Resolutions & Mega Rounds

When Udemy started out, it had no instructors, no students and very little money. In this blogpost, co-founder Gagan Biyani describes all the steps they tried (and failed) until they solved this problem.

The role of neighborhood e-commerce middleman, or tuan zhang, has become increasingly prevalent in Chinese cities since the first COVID-19 lockdowns. The industry is expected to make $13.6 billion in 2021.

There has been a long trend toward marketplaces with higher commissions that do more work to earn it. Dan Hockenmaier, Founder of Basis One, explores what this means for the future of marketplaces.

The most relevant metrics (or KPIs) for measuring Network Effects varies greatly depending on the stage and type of network business. Sameer Singh puts this in context.

2020 saw a decade’s worth of technological acceleration and experimentation in one year. This presentation outlines the great unbundling taking place in the media and marketplace landscapes.

Sameer has been on a roll this month and wrote two great pieces worth covering. Here he takes a look into the main types of negative Network Effects in software and how to overcome them.

Sifted nominated four of our portfolio companies as “startups to watch in 2021” - congrats to CoachHub, Schüttflix, Planetly and TIER Mobility!

Mercanis, one of the newest additions to our portfolio, is optimizing and digitizing procurement in the service industry. We’ve led the seed round with participation from a number high profile angel investors.

The story of Schüttflix and how German actress, Sophia Thomalla, came to be one of its earliest investors and greatest fans.

Q4 2020 was a very busy quarter for marketplaces with lots of mega rounds announced in January 2021, as well as several IPO filings. Here are a selection of the ones we found interesting.