Splice gets $55 million for its software bringing beats from bedrooms to bandstands

Splice, the New York-based, AI-infused, beat-making software service for music producers created by the founder of GroupMe, has managed to sample another $55 million in financing from investors for its wildly popular service. The github for music producers ranging from Hook N Sling, Mr Hudson, SLY, and Steve Solomon to TechCrunch’s own Megan Rose Dickey, Splice gained a following for its ability to help electronic dance music creators save, share, collaborate and remix music. The company’s popul...
Tags: TC, New York, Microsoft, Tech, Artificial Intelligence, Computing, Machine Learning, Goldman Sachs, Vice President, Louisiana, Financial Services, True Ventures, Skype, Hudson, Dfj Growth, Founder

Facebook to acquire Giphy in a deal reportedly worth $400 million

Facebook will acquire Giphy, the web-based animated gif search engine and platform provider, Facebook confirmed today, in a deal worth around $400 million, according to a report by Axios. Facebook said it isn’t disclosing terms of the deal. Giphy has grown to be a central source for shareable, high-engagement content, and its animated response gifs are available across Facebook’s platforms, as well as through other social apps and services on the web. Most notably, Giphy provides built-in ...
Tags: Travel, TC, Facebook, Twitter, Social Media, Gif, Whatsapp, Software, M&a, Search Engine, BetaWorks, Photo Sharing, Operating Systems, Dfj Growth, Dfj, Giphy

Divesting from one facial recognition startup, Microsoft ends outside investments in the tech

Microsoft is pulling out of an investment in an Israeli facial recognition technology developer as part of a broader policy shift to halt any minority investments in facial recognition startups, the company announced late last week. The decision to withdraw its investment from AnyVision, an Israeli company developing facial recognition software, came as a result of an investigation into reports that AnyVision’s technology was being used by the Israeli government to surveil residents in the...
Tags: Security, TC, Learning, Microsoft, Eric Holder, Israel, Tech, Skills, Surveillance, Law Enforcement, United States, President, West Bank, National Security, Prevention, Smith

AI Startup Clinc Snags $52M Series B to Expand Offices, Markets

Ann Arbor, MI-based startup Clinc, which is focused on developing conversational artificial intelligence software for use in chatbots, has raised $52 million in a Series B round, the company announced this week. The round was led by Insight Partners, with participation from DFJ Growth, Drive Capital, and Hyde Park Venture Partners.As part of the deal, Jeff Lieberman, Insight Partners’ managing director, will join Clinc’s board of directors while DFJ Growth’s Randy Glein will join its board of a...
Tags: Startups, Entrepreneurship, Trends, Tech, Vc, Artificial Intelligence, Software, Barclays, Innovation, Venture Capital, Detroit, Dfj Growth, Dfj, Series B, University Of Michigan, Randy Glein

Seattle’s Outreach Joins Unicorn Ranks With $114M Funding Round

Another tech “unicorn”—privately controlled startups valued at $1 billion or more—has been minted following sales software company Outreach’s latest venture funding round, a $114 million deal.Seattle-based Outreach develops customer relationship management tools designed to improve communication between salespeople and their prospective clients. Launched in 2013, the startup says its most recent round of financing values Outreach at $1.1 billion and brings its total funding haul to $239 million...
Tags: Deals, Startups, Uber, Pinterest, Microsoft, Sales, Trends, Tech, IPOs, Outreach, Vc, Seattle, Unicorns, Drift, Dfj Growth, Meritech Capital partners

Machine Learning Firm DataRobot Gets $100M To Automate Data Science

Boston startup DataRobot wrapped up a new $100 million funding round, injecting more cash into what was already one of the region’s biggest bets on machine learning and artificial intelligence.Palo Alto, CA-based venture firms Meritech and Sapphire Ventures led the Series D investment, with DFJ Growth, New Enterprise Associates, and IA Ventures also participating in the deal, DataRobot said in an e-mail to Xconomy.DataRobot said the additional backing puts the company’s total venture funding at...
Tags: Deals, Startups, Boston, Trends, Startup, It, Palo Alto, Vc, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Venture Capital, Machine Learning, Dfj Growth, New Enterprise Associates, Sapphire Ventures, Ia Ventures

Anaplan Ups Estimate For Its IPO Haul; Allogene IPO Raises $288M

San Francisco-based Anaplan, one of five companies planning to close initial public offerings this week, raised the expected price range for its shares in an SEC filing Wednesday, signaling an IPO that could be richer than it had anticipated.Enterprise planning software company Anaplan, which is privately valued at more than $1.4 billion, had originally proposed selling 15.5 million shares of common stock at a range of $13 to $15 per share. In an amendment to its securities registration filing,...
Tags: Deals, Startups, Internet, Entrepreneurship, Ipo, Funding, San Francisco, Trends, Hp, Web, It, Vc, Software, Innovation, Venture Capital, Anaplan

SoftBank Continues Funding Spree, Leads $865M Round for Katerra

Katerra, a building construction startup inspired by the efficient practices of electronics manufacturing, announced today it has raised $865 million in a Series D fundraising round led by the SoftBank Vision Fund. The company was co-founded in 2015 by Michael Marks, the former CEO of contract electronics manufacturer Flextronics. Katerra has large-scale ambitions that match the goals of the huge Vision Fund, which announced in May that it had scored investor commitments of $93 billion on...
Tags: Deals, Startups, Internet, Entrepreneurship, Softbank, Funding, San Francisco, Trends, Supply Chain, Web, It, Vc, Software, Innovation, Venture Capital, Financing

