Commonwealth Fusion Systems LLC said it has raised more than $1.8 billion in the largest private investment for nuclear fusion yet as startups race to be the first to generate carbon-free energy like the sun.
Big-name investors backing the latest funding round for the Massachusetts-based company include Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and George Soros via his Soros Fund Management LLC. Some of Commonwealth Fusion’s competitors, including Helion Energy Inc., have also recently secured huge funding as investors pile into...
Commonwealth Fusion Systems LLC said it has raised more than $1.8 billion in the largest private investment for nuclear fusion yet as startups race to be the first to generate carbon-free energy like the sun.
Big-name investors backing the latest funding round for the Massachusetts-based company include Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and George Soros via his Soros Fund Management LLC. Some of Commonwealth Fusion’s competitors, including Helion Energy Inc., have also recently secured huge funding as investors pile into clean energy technologies amid growing concerns about climate change.
Nuclear fusion has long been the holy grail of the energy world. Fusion is the process of generating energy by melding atoms. Current nuclear power plants create energy through nuclear fission, or splitting atoms. Fusion has the potential to create nearly limitless energy using common elements such as hydrogen, and has the added benefit of generating little to no long-lived nuclear waste.
Experimental equipment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Commonwealth Fusion was spun out of MIT in 2018.
But despite decades of research, no one to date has been able to produce net energy through fusion—or more energy than it takes to create a fusion reaction. Private firms are vying to be the first not only to create net-energy machines, but to commercialize them by delivering electricity to the grid on the scale of a power plant.
“Everything is science fiction until someone does it and then all of a sudden it goes from impossible to inevitable,” said Bob Mumgaard, chief executive of Commonwealth Fusion, which was spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018.
The recent infusion of cash into fusion startups eclipses the roughly $1.9 billion in total that was previously announced, according to data tracked by the Fusion Industry Association and the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority.
Helion Energy announced in early November that it had raised $500 million, with another $1.7 billion committed that is tied to meeting performance milestones. Canada’s General Fusion this week closed a $130 million fundraising round that was oversubscribed, said Chief Executive Christofer Mowry. New investors included a state pension fund and the hedge fund Segra Capital Management.
“It’s a sign of the industry growing up,” Mr. Mowry said. General Fusion plans to launch a larger fundraising effort next year.
Companies are pursuing different designs for fusion reactors, but most rely on fusion that takes place in plasma, a hot charged gas. In September, Commonwealth Fusion successfully tested the most powerful fusion magnet of its kind on Earth that would hold and compress the plasma.
Mr. Mumgaard said the magnet test and funding round allow it to move to the next big step in its evolution: building a net-energy fusion machine that it plans to demonstrate by 2025. It also plans to begin work on the first commercial fusion power plant that would produce electricity by the early 2030s.
New investors supporting Commonwealth Fusion’s most recent funding round include Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Salesforce.com Inc. Chief Executive Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures and Silicon Valley venture-capital firm DFJ Growth.
Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, was an early backer through his Khosla Ventures. He said he had the same reaction to the fusion company as he did to Impossible Foods Inc., the plant-based alternative meat maker, considering both critical for addressing climate change.
“My general view is there’s quite a few things in society that don’t get funded when they should, and frankly, some things in life are just too important to not fund,” Mr. Khosla said. His interest isn’t philanthropic, though; he said he sees an opportunity for a big financial return on fusion.
“If you’re wrong, you lose one times your money. But if you’re right, you make 100 times your money,” Mr. Khosla said. “Financially, it made sense.”
Until someone proves it, though, fusion won’t shake its reputation as a technology that is always around the corner. The world’s largest fusion project is ITER, a $22 billion multinational government-funded project in France. Scientists say the project, which has experienced delays, is on track to create superheated plasma by the end of 2025. Full fusion would come a decade later.
There are many skeptics of fusion as a near-term source of electricity. Retired Princeton University research physicist Daniel Jassby, a frequent critic, calls the recent private investment trend a “fusion frenzy” and notes that no one has produced electricity from fusion yet.
“A lot of it is fake it ‘till you make it,” Mr. Jassby said.
Tony Donné, program manager for a 28-country research consortium known as EUROfusion, said he likes the industrial approach of private companies, but thinks getting fusion power to the grid is likely to take 20 to 30 years.
David Kirtley, Helion’s chief executive, said he once counted himself among the skeptics. After studying fusion in graduate school, “I actually said, I quit,” Mr. Kirtley said. “I didn’t see a path where in my lifetime we were going to build a real system and get it out there.”
He pivoted to building spacecraft propulsion systems, but improvements in fields like fiber optics and computing convinced him that there was a path forward for commercial fusion.
This summer, Helion published results confirming it had become the first private firm to heat a fusion plasma to 100 million degrees Celsius, which it called the ideal temperature for a fusion power plant. It also broke ground on a facility in Everett, Wash., where it says it will demonstrate net electricity generation by 2024.
The company’s recent funding round included commitments from Facebook Inc. co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and Sam Altman, the former head of tech incubator Y Combinator.
Adam Stein, a senior nuclear energy analyst at the Breakthrough Institute, a California-based research center, said he expects successful demonstrations of net energy this decade by some of the leading private fusion companies. But he also thinks some firms will fail.
“Net positive energy is a long distance away from net positive power, which is a system that can put out more power than it uses, ultimately as electricity on the grid,” Mr. Stein said. “These are still demonstration projects we’re looking at.”
Outside of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center in Cambridge, Mass.
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Harrison.ai founders Harrison.ai founders Dimitry Tran, Dr. Colin Goldschmidt and Dr. Aengus Tran Photo by Stefanie Zingsheim/The Photo Pitch
Harrison.ai, a Sydney-based company that creates medical devices with AI technology, announced today it has raised $129 million AUD (about $92.3 million USD) in what it says is one of the largest Series B rounds ever for an Australian startup.
The funding was led by returning investor Horizons Ventures, and included participation from new investors Sonic Healthcare and I-MED Radiology Network. Existing backers Blackbird Ventures and Skip Capital also returned for the round, which brings Harrison.ai’s total raised over the past two years to $158 million AUD.
Harrison.ai announced it has also formed a joint venture with Sonic Healthcare, one of the world’s largest medical diagnostics providers, to develop and commercialize new clinical AI solutions in pathology. The partnership will focus first on histopathology, or the diagnosis of tissue diseases.
