DC Inno Beat 2/19: Pinterest valuation, HOT gossip, local fundings and #foodtech 101

By Chris Bing

February 19, 2015, 01:35pm EST

It's cold. Real cold. Like near -22F with windchill cold, tonight. Lucky for you, we have some hot goss to keep you warm.

The Big One

Chris: Pinterest has had a very active past few months and now looks to cap it off with a $500M funding round at a $11B valuation — more than double the $5B valuation given to the company last May — WSJ reports. The photo pin-up site plans to raise the funds in the coming weeks, yet it is not clear if any new investor would join the round. Pinterest has raised a total of $764 million so far from existing investors SV Angel, Bessemer Venture Partners, Fidelity, Andreessen Horowitz, FirstMark Capital and Valiant Capital Partners.

Reid: I'm not a user, but I do like the more direct e-commerce plans the company has (likely a major factor in this valuation). The additions of "Buy" buttons and the ability to download apps from images creates a much more direct experience for the consumer and allows Pinterest to better monetize the traffic it drives to products.

Making Moves

Chris: Reston, Va.-based ScienceLogic, an IT monitoring software provider, announced that it has raised a $43M Series D funding round led by Goldman Sachs. Current investors include, NEA and Intel Capital, who also participated in this round. Last year, the company launched its own app store for customized monitoring apps. Previously, the company raised $41M. ScienceLogic will use the investment to “accelerate sales, marketing, product development, and international market opportunities.”

Reid: Big round, more than doubling the company's funding to date. Let's keep an eye on this and see if the round is a precursor to an IPO.

Chris: D.C's Revmetrix announced a $2.2 million seed funding co-led by Philadelphia-based Genacast Ventures (affiliated with Comcast) and Boston's .406 Ventures. With the funds they debut the first “omnichannel” data platform for commercial retailers. Founded by Hemang Gadhia and Christopher Brown, Revmetrix helps organize and aggregate a retailer’s customer data through a comprehensive dashboard system.

Interview Insight

Chris: There has been a flurry of recent activity in the food technology sector. Among headlines: GrubHub announced acquisitions of DiningIn and Restaurants on the Run, Yelp acquired Eat24, Zomato acquired Urbanspoon and Priceline purchased OpenTable. I chatted with EatStreet CoFounder and CEO Matt Howard about the industry’s changing landscape. Here are the key takeaways:

“Because of Grubhub’s successful IPO, we are now seeing other companies take notice to the potential of the food ordering industry.”
"We believe this is only the first wave of activity in the space and expect to see more consolidation to come as other companies look at entering the industry."

Goss

Reid: We've covered Speek quite a bit over the last two years. From multiple raises, Ed Norton getting on board, challenges associated with scaling and a pivot to an enterprise focus, and the departure of co-founder Danny Boice from day-to-day operations. Now, we've heard from multiple sources that the company is looking at an exit, and has found two potential acquisition suitors in Boston-based companies HubSpot (recently IPO'd) and LogMeIn.

Unwanted Feedback

From Chris (different Chris): "Don't forget Choice Hotels, which is HQ'd in Rockville" (in response to our mention of local hospitality giants Hilton and Marriott).

Reid: Great call by Chris and further proves that the region is a major leader in the industry. According to 2013 data, that give the area the 2nd (Hilton), 3rd (Marriott) and 6th (Choice) largest hotel groups in the world.

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