venture capital

Andreessen Horowitz backs Synonym’s development of ‘fermentation farms’ • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 14, 2022Posted in Daily Crunch, Startups, Venture, venture capitalNo Comments

To get a roundup of ZebethMedia’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Hot damn, it’s happening: A bunch of the ZebethMedia team are on airplanes, aeroplanes and other spellings of flying vessels to come join us in San Francisco for Disrupt. To say that we are excited would be using altogether too few syllables. Lauren S made us a user’s guide to ZebethMedia Disrupt along with a guide to all the receptions, parties and other cool extracurriculars. See you soon! — Christine and Haje The ZebethMedia Top 3 What’s another word for Synonym?: Ever heard of a “fermentation farm”? Well you have now. Christine covered Synonym Biotechnologies’ pre-seed round, with big backer Andreessen Horowitz, in which the company plans to build giant fermentation farms so nonpharmaceutical companies can mass-produce bioproducts like dairy proteins. A rose by any other name: “Ad,” “Sponsored,” whatever you want to call it, Google is making it so when you perform a mobile search, you will definitely know if it is some sponsored content or an organic search result. Ivan has more. Legless for a while longer: We were promised legs, but now Ivan writes that it could be another year for any Meta leg-equipped avatars to appear in Horizon Worlds. Startups and VC Even the largest landfills in Indonesia are at (or nearing) capacity, and the government has set an ambitious target of 30% waste reduction by 2025, reports Catherine. Waste4Change is one of the companies that wants to help by increasing rates of recycling and enabling better waste management. The startup, which currently manages more than 8,000 tons of waste every year, announced today that it has raised $5 million in Series A funding, co-led by AC Ventures and PT Barito Mitra Investama. And we have five more for you: DIY: 5 ways disruptive component startups can win over OEMs Image Credits: Alan Rubio (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Ori Mor writes that hardware startup founders have a uniquely hard time. Only a small fraction of tech investors will even take meetings with them, and building product pipelines is often an irregular, even chaotic process. Instead of relying on sales and marketing teams to build a customer base for his hardware components startup, Mor’s company started building devices that used his company’s tech. “There’s no point rushing when building a hardware startup,” says Mor. “Instead, start by making just a single prototype that you can use to show OEMs.” Three more from the TC+ team: ZebethMedia+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Big Tech Inc. Rebecca got the scoop on Sono Motors’ new Sion solar electric vehicle and some face time with Whoopi Goldberg (pictures to prove it). Though the family-friendly vehicle comes in at $25,000, Rebecca points out that the interior is roomier than it looks from the outside, but also that no cup holders in the back might not go over with some American families. And we have five more for you: More layoffs: Jagmeet has more on Momentive Global’s layoff announcement of 11% of its workforce. If you’re thinking, “Who?” that would be SurveyMonkey’s parent company. Real estate valuation technology company Clear Capital is also reducing its staff by 27%, reports Andrew. Get the popcorn ready: Peacock is making the “Real Housewives” franchise its guinea pig as it tests out some new interactive features that will give viewers extended clips and interviews, Lauren reports. Don’t @me: Meanwhile, over at Twitter, the company is developing a way for users to control who can mention them, writes Aisha. It puts the lotion on its robotic skin: Brian reports that Touchlab, which won the TC Sessions: Robotics pitch-off event a few months ago, began piloting its robotic skin sensors in a hospital setting. Time, time, time, see what’s become of me: The owner of the Shein fashion e-commerce site was fined $1.9 million for not properly handling a 2018 data breach that compromised millions of users’ information, Rita writes.

