Just weeks into the pandemic, we reported that venture capitalists were still doing deals, even though their offices were closed and their flights were canceled. But we didn't quite foresee the WFH gusto.

Driving the news: U.S.-based venture capital hit an all-time record in 2020.

By the numbers: U.S. startups raised $130 billion last year, topping the prior high of $120 billion set back in the dotcom craze of 2000, per the MoneyTree report.

• PitchBook has a slightly higher 2020 total ($156 billion), but we're highlighting MoneyTree because it existed back in 2000 (albeit with some different partners and methodologies). PitchBook wasn't founded until 2007.
• MoneyTree reports that the number of 2020 deals was not only well below 2000, but at the lowest total since 2013. In other words, the boom was driven by a record number of mega-rounds, which represented 49% of the 2020 dollar total.

(Not) leaving San Francisco: Bay Area companies continued to dominate, in terms of both dollars and deals, despite the "leaving San Francisco" narrative. In fact, Bay Area startups raised just 1.3% less than startups in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Austin and Seattle combined, per PitchBook.

The bottom line: 2020 obviously wasn't the same as 2000, in terms of everything from business models to smartphones to lockdowns. But both VC surges were propelled by kinetic public markets, and the concurrent valuation inflation and rush to fund. So this time it is different, but it's also the same.

Last fall we discussed a lawsuit brought by Cyrus Massoumi, co-founder and ex-CEO of "unicorn" company ZocDoc, against his fellow co-founders, alleging they’d improperly orchestrated a plot to oust him. Among the remedies sought by Massoumi was reinstallation as CEO.

What's new: The New York Supreme Court dismissed Massoumi's suit, at the defendants’ request, saying that it does not have jurisdiction. Instead, it said the case would need to be brought in Delaware.

• In a statement, ZocDoc said: “We’ve always maintained that this was a meritless lawsuit, and we are pleased the New York State Supreme Court put an end to it so quickly.”
• Massoumi plans to appeal in New York, per a spokesman.

Petco, a San Diego-based pet supplies and services company owned by CVC Capital Partners and CPPIB, raised $817 million in its IPO.

• Why it's the BFD: The company priced above its expected range, $18 vs. $14–$16, reflecting how the public markets just can't get enough of companies that cater to the cuddly fuzzballs. Just look at Chewy, which went public last summer at a $9 billion valuation and is now worth over $46 billion. Or the 44% post-IPO bump for Northern Star Acquisition Corp., the SPAC that last month agreed to buy Barkbox. Plus, Petco has the best ticker symbol so far this year (WOOF).
• Bottom line: "Petco, which no longer calls itself a retailer, operates about 1,470 pet-care centers that sell food, toys and supplies, while offering professional services like animal grooming, vet care and pet training. The company is highly leveraged and has about $3.24 billion in debt. CVC and CCPIB will own nearly 67% of the company after the IPO." — Luisa Beltran, Barron's

• Grab Financial, the financial services arm of Singaporean ride-hail giant Grab, raised more than $300 million in Series A funding at a $3 billion valuation. Hanhwa Asset Management led, and was joined by K3 Ventures, GGV Capital, Arbor Ventures and Flourish Ventures. http://axios.link/ojO5

• Sennder, a Berlin-based digital freight forwarder, raised $160 million in Series D funding. Backers include Accel, Lakestar, HV Capital, Project A and Scania. http://axios.link/Pebp

• MoMo, a Vietnamese payments app, raised more than $100 million in Series D funding from Warburg Pincus, Goodwater Capital, Affirma Capital Singapore, Kora Management, Macquarie Capital and Tybourne Capital Management. http://axios.link/r11g

• Harness, a San Francisco-based software delivery platform, raised $85 million in Series C funding at a $1.7 billion valuation. Alkeon Capital led, and was joined by Battery Ventures, Citi Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Sorenson Capital, Thomvest Ventures and insiders Menlo Ventures, IVP and Unusual Ventures. www.harness.io

• JobNimbus, a Lehi, Utah-based provider of home services software, raised $53 million from Mainsail Partners. http://axios.link/Hr2g

• Budbee, a Swedish delivery experience startup, raised €52 million. AMF led, and was joined by return backers Stena Sessan, Kinnevik and H&M CoLab. http://axios.link/OAS4

• Iziwork, a French temp work platform, raised $43 million co-led by Cathay Innovation and Bpifrance. http://axios.link/bvoF

• Vdoo, an Israeli developer of AI-based security for IoT and connected devices, raised $25 million from Qumra Capital and Verizon Ventures. http://axios.link/FsQK

