📅 [11/16/20–11/22/20] Weekly Digest #8

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The Good AI Podcast

4 min readNov 25, 2020

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Happy pre-Turkey Tuesday folks! Get ready the latest in weekly updates from the world of Doing Well by Doing Good — for-profit social enterprises making a difference in the world.

DWDG News

In the latest Social Enterprise Summit 2020 hosted in Asia Nov. 19–21, 2020, leaders called for social innovation to make further inroads into private industry. A number of companies embodying these values spoke and shared their insights
Social innovation is alive and well as Social Enterprise UK celebrates Social Enterprise Day on November 19th, 2020 with innovations ranging from offering sustainable masks and face shields in Asia to pre-natal care in Africa.

DWDG Fundings

Form Energy, a 3.5-year-old, Somerville, Ma.-based developer of battery systems for long-term storage of wind and solar energy, has raised $70 million in Series C funding. Earlier backers include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, The Engine and Prelude Ventures. In an interview with Reuters, the company’s CEO did not name investors but said they would be released in a couple of weeks. The company has now raised $120 million altogether. [ Reuters Report]

Doing Good: Form Energy creates battery systems to improve the stability of alternate forms of energy contributing to a more practical clean energy future.

Heyday, a four-month-old, San Francisco-based player putting together a platform to acquire, launch, and grow Amazon businesses, has launched with $175 million in Series A funding. General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures and Arbor Ventures co-led the round, joined by Amazon, eBay, PayPal and Magento executives. (We’re seeing a bunch of these. You might recall another company, Heroes, raised a bunch of money last week to do the same thing, after Thrasio raised a massive round in April.) [ Forbes Report]

Doing Good: Heyday helps small third party sellers on Amazon to build and grow their businesses helping a population typically vulnerable to Amazon’s own brands.

SellerX, a months-old, Berlin-based outfit that — like a growing number of similar new startups — plans to buy, roll-up, and grow businesses that rely on Amazon for payments, logistics and delivery, has raised $118 million. Cherry Ventures, Felix Capital and TriplePoint Capital co-led the deal, joined by Village Global and numerous notable individual investors. [ TechCrunch Report]

Doing Good: SellerX is much like Heydey in that it is focused on helping smaller vulnerable players in the Amazon marketplace to compete better with capital to fuel growth.

Olist, a 5.5-year-old, Brazil-based platform that serves small brick-and-mortar retailers, making their products available in virtual storefronts within larger online marketplaces, has $58 million in a Series D funding. SoftBank Latin America Fund led the round, joined by Valor Capital Group, Península, VELT Partners, FJ Labs, and longtime VC Kevin Efrusy.

Doing Good: Olist enables small business owners in Brazil to access a larger market through virtual storefronts to better compete and maintain their income.

WattBuy, a 3.5-year-old, Seattle-based startup that promises consumers actionable intelligence about their electricity usage, has raised $3.25 million in Series A funding. Evergy Ventures led the round, joined by Updater, Avesta Fund, and numerous individual investors, as well as previous backers Fort Ventures, Techstars Ventures and Powerhouse Ventures.

Doing Good: WattBuy provides two forms of social good; by incentivizing renters and homeowners to move to alternatives energies it contributes to reducing greenhouse gases, but also drives down prices for consumers including those renters with low income stability who might be vulnerable to high electricity bills.

ZenBusiness, a 5.5-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based startup that helps other companies register their businesses, manage state and federal regulatory filings, and stay up-to-date with tax filings, has raised $55 million in Series B funding led by Cathay Innovation. Other backers in the deal include GreatPoint Ventures, Breyer Capital, Omega Venture Partners and earlier investors Greycroft, Lerer Hippeau, Interlock Partners, mark vc, and ATX Venture Partners. [ TechCrunch Report]

Doing Good: ZenBusiness is an advocate to help small businesses better compete in a new internet and regulatory reality with high competition and red tape. This disproportionately helps those that need it most to have a stable source of income.

True Balance, a six-year-old, Gurugram, India-based payments app for underbanked consumers in the country, has raised $28 million in Series D funding from SoftBank Ventures Asia, Naver, BonAngels, Daesung Private Equity, and Shinhan Capital. [ TechCrunch Report]

Doing Good: True Balance enables users in many vulnerable populations in India without a credit score to access loans and raise their standard of living.

Chipper Cash, a six-year-old, San Francisco cross-border fintech startup that offers payments services in seven African countries, has raised $30 million in Series B funding. Ribbit Capital led the round, joined by Bezos Expeditions, 500 Fintech, Deciens Capital, and One Way Ventures. [ TechCrunch Report]

Doing Good: Chipper Cash is enabling payment, banking, and stock trading capabilities for African businesses and individuals expanding access for traditionally underbanked users in African countries and providing fiscal stability.