[sgpl]

I had never heard of the company before but really interesting how there was no due diligence by the financiers/VCs before they wired in the money. Is this generally the norm?

Also surprising that a company that became a unicorn at its last financing round didn't have a CFO and that the CEO 'maintained control over operations, sales, and record-keeping, including invoicing, and he was the final decision maker on what revenue was booked and included in the company’s financial records.'

Googled the person, apparently he co-founded a company previously that was acquired by Google and he claims to have previously served as the CTO of Zynga and holds 60 technology patents - so perhaps the stellar credentials were a check in the column against auditing financials.

Other tidbits:

  - Founded in 2015:
  - Series A: $11 mil (at inception)
  - Convertible Notes: $24.7 mil (Apr '17 to May '18)
  - Series B: $20 mil (Sep/Oct 2018) | valuation: ~$500 mil
  - Series C: $60 mil (Nov '19 to Jan '20) | valuation: ~$1.1 bil 

While raising Series C round, overstated ARR by about $51 to $55 million in investor presentations. And after audit (in May 2020), valuation dropped to about $300 million.

[Clewza313]

There are apparently at least two people claiming to be Zynga CTO in 2011-2012: https://mobile.twitter.com/om/status/1291146438265602048

[x0x0]

At my funded company: external accountant / renta-cfo, selected from a list of two or three shared by one of the VCs. We could have fought for a person we wanted, but why? At early stages, one competent cfo is probably the same as any other. That person attends board meetings and directly communicates with the board.

[RileyJames]

Minor correction: the valuation dropped to approximately $300 million.

A considerably more significant revaluation.

[sgpl]

Thanks for catching that and pointing it out, I misread it I guess. Edited now.