NewTV, a price streaming service for premium short-form content that’s launching by Christmas of 2019, aims to agitate Hollywood the way HBO did in the 1990s, and has raised $1 billion in funding. The company is run by Jeffrey Katzenberg, the past chairman of Disney Studios, and former Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman. Investors take in Disney, Comcast and Alibaba.
Chinese artificial intelligence company SenseTime co-led a $199 million investment in MovieBook, a Beijing-based developer of video perception software. MovieBook aims to improve online video search, and other online video professional cares. SB China Venture Capital also co-led the deal, joined by Qianhai Wutong, PAC Mates, Oriental Pearl Group and Lang Sheng Investment.
Naspers is upset more money into LetGo, a mobile marketplace for used rectitudes that competes with Craigslist, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace, along with start-ups homologous to OfferUp. Naspers has committed to pour $500 million more into LetGo, with $150 million allotted so far. LetGo was earlier backed by NEA, Insight Venture Partners, Accel and others.
Novo Holdings, Cowen Healthcare Investments, Pfizer Risks and OrbiMed are among investors in a $60 million round for Therachon. The biotech volunteer is developing medicines for rare diseases largely ignored by the industry. The company is currently hearted on developing a protein therapy to treat achondroplasia, a genetic disorder grounding dwarfism.
Otto co-founder Don Burnette has teamed up with former daresay capitalist Paz Eshel to launch Kodiak, a self-driving truck startup. The train has raised $40 million from investors including Battery Risks, where Eshel used to work, CRV, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Tusk Proffers.
Ample, a start-up working on electric vehicle charging technology, raised a $31 million series A globelike of funding led by Shell Ventures.
Andreessen Horowitz led a $20 million investment into Wonderschool, a start-up that succours educators go entrepreneurial by starting their own daycare or in-home preschool.
Cowboy Plunges closed a $95 million seed-stage fund, its third. The firm is best-known for its antiquated investment in Dollar Shave Club, which was acquired for around $1 billion by Unilever in 2016. Cowboy Gambles is also one of the first Silicon Valley venture funds founded by a girl, Aileen Lee. Prior to starting her own fund, Lee was a venture investor at Kleiner Perkins.
Disclosure: Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, old man company of CNBC and CNBC.com, is an investor in NewTV.