The e-commerce space was given enormous boost by the covid-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders around the globe.
Author: Kaloyan Andonov, Rob Lavine
Analysis: Oscar goes public
Ping An and Alphabet-backed health insurer Oscar priced an upsized offering above its range to raise $1.44bn. The offering is part of the broader health space, which has seen many exits in the past years.
Analysis: Hyperconnect gets a Match in a $1.73bn acquisition
Hyperconnect is being acquired for nearly $1.73bn by the Match Group, giving an exit to SoftBank, which was one of the early investors in the company.
Analysis: Robinhood raises $3.4bn
The share trading platform operator reportedly secured a combination of equity and debt funding to face obligations arising from the recent stock market frenzy.
Analysis: Rivian drives a $2.65bn round
Before the commercial release of Rivians’ electric vehicles (EV) this year, Amazon has returned to back the company in a round valuing it at $27.6bn. The EV space is among the hottest in the automotive business and valuations have remained high despite the cyclical nature of demand for vehicles.
Analysis: Interesting start for payment tech
The payment tech space saw a flurry of activity in mid-January with two series D rounds and an aborted acquisition at corporate-backed companies.
Analysis: Udaan increases series D
Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce marketplace Udaan extended its series D round with a $280m tranche, featuring Tencent. The company is one of the comparatively few B2B e-commerce deals we have reported, despite the relative size and importance of the B2B in it.
Analysis: Sila Nano raises $590m in Series F
Battery producer Sila Nanotechnologies, previously backed by a number of corporates, raised its latest multimillion dollar round, tripling its valuation.
Analysis: Aurora merges with Uber ATG
Ride-hailing service Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) subsidiary agreed to merge with self-driving technology developer Aurora with Uber investing $400m in the latter.
Analysis: DoorDash goes public in $3.37bn IPO
The company priced an upsized IPO nearly doubling its valuation six months ago. It is part of a the food delivery space which was given a boost by the pandemic.
Analysis: Salesforce acquires Slack in $27.7bn deal
Cloud-based enterprise software producer Salesforce agreed to acquire Slack, the US-based publicly listed communication platform which previously counted telecoms firm SoftBank, internet conglomerate Alphabet and media group Comcast among its backers.
Analysis: Adobe works out a $1.5bn Workfront acquisition
Marketing and imaging software producer Adobe agreed to acquire US-based work management software provider Workfront in a $1.5bn deal, giving quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group (SIG) an exit.
Analysis: Eightfold recruits $125m
US-based smart digital recruitment platform developer Eightfold raised $125m in series D funding from investors including financial services firm Capital One at a $1bn valuation.
Analysis: 10x Genomics acquires ReadCoor for $350m
Eli Lilly is to exit the genetic sequencing system provider Readcoor in a cash-and-share acquisition by 10x Genomics. This is one of the relatively few exits we have seen in this space over the past decade.