Twitter faces off with Musk, Sequoia Capital postpones a fund close, and Apple softens its return-to-office plan

Elon Musk may be lovable as evil geniuses go, but he is also lying about his professed concern that Twitter is populated by too many spam bots, argues Bloomberg's Matt Levine (who, as Levine himself notes, has been right numerous times already about this whole saga). "The spam bots are not why he is backing away from the deal, as you can tell from the fact that the spam bots are why he did the deal. He has produced no evidence at all that Twitter’s estimates are wrong, and certainly not that they are materially wrong or made in bad faith." 

Indeed, writes Levine, "Nothing has changed about the bot problem since Musk signed the merger agreement. Twitter has published the same qualified estimate — that fewer than 5% of monetizable accounts are fake — for the last eight years." 

As for Twitter's options at this point, it could lower its price, but it's clearly confronting a Lucy-with-football type situation. Twitter could instead sue Musk in a Delaware court, though Levine sees this as tricky, too. "It is bad, for the rule of law generally and for confidence in Delaware corporate law in particular, if Musk blatantly ignores a merger agreement and a judge lets him get away with it," Levine writes. "But it’s even worse if a court orders him to close and he ignores the order. Musk has a history of ignoring court orders and getting away with it." 

With no good options, the least bad option, Levine posits, is for Twitter to "do nothing: Let Musk tweet, ignore him, and continue acting as though everything is normal and the deal is going to close" and see what happens. Of course, that’s a really bad, least terrible option for Twitter’s employees, several more of whom have decided to skedaddle and where people must now be throwing elbows as they head toward the exits.

Crypto markets are crashing— here’s where the money’s going. Decimated. Ravaged. Wiped out. Whatever the adjective, one thing’s clear—the cryptocurrency markets are in turmoil. Over $1 trillion has been wiped from the crypto market in the last 6 months. So where is the money flowing? New data shows that investors are pouring capital into real assets like art. After all, smart investors know masterpieces by legends like Picasso probably won’t dip 27% in a day. This explains why everyone and their wealth manager want to learn more about art investing.* See important Reg A Disclosures disclosures.

Tusk Venture Partners, the now six-year-old, New York-based early-stage venture firm co-founded by longtime political strategist Bradley Tusk and former Blackstone director Jordan Nof, has closed its third fund with $140 million in capital commitments. That’s double the $70 million that the outfit raised for its second flagship fund, which closed in late 2019. (The firm subsequently closed its first opportunity-style fund to further invest in its breakout portfolio companies late last year with $60 million.)

The outfit says it has now invested in more than 50 startups altogether, leading 20% of those rounds and seeing 12 exits in the process.

A few of its greatest hits include the crypto exchange Coinbase, which went public via a direct listing last year; insurance platform Lemonade, which went public in the summer of 2020; and FanDuel, which was acquired in 2020 by the sports betting, gaming and entertainment company Flutter.

Tusk Venture Partners has been enjoying enough momentum that the firm recently doubled the size of its investment team. In addition to Tusk and Nof, Michaela Balderston, a communications pro who joined the firm at its outset, has been promoted to partner and has joined the firm’s investment committee. Tusk Venture Partners also brought aboard Brad Welch, who recently joined as a partner from Morpheus Ventures in L.A., where he was a partner.

All four are now based in New York, though Tusk Venture Partners is very much a bicoastal firm. Nof says that 40% of the firm's bets are on the West Coast, 40% are on the East Coast and 20% are elsewhere, with portfolio companies in Boulder, Colorado and Austin, Texas, among other spots.

Among those portfolio companies, Tusk Venture Partners — like every other venture firm right now — has stakes in buzzy startups whose valuations may be in flux as markets zig and zag. One of those bets is Circle Internet Financial. In February, the crypto company agreed to a new merger with a SPAC that valued the business at $9 billion, double its valuation under the terms of the previous deal agreement. But crypto valuations have been in free fall across the board in recent weeks, and that deal is still “in process,” notes Nof.