This follows another joint venture Harrison.ai formed with I-MED Radiology in early 2020, creating Annalise.ai to develop AI-based radiology diagnostic support tools.
Harrison.ai CEO Dr. Aengus Tran told TechCrunch he became a doctor to help as many people as he could. “As I looked more into artificial intelligence, I fell in love with the idea of using AI to help more people than I ever could my lifetime.”
Harrison.ai was started with his brother Dimitry to scale the global capacity of quality of healthcare by giving clinicians AI-based tools. Dr. Tran said that Annalise.ai was able to release its first regulatory-approved product within 18 months, an AI tool that detects clinical findings on chest X-rays.
The funding will also be used to hire more AI data scientists and engineers, and form clinical partnerships around the world to expand into new healthcare areas. Harrison.ai says its AI-based technology can help improve the diagnosis process in places where there is a healthcare shortage.
“COVID has intensified the inequities and struggles the global healthcare system was already under, especially in critical areas like radiology and pathology,” said Dr. Tran. “For the past decade and more we have seen a critical shortage of radiologists in both developed and developing markets, and that has only gotten worse as COVID led to further skills shortages and a backlog of elective procedures and requirements.”
He added that Harrison.ai’s AI-based technology is designed to help scale healthcare systems, and are not meant to replace clinicians. “We’re giving them the tools to make critical healthcare decisions quickly, and at scale, with the help of artificial intelligence.”
Harrison.ai currently has teams in Australia, the United Kingdom and Vietnam, and plans to expand into other countries soon. Its products are ready for market in Australia, the UK, Europe and some Asian countries, Dr. Tran said. The company’s goal is to expand into other markets, with the goal of helping one million patients a day.
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There’s a growing business crafting law enforcement narratives about police shootings and officer misconduct.
This story was published in partnership withthe Vallejo Sun, an independent news organization based in Solano County, California.
In May 2020, the town of Pacific Grove, California, had a problem with a police officer. Residents noticed a white pickup parked outside the police station with decals including LGBT — for Liberty, Guns, Beer, and Trump — and the Three Percenters, a loose-knit anti-government group connected to terrorist plots nationwide. The officer was placed on paid leave, and the city launched an investigation.
The seaside town of about 15,500 residents, once home to author John Steinbeck, wasn’t used to such controversy. It has one of the lowest crime rates in Monterey County and hasn’t had a homicide in 11 years. Its police department has only 22 officers.
The truck belonged to Officer Michael Gonzalez, who had been named Officer of the Year two years prior. The city issued a statement in September 2020 saying Gonzalez thought the Three Percenter symbol showed support for protection of the Second Amendment and removed the stickers after the complaints. Federal prosecutors have argued that the Three Percenters believe in armed rebellion against the federal government.
As the officer returned to work, pressure from residents continued. In October, the city hired a public relations firm, Cole Pro Media. The company’s website advertises that it helps police and sheriff’s departments add clarity to their social media presence and enhance their crisis communications abilities.
Cole Pro Media is owned by former TV journalist Laura Cole. The company is one of the largest of a small but growing number of firms focused exclusively on providing public relations for local governments and police departments. “We understand the challenges facing public agencies and take great pride in our ability to communicate transparent, easily understood, messages about our clients — WITHOUT SPIN,” Cole Pro Media’s website says.
But a review of contracts, invoices and email records from 21 of Cole Pro Media’s clients that were obtained from local government agencies via public records requests by The Appeal and the Vallejo Sun shows how her company’s advice appears designed to help police agencies evade transparency and accountability and to deflect scrutiny by traditional news media. The emails show that Cole Pro Media’s advice is often to avoid difficult questions or directly confronting problems.
Ahead of a December 2020 Pacific Grove City Council meeting, a Cole Pro Media consultant drafted talking points about the Gonzalez incident for the mayor and council to use. The firm advised elected officials to tell community members that “continuing to bring this up has become counterproductive and does not allow us to move past this as a community” and “an emotional response is not the appropriate response and does not benefit anyone.”
Days later, a Parler account that appeared to be from Gonzalez was publicized by multiple media outlets, where there were memes posted that included “Fuck Black Lives Matter.” Police Chief Cathy Madalone appeared to use at least one of Cole Pro Media’s talking points at a Dec. 2, 2020, city council meeting when she said, “the actions of one are not indicative of our police department’s culture.”
But despite Pacific Grove’s decision to cut ties with Cole Pro Media due to public criticism, law enforcement agencies continue to hire the firm to help shape police narratives.
The company has grown to contract with more than 30 agencies in California, Cole wrote in an email last year. The contracts typically cost taxpayers $3,000 to $5,000 per month each. Cole’s spinoff company, Critical Incident Videos, produces videos that add police narrative to body worn camera footage at a cost of up to $5,000 per video.
Cole’s two companies help agencies downplay bad news, advise them to remain silent about damaging revelations, and draft scripts and responses excusing police use of force. As law enforcement has increasingly turned to PR firms to bolster their public image, Cole’s companies employ the kind of aggressive social media marketing usually reserved for large corporations, not the transparent communications without spin that the firm advertises.
Laura Cole did not respond to an interview request, a phone message, nor to detailed questions sent via email.
Former Seattle police Chief Norm Stamper said police have hired PR consultants for decades to help shape statements and respond to crises. But he sees something new and troubling in what companies like Cole Pro Media are offering.
“This is more blatantly PR, more conspicuously selling your organization,” he said. “It’s not as much, how do we most effectively, honestly, ethically, accurately tell the story of the relationship with the community.”
Shaping the narrative
Cole, who was a TV news reporter for a decade, started her police consulting business in 2014. Cole Pro Media helps agencies build a robust social media presence, particularly on Facebook and Instagram, encouraging law enforcement officers to post daily by profiling staffers, highlighting government actions and how they benefit residents.
Her firm has also hosted classes titled, “Managing the mainstream media: the street smart class to outsmart reporters.” The all-day course cost $89 and promised to teach police officers “what to do when controversy strikes” and “how to make reporters work for you.”
But Cole Pro Media’s biggest impact is as a crisis consultancy. When police are involved in a controversial incident, the firm anticipates questions from reporters, drafts initial press releases, and shapes scripts for the televised responses and interviews of police and sheriff’s representatives.
In some cases, Cole Pro Media has advised agencies to not respond to damaging revelations unless they are widely shared on social media, despite its website stating that it places an “emphasis on transparency.”
“Working with Cole Pro Media provides you with a transparency engagement advisor who can help you navigate the most sensitive of subjects so that the facts are heard,” the website states.
