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Last Week In Venture: Fast Photography, Fancy Goods, And A SaaS Showdown

Hello and welcome back to Last Week In Venture, 附近上门 News鈥檚 weekly roundup of interesting deals that may have flown under your radar.

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This edition of Last Week in Venture is a bit of a first in that we鈥檙e not Jason. Jason鈥檚 off today and so the two of us are filling in. We鈥檒l keep it brief, but still tackle the same goal we have every week: shed some light on deals that didn鈥檛 get as much as attention they should have; it鈥檚 a crowded market after all.

But first up, let鈥檚 hear about some of this week鈥檚 funding news that we did cover. , , and raised on the back of SaaS metrics, picked up another $100 million on the back of IPO rumors, Dvele raised $14 million for pre-fab construction (more on construction tech here), and and raised $1.4 million and $1 million, respectively. (Also, for innovation happening over on the corporate side, Chipotle has an accelerator, and Chevron Ventures has a new fund).

Now, let鈥檚 get into some new stuff. Here鈥檚 what we didn鈥檛 get to.

Traditionally-Sized Rounds

In the unicorn era, it鈥檚 not hard to find huge Series A rounds, stuffed Seed funding, and tectonic Series Cs. The traditional ranges for Series A, B, and C rounds, not to mention the later tranches of the venture world, have mostly been lost.

Instead, a Series A now merely means that it鈥檚 the first round of institutional capital, at most; if you don鈥檛 count a few Seed rounds as fitting that bill is up to you.

That said, two companies this week raised more traditional-sized rounds.

is our first mention. The SaaS shop raised a $4.2 million Series A round this week, led by鈥攁nd this caught our eye鈥 (more on them here). In an email, Fyle told 附近上门 News that its total capital raised to date is now $5.7 million.

The company is notable for another reason, namely that the 鈥渆xpense management software鈥 is based in Bangalore.

Next up, raised a $16 million Series C. As you can surmise from its name, Academia.edu provides access to what it dubs 鈥渟cholarly research.鈥 听You could stick $16 million into a 2019 Series A and not ruffle feathers, so this round鈥檚 metrics feel downright old school. Not in a bad way, mind you.

The Academia round was notable for another reason, namely that took part in the funding event. That鈥檚 a combination that we didn鈥檛 see coming. In a statement, the startup said that its newly-raised capital 鈥渨ill allow Academia.edu to further its mission to accelerate the world鈥檚 research capabilities.鈥

Other Deals That Caught Our Eye

While LWIV is usually reserved for smaller rounds, we sometimes cover noteworthy larger deals that we didn鈥檛 have time to otherwise write about. This morning, we got wind of a Series D deal that seemed worth highlighting.

New York-based has raised in a round led by to grow its online marketplace for luxury goods such as 鈥渇urnishings, jewelry, fine arts and vintage fashion.鈥 The financing takes the company鈥檚 total raised to since it was founded in 2001 鈥渢o bring the Paris flea markets online,鈥 according to its 附近上门 profile. Execs shifted the headquarters to New York City in 2003.

Prior to 2013, 1stdibs was more of a self-described Craigslist for luxury goods. It evolved into an e-commerce model that year that has proven to more lucrative, the company says. Today, the site works with more than 4,200 dealers in 43 countries. Its sales reached $250 million last year, a CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of nearly 100 percent, according to the company.

1stdibs plans to use the new money to 鈥渋nvest in its core business, grow adjacent categories, expand internationally and make strategic acquisitions.鈥

We鈥檝e also got an $8 million round raised by another New York firm, . The company operates Libris, a digital asset management platform that鈥檚 used by the likes of The Associated Press, PBS, and Pandora. It claims that its technology handles images 鈥70 percent faster鈥 than other similar platforms. PhotoShelter says this is important because it will help marketers move faster when working on social media campaigns that require real-time access to high-quality images. The funding, led by Level Structured Capital, an affiliated fund of , takes PhotoShelter鈥檚 total raised over time . Notably, it hadn鈥檛 raised money since 2007, according to its 附近上门 profile.

In a , the company said it will use the new capital to 鈥渄rive product innovation鈥 across its cloud-based visual media platforms, do some hiring, and finance a new company headquarters this year.

And now we鈥檙e done with our shortened Last Week In Venture! The regularly programmed Jason will be back next week. Thanks for sticking with the series.

Image Credits: Last Week In Venture graphic created by听听

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