When it comes to being home for the holidays, it seems as though our favorite recipes encourage – scratch that – demand a spoonful of family tiffs, headbutts, and arguments, alongside a healthy portion of laughter and love.

Subscribe to the SA国际传媒 Daily

That鈥檚 why when I read Mary Ann鈥檚 story about the ups and downs of family-founded startups, it hit home (although I promise the Mascarenhas family is not secretly in stealth).

Check out her piece on how families come together to start innovative startups, from carpooling hacks to a direct-to-consumer plant shop.

Wholesomeness in mind, we wanted to kick off 2020 with a look at some lessons learned from the past. Sophia Kunthara walked us through the largest funding rounds from each year of the decade, noting how big rounds really have gotten over time. At one point, a nine-figure round was the biggest of the year. Now, as you can see from our reporting, it鈥檚 a weekly occurrence at the least.

Further, we also looked at both the Unicorns of 2019 and, by contrast, the startup sectors that had dips in funding this year. Plus, broil over this question posed by Joanna Glasner: what happened to all the consumer device startups?

As for funding news, it鈥檚 been a little slow but that鈥檚 soon to change, I鈥檓 sure. This past week, Brazil鈥檚 Loft, a digital real estate platform, raised $175 million, and Trifo, which makes a robot that both vacuums and protects through surveillance, raised $15 million. For the story behind the investment deals, check out our Seed Series (our latest edition includes an interview with Sapphire Partners). Plus, One Medical filed its S-1 on late Friday.

And that鈥檚 all I have for now. The past 365 days taught me that among all the big things that happened to me this past year, like a move across the country, a new job, and a new beat, it鈥檚 the small subtleties that weigh the heaviest.

Cheers to an even better 2020 right alongside all of you.

Best,
Natasha

P.S. Follow me () on Twitter.

滨濒濒耻蝉迟谤补迟颈辞苍:听

Boston is the city where I grew up journalistically. It鈥檚 where I learned the difference between a Seed investment and a Series A round (remember this for later), and where I landed my first real byline. For these reasons and聽, my return to Beantown was extra special () this week, and reminded me of two important things:

• Boston doesn鈥檛 want to be the next Silicon Valley. It just wants to be Boston, but known a little more within the venture and startup community as a hub for all things entrepreneurship
• 滨迟鈥檚听more than a home for biotech companies.

Those thoughts fell into stories, like a piece on one of the city鈥檚聽most valuable startups starting a lending program, or a data pull on how聽Boston has historically progressed in funding female founders.

Subscribe to the SA国际传媒 Daily

Speaking of important progress for underrepresented founders,聽Austin created a new network to help women in tech connect聽and lift each other up. And a final note on diversity on inclusion, our very own will be moderating panels in Finland next week,聽.

Jumping to our bread and butter, we covered everything from a startup working聽to make homebuyers鈥� lives easier聽to reports that a SoftBank-funded food delivery company聽may be eyeing a supergiant round at a $12.6 billion valuation.

Further outside the Bay Area,聽Austin鈥檚 LawnStarter raised $10.5 million in green聽the mowing startup doesn鈥檛 want to get rid of. And New York鈥檚 Hive, a work productivity startup, raised $10.5 million to聽not聽be a Slack clone.

We also stumbled upon some news from Toronto-based 1Password earlier this week. The password manager startup聽raised $200 million in a Series A from Accel, in its first funding in 14 years. Remember above when I nodded to Boston as the city where I learned the difference between a seed and Series A rounds? Toronto, as I noted above, is giving me a run for my — understanding of — money.

That鈥檚 all I got for you all this week. Now, I鈥檓 on to spending some time in Philly with聽聽and even greater people.

Cheers,
Natasha

I swore I would never start a newsletter with 鈥渢his week at yoga.鈥�

But, here we are. This week at yoga, the instructor told our class to 鈥渟top stealing happiness from yourselves.鈥� While it鈥檚 really common to be cynical about tech or, a holiday where you dress up in silly costumes, it’s okay to let go of negativity in place for optimism. I promise.

On that note, let鈥檚 start with a look at startups doing important work in a sector of evergreen importance: the environment. I chatted with a bunch of startups using data to聽combat the growing concern of wildfires in California, and around the world.

While those startups are on the smaller side, we also talked unicorns this week. We covered three companies pass $1 billion dollars in valuation:聽Portland, Oregon-based travel startup Vacasa, Faire,聽a San Francisco-based online marketplace for retailers,听补苍诲听Scopely, a mobile game publisher in Los Angeles.

After you snap up that big news, let me remind you that unicorns these days haven鈥檛 always soared once they enter the public market. For example, Beyond Meat and GrubHub, two public companies, saw their stocks tank this week. Read this聽听辫颈别肠别听to learn why.

Now some some fast funding hits.聽We wrote about Twiga Foods聽after it raised the largest round of the year in Nairobi, Kenya, and took a聽broader look at the continent. Also read our pieces on聽a startup trying to stop online advertisement hijackers聽raising $40 million, and聽Leafly, a cannabis website,聽raising debt funding.

Let鈥檚 end with a question we鈥檝e been thinking about for months, along with everyone on Twitter:聽why is every startup becoming a bank?听听补苍诲听听迟辞辞办听a swing聽at the growing, lucrative transition of companies, even ones that don鈥檛 do banking, rolling out into financial services.

And that鈥檚 it for this week. We鈥檒l be back on Monday with fresh takes, bring your fresh eyes!

Until next week,

滨濒濒耻蝉迟谤补迟颈辞苍:听

P.S. I put out a personal newsletter every Monday,聽聽if you鈥檙e interested!