Cole Pro Media’s earliest clients were in its home base of Vacaville in Solano County, including the Vacaville Police Department and the Solano County Sheriff’s Office.
At the sheriff’s office, Cole Pro Media worked closely with public information officer Daniel “Cully” Pratt, the brother of actor Chris Pratt. With Cole Pro Media’s assistance, Pratt used his brother’s celebrity to promote the sheriff’s office. For example, in 2019, after a photo of their mother that Chris Pratt posted was shared widely, Cully Pratt sent the news coverage to Cole. “Let’s break the Internet!” Pratt wrote. “Using cops and their families!”
Cole wrote back, “OK write us up something and we will work on it!” The resulting post received 1,000 likes and 129 shares. The emails do not show what role Cole had in the finished product, but in other exchanges she would edit and advise on the wording of social media posts.
When this reporter revealed in a February article that Cully Pratt and other sheriff’s deputies displayed Three Percenter symbols on their social media pages, the sheriff’s office wouldn’t answer questions prior to publication. The next morning, a Cole Pro Media transparency engagement advisor sent an email to the sheriff that said they were “on call.” After the story received widespread attention, the sheriff issued a statement nearly a week later, saying he had “personal conversations” with the deputies and that each had sought to show support for the Second Amendment.
When Pittsburg, California, hired Cole Pro Media in 2018, police Chief Brian Addington was enthusiastic. Ahead of the department’s first meeting with Cole, he wrote in an email, “I hope to get an overview of what the consultants will offer, discuss expanding our team, and focus on getting ‘our message’ out to our community, instead of relying on main-stream [sic] media.”
Last year, Pittsburg settled a lawsuit for $7.3 million for the death of Humberto Martinez in 2016, who died when officers used a carotid restraint — similar to a chokehold — and held him face-down while handcuffing him. Cole Pro Media advised the department not to make a public comment about the settlement in response to reporters’ inquiries.
“We’ll watch for a flare-up on your social media, but if it remains mostly quiet I wouldn’t address the settlement,” consultant Ken Pritchett wrote in an email. “It would elevate something that might be gone by tomorrow.”
Addington responded, “I think this is a good strategy. Thank you!”
Michael Haddad, an attorney for Martinez’s family, said he was “concerned about the police chief and the department taking that advice.” He pointed out that the lawsuit revealed structural problems with the way Pittsburg police handle these kinds of restraints. For example, it had no policy to prevent compression asphyxia and the department’s top trainer had never heard of the term. But rather than respond to these issues directly, Haddad said Addington sought to “cover up his personal substandard leadership.”
“This is a huge settlement and a matter of great public importance, a death that was similar to George Floyd’s death here locally,” Haddad told The Appeal and the Vallejo Sun. “What are they doing to prevent something like this from happening again?”
The approach in Pittsburg is far different from what Cole has advocated for in public statements. “When departments don’t give out information, it brings about secrecy,” she told the Los Angeles Times last year. “If a department did something wrong, or somebody messed up, they must own it.”
Pittsburg police did not respond to requests for comment.
An opportunity in a new transparency law
Hayward, California police shot and killed Agustin Gonsalez in 2018 while he was holding a razor blade and experiencing a mental health crisis. Days after the incident, Cole Pro Media’s Pritchett wrote a press release and scripted answers for a lieutenant’s TV interview.
Even though the investigation was ongoing, Pritchett advised the lieutenant “If the issue of crisis intervention is floated” to say that there was “no opportunity as an armed Mr. Gonsalez immediately approached officers.” (The televised portion of the interview did not include these statements and it is unclear if the lieutenant used them.)
Pritchett then helped compile a video of the shooting to post on the department’s social media accounts.
A few weeks after the video was published, Cole registered a new company: Critical Incident Videos, LLC. A new state law, Assembly Bill 748, would take effect in July 2019 and require police departments to release video of uses of force that result in death or serious injury.
With Critical Incident Videos, Cole substantially increased her client base as departments scrambled to comply with the law. The East Bay Times reported that Critical Incident Videos soon had more than 100 clients in California.
The videos typically open with a police chief stressing the importance of transparency. They then provide a narrative summary of the incident, often coupled with maps or other graphics, and play 911 and dispatch audio from the incident. The videos often pair body camera footage with video from surveillance cameras or other sources.
The structure has been criticized by civil rights advocates for including a narrative that goes beyond what the video depicts, such as in the June 2020 Vallejo police shooting of Sean Monterrosa, where Chief Shawny Williams described Monterrosa’s alleged actions just before police fatally shot him. Those moments aren’t captured on camera.
Some departments say that the heavily produced videos are sufficient to comply with AB 748. In a lawsuit by this reporter to compel the release of public records in Gonsalez’s death, including the unedited body camera footage, the city of Hayward and the police department argued that the city did not need to produce more than the Critical Incident Videos release.
After nine months of litigation, the city released the full videos directly to this reporter, including video from Officer Michael Clark that had never been publicly released because he did not turn on his body camera until after the shooting but captured its aftermath.
David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said departments must provide the unedited video in response to a public records request.
“The whole purpose of the Public Records Act is to give the public the unvarnished, unredacted documents, not what the departments describe,” he said. “They have to give the public the videos, not their Hollywood take on the videos.”
Working with the Riverside DA
In 2019, Cole Pro Media contracted with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, where emails show the firm has worked closely with Sheriff Chad Bianco to help him shape his public communications and to produce critical incident videos to frame shootings in a more favorable light. Bianco gained notoriety recently when hacked records revealed that he once was a member of the extremist Oathkeepers organization, which federal prosecutors have said encouraged members to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
When a Riverside County deputy fired on an unarmed man during a chase in September 2020, Cole Pro Media’s Pritchett suggested emphasizing that the deputy did not hit the suspect. Critiquing a script in the critical incident video, Pritchett wrote in an email, “One thing that I felt was missing was an emphasis on the fact that this dude was not shot.” He added, “Making that clear will diffuse [sic] the power of the incident.”
In another Riverside County case last December, a man named Ernie Serrano died after deputies shot him with a stun gun and hit him with batons in a grocery store. Email records show that three days after the incident, Cole shared communications about the media response between the sheriff’s office and the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, which was also her client. Although the DA is expected to conduct an independent investigation into officers’ conduct, the early coordination about the public narrative raises questions about how independent the DA really is.
