INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
startups is expected to surpass $100 billion for the first time.For the most part, it was the usual suspects, and yes, SoftBank was an
accessory in many of these rounds
million players worldwide are registered online
(Photo Illustration by Chesnot/Getty Images)Given the absolute phenomenon Fortnite became in just one year from its original release, it was
no surprise private investors wanted to put money into Epic Games, the company behind it
In October, Epic Games announced a whopping $1.25 billion round at $15 billion valuation from KKR, Iconiq Capital, Smash Ventures, Vulcan
According to Crunchbase, global venture investment in the industry increased nearly 75 percent, to $701 million in the first half of 2018
set major records in the space.Travis Kalanick, co-founder and former chief executive officer of Uber Technologies Inc., speaks during the
TiE Global Entrepreneurs Summit in New Delhi, India, on Friday, December 16, 2016
Kalanick said the company will introduce Uber Moto across India
Photographer: Udit Kulshrestha/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesOne of the largest rounds of 2018 was also one of the first big financings of the
the deal officially closed in January
This deal was monumental for many reasons
just over $20 billion at a valuation said to be around $72 billion
Of course, Uber has since privately filed for an initial public offering slated for the first quarter of 2019.Juul Labs, the maker of the
popular e-cigarette brand that has recently come under fire from health officials over its popularity with young adults, plans to introduce
a line of lower-nicotine pods
Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesJuul, one of the buzziest companies of 2018, raised $1.2 billion from private investors
Tiger Global, Fidelity and more in mid-2018
Then, this month, the developer of e-cigarettes popular among teenagers accepted a $12.8 billion investment from the makers of Marlboro that
younger generation in a short time, but it has also accumulated value at a clip rarely seen before
Facebook.2019 is poised to be an interesting year for San Francisco-based Juul as it navigates public scrutiny, regulations and the
an end of the year round-up of the largest VC deals without any mention of Magic Leap, the extremely well-funded virtual reality company
Tucked away in Plantation, Fla., 8-year-old Magic Leap has closed round after round, raising more than $2 billion to develop its hardware
So long, many doubted whether the buzzy headsets would ever see the light of day
Instacart Apoorva Mehta and moderator Megan Rose Dickey speak onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2016 at Pier 48 on September 14, 2016 in
San Francisco, California
(Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch)Instacart has a lofty goal of delivering groceries to every household in the U.S., and
it needs a lot of cash to get there
The company has raised VC every year since it completed the Y Combinator startup accelerator in 2012, and 2018 was no different
In October, the service brought in $600 million at a $7.6 billion valuation in a round led by D1 Capital Partners
The market is hot, after all, and Instacart has ambitious plans to scale and it has a fierce competitor in Amazon to take on
technology, with an $865 million investment in Katerra at a $3 billion valuation out of its Vision Fund
told TechCrunch it had brought in more than $1.3 billion in bookings for new construction ranging from residential to hospitality and
Founded in 2015 by three former private equity barons, the company has raised a total of $1.1 billion to date from SoftBank, Foxconn,
Greenoaks Capital and others.In June, Katerra announced it would merge with KEF Infra, an offsite manufacturing technology specialist, and
would begin operating in India and the Middle East markets.Yet another SoftBank investment, San Francisco-based Opendoor is also backed by
the company at $2.5 billion
The deal gave SoftBank a minority stake in Opendoor, an online real estate marketplace, and put one of its five managing directors, Jeff
Founded in 2014, the San Francisco-based startup is also backed by Fifth Wall Ventures, GV, Andreessen Horowitz and more.According to
filed confidentially to go public.Lyft managed to stay quite busy this year
Not only did the ridesharing company raise a $600 million round at a $15.1 billion valuation, it also acquired bike-share operator Motivate
and filed confidentially to go public
Founded in 2012 by Logan Green and John Zimmer, the company has long competed with Uber, and will continue to do so as the pair race to the
public markets in early-2019
Lyft, much smaller than Uber and only active in the U.S
and Canada, has raised nearly $5 billion in venture backing from KKR, Mayfield, Didi Chuxing, Floodgate and others.San Francisco-based Lyft
has spent much of the last two years expanding rapidly across the U.S
support from the SoftBank Vision Fund.The only surprise to make this list is Automation Anywhere, a 15-year-old provider of robotic process
The company raised a total of $550 million in Series A funding, a large chunk of which came from the SoftBank Vision Fund, as well as NEA,
General Atlantic and Goldman Sachs
The round valued Automation Anywhere at $2.6 billion
According to PitchBook, this was the first round of institutional backing for the San Jose, Calif.-based company.In a conversation with
SF 2018 at Moscone Center on September 6, 2018 in San Francisco, California
original fitness streaming content and raised an additional $500 million in equity funding at a $5 billion valuation
six years since it was founded by John Foley