Google holographic video chat booth, Project Starline, finds its way into the real world • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 13, 2022Posted in Daily Crunch, Startups, Venture, venture capitalNo Comments

To get a roundup of ZebethMedia’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. We just keep getting more excited about Disrupt, but it turns out there’s other stuff going on in the world. A lot of other stuff, in fact; it’s one of those days where keeping this newsletter to a manageable length was extra tricky. Here’s what we came up with. Enjoy! — Christine and Haje The ZebethMedia Top 3 You, only holographic: Never mind the metaverse, Google is planning to test out its 3D video calling booths in the real world, Sarah writes. Called Project Starline, the booths use a bunch of cameras, sensors and 3D imagery to create a lifelike calling experience without that pesky headset. Can I get a scoop?: Manish received confirmation that decentralized exchange company Uniswap Labs raised $165 million in funding to value the company at $1.66 billion. This is a follow-up to his scoop from last month. Tweet, tweet: Catherine reported on Redbird’s $7.6 million raise that has the analytics operating system soaring now that it can continue making data even more accessible to nontechnical users. Startups and VC Any robotic system worth its salt has the potential to effect change, but some of the most exciting robotics breakthroughs are happening in the exoskeleton space right now, Brian reports. A team out of Stanford’s Biomechatronics Laboratory just published the results of years-long research. The extent of the robot boot’s real-world testing has thus far been limited to treadmills. The researchers behind it, however, are readying it for life beyond the lab doors. There’s a new VC fund in town — at least if you live in Paris, Romain quips. Meet Resonance, a new $150 million single-LP fund backed by Otium Capital, which is Pierre-Edouard Stérin’s family office. A ton of awesome news on the site today, but here’s five that caught our eye: 6 tips for launching a blockchain startup Image Credits: Kinga Krzeminska (opens in a new window) It will take much more than a downturn in the public markets, record inflation and global instability to get between blockchain founders and their dreams. Unfortunately, “having a solid roadmap, real-world use cases and a war chest are only a small part of a blockchain startup’s survival strategy,” advises Wolfgang Rückerl, co-founder and CEO of Istari Vision and Entity. Although it’s true that many of the skills required to launch an early-stage startup also apply to web3 companies, “the road to achieving success in the blockchain industry is paved differently,” he writes. Three more from the TC+ team: ZebethMedia+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Big Tech Inc. Apple Card holders will get a side of Goldman Sachs as the two paired up to unveil a high-yield savings account, Sarah reported. She writes that this is “a big step” by both the consumer tech giant and investment bank to offer more traditional banking-like services to customers. You want thingamabobs? I got five for you:

Q3 data reminds us that venture debt is not a Hail Mary

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 13, 2022Posted in EC News Analysis, EC venture capital, pitchbook, slowdown, Startups, Venture, venture capital, venture debtNo Comments

Venture debt was never meant to be used to bail a company out of financial trouble. And yet, when venture capitalists started to pull back from equity investing earlier this year because frothy market conditions made them realize that valuations were too high, it became a topic of discussion again. Across the industry, from founders to investors to reporters, the rhetoric among many was that we’d see a drastic rise in venture debt this year. But why would lenders want to loan cash to businesses that are being abandoned by their investors due to questionable financials — especially in a turbulent market? Well, they don’t. And despite people thinking they would, Q3 data from PitchBook shows that venture debt will likely see fewer deals and less loan volume this year than during last year’s robust equity market.

Is the venture market slowing or did crossover funds just bounce? • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 13, 2022Posted in EC Newsletter, EC venture capital, Kyle Stanford, late stage startups, pitchbook, Startups, The Exchange, Venture, venture capitalNo Comments

As third-quarter venture capital data rolls in, the ZebethMedia crew is busy parsing the numbers. We’ve looked at fintech results, we’ve touched on the crypto market, and we have a climate startup venture analysis coming this weekend. We’ve also looked at the U.S. venture market and its global analog. The main gist is that while VC investment in the United States is slowing, it appears that the global venture capital market is retarding more rapidly. The macro picture is, however, an aggregated dataset. By that, we mean that when we consider all venture capital activity, it often includes some non-venture funds. Say, a hedge fund piling into startups in partnership with traditional VC deal-making. Last year, an influx of non-traditional capital helped push total venture capital numbers to new heights, raising startup valuations, and, at times, cutting into the due diligence process and generally shaking up the VC game. The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. Read it every morning on ZebethMedia+ or get The Exchange newsletter every Saturday. But now it appears that non-venture capital is ebbing away, leaving us with an interesting question: How much of the venture market slowdown is predicated on venture investors cutting check sizes and slowing their own deal-making cadence, and what fraction comes from non-venture investors simply bouncing?

