Just three months after capping what was the best year for Indian startups, having raised a record $14.5 billion in 2019, they are beginning to struggle to raise new capital as prominent investors urge them to “prepare for the worst”, cut spending and warn that it could be challenging to secure additional money for the next few months.
In an open letter to startup founders in India, ten global and local private equity and venture capitalist firms including Accel, Lightspeed, Sequoia Capital, and Matrix Partners cautioned that the current changes to the macro environment could make it difficult for a startup to close their next fundraising deal.
The firms, which included Kalaari Capital,SAIF Partners, and Nexus Venture Partners — some of the prominent names in India to back early-stage startups — asked founders to be prepared to not see their startups’ jump in the coming rounds and have a 12-18 month runway with what they raise.
“Assumptions from bull market financings or even from a few weeks ago do not apply. Many investors will move away from thinking about ‘growth at all costs’ to ‘reasonable growth with a path to profitability.’ Adjust your business plan and messaging accordingly,” they added.
Signs are beginning to emerge that investors are losing appetite to invest in the current scenario.
Indian startups participated in 79 deals to raise $496 million in March, down from $2.86 billion that they raised across 104 deals in February and $1.24 billion they raised from 93 deals in January this year, research firm Tracxn told TechCrunch. In March last year, Indian startups had raised $2.1 billion across 153 deals, the firm said.
New Delhi ordered a complete nation-wide lockdown for its 1.3 billion people for three weeks earlier this month in a bid to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
The lockdown, as you can imagine, has severely disrupted businesses of many startups, several founders told TechCrunch.
Vivekananda Hallekere, co-founder and chief executive of mobility firm Bounce, said he is prepared for a 90-day slowdown in the business.
Founder of a Bangalore-based startup, which was in advanced stages to raise more than $100 million, said investors have called off the deal for now. He requested anonymity.
Deepinder Goyal, co-founder and chief executive of food delivery firm Zomato, said in January the startup would close a round of up to $600 million by the end of the month. Two months later, Zomato has only raised $150 million.
Many startups are already beginning to cut salaries of their employees and let go of some people to survive an environment that aforementioned VC firms have described as “uncharted territory.”
Travel and hotel booking service Ixigo said it had cut the pay of its top management team by 60% and rest of the employees by up to 30%. MakeMyTrip, the giant in this category, also cut salaries of its top management team.
Beauty products and cosmetics retailer Nykaa on Tuesday suspended operations and informed its partners that it would not be able to pay their dues on time.
Investors cautioned startup founders to not take a “wait and watch” approach and assume that there will be a delay in their “receivables,” customers would likely ask for price cuts for services, and contracts would not close at the last minute.
“Through the lockdown most businesses could see revenues going down to almost zero and even post that the recovery curve may be a ‘U’ shaped one vs a ‘V’ shaped one,” they said.
Pantau Data dan Informasi terbaru Covid-19 di Indonesia pada microsite Katadata ini.
Pendanaan ke perusahaan swasta (private market funding), termasuk startupdi Asia diprediksi turun 20% secara tahunan (year on year/yoy) akibat pandemi corona pada kuartal I 2020. Investor dan modal ventura memilih untuk menunggu dan melihat (wait and see) saat ini.
CB Insights mencatat, private market funding di Asia mencapai US$ 18 miliar dan diperkirakan tembus US$ 20 miliar pada kuartal pertama tahun ini. Dibandingkan periode yang sama pada 2019, nilainya turun 20% dan jumlah kesepakatannya anjlok 40%.
Secara global, CB Insights mencatat private market funding di Asia mencapai US$ 67 miliar dan diperkirakan tembus US$ 77 miliar. Nilainya turun 11,5% dibandingkan kuartal pertama 2019.
Pendanaan ke perusahaan swasta juga turun ketika Virus Server Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) mewabah di Guangdong, Tiongkok pada November 2002 dan Zika di Brasil pada 2005.
Berdasarkan riset CB Insights, pendanaan ke perusahaan swasta di Asia menurun 27% pada 2003 dibanding 2002. Penurunan itu berlanjut pada 2004, nilainya anjlok 29% dibanding 2002 atau 3% dibanding 2003.
WHO baru mengumumkan Tiongkok bebas dari kasus SARS pada Mei 2004. Pendanaan ke swasta pun meningkat 56% yoy pada 2005. Pendanaan yang dimaksud berupa investasi langsung dari modal ventura (venture capital) maupun akuisisi atau merger.
Saat Zina mewabah, pendanaan ke swasta juga hanya tumbuh 5% pada 2005. Lalu, nilainya menurun 49% yoy pada 2016. Kemudian investasinya naik 404% pada 2017 atau ketika tidak ada lagi pasien.
Data-data itu bisa dilihat dari databoks berikut:
Kini, banyak negara menghadapi pandemi corona. Di Indonesia, investor dan modal ventura juga wait and see sebelum memberikan pendanaan ke startup. “Tentu kami menunda investasi-investasi yang kami rasa perlu dipertimbangkan,” kata Ketua Asosiasi Modal Ventura Indonesia (Amvesindo) Jefri Sirait kepada Katadata.co.id, kemarin (31/3).
Investasi yang dipertimbangkan yakni yang terdampak pandemi corona secara signifikan. Sedangkan startup-startup yang dinilai mendukung kebijakan pemerintah menekan penyebaran virus corona masih berpotensi diberikan pendanaan.
Startup yang dimaksud seperti di bidang kuliner (food and beverage), kesehatan, logistik, dan telekomunikasi. “Saya pikir ini proses yang me-recover satu sama lain,” katanya.
Karena itu, modal ventura memilih untuk menunggu dan melihat stimulus ekonomi yang diterapkan pemerintah. Utamanya, kebijakan yang berdampak langsung terhadap masyarakat seperti Bantuan Langsung Tunai (BLT).
Sebab, menurutnya pasar Indonesia sangat besar. Karena itu, yang perlu dilakukan pemerintah yakni mendorong konsumsi rumah tangga stabil atau bahkan meningkat di tengah pandemi.
Jika hal itu dilakukan, semestinya roda perekonomian khususnya Usaha Mikro, Kecil dan Menengah (UMKM) masih bergerak. “Masyarakat yang pendapatannya harian atau usaha yang di bawah (sektor UMKM) harus diselamatkan dulu. Karena jumlahnya lebih banyak,” ujar dia.
