But not quite a merger of equals. 12mn in handybook funding, 3mn in exec funding, 10mn rumored merger price.

That suggests to me that exec shareholders now own less than 1/3 of handybook but probably more than 10%. Assuming the 12mn in funding has bought exactly 1/2 of the company, then handybook's most recent post money would be ~ 24mn. 10mn in new stock --> 10/34 as the share owned by exec. Probably more than 10% bc that's the amount they'd own if handybook was valuing themselves at 100mn. I doubt that they are that high yet.

This looks to me less like a merger and more like a realization by exec that their value is at a global maximum -- once handybook cracks sf on their own the value of buying exec drops substantially.

In my opinion a shrewd move by all parties.

Completely agree with @thatthatis, but one separate thought.

> "talks began in October"

> "they [HandyBook] had a much better and well-defined marking model and they had already developed what we were trying to iterate, but better."

Is this related to the departure of the people behind the https://giveit100.com/ around then? The non-technical founder was responsible for marketing at Exec, for example. I could imagine were I in her shoes and heard this back then I also would be looking for new work.

Is that better or worse than an acquihire?

Thanks! I am interested in the startups in the rest of the world, especially in SE Asia. I just got back from a trip to Thailand and Singapore, where I talked to several startup investors, accelerators, and founders to try to figure out where market opportunities might be. I didn't get to the Phillipines on this trip, but hopefully will in the near future (planning Indonesia at the very least this year).

Thanks!

Thank you!