Mapbox, Bill.com, Standard Cognition, Empowered by New Cash

—Mapbox announced Tuesday it had raised a hefty $164 million in a Series C financing round led by the SoftBank Vision Fund, which was joined by Foundry Group, DFJ Growth, DBL, and Thrive. The new capital will speed up Mapbox’s progress in vehicle navigation and autonomous driving, enlarge its virtual reality and augmented reality gaming capabilities, and fund its expansion into Southeast Asia, China, and Europe, CEO Eric Gundersen said in a blogpost about the financing. The company is one...
Tags: Google, Amazon, Deals, Startups, Mobile, Y Combinator, Europe, Internet, Entrepreneurship, Funding, San Francisco, Trends, Web, It, Vc, Software

Big Fundraising Week for Slack, Patreon, TigerGraph, Others in Bay Area

Silicon Valley companies, from big ones with millions of users to infant startups, rolled up some money from investors this week. —San Francisco-based Slack, which offers shared messaging channels for workplace teams, raised $250 million to pad out its cash cushion from the $591 million the company had already raised, Bloomberg reported. The big round was led by SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund—which pitched in more than half the money—joined by other investors including Accel, Bloomber...
Tags: Apple, Google, Amazon, Deals, Startups, Mobile, Hardware, Internet, Youtube, Entrepreneurship, Ipo, Softbank, Funding, San Francisco, Trends, Bloomberg

Smartsheet, Outreach, Echodyne, Bulletproof, and Discuss.io Raise VC

Seattle-area tech companies announced a spate of eight-figure investment rounds this week. Here’s a rundown of who’s raising and who’s investing: —Smartsheet. The Bellevue, WA-based maker of online project management and collaboration tools announced a $52.1 million Series F funding round Wednesday. Insight Ventures Partners, an existing backer, took the lead on the funding—Smartsheet’s first since 2014. Prior investors Madrona Venture Group and Sutter Hill Ventures also participated, alo...
Tags: Startups, Ebay, Trends, Unilever, It, Outreach, Vc, Innovation, Seattle, Pepsico, Dfj Growth, Sutter Hill Ventures, Microsoft Ventures, Madrona Venture Group, Trinity Ventures, Nestle

Outreach raises $30 million pitching a tool sales teams can use to sell more and work less

 Outreach, a software developer selling services that gives sales forces a needed prompt to more efficiently use their time and optimize sales, along with an organizational tool to manage their pitching process, has just raised $30 million with that very pitch. The company touts its ability to triple the volume of meetings and increase the sales pipeline for front-line sales… Read More
Tags: TC, Business, Sales, Tech, Economy, Outreach, Dfj Growth, Trinity Ventures, Toutapp, SalesLoft, Closing

A Q&A with DFJ Partner, Bill Bryant, on “unicorn” valuations and startup investing

 Pundits are painting a picture of doom and gloom for startups, saying it will be harder to raise money. What do you think? I think the next several months and possibly years will be challenging for raising capital. There has definitely been a reset. The market was over extended in an unhealthy way and we are seeing the impact across the board. The catalyst for this reset has been the collapse… Read More
Tags: TC, Column, Chef, Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneur, Tech, Bitcoin, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Mergers and Acquisitions, Dfj Growth, Dfj, Remitly, Startup Company, Bill Bryant

DFJ Growth is targeting a new, $500 million fund

 DFJ Growth, the 10-year-old growth-stage arm of the 30-year-old Sand Hill Road firm, is raising a new $500 million fund, suggests an SEC filing first flagged by Fortune. The timing fits the narrative of many Silicon Valley venture firms, many of which have been returning to their LPs in two years’ time, rather than a more traditional three or four years. Indeed, the firm raised its… Read More
Tags: Fundings & Exits, TC, Tech, SEC, Silicon Valley, Dfj Growth, Dfj, Sand Hill Road, Randy Glein

Randy Glein of DFJ Growth On Today’s Crazy Late-Stage Market

 DFJ, the renowned Sand Hill Road Firm, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. At the same time, its low-flying, later-stage offshoot, DFJ Growth, is turning 10. This week, we caught up with DFJ Growth cofounder Randy Glein to understand how closely related or not the two remain, how the firm is feeling about the shaky late-stage market, and whether his team of five general… Read More
Tags: TC, Spacex, Tumblr, Tesla Motors, Dfj Growth, Dfj, Admob, Randy Glein

Mapbox Raises $52.6M Led By DFJ To Be The “Map Layer” For All Apps

 With questions swirling over who may end up buying Nokia’s mapping division Here, a startup trying to disrupt it and other big boys like Google has raised some major funding. Mapbox, a developer of customizable maps used by third-party apps like Foursquare, Pinterest, Mapquest and 16,000 others, has raised $52.55 million in a Series B round of funding. The company claims that it’s… Read More
Tags: Google, TC, Transportation, Mobile, Apps, Maps, Enterprise, Nokia, Location, Mapbox, Dfj Growth, Dfj, Foursquare Pinterest Mapquest