Jefri optimistis bahwa perekonomian, termasuk pendanaan ke startup akan membaik pada kuartal III atau kuartal IV 2019, hingga awal 2021. Untuk bisa bertahan sampai saat itu, perusahaan rintisan yang transaksinya anjlok akibat pandemi harus mendorong efisiensi.
Pantau Data dan Informasi terbaru Covid-19 di Indonesia pada microsite Katadata ini.
Pendanaan ke perusahaan swasta (private market funding), termasuk startupdi Asia diprediksi turun 20% secara tahunan (year on year/yoy) akibat pandemi corona pada kuartal I 2020. Investor dan modal ventura memilih untuk menunggu dan melihat (wait and see) saat ini.
CB Insights mencatat, private market funding di Asia mencapai US$ 18 miliar dan diperkirakan tembus US$ 20 miliar pada kuartal pertama tahun ini. Dibandingkan periode yang sama pada 2019, nilainya turun 20% dan jumlah kesepakatannya anjlok 40%.
Secara global, CB Insights mencatat private market funding di Asia mencapai US$ 67 miliar dan diperkirakan tembus US$ 77 miliar. Nilainya turun 11,5% dibandingkan kuartal pertama 2019.
Pendanaan ke perusahaan swasta juga turun ketika Virus Server Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) mewabah di Guangdong, Tiongkok pada November 2002 dan Zika di Brasil pada 2005.
Berdasarkan riset CB Insights, pendanaan ke perusahaan swasta di Asia menurun 27% pada 2003 dibanding 2002. Penurunan itu berlanjut pada 2004, nilainya anjlok 29% dibanding 2002 atau 3% dibanding 2003.
WHO baru mengumumkan Tiongkok bebas dari kasus SARS pada Mei 2004. Pendanaan ke swasta pun meningkat 56% yoy pada 2005. Pendanaan yang dimaksud berupa investasi langsung dari modal ventura (venture capital) maupun akuisisi atau merger.
Saat Zina mewabah, pendanaan ke swasta juga hanya tumbuh 5% pada 2005. Lalu, nilainya menurun 49% yoy pada 2016. Kemudian investasinya naik 404% pada 2017 atau ketika tidak ada lagi pasien.
Data-data itu bisa dilihat dari databoks berikut:
Kini, banyak negara menghadapi pandemi corona. Di Indonesia, investor dan modal ventura juga wait and see sebelum memberikan pendanaan ke startup. “Tentu kami menunda investasi-investasi yang kami rasa perlu dipertimbangkan,” kata Ketua Asosiasi Modal Ventura Indonesia (Amvesindo) Jefri Sirait kepada Katadata.co.id, kemarin (31/3).
Investasi yang dipertimbangkan yakni yang terdampak pandemi corona secara signifikan. Sedangkan startup-startup yang dinilai mendukung kebijakan pemerintah menekan penyebaran virus corona masih berpotensi diberikan pendanaan.
Startup yang dimaksud seperti di bidang kuliner (food and beverage), kesehatan, logistik, dan telekomunikasi. “Saya pikir ini proses yang me-recover satu sama lain,” katanya.
Karena itu, modal ventura memilih untuk menunggu dan melihat stimulus ekonomi yang diterapkan pemerintah. Utamanya, kebijakan yang berdampak langsung terhadap masyarakat seperti Bantuan Langsung Tunai (BLT).
Sebab, menurutnya pasar Indonesia sangat besar. Karena itu, yang perlu dilakukan pemerintah yakni mendorong konsumsi rumah tangga stabil atau bahkan meningkat di tengah pandemi.
Jika hal itu dilakukan, semestinya roda perekonomian khususnya Usaha Mikro, Kecil dan Menengah (UMKM) masih bergerak. “Masyarakat yang pendapatannya harian atau usaha yang di bawah (sektor UMKM) harus diselamatkan dulu. Karena jumlahnya lebih banyak,” ujar dia.
Jefri optimistis bahwa perekonomian, termasuk pendanaan ke startup akan membaik pada kuartal III atau kuartal IV 2019, hingga awal 2021. Untuk bisa bertahan sampai saat itu, perusahaan rintisan yang transaksinya anjlok akibat pandemi harus mendorong efisiensi.
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Berbagai perusahaan rintisan (startup) di Amerika Serikat memangkas ribuan pekerja akibat pandemi corona (COVID-19).
Menurut laporan CNBC Internasional, gelombang pemutusan hubungan kerja (PHK) mencakup 3.800 lebih pekerja di 40 perusahaan mulai dari hospitality, transportasi, pengiriman makanan, hingga kecerdasan buatan (artificial intelligence).
Kebanyakan perusahaan-perusahaan itu berada di California, Austin, Boston, dan kota Portland di Oregon. Dari data Crunchbase, perusahaan itu memiliki aset mendekati US$ 15 miliar.
PHK massal tersebut juga memperlihatkan bagaimana pandemi corona menghantam Silicon Valley, rumah bagi banyak perusahaan teknologi global.
Di luar PHK yang dilakukan berbagai startup, lebih dari 3 juta orang AS mengajukan klaim pengangguran sejak dua minggu lalu. Ini menjadikan ini angka tertinggi selama krisis ekonomi terakhir.
Pekerja di restoran dan industri perjalanan yang paling banyak menjadi korban atas peristiwa tersebut. Selain melakukan PHK, beberapa perusahaan startup juga membuat pekerja mereka mengambil cuti atau merumahkan mereka.
Kini, AS memiliki 188.280 kasus terjangkit, dengan 3.883 kasus kematian, dan 6.461 kasus berhasil sembuh per Rabu (1/4/2020), menurut data dari Worldometers.
Sebelumnya, Presiden Amerika Serikat (AS) Donald Trump menandatangani RUU paket stimulus untuk memulihkan ekonomi akibat pandemi virus corona pada 27 Maret lalu.
Jumlahnya mencapai US$ 2 Triliun atau setara Rp 32 ribu triliun, dan menjadi paket stimulus terbesar sepanjang sejarah yang pernah digelontorkan pemerintah AS.
Dana itu di antaranya akan diberikan ke masyarakat dalam bentuk bantuan tunai langsung (BLT), meningkatkan asuransi untuk pengangguran, memberi hibah untuk industri penerbangan, memberi bantuan ke UKM untuk membayar gaji pegawai.
The value of technology companies has fallen as the broader public markets have repriced themselves in light of COVID-19-related market and economic disruptions.
