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If VC short sellers existed, virtual and augmented reality startup Magic Leap would have undoubtedly been one of the most popular targets.
It’s a recipe for scrutiny: Headquartered in Plantation, Fla., the company raised roughly $3.5 billion in funding from investors such as Alphabet—much of it before a product was available for sale. But when the company finally began selling its headset to the public in 2018, sales were intensely disappointing. It sought enterprise applications over consumers, tried to sell itself at a $10 billion price tag (there were no takers), and resorted to layoffs amid the pandemic. Then Rony Abovitz, the company’s founder and CEO, stepped down in May.
Now the company is seeking a turnaround under the helm of Peggy Johnson, former executive vice president of business development at Microsoft, who took over as CEO in August.
It’s hard to give Johnson a report card, with just a month or two on the job—but we have clues for the direction she is thinking to take the company in. Johnson, who was one of Satya Nadella’s first big hires at Microsoft as CEO, is expected to focus on building business partnerships, bringing in her contacts from her old job as well. Already, Magic Leap is reportedly talking to Amazon about somehow packaging its headset with Amazon’s cloud services.
She added more color on Thursday, during her first interview since taking over the position, at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit. Per my colleague Lydia Belanger:
“What I’m focused on is ensuring we’re picking the right areas of enterprise to focus on,” she said, citing training, remote assist, and 3D visualization as the three primary use cases the company is zeroing in on. Given the rise of remote work owing to the COVID pandemic, Johnson says she sees promise for teams to meet virtually and review product designs.
For another example, far-flung diagnostics professionals may be able to help fix machinery: If a person on a factory floor is wearing a headset mounted with a camera and a screen, a remote worker can circle components and identify problems.
If Johnson can execute a comeback story—that’s always a good one.
GAMEAPALOOZA: Gaming has taken off during the pandemic, whether in video games or gamified platforms. Online gaming platform Roblox is now working with investment banks to potentially IPO or go public via direct listing in a move that could double its recent $4 billion valuation, Reuters reports citing sources. Read more.
Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: lucinda.shen@fortune.com
VENTURE DEALS
- Uber Freight, the logistics arm of Uber, raised $500 million in Series A funding, valuing the unit at $3.3 billion. An investor group led the round by Greenbriar Equity Group made the investment.
- Kavak.com, a Mexico-based pre-owned vehicle buying and selling market, is now valued at $1.2 billion. Its investors have included Softbank, Greenoaks, DST Global, Kaszek Ventures, QED investors, and General Atlantic.
- Alkami Technology, a Plano, Texas-based cloud-based digital banking solution, raised $140 million in funding. D1 Capital Partners led the round Fidelity Management & Research Company, Franklin Templeton, and Stockbridge Investors.
- Flame Biosciences, a New York-based clinical-stage biopharma-focused on cancer and inflammatory diseases, raised $100 million. Rock Springs Capital led the round and was joined by investors including T. Rowe Price Associates, Cormorant Asset Management, Janus Henderson Investors, Surveyor Capital, Samsara BioCapital, Adage Capital Management, Terra Magnum Capital Partners, Logos Capital, and Acuta Capital Partners.
- Olema Oncology, a San Francisco, Calif.-based biopharma focused on the commercialization of targeted therapies for women’s cancers, raised $85 million in Series C funding. Vivo Capital and was joined by investors including Avoro Capital Advisors, BlackRock, Deerfield Management Company, and OrbiMed.
- Bioshin, a Shanghai-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary of Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, raised $60 million in Series A funding, OrbiMed led the round and was joined by investors including Cormorant Asset Management, HBM Healthcare Investments, Surveyor Capital, and Suvretta Capital Management.
- Payrix, a Frisco, Texas-based fintech company, raised $50 million in extended Series A funding. Blue Star Innovation Partners and Providence Strategic Growth.
- Tend, a New York-based dentists studio operator, raised a $37 million in Series B funding. GV led the round and was joined by investors including Tiger Global and Redpoint Ventures.