The firm also has a stake in the telemedicine company Ro, which was valued by its backers at $7 billion in February but that has been having its ups and downs internally, as TechCrunch has reported previously here and here. With close rival Hims, which went public through a SPAC in January 2021, now boasting a market cap of $800 million (down from $1.6 billion at the time of the SPAC merger), it’s conceivable that Ro will be impacted by both these internal and external factors.

Tusk Venture Partners — which says it routinely uses its political expertise to help startups break regulatory barriers — was an early investor, too, in the micromobility company Bird, which captured the country’s attention with its rentable electric scooters in 2017 and was valued at $2.5 billion as of early 2020. The company, which went public late last year through a SPAC, has seen its market cap slump to $290 million, with shares that are trading at $1 as we type.

More here.

A.Team, a two-year-old New York startup that's building a a gig marketplace for product engineers, raised a $55 million Series A. The round was co-led by Insight Partners, Tiger Global, and Spruce House, with additional participation from Roc Nation and Adam Grant. The company has raised a total of $60 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Buildots, a four-year-old Tel Aviv startup whose platform leverages artificial intelligence and hardhat-mounted 360-degree cameras to capture images of ongoing construction projects, raised $60 million a Series C round co-led by Viola Growth and O.G. Tech co-led, with additional participation from previous investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Future Energy Ventures, and Maor Investments. The company has raised a total of $166 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Elwood Technologies, a 20-month-old, London-based startup that says it's building a digital assets trading infrastructure for institutional investors, has raised $70 million in Series A funding co-led by Goldman Sachs and Dawn Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Fashinza, a two-year-old startup based in Gurgaon, India, that has built a real-time global supply chain platform for fashion brands and retailers, raised a $60 million Series B round and $40 million in debt. The deal co-leads were Prosus Ventures and Westbridge, with additional participation from Accel, Elevation, and ADQ. The company has raised a total of $122.6 million. More here.

Flink, a two-year-old Berlin startup that provides an app-based grocery delivery service, raised between €60 million and €70 million from Carrefour at a rumored €5 billion valuation. TechCrunch has more here.

Imply Data, a seven-year-old startup based in Burlingame, Ca., that has built a database on Apache Druid that allows developers to create interactive data experiences on streaming and batch data, raised a $100 million Series D at a $1.1 billion valuation. The lead investor was Thoma Bravo led; OMERS and previous investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and Khosla Ventures also chipped in. TechTarget has more here.

Unit, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that enables its clients to build bank accounts, cards, and payment and lending products directly into their software, raised a $100 million Series C funding at a $1.2 billion valuation. The deal lead was Insight Partners, while Accel, Better Tomorrow Ventures, and Flourish Ventures also contributed. TechCrunch has more here.

Arrived, a three-year-old, Seattle-based real estate investing platform that says it allows anyone to buy shares in single-family rentals starting at just $100, has raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Forerunner Ventures. Returning investors include Bezos Expeditions (the personal investment company of Jeff Bezos), Good Friends (a venture fund run by the CEOs and co-founders of Warby Parker, Harry's, and Allbirds), former Zillow CEO Spencer Rascof, Core Innovation Capital, PSL Ventures and Neo. TechCrunch has more here.

CyberConnect, a year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based startup that's trying to enable personal data such as social media platform handles and followers to be accessible to other applications via Web 3 protocols, raised a $15 million Series A led by Animoca Brands, with additional capital provided by Sky9 Capital. CoinDesk has more here.

Flink, a two-year-old, Berlin, Germany-based instant grocery delivery startup, has raised between €60 million to €70 million from supermarket giant Carrefour, reports TechCrunch. It also paid between €90 million and €100 million for Cajoo, a large instant delivery startup based in France that will be rebranded as Flink, says the outlet. Flink is on a roll; it December, it closed a whopping $750 million in Series B funding led by strategic investor DoorDash. More here.

Improvado, a seven-year-old San Diego startup that aggregates data from Facebook, YouTube, Salesforce, TradeDesk, and various other sources to help analysts and C-suite executives make informed decisions about the distribution of their marketing dollars, raised a $22 million Series A; the lead was Updata Partners. More here.