And as the public markets sort out the new value of a huge piece of global business, private companies are being shaken as well.
What happens in the public markets trickles into the private markets, so if we’re seeing the value of public tech companies fall, startups are going to take a hit. To understand that dynamic, we spoke with Mary D’Onofrio, an investor with Bessemer Venture Partners. She’s the right person to chat with about the links between private valuations and public share prices as she not only helps put capital into growing startups, she also helps run the Bessemer cloud index (now a partnership with Nasdaq, and trackable on a day-to-day basis).
As she’s versed on both sides of the public-private divide, we asked her how she values startups in normal market conditions and in more turbulent times like today. We also dug into how founders are reacting to the changing world that may no longer be as amenable to their business plans. Pulling from our conversation, D’Onofrio told TechCrunch that startups want to be valued like companies were a few months ago, while investors want to pay today’s market prices.
But enough introduction, let’s get to the conversation. This interview has been edited for length and clarity; thanks to Holden Page and Walter Thompson for help with the transcription.
TechCrunch: During our last conversation, we discussed how to value startups. You explained a method in which you consider the future value of cash flows. How do you value startups today versus how much you think they’ll be worth down the road?
Mary D’Onofrio: I think what’s important to know is that outside of a market disruption, which I think was the the nature of the question to begin with, cloud software tends to trade on revenue and revenue growth. Companies should fundamentally be valued on the present value of their future free cash flows. But I think with cloud software, in particular, there’s a prioritization of taking [market]share, and then applying a very long term healthy margin structure on a very massive revenue base once you get there, and generating cash then.
And so I think in bull markets, when capital is readily available, prioritizing growth makes a lot of sense because you want to capture as much share as you can. And then losses are also tolerable because the capital is available to fund that massive growth. And there are actual measurable metrics that validate that structure, with CLTV to CAC [customer lifetime value to customer acquisition costs] being one of them.
On-demand shuttle startup Via has hit a $2.25 billion valuation following a Series E funding round led by Exor, the Agnelli family holding company that owns stakes in PartnerRe, Ferrari and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
The Series E funding round, which included other investors, totaled $400 million, according to a source familiar with the deal. Exor invested $200 million into Via as part of the round, both companies said in an announcement. Noam Ohana, who heads up Exor Seeds, the holding company’s early stage investment arm, will join Via’s board.
New investors Macquarie Capital, Mori Building and Shell also participated in the round as well as existing investors 83North, Broadscale Group, Ervington Investments, Hearst Ventures, Planven Ventures, Pitango and RiverPark Ventures.
Via, which employs about 700 people, plans to use most of these funds to expand its “partnerships,” the software services piece of its business. Via has two sides to its business. The company operates consumer-facing shuttles in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and New York. But the core of its business is really its underlying software platform, which it sells to cities and transportation authorities to deploy their own shuttles.
When the company first launched in 2012 there was little interest from cities in the software platform, according to co-founder and CEO Daniel Ramot. The company started by focusing on its consumer-facing shuttles. Over time, and using the massive amounts of data it collected through these service, Via improved its dynamic, on-demand routing algorithm, which uses real-time data to route shuttles to where they’re needed most.
Via landed its first city partnership with Austin in late 2017, after providing the platform to the transit authority for free. It was enough to allow Via to develop case studies and convince other cities to buy into the service. In 2019, the partnerships side of the business “took off,” Ramot said in a recent interview, adding that the company was signing on 2 to 3 cities a week before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, the Via platform is used by more than 100 partners, including cities such as Los Angeles, Cupertino, Calif., and Arriva Bus UK, a Deutsche Bahn Company that uses it for a first- and last-mile service connecting commuters to a high-speed train station in Kent, U.K.
Raising funds in a pandemic
Via managed to close the funding round during an inauspicious time for startups that have found it increasingly difficult to lock in capital due to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19, a disease caused by the coronavirus, has upended markets along with every industrial and business sector from manufacturing and transportation to energy and real estate.
Via managed to raise a sizable fund, which just closed, despite the credit tightening and uncertainty. Ramot told TechCrunch that while he was worried the round might be delayed, he noted that Exor is a long-term and patient investor that shares the company’s “same vision of where transit is going.”
Even now, as nearly every category within transportation —including public transit, ride-hailing, shared micromobility and airlines — has seen ridership drop or dry up altogether, Ramot and Ohana see a promising future.
Ohana said that the market is starting to understand the limits of ride-hailing — hurdles such as poor unit economics and an uncertain path to profitability. “On the other hand, the size of the market for an on-demand dynamic shuttle service is large and underappreciated,” Ohana said. “When we look at public transit today, there is a significant opportunity for Via, which already has impressive experience working with municipal and public transit partners across the globe.”
That doesn’t mean Via is immune to the widespread tumult caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Via’s consumer business has been negatively affected as ridership has dropped due to the spreading disease.
However, there has been some promise with its partnerships business, Ramot said.
Existing partners, a list that includes transit authorities in Berlin, Germany, Ohio and Malta, have worked with Via to convert or adapt the software to meet new needs during the pandemic. A city might dedicate its shuttle service to transporting goods or essential personnel. For instance, Berlin converted its 120-shuttle fleet transport to an overnight service that provides free transit to healthcare workers traveling to and from work.
“There has been a real interest in emergency services,” Ramot said, adding he expects to see more demand for the software platform and the flexibility it provides as the pandemic unfolds.
Virtual reality has been two years away from mainstream adoption for the past six years. In that time, huge companies have made big VR bets only to walk away, countless VR startups have faded or flared out and investment has slowed significantly.
Building an attractive VR product for large enterprises to train employees remotely has remained one of the few major areas of opportunity, one that has been largely dominated by Strivr, which just locked down new funding bringing their total funding to $51 million.
The VR training startup has closed a $30 million Series B round led by Georgian Partners, a Canadian firm that hasn’t been very active in the AR/VR space. CEO Derek Belch says the company ended up pitching a few dozen firms in this raise, and that while the feedback was “overwhelmingly positive,” there were certainly some skeptics.
“Everyone knows that VR has been slower to adopt and tougher to anticipate,” Belch told TechCrunch.
While AR/VR startups seemed to be raising money left and right in 2016 when Strivr closed its seed round, the market is much sparser in 2020 after years of missed estimates and a relentless parade of shutdowns.