A Twitter post showed cellphone video of deputies hitting Serrano. The DA’s office communication manager Amy McKenzie sent the post to Cole and DA Michael Hestrin. After back-and-forth emails from Hestrin and McKenzie, Cole replied that the sheriff’s office was putting together a critical incident video “that should be released later today.”
Cole then forwarded the exchange to Bianco and wrote, “As you know, the DA’s office is also my client and wanted to make sure I was aware. I’m passing this along to you guys to make sure you are aware.”
Days later, Bianco gave a press conference where he released videos and said that Serrano appeared to have died from a drug overdose. Bianco said the DA’s office would lead the criminal investigation and make an independent review of the deputies’ actions. In California, DAs are typically relied on to conduct such reviews, though police reform advocates have argued they are too close with law enforcement to treat such cases objectively.
In an emailed response to questions about the communications between the sheriff’s office and the DA, McKenzie wrote that they “were about a potential protest for the purposes of security of our personnel working in our downtown office should a protest occur. There was no discussion of a public relations strategy.” She did not respond to follow up questions about why Cole was included in the email exchange. The sheriff’s office did not respond to questions.
Serrano’s autopsy has not been released and the DA’s investigation has not been completed.
Max Szabo, a former assistant district attorney and spokesperson for the San Francisco district attorney’s office, said a firm representing both the DA and sheriff could have a conflict of interest if the DA was involved in prosecuting someone in the sheriff’s office. In Szabo’s view, the communications between the sheriff and DA could be grounds for the DA to recuse himself from evaluating the incident.
“If the DA is coordinating on messaging with the Sheriff just days after an in-custody death, it suggests he’s made his decision on the legality of the use of force long before the investigation is complete,” Szabo said in an email. “This is the kind of thing that erodes public trust because it suggests there’s a two-tiered system of justice, one for law enforcement and one for everyone else.”
Humberto Guizar, a civil rights attorney representing Serrano’s family, said he was “furious” after The Appeal and the Vallejo Sun provided him with the email exchange. He said there should be an investigation into the coordination between the sheriff and the DA.
“The DA’s office is supposed to be investigating them, not working on the narrative,” Guizar said. “Based on what I’m seeing [in the emails], the people who are responsible for evaluating the facts are trying to come up with a narrative that’s consistent with the sheriff’s office. They’re in cahoots.”
Growing influence
Cole Pro Media is just one firm that has been providing PR guidance to police departments seeking to improve their communications and soothe backlash during crises. Media reports suggest that such PR contracts are becoming more common and large departments have expanded the roles of spokespeople.
Cole Pro Media’s role in police communications has also grown. The company has expanded outside California. In Asheville, North Carolina, police Chief David Zack also worked with Cole Pro Media at his previous job in Cheektowaga, New York, and hired them again after he transferred to Asheville in early 2020. The company offered advice and worked on briefing videos after some Asheville police officers were recorded destroying a medic station, including slashing bottles of water, during George Floyd-inspired protests that June.
Cole Pro Media has pitched its services and approach to a national audience. According to its website, Laura Cole has spoken about her “crisis communications philosophy” at events held by the California Police Chiefs Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Major Cities Chiefs Association.
Cole is even helping to train the next generation of California police chiefs. She is listed as an instructor for a four-day course offered by the California Police Chiefs Association, “Becoming a Police Chief: Developing a Mindset for Success and Service,” which is certified by the state Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training.
“With commitment and dedication to strengthening the relationship between district attorneys, law enforcement and the community,” Cole Pro Media’s website states, “Cole continues to lead the charge in steering agencies in the direction of best communication practices.”
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South Korea-based peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform PeopleFund announced today it has closed a $63.4 million (75.9 billion won) Series C round led by Bain Capital with participation from Goldman Sachs. Returning investors in the round include CLSA Lending Ark Asia and 500 Global.
The latest funding brings the total raised by PeopleFund to about $83.6 million (100 billion won) since it was founded in 2015.
The Series C will support hiring AI engineers and secure alternative data to advance its credit-scoring algorithm further. PeopleFund also will beef up its machine learning-powered credit scoring system, which is one of its key differentiators, that provides a quantitative scoring model (for credit valuation), a qualitative scoring model and a demand forecasting model (for near-primer borrowers).
PeopleFund wants to address the structural problem involving the risk of high interest-rate loans in the near-prime loan sector and offer more personalized financial products to subprime and near-prime borrowers with its data-driven technology platform, CEO and founder Joey Kim told TechCrunch.
“For the past six years, we have been focusing on proving the performance of our data-driven risk management technology, which is the essence of consumer lending,” Kim said. “Our mission is to grow into the No. 1 player in the Korean non-bank lending market to provide better loan options for average Koreans that the banks underserve.”
The financing event comes five months after PeopleFund received its regulatory approval from South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) to register with the government.
In early June, only three Korean P2P lenders out of 41 applicants were granted licenses from the FSC to operate the business legally: PeopleFund, Lendit and 8 Percent. The FSC said it will continue to review other applicants.
South Korea has passed the first law in the world dedicated to digital lending, “The Marketplace Lending Act,” in August 2020 to regulate marketplace lenders, protecting P2P consumers. The new law enables the licensed P2P lending startup to operate as an authorized financial institution to lend, raise capital from international and domestic institutions, and provide loan referral services to its customers.
The number of marketplace lenders in Korea has fallen from 237 to 102 between August 2020 and May 2021, per PeopleFund’s annual report in 2020.
Image Credits: PeopleFund
PeopleFund, which connects borrowers with lenders to enable lending, provides loans at an average interest rate of 11.25% per annum, about 3% to 4% lower than other non-bank lenders. Near-prime borrowers are not qualified for bank loans thus have no choice but to resort to non-bank lenders like credit card loans (or saving banks), Kim said.
What sets PeopleFund apart from other competitors is the lowest delinquency rate in the industry, being managed by its own alternative credit scoring system, and having strong risk management capabilities, Kim said. PeopleFund claims it has managed over $1 billion in loans as of October 2021, with a delinquency rate of 2.06%.
Another differentiator is its credit scoring system optimized for mid-interest loans based on about 480,000 loan customers registered on its platform. PeopleFund built a credit scoring system (CSS) 4.0 for near-prime borrowers to provide more affordable mid-rate loans to borrowers, who use the funds to refinance existing loans taken from other second-tier lenders. The refinancing loans account for 66% of its total loans, he added.
