Weekly Round Up: 10/2/20

At Greenspring we believe in venture capital's ability to propel innovation, job creation and positive societal change. We celebrate those who think differently, take measured risk and challenge perceptions. Here's what's trending in VC this week:

Join Venture Partner Phil Cummins and over 300 c-level executives to virtually network and discuss investment opportunities, allocations, and the current secondaries environment. Learn more and register here. 

Greenspring direct investment OneLogin is hosting their annual identity and cybersecurity conference virtually on 10/6 and there is still time to register! Learn about emerging trends in the cybersecurity space, and join a variety of key note speakers from the industry here.

Congratulations to all the underlying Greenspring companies featured on the Fortune Impact 20 list, including Zipline, Guild Education, INFARM and M-KOPA Solar – backed by Greenspring primary managers Bessemer Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Felicis Ventures and LocalGlobe! Check them all out here.

Philippines-based PayMongo, which offers an online payments API for local businesses, has raised $12 million in Series A financing with participation from Greenspring primary manager Bedrock. Read more here.

Seismic, a leading sales and marketing enablement software that lets teams find the right sales content and optimize the sales process, has raised $92 million in Series F financing with participation from Greenspring primary manager Lightspeed Venture Partners. Read more here.

NUVIA, a company creating computing platforms that redefine performance, has raised $240 million in Series B financing with participation from Greenspring primary manager Mayfield Fund. Read more here.

Willow, a startup creating new wearable breast pumps for women, has raised $55 million in new financing led by Greenspring primary manager Meritech Capital. Read more here.

Axis Security, which helps companies enable employees, partners and vendors to securely access critical business applications remotely, has raised $32 million in Series B financing with participation by Greenspring primary manager Ten Eleven Ventures. Read more here. 

Greenspring primary manager Volition Capital recently led a $35 million financing round for smartphone-based property access solution ButterflyMX®, used by multifamily, commercial, and student housing developers, managers and owners. Read more here. 

🔥 The number of direct listings doubled in a day on Wednesday, when Founders Fund portfolio companies Asana and Palantir, the former of which is also backed by Benchmark Capital, joined predecessor pioneers Slack and Spotify on the public markets. Enterprise software company Asana closed its first trading day at $28.80 a share — a gain of 37% against its reference price of $21 a share. Meanwhile, big data firm Palantir closed the day at $9.73, a gain of 34% against its reference price of $7.25. Asana was valued at about $4.3 billion at close, while Palantir reached $24.8 billion, based on its fully diluted share count, including recent securities sold. 

Ultimately, our entire industry stands to benefit from the trail these pioneers are blazing, as more companies may choose to go public this way going forward — especially if private firms are given the green light to raise new money from direct listings. While the Securities and Exchange Commission approved new rules last month to allow companies to raise capital by issuing new shares and not just sell existing stock via direct listings, the rule change is on hold after the Council of Institutional Investors objected and asked the SEC to further review it. This did not impact Palantir and Asana, as they only sold existing shares.

Need a primer (or refresher) on how Direct Listings work? Have a look at our perspective on the subject here or check out the chart below for a summary of how they stack up to SPACs and IPOs.

“It has definitely been different being hired and getting trained in a virtual environment. I came from a completely different industry, so had a lot to learn about venture capital. While I wish I had a chance to meet everyone in person, and create those working relationships, everyone has been extremely helpful and welcoming over the different virtual platforms Greenspring has.” #HumansofGreenspring

“As Greenspring continues to explore innovative investment opportunities, there are many interesting and challenging legal issues to address. I'm excited to be a part of those conversations and to tackle those challenges so that we meet our objectives.” #HumansOfGreenspring

This year, Baltimore Homecoming has set out to raise $1,000,000 for the organizations building a brighter future for Baltimore, and we're joining in! Support our city and its heroes - donate today here.

The content here is for informational purposes only and should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice. It does NOT constitute an offer or solicitation to purchase any investment or a recommendation to buy or sell a security. In fact, the content is not directed to any investor or potential investor and may not be used to evaluate or make any investment.