MO' MONEY
Happy Friday, Term Sheet readers.
Because the WeWork behemoth doesn’t have enough money, it’s getting more. WeWork China, a subsidiary that launched two years ago, announced a fresh $500 million Series B infusion from investors including Trustbridge Partners, Temasek, SoftBank, SoftBank’s Vision Fund, and Hony Capital. This fundraise is on top of the $500 million Series A that WeWork China netted last year.
WeWork China currently has 20,000 members spanning nearly 40 locations across three cities. It plans to expand to six new cities in 2018, including Shenzhen, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, and Wuhan. It recently bought Chinese co-working startup NakedHub $400 million. WeWork China is now valued at approximately $5 billion, according to the FT.
But wait — that’s not all. WeWork (the parent company — yes, the one that recently banned meat) is not done raising cash. It’s reportedly in talks with SoftBank about a multibillion-dollar investment, which would roughly double WeWork’s valuation to $35 billion or $40 billion.
THE KING OF CHAT: Yesterday, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield made an unusual announcement on behalf of rival Atlassian. Atlassian’s workplace chat apps, HipChat and Stride, are shutting down, he said — and Slack is buying them. Slack will pay an undisclosed amount over the next three years to acquire Atlassian’s HipChat and Stride assets. Atlassian will receive a small stake in Slack, which is privately held and valued at about $8 billion. HipChat ruled the office chat until Slack came along with more features, more users, and more hype.
WEEKEND READS: Here are my two recommendations for your weekend reads:
— Volkswagen Races to Put ‘Dieselgate’ in the Rear View: Volkswagen is still reeling from its mammoth diesel-cheating scandal, which revealed that the company had engaged in carbon-emissions testing fraud in about 600,000 diesel-powered vehicles; that number has since risen to millions. To show how the company is moving forward, Volkswagen invited Fortune to spend several days in late June in its sprawling Wolfsburg headquarters, offering a rare, deep look inside the company at a pivotal moment in its 80-year history. Read the feature here.
— How Goop’s Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow’s Company Worth $250 Million: Yes, Gwyneth Paltrow’s controversial lifestyle and wellness company is worth $250 million. It’s backed by investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Felix Capital, and NEA. On its website, you can find legitimate wellness tips as well as completely bonkers magical thinking: articles on vitamin intake, body brushing, dieting, the afterlife, crystals, and “something called Psychic Vampire Repellent, which is a ‘sprayable elixir’ that uses ‘gem healing’ to something something ‘bad vibes.’” This is a good one. Read the profile here.
FULLY VESTED: Because it’s Friday, I’ll leave you with one fun thing: The Wall Street Journal did a quasi-investigative piece on how the gray fleece zip-up vest became America’s corporate uniform. A 25-year-old investment banker says, “Now it’s the new thing: It’s not suspenders and a bengal-striped shirt. It’s a Patagonia vest and a button-down shirt.”
THE LATEST FROM FORTUNE...
• The Groupon of China Is Going Public—and It's More Expensive Than Alibaba, Snap, or Facebook's IPO (by Lucinda Shen)
• Inside the ‘influencer economy’ (by Laura Entis)
• Facebook's Biggest Problem? A Crisis of Words (by Jeff John Roberts)
• The latest female CEO in the Fortune 500 breaks a new barrier (by Beth Kowitt)
• SEC Sinks Winkelvoss Twins' Bitcoin ETF Over Fears of Price Manipulation (by Jeff John Roberts)
VENTURE DEALS
• Flywire, a Boston-based provider of global payment and receivables solution, raised $100 million in Series D funding. Temasek led the round, and was joined by investors including Bain Capital Ventures and F-Prime Capital.
• Groundspeed Analytics, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based commercial insurance data automation firm, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Oak HC/FT led the round.
• RaiseMe, a San Francisco-based college readiness platform, raised $15 million in funding. Teamworthy Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including with participation from The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Salesforce Ventures, and Strada Education Network.
• Survata, a San Francisco-based advertising measurement and market research company, raised $14 million in Series B funding. Conductive Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Industry Ventures, Uncork Capital, PivotNorth, Ridge Ventures, Bloomberg Beta and Initialized Capital.
• Chartbeat, a content intelligence platform for publishers, has raised $7 million in funding. North Atlantic Capital led the round.
HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCES DEALS
• Healx, a U.K.-based developer of treatments for rare diseases, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Balderton Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Amadeus Capital Partners.
PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
• Trinity Hunt Partners acquired Improving, a Dallas-based provider of technology and custom software development services. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
• Pamlico Capital agreed to invest in Personify, an Austin, Texas-based provider of tech solutions for nonprofit organizations. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
• New Mountain Capital made an investment in Beeline, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based provider of cloud-based vendor management solutions. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
• CID Capital made an investment in ProSource, a Greenville, S.C.-based plumbing, kitchen and lighting solution provider. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OTHER DEALS
• Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE:KODK) is exploring a sale of its flexible-packaging division, according to The Wall Street Journal. The business could fetch more than $400 million in a sale. Read more.
IPOs
• Opera Limited, an Oslo, Norway-based web browser maker, raised $115 million in an offering of 9.6 million shares priced at $12, the high end of its $10 to $12 range. The firm posted revenue of $128.9 million in 2017. Kunlun Tech (48% pre-offering) backs the firm. CICC and Citigroup are underwriters. The firm plans to list on the NASDAQ as “OPRA.” Read more.
• Endava, a London-based outsourced IT firm, raised $127 million in an offering of 6.3 million ADSs priced at $20, an upsized IPO above its $17 to $19 range. It posted revenue of $223.6 million in the 12 months ending June 2017. Morgan Stanley, Citi, Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank are joint bookrunners. It plans to list on the NYSE as “DAVA.” Read more.
• Aurora Mobile, a Shenzhen-based app data and analytics platform, raised $77 million in an IPO of 9.1 million shares priced at $8.50, the low end of its $8.50 to $10.50 range . The firm posted revenue of $45.4 million in 2017. KK mobile (34.2% pre-offering) and Mandra iBase (19.2%) back the firm. Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank are underwriters. The firm plans to list on the NASDAQ as “JG.” Read more.
EXITS
• KKR agreed to acquire Bay Club, an active lifestyle and hospitality company. The sellers include York Capital Management, JMA Ventures and Roxborough Group. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
• Black Dragon Capital sold Indus Software Technologies, an India-based provider of enterprise lending software solutions, to Ebiz Inc for $29 million.
• Bullhorn acquired Invenias, a U.K.-based provider of cloud-based software for executive search firms. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Invenias raised more than $8 million in venture funding from investors including MMC Ventures and Eden Ventures.
PEOPLE
• Frances Schwiep joined Two Sigma Ventures as a principal.
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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.
