UBER'S PROMISES
Good morning, Term Sheet readers.
Uber’s second annual diversity report is out this morning.
Last year, Uber released its diversity numbers for the first time since its inception in 2009. While it’s diversity numbers weren’t particularly surprising, the tech giant fared slightly better than both Facebook and Apple.
So let’s see how things have changed since since 2017.
— Overall women employees: Women make up 38% of Uber’s global workforce in 2018, an uptick of 1.9% from last year.
— Women in leadership roles: In 2017, women in leadership roles accounted for 22% of Uber’s employee base. That number has decreased by 1.1% in 2018.
— Women in technical leadership roles: Uber managed to improve its female representation in technology leadership by 4.3% (though it’s still a pretty abysmal 15.6% compared to men in technical leadership roles of 84%).
— Racial composition: When it comes to race, the tech giant is predominantly white (48.6%). Globally, the Uber workforce is 32.2% Asian, 8.1% Black, 6.1% Hispanic, and 4.3% Multiracial.
— Representation in technical leadership roles: Last year, Uber reported that no Black or Hispanic employees hold technical leadership positions. “This clearly has to change—a diversity of backgrounds and experience is important at every level,” the report said. This hasn’t changed in 2018.
Term Sheet also followed up on Uber’s pledge to $3 million over the next three years to support organizations working to bring women and underrepresented groups into tech. Uber has chosen to partner with Girls Who Code, BUILD, Technovation, Code.org, and SMASH. An Uber spokesperson told Term Sheet that $2.3M of the $3 million fund has been deployed and “a plan has also been created around the remaining amount.”
“We have made meaningful progress over the last year, but we still have a lot of work to do to increase representation of women and underrepresented groups,” wrote Uber's chief people officer Liane Hornsey in a blog post.
Under its new leadership, it appears that Uber is slowly edging in the right direction. It goes without saying, but Uber — like many other tech giants — has more work to do. Here’s a quick thought experiment: If your own organization, no matter how big or small, had its diversity data published on the front page of a national newspaper, would you be proud of it? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
HOT DEAL: Full Truck Alliance Group (also known as Manbang), a China-based truck-hailing firm, raised $1.9 billion in funding at a $6.5 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg. Investors include SoftBank Vision Fund, China Reform Fund, GSR Ventures and Alphabet Inc.’s CapitalG. Existing investors Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Sequoia Capital also participated. The investment will help the company develop new business areas and recruit talent.
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...AND ELSEWHERE
Andreessen Horowitz plans to launch a separate fund for crypto investments. China's Didi Chuxing is in IPO talks. Netflix looks to raise $1.5 billion in debt financing.
VENTURE DEALS
• Leanplum, a San Francisco-based developer of a mobile marketing platform, increased its Series D funding to $52 million with an add-on investment from Waterwood Group.
• Formlabs, a Somerville, Mass.-based manufacturer of 3D printing systems, raised $30 million in a Series C funding. Tyche Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Shenzhen Capital Group, UpNorth Investment Limited, DFJ, Pitango and Foundry Group.
• Capital Float, an India-based fintech startup, raised $22 million in funding from Amazon, according to TechCrunch. Read more.
• Templum Inc, a New York-based developer of a trading system to sell digital assetts and the secondary trading of digital assets offered as securities, raised $10 million in funding. Investors include SBI Holdings Inc and Raptor Group.
• Bluedot Innovation, a San Francisco-based smartphone location services platform, raised $5.5 million in Series A funding. Transurban led the round.
• SalesHero, a San Francisco-based provider of an AI-powered sales assistant, araised $4.5 million in seed funding. Investors include Baidu Ventures, CometLabs, CherryVentures, and Signals Venture Capital.
• Extend, a New York-based mobile platform designed for business cardholders to share access to their credit card via digital credit cards, raised $3 million in seed funding. Point72 Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Plug and Play, Reciprocal Ventures, and WorldQuant Ventures.
• Après, a san Francisco-based plant-based protein beverage developed for whole body replenishment, raised $1.1 million in seed funding. Rocana Venture Partners led the round.
HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCES DEALS
• REVOLUTION Medicines, Inc., a Redwood City, Calif.-based drug discovery and development company focused on frontier cancer targets, raised $56 million in Series B funding. Investors include Nextech Invest, Casdin Capital, Schroder Adveq, The Column Group, and Third Rock Ventures.
• NuProbe, a Boston-based molecular diagnostics company, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Investors include Sequoia China, Serica Partners, and WuXi AppTec Corporate Ventures.
PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
• Mitel (Nasdaq:MITL) agreed to be sold to an investor group led by Searchlight Capital Partners in a deal valued at $2 billion, including debt. Mitel shareholders will receive $11.15 per common share in cash.
• CityFibre, a U.K.-based fibre broadband, agreed to be acquired for 538 million pounds ($750 million) by a consortium formed by Antin and Goldman Sachs' West Street Infrastructure Partners. Read more.
• Macquarie Infrastructure Partners invested in Aligned Energy, a Danbury, Conn.-based green energy investment firm. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
IPOs
• Smartsheet, Bellevue, Wash.-based spreadsheet provider, plans to raise $150.8 million in an offering of 11.6 million shares priced between $12 to $14 apiece, up from a previous range of $10 to $12 apiece. The company posted loss of $53.7 million and $111 million in sales for the 12 months ending Jan. 2018. Insight Ventures (32.1% pre-offering), Madrona Ventures (28.4%), and Sutter Hill Ventures (5.4%), back the firm. Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, and RBC Capital Markets are joint bookrunners in the deal. The firm plans to list on the NYSE as “SMAR.” Read more.
• Construction Partners, a Dothan, Ala.-based road and infrastructure company, plans to raise $179.8 million in an IPO of 11.25 million shares priced between $15 to $17 apiece. SunTx backs the firm. Baird, Raymond James, and Stephens are underwriters in the deal. The firm plans to list on the Nasdaq as “ROAD.” Read more.
EXITS
• Gemspring Capital acquired TMP Worldwide, a New York-based provider of recruitment marketing software. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. VSS was the seller.
• Trimble agreed to buy Viewpoint, a Portland, Ore.-based provider of construction management software, from Bain Capital in a deal valued at $1.2 billion.
FIRMS + FUNDS
• 8VC, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $640 million for its second core fund, according to Axios. Read more.
• Venrock, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based venture capital firm, raised $400 million for Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners III.
• Eight Roads Ventures, the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International Limited, raised $275 million for its China technology fund.
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Polina Marinova produces Term Sheet, and Lucinda Shen compiles the IPO news. Send deal announcements to Polina here and IPO news to Lucinda here.
