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Happy weekend.:) We don't know about you, but after this week, the idea of being suctioned into an alien spaceship sounds not terrible.
Before we go, we leave you with new episode of StrictlyVC Download, featuring Bonobos co-founder Andy Dunn, who has a new book out out his bipolar disorder (that we've actually read and which is very good). We wrote about our chat for TechCrunch earlier this week but you can learn more from our longer conversation here. We found the book, and that discussion, truly illuminating, and given that bipolar disorder affects 4% of people at some point in their lives -- and it's believed to be even more prevalent among founders, whose biochemically off-kilter
nature can be construed as superhuman drive -- it's worth paying especially close attention to in the startup world.
Special thanks to SeedInvest, for sponsoring this week's episode. SeedInvest helps early and growth-stage companies -- from robotics to SaaS to CPG -- simplify their fundraising through equity crowdfunding while aligning their marketing with their fundraising efforts. Find out more, or apply today, at go.seedinvest.com/vc.
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1.) Two Washington-based groups representing Google, Facebook and other tech giants filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court today, seeking to block a Texas law that bars social media companies from removing posts based on a user’s political ideology. The Texas law took effect Wednesday after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans lifted a district court injunction that had barred it, shocking the industry. The Washington Post has more here.
2.) Elon Musk said his planned acquisition of Twitter is “temporarily on hold” because of concerns about fake accounts, a surprise twist that jolted investors and raised questions about his willingness to go through with the $44 billion transaction. His digital "grenade" came in a tweet posted at 5:44 a.m. EST, notes the WSJ, followed two hours later by another saying he is “still committed to acquisition," though according to the outlet, lawyers close to Musk urged him to send the follow-up tweet. More here.
2a.) Musk and Twitter agreed to a so-called reverse termination fee of $1 billion when the two sides reached a deal last month. Still, the breakup fee isn’t an option payment that allows Musk to bail without consequence, notes CNBC.
2b.) Also, "temporarily on hold" is not a thing, observes Bloomberg's Matt Levine (who was once a corporate attorney). "Elon Musk has signed a binding contract requiring him to buy Twitter. Legions of bankers and lawyers and
Twitter employees and special-purpose-vehicle promoters are working to fulfill his legal obligation to get the deal closed. 'The parties hereto will use their respective reasonable best efforts to consummate and make effective the transactions contemplated by this Agreement,' says the merger agreement. (Section 6.3(a).) He can’t just put that 'on hold.'"
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Body404, a one-year-old Chinese startup that is selling indie designer collections online, raised a $50 million round led by Bertelsmann Asia Investments, with participation from previous investors Kuanzhai VC and One Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Carma, a one-year-old Sydney startup that is selling used cars online, raised a $52 million Series A round. The lead was General Catalyst. The company has raised a total of $103 million. DigitalNation has more here.
Gusto, the 11-year-old startup based in San Francisco that has developed a human resources platform for businesses, raised a $55 million extension to last year's $175 million Series E round led by T. Rowe Price Associates that valued the company at $9.5 billion. Gusto has raised a total of $746.1 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Inflection AI, the months-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based machine learning startup headed by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and founding DeepMind member Mustafa Suleyman, has secured $225 million in equity financing, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm isn't saying (yet) where the funding is coming from, though Greylock, where Hoffman is a partner, is one safe guess. TechCrunch has the story here.
Pulsenmore, an eight-year-old Tel Aviv startup whose handheld tele-ultrasound device docks with a smartphone to allow women to perform ultrasound self-scans at home and receive fast clinical feedback from healthcare professionals, has received a commitment from GE Healthcare to invest up to $50 million. More here.
TIFIN, a four-year-old, New York-based AI-powered personalized wealth and asset management platform, raised a $109 million Series D round. Investors included Franklin Resources, Motive Partners, and Hamilton Lane. The company has raised a total of $206 million. TechCrunch has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Cushion, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that is developing an app for consumers to track, pay, and finance their bills in order to avoid overdraft and late fees, raised a Series A round of $12 million led by Rose Park Advisors; Flourish Ventures, Vestigo Ventures, TSEF, Green Cow Venture Capital, and CMFG also chipped in. The company has raised a total of $21.3 million. ZDNet has more here.
MedznMore, a two-year-old startup based in Karachi, Pakistan that sells drugs to pharmacies and retail customers, raised $11.5 million; investors included Integra Partners, Sturgeon Capital,and Nunc Gestion. Bloomberg has more here.
Oasis, a nine-year-old startup based in Darien, Ct,, that has built a decentralized finance platform that allows users to borrow, exchange and earn on their cryptocurrency assets, raised a $27 million Series A found. Investors in the deal included UDHC, Blizzard the Avalanche Fund, Inveniam, Redwood Trust, TrustLabs, Mirae, Gate Ventures, LedgerPrime, and StableNode. The company has raised a total of $28.1 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Pharrowtech, a four-year-old startup based in Leuven, Belgium that makes circuits and antennas for 5G unlicensed fixed wireless access, wireless infrastructure, and consumer applications, raised a €15 million in Series A. The lead was Innovation Industries, while imec.xpand, Bloc Ventures, and KBC Focus Fund also contributed. The company has raised a total of $21 million. ComputerWeekly has more here.
