With so much going on in the city’s thriving ecosystem, it is easy to miss some of the happenings in the space. We keep you abreast of a few of things that you may have missed in NYC Tech News for the week ending 3/30 including the NYC startup fundings, NYC startup exits, and NYC Tech events including news for The Outline, Dynamic Yield, Casper, and much more…
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Mattress startup Casper has raised an additional $100M in Series D funding to become the latest NYC unicorn. The funding came from investors that include Target, NEA and Norwest Venture Partners. This round comes at a reported $1.1B post-money valuation. Casper Series C round in 2017 was $920M post-money.
Earlier this week, Casper was rumored to be looking for an underwriter for an upcoming public offering. Founded by Constantin Eis, Gabriel Flateman, Jeff Chapin, Neil Parikh, Philip Krim, and T. Luke Sherwin in 2014, Casper had previously raised a total of $240M in reported equity funding.
Online marketplace 1stdibs has raised an additional $76M in Series D funding led by T. Rowe Price. This round comes at a reported $500M post-money valuation. Founded by Laurence Forcione and Michael Bruno in 2001, 1stdibs has now raised a total of $253M in reported equity funding.
AI-powered personalization platform Dynamic Yield has been acquired by McDonald’s. The terms of the deal were not publicly disclosed but sources with knowledge of the transaction have pegged the total amount to be north of $300M. Full coverage – McDonald’s Acquires Dynamic Yield
Prevail Therapeutics, the biotech company focused on developing therapies for the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease, has raised $50M in Series B funding from investors that include OrbiMed, RA Capital Management, Pontifax, Omega Funds, Adage Capital Management, EcoR1 Capital, AbbVie Biotech Ventures, Biotechnology Value Fund, Boxer Capital, and Surveyor Capital. Founded by Asa Abeliovich in 2017, Prevail Therapeutics has now raised a total of $125M in reported equity funding.
Ellevest, the leading destination for financial and investment for women, has raised an additional $28M in funding according to a recent SEC filing. The filing indicates that the total filing is for $33M and that there were thirty-six participants in this close. Founded by Charlie Kroll and Sallie Krawcheck in 2014, Ellevest had previously raised $34.5M in reported equity funding.
Bustle Digital Group has scooped up The Outline, a digital news publication launched in 2016 by Joshua Topolosky. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Full coverage: Bustle Digital Group Acquires The Outline in its Latest String of Acquisitions
Applicaster, the cloud-based platform for developers focused on media, has raised an additional $20M in funding from investors that include Pitango Venture Capital, 83North, Viola Growth, Planven Investments, and Saban Ventures. Founded by Jonathan Laor and Neer Friedman in 2011, Applicaster has now raised a total of $30.5M in reported equity funding.
CB4, the machine learning powered software that improves operations in brick and mortar retailers to increase sales, has raised $16M in Series B funding from investors that include Sequoia Capital, Octopus Ventures, Pereg Ventures, and Sonae IM. Founded by Gonen Singer and Irad Ben-Gal in 2010, CB4 has now raised a total of $22M in reported equity funding with its previous round, which was led by Sequoia, coming back in 2014.
RADAR, the inventory management platform that uses RFID and computer vision, has raised $16M in Series A funding from investors that include Pathfinder, Sound Ventures, Novel TMT Ventures, NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Colle Capital Partners, Beanstalk Ventures, and Align Ventures. RADAR was founded by Adam Blair, Michael E. Murphy, and Spencer Hewett in 2013 and is a graduate of Y-Combinator.
PhotoShelter, the platform for photographers, has raised an additional $8M in funding from growth equity firm Level Structured Capital, an affiliate of private equity firm Level Equity. Founded by Allen Murabayashi, Grover Sanschagrin, Jason Burfield, and Jeffrey Arnold in 2005, PhotoShelter has raised a total of $12.2M in reported equity funding with its previous round, which was led by General Catalyst, coming back in 2007.
In a round that AlleyWatch first flagged back in January social stock trading app Matador, which was founded as TapX Trading, officially launched and announced its Series A round. The funding comes from Accel, Greycroft, and Advancit Capital. Matador has now raised a total of ~$8.6M in funding over two reported rounds.
UpTop digitized the renting process, including managing roommates and cosigners, and it raised $5.5M in funding led by KAL Investments UpTop was founded in 2016 by Brad Merder and Francis Barletta.
AI-powered knowledge management platform Satisfi Labs has raised an additional $4.6M in funding. Learn all about the funding round and company’s plans in an exclusive interview with Satisfi Lab’s cofounder and CEO Don White.
Social gaming startup Player’s Lounge has raised $3M in Seed funding from investors that include Canaan Partners, RRE Ventures, Courtside Ventures, Marissa Mayer, Comcast, Strauss Zelnick, Aubrey Graham (Drake), and MacroVentures. Founded by Austin Woolridge, Dan Delaney, Mark Murphy, and Zach Dixon in 2016, Player’s Lounge has now raised a total of $3.7M in reported equity funding. The company is a graduate of Y-Combinator.
