Stocks nosedive, Peloton explores a sale, and Elon Musk may become Twitter's CEO (temporarily, maybe)

The stock market dropped a chalupa today, falling the most since the early days of the pandemic, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its largest decline this year just 24 hours after its largest gain since 2020.

Elon Musk has assembled a group of investors including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Larry Ellison, Prince al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, and the bitcoin exchange Binance to pony up more than $7 billion to back his bid to buy Twitter. The new money will cut in half the amount he needs to borrow against his Tesla stake, according to a regulatory filing, and will slightly reduce the balance of cash he needs to put up personally to just under $20 billion. Arms of asset managers Fidelity Investments and Brookfield Asset Management also will take part, reports the WSJ.

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Unusual Ventures, a now 30-person outfit founded nearly five years ago by former Lightspeed Ventures investor John Vrionis and serial entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal, says it has closed its third fund with $485 million in capital commitments.

It’s not a huge step up from the $425 million that Unusual raised for its second fund in late 2019, and that’s very much by design, says Vrionis, who is the firm’s sole managing director but has bought aboard three general partners in the past year. Among these is serial entrepreneur Lars Albright (he sold his last two companies to Apple and Mastercard, respectively); Sandhya Hegde, who was previously an investor at both Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital; and Wei Lien Dang, a co-founder of the cloud-native security company StackRox, which sold to Red Hat last year.

Bansal remains highly involved in the firm, too, according to Vrionis.

He says Bansal sits on a handful of boards for Unusual. Bansal also oversees Unusual’s “founder services” program, wherein the firm plants team members like Albright -- along with venture partners like Nextdoor co-founder Sarah Leary, who has a stake in the fund --  inside portfolio companies on a full-time basis for months at a time to strengthen them. (“It’s the difference between me giving you a course on sleep training and being a night nurse,” says Vrionis of the program.)

It’s somewhat remarkable, Bansal’s involvement, given that he is also CEO of two(!) startups that Unusual has stakes in. One of these, a developer tools company called Harness, announced a $230 million Series D round last week at a valuation of $3.7 billion (which is the same amount Cisco paid for one of Bansal’s earlier companies, AppDynamics, in 2017).

Bansal’s second company, Traceable AI, a startup offering services designed to protect APIs from cyberattacks, meanwhile announced $60 million in Series B funding (including, of course, from Unusual) just yesterday at a valuation of more than $450 million.

More here.

Alan, a six-year-old, Paris-based health insurance startup, has raised €183 million in funding led by Teachers' Venture Growth, with additional participation from previous investors Temasek, Index Ventures, Coatue, Ribbit Capital, Exor, Dragoneer and Lakestar. The company has raised a total of $556.7 million and is now valued at €2.7 billion valuation. TechCrunch has more here.

Cavnue, a one-year-old startup based in Detroit that aims to help guide semi-autonomous cars and trucks through busy thoroughfares, raised $130 million in Series A funding led by SIP and Ford Motor Company, with additional participation from investors including Openvia and Landstar System. The company has raised a total of $130 million. Motor Authority has more here.

Fictiv, a nine-year-old, San Francisco-based service for matchmaking mechanical parts manufacturers with enterprise customers, just raised $100 million in Series E funding. The round was led by Activate Capital, which was joined by Angeleno Group, Cross Creek, The Westly Group, William Blair Merchant Bank, Accel, Bill Gates, G2 Venture Partners, and Standard Industries. The company has raised a total of $192.6 million. VentureBeat has more here.

Lev, a three-year-old startup based in New York that's building a digital commercial real estate finance marketplace, raised $70 million in Series B funds co-led by Parker89 and Cross River Digital Ventures with additional participation from NFX, Canaan, JLL Spark, Animo Ventures, Capital One Ventures, Citi Ventures, Citi SPRINT, and StepStone Group. The company has raised a total of $114.8 million. The RealDeal has more here.

Neo Financial, a three-year-old financial services startup based in Calgary, raised $145.2 million financing led by Valar Ventures, with Tribe Capital, Altos Ventures, Blank Ventures, Gaingels, Maple VC, and Knollwood Advisory also contributing to the round. The company has raised a total of $238.7 million. TechCrunch has more here.

OneFootball, a fourteen-year-old media company based in Germany that is focused on soccer, raised a $300 million round. The lead was Liberty City Ventures; Animoca Brands, Dapper Labs, Senator Investment Group, DAH Beteiligungs, Quiet Capital, RIT Capital Partners, and Alsara Investment Group also participated. The company has raised a total of $442 million. Front Office Sports has more here.