Crypto VC deployment still slow as investors wait for even lower valuations • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 13, 2022Posted in Crypto, Crypto Economy, cryptocurrencies, EC Blockchain, EC Cryptocurrency, EC venture capital, Startups, venture capitalNo Comments

Ongoing volatility in the crypto markets is leading to mismatched conversations between venture capitalists and founders — and entrepreneurs aren’t often finding themselves on the winning side. While some crypto-native and general funds are actively deploying capital into the digital asset world, others are taking a slower approach. Over the summer, some market participants anticipated deals would ramp back up in September, but that still seems to be on hold as we move into mid-October and crypto market conditions remain shaky. “A lot of VCs paused deployment over the summer and there’s a record amount of cash right now sitting on the sidelines; that’s not just specific to crypto,” Alex Marinier, founder and general partner of fintech and blockchain-centered firm New Form Capital, said to ZebethMedia. “My sentiment is that the pervasive feeling in crypto right now is fear.” However, Marinier said that the more bearish climate is an attractive time to keep investing, adding that “now is the time to be allocating.” “My sentiment is that the pervasive feeling in crypto right now is fear.” New Form Capital founder Alex Marinier New Form has allocated about 30% of its $75 million Fund 2 to date, Marinier shared. The majority of New Form’s deals for its second fund have been in its target “sweet spot” of crypto startups valued in the range of $15 million to $35 million. But not every fund is going full steam ahead. “Many of us were expecting September to be a gangbuster type of moment where sentiment would be fully back and the events that happened with LUNA, Celsius and BlockFi would have been moved on from,” David Nage, venture capital portfolio manager at the crypto-focused firm Arca, said to ZebethMedia. “But what you’re seeing with these events, while they’re in the past, they still come back to bite us in the proverbial ass.”

Closed early-access product Relay raises $5M seed round to ‘tackle collaborative workflows’ • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 12, 2022Posted in Daily Crunch, Startups, Venture, venture capitalNo Comments

To get a roundup of ZebethMedia’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. If you’re joining us at Disrupt next week, here’s an incentive for turning up early — we’re recording our podcasts live onstage, and you can be in the audience! Fun fun fun! — Christine and Haje The ZebethMedia Top 3 Automation nation: Jacob Bank knows what time it is. Paul writes that after selling his last startup to Google in 2015, Bank is back with Relay, a tool that wants to give people back some time by automating mundane tasks, particularly when it comes to the task we all love to hate — meetings. “Bring your ideas to life”: Microsoft’s Ignite conference was today (get the nitty-gritty in Big Tech Inc.), and Kyle has been following all things DALL-E, including Microsoft’s investment in the AI-powered system for its new Designer and Image Creator tools. Cuts run deep: Manish reports on the latest for Indian edtech giant Byju’s, which said today it would be eliminating another large chunk of jobs, this time 2,500, writing that the move was in efforts to “clear its debts and other balances in recent months.” Startups and VC Back in 2019, Microsoft launched Dapr, an open source project that aimed to make it easier for developers to build microservices on top of Kubernetes. Diagrid raised $24 million to launch a fully managed Dapr service, Frederic reports. DataGrail has always been focused on helping companies comply with the growing world of privacy regulation. Today, it’s building on that with a new automated risk monitoring solution that helps companies build third-party application risk assessments quickly. While they were at it, the startup also announced a $45 million Series C investment, Ron reports. And here’s a smattering of a few more for your enjoyment and delight: Dear Sophie: How can I protect my H-1B and green card if I am laid off? Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/ZebethMedia In our Dear Sophie column, our friendly immigration lawyer answers a question from Leap of Faith: “I am considering leaving my current, steady job for a job with a big name in tech. I’m excited, but nervous. I’ve been hearing that you can lose your H-1B status if you are laid off. Is there any way I can protect my immigration status while making a bold job move?” Three more from the TC+ team, with a sprinkling of lyrics for good luck: ZebethMedia+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Big Tech Inc. Check out what happened when Taylor’s virtual torso went to Meta Connect 2022, where Meta announces legs (as Lucas reported), and Amanda shows you what you might have missed. Meanwhile, as we noted above, Microsoft held its Ignite conference today, where Brian, Frederic and Kyle found lots to write on. For example, hybrid work setups, more Apple integrations, avatars for Teams, new Power Automate features, invite-only access to DALL-E 2 for select Azure OpenAI Service customers, automated document and data processing services, updates to Microsoft Edge, new cloud security services and upgrades to Microsoft’s suite of laptops and desktop computers. In other news:

6 Investors share where they draw the line when it comes to potential ethics issues

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 12, 2022Posted in business ethics, EC investor survey, ethics, investors, Startups, Venture, venture capitalNo Comments

The venture capital industry doesn’t have the best track record when you’re talking about ethics. Like most professions involving power and wealth, venture capital also sometimes attracts people for whom doing the right thing isn’t a concern. And limited regulatory oversight and a lack of transparency mean that investors can often get off scot free for not factoring ethics into their investment philosophy. We’ve all seen startups happily taking money from investors who back companies that have a negative impact on the climate, or broadcast misogynistic rhetoric. Sometimes, we also get venture firms raising capital from foreign governments that don’t have the best track records surrounding issues like human rights. But not every investor is a bad person, of course, and it seems as though the industry is taking steps to clean up its act — albeit slowly. Startups and investors are increasingly paying attention to what kind of people they want to work with and where they want their money to come from. Investors also looking for startups that won’t just make them money, but have the potential to leave society and the planet in a better place. To find out just how ethical venture capital is at the moment and how far it can still go, ZebethMedia surveyed six investors about how they approach ethics in their day-to-day. And we’re happy to report that all of them said the industry doesn’t do enough to police itself on issues surrounding ethics. They also wanted more to be done to make the industry fairer and better. We’re widening our lens, looking for more investors to participate in ZebethMedia surveys, where we poll top professionals about challenges in their industry. If you’re an investor and would like to participate in future surveys, fill out this form. Several investors said that having more transparency in the industry would help alleviate some of the ethical problems that continue to flourish, like bad actors being given seemingly endless chances and firms covering up questionable practices. “Venture capital’s opacity presents significant barriers to effect self-policing,” Geri Kirilova, a partner at Laconia Capital, said. “Greater transparency in decision-making processes and capital flows, whether it’s voluntary or mandated by regulation, would help.” Logan Allin, founder and managing partner at Fin Capital, agreed. He said that it would be nice to see some consequences and accountability from industry organizations like National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) or government entities like the SEC to help stop such issues from being repeated often. But without regulation, many firms are taking matters into their own hands. While they can’t be responsible for fixing the industry on their own, they are personally keeping ethics top of mind as they invest and raise capital. To get a feel for how some players approach different ethical issues, we surveyed: Geri Kirilova, managing partner, Lacovia Vital Laptenok, founder & GP, Flyer One Ventures Logan Allin, managing partner, Fin Capital Check Warner, co-founder and partner, Ada Ventures Laura González-Estéfani, founder and CEO, TheVentureCity Soraya Darabi, co-founder and general partner, TMV Geri Kirilova, managing partner, Lacovia How much does a company’s potential to create positive social or societal impact influence your investment decisions? What if the impact of a startup could be negative? Negative externalities, particularly detrimental social and environmental effects, are often deal-breakers for us. We are particularly averse to companies that exacerbate human exploitation, social and economic inequality (ironic coming from a VC, I know), and environmental harm. Capital is never enough to make a business or relationship successful. Laura González-Estéfani, founder and CEO, TheVentureCity How much should VC incorporate ESG metrics in their investment decisions? The application of ESG frameworks to VC is hazy. VCs typically have a fiduciary duty to maximize returns for their LPs. If they believe ESG, however it is defined and applied to their investment process, positively impacts returns, they should incorporate it. If ESG matters to a LPs’ mission, it seems logical that the VC’s investments, at minimum, should not be counterproductive to these efforts. But this question is better suited to the LPs themselves. Do the ethics or reputation of another VC firm have an impact on your willingness to follow on their investment or co-invest? Yes, they are a factor in our decision-making process, particularly regarding our risk analysis of the business. How do you think about ethics when raising and accepting LP money? Beyond following standard KYC/AML procedures, we have a high bar for alignment of ethics and values with our LPs. Our LPs are also included in our anti-harassment, non-discrimination, and diversity policy. Does the venture capital industry do enough to self-police? What could be done to remove or deplatform bad actors? Venture capital’s opacity presents significant barriers to effect self-policing. Greater transparency in decision-making processes and capital flows, whether it’s voluntary or mandated by regulation, would help. How often do founder-related red flags scuttle an investment in a startup that otherwise appears to be an attractive investment? If we are not confident in a founder’s trustworthiness and judgment, we will not invest. Do you believe that founders can learn from past mistakes? Would you invest in a company led by someone with a troubled past? We do believe founders are capable of learning from their mistakes. Beyond the financials, what about a company compels you to invest? Given our pre-seed and seed investment focus, the financials are never the most exciting element for us. We are drawn to mission-critical solutions, with some form of market demand validation, led by founders who have a deep understanding of the customers they’re serving and the ability to effectively build a big company. How do you prefer to receive pitches? What’s the most important thing a founder should know before they get on a call with you? We review all inbound submissions. The easiest way to submit is through this form. Founders can learn more about our investment process and strategy here. Vital Laptenok, founder and general partner, Flyer One Ventures How much does a company’s potential to

