There was a great piece recently in Bloomberg about how Covid-19 has created a boom in business for some startup brands that didn’t expect it.
To save you time, here is a bullet point rundown of all the juicy details from the article:
- DoorDash. The food-delivery filed for an IPO on Friday; they’re working the momemtum after just recently raising $400 million in a private financing round.
- Instacart. Another delivery company, this one for groceries, is prepping an IPO at an mouth-watering $30 billion valuation; these guys also are keeping busy, just recently raising a $200 million financing round in October. Interestingly, both of them are Y Combinator graduates, so big paydays ahead for YC.
- Record funding for consumer startups in 2020. Deals and financing totaled more than $6.6 billion in the third quarter, according to CB Insights. Full year number is projected to hit nearly $18 billion, an all-time high.
- Money is getting spread around though. It’s not just the big names having all the fun. CB Insights tallied 414 deals in the sector for the quarter.
- Oatly. Plant-based milk maker Oatly AB of Sweden raised $200 million this summer from investors including Oprah and Jay-Z.
- Silicon Valley corporate uniform. Allbirds announced a $100 million fundraising round in September and has recently added clothing products to go with the shoes.
- Meditation is rocking it. Calm is working on a financing round at double its 2019 valuation which Bloomberg News reported in October.
- Impossible Foods. Nobody’s asking “where’s the beef” anymore.* The company announced a $200 million fundraising round in August. (*This was an old Wendy’s ad campaign fyi, you can check out the ad here.)
The pandemic has rewritten the rules of consumer demand, and we expect that it will continue to do so post-pandemic, once we get to that point. The usual players won’t be the usual ones anymore, and startups have an opportunity to ascend.
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