Kim said that its clients include near-prime borrowers and individuals and institutional investors who expect 7%-9% the ROI per annum (before tax). Its lenders are mostly retail customers the company has through its partnership with Kakao Pay.
“For individual and institutional lenders, we offer diversified lending opportunities at an average annual return rate of 6% to 9%. For the borrowers and the lenders, [our] AI-based data-driven underwriting process has been the core of its competitive advantage, which has been outperforming other non-bank players by a 3% to 5% gap in loss rate,” Kim said.
PeopleFund targets the traditional personal credit loans market in South Korea, which is estimated at around $67 billion, according to the company.
The company, which accounted for about 57% of market share in the personal loan of the P2P lending market as of October, expects to generate profit in 2022, Kim said.
“While leading online lenders in the U.S. have grown to be worth billions out of lending platforms such as Upstart and SoFi, Korea’s online lending is only just beginning, said Tim Chae, managing partner of 500 Global that participated in all fundraising since the seed round. “We strongly believe that PeopleFund will grow to become a clear winner with its proven track record, accelerating tech-driven innovations in the non-bank lending sector in Korea.”
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Via Transportation Inc. raised $130 million in venture capital funding, boosting the transit technology startup’s valuation to $3.3 billion as it moves to fill a growing need for more efficient public transportation options.
The regular season has concluded, and the championship is set. San Diego State will be hosting Utah State on Saturday with a likely spot in the Los Angeles Bowl at stake. Let’s take a look at the good, bad, and ugly performances from this past weekend.
The Good
San Diego State
The Aztecs had a heck of a game plan and did an excellent job of making adjustments against a Boise State squad that came into Carson on a roll. The Aztecs concluded an excellent regular season with a convincing 27-16 victory over the Broncos. They also did it with an effective passing attack with backup quarterback Jordon Brookshire.
Utah State
The Aggies are the surprise story of the year, and thanks to Boise State’s loss to San Diego State, they have a chance to travel to Southern California and compete for a Mountain West Championship. Utah State did what they needed to do and destroyed an inferior New Mexico squad. The Aggies will look to win their first Mountain West Championship on Saturday against a San Diego State squad that should be ranked in the top 20.
Fresno State
The Bulldogs dominated a Thanksgiving Day showdown against rival San Jose State. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the win wasn’t enough to secure a bid in the Mountain West Championship. Fresno State deserves a desirable bowl game; hopefully the league can find them a good opponent and a chance at a 10-win season.
Air Force
Air Force needed Boise State to win and a victory over UNLV. Air Force did their part by beating the Rebels in convincing fashion, but the Boise State loss means the Falcons will fall just short of playing in the championship game. Like the Bulldogs, the Falcons will be playing for a 10-win season and deserve a solid bowl game.
Hawaii
The Rainbow Warriors ended the year with a bang. The offense had one of its best showings of the year in the first half, and quarterback Chevan Cordeiro looked dynamic through the air, including a Hail Mary pass that traveled about 65 yards. Hawaii finishes the season one win from bowl eligibility. But in a division that has a lot of turnover, they should be a sleeper pick to win the West in 2022.
Nevada
Carson Strong looked like a man on a mission in the first half. He made a ton of difficult throws that likely impressed NFL scouts. The Wolf Pack had a dominant showing against the Rams in all three phases of the game, but they will likely look back at this season as a disappointment. Talent like Carson Strong doesn’t come along often.
The Bad
San Jose State
The Spartans completely fell apart late in the season. Last years champions failed to qualify for a bowl game this year. They were dominated by their biggest rival in Fresno State. Hopefully, this is not a sign of things to come for San Jose State.
The Ugly
Boise State
The Broncos finished the season just the way they started it. They jumped out to a comfortable lead. But suddenly, the offense stopped moving the ball and the secondary struggled to stop a passing attack that had been subpar for the majority of the season. The Broncos have a bowl game to look forward to, but this coaching staff has a lot to reflect on this offseason.
New Mexico
This team got progressively worse as the season progressed. The offense could not overcome injuries at the quarterback position, and their inability to stay on the field and put points on the board made it difficult to be successful. This coaching staff will need to make an impact on the transfer market this offseason.
UNLV
The Rebels made a ton of progress this offseason and looked to finish the season on a positive note. But this UNLV squad did not look like the same team we saw the previous three weeks. They were thoroughly dominated by Air Force.
Colorado State
For a team that showed promise during certain parts of the season, what an embarrassing way to finish the year. The Rams were completely dominated by Nevada in all three phases of the game. Head coach Steve Addazio was thrown out of the game after two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Was this Addazio’s curtain call in Fort Collins?
Wyoming
The Cowboys can join the list of teams that were difficult to understand in 2021. They started the season 4-0 but struggled once league play began. They seemed to finally be figuring things out after beating Colorado State and Utah State, but a struggling Hawaii team completely dominated them in Laramie. Craig Bohl finishes the year with another average season. Average pretty much sums up Bohl’s tenure in Laramie.
That’s it for the final regular season edition of “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.” Which moments from this past weekend stood out to you? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Nov 30 (Reuters) - Via said on Tuesday it has raised $130 million in fresh capital as part of a late-stage financing round led by asset manager Janus Henderson, valuing the transit-tech startup at $3.3 billion.
The Series G funding also includes investments from accounts managed by BlackRock, ION Crossover Partners, Koch Disruptive Technologies and existing investor Exor.
The New York-based company develops public mobility systems by building a network of buses, shuttles, wheelchair-accessible vehicles and autonomous and electric vehicles. It plans to use the funding to fuel expansion into new markets, hire employees and improve its products.
"We've seen time and time again how traditional industries are transformed by the introduction of technology: FinTech, HealthTech, EdTech... TransitTech is next, and having created this category, Via is uniquely positioned to lead it," Denny Fish, portfolio manager at Janus, said.
Founded in 2012 with a few vans in New York City, Via raised $200 million in a previous funding round in March last year that helped it double its revenue as demand for its software grew globally, according to a statement. It has partnered with 500 companies and has expanded its presence to 35 countries.
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Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber
With pretty much every team in the NBA at or past the 20-game mark, we'll call this the quarter-pole point of the season. Still early, yes. But we've seen enough to at least start some worthwhile conversations. Below are the most noteworthy storylines thus far in the 2021-22 season.
This will not include anything about Ben Simmons' ongoing drama in Philadelphia, because nothing has developed there. Simmons doesn't want to play for the Sixers, who in turn aren't going to trade him for the scraps they've been offered. We're still in the same place we were prior to the season.
