| | | | | | Good morning, Term Sheet readers. | | Blockchain Capital, the oldest and most active venture capital firm dedicated to blockchain technology and the cryptocurrency ecosystem, raised $150 million for its fourth fund. The fund will invest in equity, as well as tokens, pre-sales, and cryptocurrency assets. | | | | . |  | | . | | | | Blockchain Capital was formed in 2013, and its portfolio companies include Coinbase, Ripple, and Abra. You might remember the firm's managing partner Bart Stephens from Term Sheet's "5 Questions with a Dealmaker," in which he said that Jamie Dimon should do some homework on Bitcoin before dismissing it as "a fraud." (Read the full Q&A here.) | | I caught up with Stephens yesterday to get more detail around the new fund and the cryptocurrency landscape as a whole. Here's more from our conversation: | | On Security Tokens: | | One of the major topics of discussion in cryptocurrency at the moment is around the emergency of security tokens. Security tokens are are backed by real assets such as equity, LP shares, or commodities. They are also subject to federal security regulations. | | Blockchain Capital conducted one of the first security token offerings last year when it raised capital for its third fund. "We've seen security tokens that will represent common stock or real estate assets, for example," Stephens said. "We think security tokens will be a huge growth margin in the coming years." | | On Cryptocurrency Regulation Part I: | | The cryptocurrency market is still in its "Wild West" phase as regulators try to figure out how to proceed. Brett Redfearn, the head of the SEC's trading and markets division, said yesterday that his key concerns around cyrpto include "fraud, market manipulation, theft, cybersecurity, terrorist financing and money laundering." | | Stephens told Term Sheet that there is still plenty of regulatory uncertainty when it comes to token issuance. "The SEC has told us a bunch of things that they don't like, but what they haven't really told market participants is what is allowable," he said. "There's a little bit of ongoing uncertainty, but it's my hope that they are thoughtful and careful when making these decisions." | | On Cryptocurrency Regulation Part II: | | A big part of the uncertainty comes from the fact that many regulatory agencies can't decide exactly how to define (and in turn, regulate) cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. There's been plenty of debate around whethey cryptocurrency assets are commodities, currencies or securities. | | "To me, many of these crypto assets, and particularly Bitcoin, look like digital commodities. They have a utility function and a speculative function," Stephens said. | | | | . | | |  | | | | | | THE LATEST FROM FORTUNE... | | | | | | • eToro, a U.K.-based social trading and investment platform, raised $100 million in Series E funding. China Minsheng Financial led the round, and was joined by investors including SBI Group, Korea Investment Partners and World Wide Invest. • ServiceTitan, a platform for home-service businesses, including residential s raised $62 million in Series C funding in a round led by Battery Ventures, joined by investors including existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and ICONIQ Capital. • Fly Blade Inc., a New York-based short-distance aviation company, raised $38 million in Series B funding. Colony NorthStar and Lerer Hippeau co-led the round, and were joined by investors including Airbus Helicopters and LionTree Ventures. • BioIQ, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based healthcare technology, raised $26.5 million in funding. HealthQuest Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Arboretum Ventures. • Matillion, a U.K.-based developer of cloud data integration software solutions, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Sapphire Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including YFM Equity Partners. • Ansarada, a Sydney, Australia-based business readiness platform provider, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Ellerston Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Tempus Partners, Belay Capital and Australian Ethical Investments. • Tourlane, a Berlin-based online travel company, raised $8.5 million in Series A funding. Spark Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Holtzbrinck Ventures and DN Capital. • Shift, a San Francisco-based startup facilitating military to civilian career transitions, raised $4 million in seed funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, and was joined by investors including Tim Ferriss, Structure Capital, Expa, Gelt Venture Capital and BoxGroup. • SteadyMD, a St. Louis, Mo.-based provider of online concierge primary care, raised $2.5 million in funding. Pelion Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including CrossCut Ventures, M25 Group, Service Provider Capital and Hyde Park Venture Partners. • Insly, a U.K.-based cloud-based insurance platform, raised € 2.2 million ($2.7 million). Investors include Concentric and Black Pearls VC. • Diamond Mowers, a Sioux Falls, S.D.-based maker of industrial mowing, mulching, and brush cutting equipment, raised funding of an undisclosed amount. Investors include Lineage Capital and Abacus Finance. | | . | | | | | • The Riverside Company acquired Safety First Contracting, a Canada-based provider of traffic management solutions for utilities, utility contractors and telecommunication companies, as an add-on for its Area Wide Protective platform. Financial terms weren't disclosed. • Eckhart, a portfolio company of LFM Capital, acquired Logic Plus, a Reed City, Mich.-based electrical controls and automation company. Financial terms weren't disclosed. • Harvey Building Products, a portfolio company of Dunes Point Capital, acquired Thermo-Tech Windows & Doors, a Sauk Rapids, Minn.-based maker of new and replacement windows and doors. Financial terms weren't disclosed. • GrayMatter, a portfolio company of Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners, acquired Technical Marketing Manufacturing, Inc, a Denver, Colo.-based supplier of electrical control equipment and software. | | . | | | | | • Standard Chartered, the U.K. banking firm, is seeking the sale of its private equity unit, Bloomberg reports citing sources. Read more. | | . | | | | | • Dropbox, a San Francisco, Calif-based cloud storage company, raised $756 million in an offering of 36 million shares priced at $21 apiece, above its previously stated range. The firm posted revenue of $1.1 billion in 2017 and loss of $111.7 million in 2017. Sequoia Capital (24.8% pre-IPO), Accel (5.3%), and T. Rowe Price (2.2%) back the firm. Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Allen & Company, and BofA Merrill Lynch are joint bookrunners in the deal. Dropbox plans to list on the Nasdaq as "DBX." Read more. • MorphoSys, a German firm developing lymphoma therapies, filed for an $150 million IPO. Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Leerink Partners are joint bookrunners in the deal. The firm has a $3 billion market cap on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It plans to list on the Nasdaq as "MOR." Read more. • Sunlands Online Education Group, a Beijing, China-based provider of online education firm, raised $150 million in an offering of 13 million shares priced at $11.50, the low end of its range. The firm posted revenue of $61.8 million in 2016 and loss of $37.4 million. Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Credit Suisse are joint bookrunners in the deal. The firm It plans to list on the NYSE as "STG." Read more. • Alibaba, the Chinese Amazon, is weighing an IPO in China as early as mid-year, IFR reports. Read more. • Zorlu Holding a Turkish firm, is preparing an IPO of its segments in the domestic market or abroad, Reuters reports. Read more. | | . | | | | | • Entertainment Studios acquired the Weather Group, parent company of the Weather Channel television network and Local Now streaming service. The sellers were Blackstone, Bain Capital and Comcast/NBC Universal. Financial terms weren't disclosed. | | . | | | | | • Las Olas Venture Capital, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based venture firm, raised $28.5 million final for its first fund, Las Olas VC I LP. • Metavallon VC, a Greek venture firm, joined the Draper Venture Network's DVN Beta program. Read more. | | . | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | This message has been sent to you because you are currently subscribed to Term Sheet
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