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SmartHR raises $140M, US social media regulations stall, and EU deems Meta’s ad-model breaches tech rules

Author

Alex Wilhelm
July 01, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Top News

  • SmartHR raises $140M: Japanese HR software company SmartHR has raised a massive Series E that TechCrunch writes was led by KKR and Teachers’ Ventures Growth. Prior investors also took part in the round. The company last raised $143 million in 2021 at a post-money valuation of $1.45 billion. SmartHR said that it crossed the $100 million ARR threshold this February.

  • Social media regulation hits speedbump: A Supreme Court ruling sent two related cases regarding social media regulation back to lower courts. Florida and Texas had worked to regulate social media services, curbing their ability to moderate their platforms. Despite merely sending the cases back, SCOTUS ruled that in the Texas case, the “Fifth Circuit was wrong in concluding that Texas’s restrictions on the platforms’ selection, ordering, and labeling of third-party posts do not interfere with expression.”

  • EU says Meta’s pay-or-ads model violates rules: EU regulators have found Meta — Facebook’s parent company — to be in contravention of the Digital Markets Act, Reuters reports. Meta had worked to get around ad-related rules in the bloc by offering its users the choice of either paying for access to its services or agreeing to its advertising policies. American big tech companies and irked European regulators — name a more iconic duo.

TWiST500 Updates

  • Gusto, Rippling, Deel, et al.: The news above regarding SmartHR’s funding round implies that venture and private equity interest in the HRtech space remain robust. This means that the current private-market heavyweights that have made it onto the TWiST500 are not free from increased competition, especially local competitors tuned for domestic markets.

  • SpaceX landed a massive contract to deorbit the ISS: When the time comes to retire the International Space Station in 2031, SpaceX will do the heavy pushing. Thanks to a new contract worth up to $843 million, the well-known launch company has a lot of remunerative work ahead of it.

  • Chime buys Salt Labs: Consumer neobank Chime is getting into the enterprise game, something we now better understand thanks to its deal to buy Salt Labs. Salt had raised $18 million before its sale, with a terminal valuation of $68 million. The deal to buy it could net its founders and backers up to $173 million, including earn-outs, according to Fortune. Salt offers a service to companies that allows for extra employee compensation in the form of digital credits that can be traded in for goods or investments.

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This Week in Startups

E1973: On this episode of Liquidity, David Weisburd introduces Konstantine Buhler, Ana Marshall, and Jason, who discuss the challenges for new fund managers, the impact of VCs not raising new funds, and current market trends. They also cover topics like capital deployment, portfolio assessment, AI applications, and investment strategies for M&A versus IPO.

E1972: A busy news week with Jason and Alex back together to dive into the latest, including the proposed Texas Stock Exchange, and why more competition in listing locations could be a boon for founders, Circle’s pending IPO (that Alex loves), and stablecoins as a concept.

E1971: Jason and Alex jammed the news, going over the American immigration debate as it relates to startup founders, the future of air taxis (eVTOLs), the current state of remote work, and how one co-host recently wore a tie. On camera.

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