- Dewey's Bakery, a Winston-Salem, N.C.-based clean-label cookie and cracker manufacturer, raised $25 million in funding. Eurazeo was the investor.
- Solo.io, a Cambridge, Mass.-based API infrastructure company, raised $23 million in Series B funding. Redpoint Ventures and True Ventures led the round.
- Braintrust, a San Francisco-based network for technical freelancers, raised $18 million. ACME and Blockchange the round and was joined by investors including Pantera, Multicoin and Variant.
- Eclypsium, Portland, Ore.-based enterprise device security company, raised $13 million in funding. Investors included AV8 Ventures, TransLink Capital, Mindset Ventures, Alumni Ventures Group, Ridgeline Partners, Intel Capital, Madrona Venture Group, Andreessen Horowitz, and Ubiquity Ventures.
- Pixie Labs, a San Francisco-based way for developers to observe and troubleshoot their application’s performance, raised $9.2 million in Series A funding. Benchmark led the round and was joined by investors including GV.
- Altinity, Gillingham, U.K.-based cloud service provider, raised $4 million in funding from Accel.
- Lucid Scientific, an Atlanta, Ga.-based biotechnology tools company, raised $3 million in seed funding. Dynamk Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Georgia Research Alliance’s Venture Fund.
- QUIN, a German-based investment advisory service, raised €1 million ($1 million) in seed funding. Investors include sino AG, Runa Capital, and APX.
- Course Studio, a Vancouver-based online class startup, raised $1 million in seed funding. Read more.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- TDR Capital will acquire Asda, Walmart's U.K.-based supermarket chain, for 6.8 billion pounds alongside billioniares Mohsin and Zuber Issa.
- Mubadala Investment Co agreed to invest 62.5 billion rupees ($853 million) in Reliance Retail, the retail division of India’s Reliance Industries. Read more.
- Cinven is considering a bid for Clipper Logistics, a U.K.-based logistics company, per Bloomberg. Read more.
- Cotton Creek Capital recapped ConeCraft, Fort Worth, Texas-based engineer and manufacturer of customized equipment for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Advent International invested in Grupo CRM, a Brazilian chocolate producer. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Supply Chain Services, a portfolio company of Sole Source Capital, acquired Miles Data Technologies, a provider of barcode, RFID, and mobility solutions. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OTHERS
- Via acquired Fleetonomy, an Israel-based developer of advanced fleet management software. Fleetonomy investors included TA Ventures and VectoIQ.
- Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) will acquire General Motors Co's (NYSE: GM) credit card business for about $2.5 billion, per the WSJ citing sources. Read more.
EXITS
- Cisco agreed to acquire Portshift, an Israel-based cybersecurity company. Team8 backs the firm.
IPOs
- Academy Sports and Outdoors, a sporting goods retailer backed by KKR, raised $203 million in its IPO. Read more.
- AmeriHome, a Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based residential mortgage producer, filed for a $100 million IPO. It posted $418.7 million in revenue and income of $174.5 million in 2019. Read more.
- Ozon and ivi, a Russian online commerce platform and a Russian cinema respectively, are considering IPOs in the U.S., per Reuters citing sources. Read more.
SPACS
- CONX Corp, a blank-check company formed by Dish cofounder and billionaire Charles Ergen, is seeking to raise $1 billion. It is looking at targets in the TMT space. Read more.
- Duddell Street Acquisition, a blank check company formed by Maso Capital, plans to raise $175 million and seek a business in the TMT, healthcare, fintech, and consumer sectors. Read more.
- Helix Acquisition, a blank check company targeting the healthcare industry, filed to raise $100 million. Cormorant Asset Management backs the firm. Read more.
F+FS
- Bullpen Capital raised $130 million for its fifth fund. Read more.
PEOPLE
- Blossom Capital hired Carmen Alfonso Rico as partner.
- Bullpen Capital named Ann Lai as a partner.