Fintech fundraising has reverted to the mean • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 12, 2022Posted in cb insights, EC Fintech, EC Newsletter, EC venture capital, Fintech, The Exchange, venture capitalNo Comments

Global startups focused on building financial technology saw their fortunes improve last year as investors doubled, and more, the amount of capital flowing into fintech companies, measured on a quarterly basis. The comedown from those highs took longer. But, today, looking at Q3 2022 data from CB Insights, it’s clear that the fintech funding boom is behind us; even more, global fintech funding activity is now back to where it was before 2021, indicating that last year was more aberration than new normal for the startup category. The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. Read it every morning on ZebethMedia+ or get The Exchange newsletter every Saturday. It’s a well-trod statistic that around one in every five venture capital dollars raised in 2021 went to fintech. It is also no huge surprise that after a heady year, fintech fundraising has fallen along with overall venture activity. But the portion of venture capital disbursement that fintech can lay claim to is also in decline. Let’s chat through the numbers and then ask ourselves what a new valuation landscape, a changed venture capital market, and a frozen IPO market mean for fintech startups large and small. To work!

Crypto VC deals continue drop as activity follows bearish market prices • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 11, 2022Posted in Crypto, Crypto Economy, crypto markets, cryptocurrencies, EC Blockchain, EC Cryptocurrency, investors, Startups, venture capitalNo Comments

Venture capital deal flow into cryptocurrency startups is going in the same direction as the cryptocurrency market cap: down. The total crypto market cap has fallen almost 59% from about $2.25 trillion at the beginning of the year to $923 billion at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap data. “Deal activity tracks very closely to the crypto market cap,” Robert Le, fintech analyst at PitchBook, said to ZebethMedia. “It’s a little bit of a lag, but if you overlay the crypto market cap to the amount of venture capital going into the space by quarter or month, it tracks closely.” In the past two quarters, global crypto VC deal activity fell from all-time highs of $10.87 billion in the first quarter to $7.63 billion in the second quarter and $4.44 billion in the third quarter, according to PitchBook data as of October 3. The last time the total deal size was this low was in the first quarter of 2021, when the total was $3.46 billion. “The deal count went down a lot,” Le said. “What you’re seeing is that the crypto companies that are getting investments are getting a bigger share compared to last year.” Basically, investors are putting more money into smaller bets and companies or projects they feel “higher conviction” for, Le said.

