$450M round shows identity sector remains red-hot, Crunchbase
Identity sector still hot as Socure secures $450M round
As the ability for companies to know if customers are real or not and spot fraud has become even more important, New York-based digital identity verification firm Socure closed a $450 million round at a $4.5 billion valuation. The Series E was led by Accel alongside the funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price. The new round comes just seven months after the company closed a $100 million Series D at a $1.3 billion valuation. Founded in 2012, Socure has raised a total of $646 million to date, according to the company.
Something Ventured: Demand doubles for Daybreak as school resumes
With teens returning to in-person schooling after more than a year of pandemic-related disruptions, Daybreak Health founder Alex Alvarado expected heightened demand at his adolescent-focused mental telehealth startup. But nothing quite prepared him for the reality. In this latest installment of our Something Ventured series, we check in with Alvarado on how the startup is meeting students’ mental health needs.
Exclusive: Fitness app Ladder raises $6.5M seed
Austin-based fitness startup Ladder has raised $6.5 million in seed funding, the company announced Tuesday. Ladder is a strength training app for users who want the planned workouts, structure and social aspect of a personal trainer without paying the price for one. LivWell Ventures led the round, with participation from Keller Capital, former Bazaarvoice CEO Brett Hurt, NFL wide receiver Danny Amendola, and Athletic Brewing CEO Bill Shufelt.
A checklist of legal considerations for the NFT marketplace
With the growing interest from consumers and asset managers as well as investors and entrepreneurs interested in digital assets, this checklist, written by attorneys Catherine Zhu and Louis Lehot of Silicon Valley law firm Foley & Lardner LLP, should help those involved in creating NFT marketplaces navigate the legal metaverse.
Drata raises $100M, H20.ai lands $100M
San Diego-based Drata, a developer of security and compliance automation technology, announced its raise of $100 million in Series B funding led by ICONIQ Growth. In other news, Mountain View, California-based H20.ai, which describes itself as an AI cloud company, announced it raised $100 million in a Series E funding led by Australia’s largest bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Something Ventured: Metafy CEO on breakneck Series A, what’s next
Life moves pretty fast sometimes, especially when you’re trying to raise venture capital. In early September, Metafy CEO Josh Fabian said he hoped to close a Series A for his Pittsburgh-based startup by early 2022. Instead, he raised that funding in the space of about a week. In this latest installment of our Something Ventured series, we chat with Fabian about what it’s like to go from scrappy startup to a rapidly growing—and now, well-funded—company forging ahead in a fast-emerging market.
How to tell if a prospect is actually interested
In sales, verbal and nonverbal buying signals can clue you in to whether you’re on track to closing a deal. We lay out 10 verbal and nonverbal signals to watch out for when communicating with prospects that can help determine their true interest level.
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