Roundup of news and ideas from the world of startups – Week ending 23rd Sept 2018
News you can use
Cluep, a Canadian startup that raised just $500K, acquired for $40M – Everyone loves a tale of a bootstrapped startup founder’s journey to an eight-figure exit. The team at Toronto-based Cluep have a good one. The founders of the adtech startup raised less than $500,000 from angel investors before selling their company to Impact Group for $40 million ($53 million CAD) this week. Founded in 2012, Karan Walia, Sobi Walia and Anton Mamonov were just 21, 17 and 16 years old, respectively, when they started the digital advertising platform, which uses artificial intelligence to help brands connect and engage with people based on what they are sharing, how they are feeling and the places they’ve been.
France’s Total acquires electric vehicle charging startup G2mobility – French major Total said Thursday it has bought out G2mobility, a France-based electric vehicle charging startup, following similar moves into the sector by peers Shell and BP. Total already had plans to install electric vehicle charging points across its French retail network, to meet the growing demand for cleaner transport fuels. Shell in October 2017 agreed to buy Netherlands-based electric charging company NewMotion, while BP in June this year purchased Chargemaster, the UK’s largest electric vehicle charging company. European oil majors in particular are looking to offer a wider range of energy supply solutions as they look to improve their environmental credentials.
For a Start-Up, 100 Million Was Once Big Money. Now, It’s Common – An interesting article in the New York Times reviews startups that are generating ‘mega-round’ investments; essentially large-scale fund raising of more than $100 million. For the start-ups, the pots of money are changing the normal way of building a tech company. They must move even faster, expand their ambitions and collect more investment money than ever — even if they might not be ready. They risk becoming too reliant on funding and never finding a path to profit.
Corporate M&A
Cluep, a Canadian startup that raised just $500K, acquired for $40M – Everyone loves a tale of a bootstrapped startup founder’s journey to an eight-figure exit. The team at Toronto-based Cluep have a good one. The founders of the adtech startup raised less than $500,000 from angel investors before selling their company to Impact Group for $40 million ($53 million CAD) this week.Founded in 2012, Karan Walia, Sobi Walia and Anton Mamonov were just 21, 17 and 16 years old, respectively, when they started the digital advertising platform, which uses artificial intelligence to help brands connect and engage with people based on what they are sharing, how they are feeling and the places they’ve been.
Vonage acquires cloud-based contact center startup NewVoiceMedia for $350M in cash – More consolidation is afoot in the world of cloud-based voice services. Today, Vonage — once a VoIP pioneer that today offers cloud-based unified communications and other IP services in the business market — announced that it would acquire NewVoiceMedia, a UK startup that builds cloud-based contact center solutions, for $350 million in cash. Vonage says the price represents 3.8 times NewVoiceMedia’s projected 2019 revenue. But it isn’t a stellar exit for the startup, which has been around since 1998 and was last valued at upwards of $311 million, according to Pitchbook data. That was over two years ago, and we’d heard the valuation was actually closer to $500 million at the time. Its investors included Bessemer Venture Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and more.
Microsoft buys AI startup Lobe – Microsoft announced that it has acquired Lobe, an AI startup that helps developers make deep-learning models without coding. Lobe, a platform that can understand hand gestures, read handwriting, and hear music, will continue to develop as a standalone service. Lobe was founded in 2015 by Mike Matas, Adam Menges, and Markus Beissinger in order to make deep learning accessible to everyone.
Startup shut and failed last week
Payza To Shut Down Bangladesh Operation – Payza, the London-based digital payment service company that has been operating in Bangladesh for the last couple of years, has announced that it will shut down its platform in Bangladesh, effective from 16th October 2018. In an email sent to Payza users in Bangladesh, the company requested users to withdraw their money from Payza account by 16th October and said that the Payza BD platform will no longer be functional after 16th October and said that users would not be able to withdraw fund after the deadline. It has also sent details instruction regarding how to withdraw fund from any Payza account.
Google funded Drone startup Airware to shut down – Airware, a google funded startup that had raised $118 million from top investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Google’s GV, and Kleiner Perkins informed its employees that it was ceasing operations. Drones are enabling companies to more efficiently and effectively capture data, and Airware allows enterprises to integrate this data with existing information and workflows to improve efficiency, productivity, and safety. Airware was positioning itself as an “enterprise drone analytics company” trying to help enterprises harness aerial data.
