Weekly Round Up: 8/21/20

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: 

Portfolio News

• Grafna Labs, which helps with supporting organizations monitoring, visualization and observability goals, raised $50 million in Series B financing led by Greenspring primary manager Lightspeed Venture Partners.

• Congrats to Redpoint backed- Kustomer, the top-rated CRM for modern customer experiences, for being recognized as one of the Fastest Growing SaaS companies of 2020 by SaaS Magazine. Read more here.

• SpaceX, backed by Greenspring primary managers Founders Fund and Lightspeed Venture Partners, launched its latest batch of Starlink satellites on Tuesday. Check out more information here.

• “I like to think me being on the investment committee and Tip [Piumsomboon] on the team meant a solo young woman founder felt comfortable pitching Blackbird and Rick felt comfortable investing." Congratulations to Samantha Wong on her recent promotion to equal partner at Greenspring primary Manager Blackbird Ventures! More here.

• Datasembly, which provides customers with access to retail analytics of consumer goods, raised $10.3 million in Series A financing led by Greenspring primary manager Craft Ventures.

• SpyCloud, a cybersecurity firm, raised $30 million in Series C financing with participation from Greenspring primary manager Altos Ventures in order to further develop their fraud detection and prevention capabilities.

• Shef, an app that delivers home cooking on-demand, raised $8.8 million in recent financing with participation from Greenspring primary manager Craft Ventures.

Greenspring News

The 2020 U.S. venture-backed IPO market is hot. As of August 5, 2020, 53 venture-backed IPOs have priced with an average IPO return of 59% vs. 3% for the S&P 500. Also trending amid the pandemic: SPAC IPOs. Check out our newest blog post here.

We are thrilled to welcome over 30 interns to Greenspring this summer and will be highlighting our new team members over the course of their time with us. Join us this week in welcoming Louis Louis Miniet and Becca Smith. Louis is a rising senior at the Elon University where he is a member of the Financial Management Association. Louis is looking forward to learning more about Greenspring’s investment strategies and improving his technical skills. Becca is a rising junior at Texas Christian University (TCU) where she is the President and Co-Founder of the One Love Foundation Team. #InternAtGreenspring

Though our summer internship program this summer was different than the past, we are grateful to have had over 25 hardworking interns this summer. We are thankful to have spent time with you all this summer and cannot wait to see what you do next! Watch our highlight video here. #InternAtGreenspring

Industry News

“Relatively strong VC performance in the economic downturn induced by Covid-19 may be tied to the nature of the business, as venture-capital-owned companies use little debt, have large cash reserves, and are set up to more quickly pivot to remote work, according to the paper. The researchers also suggested that VC holdings benefit from disruptive environments.” Read more 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.