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The company, which is based in Indonesia, provides a wide range of services, from rides to payments to food delivery.

Gojek鈥檚 investors include , and . The company first raised money with its $2 million in December 2014, and has more than in funding, according to 附近上门.

The financing deal was finalized over the past week, Bloomberg reported. It鈥檚 an impressive sum that comes as the world economy feels the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. stock market, for example, has sunk and investors have suggested that there will be a slowdown in venture capital funding.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not stopping there as we are still seeing strong demand among the investment community to partner with us,鈥� co-CEOs Andre Soelistyo and Kevin Aluwi wrote in an internal memo to employees, which was obtained by Bloomberg. 鈥淭here are a number of exciting ongoing conversations that we will be able to update you on very soon.鈥�

Gojek competes perhaps most notably with Singapore鈥檚 , another ride-hailing giant that鈥檚 trying to be the 鈥渆verything in one鈥� app with rides, payments, food delivery and other services. Grab–which has nearly $10 billion in funding, according to 附近上门–and Gojek were reportedly in talks about a merger, though Gojek denied it, according to Bloomberg.

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Southern California-based Procore said it has yet to determine neither the number of shares it plans to offer nor the price range. But it did list a proposed maximum offering price of $100 million. It also noted that it will list its common stock on the under the ticker symbol 鈥淧COR.鈥�

and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are serving as joint lead book-running managers for the proposed offering.

Last September, we reported that an IPO could value 17-year-old Procore at more than $4 billion, according to , which cited 鈥減eople with knowledge of the matter.鈥� In December, we covered how the company had tripled its valuation to nearly $3 billion after raising a $75 million Series H from . That was up from a $1 billion valuation just two years prior when Procore raised $50 million in a round from . Since it was founded in 2003, Procore has , according to 附近上门 data.

Other previous backers include 听补苍诲

Last August, I reported on Procore acquiring its third startup in 12 months as part of its plan to broaden its offerings through mergers and acquisitions.

The numbers

Procore, which operates as a SaaS company, has seen impressive growth in recent years. As of August 2019, it had more than 1,800 employees, up 600 compared to a year ago, across 13 offices globally. Procore saw its annual recurring revenue surge from under $10 million in 2014 last August.聽

Last year, I talked with Procore Founder and CEO by phone about the company鈥檚 M&A strategy, and he told me then that was 鈥渏ust the beginning.鈥�

In its S-1, Procore shed more light on its financials. It revealed both increased revenue and net loss in 2019.聽 Specifically, the company鈥檚 revenue surged 55 percent in 2019 to $289.2 million compared with $186.4 million in 2018. At the same time, its net loss was up by 46.5 percent to $83.1 million in 2019 compared to $56.7 million in 2018.

Also, Procore revealed it had an accumulated deficit of $300.8 million at the end of last year.

Meanwhile, customer count nearly doubled from 4,310 at the end of 2017 to 8,506 at the end of 2019. It also has more than 1.3 million users.

Elusive profitability

Like other SaaS operators, Procore sells its products on a subscription basis for a fixed fee with pricing generally based on the number and mix of products and the annual construction volume contracted to run on its platform. As its customers subscribe to additional products, or increase the annual construction volume contracted to run on Procore鈥檚 platform, the company generates more revenue.

In citing its risk factors, Procore acknowledges a couple of things. Notably, it admits 鈥渢o a history of losses,鈥� and that it 鈥渕ay not be able to achieve or sustain profitability in the future.鈥� It also acknowledges that its business may be 鈥渟ignificantly impacted鈥� by changes in the 鈥渞elated reductions in spend across the construction industry.鈥� No doubt that a downturn resulting in a slowdown in development would be harmful to Procore鈥檚 business.

As we鈥檝e reported extensively, construction tech is one of those spaces that has not been considered traditionally sexy. It is, however, an industry that is growing both in terms of the number of companies receiving funding in the space and in terms of more mainstream investor interest. It鈥檚 also seeing more exits, as evidenced by this latest news.

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The company, which was founded in 2015, is something like a new-age bank: Users can create accounts in the Revolut app and deposit and send money with it.聽

Revolut wants to bring in 100 million customers in the next five years and expand outside of Europe, CEO told TV on Tuesday.

