SoftBank-backed Arm says it ousted its China CEO. Arm China says it hasn’t

This is messy, even for SoftBank. 

The ouster of a CEO is usually a behind-closed-doors affair, even if the writing’s on the wall as with WeWork’s Adam Neumann. But that’s not the case with SoftBank-backed semiconductor company Arm. The British company, which is SoftBank’s biggest bet, is very publicly clashing with its Chinese venture over whether the lead of operations there, Allen Wu, is out. 

The key semiconductor player said on Wednesday that it had installed two interim co-CEOs to replace Wu as chairman and CEO after looking into a whistleblower complaint. 

While that usually is the end of it, Arm China came back with an uh, nope—saying Wu was still in charge as Arm China is an independent entity legally domiciled in China.

Arm returned with more ammunition. In a statement alongside Hopu Investments (SoftBank’s partner in Arm China), Arm hinted at much more behind the story of removing Wu: “Evidence received from multiple sources found serious irregularities, including failing to disclose conflicts of interest and violations of the employee handbook.”

This all comes after Arm sold a 51% stake of Arm China to a consortium of investors including state-backed entities such as the Silk Road Fund in 2018. Arm itself meanwhile has struggled to live up to SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son’s dreams for the chip designer, which was acquired for $32 billion in 2016. Read more.

Oh right, SoftBank Vision Fund is also preparing to cut about 15% of its staff after reporting record losses in the last fiscal year, per Bloomberg. 

Private equity, hospitals, and the coronavirus: Hospitals and physicians are in an especially tenuous position right now. The coronavirus has flattened revenues from lucrative elective surgeries as caretakers focus on Covid-19, leading to layoffs and pay cuts. Now the microscope is focused even more on private equity-backed healthcare companies.

In the latest round of criticism, four Democratic members of Congress are accusing Leonard Green & Partners of taking some $658 million in fees and dividends from its Los Angeles-based hospital chain, Prospect Medical holdings. The quartet say that Leonard Green & Partners extracted those payouts even as Prospect’s finances deteriorated, with operating income falling from $142 million to $17 million in 2018.

VENTURE DEALS

- NS8, a Las Vegas-based provider of fraud prevention tools within e-commerce marketplaces, raised $123 million in funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including AXA Venture Partners. Read more.

- DNAnexus, a Mountain View, Calif.-based provider DNA data sets for collaboration on research projects, raised $100 million in Series G funding. Perceptive Advisors and Northpond Ventures co-led the round and was joined by investors including GV, Foresite Capital, TPG Capital, and First Round Capital. Read more.

- Cue Health, a San Diego-based healthcare technology company, raised $100 million in funding. Investors included Decheng Capital, Foresite Capital, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, and ACME Capital.

- Xiaolinggou, a electric car rental unit of Chinese automaker Geely, raised nearly 688 million ($97 million) in Series A funding. Investors included state-owned Ningbo Yincheng Group and an entity called Hangzhou Puzhao Technology. Read more.

- Autobahn Therapeutics, a San Diego, Calif.-based developer of regenerative medicines for CNS disorders, raised $76 million in Series B funding. Arch Venture Partners and Cowen Healthcare Investments led the round and were joined by investors including BVF Partners, Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer Ventures, Invus, Section 32, Samsara BioCapital and Alexandria Venture Investments.

- jSonar, a Boston, Mass.-based security platform, raised $50 million in funding from Goldman Sachs.

- Lycia Therapeutics, a San Francisco, Calif.-based biotech tackling protein degradation, raised $50 million in funding. Versant Ventures was the investor.

- CereVasc, a Boston, Mass.-based company conducting noninvasive treatments for hydrocephalus, raised $43.9 million in a Series A funding. Perceptive Advisors and Aton Partners co-led the round.

- Domino Data Lab, a San Francisco, Calif.-based data science management platform, raised $43 million in funding. Highland Capital Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Dell Technologies Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Coatue Management. 

- M1 Finance, a Chicago-based money management platform, raised $33 million in Series B funding. Left Lane Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Jump Capital, and Clocktower Technology Ventures.

- Yugabyte, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based SQL databases company, raised $30 million in Series B funding. 8VC led the round and was joined by investors including Wipro Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Dell Technologies Capital. 

- Squire Technologies, a New York-based barbershop management and point of sale software maker, raised $27 million in Series B funding. CRV led the round, and was joined by investors including Tiger Global, San Francisco 49ers organization, Charles Phillips (former CEO and Chairman of Infor), and existing investors Trinity Ventures, 645 Ventures, Comcast Ventures’ Catalyst Fund and Y Combinator. 

- RapidSOS, a New York-based emergency response company, raised $21 million in funding. Transformation Capital led the round and was joined by investors including  C5 Capital and Laerdal Million Lives Fund.

- Alpha Health, a South San Francisco-based automation company for healthcare, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, and was joined by investors including Costanoa Ventures.

- Noodle Partners, which helps campuses build online programs, raised $16 million in Series B funding. ValueAct Spring Fund led the round and was joined by investors including Lumina Foundation.