While consumer VR startups have almost unilaterally struggled to get off the ground in recent months, there has still been movement among enterprise offerings. Earlier this month, a competing VR training platform, Talespin, closed $15 million in funding. In late January, enterprise AR/VR teleconferencing app Spatial locked down $14 million. HaptX, which makes a high-end VR glove for enterprise use cases, nabbed $12 million in December.
Landing post-Series A funding has remained a tough challenge for VR enterprise startups where players are often positioning themselves to be judged in relation to their VR peers rather than to a Salesforce, Box or Atlassian.
“Nobody can get beyond a pilot program,” Belch said. “Investors want to know how real this market is and where the target is.”
Strivr emerged from Belch’s research at Stanford in 2014 as a VR application made to help football players train off the field. Belch had previously been a kicker for Stanford’s football team and his co-founder Jeremy Bailenson led the school’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, a leading research hub that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited while doing diligence on the Oculus deal.
As virtual reality gear was further commoditized and investment in the space grew hotter, Strivr soon pivoted from sports training towards workplace training, pitching their solution as a better way for companies to hand top-down instruction to employees. Their software offering is often a combination of interactive 360 videos and computer-generated scenarios that require more active participation from a trainee.
While other VR startups have pushed to integrate phone or tablet-based experiences, Belch says that he has pushed back on customer requests to move away from headset-only experiences towards phone-based 360-degree videos.
“Those are not our disruption, those are gimmicky and a cheap way to bring a new logo on,” Belch says.
The company’s customer base now includes FedEx, JetBlue, Verizon and BMW. Their biggest get was a deal with Walmart in 2017 that eventually grew into a company-wide rollout across all of their stores, a massive deal that Belch says has been a “blessing and a curse” due to the rollout’s scale.
“You have to be smart in terms of what you do that’s Walmart specific,” Belch told TechCrunch. “They’ll swallow you whole if you let them.”
Alongside the company’s funding news, the startup has announced that they’ve received a patent to use motion data to predict how effective users will be at the real world task post-training. Strivr now has 22,000 VR headsets out in the wild, which Belch says have registered 1.6 million sessions. The hardware is all from Oculus.
Strivr is in the fortunate position of closing this deal ahead of the recent pandemic-related market uncertainty– a situation that has complicated their ability to meet with prospective customers and has raised issues with sanitation that Strivr says they have addressed. While Belch sees this Series B as a validation of the customer feedback he’s gotten, he also knows that the VR industry remains fraught with challenges.
“Thirty million doesn’t last very long if you’re stupid, we’re going to make sure we’re very smart about it,” Belch says.
Ubiquitous Energy has developed transparent solar cells to create its ClearView Power windows, a kind of “solar glass” that can turn sunlight into energy without needing the bluish-grey opaque panels those cells are generally associated with. (Natalia V. Osipova/CNN)
By Rishi Iyengar | CNN Business
What if every window in your house could generate electricity? One Redwood City, California-based startup thinks its technology can achieve that by transforming the way solar power is collected and harnessed.
Ubiquitous Energy has developed transparent solar cells to create its ClearView Power windows, a kind of “solar glass” that can turn sunlight into energy without needing the bluish-grey opaque panels those cells are generally associated with. The company, spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012, hopes to use that tech to turn practically any everyday glass surface into a solar cell.
“It can be applied to windows of skyscrapers; it can be applied to glass in automobiles; it can be applied to the glass on your iPhone,” Miles Barr, Ubiquitous Energy’s founder and chief technology officer, told CNN Business.
The company is looking to capitalize on the United States’ renewable energy boom, with solar and wind energy projected to surpass coal by 2021, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
While several companies are working on similar products, the technology is still in the relatively early stages. It’s one of several emerging products that harness solar energy, with others including irrigation pumps and a “solar oven” that can be used to make cement and steel. Ubiquitous Energy’s home state of California is one of the first to require that every new home incorporate some form of solar technology.
“This is great for ClearView Power because homeowners can install windows just like they would anyways, but they actually produce power to meet this requirement,” Barr said.
The core of the product is an organic dye that can be used to coat glass surfaces. The dye allows visible sunlight to pass through — just like normal windows do — but captures the invisible infrared rays from that sunlight.
“Light absorbing dyes are found all around us. They’re in paints, they’re in pigments for clothing, and they’re even in electronic devices,” Barr said. “What we’ve done is we’ve engineered those dyes to selectively absorb infrared light and also convert that light into electricity.”
That does mean some of the energy is lost.
“Their basic drawback is their relatively low efficiency,” said Anne Grete Hestnes, a professor of architecture at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology who specializes in solar energy. “However, it is all a question of price. If the transparent cells are cheaper, and if the cells are to cover a relatively large area … it may be the better solution,” she added.
Barr said Ubiquitous Energy’s transparent panels can produce up to two-thirds of the energy that traditional panels do. And he said they cost about 20% more to install than a regular window, a cost he claims is offset by the electricity they generate.
The company wants its solar windows to complement traditional rooftop panels rather than replace them. The combination of both methods, according to Barr, could bring the net energy consumption of large buildings to zero — meaning they produce as much electricity as they consume.
Ubiquitous Energy has started installing its solar windows on buildings, including at its headquarters in Redwood City where it manufactures the glass panels.
“We are already installing and selling ClearView Power windows in limited sizes, and we’re in the planning phase for a facility that we’ll be able to produce windows at any size,” Barr said.
However, the coronavirus outbreak has forced much of the company’s production planning to be done remotely. But Barr said it is still making “significant progress.”
“It’s still a bit early to tell what the full effects of the global pandemic will be, including for our business,” said Barr, adding that he is “still optimistic we’ll be able to begin manufacturing activities in the next two years.”
By that point, he anticipates Ubiquitous Energy will be closer to justifying its name: “We really see the future of this technology as being applied everywhere, all around us, ubiquitous.”
Even though this might seem to be the absolute worst time to try to round up funding for a restaurant-related startup, Allset is announcing that it’s raised an $8.25 million Series B.
It was not, to be clear, an easy process. CEO Stas Matviyenko (who founded the company with COO Anna Polishchuk) admitted that when he set out to fundraise, the goal was actually $12 million. And at one point, it looked like he might even raise more than that — but as he finalized the round in the week before widespread social distancing measures started to take effect around the United States (effectively ending dine-in options in some cities), he said, “A few investors just disappeared.”