Instabug, a nine-year-old startup with dual headquarters in San Francisco and Cairo Egypt that aims to help mobile developers monitor, identify and fix bugs within apps, has raised $46 million in a Series B funding round led by Insight Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Legl, a three-year-old, London-based software-as-a-service startup that sells tools to law firms wanting to digitize their processes and automate their workflows in areas like client onboarding, payments and compliance, has raised $18 million in Series B funding. Octopus Ventures, which led the firm's $7 million Series A last year, co-led the new round. TechCrunch has more here.

Pangea Cyber Corp., an eight-month-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based embedded security services company, has raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Ballistic Ventures. Silicon Angle has more here.

Perennial (fka Cloud Agronomics), a four-year-old startup based in Boulder, Co., that has built a platform that verifies carbon verifies insets and offsets for agricultural companies and non-agricultural corporate clients, raised an $18 million round co-led by Temasek and Bloomberg, with additional participation from SineWave Ventures and the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund. More here.

Storyblok, a five-year-old, Linz, Austria-based startup that has built a flexible content management system for web designers, raised a $47 million round co-led by Mubadala Capital and HV Capital; 3VC also chipped in. TechCrunch has more here.

CarePoint (fka Africa Health Holdings), a five-year-old startup based in Accra, Ghana, that is setting up telemedicine centers and "micro-clinics" in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana, raised $10 million. Investors included CEO Dr. Sangu Delle, Breyer Capital, Beyond Capital Ventures, M3, Asia Pacific Land/Natural World, and Sixth Street Partners' CEO Alan Waxman. TechCrunch has more here.

Evaluate.Market, a one-year-old startup based in Cambridge, Ma., that has created a centralized site for NFT owners to manage their holdings from multiple marketplaces and blockchains and view data on NFT prices, trends, and market activity, raised a $4 million seed round led by Rho Capital; Drive by DraftKings, Castle Island Ventures, Arca, Notation Capital, Flamingo Capital Syndicate, Dapper Labs, Visary Capital, Niche Capital, and Dan Nova also participated. SportTechie has more here.

Glisser, an eight-year-old London startup that hosts virtual and hybrid meetings for clients such as Facebook, Uber, and Pfizer, raised a $4.9 million round follow-on investment round from Downing Ventures and Gresham House. More here.

Inflection.io, a year-old, Seattle startup that automates the creation of marketing campaigns and helps users manage customer data and sales, raised $5 million in seed funding led by MHS Capital; Version One, Cercano Management, and Ascend also participated. The company has raised a total of $6.3 million. GeekWire has more here.

SIQ, a 14-year-old, Los Angeles startup that makes a "smart basketball" and app that tracks shooting performance, raised $3 million led by KB Partners, with additional funds provided by Tera Ventures. SportsTechie has more here.

Solithor, a nine-month-old Belgian startup developing solid-state lithium battery cells and components for the aviation, maritime, space and heavy electric vehicle industries, raised a €10 million seed round led by Imec.xpand; LRM, Nuhma, and FPIM also participated. Silicon Canals has more here.

Yo, a three-year-old, Israel-based startup that has developed a plant-based egg alternative, has raised $5 million in seed funding co-led by NFX and Stray Dog Capital, with participation from Surround Ventures and Secret Chord Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

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Earlybird VC, the 25-year-old, Berlin-based venture fund has closed its seventh early-stage fund with €350 million in capital commitments to fund startups in Western Europe. TechCrunch has more here.

Flying Fish, a 5.5-year-old, Seattle-based venture firm, has closed its second fund with $70 million in capital commitments, money it plans to invest in more early-stage machine learning and AI startups — both in its backyard and across the country. The outfit closed its previous fund with $37 million. GeekWire has more here.

