Forum Brands, an e-commerce acquisition platform, announced today that it has secured $100 million in debt funding from TriplePoint Capital. The financing comes just over two months after the startup raised $27 million in an equity funding round led by Norwest Venture Partners. Brenton Howland, Ruben Amar and Alex Kopco founded New York-based Forum Brands […]
Blueprint raises $16M Series B to grow its title-focused insurtech business
Blueprint CEO Steve Berneman thinks that the $18 billion title insurance business should really be a $10 billion market. It was, we believe, the first time a startup discussed shrinking its market.
What Amplitude’s choice to direct list says about its products, growth and value
The recent round followed by a quick direct listing means that we’ll be able to mock Sequoia if Amplitude winds up worth more than $4.15 billion when it floats.
Insurify, a ‘virtual insurance agent,’ raises $100M Series B
How many of us have not switched insurance carriers because we don’t want to deal with the hassle of comparison shopping? A lot, I’d bet. Today, Insurify, a startup that wants to help make it easier for people to get better rates on home, auto and life insurance, announced that it has closed $100 million […]
Flat.mx raises $20M from VCs, proptech unicorn founders to fix Mexico’s ‘broken’ real estate market
Flat.mx, which wants to build a real estate “super app” for Latin America, has closed on a $20 million Series A round of funding. Anthemis and 500 Startups co-led the investment, which included participation from ALLVP and Expa. Previously, Flat.mx had raised a total $10 million in equity and $25 million in debt. Other backers […]
Vista Equity to acquire majority stake in SaaS startup Drift, taking it to unicorn status
Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners announced today that it is taking a majority stake in Drift, a company which aims to be the Amazon of businesses, with a “growth investment” that propels the venture-backed startup to unicorn status. Unfortunately, neither party would disclose the amount of the investment, or Drift’s new valuation. But co-founder […]
“Knowledge-as-a-service” platform Lynk lands funding from UBS’ Investment Bank
Lynk, the “knowledge-as-a-service” platform with more than 840,000 experts, announced today it has added $5 million raised from UBS’ Investment Bank division to its previously announced Series B. This brings the round’s new total to $29 million. The strategic investment marks the first time UBS has invested private equity in Lynk. The startup, which has […]
Sanas aims to convert one accent to another in real time for smoother customer service calls
In the customer service industry, your accent dictates many aspects of your job. It shouldn’t be the case that there’s a “better” or “worse” accent, but in today’s global economy (though who knows about tomorrow’s) it’s valuable to sound American or British. While many undergo accent neutralization training, Sanas is a startup with another approach […]
Extra Crunch roundup: Toast and Freshworks S-1s, pre-pitch tips, flexible funding lessons
The digital transformation currently sweeping society has likely reached your favorite local restaurant. Since 2013, Boston-based Toast has offered bars and eateries a software platform that lets them manage orders, payments and deliveries. Over the last year, its customers have processed more than $38 billion in gross payment volume, so Alex Wilhelm analyzed the company’s […]
Inside Freshworks’ IPO filing
Let’s dig into the company’s historical growth, track Freshworks’ changing profitability profile and check to see if its revenue quality is improving over time.