PreIPO INTELLI™ Weekly Insights | Series 48
Friday, September 8th 2023 | Volume 1 Series 48 | Arm announces IPO, Fastest Growing Startups, and recent funding rounds updates.
📅 Happy Friday to you all - Another week flies by and with this, of course, another round of news and updates brought to you by the INTELLI™ Newsletter. This week, we delve into the buzz surrounding Arm's forthcoming IPO, with the prominent chip design firm aiming to raise nearly $4.87 billion and potentially achieve a staggering valuation of $52 billion. We also explore the explosive growth of top companies in 2023. From game-changing no-code app builders like Adalo to eco-conscious beverage disruptors like Liquid Death, we've handpicked the fastest-growing innovators set to redefine industries. Dive into the future of business with us.
Fastest Growing Startups in 2023 📈
Exploding Topics gave their own list of fastest growing companies, we picked the top 10 by 5 year search volume and made this list.
Adalo (4400% search growth): Adalo is a game-changing no-code app builder designed to simplify the app development process. With an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, it enables users to create customized mobile and web applications without the need for coding skills, making app creation accessible to a broader audience.
Printify (2700% search growth): Printify is an on-demand printing service that caters to businesses and individuals seeking to create custom merchandise. It offers a wide range of products, including apparel, mugs, and more, allowing users to personalize and sell branded items hassle-free.
Liquid Death (2567% search growth): Liquid Death is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) canned water startup known for its distinctive branding and marketing approach. It offers an eco-friendly alternative to traditional bottled water, emphasizing sustainability and consumer engagement.
Clockify (2325% search growth): Clockify addresses a common challenge for project managers—time tracking. This free time tracking tool is used by major companies like Disney, Sony, and Amazon. It simplifies time tracking, improving efficiency for project management and billing purposes.
Shiprocket (5-year search growth: 1900%): Shiprocket is an end-to-end e-commerce logistics platform based in New Delhi, India. It has revolutionized the way businesses handle their shipping and delivery processes, offering a comprehensive suite of solutions. This includes domestic and international shipping options, seamless integration with popular e-commerce platforms, multiple courier integrations, and advanced tracking and analytics tools.
Linktree (5-year search growth: 1780%): Linktree is a platform designed to simplify the lives of influencers and content creators. It enables them to consolidate their various online profiles and content into a single, shareable link. This one-click link provides easy access for their audience, streamlining the process of connecting across different platforms.
Givebutter (5-year search growth: 1567%): Givebutter is a fundraising software startup that offers various fundraising tools, including donation forms, CRM, and email management. The platform has facilitated over $300 million in donations from more than one million donors.
Preply (5-year search growth: 1500%): Preply is a thriving one-to-one language tutoring service that operates on a marketplace model, similar to platforms like Upwork. It offers students the opportunity to select tutors from over 200 countries, facilitating learning in a wide range of languages and subjects.
Cradlewise (1500% search growth): Cradlewise specializes in innovative baby products, particularly smart bassinets with integrated baby monitors. These high-tech bassinets monitor sleep depth and can soothe babies back to sleep, making it easier for both infants and parents to enjoy quality sleep.
Manscaped (5-year search growth: 1420%): Manscaped is a San Diego-based startup focused on men's grooming. With edgy marketing campaigns featuring sports stars like Rob Gronkowski, it offers sleek grooming tools and products, including "The Lawnmower."
To read the rest of the companies on the list click here.
Arm sets its sights on an impressive $52 billion valuation in its IPO
Arm, a leading chip design firm, has announced its forthcoming initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq stock exchange, aiming to raise approximately $4.87 billion, potentially valuing the company at $52 billion. This move comes after SoftBank acquired Arm for $32 billion in 2016, and Arm's decision to return to the public markets is seen as a significant event.
