Term Sheet -- Thursday, January 18

BREAKING TRADITION

Good morning, Term Sheet readers.

Omni, a San Francisco-based storage startup, raised $25 million in venture funding on Tuesday. But it wasn’t a traditional Series B round — the company opted to accept the majority of the investment in Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency.

Ripple, the fintech startup behind the XRP coin, didn’t invest directly in the round. Rather, the company’s executives Stefan Thomas and Chris Larsen invested alongside the much more traditional Highland Capital Partners.

Why is this significant? On the same day that Omni announced the fundraise, Ripple plunged 46% to near 90 cents, meaning that the principal investment amount no longer held the same value. While details are sparse, it may not be all bad news for Omni. According to the Wall Street Journal, Omni has converted some of the XRP to dollars.

This short-term price volatility is a prime example of the intricacies and unknowns of the brave new world of crypto. Companies will have to think more critically about funding decisions if they choose to go the crypto-venture hybrid route.

I’d love to hear Term Sheet readers’ thoughts on the following questions:

• Will future fundings be a mix of traditional VC and digital currency?

• What safeguards will need to exist to prevent overexposure to cryptocurrency price volatility?

• Will more crypto companies use ICO funds to invest in other cryptocurrency-related projects?

• Will it become the norm for employees to be compensated in tokens rather than fiat currency?

Reply to this email or tweet me your responses & I will share in a roundup tomorrow.

THE LATEST FROM FORTUNE...

• How to keep a headhunter from poaching your best talent (by Clifton Leaf)

• How to profit from the ultra-tight job market right now (by Geoff Colvin)

• 6 CEOs who beat the odds to reach the corner office (by Ellen McGirt)

• Trump says quitting NAFTA would yield the ‘best deal' for the U.S.

...AND ELSEWHERE

Apple is capitalizing on the new tax law. Goldman predicts a rise in payments M&A in 2018. The fall of Travis Kalanick was darker than you thought. Facebook agrees to take a deeper look into Russian Brexit meddling.

VENTURE DEALS

• Go-Jek, an Indonesia-based ride-hailing company, is raising $1.2 billion in funding. Investors include Google, Temasek and Meituan-Dianping, according to Reuters. Read more.

• C3 IoT, a Redwood City, Calif.-based AI and IoT software platform provider for digital transformation, raised $100 million in funding. Investors include TPG Growth, Breyer Capital, Sutter Hill, Pat House, and Thomas M. Siebel, and The Rise Fund.

• Ledger, a Paris-based cryptocurrency and blockchain security company, raised $75 million (EUR 61 million) in Series B funding. Draper Esprit led the round, and was joined by investors including Draper Venture Network funds, FirstMark Capital, Cathay Innovation, and Korelya Capital.

• Apartment List, a San Francisco-based online rental marketplace for renters and landlords, raised $50 million in Series C funding. Passport Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Allen & Company LLC, Canaan Partners, Industry Ventures, Matrix Partners, Quantum Partners LP, Tenaya Capital, and WTI.

• Varo Money, Inc., a San Francisco-based mobile banking startup, raised $45 million in Series B funding. Investors include Warburg Pincus and The Rise Fund.

• Roofstock, an Oakland, Calif.-based online marketplace for buying, owning and selling single-family rental (SFR) homes, raised $42 million in Series C funding. Investors include SVB Capital and Asia Pacific Land Ltd.

• Anomali, a Redwood City, Calif.-based developer of a threat intelligence platform, raised $40 million in Series D funding. Lumia Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, Telstra, Sozo Ventures, GV, General Catalyst, IVP and Paladin Capital Group.

• Grove Collaborative, a San Francisco-based e-commerce platform for natural home and personal care products, raised $35 million in Series C funding. Norwest Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Mayfield Fund, MHS Capital, Bullpen Capital, NextView Ventures, Serious Change and John Replogle.

• Urban Remedy, a Point Richmond, Calif.-based provider of organic, non-GMO and fresh food products, raised $17 million in Series B funding. 301 INC led the round.