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Same with John Wall not playing in Houston. He's healthy, he's ready to play, but the Rockets now reportedly want him to come off the bench, which Wall apparently isn't keen on doing. So he continues to sit. Which is fine by the Rockets, who in the absence of a trade clearly have no real interest in putting potentially their best player on the floor for fear of actually winning a few games.
With that in mind, below are five teams/players that, to me, represent the biggest stories thus far. It should be noted that I recognize the Washington Wizards -- 13-7 entering Monday -- deserve to be on this list, but the truth is I haven't watched them play enough to credibly comment beyond their record.
There was certainly optimism surrounding Golden State entering the season, but an 18-2 record with the league's No. 1 defense, No. 2 offense and top point differential by a mile? Stephen Curry is on pace to break his own single-season 3-point record and sits as the clear early MVP favorite. Draymond Green is in the DPOY mix.
Andrew Wiggins, trailing only Green in ownership over Golden State's defensive dominance, has been superb, particularly of late: 22 points per game on 55 percent shooting, including 41.5 percent from 3, over his last 10.
Jordan Poole is a part-time flame-thrower and full-time threat. Gary Payton II is must-see TV. Nemanja Bjelica might be one of the more impactful marginal signings in the league, spacing Golden State's flowing-water attack; Payton's growing number of cuts for dunks happen almost exclusively with Bjelica on the floor. Otto Porter Jr. is shooting 43 percent from deep. Kevon Looney is quietly integral.
With shooters and versatile defenders everywhere, all the Golden State pieces fit. The ball is moving. Depth is again a strength. The pace is relentless. The easy-schedule qualifier was somewhat squashed with blowout wins over the Bulls, Nets and the surprisingly stout Clippers on Sunday. With Klay Thompson nearing his return, it's starting to feel like the good-old days in the Bay.
Russell Westbrook is far from the only issue with the 11-11 Los Angeles Lakers, but he's at the core of their bottom-10 3-point shooting and doormat point-of-attack defense. There is little debate that the Lakers, at least at present, would be a better team with Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma (the latter two their best perimeter defenders from a year ago), all of whom they traded for Russ. They would almost certainly be a better team with sharpshooting Buddy Hield, whom they reportedly could've landed for a Kuzma-centric package before getting drunk on the idea of adding Westbrook's name to their masthead.
Point is, the Lakers, rather recklessly, went all-in on Westbrook, and so far the move has predictably backfired. I say predictably, of course, because it's not like Westbrook just turned into a terrible shooter over the summer. Lakers GM Rob Pelinka had the same information everyone else in the world has had for years with regard to Westbrook's brick-laying ways; just as Pelinka was, or at least should've been, privy to Russ' warranted reputation as a turnover factory, half-court space sucker and replacement-level defender.
The gamble could only pay off if Westbrook, while playing with LeBron James, ditched his pull-up preoccupations and attacked the rim, as he did with the Rockets in the second half of 2018-19. Little problem: The Rockets reshaped their entire team to give Westbrook a wide-open lane, shipping Clint Capela to Atlanta so they could go five out with P.J. Tucker at center. Frank Vogel ain't going that way. He's gone with two-big lineups to a maddening degree, and even when the Lakers don't play twin towers, Anthony Davis is going to be on the court.
Plus, throw out Carmelo Anthony, and the Lakers aren't scaring anyone with their shooting, especially if they want to field defensively competent lineups. LeBron is shooting more 3s than ever, and defenses will be happy to let that continue. Westbrook is going to fight cramped lanes all season, and that pull-up jumper is going to become increasingly attractive by default.
The other way the Westbrook gamble could've worked, particularly in the regular season, is with him carrying non-LeBron lineups as a pick-and-roll parter with Davis. Instead, entering Sunday, the Lakers were getting roasted by 6.8 points per 100 possessions, per Cleaning The Glass, with Westbrook and Davis operating sans the King. It doesn't help that Davis fired about as many blank jumpers as Westbrook this season.
Westbrook isn't getting traded. Nobody wants his contract, or, frankly, his game at this point. There's too much evidence that he's a negative player, Pelinka's wish-upon-a-fallen-star offseason strategy be damned. All the Lakers can do is possibly mitigate his many minuses by playing fast and small as often as possible, and it feels like even that can only go so far.
In the end, the Lakers just might not be that good. Yes, LeBron has missed time, but even when he's healthy he might not be quite the same player we've long expected to carry even flawed teams into contention. On Sunday, the Lakers got about as good a game out of their Big 3 as they can realistically hope for -- a combined 82 points on a collective 63 percent shooting for LeBron, Davis and Westbrook, and still they could only manage to beat the Pistons by four to crawl back to .500.
3. DeMar you watch, da better da Bulls look
The Chicago Bulls have lost three of four, including a disastrous defeat at the hands of the hapless Rockets, to scratch up some of their early-season shine, but we're still talking about an infectiously fun team with the league's sixth-best point differential.
DeMar DeRozan is making MVP waves. His 25.8 points a night ranks seventh league-wide, and nobody has scored more points in the fourth quarter; he's shooting a flat bonkers 67.2 percent on clutch shots, as defined by Inpredictable. DeRozan is an isolation monster, 95th percentile per Synergy, serving as Chicago's main half-court pipeline for crunch-time offense. The Bulls are over 22 points per 100 possessions better with DeRozan on the court, per CTG. He's been nothing short of spectacular.
He's hardly alone. Zach LaVine might be the smoothest scorer in the world, and that's not an exaggeration. He can create a shot out of absolutely nothing with his ability to spring full force into vertical space and shoot all manner of fadeaways with a flick of his wrist. This means the Bulls are almost never stuck for a bad shot if he's on the court, even when defenses stymie their actions for much of the possession; in the last four seconds of the shot clock, LaVine's 47 total points -- on 61 percent shooting including 47 percent from 3 -- leads the league.
As if they've played together for years, LaVine has settled into a natural your-turn-my-turn relationship with DeRozan, with whom he shares much of the crunch-time responsibility; LaVine is shooting a Kevin Durant-like 62 percent on clutch shots, per Inpredictable, and his 40 total clutch points is tied for second-most in the league. LaVine is also a cheetah in the open court, where Chicago is the league's most efficient team at 135 points per transition possession, per CTG.
You can't run like that without getting stops, and this is the source of Chicago's greatest surprise. Entering Monday, they're the No. 5 defense in the league, and upon securing defensive rebounds, the Bulls need only an average of 10.7 seconds to race back the other way and attempt their own shot, the fastest turnaround time in the league.
