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How a spur-of-the-moment trip made GV the lead investor in Cribl’s summer Series E

September 20, 2024

Michael McBride was the new guy at Google Ventures, but that didn’t stop him from chasing a deal across the world.

It was less than six months after McBride, previously the CRO of GitLab, had joined GV as a general partner. He (like many other investors) was pursuing IT and security data startup Cribl. Despite the competition, McBride believed that the hype around the company was justified and that he was uniquely qualified to be helpful.

Cribl CEO and cofounder Clint Sharp told McBride that, theoretically, he could meet him and the Cribl team in Portugal, where the startup was holding an event for customers and employees.

“I was like: ‘No problem, I’ll come to Portugal,’” said McBride, who got on an 11-hour flight to Lisbon.

It was the sort of thing Sharp didn’t believe actually happens.

“Even in the realm of investor stories, I thought that was a pretty zany one,” said Sharp. “I heard that people do this sort of stuff all the time to win deals, but it never happened to me.”

The two walked around the resort town Sintra for hours, tooling around pastel castles that served as summer homes to Portuguese princes of the 1800s. As tourists, getting to know each other and their surroundings, Sharp and McBride connected.

“He had, from the outside-in, done all of this research on us,” said Sharp. “He’d talked to our customers…and he was very, very excited about us. I think it was because in a lot of ways we pattern match with what GitLab has done, right? We’re a quickly growing enterprise software company. It’s something that he can really easily wrap his head around, because it’s squarely in his wheelhouse.”

Sharp was (and is) charmingly amused by the idea of being the belle of any fundraising ball: “The people that we sell to are the IT and security people, the sort of grizzly-haired admins in the basement. The people that keep all the lights on and the doors open—I was one of those people.”

But nevertheless, the encounter kicked off Cribl’s oversubscribed $319 million Series E, raised at a $3.5 billion valuation and announced in August. McBride and GV led the round, marking the firm’s second-largest investment ever, surpassed only by the firm’s 2013 investment in Uber.

“I have not lost a wink of sleep since we did the investment, because I’m so confident in that team,” said McBride.

GV, as it has done many times before, “pressed the believe button”—a GV-specific phrase that CEO and managing partner David Krane taught me.

Cribl’s is one of many stories I heard when I spent two days with GV, as the firm commemorated its 15th anniversary. Read the whole story here, for Fortune’s exclusive look inside GV.

ICYMI…Rebelstork, a Toronto-based discount online retailer of overstock and returned baby gear, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Maveron led the round and was joined by Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures, Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners, and existing investor Golden Ventures. Read the story by Fortune’s Jason Del Rey here.

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Nina Ajemian curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

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VENTURE DEALS

- Virtuous, a Phoenix, Ariz.-based customer relationship management software provider for nonprofits, raised $100 million in Series C funding from Susquehanna Growth Equity.

- GC Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based cell therapy-based medicine developer, raised $65 million in Series A funding. Cormorant Asset Management led the round and was joined by Mubadala Capital, a16z Bio + Health, Medical Excellence Capital, and others.

- Picus Security, a San Francisco, Calif.-based security validation company, raised $45 million in funding. Riverwood Capital led the round and was joined by existing investor Earlybird Digital East Fund.

- Mercor, a San Francisco, Calif.-based job application and hiring AI platform, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Benchmark led the round and was joined by Peter Thiel, Jack Dorsey, Adam D’Angelo, Larry Summers, and others.

- Drift Labs, a decentralized finance platform, raised $25 million in Series B funding. Multicoin Capital led the round and was joined by Blockchain Capital, Primitive Ventures, and Folius Ventures.

- Ferovinum, a London, England-based funding and supply chain platform for wine and spirits businesses, raised £17.5 million ($23.2 million) in Series A funding. Notion Capital led the round and was joined by Shapers VC, Semapa Next, and existing investors.

- fal, a remote AI-generated media platform, raised $23 million in funding. Kindred Ventures led the $14 million Series A round and was joined by Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, and angel investors. fal also previously raised $9 million in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz.

- LiquidStack, a Carrollton, Texas-based liquid cooling developer for data centers, raised $20 million in a Series B extension from Tiger Global.

- Rebelstork, a Toronto, Canada-based baby gear returns recommerce marketplace, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Maveron led the round and was joined by Serena Ventures, Marcy Venture Partners, and existing investor Golden Ventures.

- Fathom, a San Francisco, Calif.-based AI-powered meeting intelligence platform, raised $17 million in Series A funding. Telescope Partners led the round and was joined by crowdfunding from users of the platform.

- Inbolt, a Paris, France-based robot guidance solutions provider, raised €15 million ($16.7 million) in Series A funding. Exor Ventures led the round and was joined by Bpifrance, Yann Fleureau, and existing investors MIG Capital, SOSV, and BNP Paribas Développement.