- C2i Genomics, a New York-based company focused on the tumor pattern recognition approach for liquid biopsy,  raised $12 million in Series A funding. Casdin Capital led the round and was joined by investors including NFX Capital, and The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. 

- Viaduct, a San Francisco-based machine learning startup for vehicles, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Innovation Endeavors led the round and was joined by investors including Exor Seeds and Box Group.

- Journera, a Chicago-based startup seeking to create seamless travel, raised $11.6 million in Series B funding. Andreessen Horowitz and B Capital led the round, and were joined by investors including Pritzker Group Venture Capital and The Boston Consulting Group.

- Boom.tv, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based esports platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Bitkraft Esports Venture led the round, and was joined by investors including Crest Capital, PTW, Everblue, ImaginationVC, MTG Media Group, WTI, and H. Barton Asset Management. Read more.

- EnsoData, a Madison, Wis.-based company analyzing health data from wearables and medical devices, raised $9 million in Series A funding. Venture Investors and Zetta Venture Partners led the round.

- MPOWER Financing, a Washington, D.C.-based fintech platform for educational loans to international and DACA students, raised $9 million in funding. Investors include Breega, Potencia Ventures, AI8, Cometa, Zephyr-Peacock, 1776, Fresco Capital, 1994 LLC, and Goal Structured Solutions.

- Pando, a San Francisco-based company focused on managing career risk, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Core Innovation Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Pear VC, Avalon Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Nimble Ventures, Stanford StartX Fund, WTI and Slow VC.

- Flatfile, a drop-in spreadsheet importer, raised $7.6 million in Seed funding. Two Sigma Ventures led, and was joined by investors including Afore Capital, Designer Fund, and Gradient Ventures.

-Chargeback, a Salt Lake City,-based dispute management platform for merchants, raised $6.6 million in Series A1 funding. Fintop Capital and Next Frontier Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Next Coast Ventures and Kickstart Fund.

- Axiom, a London-based DevOps platform, raised $4 million in seed funding. Crane Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Fly VC, Mango Capital and LocalGlobe.

- Innovation Department, a  New York-based platform that builds DTC brands, raised  $3.7 million in funding from investors including M13 Ventures, Long Light Capital, Synergis Capital, and Ambridge Capital.

- Canopy, an Indianapolis-based revenue intelligence platform, raised $2 million in seed funding. High Alpha Capital and Elevate Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including IU Ventures and Service Provider Capital.

- SimpleLab, a Berkeley, Calif.-based home water testing maker, raised an undisclosed round of funding from Craft Ventures, Spring Point Partners, and Mazarine Ventures.

- Genial Care, a Brazilian digital health company treating autism and other conditions, raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding. Canary led the round.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management and Whale Rock Capital Management invested in Duck Creek Technologies, a Boston-based software provider for insurers. Duck Creek raised $230 million ahead of a planned initial public offering.. Read more.

- Private equity firms are reportedly eying a buyout of Cloudera (NYSE: CLDR), a cloud company. Carl Icahn is Cloudera’s largest shareholder.  Read more.

- ICONIQ Capital invested in QGenda, an Atlanta-based workforce management software to the healthcare industry. Francisco Partners will retain a majority stake. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Spectrum Equity invested in CINC Systems, a Duluth, Ga.-based cloud-based platform for community association management. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Trinity Hunt Partners invested in Juris Medicus, a San Antonio, Texas-based medical expert sourcing and case management company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

OTHERS

- Data Robot acquired Boston Consulting Group’s SOURCE AI technology. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

BREAKUPS, HANGUPS, AND BANKRUPTCIES

- Hyundai Development Co is seeking new buyout terms for its acquisition of Asiana Airlines after the carrier’s debt load increased by $3.8 billion. Hyundai previously agreed to acquire the company for $2.1 billion. Read more.

IPOS

- Snowflake, a San Mateo-based cloud data platform, has filed confidentially for an IPO. Read more.

- Royalty Pharma, a New York-based company that buys royalty interests in biopharmaceuticals, plans to raise $2 billion in an offering of 70 million shares (14% insider sold) priced between $25 to $28 apiece. The company posted revenue of $1.8 billion in 2019 and income of $1.2 billion. It plans to list on the Nasdaq as “RPRX.” Read more.

- Dun & Bradstreet, a Short Hills, NJ.-based provider of data analytics services, filed on to raise $1 billion. The company posted revenue of $1.4 billion in 2019 and loss of $674 million. A consortium of investors including Bilcar, Thomas H. Lee Partners, Cannae Holdings, Black Knight, and CC Capital Partners took the company private in 2018. It plans to list on the NYSE as “DNB.”  Read more.

F+FS

- Mason Wells closed Mason Wells Buyout Fund V with $725 million.

- Balbec Capital closed InSolve Global Credit Fund IV with approximately $1.2 billion.

PEOPLE

- Valor Ventures added Gary Peat as a General Partner.