It’s a new week and even though the 49ers came short in the big game (a loss which Amazon’s Alexa did not see coming), there’s still plenty of SF tech news from the past week that’s worth cheering about.
Seeking a cure: While the ninth U.S. case of the Coronavirus was just confirmed in nearby Santa Clara County — the county’s second case of the virus — VIR Biotechnology, an SF-based company, is hard at work trying to isolate antibodies as part of a broad effort to find a cure for the deadly global disease. The company is seeing its stock price surge to support its efforts. Meanwhile, tech giants like Apple, Google and Facebook have cut their flights to China, where the virus originated. [NBC Bay Area]
Care to share? Placement is an SF-based startup that essentially serves as a talent agency for job seekers in the tech industry. The company provides resume help, interview prep and salary negotiations — all in exchange for a 10-percent share of its users’ income for their first 18-36 months at a new job. The company is part of a larger trend of tech job search assistance programs that offer income sharing agreements. [Built In]
Child actor turned founder: Crystal McKellar is a founder and managing partner of Anathem Ventures, but her first job title was child actor. She explains in a new op-ed that her career — including appearances alongside her sister Danica in “The Wonder Years” — prepared for her for the VC world: “The grit and perseverance I first honed on studio soundstages serves me well, and these are also the qualities I look for in the founders I back.” [TechCrunch]
A five-star work environment: Yelp’s San Francisco headquarters is home to 1,000 employees and features beer on tap, an eco-friendly environment and a very hip coffee shop directly on its premises. The building was once home to the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company and, in 1929, Winston Churchill made one of the first transatlantic phone calls on the premises. [Built In]
The ‘Glossier of wine:’ Haus, a direct-to-consumer flower-flavored aperitif startup, just raised $4.5 million in seed funding to roll out its membership program. Memberships range from one bottle a month for $35 to six bottles for $144. [TechCrunch]
Funders’ keepers: In other funding news, Verkanda, a provider of cloud-based enterprise video security, led the way in the Bay Area with $80 million raised in Series C funding. [PR Newswire]
Mammoth Biosciences raised $45 million, bringing its total funding to $70 million. The company is developing tests using CRISPR gene-editing technology. [Bloomberg]
Gabi, a startup working to automate insurance shopping, also just announced it closed on a $27 million funding round. [VentureBeat]
Finally, Forma raised $7 million in seed funding to develop its photorealistic digital avatars. Founders Fund led the round. [Silicon Valley Business Journal]
