🦄 The DART Weekly #19 ~ NFT and the big pot bust

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February 27, 2021
Hej Folks,

It has been a fine week for blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin dropped 25%, but no one worried. In fact Square bought the dip for an amount of $170M.
Stocking up on BTC is trending due to the idea that it might hedge against a loss in value of the dollar. It appears, though, that an excessively big investment might peg you to the cryptocurrency.

As more retail and institutional investors turn towards digital currencies, a bunch of crypto exchanges raise capital. Coinbase leads the charge with a valuation of $100B ahead of its direct listing. Its competitor Kraken is in the process of fundraising at a valuation higher than $10B. On the other side of the pond, London-based Blockchain.com turned into a $3B unicorn.

A digital work made by net artist Beeple was sold for $6.6M at Nifty Gateway. It is the most expensive ever auctioned so far. Christie's is hosting the bidding for another piece of the same artist "EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS". The current bid is $3M.
Needless to say, Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a thing. Here's an interesting perspective about it.
Speechless? This podcast episode of StrictlyVC shed some light on the rising trend.

Metal credit cards are so 2020. The Thing now is TreeCard.

On Monday a new episode of The DART Bullseye airs. Let's talk about medtech in Europe.

Entrepreneurship Chronicles

Interest and trust for cannabis stocks has an on-off behaviour. Certain stock exchanges do not support them, whiles in some countries the use of pot is not allowed by the law.
An entrepreneur attempted to surf tide with dubious results. This is the story of Adam Biermann, Co-founder and ex CEO of MedMen.

Read his story on Politico.

🎙 The DART Bullseye

A weekly podcast on innovators, entrepreneurs and investors.
AKA people familiar with the matter.

How to transform research into impactful innovation?
Federico spoke with Enrico Costanzo, Innovation Manager in the food industry.

Tune in to discover the key elements of open innovation programs from the perspective of large corporations.
 
      

Of Unicorns and Cowboys

🦄 The Rounds

The deals worth knowing in Europe and beyond - ordered from coolest to coolio

🇬🇧 Drag and Drop: Collect food waste, grow flies and feed chickens. That's the solution offered by Better Origin who has just raised $3M from Fly Ventures.

🇬🇧 Sweetening: After YC Supplant raised $24M. The startup developed a new type of more sustainable sugar, not relying on sugarcane.

🌈 The Pots

The exits you should follow in Europe and beyond - IPO, direct listing, SPAC, bankruptcy ... all awesome stuff

🇩🇪 Cars-as-a-service: Munich-based Cluno was acquired by Cazoo. The UK startup is becoming the European leader of car monthly subscription services.

🇬🇧 Customer-focused: IMImobile was acquired by Cisco for $730M. Cloud communication services became more and more pyvotal to provide a superior customer journey.

🇺🇸 EVing: Lucid Motors finally striked its SPAC deal. It will get $4.4B in funding to expand production and deliver its sedan model in the 2nd half of 2021.

🤠 The Funds

The tales of unicorns' hunters you should know about - particularly relevant if you are a founder looking for backing

🇺🇸 First timers: Avid Ventures announced its $68 million fund. It is focused on backing early-stage fintech, consumer internet and software companies.

🇺🇸 Long Journey: Sequoia raised a new $195M Seed Fund. In the past 2 years the firm joined 43 seed rounds and supported founders through their angel programme.

🧑‍🎤 ... and The Quirky Ones

The crazy stuff we gossip about while sipping our chai latte - it's like others, but better

🇸🇪 Cameo: no! memmo. Based in Stockholm, the startup raised $10M Series A. Its celebrity video platform operates localized marketplace in EU countries.

🇬🇧 Rumors: Hopin might soon be valued at $6B. The 20-month old startup might or might not have caught the interest of a16z and General Catalyst.

🇬🇧 Ticker: Transferwise rebranded and became Wise. It went beyond the money-transfer use case, plus the name is the perfect ticker in the event of an IPO.
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