BIG BUCKS
Good morning, Term Sheet readers.
Robinhood, a zero-commission stock trading platform, has officially closed its monster round. It looks like the company raised even more than what was previously reported.
When I first saw the numbers in an email, I responded with a simple but necessary & appropriate: “holy crap.” Here are the final numbers. Robinhood raised $363 million in Series D funding at a $5.6 billion valuation, making it one of the highest-valued fintech companies at the moment. DST Global led the round, and was joined by investors including Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia, Capital G, and Iconiq.
I’ve been following Robinhood since Fortune featured the company and its founders Vlad Tenev & Baiju Bhatt in 2015. At the time, the company had raised $16 million in total funding from Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. Two years and hundreds of millions dollars later, Robinhood continues to expand its footprint. The company told Term Sheet that it has doubled its user base from 2 million to 4 million people and surpassed $150 billion in transaction volume since April 2017.
The fresh infusion of capital comes on the heels of Robinhood’s announcement that it’s adding a cryptocurrency trading feature to its platform. In January, the company said it would allow customers to buy tokens using its same streamlined, no-commission approach it offers for stocks.
Robinhood plans to deploy the new capital toward expanding its product lineup, investing in its tech infrastructure, and recruiting more engineers dedicated to its crypto business.
WINDFALL: Tiger Global Management, SoftBank, and Accel are the biggest winners to emerge from the Walmart-Flipkart acquisition. Walmart confirmed that it will invest $16 billion into the India-based online retailer for 77% of the company — a deal that values Flipkart at $21 billion.
Here are the winners:
— Tiger Global Management, a New York-based, low-profile investment firm, had doubled down on its investment in Flipkart more than any other investor. It made about $3 billion after investing a total of $1 billion in the company over the years. Tiger Global began backing Flipkart in 2009 with an initial investment of just $9 million.
— SoftBank, through Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Vision Fund, invested roughly $2.5 billion into Flipkart last year, and its stake is now worth about $4 billion. That’s a pretty quick return.
— Accel: Accel, a Palo Alto based venture capital firm, has been holding on for 10 years. The firm invested $800,000 back in 2008 when Flipkart was operating with an 8-person team. (It now employs more than 30,000 people, and it is the largest e-commerce company in India.) Accel invested approximately $160 million over several rounds, and its position in the company is now worth about $1.1 billion.
THE LATEST FROM FORTUNE...
• China Has Sentenced Anbang's Wu Xiaohui to 18 Years in Prison for $10 Billion Fraud
• Novartis Put Money In Michael Cohen’s Cookie Jar. Did It Get Any Cookies In Return? (by Clifton Leaf)
• Walmart Investors Anxious About Its $16 Billion Flipkart Deal (by Phil Wahba)
• Fox Is Buying 7 Sinclair-Owned Television Stations for $910 Million (by Emily Price)
...AND ELSEWHERE
Morgan Creek Blockchain Capital tokenized the equity of an Inc 500 company. How much do CEOs make? Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital Capital Management and Bloomberg have launched a cryptocurrency index. Business hates Mexico’s presidential frontrunner — and he doesn’t care. Lawsuit says that McKinsey hid conflicts of interest from courts.
VENTURE DEALS
• WeDoctor, a China-based online healthcare platform, raised $500 million in funding at a $5.5 billion valuation. AIA Company Ltd led the round, and was joined by investors including AIA Group Ltd and NWS Holdings Ltd. Read more.
• Akili Interactive, a Boston and San Francisco Bay Area-based prescription digital medicine company, raised $55 million in Series C funding. Temasek led the round, and was joined by investors including Baillie Gifford, Amgen Ventures, M Ventures, JAZZ Venture Partners, Canepa Advanced Healthcare Fund and Brooklands Capital Strategies.
• Life House, a New York-based operator of a boutique hotel company, raised $40 million in funding. Investors include Henley Investments, Global Founders Capital, Comcast Ventures and Trinity Ventures.
• Perch, a New York-based marketplace for buying and selling homes, raised $30 million in Series A funding. FirstMark Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Juxtapose and Accomplice.
• Trussle, a U.K.-based digital mortgage broker, raised 13.6 million pounds ($16.2 million) in Series B funding. Investors include Goldman Sachs and BBVA.
• Tailor Brands, a New York and Tel Aviv-based AI branding startup, raised $15.5 million in Series B funding. Pitango Venture Capital Growth Fund and British Armat Group led the round, and was joined by investors including Disruptive Technologies L.Pand Mangrove Capital Partners.