Pachama, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that uses artificial intelligence to verify carbon credits, raised $55 million in Series B funding led by Future Positive with additional participation from investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, LowerCarbon Capital, Ellen Degeneres, Portia De Rossi, Plus Capital, ReGen Ventures, 20VC, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. The company has raised a total of $79.3 million. Reuters has more here.

Sidekick Health, a eight-year-old startup based in Reykjavik that has designed a gamified healthcare platform that supplies personalized behavioral lifestyle nudges, raised a $55 million Series B. Novator Ventures led the round; Wellington Partners, Asabys Partners, and Frumtak Ventures also participated. The company has raised a total of $85.9 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Zora, a two-year-old, L.A.-based Ethereum-based marketplace for buying, selling and curating NFTs has raised $50 million in new funding, valuing the company at $600 million. Haun Ventures, the venture firm founded by former a16z investor Katie Haun, led the round. (It's reportedly the first round led by her new firm, in fact). Other backers in the round included Coinbase Ventures, Kindred Ventures and others. TechCrunch has more here.

Bitcoin.com, a seven-year-old startup that provides crypto exchange and wallet services, used a token sale to raise $33.6 million from investors including Digital Strategies, KuCoin Ventures, Blockchain.com, ViaBTC Capital, Redwood City Ventures, 4SV, BoostX Ventures, and assorted angels. The company has raised a total of $33.6 million. The Block has more here.

Curebase, a five-year-old startup based in Walnut, Ca., that makes software to manage decentralized clinical trials, raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Industry Ventures. Acrew Capital, World Innovation Lab, Positive Sum, Gilead Sciences and previous investors GGV Capital, Bold Capital and Xfund also participated. The company has raised a total of $57.6 million. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Outerspace, a three-year-old startup based in Bergen County, N.J., that offers outsourced fulfillment service for e-commerce brands, raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Prysm Capital; Tishman Capital Partners also contributed to the round. The company has raised a total of $34.9 million. Axios has more here.

Possible Finance, a five-year-old startup based in Seattle, announced a $20 million round led by Euclidean Capital; Union Square Ventures, Canvas Ventures, and Unlock Venture Partners also participated. The company has raised a total of $157.5 million. GeekWire has more here.

Scalapay, a three-year-old, Milan, Italy-based buy-now-pay-later startup, has raised $27 million in extended Series B funding from Poste Italiane. The round had previously closed with [does double-take] $497 million. company has now raised a total of $727.5 million. PYMNTS has more here.

Untamed Planet, a year-old, blockchain-based gaming startup, has raised $24.3 million in  Series A funding led by Animoca Brands. Untamed Planet uses the game creation platform Roblox to recreate natural environments, incorporating NFTS built on the Solana blockchain. VentureBeat has more here.

Voyage Foods, a one-year-old Oakland, Ca.-based startup that is creating environmentally sustainable food alternatives (it makes versions of peanut butter, coffee and chocolate, among other things), raised a $36 million Series A funding co-led by funds managed by UBS O’Connor and Level One Fund; additional investors included Horizons Ventures, SOSV’s Indie Bio, and Social Impact Capital. The company has raised a total of $41.8 million. Food Dive has more here.

Getlife, a one-year-old startup based in Madrid that wants to make it easier to access life insurance products in Europe, raised €6 million in seed funding from Singular. The company has raised a total of €7 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Infrascreen, a three-year-old startup based in ​​Neuchâtel, Switzerland that uses nanotechnologies to increase the energy efficiency of greenhouses, raised a $1.5 million seed round; investors included Investbridge Capital and ACE & Company. The company has raised a total of $1.6 million. AgFunder News has more here.

Januar, a one-year-old startup based in Copenhagen that provides crypto payment software for businesses, raised €6 million in seed funding led by Element Ventures, with additional participation from investors including Angular Ventures, Outward VC, and byFounders. Arctic Startup has more here.

Logseq, a one-year-old startup based in New York that makes collaborative ideation software, raised $4.1 million in seed funding. Investors included Stripe CEO Patrick Collison, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke, Andreessen Horowitz, Craft Ventures, Matrix Partners, Day One Ventures, and Quora cofounder Charlie Cheever. The company has raised a total of $4.1 million. TechCrunch has more here.

MARGS, a 14-month-old startup based in Mamaroneck, N.Y.-based ready-to-drink canned margarita company, raised a $3 million round from Lab Capital Advisors. More here.

