Car-sharing startup Getaround raises $140 million

Tech businesses are soaring while many travel businesses are struggling. We all know that.

And then there are the companies that stumbled at the beginning of the pandemic, but have not actually seen a massive fall-off in demand: Getaround, a car-sharing startup, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $140 million in Series E funding after a rough start this year.

PeopleFund led the round and was joined by investors including Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus’ Reinvent Capital, Henry McGovern, Pennant Capital, and partners of VectoIQ. While Getaround did not disclose its valuation, the company has raised $600 million total from investors that also include SoftBank Vision Fund and Menlo Ventures. 

Demand for Getaround’s services fell 75% in March on a month-over month basis. The company laid off some 100 employees and furloughed others. But as the pandemic wore on, consumers began trickling back in, with cautious ones using the platform to avoid public transportation and travel-hungry ones signing up to make day trips. Now, CEO Sam Zaid tells Term Sheet, revenue has “doubled compared to the pre-COVID baseline.” 

It echoes Airbnb’s trajectory: Bookings at the company dried up at the start of the crisis, but later rebounded to pre-pandemic levels as consumers sought close-by escapes.

AN ANT FINANCIAL INVESTOR RAISES A NEAR $1 BILLION FUND: Lead Edge Capital, the growth-stage shop that has invested in companies such as Uber, Alibaba, Asana, and Bumble, closed its fifth fund with $950 million in commitments, vastly oustripping its last flagship $520 million raise in 2018, the firm announced Wednesday.

2020 is shaping up to be a strong year for Lead Edge, as high-profile bets near or enter exit territory. Aforementioned workplace collaboration tool Asana went public earlier this year and now trades at a $3.8 billion valuation. Another investment, Chinese payments giant Ant Financial, is also slated to go public this year in one of the largest offerings in history that could value the company at $250 billion.

For Lead Edge, the larger fund size allows the firm not only to write bigger checks and keep companies private longer, but also to invest over a longer period of time. Lead Edge plans to continue to invest in software and internet businesses, with check sizes going as high as $150 million. 

But Ant Financial’s IPO came with some bruising: The company’s planned dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong has faced delays, and across the pond, the Trump administration has looked into leveling restrictions against its operations at a time of rising tensions between the U.S. and China. Lead Edge founder Mitchell Green, though, waved away concerns. 

“We’re still investing in China. It has always been a scary place to invest in,” he tells Term Sheet. “I think it is a lot of noise.”

Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: lucinda.shen@fortune.com

VENTURE DEALS

- Calm, a San Francisco-based maker of a meditation and sleep app, is seeking to raise $150 million at a $2 billion valuation, per Bloomberg. Read more.

- Arrival, a U.K.-based electric vehicle company, raised $118 million in funding from BlackRock.

- ‌Plenty‌ ‌Unlimited‌, ‌a South San Francisco-based farming startup, raised $140 million in Series D funding. Softbank Vision Fund 1 led the round and was joined by investors including Driscoll’s.

- LIVEKINDLY, a maker of plant-based foods, raised $135 million in funding. Blue Horizon Corporation led the round and was joined by investors including Trustbridge Partners and EQT.

- Wealthsimple, a Toronto-based online investment firm, is nearing a deal to raise about $76 million led by TCV that would value it at over $1 billion, per Bloomberg. Read more.

-Alkira, a San Jose, Calif.-based cloud networking startup, raised $54 million in Series B funding. Koch Disruptive Technologies led the round and was joined by investors including Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and GV.

- Augury, a New York-based machine diagnostics provider, raised $55 million in Series D funding. Qumra Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Insight Venture Partners, Eclipse Ventures, Munich Re Venture Capital, Qualcomm Ventures and Lerer Hippeau Ventures.

- Astroscale, a Tokyo-based company removing space debris, raised $51 million in Series E funding. aStart led the round and was joined by investors including  Hulic, I-Net, Shimizu and Sparx Space Frontier Fund. Read more.

- New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), a subsidiary of Stone Ridge that digital asset services, raised $50 million. Fintech Collective led the round and was joined by investors including Bessemer Ventures and Ribbit Capital.

- Casai, a Mexico City-based short-term rental platform, raised $23 million in Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by investors including Andreessen Horowitz’s Cultural Leadership Fund, Kaszek Ventures, Monashees Capital, Global Founders Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures, Tom Stafford (managing partner of DST Global), and founders of startups including Nova Credit, Loft, Kavak, and Runa.

- Menlo Microsystems, an Irvine, Calif.-based maker of electronic switches, raised $44 million in Series B funding. 40 North Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Piva, Paladin Capital Group, Vertical Venture Partners, and Future Shape.

- apiiro, a New York-based platform that seeks to automatically remediate risk with changes in app development, raised $35 million funding. Investors include Ted Schlein (General Partner at Kleiner Parkins), Saam Motamedi and Asheem Chandna (General Partners at Greylock).

- Kasa Living, a San Francisco-based short term rental company, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Ribbit Capital led the round. FirstMark Capital led the firm’s $20 million Series A funding.

- BlackSwan Technologies, a company seeking to use artificial intelligence to increase operational efficiency, raised $28 million. Investors included Prytek, FinTLV, and MS&AD Ventures.

- Matroid, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based computer vision provider, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Energize Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including New Enterprise Associates (NEA), and Intel Capital.

- Hedvig, a Stockholm-based insurance carrier, raised $9 million in extended Series A funding. Investors included Obvious Ventures, Cherry Ventures, D-Ax, and CommerzVentures.

