Weekly Round Up: 9/04/20

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:

Membership platform Patreon, which enables musicians and other creators to connect with fans, has raised $90 million from investors, bringing its value to more than $1.2 billion. "This level of belief in Patreon is proof… that the world is changing,” CEO Jack Conte said. “The stigma of the starving artist is going to fade away.” Read more here.

Turing, a Palo Alto-based automated platform for hiring software engineers, raised $14 million in seed financing led by Greenspring primary manager Foundation Capital. Read more here.

Keep an eye on the tape for e-commerce marketplace Wish, backed by Greenspring primary manager Founders Fund. The company announced this week that they confidentially filed for their IPO. Read more here.

In other news, SpaceX has completed another successful short test flight of its Starship spacecraft prototype, a key part of its testing program for Starship and its Raptor engine. These prototypes are equipped with only one such engine, but the final production version will have six, including three designed to fly in Earth’s atmosphere, and three to be used while the vehicle is in space. Read more here.

Finally, Honcho, a compliance and governance-based software for businesses, raised $4 million in Series A financing with participation by Greenspring primary manager Founders Fund. Read more here. 

German multinational pharmaceutical conglomerate Bayer announced that it is acquiring 70% of four-year-old personalized vitamin company Care/of in a transaction that values it at $225 million. 

Reliable Robotics, which is aiming to bring advanced automation to aircrafts, has raised $33.5 in recent financing with participation from Greenspring primary manager Lightspeed Venture Partners. Read more here.

Another SPAC: Volkswagen-backed portfolio company QuantumScape has plans to go public via SPAC to raise the capital it needs to commercialize solid-state batteries for electric vehicles. The merger will give QuantumScape a post-deal market valuation of $3.3 billion. More here.

Juni Learning, provider of online classes for students ages 8 through 18, has raised $10.5 million in Series A financing with participation from Greenspring primary manager Pear VC. Read more here. 

After a successful Electron rocket launch earlier in the week, Greenspring direct investment Rocket Lab has recently gained a key clearance from the US FAA to be able to launch from U.S. soil at a facility in Virginia. Read more about this here.

Scopely was recognized in the top 5 of global mobile game makers by PocketGamer on their annual list of Top 50 Mobile Game Makers, up from 10th place last year - and #33 in 2018. See the full list here.

Only one more day to vote for Greenspring Associates in the 2020 annual Private Equity Wire US Awards as 'Best Growth Manager (Fund Size sub $1 billion)' and 'Best Fund-of-Funds Manager'! 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.

Despite the dizzying climate surrounding relations with the U.S., China is one of the few VC markets that is large enough to be self-sufficient, making it a fertile ground for value creation and an area of opportunity for venture investment. Read about our investment case for the region here.

Please join us in welcoming our two new hires this week at Greenspring! Nicole Christopher is joining the Finance team as a Senior Accountant. She was most recently an Assurance Senior at Ernst & Young. She received her Accounting degree from East Carolina University. Shaan Mehta is joining the Investment Team as an Associate. He was most recently at The Vanguard Group in their MBA Leadership Development Program. Shaan graduated from George Washington University with a Bachelor of Business Administration and received his MBA from Duke University.  

💁‍♀️ On September 9th and 10th, The Information will be virtually hosting their 2020 WTF Summit gathering women from tech, media and finance industries with a focus on empowering women to become the business leaders of tomorrow. One of the many exciting speakers is Emily Weiss, the CEO and Founder of Greenspring secondary investment Glossier, who will be discussing the explosive growth of her business and its expansion. Check out the other speakers and RSVP for the event here.

❗Join Peter Fenton, General Partner at Greenspring primary manager Benchmark, for a rare interview at TechCrunch Disrupt 2020 where he will discuss the future of startups and VC. Learn more about it here.

Join us in welcoming Arvind Gupta to Greenspring primary manager Mayfield! With Arvind’s arrival Mayfield has launched the Genesis Consortium, an alliance of funds and corporations to promote human and planetary evolution. Learn more about this exciting new partnership here.

7Chairs, backed by Greenspring primary manager NFX, is a platform that proudly provides online group support facilitated by licensed therapists. 7Chairs offers a place where people walking the same difficult path can meet, connect and be heard. Learn more about the company and how it’s helping people tackle difficult times 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.