Google Card, Behavioral Biometrics, and Sustainable Mobility…

A weekly brief ☕️ of the most interesting things we’ve seen in tech in Israel, Sweden, and beyond — 20th of April 2020 📅

🗞Noteworthy news

• Stripe’s $36Bn Valuation — Stripe, the renowned payment processing platform raised $600Mn in Series G from Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Google Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz. They aim to use the funding for product development, further global expansion, and strategic initiatives.
• Universal Data Storage (🇮🇱/🇺🇸)— Vast Data, a data storage company bringing an end to complex storage tiering and HDD usage at enterprises, gained unicorn status after raising $100Mn in Series C from 8 investors including Next47 (Lead), Goldman Sachs, 83North, Dell Technologies Capital, etc.
• Behavioral Metrics for Cybersecurity (🇮🇱) — Biocatch, a cybersecurity startup offering a cloud-based set of behavioral authentication and threat detection solutions for web and mobile applications, raised $145Mn in Series C by Bain Capital (Lead), OurCrowd, Industry Ventures, Maverick Ventures, American Express, and CreditEase. They aim to use the funding for R&D as well as sales & marketing to enter new verticals beyond financial services.
• Autonomous Analytics for Online Businesses (🇮🇱) — Anodot, a startup that offers an autonomous analytics platform that enables businesses to detect and understand any factor that may impact their revenue and operations, raised $35Mn in Series C from Intel Capital (Lead), Samsung Next, Softbank, La Maison, and existing investors.
• Bringing Sound to a New Level (🇸🇪) — Dirac, an audio-tech startup that offers digital sound optimization solutions, raised $6Mn in funding from Inbox Capital, Swedia Capital, Johan Sedihn and DIG Investment. The funding will be used to extend the R&D of the company. Besides that, it has also announced the appointment of former Spotify executive Jonathan Forster to its Board of Directors.
• Sustainable On-Demand Mobility (🇮🇱) — Autofleet, a startup aiming to reinvent the vehicle as a service platform by enabling dynamic supply solutions, has raised $5.5Mn in Series A from MizMaa Ventures (Lead), Nextgear Ventures, and Maniv Mobility. They aim to use the funding to expand internationally and to grow its R&D team.

🤓What we’ve been reading over the past week

• When Tech Companies Become Banks 💳 — Following Apple Pay’s collaboration with Goldman Sachs to release the Apple Card, it has been confirmed that Google is developing its own virtual and physical debit cards. While it will be co-branded with several banks (e.g. Citi, Stanford Federal Credit Union), a Google Pay Card would vastly expand the existing Google Pay app, and Google’s potential as a fintech giant. An interesting read by Romain Dillet from TechCrunch.
• Venture Capital and the Future it is Betting on— The book Finding Genius is written in a story-like fashion encapsulating experiences from the venture capitalists that bet on Airbnb, Uber, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. It conveys their opinions, thought patterns, and principles in a seamless way, answering the ubiquitous questions in the entrepreneurial world: What qualities do genius share? How do you block out the noise to identify the next wave of innovation? How much randomness is involved in startup investing and is there anything we can learn from that? Great read! check it out here.

😮 New Funds

• Israeli Deep-Tech Entrepreneurs (🇮🇱) — Entrée Capital, announced the closing of its 3rd seed fund with $100Mn AUM. The new fund is focused on Israeli companies or companies with Israeli founders in Europe and the US. The fund will focus on startups developing deep technologies such as quantum computing, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence and the digital health and fintech sectors.
• Backing Founders Moving at Lightspeed (🇮🇱/🇺🇸) — Lightspeed Venture Partners, a multi-stage VC, headquartered in the U.S. and active in Israel for over 20 years (e.g. Cato Networks, Anyvision, etc.), announced the closing of three different funds totaling over $4.2Bn in AUM.
• Funding in 9 days or less (🇮🇱/🇺🇸)— NFX, an early-stage Israeli VC announced a new $20Mn fund named the FAST Seed initiative. Founders can apply for a $1–2M seed round for 15%, and receive a commitment in 9 days or less.

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