Weekly Round Up: 8/28/20

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:

We are pleased to announce our investment in Aetion, a leader in real world evidence technology for biopharma, payers and regulators. Read more here.

Steve Kraus, Partner at Greenspring manager Bessemer Venture Partners, talks about payer adoption of digital health in the US and why companies like Greenspring direct investment Bright Health seem to be “getting it right”. Listen here.

Shopmonkey, a CRM system serving the automotive industry, raised $25 million in Series B financing led by Greenspring primary manager Bessemer Venture Partners.

Greenspring direct investment Rocket Lab is counting down to their 14th launch! Be sure to watch here when they go live.

Seated, a restaurant booking platform where customers earn rewards to get credits for gift cards, raised $30 million in recent financing led by Greenspring primary manager Craft Ventures.

Congrats to Meritech-backed Lyra Health for gaining unicorn status! Read more about this accomplishment here.

Greenspring primary manager Accel Partners has launched SeedToScale, an educational platform that aims to help startups and founders at the seed stage. Read more about Accel’s powerful application of venture #enterprisecapital here.

Snowflake, a Redpoint portfolio company and one of the fastest-growing cloud software companies in Silicon Valley, filed to go public on Monday after revenue more than doubled in the first half of the year to $242 million.

Fastly (FSLY), has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire CRV portfolio company Signal Sciences for $775M, including $200M cash and $575M in Class A common stock. Fastly intends to integrate Signal Sciences’ developer-first web application and API protection solutions with its existing security services to create its upcoming security offering, Secure@Edge. 

We are thrilled to announce that Greenspring Associates has been shortlisted in the GP manager categories of 'Best Growth Manager (Fund Size sub $1 billion)' and 'Best Fund-of-Funds Manager' in the 2020 annual Private Equity Wire US Awards! The awards aim to recognize the best private equity GPs and service providers in the U.S. across a range of categories. Private Equity Wire partnered with Bloomberg to shortlist firms for each category, and winners will be decided on by majority vote via an online poll. Help us win by voting for us by September 5th here.

We're committed to advancing a more diverse, equitable & inclusive venture capital ecosystem. As part of this commitment, we have signed the #VCHumanCapital Pledge to submit our firm’s demographic and talent management details to support the industry’s data collection and tracking efforts. As an industry, we can only improve what we measure, and the 2020 VC Human Capital Survey—powered by NVCA, Venture Forward, and Deloitte—is a critical component to tracking and measuring our progress. Learn more about the survey and see the full list of VC firms who have pledged their participation here.

🔔 Regulators approved a proposal from the New York Stock Exchange to let companies raise capital through direct listings, a subject we've written about as a cheaper and easier alternative to the traditional IPO. Previously, companies were permitted only to use the process for existing investors to sell shares. The WSJ has more here.

✔️ The SEC has expanded its “accredited investor” definition in a 166-page amendment to allow investors to qualify based on defined measures of professional knowledge, experience or certifications — including holding certain Financial Industry Regulatory Authority licenses — in addition to the existing tests for income or net worth. In addition, the list of eligible entities was broadened to include any entity that meets an “investments test.” “For the first time, individuals will be permitted to participate in our private capital markets not only based on their income or net worth, but also based on established, clear measures of financial sophistication,” said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton in a statement. #DemocratizeVC

⚡ “A large number of companies have seen their businesses accelerate in enterprise software collaboration cloud, because companies are finding these emerging tools necessary to run their companies in this new way.” Read more great insights from Accel’s Steve Loughlin on how dealflow during the pandemic is in stark contrast to the financial crisis in 2008 here.

❔ What has been driving investor enthusiasm behind the no-code software movement? TechCrunch sat down with a few investors including Raviraj Jain, Partner at Greenspring primary manager Lightspeed Venture Partners and Rajeev Batra from Greenspring primary manager Mayfield, to explore this phenomenon. Read more here.

Encoded Therapeutics Inc. was launched recently to advance precision gene therapy with hopes of treating Dravet syndrome, a genetic disorder in children marked by intractable seizures and several other pediatric central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Read more on how the Meritech-backed Company’s life-changing therapies here.

Sprout, a tech-enabled autism care and treatment program backed by Greenspring primary manager Felicis Ventures, recently launched to modernize autism care by matching children with therapists who create customized treatment plans that can be administered both in-home and online. Read more here.

Cityblock Health, a healthcare provider focused on marginalized populations with complex needs, has seen firsthand the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on already existing health disparities. The Company will use its recent financing round, which included Greenspring primary manager Redpoint Ventures, to help expand its care model to improve options for underserved populations. 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.