As we enter Diwali, an Indian festival of lights, I鈥檓 missing the taste of my mom鈥檚 cooking (and honestly, even the itchy feel of traditional Indian attire). So when I learned about聽, or聽, I was ecstatic. It鈥檚 a departure from what I usually see covering tech, and a reminder that fresh perspectives exist everywhere.

Want this email every weekend? Subscribe here to SA国际传媒 News emails!聽

Anyways, as I defrost some Trader Joe鈥檚 butter paneer and hope for the best, let鈥檚 get into the news from the past week.

贵颈谤蝉迟,听the good news: Zonehaven raised fresh capital to聽use data for wildfire management, and Winnie got $9 million聽for childcare relief. We also saw the聽Swiss鈥檚 Planted aim at fake meat聽and Austin鈥檚 Literati聽create a subscription book club for kids. Finally, we covered funding for聽mental healthcare聽and a startup looking to聽free everyone from聽mortgage woes.

Now, the bad news:聽Layoffs continued for WeWork听补苍诲听began for PAX Labs, reminding us that big companies may have flashy checks but聽remain vulnerable to failure like other startups. Also, WeWork鈥檚 controversial-but-once-darling ex-CEO Adam Neumann left his company in shambles,聽but still walked away with over a billion.

Wrapping up with some numbers, data shows that Silicon Valley鈥檚聽funding share is shrinking as a percentage of a global whole. While that may feel a bit surprising, I鈥檒l remind you that a聽Chicago-based company just filed its S-1, and聽there鈥檚 a soon to be Utah-based unicorn.

Until next week,

滨濒濒耻蝉迟谤补迟颈辞苍:听

P.S. I put out a personal newsletter every Monday,聽聽if you鈥檙e interested!

, in vacation mode,聽, so I鈥檒l keep this one short, sassy, and sweet.

Want this email every weekend? Subscribe here to SA国际传媒 News emails!

This week聽听丑颈驳丑濒颈驳丑迟别诲听amazing immigrant founders, covered聽treadmills, and pulse checked聽upcoming IPOs, so let鈥檚 get right into it.

Starting with the big one, Peloton, an exercise equipment company which sells 鈥渉appiness,鈥� filed its S-1. Here鈥檚 a聽deep dive on the big numbers, and then聽skim this for talking points聽so you sound smart at your next networking event.

After that, keep reading along with our piece on how聽early-stage international transportation startups aren鈥檛 intimidated by Uber. And in an odd turn of events,聽a 7-year-old startup bought Lord & Taylor, a 193-year-old department store chain.

Moving to some nine-figure funding rounds,聽Enjoy raised $150 million听补苍诲听ThoughtSpot got to unicorn status聽with its $248 million Series E. Smaller rounds include聽The Long Term Stock Exchange raising $50 million听补苍诲听Ethos raising $60 million, completing its third raise in 14 months. More, as always, in聽Last Week In Venture.

We switched sides of the table with a few new international funds this week: to invest in homegrown startups, Latin America鈥檚 Kaszek Ventures聽closed two funds totaling $600 million, and Israel鈥檚聽F2 Capital raised $75 million for its second fund.

Finally, jokes aside, for those of you that do have Monday off: I dare you to not be online all day. As I unpack in my聽second edition of the Loneliness In Tech series, using social media, at a certain point, makes us more lonely, not more connected.

We all stare at screens enough already, so take advantage of a couple face-to-face moments with friends and family instead.

Until next week,

滨濒濒耻蝉迟谤补迟颈辞苍:听.

P.S.聽Follow our newest reporter, Sophia Kunthara聽(@SophiaKunthara)听补苍诲听SA国际传媒聽News聽on聽Twitter听补苍诲听Facebook聽for daily updates.

It鈥檚 hard to say no, but we should all do it more. No one will stay mad at you for wanting a life outside of work.

That was a lesson Erin Bury, the CEO of Willful, told me this week while we chatted for聽Proust Goes Tech. The idea struck a chord with me, and I鈥檓 guessing might with many of you, too. Bury鈥檚 found success in creating a list of different ways to say no that she can use to get out of certain events. I find comfort in deleting the Twitter application. Often.

Want this email every weekend? Subscribe here to SA国际传媒 News emails!

With that bit of keep-yourself-sane advice out of the way, let鈥檚 get into some of the news that the team published this week, from聽tech鈥檚 trust gap聽to a聽plant-powered new venture capital fund.

Starting with some trends in startupland, Alex wrote about聽why companies are pursuing IPOs sooner rather than later聽just days after聽Cloudflare shared its plans to go public in September. I tackled how聽VCs offer more services than ever but miss an important focus, and Jason told us how despite global shifts, within the United States,聽venture capital dollars are mainly going to the same cities that they have forever.

Now let鈥檚 learn about the startups within these big ideas.聽DoorDash scooped up Square-owned Caviar for $410 million, showing its appetite for other food delivery services. WeWork聽snapped up yet another software company, making it worth our time to examine its acquisition strategy. Finally,聽Microsoft bought BlueTalon, its fourth known startup purchase of 2019.

Moving to startups that want to grow through funding, not acquisitions,聽Monday.com raised $150 million聽as its revenue more than doubled last year. Wish, an ecommerce startup,聽raised $300 million itself, and Clearbanc, a firm focused on investing in ecommerce startups while taking no equity,聽raised a $50 million Series B and a $250 million fund. Also,聽DataGrail raised some cash聽ahead of, and inspired by, the California Consumer Privacy Act.

Finally, to leave you with a quirky funding round (more in Last Week in Venture), I wrote about MyScoot which offers users to pay to attend parties and social gatherings in cities around India.聽Would you pay for friends?

For what it鈥檚 worth, no judgement here.

Until next time,