Unpacking DoorDash’s $410M Caviar acquisition
Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.
This week Kate and Alex were back to dig through a surprising number of fresh rounds and new funds along with a little breaking news. The traditional VC summer is nowhere to be seen in 2019, so expect the show to stay packed for the foreseeable future.
DoorDash’s decision to buy Caviar from Square upended our agenda. The decacorn’s decision to drop $410 million in cash and stock on an asset that Square had spent around $90 million on was nearly confusing. Square couldn’t offload the damn thing for $100 million back in 2016; Jack’s second company has now shed an unprofitable arm that looked less and less core to its operations as time has gone along. And DoorDash turned cash and stock into a bit of growth.
Next on the docket was Clearbanc. The company, which wants to disrupt venture capital by popularizing the revenue-based financing model, raised a $50 million round and announced a $250 million fund. We’re keeping a close eye on this company, as its fast-growth is relatively unmatched. Plus, Kate’s interviewing Clearbanc co-founder Michele Romanow at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco, our annual conference that brings together the leaders of tech today. So that’s fun.
In this week’s edition of SaaS Watch, Monday.com raised $150 million at a $1.9 billion valuation. The corporate task management and productivity company is another firm selling software to help teams work together more efficiently. Slack, Asana, Notion and others are working in related areas.
Our second to last topic was Compass. There wasn’t enough time to go too deep but here’s the TL;DR: Compass raised a whopping $370 million on a valuation of $6.4 billion.
And finally, PowerPlant ventures raised a second, larger fund. The new $165 million vehicle will follow the first (a $42 million capital pool, as TechCrunch reported), investing in plant-based food companies. With the epic rise of Beyond Meat on the public markets, plant-based foods are hot and investors want a bite of the results. Also, we dig niche, focused funds.
Reminder, you can connect with us via email at equitypod@techcrunch.com. We’re open to feedback, suggestions and even compliments!
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