Masa Finance, a one-year-old startup based in San Francisco that offers NFT collateralized loans, raised $3.5 million in funding from Unshackled Ventures and Lateral Capital. The company has raised a total of $3.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Realto, a two-year-old startup based in Overland Park, Ks, that operates an online real estate investment marketplace, raised a $4.5 million round led by Firebrand Ventures with additional participation from investors including KCRise Fund. The company has raised a total of $7.3 million. Kansas City Business Journal has more here.

Walnut, a two-year-old startup based in Brooklyn that applies the buy- now-pay-later model to consumer healthcare, raised a $10 million Series A equity funding (and $100 million in debt) from a syndicate including Newark Ventures, Afore Capital, 2048 Ventures, AngelList, Weekend Fund, Company Ventures, Banana Capital, Goodwater Capital, and Muse Capital. The company has raised a total of $125.4 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Wyebot, a six-year-old startup based in Marlborough, Ma., that uses AI to optimize WiFI networks for enterprises, raised an $8 million Series A round. The lead was Stage 1 Ventures with additional participation from Tectonic Ventures, Innospark Ventures, and Launch Capital. The company has raised a total of $16.6 million. More here.

YvesBlue, a six-year-old New York-based startup that offers a SaaS service for family wealth offices, investment banks or other large financial institutions to monitor their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) compliance, raised a $5 million seed round. The deal was led by Illuminate Financial with additional participation from Aflac Ventures, Tribeca Early Stage Partners, SixThirty, Day One Ventures, and Walter Ventures. The company has raised a total of $7 million. Axios has more here.

SeedInvest takes the pain out of fundraising, allowing founders to spend less time pitching investors and more time building. SeedInvest has a community of more than 600,000 individual investors, who combined have played a role in successful raises for more than 250 startups. Whether you’re raising Seed to Series B, SeedInvest is ready to help you get there. Learn more and apply to raise.

Jeff Bussgang, general partner and co-founder of the 21-year-old, Boston- and New York-based venture firm Flybridge, writes in a Medium post that the firm just closed two funds worth a combined $150 million. More here.

Valia Ventures, a five-year-old, New York-based, early-stage generalist venture firm that is backed by Tiger Global among other LPs, has closed its second fund with $50 million in capital commitments. TechCrunch has more here.

Funko, the Everett, Wa.-based pop culture collectibles maker, has attracted a $263 million investment from a consortium led by The Chernin Group (TCG), with participation from eBay and former Disney Chairman Robert Iger, among others. The transaction is a secondary offering. The syndicate is acquiring the shares from ACON Investments and will own 25% of the company following completion of the transaction. GeekWire has more here.

After a 18 months or so, Peloton is reportedly exploring a sale of a sizable minority stake to shore up its business as the once-hot bike maker’s stock continues to sink. The fitness company is targeting potential investors including industry players and private-equity firms that could take a stake of around 15% to 20%, says the WSJ.

Publicly traded Shopify said today it would buy the privately held, five-year-old logistics start-up Deliverr for $2.1 billion, the largest acquisition in its history. The Canadian company also said revenue growth would be lower in the first half of the year, as it navigates tough pandemic era comparisons. Deliverr had raised almost half a billion dollars from investors over the years. More here and here.

Tony Fadell cleans out his garage.

Elon Musk is expected to serve as a temporary CEO of Twitter for a few months after he completes his $44 billion takeover of the social media company, sources tell CNBC.

On Deck, a tech company that connects founders to each other, capital and advice, has laid off 25% off its staff, says TechCrunch. The layoffs were announced today during an all-hands meeting and impacts about 72 people. More here.

Home values in 97% of U.S. cities are overvalued, and real estate in some of the most overpriced regions could fall by 10% over the next few years, according to Moody's Analytics. CBS News has more here.

Index Ventures, the 26-year-old venture, with offices in Geneva,  London and San Francisco, is opening its fourth office in New York this fall. We talked with the two Index veterans who are heading up the firm's East Coast operations; they said they'll be hiring strategists and investors. (Watch out, Coatue!)

How Rivian's CEO became the "anti-Elon."

"Buy now, pay later" is sending the TikTok generation spiraling into debt.

Mastering the art of failing up.

Much gilt (and little guilt).

VÄÄMM.

A Globe Trotter built for weeks of travel.

A one-off Patek Philippe that's coming up for auction.

Dirty French Steakhouse.

More than 250 founders across SaaS, healthtech, CPG, and more have found fundraising success on SeedInvest, including the on-demand pharmacy startup NowRx, the real-estate crowdfunding platform GroundFloor, and the options trading app Gatsby. Find out if your company has what it takes to raise a community round. Submit your deck and connect with our team.