To the astonishment of nearly everyone, it's . . . actually happening

To the astonishment of nearly everyone, it's . . . actually happening. Twitter today accepted Elon Musk's bid to take over the company, giving him control over the influential social media network for $44 billion, or $54.20 a share. 

The transaction is expected to close this year, subject to the approval of Twitter stockholders, regulatory approvals, and closing conditions. 

The deal could also fall apart if Musk fails to deliver on the equity component of the transaction, as notes the FT, which says that he's in "talks with a number of wealthy individuals and institutional investors about backing that portion of his bid." 

It's also possible that Musk will walk away if -- now that his offensive has paid off --  he realizes it will cost him too much to cement the deal. The biggest concern is that advertisers, nervous that Musk will dispense with content restrictions, will begin to flee the platform well before the deal closes. Ad revenue accounted for 89% of Twitter's revenue in fiscal 2021. At the same time, Musk has said he wants Twitter to rely less on advertising and focus more on subscriptions.

Either way, much of the reaction on Twitter -- that we're seeing anyway -- is fear and consternation. Jeff Bezos, who is the second-richest person on the planet after Musk and a longtime rival, even surfaced a tweet from New York Times reporter Mike Forsythe that highlights Musk’s connections to China, after which Bezos quote-tweeted Forsythe with the comment: “Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square?”

Not everyone is flipping out. Republican lawmakers welcomed the news that Musk is purchasing Twitter. The Atlantic's Derek Thompson called the development "weird, chaotic, and a little bit awesome," writing that no one can know what will happen, but that -- at a minimum, as a highly engaged user himself (with 84.5 million followers and counting) -- "Musk's love of Twitter is beyond doubt."  (People do not say this same thing about Twitter's board.)

Meanwhile, Twitter cofounder and former CEO Jack Dorsey today threw his support behind Musk's bid, calling Musk the "singular solution" he trusts to lead the company. 

“I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness,” Dorsey added.

Founders are told to get arms-length feedback on their idea – but it’s hard to find credible sources for that input, especially when they’re busy building a business. Tegus for Startups provides early stage teams with insights to make better decisions. Startups use Tegus to speak with prospective users to accelerate the path to product market fit, to learn about market dynamics from industry veterans, or to understand how later stage operators have tackled market expansion, fundraising, or any other challenge. Learn more by trying Tegus for free today.

Anuvia, a 17-year-old, Winter Garden, Fla.- based maker of sustainable field-ready fertilizers for the agriculture, turf, and lawn care industries, has raised $65.5 million in Series D funding led by Piva Capital and Riverstone Holdings. More here.

TheGuarantors, a seven-year-old, New York-based startup that offers a security deposit alternative and lease guarantees to cash-strapped renters (it says it uses AI to set rates for its services and mitigate its risk), has raised $50 million in Series C funding. Portage Ventures led the round, joined by Kensington Capital Partners, Arch Capital Group, Roosh Ventures and Alven Capital. The outfit has now raised $77 million altogether, says The Real Deal. 

Rario, a year-old, Singapore-based startup that says it offers cricket fans NFT player cards, video moments and cricket artifacts, has raised $120 million in funding led by Dream Capital, with participation from Alpha Wave Global, Animoca Brands, Presight Capital and Kingsway Capital. The Block has more here.

Demostack, a two-year-old, Israel-based demo experience platform, has raised $34 million in Series B funding led by Tiger Global. Other participants in the round included Bessemer Venture Partners, Amiti Ventures, GTMfund, Operator Collective, and StepStone. The outfit has now raised $51 million altogether. GeekTime has more here.

Hour One, a three-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based self-service platform that aims to help businesses quickly and automatically create human-led video and full-fledged avatars, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners. Other backers in the round include Galaxy Interactive, Remagine Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Semble Ventures, Cerca Partners, Digital-Horizon and Eynat Guez, who is the cofounder and CEO of Papaya Global. VentureBeat has more here.

Red Sea Farms, a four-year-old, Saudi Arabia-based agtech startup that uses salt water to grow local produce more sustainably to reduce carbon emission and food and water scarcity, has raised $18.5 million in fresh funding co-led by Wa’ed, the venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco, and The Savola Group. Other investors in the round include KAUST Innovation Fund and OlsonUbben. Wanda has more here.

Rooser, a three-year-old, Edinburgh, Scotland-based online marketplace for trading fresh fish, has raised $23 million in funding led by Index Ventures, with participation from GV and Point Nine Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Syllable, a five-year-old, Sunnyvale, Ca.-based health care automation platform, has raised $40 million in Series C funding led by TCV, with participation from Oak HC/FT, Section32, and Verily. More here.

