| | | | | | | A TALE OF TWO PITCH DECKS | | Happy Friday, Term Sheet readers. | | Term Sheet reported yesterday on the wild goose chase to answer the simple question: How much money did unicorn Rubicon Global raise and at what valuation? | | | | . |  | | . | | | | A quick summary: On Tuesday, Forbes reported that recycling startup Rubicon Global reached unicorn status after raising $50M. However, the CEO told me they're actually raising $100 million in total. Meanwhile, a Form D showed only $19.4M of raised capital. In other words, lots of numbers to work with for one simple question. | | Here's the latest: | | • After numerous requests, the recycling startup still declined to offer supporting docs helping validate the $50M tranche. All I have is their word and this apparently outdated Form D, which states $19.4M. Guess I'll have to wait for the correct up-to-date Form D. | | • I obtained four pitch decks yesterday — one from 2014, two from 2015, and one from 2016. | | • The two pitch decks from 2015 are basically identical until you get to the "financial overview" portion. There's a discrepancy in the historical data for pretty much every year except for 2011. The revenue numbers for years 2012, 2013, and 2014 are not consistent across both decks. | | • I asked Rubicon these two questions 1) Can you tell me which deck's numbers are accurate? And 2) Why are they not consistent across decks? They said it's "impossible to comment on something we haven't seen." The company added that they aren't sure why the lower figures were reported in one of the decks and the individual responsible for creating the presentation is no longer with the company. "It obviously does not benefit us to report lower figures," the email said. | | • The company said the audited net revenue numbers are in line with the higher figures presented in one of the decks. But in 2014, the audited net revenue was $2.163 million. This number does not reflect what's presented in either pitch deck as the 2014 actual revenue figure. Both decks say the numbers are adjusted from audited financials. | | Since a potential investor in the company was given this deck, that becomes problematic. Now that it appears there are multiple versions of the numbers, I have asked for documentation of the audits. | | • I spoke with an investor who passed on the company several times, and he said, "Every time you try to press down on a number, it evaporates." | | It's possible there's an explanation to the discrepancy between pitch decks. Whatever the reason, they can't both be right. Numbers aren't up for interpretation. I'll update you as I get more clarification. | | *Note: The Atlanta Business Chronicle article I referenced about a $75 million fundraise changed its headline to reflect the current round. | | | | . | | |  | | | | | | THE LATEST FROM FORTUNE... | | | | | | • Patreon, a San Francisco-based platform that enables creators and artists to fund their work, raised Series C funding of an undisclosed amount Series C at a $450 million valuation, according to TechCrunch. Read more. • Federated Wireless, an Arlington, Va.-based provider of wireless infrastructure solutions, raised $42 million in Series B funding. Investors include Charter Communications, American Tower Corp, ARRIS International plc and GIC. • AppGuard LLC, a Chantilly, Va.-based maker of intelligent prevention endpoint protection software, raised more than $30 million in Series B funding. JTB Corporation led the round. • RealtyShares, a San Francisco-based online marketplace for real estate investing, raised $28 million in Series C funding. Investors include Cross Creek Advisors, Danhua Capital, Barry Sternlicht, Bow Capital, Union Square Ventures, General Catalyst Partners and Menlo Ventures. • Sixgill LLC, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based provider of sensor data services for governing IoE, raised $27.9 million in funding. DRW Venture Capital led the round, and was joined by Mobile Financial Partners. • KeyMe, a New York City-based provider of solutions for people to access and manage their keys, raised $25 million in Series D funding. Comcast Ventures was the lead investor, and was joined by investors including Battery Ventures, Benefit Street Partners, Michael Polsky, Questmark Partners, Ravin Gandhi, RiverPark Ventures, 7-Eleven and White Star Capital. • Fauna Inc, a provider of adaptive operational database solutions, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Daniel Gwak of Point72 Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including GV, Costanoa Ventures, Afore Capital, CRV, Data Collective, Quest Venture Partners, the Webb Investment Network and Ulu Ventures. • Call9, a New York City-based emergency medicine provider, raised $24 million in Series B funding. Redmile led the round, and was joined by investors including Index Ventures, Refactor, Y Combinator and Western Technology Investment. • Piper, a San Francisco-based STEM education company, raised $7.6 million in Series A funding. Owl Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Reach Capital, Stanford's StartX fund and Charles Huang. • ExecThread Inc, a New York-based job-sharing network for executives, raised $6.5 million in funding. Canaan Partners and Javelin Venture Partners led the round, and were joined by investors including Corazon Capital, CoVenture and NextView Ventures. • CashShield, a Singapore-based online fraud management company, raised $5.5 million in Series A funding. GGV Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Tony Fadell, Heliconia Capital Management and Stream Global. Read more at Fortune. • Augment, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup, raised $5 million in Series A funding. Investors include Silicon Valley Data Capital and JAZZ Venture Partners. • Clinch, a New York City-based video ad personalization firm, raised $3 million in Series A funding. Investors include Richard Gati. • Swirlds, a Dallas, Texas-based developer of a distributed consensus platform, raised $3 million in seed funding. New Enterprise Associates led the round. • Costello, an Indianapolis-based deal management platform, raised $1 million in funding led by Dundee Venture Capital with participation from Elevate Ventures, M25 Group, and Service Provider Capital. • Grid Therapeutics LLC, a Durham, N.C.