• Bryte, a Los Altos, Calif.-based developer of “AI-powered” mattresses, raised $24 million in Series A funding led by Archina Capital. http://axios.link/t9sE

👟 SNKRDUNK, a Tokyo-based sneaker resale platform, raised $22 million in Series B funding led by SoftBank Ventures Asia. http://axios.link/TVvF

• Moss, a Berlin-based payments platform and credit card for SMBs, raised €21 million in Series A funding. Valar Ventures led, and was joined by Cherry Ventures and Global Founders Capital. http://axios.link/qyTi

• Weezy, a British on-demand express supermarket, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Left Lane Capital led, and was joined by DN Capital and Heartcore Capital. http://axios.link/Mo88

• Xentral, a German provider of an ERP system for SMBs, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Sequoia Capital led, and was joined by Visionaries Club. http://axios.link/5Drw

• Stacklet, an Arlington, Va.-based open-source cloud governance startup, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Addition led, and was joined by Foundation Capital. http://axios.link/cSlV

• Minna Technologies, a Swedish provider of subscription management software, raised €15.5 million in Series B funding. Element Ventures led, and was joined by MiddleGame Ventures, Nineyards Equity and Visa. http://axios.link/WoEV

• Tradeswell, an e-commerce optimization startup, raised $15.5 million in Series A funding. SignalFire led, and was joined by Emerson Collective, Construct Capital and Allen & Co. http://axios.link/FzEZ

• RecVue, a Palo Alto-based provider of order lifecycle management software, raised $13 million in Series A funding. Cota Capital led, and was joined by Epic Ventures and Long Light Capital. www.recvue.com

• Nayya, a New York-based insurance benefits management platform, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Felicis Ventures led, and was joined by Social Leverage, Guardian Life, Cameron Ventures and Unum Business Ventures. www.nayya.com

• Micatu, a Horseheads, N.Y.-based optical sensor company, raised $10 million led by Wave Equity Partners. www.micatu.com

• ThreeFlow (f.k.a. WatchTower Benefits), a Chicago-based provider of employee benefits software, raised $8 million. Emergence Capital led and was joined by Equal Ventures and First Trust Capital Partners. www.watchtowerbenefits.com

• Gainful, a subscription service for protein powders and hydration products, raised $7.5 million in Series A funding. BrandProject and Courtside Ventures co-led, and were joined by AF Ventures, Round13 Capital and Barrel Ventures. http://axios.link/aLcf

• Lex, a commercial real estate securities marketplace, raised $6 million from Greycroft, Ric Clark, Callahan Family Investments, Marty Edelman, Kawawa Capital, Inertia Ventures, Modern Venture Partners, Subversive Capital, Two Lanterns Venture Partners, Gaingels, and RAJ Capital and DeAndre Hopkins. http://axios.link/Ua5O

• Kuato Studios, a London-based ed-tech gaming studio, raised £4.5 million led by Horizons Ventures. http://axios.link/5cSP

• Openbase, a Walnut, Calif.-based platform for helping developers find open source components, raised $3.7 million in seed funding. Zeev Ventures led, and was joined by YC. http://axios.link/vK44

• Drata, an compliance audit platform, raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by Cowboy Ventures. http://axios.link/so1A

• Human AI, a San Diego-based personal intelligence platform, raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by Differential VC. http://axios.link/qkX7

• Blinc Group, a New York-based developer of vaporizer technologies, raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Equitas Partners, WGD Capital and 7thirty Capital. www.theblincgroup.com

• Acacia Partners invested in Nations Roof, a Lithia Springs, Ga.-based provider of commercial roofing services. www.nationsroof.com

• Bain Capital, Carlyle Group and KKR were short-listed for the 53% stake in materials business Hitachi Metals (T: 5486), which could fetch more than $6.6 billion, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/SEzn

🚑 Healthcare Fraud Shield, a Chesterfield, Mo.-based provider of fraud, waste and abuse prevention software, raised over $50 million from Charlesbank Capital Partners. www.hcfraudshield.com

• LendingPoint, a Kennesaw, Ga.-based provider of personal and small business loans, raised $125 million from Warburg Pincus. www.lendingpoint.com

🚑 LightBay Capital acquired a minority stake in Femwell, a Miami, Fla.-based provider of leading management services organization to physicians in women’s health, primary and pediatric care. www.femwell.com

• Omnigo Software, a St. Louis-based portfolio company of The Riverside Co., acquired Incident Response Technologies, a Denver-based provider of incident management solutions. www.irtsoftware.com

• Sixth Street invested $500 million in Convex Group, a London-based specialty insurer and reinsurer. www.convexin.com