- Tuio, a Madrid, Spain-based digital neoinsurance company, raised €15 million ($16.7 million) in funding from MassMutual Ventures, BlackRock, existing investors BAMCAP Ventures, Extension Fund, and others.

- Ferrum Health, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AI deployment platform for health systems, raised $16M in Series A funding. Foundry led the round and was joined by Catalyst by Wellstar, Headwaters Ventures, UnitedHealthcare Accelerator, and existing investors Blumberg Capital, Cercano, GSR, and others.

- DeltaStream, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based stream processing platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding from New Enterprise Associates, Galaxy Interactive, and Sanabil Investments.

- Hemi Labs, a Chicago, Ill.-based modular blockchain, raised $15 million in funding. Binance Labs, Breyer Capital, and Big Brain Holdings led the round and were joined by Crypto.com, Web3 Ventures, HyperChain Capital, and others.

- Brightband, a remote AI weather forecasting platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Prelude Ventures led the round and was joined by Starshot Capital, Garage Capital, and Future Back Ventures by Bain & Company.

- Knit, an Austin, Texas-based AI-automated consumer research process platform, raised $9 million in funding. Revolutions’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund led the round and was joined by Osage Venture Partners, GFT Ventures, Visible Ventures, Massive Ventures, and existing investors Silicon Road Ventures, Felton Group, and Alumni Ventures.

- Safire Technology Group, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based battery technology developer for government and automotive markets, raised $8 million in funding. Canaan Partners led the round and was joined by Correlation Ventures, Higher Life Ventures, Ajinomoto, and others.

- Kotlin, a Mexico City, Mexico-based private health insurance provider for seniors, raised $7.3 million in Series A funding. Left Lane Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors.

- Harbor, a Dallas, Texas-based infant care technology developer, raised $7 million in seed funding. Trust Ventures led the round and was joined by Tim Ferriss, Morrison Seger Venture Capital Partners, John Isner, and others.

- Lightium, a Zurich, Switzerland-based photonics solutions provider, raised $7 million in seed funding from Vsquared Ventures and Lakestar.

- Vana, a San Franciscio, Calif.-based decentralized AI platform, raised $5 million in funding from Coinbase Ventures.

- Dunya Analytics, a Wilmington, Del.-based biodiversity risk analysis platform, raised $1.2 million in seed funding. Synovia Capital led the round and was joined by KDX and Persei Venture.

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PRIVATE EQUITY

- Counsel Press, backed by Align Capital Partners, acquired Lantagne Legal Printing, a Richmond, Va.-based digitizing, printing and filing service for the legal industry. Financial terms were not disclosed..

- New Heritage Capital acquired a majority stake in Brilliant, a San Francisco, Calif.-based corporate gifting and branded merchandise solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Svoboda Capital Partners agreed to a majority recapitalization of Axiom Advisors Group, a Sacramento, Calif.-based government relations and public affairs firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Yingling Aviation, backed by AE Industrial Partners, acquired Bevan Aviation, a Wichita, Kan.-based aircraft maintenance provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EXITS

- Epson acquired Fiery, a Fremont, Calif.-based digital front end servers and workflow solutions provider for the industrial and graphic arts print sectors, from Siris for approximately $591 million.

- Flipp Operations, backed by Truelink Capital, agreed to acquire a majority stake in MEDIA Central Group, a Mönchengladbach, Germany-based marketing solutions provider, from funds advised by Bregal Unternehmerkapital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Sixth Street Partners and Patron Capital agreed to acquire Cala Group, a Surrey, England-based UK housebuilder, from Legal & General Group for £1.35 billion ($1.8 billion).

OTHER

- HCLSoftware acquired Zeenea, a Paris, France-based data governance and metadata management software provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Hummingbird acquired LogicLoop, a San Francisco, Calif.-based data integration and automation platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Juice Media acquired Mooko Media, a El Segundo, Calif.-based mobile and social performance agency. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Juice Media acquired Media Design Group, a Los, Angeles, Calif..-based DRTV media agency. Financial terms were not disclosed.

IPOS

- BKV, a Denver, Colo.-based natural gas producer, plans to raise $315 million in an offering of 15 million shares priced between $19 to $21 on the NYSE. The company posted $779 million in revenue for the year ending June 30, 2024. Banpu North America backs the company.

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

- Capmont Technology, a Munich, Germany-based venture capital firm, raised €100 million ($111.6 million) for a new fund focused on B2B tech companies.

PEOPLE

- Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, a New York City-based private equity firm, added Jennifer Martin as chief financial officer and general partner. Previously, she was at Providence Equity Partners.

- MPowered Capital, a New York City-based private equity firm, added Madeline Rodriguez as head of capital formation. Previously, she was at Stonepeak.

Inside GV