Members of the ClickUp team
Members of the ClickUp team. Photo from company website

It wasn’t that long ago that we were writing about startups hitting the billion-dollar ‘unicorn’ valuation. Well, how things have changed. ClickUp, which bills itself as the world’s first productivity platform, recently announced that it has raised $400 million in a Series C funding round. This investment raises ClickUp’s valuation to $4 billion.

The software has raised $535 million since June 2020. In the past year, ClickUphas tripled revenue and has grown its user base from 200,000 to 800,000 teams worldwide. The company says it now has more than 85,000 customers, including teams at McDonalds, Booking.com, Netflix and Papa John’s Pizza, according to a publicist for the firm.

The four-year-old company is developing an online “platform” that features project management, document collaboration, spreadsheet calculations, chat and other functions. A-level Silicon Valley VC-firm Andreessen Horowitz and New York investment firm Tiger Global co-led the round, with participation from two other VCs, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Meritech Capital Partners.

On Nov. 9, the company will host LevelUp, its annual productivity conference that is focused on “how today’s leaders are redefining productivity with powerful new work tools and strategies.” This is according to a spokeswoman. She said the event will be held at the Rady Shell in Jacobs Park. 

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A new air carrier has “swooped” into San Diego, adding to the facility’s growing list of international destinations. This past weekend, San Diego International announced the arrival of Canadian airline Swoop, which now flies to and from Edmonton, Alberta. The nonstop service is the first-ever between the two cities, according to the airport. 

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Mission Fed Credit Union, which bills itself as the largest member-owned, not-for-profit, full-service financial institution exclusively serving San Diego County, has officially opened its 33rd branch, which is located on El Camino Real in Oceanside.

In celebration, Mission Fed executives presented the YMCA Youth and Family Services with a $1,000 donation. The YMCA YFS is a branch of the YMCA of San Diego County devoted to social services.

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Recent San Diego State grad Neel Kumar says that his very early stage startup, social media app called Bucket, has grown to more than 6,500 users who in turn  have created more than 70,000 goals for their so-called bucket lists.

“Aside from the numbers, we’ve seen people choose to meet up because of Bucket. Two strangers got matching tattoos, old friends went on a new hike, and one person even lent out their Jet Ski to another user,” he said. Users can download the Bucket app from the Apple iOS App Store here.

Channel 10 News San Diego reported that the social media platform has steadily grown every month since its creation at the beginning of the year.

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San Diego-based cloud-based logistics startup GoShare has announced additional seed financing led by Mark IV Capital, Cove Fund and Jason Calacanis’s Launch Fund and The Syndicate with follow-on from existing investors Adasel Global Partners, Keshif Ventures and Eric Di Benedetto, bringing the total amount of funding to $8 million. 

GoShare is now available in 33 major US cities with 3 more to launch in 2021.

The startup provides customers with access to a network that can deliver to about 50% of the U.S. population at a time when a lack of drivers is interrupting delivery services.

A news release says the company provides last mile, middle mile, and “hot-shot” trucking services nationally, and serves more than 85,000 customers nationwide, according to a news release.

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San Diego’s translation service Interpreters Unlimited has been included on a list of the Top 35 largest interpreting service providers prepared by market researcher Nimdzi. Interpreters Unlimited ranked No. 22 globally and No. 12 in the U.S. 

Nimdzi has ranked Interpreters Unlimited on its Top 100 largest language service providers list over the past 3 years.

The Interpreters Unlimited client list include entities in healthcare, education, government as well as other sectors.

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San Diego is apparently a top destination for Los Angeles residents who were considering a move in the third quarter of this year. This according to according to a new report from Redfin, a popular web-based real estate broker.

According to the report, 17% of Redfin users in Los Angeles looked at moving to San Diego. Phoenix was the next most popular destination. The 2021 numbers were based on 3.3 million users sampled for the report.

The report indicated that 37,905 Redfin users has actually moved from Los Angeles in the third quarter compared to 24,000 a year ago.

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Finally, this interesting bit of North County news. A premium water bottle design sold by a 4-year-old Encinitas startup Bindle Bottle is among those that celebrity Oprah Winfrey has included on her coveted annual list of favorite gifts for the holidays.

The product “is more than just a bottle,” according to a company spokesperson. She describes the product as “a hidden-in-plain-sight waterproof storage compartment that allows owners to “stash ID cards, keys and cash while ensuring they stay hydrated, organized, and discreet.” The bottle bottom contains a waterproof storage compartment where a few personal items can be stored.

The list of items curated by Winfrey can be found on Amazon’s website.

Houston Max, Charlie Crisan and Dane Chapin launched Bindle in 2017 by, according to their website. This bottle is the second product from Bindle that has made the list published each holiday season by the media mogul.

Tom York is a Carlsbad-based independent journalist who specializes in writing about business and the economy. If you have news tips you’d like to share, send them to tom.york@gmail.com.