November 1, 2019

Friday! [Performs 12-ounce curl.] We’re so excited to see a bunch of you in less than two weeks at our last event of 2019. We have an amazing line-up of speakers, including Facebook‘s former chief security officer Alex Stamos, Kitchen United founder Jim Collins, Cyan Banister of Founders Fund, Steve Jurvetson and Maryanna Saenko of Future Ventures,and Silicon Valley’s most prominent banker, Michael Grimes of Morgan Stanley. Thanks in advance to Sheera Frenkel of the New York Times and CNBC’s Lora Kolodny, who will be helping with interviews. Special thanks, too, to the early-stage enterprise-focused venture firm NextWorld Capital for hosting us at all its gorgeous space in San Francisco. Thanks to Carta, which helps companies and investors manage their cap tables, valuations, investments, and equity plans. And thanks to KCPR, the boutique tech PR and strategy firm that raised its hand early on to partner with us on this one. We’re pretty much out of seats at the point, though we can squeeze in a few more of you before closing up ticket sales. If you miss it, don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of coverage for you afterward.:) Hope you have a stellar weekend, everyone. See you Monday. Top News Sponsored By . . . This Startup is Making Customizable Sexual Harassment Training That It Says Employees Won’t Hate (or Forget) Massive Fundings Casstime, a four-year-old, Shenzhen, China-based auto aftermarket procurement platform, has raised $80 million in Series C-1 funding co-led by Sequoia Capital China and Source Code Capital, with participation from earlier backer Hua Partners. DealStreetAsia has more here. Paidy, a five-year-old, Tokyo, Japan-based company that provides instant credit to consumers, has raised $83 million in Series C funding from PayPal Ventures, Soros Capital Management, JS Capital Management and Tybourne Capital Management. The company also secured $60 million in new debt financing. TechCrunch has more here. Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings Kira Biotech, a months-old, Brisbane, Australia-based startup developing therapeutics that target difficult-to-treat immune system disorders, has raised $13.8 million (U.S.) in funding led by OneVentures, IP Group, and the Advance Queensland Business Development Fund. More here. OZY Media, a six-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based media and entertainment company, just raised $35 million in Series C funding led by famed hedge fund manager Marc Lasry, with participation from Interlock Partners, LionTree, Atinum Investment, GSV Capital, Axel Springer, Emerson Collective, and several individual investors. Axios has more here. Smaller Fundings New Funds IPOs People Sponsored By . . . Jobs Essential Reads Detours Retail Therapy