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The price of Bitcoin fell below $20,000 for the first time since December 2020 on Saturday and it appears to be struggling to stay above that threshold as we type. According to Decrypt, the Bitcoin
selloff from Thursday to Saturday marked the largest realized loss ever for the top cryptocurrency by market cap, with investors recording $7.3 billion of locked-in losses.
Stock futures are rising in overnight trading as investors assess a more aggressive Federal Reserve and rising chances of a recession. As of of 6 pm EST, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained more than 250 points. S&P 500 futures climbed 1.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures also rose 1.1%. U.S. stock markets were closed earlier today for Juneteenth. CNBC has more here.
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Newcleo, a 1.5-year-old, London-based developer of nuclear technology that aims to reduce radioactive waste and prevent nuclear accidents by keeping the reactors it plans to build in a constant, subcritical state, has raised €300 million in funding. Investors include the Agnelli family’s holding company Exor NV, Italian asset managers Azimut Holding SpA, as well as a number of wealthy Italian businesspeople, such as ex-Goldman Sachs Group banker Claudio Costamagna. Bloomberg has more here.
Platform.sh, a seven-year-old, Bay Area-based platform-as-a-service focused continuous deployment, has raised $140 million in Series D funding co-led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, Revaia, and Digital Partners. Other participants in the round -- which brings the company's total funding to $187 million -- included BGV, Eurazeo, Hiinov, and Partech. TechCrunch has more here.
Wahed, a seven-year-old, New York-based fintech whose savings and investment products let Muslim customers invest in line with their faith -- for instance, by avoiding companies earning profits from lending, gambling, alcohol and tobacco -- has raised $50 million in Series B funding. Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Center, led the round. Bloomberg has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Epsilon3, a 1.5-year-old, Los Angeles-based software startup whose web-based platform provides collaboration tools for spacecraft manufacturing and operations, says it has raised $15 million in Series A funding. Earlier backer Lux Capital led the round. SpaceNews has more here.
Instanda, a six-year-old, London-based company that says its no-code core infrastructure for insurers allows them to deploy and orchestrate product portfolios quickly and easily, has raised $45 million in a Series B funding round led by Toscafund, with participation from earlier backer Dale Ventures. The company has now raised $73 million altogether. Tech.eu has more here.
Sales Layer, a nine-year-old, Boston-based software-as-a-service company that helps its customers distribute and automatically synchronize their product catalogs across sales channels (print, mobile, social media, e-commerce, etc.), has raised $25 million in Series B funding. PeakSpan Capital led the round, joined by earlier backers Swanlaab and Bright Pixel Capital. More here.
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Astaria, a four-month-old, New York-based NFT lending platform that says it offers instant liquidity, has raised $8 million in seed funding. Backers include True Ventures, Arrington Capital, Ethereal Ventures, Wintermute, Genesis Trading, LedgerPrime, Hypersphere Ventures, and Republic Capital, among others. Coindesk has more here.
Plobal Apps, a six-year-old, Pune, India-based, no-code mobile app platform for e-commerce stores, has raised $8.5 million in funding led by Elevation Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners. More here.
Rider, a three-year-old, Karachi, Pakistan-based startup on an “Amazon-like” mission to delivery items products to customers the next day on behalf of its customers, has raised $3.1 million in new funding from Y Combinator. Other backers in the round include i2i, Flexport, Soma Capital and Rebel Fund. The company has now raised $5.4 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Saltalk, a five-year-old, Santa Clara. Ca.-based ghost kitchen startup, has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Foothill Ventures. The outfit has now raised $10 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Sports Gambling Guides, a two-year-old, New York-based social media sports marketing company, says it has raised $2 million in a second round of seed funding from Astralis Capital, among others. More here.
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Blu Venture Investors Cyber GP, a 12-year-old, Vienna, Va.-based venture firm focused on early-stage investments in the cybersecurity and technology industries, says it closed a new fund with "just under" $25 million in capital commitments from 95 new and earlier limited partners. Blu Ventures says it has already deployed $97 million in capital to date. More here.
Robin and Saul Klein’s venture vehicles LocalGlobe and Latitude are now under one parent organization dubbed Phoenix Court Group. In conjunction with the rebrand, the combined outfit has announced a $500 million fund aimed at backing founders from pre-seed right on through to an IPO and beyond. Tech.eu has more here.
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ABB is delaying the $750 million IPO of its electric-car charging business, saying a listing would depend on improved market conditions. The market rout has made it challenging to proceed with the offering in the current quarter, ABB said today, adding that it remains “fully committed” to listing the business on the Swiss stock exchange. Bloomberg has more here.
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MrBeast and crew have donated $3 million to Ukrainian refugees.
The cofounders of Zilingo—Dhruv Kapoor and Ankiti Bose—have proposed to buy existing investors' stakes in the troubled fashion startup amid prospects of liquidation. “Given the potential of the business and the value you know this company can achieve, I urge you to consider the management buyout as a preferred alternative to voluntary liquidation,” Kapoor said in the proposal sent to the Zilingo board last night, a copy of which was sent to Forbes Asia. Bose—terminated as CEO in May following an internal accounting probe— reportedly told the board shortly after that she endorses the proposed plan and encourages "all shareholders of Zilingo to see beyond the personal differences here and do what’s right." More here.
Citymall, a three-year-old, Gurugram, India-based "social commerce marketplace" that features categories like groceries, consumer goods, electronics and fashion, has become among the latest startups in the country to follow the playbook of U.S. companies and slash its workforce. The outfit, which has raised $110 million in funding from General Catalyst, Elevation, Accel and Waterbridge, just laid off 191 employees, citing "structural changes across functions." Financial Express has more here.
In related news, Unacademy, a seven-year-old, Bangalore-based edtech platform, has let go off over 150 employees from PrepLadder, a post-graduate medical entrance exam preparation platform that it had acquired for $50 million in 2020. The company separately laid off 600 of its 6,000 workers in April. CNBC has more here.
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Ukraine just sold a CryptoPunk NFT that was given to the country in March near the start of its crypto fundraising campaign. Worth as much as $260,000 when it was first transferred Ukraine's Ethereum wallet, it offloaded it now for 90 ETH, or just over $100,000. Coindesk has more here.
The new era of legalized betting isn't so great for Americans, and neither are the many ads targeting new customers. For one thing, the boom has led to a massive increase in inquiries to the National Problem Gambling Helpline Network, which received 270,000 calls, texts and chats last year — a 45% jump over the prior year. NPR has the story here.
EY’s plan to split its audit and advisory operations is set to hand partners shares worth up to $8 million each, according to the Financial Times. The Big Four firm is preparing to break up its global business as part of the biggest upheaval of the accounting sector in two decade, it notes. More here.
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The many VR headset prototypes of Meta (though none of them are shipping).
Self-driving big rigs are coming. Is America ready?
Amazon drones are heading to town. Some locals want to shoot them.
Software startup Solend, a lending platform built on the Solana blockchain, tried to gain control of a so-called “whale” account that it said was putting the protocol at risk. It’s apparently an unprecedented move in world of DeFi, which aims to recreate lending and other financial services without the involvement of intermediaries like banks. Solend’s users have since voted to block the move. CNBC has more here.
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