Weekly Round Up: 12/4/20

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:

Pandemic IPO watch: CRV-backed DoorDash, an SFO-based food delivery company and Founders Fund-backed home rental startup Airbnb, have set terms for upcoming IPOs that could mean valuations in excess of $30 billion each. Read more here.

Congratulations to all of the startups featured on Business Insider’s 100 Top Startups Recommended by VCs list, featuring recommendations from Greenspring primary managers Scale Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Felicis Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and more. See the full list here.

Tech improvements have taken grocery stores by storm with cashierless payments, software analytics and robotics for clean up and more. Read more about the future of grocery stores as seen by Tess Hatch, VP at Greenspring primary manager Bessemer Venture Partners, here. 

Hippo Insurance, a technology based homeowners insurance company, has raised $350 million in recent financing with participation from Greenspring primary managers Felicis Ventures and Zeev Ventures. Read more here. 

eightfold.ai, an AI-powered talent management software, has raised $125 million Series D financing with participation from Greenspring primary managers Foundation Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Read more here.

Join us in wishing a Happy 25^th Anniversary to Greenspring primary manager Foundation Capital! The Firm was founded on December 1, 1995 and has seen tremendous growth over the last 25 years with advancements in strategy, structure and more. Learn more about their journey here. 

Congratulations to customer success platform Gainsight and the Lightspeed Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners teams on the company’s majority investment from Vista Equity Partners! Read more about it here. 

“Successful founders are made, not born, and their self-development journeys are fascinating paths, rarely chronicled.” Mercedes Bent, Partner at Greenspring primary manager Lightspeed Venture Partners, discusses six learning paths that founders go through in order to become “learning animals.” Read more here. 

Qventus, Inc, a leader in real-time operations in healthcare backed by Greenspring primary managers Mayfield Fund and Bessemer Venture Partners, has released new features in order to streamline patient flow and increase ICU capacity. Read more about their newest features here.

Why do startups fail? Listen to the most recent episode of Greenspring primary manager NFX’s podcast with James Currier and Professor Tom Eisenmann of Harvard Business School where they discuss the 6 most common patterns among startup failures here.

“If you have the opportunity to work on something that sits at the intersection of a technological or even a business innovation, and also a cultural one, then run, don’t walk.” Listen to a recent episode of Greenspring primary manager NFX’s podcast with GP Pete Flint and April Underwood of Slack as they discuss the thought, strategies and frameworks that built Slack and Twitter here.

Greenspring primary manager Obvious Ventures just released its first World Positive Report! The report highlights the qualitative and quantitative impact Obvious portfolio companies are leaving on humanity. Find the full report here. 

Congratulations to Kustomer, a social media data integration platform backed by Greenspring managers Redpoint Ventures and Boldstart Ventures, on their acquisition by Facebook! Read more here. 

“Success takes work, study, time, grit, courage, experimentation, resilience, and a belief in yourself that may not always be steady but never goes completely away… there are no shortcuts.” Read more about why Underscore VC-backed Zenefits CEO Jay Fulcher believes there are no shortcuts when it comes to building a great business here.

Looking for holiday gifts for your loved ones? Check out our round up of Greenspring’s favorite venture-backed holiday gifts here. 

This year has brought a lot of hardship and many families have been affected, especially during the holiday season. Here at Greenspring, we are proud to have supported the Living Classrooms Foundation's Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive where total contributions exceeded over 430 full Thanksgiving meals donated!

Our #JobOfTheWeek this week is from Redpoint Ventures portfolio company Juniper Square, which uses tech to make the world’s private markets more efficient, transparent and accessible. Juniper Square is looking to hire a Reporting Analyst to help with private equity reporting and work with internal LPs and GPs. Sound like something of interest? Apply 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.