Hangover on the Tech scene 😶🌫️
Weekly press review in Tech & Web3 - 11th April 2022 - Issue #43
I’m Sebastien co-founder and CEO of Early Metrics. TechWatchbySeb is a weekly newsletter to provide Tech Investors, Entrepreneurs & Innovators with my selection of news on the Tech and Web3 ecosystems.
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Summary for this week
Before starting ☕️
Section 1 - Tech main news:
Hangover on the tech scene
Health tech for good
Luxury on the tech hype
Section 2 - Web3 main news:
Banks moving to Web3
From Web 2 to Web 3 real cases
A seed at 45Bn valuation
Total of articles reviewed this week: 26
Before starting ☕️,
It was not expected, and unknown, but last week while doing a google search to find my newsletter I saw, as a surprise, that I was shortlisted as a 😎😎:
Top Influencers: 5 UK President and Co-founder’s To Follow in 2022
By welpmagazine
After this great news, let’s start our weekly wrap up.
🥇Hangover on the tech scene
Last week, was announced two important failures in the Tech Scenes:
Fast 🇺🇸, a company that provides an online login and checkout solutions designed to provide users with a secure shopping experience. The company was created in 2019 and raised last year $125M with some prestigious Investors such as Stripe, Index ventures. It was announced last week that the company was going to bankruptcy.
Better.com 🇺🇸, is a homeownership journey platform that utilises technology to change the way people buy and own a home. The company was created in 2016 and has raised to date $950M with investors such as Softbank. They announced recently to laid off almost 4000 people. The company is not over and the management team is fighting to accelerate the cost reduction as fast as possible.
Source:
Fast: businessinsider
Better.com: Techcrunch
🥈Health tech for good 🧬
Last week was pretty active for the health tech sector with the announcement of:
Clarify Health 🇺🇸: enables health systems to deliver more satisfying and efficient care through a software and analytics platform that provides real-time insights and nudges to patients, family members, and clinicians. The company was created in 2015 and just announced the fundraising of $300M at $1.4M valuation. The round is led by Softbank 🇯🇵 and involve also Blackrock 🇺🇸.
BostonGene🇺🇸: is pioneering the use of biomedical software for advanced patient analysis and personalised therapy decision making in the fight against cancer. The company was also created in 2015 and just announced to have raised $150M at a $1bn valuation. The round is led NEC Corporation 🇯🇵.
Intelycare🇺🇸: offers a digital workforce augmentation platform that combines a gig-model application with advanced data science to optimise staff resources and close the widening gap between workforce supply and demand. The company was founded in 2015 and announced to have raised $115M at a $1Bn valuation. The round is led by Janus Henderson Investors 🇬🇧
Source:
🥉Luxury on the tech hype
Definitly the luxury sector is facing a major acceleration in the Tech ecosystem. Last week I already highlighted Shein which was valued at $100bn.
This week another Chinese company announced an important fundraising: Zhiyi Tech 🇨🇳 offers artificial intelligence technology services in the apparel industry. The company created in 2018 has just announced a $100M fundraising led by GL Ventures 🇺🇸.
Also, last week the listed online luxury marketplace company Farfetch 🇬🇧 has announced a minority investment of $200M in the company Neiman Marcus Group a Shop fashion's top names for women, men, and kids.
Source:
Zhiyi Tech: Techcrunch
Neiman Marcus Group: dallasinnovates
🥇Banks moving to Web3
It’s very interesting to see Banks trying to look at opportunities of what Web3 can offer to their clients. This week I saw 2 interesting updates:
CLabs to work with eCurrency to integrate CBDCs With DeFi: CLabs, the organization behind developing the Celo ecosystem, said Friday it will be working with eCurrency, the technology provider that enables central banks to issue digital currencies (CBDC). Through the partnership, central banks that are trialing or launching CBDCs will be able to use the Celo blockchain to allow end users access to decentralized finance (DeFi) products, according to a press release.
HSBC launches metaverse portfolio for wealthy Asian clients: HSBC Holdings has launched a fund to capture investment opportunities in the metaverse for its rich clients in Hong Kong and Singapore as financial services companies tap into Silicon Valley's new virtual reality.
Sources:
🥈 From Web 2 to Web 3 real cases
In the continuity of the previous section on traditional companies looking at WEB3 opportunities. It was interesting to highlight those 2 operations with:
Bolt 🇺🇸, Payments company to buy Wyre 🇺🇸in cryptocurrency push: Bolt is developing a checkout experience platform that helps retailers convert and retain more of their shoppers and has raised to date $1.3Bn. Founded in 2013, Wyre provides payments infrastructure for cryptocurrencies.
Since last year, the crypto market has seen a surge of investor interest with large venture investors, celebrities and blue-chip companies doubling down on crypto investments.
Will Apple build its own blockchain? This question was raised by the Techcrunch journalist @lucasmtny after Apple accepted the NFT company to launch their app on the apple store. Even if the App doesn’t allow user to bid, buy and Sell NFTs it is definitely an interesting move.
Source:
Bolt: Reuters
Apple: Techcrunch
🥉A seed at $45Bn valuation
Definitely the crypto scene is going to explose all the records. This week was announced a major Seed round at a $45Bn valuation:
Crypto Exchange Binance.US 🇺🇸 Raises $200M-Plus ‘Seed’ Round At $4.5B:
Although large for a so-called “seed” round, the company says it is its first funding round. The round included investment by RRE Ventures, Foundation Capital, Original Capital, VanEck, Circle Ventures and others.
Source: Crunchbase
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👍 That’s it for this week, wishing you a great week ahead, and feel free to share if you like 😁