The new round brings Revolut鈥檚 total funding to about , according to 附近上门. Its last valuation was $1.5 billion, but with its new $5.5 billion price tag, it鈥檚 tied with Swedish payment installment startup for the title of Europe鈥檚 most valuable fintech startup, according to .

led the new round, and the company is also backed by investors like , and. It last raised a $250 million Series C, led by DST Global, in April 2018.聽

Fintech startups are certainly hot right now–they鈥檙e getting plenty of funding and a couple have seen high profile exits. announced plans to acquire for $5.3 billion last month, and just yesterday confirmed rumors that it would be acquired by for $7.1 billion.

Revolut has more than 10 million customers and has processed more than 350 million transactions, according to the company鈥檚 website.

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wants to plug the institution鈥檚 financial services to Grab鈥檚 users, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the deal.

Although Grab started off as a ride-hailing app, its services now go far beyond that. The company wants to be an 鈥渆veryday everything鈥� app–it currently lets users book rides, meals and hotels, and offers payment services, among other things.

The company operates throughout southeast Asia, including in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The new investment makes Grab extremely well-capitalized. It last raised an extensive Series H round in 2018 and 2019. In 2019, it received a investment from the , followed by a infusion with as the lead investor as part of the Series H round.

With the new funding from Mitsubishi UFJ, Grab鈥檚 total funding comes to about , according to 附近上门.

While it attracts large amounts of venture capital, Grab also invests. Last year it participated in 鈥� $8 million Series A.

Grab is backed by firms including SoftBank Vision Fund, Invesco, , and automakers like and .

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-backed has reportedly shut down operations, according to an by Protocol鈥檚 Biz Carson.

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Brandless, a direct-to-consumer startup focused on food, beauty and personal care products, had announced it had raised a total of $292.5 million since its inception in 2016, according to .

led its last funding round, , which valued the company at $500 million, according to 附近上门. At that time, our former editor-in-chief Alex Wilhelm pointed out the fact that it was 鈥渁 huge check at a large cost in equity terms.鈥� But it turns out that SoftBank had only provided聽about $100 million upfront with a commitment to “fund around another $120 million if certain milestones were met. That final tranche never came,” according to Axios.

led its $35 million Series B in July 2017, a round that also included participation from NBA player , , and , among others.

Back in 2017, 附近上门 News sat down with 聽, co-founder and CEO of 聽to talk about how the company wanted to eliminate the inefficiency of the brand tax while changing the way people shop and live.

Background

It was bound to happen eventually. With all its misteps over the past couple of years, SoftBank was bound to have a portfolio company shut down.

The news that Brandless has shuttered is not entirely shocking, considering that last June, it got a new CEO amidst 鈥渢urmoil鈥� within the company, according to .

Looks like Brandless鈥� vision of $3 home goods just couldn鈥檛 keep up with the steep competition from rivals like . In fact, soon after it got that big cash infusion from SoftBank, the startup鈥檚 strategy seemed to change. According to TechCrunch鈥檚 Connie Laizos, in January 2019, the 鈥渃ompany added baby and pet products to its stable of offerings, some of them at a 鈥�

In a statement to , Brandless blamed a “fiercely competitive” retail market that was “unsustainable” for its business.

The news is the latest in a string of bad publicity for SoftBank. In January, we reported on how SoftBank-backed Colombian delivery unicorn had been hit with a trade secrets lawsuit. Also in January, we covered how two SoftBank-funded startups were in the news for either confirmed or rumored layoffs: Rappi had , according to Axios. And published an article that discount lodging provider reportedly was 鈥渇iring thousands of staff across China and India.鈥�

That followed pizza-making robot startup , also backed by SoftBank, laying off聽 53 percent of its employees.

SoftBank, a Japanese investment conglomerate, has been accused of overinflating valuations with its fat checks, and it鈥檚 not ending well for many companies. But the practice of investing too much, perhaps too soon, may be catching up with SoftBank. Earlier this year, that SoftBank is cutting its ties with startup investments, even after signing term sheets.

In fact, SoftBank’s heavy-handed check-writing is leading investors and startups alike to rethink sky-high valuations in favor of a聽path to profitability.

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