- Nym Health, a Boston-based provider of autonomous medical coding technology, raised $16.5 million in Series A funding. GV led the round.

- Engageli, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based digital classroom platform, raised $14.5 million in seed funding. BRM and Emerge Education were among the investors. 

- Infiot, a San Francisco, Calif.-based maker of infrastructure for remote users, sites and IoT devices, raised $15 million in funding. Investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Neotribe Ventures, Westwave Capital, and Harpoon Ventures.

- JAXJOX, a Seattle, Wash.-based fitness technology company, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Investors included Dowgate Capital Ltd. and Nigel Wray.

- Tiltify, a Los Angeles-based creator of a fundraising platform, raised $6.5 million in Series A funding. Pace Capital led the round.

- Linear Labs, a Fort Worth, Texas-based maker of more energy efficient electric motors and generators, raised $6 million in funding. Investors included Champion Hill, Lowercarbon Capital, Kindred Ventures, Gen Fukunaga, Duke Angel Network, Spike Ventures, and Moving Capital.

- Lassogen, a San Diego-based company focused on lasso peptide, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. Playground Global led the round and was joined by investors including Better Ventures, First In Ventures, and Tsingyuan Ventures.

- Profitboss, a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based online ordering platform, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Redpoint Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Kimbal Musk, Dylan Field (Figma CEO), Naval Ravikant (AngelList cofounder), The Chainsmokers, George Bousis (Raise founder), and Sean Rad (Tinder founder).

- Grata, a New York and Boston-based maker of a search engine for discovering small to middle market private companies, raised $3.2 million in seed funding. Bling Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Accomplice and Alumni Ventures Group.

- BlackBoiler, an Arlington, Va.-based contract markup technology provider, raised $3.2 million in funding. Investors included DocuSign. 

- ​Caliber Fitness​, a New York-based fitness coaching platform, raised $2.2 million in seed funding. Trinity Ventures led the round.

- The Juggernaut, a New York City-based, media company, raised $2 million in seed funding. Precursor Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Unpopular Ventures and Backstage Capital.

- Osmind, a Mountainview, Calif.-based healthcare technology startup providing software for mental health professionals, raised $2 million in seed funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by investors including What If Ventures, 20|20 Fund, Jeffrey Leiden MD (executive chairman of Vertex Pharmaceuticals), and Alice Zhang (co-founder of Verge Genomics).

- Genemod, a Seattle-based maker of data automation software for life scientists, raised $1.7 million in seed funding. Defy.vc led the round and was joined by investors including  Omicron, Unpopular Ventures, Underdog Labs, and Canaan Partners Scout Fund.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Vungle, backed by Blackstone, acquired AlgoLift, a Los Angeles-based company building algorithms to increase return on ad spend. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- New Heritage Capital invested in Carnegie Dartlet, a Massachusetts-based provider of marketing solutions specializing in the higher education market. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- JLL Partners acquired MedeAnalytics, a cloud-based enterprise analytics solutions provider for health systems and health plans. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Susquehanna Private Capital invested in Authority Franchise Systems, a Hickory, N.C. based franchisor of mosquito, pest and tick control services. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Clearwave, backed by Frontier Growth, acquired Odoro, a New York-based provider of digital patient-access solutions for healthcare providers, physician practices, and healthcare systems.  Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Dude Solutions, backed by Clearlake Capital Group agreed to acquire Confirm, an asset management platform, from Precisely. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Leonard Green & Partners invested in Eyemart Express, a Texas-based optical retailer. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

OTHER

- Insider Inc. is in talks to acquire a controlling stake in MorningBrew, the financial newsletter startup, that values the company at over $75 million, per the Wall Street Journal. Read more.

EXITS

- Barentz International agreed to acquire Maroon Group, an Avon, Oh.-based distributor of life sciences ingredients, from CI Capital Partners. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

IPOs

- Sun Country Airlines, an airliner specializing in taking those in the midwest to sunnier regions that is backed by Apollo, may restart IPO plans as soon as next year. Read more.

- DoubleVerify, a New York-based digital media engagement analytics firm, could seek to raise $500 million through an IPO as soon as the first half of 2021, per Bloomberg. Providence Equity Partners backs the firm. Read more.

- McAfee Corp, the cybersecurity company carved out of Intel Capital, plans to raise $758 million in an offering of 37 million shares (16% sold by insiders) priced between $19 to $22. Read more.

SPAC

- E2open, a maker of supply chain software, agreed to go public via merger with CC Neuberger Principal Holdings I, a blank check company, valuing the firm at $2.6 billion. Insight Partners backs E2open.

- Finance of America Equity Capital, a lending and services platform, plans to go public via merger with Replay Acquisition Corp., a SPAC, valuing it at $1.9 billion. Blackstone backs Finance of America.

- Skillsoft, a digital learning company, will go public via merger with Churchill Capital Corp II, a SPAC, in a deal valuing the company at about $1.3 billion. Investors including Charterhouse Capital back SkillSoft.

- Advent Technologies, a fuel cell maker, plans to go public via merger with AMCI Acquisition, a SPAC. The deal values the firm at $358 million.

F+FS

- BC Partners has raised roughly half of its goal for its 11th fund, per Bloomberg. The fund is targeting about $10 billion. Read more.

- Canaan Partners closed its 12th fund with $800 million in commitments. Read more.

PEOPLE

- Bridges Fund Management promoted Ed Niemczyk to partner.

- Felix Capital named Angela Chou and Joseph Pizzolato as investors.