• Poshmark, a P2P used clothing marketplace, raised $277 million in its IPO. The company priced at $42 per share (above $35–$39 range), for an initial market cap of $3.1 billion. It will list on the Nasdaq (POSH), and had raised around $160 million in VC funding from Mayfield (26.5% pre-IPO stake), Menlo Ventures (15.8%), Inventus Capital (10.4%), GGV Capital (7.9%), Uncork Capital, Temasek, NFX, and Union Grove Ventures. http://axios.link/vtRE

• Auto1 Group, a German online car dealer whose backers include SoftBank, plans to raise around €1 billion in its IPO. http://axios.link/11Bw

• First High-School Education Group, a Chinese private high school operator, filed for a $100 million IPO. It plans to list on the NYSE (FHS) and reports $5 million of net income on $42 million in revenue for the first nine months of 2020. http://axios.link/tES3

• InPost, a Polish locker business owned by Advent International, is prepping an Amsterdam IPO, per the FT. http://axios.link/ybnA

• LiveVox, a San Francisco-based cloud contacting services owned by Golden Gate Capital, agreed to go public via a reverse merger with Crescent Acquisition Corp (Nasdaq: CRSA), a SPAC, at around an $840 million valuation. Crescent is the SPAC that last year agreed to buy Mark Wahlberg-based Australian fitness chain F45 Training, but later terminated the deal. www.livevox.com

• Clarim Acquisition, an e-commerce focused SPAC led by James McCann (founder of 1-800-Flowers.com), filed for a $250 million IPO. http://axios.link/jXhT

• Deep Lake Capital Acquisition, a fintech-focused SPAC formed by ex-PayPal execs, raised $180 million in its IPO. http://axios.link/SXP9

• Environmental Impact Acquisition, a sustainability-focused SPAC formed by Canaccord, raised $180 million in an upsized IPO. http://axios.link/pq74

• Fortress Capital Acquisition, a financial services-focused SPAC formed by Fortress Investment Group, raised $350 million in an upsized IPO. http://axios.link/IlQs

• Monument Circle Acquisition, a media-focused SPAC formed by Emmis Communications, raised $218 million in an upsized IPO. http://axios.link/4v5a

• Pivotal Investment Corp III, a SPAC led by Jonathan Ledecky, filed for a $200 million IPO. http://axios.link/9bXg

• Progress Acquisition, a SPAC led by Carl Vogel (ex-president of Dish Network and Charter), filed for a $125 million IPO. http://axios.link/tyAo

• Silver Crest Acquisition, a consumer sector-focused SPAC formed by Ascendent Capital Partners, raised $300 million in an upsized IPO. http://axios.link/udKB

• Z-Work Acquisition, a work tech-focused SPAC, filed for a $200 million IPO. http://axios.link/zKFh

• Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) agreed to buy Santa Clara, Calif.-based high-performance computing startup Nuvia for around $1.4 billion. Nuvia had raised around $240 million from firms like WRVI Capital, Mithril Capital Dell, Atlantic Bridger Capital, Blackrock, Fidelity, Redline Capital, Temasek and Capricorn Investment Group. http://axios.link/nXGR

• Cargill is in talks to sell its 50% stake in global sugar trader Alvean to Brazilian partner Copersugar, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/dyeR

• Audax Private Equity raised $1.7 billion for its first “continuation fund,” which will purchase portfolio companies from Audax’s fourth fund (vintage 2013). www.audaxgroup.com

• KKR raised $1.7 billion for its first Asia real estate private equity fund. www.kkr.com

• March Capital, an enterprise software-focused VC firm, raised $450 million for its third fund. www.marchcp.com

• New Mountain Capital raised $9.6 billion for its sixth flagship buyout fund, plus $640 million for its first non-control fund. www.newmountaincapital.com

• Neuberger Berman raised $2.1 billion for its fourth private equity co-investment fund. www.nb.com

• Partners Group is seeking to buy LP stakes in Energy Capital Partners’ third fund, which raised just over $5 billion in 2014, per Buyouts. http://axios.link/2JKy

• Jolie Chow joined PJT Park Hill to lead Asia-Pacific operations. She previously led financial sponsors coverage in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for Morgan Stanley. http://axios.link/jJud

🚑 Luba Greenwood, a former exec with Roche and Alphabet’s Verily, joined Grove Ventures as a senior advisor. www.grovevc.com

• Madrona Venture Group promoted Anu Sharma and Daniel Li to partner. http://axios.link/JKK6

• Frank Slootman, chairman and CEO of Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) joined The Blackstone Group as a senior advisor. http://axios.link/bH7S