Blockchain investment firm Fortis Digital Ventures is raising $100 million for a digital asset fund with an altcoin focus that aims to bridge the gap between traditional and decentralized finance (DeFi), according to a press release. The firm was founded by the managing partners of Fortis Financial Group, a Seattle-based registered investment adviser with about $250 million in assets under management, reports CoinDesk. The Fortis Digital team includes Mike Boroughs, who led wealth management at Fortis Financial, and Chris Capriccio, who previously served as the vice president of engineering at LegalZoom, a company that helps customers create legal documents online. More here.

Jungle Ventures, a 10-year-old, Singapore-based venture firm focused on startups in Southeast Asia and India, has closed its fourth fund with $600 million in capital commitments, with $450 million for new investments and $150 million earmarked for follow-on investments in its portfolio companies. The fund’s close brings Jungle Ventures’s total assets under management to more than $1 billion, which makes it the first independent, Singapore-headquartered venture firm to hit this milestone, says the firm. TechCrunch has more here.

Candle Media, the new media company headed by former Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, has made another acquisition — this time with an eye on social storytelling and reaching a Gen Z to millennial audience. The company announced today it will become the new owner of ATTN:, a media company that uses entertainment to discuss topical issues that help explain the world to a younger audience — particularly those who consume content on social media. TechCrunch has more here.

Lounge, a team communication startup that was looking to reimagine the future of work with features designed for remote and distributed workforces, has now found an exit after Slack entered its same market last year with competitive voice and video tools. Launched by former Life360 employees last year, Lounge confirmed it’s been acquired for an undisclosed sum by Pulse — another company building technology aimed at improving remote worker productivity, but specifically through features that automate updates to users’ Slack status via a combination of AI and custom rules. TechCrunch has more here.

JPMorgan Chase shareholders overwhelmingly objected to a roughly $50 million retention bonus for CEO Jamie Dimon and voted against the bank’s compensation plan yesterday. The vote isn’t binding and Dimon isn’t likely to give back the award, notes the WSJ, calling it a "rare rebuke for Mr. Dimon’s leadership at the head of the nation’s biggest bank."

Eddie Eltoukhy last month joined the seed-stage venture firm Pear as its biotech partner. He joins the Palo Alto, Ca., outfit from Senti Bio, where he oversaw growth, from seed stage to public financing. More here.

TuongVy Le has joined Bain Capital Crypto, the web3 and crypto investing arm of Bain Capital, as partner and head of regulatory and policy. She previously spent nearly six years at the SEC, where she advised SEC officials and and staff on legislative and policy matters including the regulation of digital assets, market structure modernization, and ESG disclosure. Earlier in her career at the agency, she also helped investigate and charge individuals and companies for defrauding U.S. investors.

Netflix confirmed today it has laid off approximately 150 primarily U.S.-based staffers as it works to rein in costs as its top-line growth has slowed down. Deadline reports that a significant number of those let go were in creative, including in original content.

SoftBank-backed photo- and video-editing startup Picsart has laid off 90 employees, or around 8% of its workforce, a company spokesperson tells The Information. Picsart, notes the outlet, is at least the third SoftBank-backed firm to cut staff, following Cameo, which cut a quarter of its staff last week, and Reef Technology, which cut 750 employees earlier this month. More here.

The industry-wide unrest generated by Terra’s collapse last week continues to reverberate—including inside the company. Terra’s in-house legal team has resigned, a Terraform Labs spokesperson confirmed to Decrypt today. More here.

Acrew Capital, the Bay Area-based multi-stage venture firm, is hiring both an associate and a senior associate.

Sequoia Capital has postponed the closing date of its $2.8 billion fund for India and Southeast Asia after alleged financial irregularities and corporate governance issues were discovered at some of its portfolio firms, sources tell the Economic Times. The move was communicated to Sequoia’s limited partners via email, the contents of which the outlet has reviewed. More here.

Apple has suspended its requirement that employees return to the office this month for at least three days a week because of a resurgence of Covid-19 cases. (In related news, New York City health officials have put the city on “high Covid alert," after rising case counts and hospitalizations reached a level that could put substantial pressure on the health care system.)

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