An interesting view on how data strategies can create value at different levels, from operational advantage to developing new business opportunities (e.g. Netflix developing new movies based on what users watch)
The overlooked levels of the creator economy. While everyone is aware of the creator economy, the truth is that most have no idea about the infrastructure that makes it work and the growth potential this entails
Have a great weekend
Angel
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