Salamis Equity

08/19/2020

SpaceX lands record $1.9B fundraising round

SpaceX has raised $1.9 billion in new capital, its largest-ever fundraising haul, according to PitchBook data. The latest funds reportedly value SpaceX at $46 billion, making it one of the most valuable US venture-backed companies.

A total of 75 investors pledged financing for the space company this month, but SpaceX still has about $165 million left to sell in its $2.1 billion offering, according to an SEC filing. Existing backer Fidelity Investments was one of the biggest participants in the round, according to Bloomberg.

On Tuesday, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket, a record sixth flight for one of its boosters. The company plans to use the new cash to commercialize its Starlink satellite internet service and conduct test flights of its Starship and SuperHeavy booster launch vehicle, according to CNBC.

Picture: SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket waits on the launchpad of Kennedy Space Center before a planned mission this May.
(Handout/Getty Images)

10/27/2019

Here’s What Immigrants Contribute To Your Congressional Districts

A new tool developed by New American Economy, a bipartisan immigration reform advocacy group, shows that immigrants are contributing billions of dollars in taxes and spending power to congressional districts across Dallas, North Texas and the rest of the state

The data shows that immigrants in the five congressional districts that include portions of the city of Dallas have a joint spending power of about $18.3 billion:

$1.9 billion in District 5.
$4.2 billion in District 32.
$2.6 billion in District 30.
$3.8 billion in District 33.
$5.8 billion in District 24.

Across the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, New American Economy’s analysis shows that immigrants:

•Make up almost 19% of the population
•Pay about $10.6 billion in taxes
•Have a spending power of about $33.2 billion
•And that 102,884 own businesses
•Immigrants own about 40% of businesses and hold upwards of $13.4 billion in spending power in Dallas County alone, a separate New American Economy analysis from earlier this year found.

Source: The Dallas Morning News

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/immigration/2019/10/25/heres-what-immigrants-contribute-to-your-congressional-district/

09/28/2019

“I’m sick of being part of the problem, I want to be part of the solution,” Price said at the time, according to ABC News.

“Previously, I was making a million dollars a year and people working for me were making $30,000 a year and that’s wrong, I was feeding into the problem.”

https://lnkd.in/eUM569q

09/28/2019

In January 2015, Boston Consulting Group predicted that the autonomous vehicles market size could be $42 billion by the year 2025, a figure which likely caught the attention of every automotive industry leader. Another staggering statistic was the NHTSA’s estimate that 35,200 people died in motor vehicle accidents in 2015, a 7.7% increase from the prior year.

A separate NHTSA report found that 94% of vehicle crashes were a result of (human) driver error. Thus, companies likely viewed autonomous vehicles through a lens of not only substantial financial benefit, but also profound societal benefit.

09/20/2019

Airbnb says it will go public next year

Airbnb says it's going public in 2020. That's after reporting revenue of more than $1 billion in the second quarter. The company first mentioned a possible public listing in March, and it would be one of the last of the big unicorns that launched a decade ago, like Uber and Lyft, to go public. In addition, the company also revealed that users who list their homes and rooms on the platform have made more than $80 billion since it began.

Airbnb also said that through September 15, 2019 users who list their homes and rooms on the company’s marketplace have made more than $80 billion since the company’s launch. The supplemental income for underpaid teachers alone clocks in at $160 million, and roughly 51% of people surveyed by the company said hosting has helped them afford their home.

The company also said that Airbnb’s housing stock now includes 7 million listings in more than 100,000 cities around the world. Airbnb says that over 1,000 cities have more than 1,000 listings — eight years ago, that figure was only 12.

Read more via https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/19/airbnb-says-it-will-go-public-next-year/

Source: TechCrunch

09/17/2019

BREAKING NEWS

Andela Announces Plans to Scale Down in Nigeria, Kenya & Uganda
*focus now on Rwanda as a pan African hub
. . “As part of this shift, we have also had to make an extremely difficult decision as it relates to a number of talented junior engineers.

Today, we are announcing that we are closing the D0 program in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda. Moving forward, we will be focusing D0 training efforts on our pan-African hub in Rwanda.