• GrowGeneration Corp, a Denver, Colo.-based owner and operator of specialty retail hydroponic and organic gardening stores, raised $10 million in funding. Investors include Gotham Green Partners, Merida Capital Partners and Navy Capital.
• Localize.city, a New York-based company that applies data analysis to the real estate market, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Investors include Avigdor Willenz and Zvi Limon.
• Axiom Exergy, an industrial internet of things company, raised $7.6 million in Series A funding. GXP Investments and Shell Ventures led the round, and were joined by investors including WorldQuant Ventures, SV Tech Ventures, Meson Capital and Seabed VC.
• Targetprocess, an Amherst, N.Y.-based provider of visual agile management solutions, raised $5 million in Series A funding. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development led the round.
• Fairygodboss, a New York-based career community for women, raised $3 million in funding. GSV Acceleration led the round.
• The Mom Project, a Chicago-based platform for enterprises to connect with experienced and diverse talent, raised $2.6 million in seed funding. Atlanta Seed Company led the round, and was joined by investors including OCA Ventures, BBG Ventures, IrishAngels, Wintrust Ventures and Engage VC.
• Ample Foods, a San Francisco-based nutrition startup, raised $2 million in seed funding. Slow Ventures led the round.
HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCES DEALS
• Escient Pharmaceuticals, a San Diego-based biotech company, raised $40 million in Series A funding. Investors include The Column Group, 5AM Ventures and Osage University Partners.
• LyGenesis Inc, a Pittsburgh-based biotechnology company developing technology for organ regeneration, raised $3 million in Series A funding. The investor was Juvenescence Ltd.
PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
• Red Ventures sold Caring.com, a San Mateo, Calif.-based senior care resources company, to a consortium of unnamed family office and private equity investors and digital marketing experts. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
• Cove Hill Partners agreed to invest in Gamma Technologies, a Westmont, Ill.-based provider of engineering simulation software. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OTHER DEALS
• Symphony Technology Group acquired Winshuttle Holdings LLC, a SAP-centric robotic process automation and data management platform provider. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
• Canadian Tire Corp Ltd agreed to buy the company that owns and operates the Helly Hansen, a Norway-based sportswear and workwear brands company, for $985 million Canadian dollars ($770 milion). Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan was the seller.
IPOs
• AXA Equitable Holdings, the U.S. insurance arm of France’s AXA, plans to raise $2.75 billion in an IPO of 137.25 million shares priced at $20 apiece, below its previously stated range between $24 to $27. The firm plans to list on the NYSE. Read more.
• Meili, the Chinese fashion e-commerce platform, is reportedly seeking an U.S. IPO of $500 million later this year. Tencent backs the firm. Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and China Renaissance are underwriters. Read more.
• Evelo Biosciences, a Cambridge, Mass.-basd biotech focused on the gut, raised $85 million in an IPO of 5.31 million shares priced at $16 a share, at the mid-point of its $15 to $17 range. Flagship Pioneering (68% pre-offering) and Fidelity (7%) back the firm. Morgan Stanley, Cowen, and BMO Capital are underwriters in the deal. The firm plans to list on the Nasdaq as “EVLO.” Read more.
• SurveyMonkey, the U.S.-based survey platform, has reportedly tapped J.P. Morgan to lead its IPO potentially slated for later this year. Read more.
EXITS
• Recruit Holdings Co (TSE:6098) agreed to buy Glassdoor Inc, a Mill Valley, Calif.-based operator of online jobs site, for $1.2 billion. Glassdoor had raised approximately $204.5 million from investors including Tiger Global Management, Google Capital, and T. Rowe Price, and Benchmark. Read more.
• OMERS Private Equity agreed to buy Alexander Mann Solutions, a provider of talent acquisition and management solutions, from New Mountain Capital for 820 million pounds ($1.1 billion).
FIRMS + FUNDS
• EQT, a Sweden-based private equity and venture capital firm, raised $800 million for its third mid-market Asia fund.
• Fifth Wall Ventures, a real estate-focused venture capital firm, raised $60 million toward a $200 million Fifth Wall Ventures Retail Fund, according to a filing with the SEC.
PEOPLE
• Jacques Perreault joined Brightspark as a senior partner.
• Manpreet Bagga joined CircleUp Growth Partners as a partner at CircleUp Growth Partners. Previously, she was at TA Associates.
• Steven Paget will join Angelo, Gordon as a managing director and portfolio manager of European performing credit.
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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.