Still, Matviyenko said he feels “lucky” to have closed out the round at all. And he pointed to signs that consumers and restaurants are still turning to Allset during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company started out with a focus on delivering a quick dining experience in restaurants, allowing diners to make a reservation, order ahead and then pay directly through the Allset app. Over time, Matviyenko said, the app also began to offer personalized, healthy recommendations at each restaurant.
At the same time, Allset has added takeout options — and most recently, a feature that allows restaurants to offer contactless takeout, akin to the contactless option offered by many restaurant delivery apps. In fact, Allset is waiving its 12 percent commission fee for restaurants offering this option. (It’s also been promoting usage by offering a daily $4 discount for takeout orders.)
Image Credits: Allset
And while Matviyenko said that orders dropped by around 60 percent as social distancing measures went into place, they’ve apparently they’ve bounced back by 10 percent as Allset signed up new partners — usually in more residential neighborhoods, away from the office-heavy areas where the companies had previously focused. Matviyenko said the startup has added more than 200 new restaurants in the past couple weeks.
He also emphasized the distinction between Allset and the various delivery apps. He didn’t rule out adding a delivery option in the future, but since that require a serious investment in logistics, he’d probably partner with an existing delivery company. Conversely, he suggested that for most delivery apps, takeout is usually an afterthought (assuming they support it at all), while Allset is trying to offer “the best [takeout] experience” possible.
The new round brings Allset’s total funding to $16.6 million. It was led by EBRD (the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Greycroft, SMRK VC Fund and Inovo Venture Partners.
“The Allset team is building a great product and their effective execution yields strong unit economics with sustainable growth,” said EBRD’s Maria Barsuk in a statement. “We’re excited to partner with them in their next phase, as well as proud to support their efforts in serving local businesses and customers during this unprecedented time for the restaurant industry.”
Healthcare software startup Olive has closed a $51 million funding round to scale its AI-enabled robotic process automation solution.
The funding round was led by General Catalyst with existing investors Drive Capital, Oak HC/FT and Ascension Ventures also participating. The company has raised about $123.8 million to date.
The Columbus, Ohio-based company also announced Ronald Paulus, M.D., former president and CEO of Mission Health, will join its board.
The funding will enable Olive to accelerate its growth, and the company plans to use the financing to invest in R&D and engineering, CEO Sean Lane told FierceHealthcare.
Lane and his team launched the company in early 2017 with the idea to tackle the high-volume, repetitive and manual tasks healthcare workers do every day—tasks like prior authorization and benefits verification—but faster and more accurately.
The company refers to its solution as a "digital employee." Health systems are using Olive in operational areas like revenue cycle management, finance, accounting, supply chain, human resources and IT. The technology helps deliver improved efficiency, reduced costs and increased employee capacity.
The current COVID-19 pandemic only increases the need for automation solutions, Lane said.
"Most of the things that Olive does today is 'keep the lights on' activities in HR, finance and IT. We call Olive an 'AI worker' who can show up for work every day despite what is facing the country, and that enables continuity of operations," he said.
Current health system customers are leveraging Olive's capabilities to address new automation tasks, he noted.
"Many health systems are seeing the real value of an AI workforce to be there, even when humans aren’t," he said.
Interest in artificial intelligence in healthcare soared in 2019 with investors pouring $4 billion into the sector across 367 deals, according to a report from CB Insights. That's up from nearly $2.7 billion invested in healthcare AI in 2018.
Driving efficiency in nonclinical work enables hospitals and healthcare leaders to focus more resources on the actions and activities that improve care, the company said.
“As a recent health system CEO, I appreciate the duress our hospitals are under as they focus on delivering the best patient care possible under challenging circumstances all while needing to keep the lights on,” said Paulus. “Olive’s reliable automation of essential back-office processes saves time, reduces errors and allows staff to focus on higher-order work."
Olive now works with more than 500 U.S. hospitals across 41 states, including 25 of the nation’s largest health systems.
Olive secured the latest funding before the COVID-19 outbreak began spreading in the U.S., according to Lane.
The ongoing virus outbreak and economic volatility will likely have a major impact on healthcare technology startups in 2020.
"It's going to be a tough time for startups. For early-stage companies trying to fundraise right now, it will be extraordinarily hard," Lane said.
Olive's status as a growth-stage company with an "established and growing footprint of customers" puts the company in a better position to "weather the storm," he noted.
"We have a solution that health systems can use today to help keep the lights on. Our solution also has long-term value, and it's shifting from being a nice-to-have to a must-have," Lane said.
He added, "We’re definitely going to be impacted by it. We will adjust and we will dynamically react to the market and the environment. We will use this opportunity to double down on R&D and make sure that we continue to innovate and deliver value to our customers."
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Wabah virus corona tidak menghentikan jalannya bisnis startup Jago Coffee. Justru startup kopi keliling tersebut membuka lowongan kerja.
CEO Jago Coffee Yoshua Tanu mengatakan lowongan kerja yang dibuka yakni untuk posisi Jagopreneur yaitu barista yang sekaligus menjajakan kopi dengan sepeda listrik.
"Dalam situasi seperti ini, saya melihat peluang untuk dapat memberikan lowongan pekerjaan bagi para pekerja yang kehilangan mata pencahariannya akibat imbas COVID-19, yakni sebagai Jagopreneur” ujarnya dalam keterangan resmi yang diterima Kompas.com, Selasa (31/3/2020).
Ia mengatakan, Jago Coffee membutuhkan setidaknya 30 orang Jagopreneur. Syaratnya pun mudah, hanya harus mampu mengendarai sepeda, memiliki e-KTP, akun Gmail, smartphone Android dan bersedia mematuhi peraturan yang tertuang dalam perjanjian kemitraan.
Lamaran kerja sebagai Jagopreneur Jago Coffee bisa dikirim melalui jagoan@jagocoffee.com atau dapat mengunjungi laman resmi yaitu jagocoffee.com.
Yoshua juga berharap, Jagopreneur dapat menjadi wadah bagi masyarakat yang ingin bekerja secara mandiri dan memiliki penghasilan yang bisa diatur sendiri.
"Pastinya dengan syarat bahwa seorang calon Jagopreneur tersebut memiliki semangat entrepreneurship yang tinggi," kata dia.
Jago Coffee adalah startup kopi kekinian dengan bisnis model yakni kopi keliling menggunakan sepeda listrik yang menawarkan minuman kopi panas dan dingin.