TipTop, a six-month-old, L.A.-based still stealth crypto startup founded by Postmates founder Bastian Lehmann, has raised $23 million in Series A funding a16z, with Marc Andreessen joining the startup’s board. Other backers in the round include Sam Altman; Naval Ravikant; Andy McLoughlin and Jeff Clavier of Uncork Capital; and Dan Romero, a former Coinbase VP. TechCrunch has more here.
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AiTA Bio, a two-year-old startup based in New York that is is developing an integrated Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) augmented biology platform in partnership with a leading Fortune 100 foundry, raised an $8.5 million Series A. Investors included Hammerstone Capital, BlackPoint Partners, and SkyView Investment Advisors. More here.
BalkanID, a 17-month-old, Austin-based identity governance and administration platform, has raised $5.75 million in seed funding from a syndicate that includes Uncommon Capital, Afore Capital, and Sure Ventures. SiliconANGLE has more here.
Mission Zero Technologies, a two-year-old startup based in London that uses simple chemistry and off-the-shelf equipment to suck planet-warming carbon dioxide out of the air, raised $5 million in seed funding from Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Anglo American. Carbon Herald has more here.
Satori, a seven-year-old startup based in San Francisco that seeks to facilitate derivatives trading on the Polkadot crypto network, raised seed financing of $10 million. The leads were Polychain Capital, and Blockchange Ventures; Jump Crypto, Gavin Wood, Coinbase Ventures, Portal, Acala, Astar, Parallel, and Clover also contributed. More here.
StartPlaying, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based online platform to find tabletop role-playing games and professional Game Masters, has raised $6.5 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz general partners Jonathan Lai and Andrew Chen. More here.
Sudozi, a two-year-old Austin, Tex., startup that provides a SaaS platform to help enterprises improve their money management capabilities, raised a $4.3 million seed round from lead Pear VC, with S3 Ventures and Mischief also participating in the deal. VentureBeat has more here.
Xage, a five-year-old startup based in Palo Alto, Ca., that has created a "zero trust" platform for customers in the energy, defense, utilities, manufacturing, and logistics sectors, raised a $6 million Series B extension from SCF Partners and Overture Climate Fund. The company has raised a total of $60 million. Security Week has more here.
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Good Growth Capital, a Charleston, S.C.-based venture capital firm that's run by female and minority partners and focuses on what it describes as complex science and tech start-ups, has closed its third fund with $102 million in capital commitments. More here.
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Swiggy has amassed millions of users in India, helping them order food and grocery online in the country. The seven-year-old, Bangalore-based startup, India’s most valued food tech outfit, is now looking to reach those who go out to eat. It said today Friday it has reached a definitive agreement with the Indian conglomerate Times Internet to acquire Dineout, a restaurant reservations service, for what a source tells TechCrunch is $200 million in equity. More here.
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Metaverse Acquisition, a blank check company targeting the metaverse arena in North America, Europe, and Asia, filed today with the SEC to raise up to $150 million in an IPO. (This is like a trends sandwich.) Renaissance Capital has more here.
Samba TV, a 14-year-old, San Francisco-based company that provides AI-driven advertising and analytics software for connected TVs, withdrew its plans for an IPO today. It originally filed in November 2021 with a proposed deal size of $75 million. Renaissance Capital has more here.
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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos today accused President Joe Biden of “misdirection” on Twitter in response to the U.S. leader’s tweet saying inflation could be tamed by making wealthy corporations “pay their fair share.” The Amazon founder’s first public spat with Biden and came on a day when Bezos was quite active on the social-media platform. Bloomberg has more here.
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg has acknowledged to employees that he “personally guaranteed” the $750 million cash infusion provided to the online mortgage lender last November. TechCrunch has more here.
Jared Weinstein is stepping down as a partner with Thrive Capital, the New York-based venture firm he first joined in 2011, Axios reports. No updates to his LinkedIn just yet.
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Salesforce is hiring a VP of corporate development in both New York and Dallas, Tex. Ten years in high tech is required of both roles.
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How more than $1 trillion in crypto vanished in just six months.
Discord has what big tech wants -- minus the money.
Samsung is reportedly talking with foundry clients about charging as much as 20% more for making semiconductors this year, joining an industry-wide push to hike prices to cover rising costs of materials and logistics. Contract-based chip prices are likely to rise around 15% to 20%, depending upon the level of sophistication, according to Bloomberg's sources.
Apple is testing future iPhone models that replace the current Lightning charging port with the more prevalent USB-C connector, according to Bloomberg, a move that could help the company conform with looming European regulations.
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