• CareDox, a New York-based pediatric healthcare technology platform, raised $16 million in Series B funding. AI Life Sciences Investments LLC and 7wire Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Digitalis, Prolog Ventures, StartUp Health, and Wanxiang Healthcare Investments.

• Iris Automation, a San Francisco-based provider of collision avoidance for commercial drones, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Bee Partners participated.

• Sparta Science, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based sports tech company, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Playground Global led the round.

• Clover Inc, a Toronto-based dating app, raised $7 million in funding. Jackson Investment Group LLC led the round.

• Baffle, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based developer of data encryption software, raised $6 million in Series A funding. Envision Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including ServiceNow Ventures, Thomvest Ventures and Industry Ventures. Existing investors True Ventures and Engineering Capital also participated.

• Sweatcoin, a U.K.-based digital currency backed by physical movement, raised $5.7 million in seed funding. Goodwater Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Greylock Partners, Rubylight, and Seedcamp.

• Indico, a Boston-based provider of enterprise machine learning solutions for unstructured content, raised $4 million in seed funding. Osage Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including .406 Ventures, Boston Seed and Hyperplane.

• Babblabs, a San Jose, California-based deep learning speech startup, raised $4 million in funding. Cognite Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Jerry Yang, founding partner of AME Cloud Ventures.

PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS

• Thoma Bravo agreed to acquire Motus and Runzheimer and merge them to form a vehicle management and reimbursement platform. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

• Frontier Capital made an investment in MediaRadar, a New York-based advertising intelligence company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

• OpenGate Capital acquired Mersive Technologies Inc, a Denver, Colo.-based provider of a wireless collaboration software. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

• True Wind Capital Management made an investment in Transflo, a Tampa, Fla.-based mobile, telematics, and business process automation provider to the transportation industry. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

• Heidelpay Investments GmbH, which is backed by AnaCap Financial Partners, acquired mPAY24 GmbH, an Austria-based provider of an online-payment platform. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

OTHER DEALS

• MVF Global acquired Tech.Co, a U.K.-based startup events platform. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

• Akeneo acquired Sigmento, an Israel-based startup that applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to product data automation. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

IPOs

• Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical, a state owned Vietnamese refinery, raised $245 million in an IPO, Reuters reports. Read more.

• Mudrick Capital Acquisition, a New York City-based blank check company formed to acquire a post-bankruptcy business, filed to raise up to $200 million in an IPO. Jason Mudrick formed the firm. Cantor Fitzgerald is bookrunner in the deal. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq as “MUDS.U.”

• PlayAGS, a Las Vegas-based slots machine maker, said it plans to raise $174 million in an offering of 10.3 million shares priced between $16 to $18. Apollo backs the company. Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Jefferies, Macquarie Capital, BofA Merrill Lynch, Citi, Nomura Securities, Stifel and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey are joint bookrunners in the deal. AGS plans to list on the NYSE as “AGS.”

• ARMO Biosciences, a Redwood City, Calif.-based immunotherapy developer, said it plans to raise $100 million in an offering 6.7 million shares priced between $14 to $16. Jefferies, Leerink Partners and BMO Capital Markets are joint bookrunners in the deal. ARMO plans to list on the Nasdaq as “ARMO.”

• Penti, a Turkish lingerie and swimsuit retailer, is considering an IPO, Reuters reports citing sources. The Carlyle Group backs the firm. Read more.

• SurveyMonkey, the online survey platform, is reportedly seeking an IPO later this year, Recode reports citing sources. Survey Monkey was last valued at $2 billion. Read more.

EXITS

• Windjammer Capital Investors sold JWC Environmental LLC, a Santa Ana, California-based provider of solids reduction and removal products. The buyer is Sulzer Ltd. The value of the transaction is $215 million.

• Highlander Partners LP acquired Chicago Custom Foods LLC, which does business as Kernel Season’s. Sellers include VMG Partners and Brian Taylor. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

• One Identity announced just now that it acquired Balabit Corp., a Hungary-based provider of privileged access management (PAM), privileged account analytics and log management. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Balabit had raised approximately $8 million in venture funding from investors including C5 Capital.