Pelanggan dapat memesan Jago Coffee melalui aplikasi.
Local demand from individuals, senior centers, stores, and the state prison system is unspooling every roll as fast as the workers can wind them. Nick Woodward /Maine Public Radiohide caption
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Nick Woodward /Maine Public Radio
The coronavirus pandemic has led to the panic-buying of one item in particular: toilet paper.
Stores have been rationing the goods, in some cases, doling out as little as one roll apiece. This sudden demand for what some are calling "white gold" is proving a challenge — and an opportunity — for one fledgling family business in a Maine, where the paper industry has seen some hard times.
"It's been insane. I don't sleep much," says owner Marc Cooper. But he's up, overseeing the early shift anyway. It's a busy, industrial scene of forklifts and pallets, and workers hustling from machine to machine, turning out rolls of tissue. It's been this way since his toilet paper startup, Tissue Plus, was forced into sudden go-mode.
"So unfortunately, we weren't quite prepared for this to happen so quickly," Cooper says. "but we're doing our best to meet the demand. We've been very fortunate that there's been a good workforce available."
Shouting over the din of some proprietary machinery that does something we're not allowed to describe, Jeff Clement is busy keeping the rolls on the rails.
"Try to make sure they go in there nice and straight," he explains. "If they get crooked it'll mess everything up."
Clement spent 30 years working at a nearby mill before it closed in 2014. An abundance of skilled paper workers like Clement is one reason Cooper decided to use his life savings to launch a new toilet paper factory in Bangor, Maine, — a small riverside city probably most famous for its association with several Stephen King horror stories, including It. But the area's paper-making heritage, coupled with an availability of raw material made sense. And the product made sense, since it was something people would need every day.
Cooper has been able to take on 20 full-time workers so far. One of them is Peter Hamel who spent decades at another mill before it closed in 2006. Hamel says he never thought he'd see a new paper plant nearby, but he's hopeful.
"I think we're gonna make it," he says. "It's an opportunity and it's good for the area, bring employment into the area."
And right now, he's making one of hottest items on the planet.
"I actually received an inquiry from the country of Iceland yesterday," says owner Marc Cooper. "Grocery store chains from Florida, distributors from around the country. The demand is insane for toilet paper."
Right now, Tissue Plus is churning out toilet tissue and paper towels 18 hours a day, but even local demand from individuals, senior centers, stores, and the state prison system is unspooling every roll as fast as the workers can wind them, although Cooper says the company also donates a number of rolls to help homeless shelters and pantries get through the crisis.
Cooper says it'll take another 15 to 20 workers to get the plant up to its full speed of about 80 rolls per minute, round the clock.
He's hoping a new online toilet paper subscription service he's just launched at tissueplus.com, among other ideas, will help fund those jobs. He's also planning to donate a portion of the proceeds he raises to helping those hurt by the pandemic.
But new enterprises are notoriously unprofitable. Cooper says so far, they've only seen money "go in one direction": out.
But there are signs of a turnaround. In February, Cooper says Tissue Plus almost broke even, and with demand for the most important paper in the house only increasing, he's predicting that the company will break even, and maybe even turn a small profit.
Perusahaan yang bergerak di bidang penyedia jasa internet, OneWeb, mengumumkan pailit pada Jumat (27/3) lalu. Perusahaan yang dibangun oleh pengusaha asal Amerika Serikat (AS) Greg Wyler itu sudah bertahun-tahun mengejar target sebagai penyedia internet murah dan berkecepatan tinggi dari luar angkasa.
OneWeb memilik aset yang cukup banyak. Beberapa bulan terakhir ini, perusahaan baru saja meluncurkan 74 satelit internet ke orbit. OneWeb juga baru membangun konstelasi terhadap lebih dari 600 perangkat yang diharapkan perusahaan dapat menyelimuti seluruh dunia dengan jaringan internet.
Perusahaan cukup berani memperoleh investasi dari para investor ternama, salah satunya Softbank yang memberikan dana hingga US$ 2 miliar pada tahun 2016.
Namun, kini para investor dari Softbank mulai berhati-hati dalam mengucurkan dananya lagi, sebab adanya sentimen negatif terhadap perusahaan-perusahaan yang mengejar mimpi menjadi penyedia jasa internet murah dengan satelit.
Belum lagi laporan keuangan OneWeb yang telah beredar dalam beberapa pekan terakhir, yang menunjukkan kesengsaraan dalam start up tersebut.
Dilansir dari CNN, Selasa (31/3/2020), OneWeb sempat berdiskusi kembali dengan Softbank terkait pendanaan baru. Tetapi, rencana itu hancur beberapa jam sebelum OneWeb kembali meluncurkan 34 satelit pada Sabtu, (28/3).
Start up tersebut memberikan pernyataan yang berbunyi, "Kami sedang bernegosiasi lebih lanjut mengenai investasi yang akan memenuhi seluruh dana yang dibutuhkan perusahaan untuk peluncuran komersil," tulis keterangan resmi OneWeb.
Namun rencana itu gagal. "Tidak ada perkembangan karena masalah keuangan dan gejolak pasar yang disebabkan oleh penyebaran COVID-19," bunyi terakhir pernyataan tersebut.
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Startup provider internet satelit yang disokong SoftBank, OneWeb mengajukan kebangkrutan kepada pengadilan Amerika Serikat (AS) dan menyebut virus corona covid-19 buat perusahaan tak mampu jaring investasi baru.
OneWeb merupakan startup yang membangun jaringan untuk memberikan broadband di seluruh dunia. Ide perusahaan adalah menyediakan layanan high-bandwidth dengan latensi internet rendah di seluruh bumi. Tetapi membangun konstelasi satelit adalah pekerjaan yang berbiaya mahal dan banyak perusahaan yang tumbuh dalam bisnis ini.
Mengutip BBC, Selasa (31/3/2020), OneWeb telah merumahkan sebagian besar staf dan sedang mencari pembeli untuk preusahaan. Rumor tentang keruntuhan telah berhembus seminggu terakhir ini.
OneWeb telah berhasil mengumpulkan uang US$3,4 miliar dari para investor. Namun para ahli berspekulasi, perusahaan butuh dana lebih untuk menyelesaikan sistem ini dan perusahaan tidak dapat menemukan investor royal yang mau menyuntikkan modal di tengah wabah corona.