In addition, we will be letting go of approximately 250 Andelans in Nigeria and Uganda, with an additional 170 potentially impacted in Kenya, who we don’t believe we’ll be able to find meaningful work for over the next year. . . “

Read more via https://andela.com/insights/the-future-of-andela/

09/17/2019

With No Vehicles Being Made, UAW Strike Could Cost GM $100 Million a Day

The General Motors workers strike could cost the company up to $100 million a day, say auto analysts.

The strike by approximately 46,000 workers across 30 factories in 10 states began Monday — with wages and benefits are a top concern for the United Auto Workers union. In its 2018 restructuring plan, GM lost 22,000 jobs globally, saving the company about $2 billion, while CEO Mary Berra’s salary was estimated to be about $22 million — over 280 times that of the median GM worker — “irk[ing] those on the line,” said The Guardian.

If the strike carries on, UAW members could end up earning just $250 per week

09/02/2019

Esusu Raises $1.6M in Seed Funding for Savings and Rent Reporting Apps

Esusu founders Abbey Wemimo and Samir Goel have announced that they’ve raised $1.6 million in venture capital from Acumen Fund with participation from Sinai Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Katapult Accelerator, Plug and Play Tech Center, Global Good Fund, Temerity Capital Partners, among other angel investors, to scale, expand market share and focus on product development for their two apps: a savings app and a rent reporting app, both designed to help people save money and build credit.

The savings app, launched in 2018 and available on iOS and the Android store, serves as a group savings model where customers form trusted groups with which to pool their money. “They essentially take turns buying big ticket items from the group pot. It’s got many names across the world, and it’s very common to immigrant cultures,” Goel told TNJ.com in a recent interview.
. . ““When my mom and I emigrated from Nigeria, we didn’t have a credit score. We walked into a big financial institution and were denied a loan because we had no credit data. We went down the street to a pay day loan lender and borrowed money at an interest rate of 400 percent,” he says. “My mother also sold my father’s wedding ring so she could afford my first year of college. Inspired by this experience and the experience of working in the private sector, Samir and i decided to create these products so that what happened to me and my mother doesn’t happen to others.” . . .

Read more via https://tnj.com/esusu-raises-1-6m-in-seed-funding-for-savings-and-rent-reporting-apps/

Source: TNJ

08/29/2019

How Michael Jordan Will Make $145M in 2019

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2019/08/28/how-michael-jordan-will-make-145-million-in-2019/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-dozen

08/24/2019

How much of your company will VC own at the time you exit? We looked at the level of VC ownership of 122 tech companies at the time they went public to answer that question. The median and average level of VC ownership at exit was 52% and 51% respectively.

By the time of exit, VC will likely own half your business

Bravo Sammy!

How much of your company will VC own at the time you exit? We looked at the level of VC ownership of 122 tech companies at the time they…

08/22/2019

Billion-Dollar AI Exits

Our timeline visualizes AI company exits valued at $1B+ at acquisition or IPO, including electric AV company NIO’s public offering and Roche's massive acquisition of cancer tech company Flatiron Health.

Artificial intelligence is a sector that attracts big investor checks: Q2’19 recently saw record quarterly funding to AI startups at $7.4B. This included several $100M+ mega-deals to companies like robotic process automation company UiPath and AI-powered insurance startup .

It’s also a sector that produces some very valuable exits.

Since 2013, 7 AI companies have exited via IPO or M&A valued at $1B+ — four of which have taken place in the last 2 years. Using CB Insights data, we visualized these 7 exits together in one timeline.

Our analysis considers first exits only. For more on billion-dollar exits, see Visualizing Tech Giants’ Billion-Dollar Acquisitions.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• NIO is the highest-valued exit on our list. The Shanghai-based electric autonomous vehicle manufacturer went public on the NYSE at a valuation of $6.4B in September 2018. Notably, NIO still ranks as third on the list of top-funded AI startups ever, with $2.2B in pre-exit equity funding.

• The highest-valued M&A deal on our list goes to cancer-focused healthcare startup Flatiron Health. Pharma giant Roche Holdings acquired the company in early 2018, valuing it at upwards of $2.1B.

• 3 companies on our list reached unicorn valuations prior to exiting: NIO ($5B), Mobileye ($1.5B), and Flatiron Health ($1.3B).

•Auto was a popular focus for many companies on our list. NIO and GM’s Cruise both focus on autonomous vehicles, while Mobileye develops advanced driver assistance systems.

Source: CB Insights