Arm qualifies as a foreign private issuer in the U.S. due to its British origin, with its shares set to be listed as American depositary shares (ADSs). The IPO is expected to comprise approximately 95.5 million ADSs, priced in the range of $47 to $51 per share. At the higher end of this range, Arm could raise up to $4.87 billion, while even at the lower end, it would bring in a substantial $4.49 billion in fresh capital.
The primary driver behind this IPO is Arm's desire to attract more institutional funds to support its increased investments in research and development, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The company has recently released new chips tailored for AI and machine learning applications, showcasing its strategic focus on this high-growth sector.
The valuation of Arm in this IPO is a notable aspect. If the IPO price reaches the upper end of the range, Arm would achieve a total market valuation of $52 billion, still impressive at the lower end with a valuation of nearly $50 billion.
One key point of interest is the distribution of ownership post-IPO. Following the offering, only 9.4% of Arm's shares will be available for trading on the Nasdaq, with SoftBank retaining approximately 90.6% of the outstanding shares. The underwriters of the IPO have the option to purchase up to an additional 7 million American depositary shares, worth around $735 million. Should they exercise this option, SoftBank's ownership in Arm would be reduced to 89.9%, as confirmed by the company.
Recent Funding Recap 🤝
Brine Fi - $16.5 Million Series A
Following the collapse of FTX, cryptocurrency traders have been seeking decentralized, non-custodial, and more secure methods for executing trades and safeguarding their assets. This explains the growing interest from investors in decentralized crypto exchanges (DEXs) like Brine Fi, even as venture capitalists (VCs) continue to steer clear of the digital asset industry.
Brine Fi is now announcing a Series A funding round of $16.5 million, with a post-money valuation of $100 million, indicating strong investor confidence in this new orderbook-based decentralized exchange. Brine Fi's DEX, which launched its fully operational network, or "mainnet," just weeks ago, has already achieved an impressive $500 million in trading volumes, according to data from Starkware, the Ethereum scaling solution powering Brine.
DEXs, as the name suggests, facilitate transactions solely on blockchains, in contrast to centralized exchanges (CEXs) like FTX, Binance, and Coinbase. Brine Fi views these centralized exchanges as its primary competitors. Traders may opt for DEXs not only to retain full control over their assets but also for enhanced privacy. Unlike CEXs, which are typically subject to know-your-customer (KYC) requirements imposed by local regulators, DEXs operate in a regulatory gray area due to the absence of a central authority.
Ello - $15 Million Series A
Ello, a startup dedicated to combatting childhood illiteracy through artificial intelligence and child speech recognition technology, has successfully secured $15 million in Series A funding. This substantial investment will be channeled towards product development and expanding its reach to more consumers. Ello offers a subscription-based service tailored for children from kindergarten through Grade 3, delivering a selection of five books each month for a fee of $24.99. The Ello app assesses the child's reading proficiency and interests, curating a personalized collection of books. Ello's proprietary AI technology actively listens to the child's reading, correcting mispronunciations, and employs phonics-based techniques to enhance reading skills. Additionally, the app incorporates gamification elements to engage and motivate young readers. In the future, Ello intends to collaborate with schools and create a classroom-specific product, while also exploring the possibility of launching multilingual versions of its platform.
Certa - $35 Million Series B
Certa, an enterprise compliance, governance, and risk management platform, has successfully raised $35 million in a Series B funding round, co-led by Fin Capital and Vertex Ventures. This funding brings Certa's total capital raised to over $50 million, although the exact valuation remains undisclosed. Certa aims to simplify third-party relationships for businesses, mitigating various risks such as data privacy, finance, climate, environmental, and regulatory concerns. The platform provides risk scoring reports, templates, modules, and integrates with users' organizations, streamlining risk management. Certa recently introduced an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) suite to address supply chain-related ESG requirements and a no-code "studio" for personalized risk-exposed business processes. While competition exists in this space, Certa seeks to capitalize on the growing enterprise risk management market, estimated to reach $6.38 billion by 2027.
As always, stay tuned for more updates and insights from the team at INTELLI™.