"Perusahaan hampir saja mendapatkan pendanaan tetapi proses tidak berjalan [dengan baik] karena dampak keuangan dan gejolak pasar terkait penyebaran Covid-19," ujar manajemen OneWeb dalam keterangan resminya.
Menurut pengajuan kebangkrutan ke pengadilan, kreditor tanpa jaminan terbesar perusahaan adalah operator roket Arianespace dengan total utang perusahaan mencapai US$ 238 juta.
SoftBank merupakan investor utama OneWeb dengan suntikan dana mencapai US$2 miliar. Selain itu ada Qualcomm, Airbus, Virgin Group, Coca-Cola, hingga Maxer Technologies.
Pantau Data dan Informasi terbaru Covid-19 di Indonesia pada microsite Katadata ini.
Pandemi virus corona membuat banyak perusahaan menerapkan work from home atau bekerja dari rumah. Penggunaan aplikasi digital Zoom pun meningkat terutama di perusahaan startup untuk menggelar rapat online hingga memecat karyawan.
Startup pembuat skuter listrik Bird memecat sekitar 400 atau sekitar 30% dari total karyawannya akibat pandemi corona. Perusahaan tersebut pun menggunakan Zoom untuk memutus hubungan kerja karena tidak bisa memanggil karyawannya ke kantor.
"Kalau dipikir-pikir, kami seharusnya melakukan panggilan satu per satu kepada ratusan orang yang terkena dampak, selama beberapa hari," kata CEO Bird Travis VanderZenden dikutip BBC.com pada Senin (30/3).
Platform perjalanan bisnis TripActions asal AS juga telah memecat 297 dari 1.100 karyawannya. Pemecatan karyawannya juga dilaksanakan melalui Zoom.
"Melakukannya dengan konferensi video mungkin merupakan cara paling mengerikan dalam memecat seseorang," kata CEO TripActions Ariel Cohen.
Ariel menjelaskan, dengan menggunakan Zoom, pihak perusahaan perlu memiliki keberanian untuk menatap mata seseorang dalam sebuah aplikasi. "Tapi sekarang, kami tidak bisa membawa mereka ke kantor," kata dia.
Beberapa startup lainnya memang sudah memecat karyawannya untuk efisiensi dampak dari pandemi corona. Startup rental apartement Sonder telah menghentikan pembayaran untuk sekitar sepertiga dari total 1.200 karyawan.
Startup yang didukung Airbnb, Zeus Living telah memangkas 30% karyawan. Platform pemesanan transportasi asal Israel Bookaway telah mengumumkan rencana untuk memotong gaji dan memberhentikan staf.
Begitu juga dengan startup skuter elektrik asal AS, Lime yang bersiap memangkas karyawannya akibat corona. Lime sudah mengumumkan rencana untuk berhenti dan menghentikan layanannya di sebagian besar tempat. Perusahaan sedang mencari cara untuk mendapatkan putaran pendanaan baru yang sifatnya darurat.
Di tengah pandemi, aplikasi Zoom memang mengalami peningkatan penggunaan. Zoom dapat menghubungkan hingga 1.000 pengguna dalam satu panggilan untuk WFH.
Berdasarkan analisis dari JP Morgan dikutip dari MarketWatch.com, jumlah pengguna aktif harian Zoom naik 378% pada Maret 2020, dibandingkan Maret tahun sebelumnya. Menurut data Apptopia, pengguna aktif bulanan pun naik 186%.
Saham Zoom pun telah melonjak sekitar 50% dalam sebulan terakhir. Dikutip dari Forbes, pada Rabu (25/3) harga saham Zoom telah tembus sampai US$ 106,8 atau Rp 1,7 juta. Harga samah itu merupakan tertinggi sepanjang masa Zoom.
Airbnb termasuk salah satu startup yang terimbas besar dari wabah virus corona. Startup ini bergerak di bisnis penginapan online dan karena banyak dilakukan lockdown ataupun social distancing, Airbnb mengalami gangguan.
Akibatnya, mereka melakukan langkah efisiensi. Untuk sementara, tidak akan ada karyawan baru yang direkrut dan aktivitas marketing disetop.
Dikutip detikINET dari CNBC, pendiri perusahaan juga tidak akan mendapatkan gaji lagi. Sedangkan para eksekutif gajinya diturunkan 50% selama 6 bulan ke depan.
Karyawan terkena pula imbasnya di mana pada tahun ini, kemungkinan besar mereka takkan memperoleh bonus. Berbagai kebijakan itu tentu untuk membuat perusahaan tetap bertahan di masa berat ini.
Padahal sebelum virus corona melanda, Airbnb rencananya akan menggelar IPO (Initial Public Offering) atau berjualan saham perdana. Sebagai salah satu startup besar, IPO mereka banyak dinantikan.
Kini, industri travel sedang dihantam situasi berat terkait penyebaran virus corona. US Travel Association memprediksi industri ini akan kehilangan 4,6 juta pekerjaan tahun ini.
Valuasi Airbnb diperkirakan di kisaran USD 31 miliar. Sama seperti beberapa startup besar lain, mereka belum meraih untung. Misalnya pada kuartal I 2019, Airbnb dikabarkan rugi sampai USD 306 juta.
Simak Video "Kasus WNI Positif Corona Kini Mencapai 309" [Gambas:Video 20detik] (fyk/fyk)
Follow this simple checklist to go above and beyond your physical program presence.
7 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
So you have your next startup accelerator program going on right now or coming up fast. You may be asking yourself, how do I provide as much value without face-to-face relationships? Can I have as big of an impact virtually, or should I delay our timeline? Can I even do it at all?
Short answer: Yes, you can.
Now is the time to step up as innovators in the startup ecosystem. It’s time to evolve. Just like the startups they fund, accelerators are always ripe for an upgrade.
The great thing is that there are already some virtual models out there today. Look at Propel, for example, which supports Canadian founders in the east coast region without a physical program for up to 12 months. Propel does all of its “visiting mentor” talks, startup interviews and investor check-ins via Zoom video chat.
500 Startups is now taking all of its current international programs virtual, but the company already experimented with a partially virtual model before with its distro partners (aka growth hackers-in-residence) checking in on startups remotely and weekly over the flagship four-month program in San Francisco. 500 Startups would use a simple, shared Google spreadsheet to track metrics with a focus on the one metric that matters.