-based biotech company, raised Series A funding of an undisclosed amount. Longview International Ltd led the round, and was joined by investors Duke University. | | . | | | | | • Monomoy Capital Partners completed its previously announced acquisition of West Marine, a Watsonville, Calif.-based retailer of boating supplies and accessories, for $12.97 per share or about $337 million. • MSD Partners, L.P. agreed to acquire Ring Container Technologies, an Oakland, Tenn.-based manufacturer of plastic packaging and containers. Financial terms weren't disclosed. • Seacoast Capital invested $14 million in Cambium Limited, a Plano, Texas-based holding company consisting of two main units: building and construction services; and sustainable modular management. • TrueCommerce, a portfolio company of Accel-KKR, acquired Datalliance, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based vendor managed inventory provider. Financial terms weren't disclosed. | | . | | | | | • Nestle acquired a majority stake in Blue Bottle Coffee, an Oakland, Calif.-based high-end coffee roaster and retailer Blue Bottle. Read more at Fortune. • Dole Food Co, a Westlake Village, Calif.-based company is exploring a sale, according to The Wall Street Journal. Dole Food could garner a valuation roughly in the $2 billion range. Read more at Fortune. • Wish, a San Francisco-based e-commerce company, is raising approximately $250 million in new funding at a valuation that could be more than $8 billion, according to Axios. Several mutual funds are expected to participate, including Wellington Management. Read more. • JD Finance is in talks to buy a 24% stake worth about $1.5 billion in domestic brokerage First Capital Securities Co Ltd (SZSE:002797), according to Reuters. Read more. | | . | | | | | • Nightstar Therapeutics, a London-based gene therapy company focused on retinal diseases, set the terms of its IPO. The company said it plans to raise $75 million in an offering of 5.4 million shares priced between $13 to $15 a piece. The company previously estimated that it could raise $86 million. In 2016, the company posted loss of $13.6 million, and has yet to posts a revenue. The company is backed by Syncona Partners and New Enterprise Associates . Jefferies, Leerink Partners and BMO Capital Markets are leader underwriters in the deal. • Rovio, the Finnish mobile gaming studio and maker of the Angry Birds game, has set a price range for its IPO. The company says it plans to offer shares at between 10.25 euro to 11.50 euro, helping the company raise about 30 million euro. The price range gives the company a valuation of about $1 billion, down from the $2 billion rumored earlier. Previously, The Information reported that Chinese internet giant Tencent was considering buying Rovio for about $3 billion, citing sources. The company is 70% owned by venture capitalist Kaj Hed , who is also co-founder Niklas Hed's uncle. Fortune | | . | | | | | • LiveXLive acquired Slacker Radio, a San Diego, Calif.-based online radio service. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Slacker Radio raised more than $70 million in venture funding from investors including Centennial Ventures, Rho Capital Partners, Austin Ventures, and Sevin Rosen Funds. • UDG Healthcare plc acquired MicroMass Communications, a Cary, N.C.-based healthcare communications agency specializing in behavioral change, from Periscope Equity for a total consideration of up to $75.8 million. MicroMass is being acquired for an initial consideration of $63.8 million, with an additional consideration of up to $12 million payable over the next three years, based on the achievement of agreed profit targets. • Authority Brands, a portfolio company of PNC Riverarch Capital, acquired Homewatch International, a Denver-based provider of home elderly care services, from Livingstone Capital. Financial terms weren't disclosed. • The Riverside Company sold G&H Orthodontics, a Franklin, Ind.-based company, that supplies clinical solutions for the orthodontic community, to Altaris Capital Partners. Financial terms weren't disclosed. | | . | | | | | • Abris Capital Partners, a Poland-based private equity firm, raised 500 million euros ($598 million) for its third middle-market fund. • Costanoa Ventures, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based venture capital firm, raised $175 million for its third fund. • Breakout Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm affiliated with Peter Thiel-founded Breakout Labs, raised $60.1 million for a maiden venture fund, according to a filing with the SEC. | | . | | | | | • Hilltop Private Capital named Ed Moss as a partner. Prior to joining Hilltop, Moss was a managing director at Lincolnshire Management. • Propel hired Rohit Bodas as a partner and promoted David Mort to vice president. • Ash Egan joined ConsenSys as principal. Previously, Egan was at Converge. • SoFi executive chairman Tom Hutton will become the interim CEO. | | . | | | | | | | | | | | This message has been sent to you because you are currently subscribed to Term Sheet
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