Lonzo Ball -- who oh by the way is shooting 43 percent from 3 -- and Alex Caruso are Chicago's DeRozan-LaVine on defense, a tag team of relentless on-ball and passing-lane activity. Ball is 10th in steals and has evolved from a roving helper to a point-of-attack menace. Caruso is second in the league in steals per game and total deflections. If the season were to end today, Caruso should be first-team All-Defense, and Ball isn't far behind. The Bulls are outscoring opponents by just under 11 points per 100 with Ball and Caruso on the court, per CTG.
The Bulls have done all this with Patrick Williams, who was supposed to be their best defender, likely out for the season after playing just five games and Nikola Vucevic shooting like he's blindfolded. The latter likely won't continue, though Vucevic's drop coverage is a potential problem come playoff time. Are the Bulls as good as they've looked through the first quarter of the season? Perhaps not. Are they worlds better, particularly on the defensive end, than most anyone expected? Absolutely.
After losing three of their first four, the Phoenix Suns have rattled off 16 straight wins heading into their showdown with Golden State on Tuesday. Talk of Chris Paul's decline is overstated. Yes, he's averaging a career-low 14.5 points per game, but his 10.1 assists per game lead the league. He basically never gets to the rim, but that's been true for a while, and he remains a midrange monster and master of the clutch minutes.
When games are within five points with five or fewer minutes to play, Paul is shooting 66 percent from the field; his 1.1 assists per clutch outing lead the league and his 29 total points ranks top 10.
Devin Booker, a chip off Paul's slithering pick-and-roll block, continues to develop as a playmaker while shooting a career-best 42 percent from 3, per CTG, and he's even more lethal in money time than Paul: 73 percent from the field, 60 percent from 3 and eighth in total clutch points (30). No wonder the Suns have come out 5-1 in games decided by five points or less.
Meanwhile, with Ben Simmons inactive, Mikal Bridges is the best perimeter defender in the league and it's not really debatable right now. That he's shooting 40 percent from 3 and capably putting the ball on the floor on second-side actions, ball swings and against closeouts makes him arguably the most valuable non-alpha wing in the league. Entering Monday, the Suns are 16 points better per 100 with Bridges on the court, per CTG, and the bulk of that team-best statistical boon resides on the offensive ledger.
It's not just Bridges who buckles down. It's everyone. Phoenix ranks third defensively because you can't find a real hole anywhere. The Suns are a string of interchangeable parts along the perimeter that limits 3-point attempts, notably from the corner. and Deandre Ayton protects the backside.
That's not to say Ayton is an elite rim protector, but he's super mobile and athletic and, like a good shooter who doesn't have great percentages at the moment, he represents a greater threat than the 63 percent teams are shooting at the rim against the Suns, per CTG. Teams take note of his presence. Plus, Phoenix is so good on the perimeter that teams only get to the rim for 30 percent of their shots, which is just outside a top-10 mark, per CTG. Only five teams are forcing opponents into more midrange jumpers than the Suns.
After their surprise run to the Finals last season, the Suns were a popular pick to come back to earth this season. That hasn't been the case. Along with Golden State, they have established themselves in the early going as one of the two best teams in the league and once again a legit championship contender.
5. Nets traveling a hard(en) path
James Harden's play was starting to pick up; now he's 7 for his last 30 from 3 and shooting 31 percent from the field over his last four games. First his hamstring wasn't healthy. Now he says he's struggling to strike a balance between pursuing his own offense and setting his teammates up.
He might have a point. When Harden is on the court without Kevin Durant, which allows him to flip the selfish switch without the guilt of stealing shots from arguably the greatest scorer ever, the Nets are outscoring opponents by 11.5 points per 100 possessions, per CTG. On the flip side, when Durant plays without Harden, Brooklyn is bludgeoning teams by 29.5 points per 100.
Problem is, when Harden and Durant play together, the Nets are barely a positive team. That's somewhat misleading; small-sample lineups are adding up to some horrific numbers, Joe Harris has been out, and at the end of the day the Nets are 14-6 and the East's No. 1 seed entering play on Monday. But now Harris is having ankle surgery and is out four-to-eight more weeks, at least.
All the while, a dark reality exists: Harden, so far, is simply not the same kind of superstar threat when he's not on a never-ending march to the charity stripe. Nearly every one of Harden's big scoring games this season have come with double-digit free throws, and that's not coming to fruition often.
Throw out last season when he was basically a no-show in Houston before playing less than half a season with the Nets, and the last time Harden averaged fewer than 10 free throws per game was 2013-14. This year he's averaging under seven, and even that number is propped up by a handful of 15-plus-attempt games.
Harden has never been an elite shooter from an accuracy standpoint; he just pumped enough shots to overwhelm the box score. So far this year, he's shooting 40 percent from the field and his pretty typical 36 percent from 3. It's a different ballgame when you can't trick your way into free points and have to actually make shots.
Harden is still a great player, and again, he's looking more like himself of late in terms of gaining leverage off the dribble. But without Kyrie Irving, is a better-but-still-not-elite Harden enough to give Kevin Durant a fighting chance at a third championship? My guess is yes, but no way can they be considered a favorite. Durant has been positively spectacular, but the defensive harassment he faces will likely, eventually, get just enough of him to wear the Nets out unless Harden turns back the clock or Kyrie gets the jab.
Honorable mentions
Wizards mania: Like I said, I just haven't watched them play enough to credibly comment. But 13-7 and No. 3 in the East? If you saw that coming, easy schedule or not, you need to start playing futures in Vegas.
Sixers get A for effort: The record has fallen off amid Joel Embiid's extended COVID absence, but this team has done everything in its power to compete with the hand it's been dealt. Tyrese Maxey, who looks like a near-future All-Star, is a jolt to Philadelphia's typically plodding half-court pace; he has to attack the same way with Embiid back in the fold. Seth Curry was stuck on automatic in the early going but was always overstretched as a primary option.
Miles Bridges: His leap has been staggering. He should be at the front of everyone's Most Improved Player conversation.
Nikola Jokic is better: Better than he was last season, that is, when he ran away with the MVP. But we knew Denver would struggle to compete without Jamal Murray and certainly once Michael Porter Jr. went down.
Luka or bust: This remains Dallas' blueprint if Jason Kidd doesn't go too far in trying to spread the wealth as Doncic watches inferior creators get their turn (and enough of the post-ups already). Kristaps Porzingis' recent play does hint at higher hopes.