Wisq, a year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based social platform focused on employee wellness, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from True Ventures and Shasta Ventures. The outfit has now raised $40 million altogether, it says.

Bastion, a month-old DeFi protocol on the Aurora blockchain, has raised $9 million in Series A funding. Three Arrows Capital led the round, joined by FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto, Jane Street, CMS Holdings and Crypto.com. Decrypt has more here.

Indicio, a two-year-old, Seattle-based startup that provides development and hosting services for trust data ecosystems, has raised $3.5 million in a funding round led by Hard Yaka. More here.

Zenda, an 11-month-old, Dubai-based school bill payment startup, has raised $9.4 million in seed funding from STV, COTU Ventures, GFC and VentureSouq. TechCrunch has more here.

Venture capital firms and their investors have realized that a fund administrator without best-in-class technology is no longer acceptable. But experienced firms also know that when it’s crunch time and that capital call needs to go out *now*, no technology can replace the need for an expert, highly responsive fund accountant working with you. Meet Juniper Square, the first tech-driven fund admin built for sophisticated venture capital firms.

Cambridge Innovation Capital, a nine-year-old, U.K.-based venture outfit that invests in life sciences and tech companies and that has a unique contract with Cambridge University, has raised £225 million to invest in back startups in areas from cell therapies to quantum computing. It now manages £1 billion in assets altogether, reports the Financial Times.

The NFT marketplace OpenSea has acquired Gem, a Singapore-based NFT marketplace aggregator that allows users to buy NFTs across multiple marketplaces in a single transaction. Financial terms were not disclosed, though OpenSea said in a blog post today the deal was contingent on Gem removing from the cap table a core developer who was pushed out in recent weeks over allegations by several individuals that this individual engaged in rape, sexual harassment and the grooming of minors, as BuzzFeed News first reported. TechCrunch has more here.

While the venture-backed outfit Katerra floundered, its executives diverted the firm’s business to their other companies and used its funds for private jet rides and pro basketball games, according to a new lawsuit. The self-described "tech-first" construction management firm, which was founded in 2015 and filed for bankruptcy last year, burned through billions in investment capital, including more than $2 billion from SoftBank, before closing its doors. The Information has more here.

As the Hollywood Reporter observed earlier today, if Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter is able to close, top executives at the company could receive enormous compensation packages. Jack Dorsey  owned 2.4% of the company, or about 18,042,428 shares, which Musk would be buying for $54.20 each. That would set Dorsey up for a $978 million cash payout should the deal be completed. CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal have “change in control” clauses in their contracts that specifically cite reporting to the “board of directors of a publicly-traded entity,” meaning any deal to take Twitter private would trigger the clause; if Musk terminated their employment, Agrawal would be in line for a $38.7 million pay package, with Segal receiving a $25.5 million.

Overall, only an estimated 9% of all plastics ever manufactured has been recycled, according to the United Nations Environment Program.

Fidelity, the nation’s largest provider of 401(k) plans, said today it will enable its participants to put a slice of their retirement money into Bitcoin if their employers are willing to allow it.

Hopin, the three-year-old London-based virtual events start-up is, unsurprisingly, struggling post pandemic, reports the Financial Times. Monthly event listings are down more than thirtyfold on its platform. Shares of the company, which its venture backers assigned a stunning $7.8 billion valuation during its last financing round, fell by 41% in the first quarter on the secondary market Zanbato. And the company's 27-year-old founder Johnny Boufarhat, has already cashed out roughly $200 million(!) worth of shares. (He now owns just under 40% of Hopin but retains voting control.) 

Hurt by plunging tech valuations, SoftBank is walking away from some of its loss-making portfolio firms to comply with stricter investment criteria, according to Bloomberg, which notes that many of the 300-plus companies backed by one of SoftBank's two Vision Funds spend more than they bring in the door. SoftBank's "purse strings are tight as they have ever been,” one source tells the outlet.

A pullback in venture investment coupled with rising valuations could point to a looming decline in prices for many other startup deals this year, too, notes the WSJ.

How to charter a superyacht.

Touching strangers.

Flow.

Fifty oysters.

Italian luxury hotels that are worth the splurge, from Venice to the Val di Noto.

Raise your next round with SeedInvest, and plug into a network of over 600,000 accredited and retail investors. A few could become your next big brand evangelists. More than 250 founders across SaaS, healthtech, CPG, and more have found fundraising success on SeedInvest. Find out if your company has what it takes to raise a community round. Submit your deck and connect with our team.