Databricks hits $ 38 billion valuation with $ 1.6 billion Series H – TechCrunch

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Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for August 31, 2021. Today the TechCrunch machine was busy covering the first day of Y Combinator’s Demo Day event, so expect to see all kinds of covers on the site afterwards. that it has reached your inbox. We’ll recap for you in tomorrow’s edition, although we get a taste of it below.

In Disrupt news, TechCrunch brings together an AI investor and a sci-fi author and will have a lot to offer startups that are currently raising external capital. – Alexis

The Top 3 TechCrunch

• Databricks is now worth $ 38 billion: Data and Unicorn IA Databricks today confirmed its previously reported fundraising event, raising $ 1.6 billion at a valuation of $ 38 billion. TechCrunch spoke with the CEO of the company about the usefulness of money, and we delved into his earnings results a bit more. The the market at an advanced stage has been busy, but this Databricks round is important, even by today’s corporate standards.
• More African startups than ever in YC batch: As of this writing, Demo Day is underway, so most of our coverage of Day 1 will be over too late to be included. But we took a look at the African startups in the summer batch, and there are more of them than ever. Given how active the African startup market is this year, we are not surprised.
• Apna could be the next Indian unicorn: By focusing on improving the skills of Indian consumers, Apna could become a unicorn if a cycle led by Tiger Global comes to fruition. TechCrunch reports that the round could be worth $ 100 million at a valuation of over $ 1 billion. Edtech in India remains one of the main startup stories of recent years.

Startups / VC

Because it’s the last day of August, we’re assuming the summer lull in event funding has passed. Not that we’ve really noticed a drop in volume, frankly, but still, expect things to get even crazier in the coming weeks. Here’s a sample of the rounds we covered today:

• $ 200 million more for Amazon merchants: Beyond Indian edtech companies, another trend that has raised almost infinite funds this year is the raising of capital by startups to buy out smaller e-commerce merchants, often with a focus on those who sell. on Amazon. Heroes is the latest to raise capital for the concept, with the UK-based startup adding a few hundred million to its accounts in one go.
• Whoop, the Apple Watches Peloton, raises $ 200 million: If you are a user of fitness clothing, you may be familiar with Whoop. The company’s athlete-focused bracelet has helped Whoop raise more than $ 400 million, now valuing the company at $ 3.6 billion. That’s a lot of sleeping bags for a fitness laptop. But since Whoop has a software fee built into their hardware – hence our Peloton analogy – it’s not just another hardware company.
• Synthetic coffee is coming: Maricel Saenz, Founder and CEO of Compound Foods, wants to create and sell bean-free coffee. Why? Well, climate change is making it harder to grow coffee beans and the process is harsh on the environment. So why not just synthesize your morning Java? I’m ready to give this a try, with the caveat that the coffee tastes delicious, so it will take a little bit of conviction to change my routines.
• Borzo wants to bring on demand to more markets: Delivery service Dostavista changes its name to Borzo, bringing together its multi-country activities under one brand. The startup, according to TechCrunch, was founded in 2012 and has 2 million customers.
• Former TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Alley Quip Raises $ 100 Million: Quip is best known as a toothbrush business, but it broke profitability last year, expanded its product line, and landed nine digits in new equity. Today, the company offers a multitude of oral cleaning products as well as invisible tooth aligners.
• To close our startup coverage today, Peak Raised $ 75 Million to Help Non-Tech Companies Build AI Applications. Peak, based in Manchester, England, wants to help companies that lack in-house AI talent apply the software technique to their own businesses. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the latest investment, which the company intends to use to increase its workforce and enter new markets.

6 tips for building your startup’s global supply chain

The barrier to entry for launching hardware startups has fallen; if you can pull off a crowdfunding campaign, you’re probably smart enough to find a factory overseas that can build your widgets to specification.

But global supply chains are fragile: No one expected an off-road container ship to block the Suez Canal for six days. Due to the pandemic, importers are now paying nearly $ 18,000 for shipping containers from China that cost $ 3,300 a year ago.

After spending a career building supply chains on three continents, Liteboxer CEO Jeff Morin wrote a guide to Extra Crunch for founders of computer hardware.

“If you’re clear-headed about the challenges and apply a certain rigor and foresight to the process, the end result can be hard to match,” says Morin.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams move forward. You can register here.)

Big Tech Inc.

• TikTok wants to help match influencers and brands: This is the takeaway from our story today that “TikTok’s New API Creator Marketplace enables influencer marketing firms to tap into first-party data.” Considering everything we’ve read about astroturfing influencers, the concept makes sense. And TikTok wants its main creators to make a lot of money on its platform so that they stay. Expect to see more on other platforms in time.
• Windows 11 launches on October 5: As a Windows fan (and macOS fan, for the record), I’m in a bit of a rush to try the latest version of Windows, even though I’m worried if my processor is new enough. Either way, the new code drops in early October, so the wait is almost over.
• You can now troll your friends on Spotify with your musical tastes: Love music? Do you have friends who love music? And do you like music that is different from that of your friends? Good news! Now you can create mixed playlists with your team, so that you end up with a playlist that nobody exactly likes.

TechCrunch Experts: Growth Marketing

Image credits: SEAN GLADWELL (Opens in a new window) / Getty Images

TechCrunch Disrupt is less than a month away, and we’re excited to share that we’re offering a free ticket through the Experts survey. Check out Disrupt’s timeline and read on to learn more about the giveaway details:

• Have you already submitted a recommendation? That’s great – we’re counting all previous survey submissions as one entry for the Disruption ticket.
• We will also enter the next 100 survey submissions into the contest.
• Want to submit 10 recommendations to increase your chances of winning? We love the enthusiasm, but we ask that you submit only one recommendation for each marketer you’ve worked with.
• Don’t know what to say in your recommendation? Start with their characteristics, what they have done to help your business, how their work has affected your business and go from there!
• We are going through all the entries manually, so please do not copy and paste the same answer multiple times.
• Have a question about the gift? Email us at ec_editors@techcrunch.com.