Neil Olshey newsflash: The Blazers, indeed, have a roster problem. They have no chance guarding at the point of attack, and as a result they are in constant scramble mode. Over-helping is an epidemic; they're surrendering open 3 after open 3, particularly from the corner. Who could've possibly predicted a teeny-tiny three-guard core led by career red-carpet defenders in Lillard and McCollum struggling to defend? Robert Covington's not the help he was supposed to be in name. Larry Nance and Nassir Little provide hope in non-Nurkic lineups (plus-6.7 per 100, per CTG) but can only do so much.
Atlanta better than record: I'm not worried about the Hawks, who maybe weren't quite as good as their conference finals run last season suggested but in the end remain a dangerous playoff team with Trae Young pulling the levers. Like everyone, I am curious whether GM Travis Schlenk makes a move to consolidate his stable of young wings into a more premium player.
Kemba Walker is out: The Knicks' starting lineup has gotten blistered this season, and Kemba Walker is the biggest culprit. On Monday, Tom Thibodeau told reporters that Walker will no longer be part of the rotation. That's a tough pill to swallow. Walker is one of the most well-respected and liked players in the league. It's hard to watch a star fade. But this is the right move for New York.
Boston Me Party:Jayson Tatum is obsessed with isolating. He's obviously capable of scoring on anyone, but his shooting numbers in such possessions are hard to look at. Chilling on the 10-dribble contested pull-up mid-rangers wouldn't be the worst idea in the world.
Heat Culture alive and well: Miami is better with Kyle Lowry. It's shocking, I know. And color me completely unsurprised by Tyler Herro being awesome.
The Cavs are a blast:Evan Mobley is a revelation, but he's shelved for a while. Darius Garland is good. The two-big defense with Mobley and Jarrett Allen is refreshing in this day and age. But do not, under any circumstances, buy even one share of Ricky Rubio stock at this price.
"bad" - Google News
December 01, 2021 at 03:10AM
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Takeaways at NBA quarter point: Lakers' Russell Westbrook gamble looking bad; Warriors firing on all cylinders - CBSSports.com
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Brazil’s Nu Holdings, the parent company of the popular Latin American neobank Nubank, announced a reduction to the expected price of its public offering this morning. The well-funded fintech is listing in the United States and its native Brazil, and is among the final companies that TechCrunch is tracking for a 2021 debut.
The Exchange explores startups, markets and money.
In its first F-1 filing, Nubank indicated that it expected to sell its shares at a price of up to $11 apiece, raising a maximum of $3.66 billion in its public-market flotation. The company now anticipates a smaller $9 per-share IPO price maximum and a $2.86 billion max raise.
The downward pricing trend is a disappointment for the company, though it will still command a strong valuation when it raises billions in its IPO. Nubank is expected to price its IPO on December 8.
What’s going on with an IPO that was expected to be a key moment for Brazilian tech companies in particular, and fintech upstarts more broadly? We unpacked the company’s new public offering valuations and dug into whether Nubank’s downward revision will matter for Brazilian startups generally. Let’s talk about it.
Calculating Nubank’s new IPO worth
The Nubank IPO is a little bit complex, given that the company is selling Class A shares on the United States’ New York Stock Exchange and BDRs, or Brazilian Depositary Receipts, on its home market’s B3 stock exchange. That — and an indication of interest from a host of the company’s backers for more shares — makes for an interesting aggregate package.
But that cannot slow us down, so let’s get some valuations in hand to better understand the company’s new anticipated valuation.
In its latest filing, Nubank states that after its IPO it will have 4,608,684,459 ordinary shares outstanding, a figure that rises to 4,637,255,888 when we include equity reserved for underwriter purchase. Using that larger figure, at its IPO price range of $8 to $9, the company would be worth between $37.1 billion and $41.7 billion.
However, those valuations are only part of the picture. At its first IPO price range of $10 to $11, Renaissance Capital calculated that on a fully diluted basis — inclusive of stock options that have vested, but have yet to be exercised, etc. — the company was worth $50.8 billion at $10.50 per share.
Converting that valuation to $9 per share, the top end of its new range, gives Nubank a $43.5 billion fully diluted valuation.
Lessen CEO Jay McKee and Fifth Wall managing partner Brendan Wallace (LinkedIn, Fifth Wall, iStock)
A historic year for proptech fundraising has produced another unicorn.
Lessen, a real estate management platform that connects property owners and operators to electricians, cleaners and other service providers, raised $170 million in a Series B round, pushing its total funding so far to $214 million — nearly quadruple its previous fundraising — and valuing the two-and-a-half year-old company at more than $1 billion.
Proptech venture capital firm Fifth Wall, which led Lessen’s $35 million Series A round in June, returned to lead the new round. Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst and Navitas Capital were also repeat investors.
The Series B was oversubscribed, Lessen CEO Jay McKee said, and the company plans to detail additional investment from special purpose vehicle partners before the end of the year.
Lessen’s fundraise comes at a pivotal time for the U.S. housing market, with an unprecedented combination of high demand and low supply driving home prices to record highs as developers, owners and operators grapple with labor shortages and supply chain disruption.
“Lessen is seeing a difficult hiring environment, complicated materials procurement system, and increased appetite for portfolio scaling all at the same time,” McKee said by email.
McKee’s experience is not limited to tech. He previously founded the single-family rental company Colony American Homes, which merged with a Starwood Capital Group affiliate in 2015.
Scottsdale, Arizona-based Lessen’s client base, which spans 30 U.S. markets, includes large multifamily and single-family rental REITs, who use the platform to source more than 2,000 plumbers, electricians, cleaners and other servicers. Users can manage multiple work orders as well as bill and analyze data from previous jobs.
McKee said Lessen’s transparency, comprehensive data and ability to “optimize workflows” improve the “timing, quality and pricing of jobs,” and set the platform apart in a crowded field.
“We believe that we are approaching the property-services industry in a unique way that combines tech and field delivery in a way that no one has done before,” McKee said.
Lessen, which also has offices in Seattle and Miami, plans to launch its platform nationwide soon and triple its employee count in the coming months, McKee said. “Eventually, we believe there is opportunity for international expansion,” he said.
Proptech investors have produced a few unicorns over the last year. The most recent was Place, a technology and business services platform for agents, which achieved a $1 billion-plus valuation with its first funding round this month.
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