TC+ Roundup: What happened to the Adobe-Figma deal?
Good morning, and welcome to Tuesday!
It’s been more than a year since Adobe announced that it intended to buy Figma for $20 billion, yet the two companies are still separate entities. As TechCrunch+’s Ron Miller points out, a year is a really long time in the tech world. So what’s the holdup?
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To put it simply: When a company wants to swoop in and buy another company seen as a competitor, and the competitor happens to be the darling of the design community, that sets off alarm bells for regulatory bodies in the U.S., U.K. and EU. But is the deal anticompetitive? It depends on who you ask.
Happy Halloween!
Karyne
There could be a simple reason why seed deals are so expensive today
Image Credits: Westend61 (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
The venture market has been steadily contracting, with late-stage deals becoming smaller, cheaper and scarcer. But when you look at seed investments, though overall volume is declining, the deals are priced at all-time highs.
Capturing spread is a powerful but less understood business model available for some startups
Image Credits: anyaberkut / Getty Images
When you think of successful business models, obviously B2B SaaS and internet advertising come to mind. And if your company lands in one of those two areas, you know the formula for profitability.
There is another model, though, called “capturing spread,” which is taking in a small amount of revenue on a bigger flow of capital. It’s not as profitable, but it could be the right move for your startup.
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Deal Dive: Bagels with a schmear of venture capital
Image Credits: Jen Goldberg
Popup Bagels recently raised an $8 million Series A, which had TC+’s venture reporter — and self-proclaimed bagel snob — Rebecca Szkutak raise her eyebrows. After all, shouldn’t a mom-and-pop bagel shop qualify for a small business loan? But what makes Popup seem more like a venture-backable business is its focus and lean operations. Oh, Becca reports that the bagels are pretty good, too!
Pitch Deck Teardown: Aether’s $49M Series A deck
Image Credits: Aether (opens in a new window)
“Aether’s pitch deck is a real head-scratcher,” writes pitch deck expert Haje Jan Kamps. Though it got a few things right, there are a couple places where it could improve. For example, Haje points out that it was “the worst ‘use of funds’ slide” he’s seen in years. It’s also missing a team slide. So how’d the company raise almost $50 million?