When it comes to your demo day, there are also scores of great ideas out there for running virtual events. When the news of COVID-19 intensified, Outreach CEO Manny Medina took its industry event Unleash completely virtual in a matter of weeks. The plan was to have live keynotes with additional choose-your-own-adventure breakout topics.
Anything is possible, especially when we work together.
Here are six specific things to think about when moving to a virtual startup accelerator or incubator program.
1. Replacing facetime.
The key times when you would normally interact in-person are during interviews and when coaching the startup teams throughout the program. There isn’t a perfect substitute for building those one-to-one relationships, but video chats will be as close as you can get. The 500 Startups San Francisco accelerator program often invests in teams before meeting them in person due to a thesis that is open to global startups. To bridge the geographic distances during the interview, a simple group Skype call is often used. SweepSouth, Aircall and TalkDesk were all startups that interviewed virtually for the program and went on to raise millions in venture capital.
The next step is building a consistent relationship over video calls. The video aspect is essential: Audio calls are easy to default to, but the video will help bridge the virtual founder-investor relationship. Consistency is also key. Katapult Impact-Tech Accelerator in Oslo asks its lead mentors to check in weekly with startup mentees. Try using a format that checks in first with personal selves and emotional state, then what’s top of mind, then metric tracking.
2. Managing content.
The second most important things — after building relationships during a startup program — are the tools and resources you provide. Luckily, a lot of that is already online or a short moderated Zoom call away.
Y-Combinator offers up a lot of its resources online in the form of a Startup Library. 500 Startups has a YouTube channel full of pitches and speakers from past events, plus a separate site with the sub-program it lovingly calls Marketing Hell Week. Almost all startup programs have leaders who blog. You’d be surprised how much content is already being shared openly from the top accelerators.
It’s necessary to provide value as a program, so personal, invite-only, batch-only sessions are also important. Group video calls formatted as a one-speaker interview with questions moderated over the text chat is an easy way to do that. Plan on doing at least one of these weekly. You may also do breakout sessions based on a business model or industry. Content is queen, so be creative in this area.
3. Maintaining team continuity.
At the core of every great accelerator is the team that runs it. The easy part about this portion of the program is there is so much fantastic content online to support distributed teams. Buffer runs an incredibly transparent blog about their fully remote team. BetterUp is another example. AngelList even has a Head of Remote who teamed up with Buffer to write an annual report titled "The 2020 State of Remote Work."
Create a structure that makes it easy to be remote: Weekly check-ins, team meetings where everyone wears headsets even in the office, online tracking of goals, participation, feedback loops ... it’s all about communication at the end of the virtual day.
4. Building founder bonds.
One of the longest-lasting things that come out of an in-person startup accelerator is the bond between soldiers. Those founder-to-founder relationships can make the whole program worth it for some entrepreneurs. But how do you support that connective tissue without foosball, ping pong or happy hours? Well, why not try online multiplayer gaming, Slack channels and virtual socials?
Start rituals and traditions early on with your batch. Promote safety and belonging. Have one person on the accelerator team in charge of this. Do online icebreakers Day One. Encourage a weekly group entertainment night or business book club. Encourage connection by hobby, interests, or business categories. There are lots of tools for this.
You can even use Facebook’s Watch Party function to have a TV show night. or host a weekly Friday happy hour over video conference that continues from one batch to the next. 500 Startups had one called Tequila Friday (started by the CEO of Worthix, a batch founder).
5. Preparing for demo day.
It’s here. Your big day to showcase the startups you’ve invested in and mentored for months. But how do you go out with a bang without renting out a funky event space, a brewery or the San Francisco Giants' baseball diamond? Easy.
Demo days have been overdue for disruption: Investors are overwhelmed with the number of events they need to attend, and associates often fill the place of invited venture capitalists.
Y-Combinator has already committed to doing its next demo day virtually. Others will follow. CMX, the community of community manager, put together a comprehensive article with tips and tools for event organizers during the coronavirus outbreak that will help immensely.
6. Follow up and follow through.
Post-program, you already have gone mostly virtual, but this shouldn't be the end of the relationship. Use an online form to gather updates from your companies. Automate the quarterly sending of it and connect it to your CRM. Google Forms to Hubspot is one example of this.
Continue to do video calls to check in with your founders when necessary. Make thoughtful introductions over email. Think about how you can add as much value as possible when giving advice over email to the point that you forego the need for an actual call.
With that vision in mind, you may actually eliminate, not add, to your calendar. Try network tools like Signal, AngelList and LinkedIn to support your startups with your connections. You can also manage shared financials with collaborative software like CapShare, Capbase, or Carta. It’s never been easier to be a data-driven investor.
It’s also never been easier to go completely virtual. The technology is there for the taking, and you might actually simplify your program life rather than complicate it.
Startup terkenal asal Inggris yang bergerak di bidang satelit telekomunikasi, OneWeb, menyatakan diri bangkrut. Mereka menyalahkan pandemi virus corona sebagai penyebabnya.
OneWeb mengaku tak bisa mendapatkan investasi tambahan karena krisis virus corona. Mereka telah melakukan PHK pada sebagian besar karyawan dan mencari pihak yang mau membeli perusahaan.
Sejauh ini, OneWeb telah meluncurkan 74 satelit dari rencana 648 unit. Konstelasi satelit itu ditujukan untuk menyediakan koneksi internet ke Bumi dan dijadikan bisnis.
Mereka telah mendapatkan pendanaan 2,6 miliar poundsterling, tapi belum cukup untuk menyelesaikan seluruh proyek. "Proses pendanaan mandeg karena dampak finansial dam turbulensi pasar terkait penyebaran Covid-19," klaim OneWeb.
"Hari ini adalah hari yang sulit bagi kami di OneWeb. Banyak orang telah mendedikasikan energi, usaha dan passion bagi perusahaan ini dan misi kami," ujar CEO OneWeb, Adrian Steckel.
Dikutip detikINET dari BBC, OneWeb telah mendapat kucuran dana dari nama besar termasuk Softbank, Airbus, Coca Cola dan Virgin Group. Softbank terutama memberi dana tak sedikit, tapi kali ini mereka terindikasi enggan menyelamatkan OneWeb.
Bisnis konstelasi satelit memang amat mahal dan tak sedikit perusahaan di bidang ini telah tumbang. Nama besar yang masih bertahan adalah SpaceX yang telah meluncurkan puluhan satelit internet ke antariksa.
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