It's been quite a year - even for marketplaces! 🚀

We are saddened at the news that former CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh has died at only 46 years old. The world has lost a truly visionary entrepreneur. We are sharing this podcast as a tribute to his life and career.

Having paid out $2bn to its over 1m creators to date, OnlyFans is a subscription social media site that lets fans pay to get exclusive content from creators. CEO Tim Stokely talks about the platform’s success and plans for the future.

In this podcast, Brandon Hill (CEO of Vori), Max Mullen (co-founder of Instacart) and Mike Duboe (GP at Greylock) discuss the antiquated technology still used in the grocery space and how startups like Vori are changing the future.

The rise of B2B marketplaces is a core pillar of our thesis at Speedinvest x, so it’s not surprise to us that B2B marketplaces are exploding in popularity. It is also fueled by better infrastructure, payments and security on the backend, as well as companies’ increased need to conduct business online during the pandemic.

At The Marketplace Conference last week, Roger Lee shared updates from the Battery Marketplace Report and looked at why marketplaces performed so well in 2020. 

Marketplace monetization depends on two factors - transaction complexity and the asymmetry in value to the demand and supply sides. Sameer Singh explores five possible monetization models for marketplaces.

Tier Mobility has raised a $250m Series C to expand its e-scooter service and launch a global battery charging network. The round was led by Softbank with participation from all major existing investors including yours truly.

YardLink, one of the newest additions to our portfolio, is digitizing the supply chain of equipment and machine rentals for the construction industry. We’ve led the £1.7m seed round with participation from FJ Labs and a number of high profile angel investors.

Our portfolio company Schüttflix has struck a new corporate partnership with Strabag, one of the largest European construction companies. The deal will see Schüttflix supply Strabag with bulk materials. As part of the commercial agreement, Strabag will also make a small equity investment in the company.

Popshop, a live-streaming shopping platform, has raised a Series A round at a pre-money valuation of approx. $100m, led by Benchmark.

DoorDash, a food-delivery platform, has filed its IPO with the SEC and plans to raise up to $2.8bn, giving it a whopping valuation of up to $32bn.

Only five months after their last round, Hopin, a virtual events platform, has raised a $125m Series B round at a $2.1bn valuation 🦄🦄. The round was co-led by IVP and Tiger Global and included participation by several other high-profile VCs.