News and updates from ZebethMedia’s Meta Connect 2022 coverage • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 11, 2022Posted in Daily Crunch, Startups, Venture, venture capitalNo Comments

To get a roundup of ZebethMedia’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Hello, humans, and the hundreds of AIs that are probably reading this as well. May your day be full of joy. If you can’t feel joy today, be kind to yourself. Perhaps tomorrow is the day for joy. That goes for both humans and AIs, come to think of it. — Christine and Haje The ZebethMedia Top 3 Hope you have a great Meta Day: That’s right, we had a team monitoring the comings-and-goings of today’s Meta Connect developer conference, where we are sure Mark Zuckerberg was passionately talking about how to make the metaverse “a real boy,” and its next big bets. See the Big Tech Inc. section for more. Help us help you: Human resources technology has gotten a lot of action in recent years as companies went into remote mode. Factorial is one of the companies reaping the benefits. Ingrid reports that the company brought in $120 million in new funding that doubles its valuation into unicorn territory as it builds out enterprise-quality HR for small businesses. And in this corner…: NocoDB is throwing its hat into the ring as a viable contender for Airtable, offering an open source, no-code platform that connects to production databases. Paul has more. Startups and VC NextView Ventures announced today that it has raised a $200 million venture fund, its largest to date, split between an early-stage vehicle, at $135 million, and an opportunity vehicle, at $65 million, Natasha M reports. The fund also brings on Stephanie Palmeri, a founding partner of All Raise and former partner at Uncork, as an equal partner. Indian startups raised $3 billion in the quarter that ended in September, down 57% from the previous quarter and 80% year over year. The figures are remarkable for many reasons, Manish reports. The most obvious being that startups are finding it difficult to raise capital at a time when most top-tier funds in India have raised record-large funds this year. And we have another handful of stories. I know I usually just do five, but our little writer-bees were particularly busy over the past 24 hours, so here’s five plus a few bonuses. Wishful thinking at best: Blue-chip VC firm Matrix Partners has long been an investor in software infrastructure Now, Connie reports, it has some questions about web3. She describes a lot of the projects as “wishful thinking.” Fitter, happier, more productive: Ron reports that Quantori is building an app development platform focused on life sciences. Money smarts, gamified: This company wants to improve your credit by gamifying financial literacy, reports Christine. On the sunny side of the street (yeah): Solestial promises solar panels in space for a tenth of the cost and lines up $10 million seed funding, Devin reports. Moar data, moar funds: Nigerian data and intelligence company Stears raises $3.3 million, reports Tage. Look, you just can’t do that: Haje face-palms pretty hard at OG App, wondering what the fledgling startup’s endgame was. Last chance saloon: Wanna come to Disrupt? Well, Lauren S wants to remind you it’s your last week to save on passes to ZebethMedia Disrupt. How to go from popular to profitable during a downturn Image Credits: Patrik Giardino (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Product-led growth startups are like a car with a manual transmission that needs a push to get going: one driver just can’t do it all on their own. According to Nick Mills, whose sales experience includes stints at Stripe, Facebook and CircleCI, “all companies eventually face a similar challenge: To keep growing, sales teams must be hired and a pipeline must be built.” After explaining how to calculate your serviceable addressable market, aka “the piece of that pie you can win right now,” Mills shows how to define product-qualified leads that will get sales engines firing on all cylinders. “Telling investors about your viral user growth is no longer enough,” says Mills. “They want to know how it translates to revenue, resilience and runway.” Three more from the TC+ team: ZebethMedia+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Big Tech Inc. We hope you are having a Meta and Google day so far, but if not, we think the following stories will get you in the mood. These are just a few of the gems you will find in our event hub: Not to be outdone, Google announced a bunch of news that the team was here for as well: For those of you ready for some other company news, we are here to deliver: And just like that…: General Motors has gotten into the energy business, Kirsten writes. The car maker’s new business unit is offering a line of energy products targeted at residential, commercial and charging. Why take a cab when you can take a helicopter?: Joby Aviation, an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft startup (whew!), is partnering with Delta Air Lines to offer home-to-airport transportation for airline customers, beginning in New York and Los Angeles. Rebecca has more. I’m in a buying mood: Thoma Bravo also continues to be in a buying mood this year, and Ron has kept up with all of the action. This time, Thoma Bravo acquired its third identity company this year with a $2.3 billion ForgeRock deal. We are pleased to meta you — now have a Google day.