Good day. Fika Ventures, founded by Eva Ho and TX Zhuo in 2016, has raised a $160 million third core fund, as well as its first opportunity fund at $35 million. Fika's journey, which started with a $41 million fund raised five years ago, demonstrates how a venture firm can evolve and adjust to changes in the market.
The firm's first fund, Ms. Ho says, was a test case of a new brand and a new partnership investing primarily in seed-stage enterprise software and fintech startups with a focus on Los Angeles. Over time, Fika (pronounced Feeka), was seeing mark-ups, winning more deals as a lead investor and getting invitations to participate in follow-on rounds for its portfolio companies as well, Ms. Ho said.
The dynamic justified bigger funds, the partners said, since leading deals requires bigger checks, especially as financings overall have been getting larger. Fika expects to lead about two-thirds of deals from its third fund, compared with 30% in the first fund and half in the second fund, Ms. Ho said. The firm raised a $77 million second fund in 2019 and has moved on to the new set of larger funds now.
Limited partners in Fika's new funds include Greenspring Associates, Hall Capital Partners, Cross Creek Advisors and the State of Michigan, as well as new backer FourBridge Partners.
The need for the first opportunity fund arose because without it, Fika had to raise special-purpose vehicles, to invest more in its breakout companies. That process was getting too slow for some deals in the current environment, Mr. Zhuo said.
"It is a nice graduation process," Ms. Ho said of the opportunity fund, which she said could only have happened after the firm built a track record with its initial funds.
And now on to the news ...
Top News
Winemakers tap artificial intelligence. California winemakers are using artificial intelligence developed by a software startup to help salvage grapes damaged by smoke from the state's massive wildfires, Angus Loten reports for WSJ Pro. Ahead of next month's peak harvesting season, dozens of vintners are using an AI-powered model from Tastry Inc. to identify viable blending options that mask unwanted smoky flavors, according to the seven-year-old San Luis Obispo, Calif., company. Narrowing the options can reduce production delays and get wines onto store shelves faster, compared with the time and expertise needed to taste-test as many variations as possible, winemakers said.
$359,900
The median existing-home price in July eased to this level from a revised record high of $362,800 the prior month, the National Association of Realtors said. (WSJ)
Vox Media Agrees to Acquire Punch, Weighs Going Public
Vox Media LLC said on Monday it is buying Punch, a cocktail website founded by Bertelsmann SE's Penguin Random House, part of a bid to deepen its coverage of food and drinks, The Wall Street Journal reports. Vox Media and Penguin Random House declined to disclose terms of the deal. The deal with Punch comes as Vox Media -- owner of tech-focused website the Verge, current-events site Vox.com and sports-focused SB Nation -- is considering several options that would allow the company to finance further expansion, according to people familiar with the matter. Those options include going public through a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, a traditional IPO or raising additional funding, those people said.
Walmart Opens Local Delivery Service to Other Retailers
Walmart Inc. drivers will soon be making deliveries for other merchants, WSJ reports. The big-box retailer is opening up its in-house delivery platform, Spark Driver, to other businesses so that the independent contractors who are out delivering Walmart groceries and other merchandise can make additional deliveries along the way. The service, called Walmart GoLocal, offers another way for the retailer to beef up its delivery platform and add more paying pickup and drop-offs while drivers are out.
Urban Outfitters to Take On Poshmark With Its Own Thrift Store App
Urban Outfitters Inc. will launch a marketplace for secondhand goods, seeking to turn its customers into sellers and keep them from turning to online resellers such as Poshmark Inc. and thredUP Inc. The company's Nuuly Thrift, launching as an iPhone app this fall, will join a growing list of peer-to-peer services from retail chains. The companies stand to collect commissions on resales while they risk cannibalizing sales of new merchandise, Charity L. Scott writes for the Journal.
Industry News
People
PlanSource Inc., an Orlando, Florida-based cloud-based benefits startup, hired Tom Signorello as its chief executive officer. Mr. Signorello joins the company as current CEO Dayne Williams becomes executive chairman.
New Money
Off Market Data Inc., a New York City-based artificial intelligence critical infrastructure security startup that does business as Urbint, raised a $60 million Series C investment round led by Energize Ventures. Investors including American Electric Power, OGCI Climate Investments, Energy Impact Partners, National Grid Partners, Blue Bear Capital and Salesforce Ventures participated in the deal.
Elixiron Immunotherapeutics Inc., a startup developing therapeutics for cancer, neurological diseases and inflammatory disorders, raised a Series A-1 extension financing round, bringing the total Series A-1 raise to $27 million. Pangu Capital and Taiwania Capital led the round. Participating investors include DCI Partners of Daiwa Securities Group, Mega International Commercial Bank, Fubon Financial Holdings and Hong Tai Electric Industrial.
Trifecta Inc., a Sacramento, Calif.-based organic-food delivery service, closed a $20 million Series B round. Spring Lake Equity Partners led the investment, with Managing Partner Bob Forlenza joining the company's board. Data Point Capital and Raptor Group also contributed to the funding.
Regrow, sustainable agtech software startup, completed a $17 million oversubscribed Series A round. New investors Ajax Strategies, Tenacious Ventures and Cargill were joined by existing backers including M12 and others in the funding.
Shimmy Inc., a newly-launched subscription-based hand sanitizer brand based in Boston, was seeded with a $3 million investment from investors including Wayfund.
Infinite Canvas, a Los Angeles-based startup that partners with influential metaverse creators to build, scale and distribute virtual experiences on Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft, launched with $2.8 million in pre-seed funding. Lightshed Venture Partners led the round, which included participation from Bitkraft Ventures, Day One Ventures and others.
Tech News
Intel lands Pentagon deal to support domestic chip making
Company data hoards create tempting targets for hackers
The world's hottest smartphone brand is Chinese -- and it isn't Huawei
Around the Web
What to do with all those vacant offices? Startups seeing space for 'learning pods,' 'microgyms' and more (Crunchbase News)
Kapacity.io using AI for energy and emissions savings for real estate (TechCrunch)
Technology hiring continued to surge in the second quarter of 2021 (Dice)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
08-24-21 0939ET
