Long-form Twitter, revoked job offers, and Juul's U.S. market share is apparently about to go up in smoke

Addressing lawmakers earlier today, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave his most explicit acknowledgment to date that steep interest-rate hikes could tip the U.S. economy into recession, saying one is possible and calling a soft landing “very challenging.” Bloomberg has more here.

A top Democratic senator today poured cold water on the prospect of a landmark bipartisan privacy bill advancing this Congress as written, dealing a significant blow to long-stalled efforts to pass federal protections for consumers’ personal data. Citing "major enforcement holes," Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell told The Washington Post that she’s not close to supporting a major proposal recently unveiled by Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate.

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg told CNBC today that the metaverse could be a considerable part of the social-network operator’s business in the second half of the decade. “We hope to basically get to around a billion people in the metaverse doing hundreds of dollars of commerce . . ." More here.

Investors are struggling to leverage the massive amounts of data available today. Synaptic is an indispensable tool for leading VCs, PEs, hedge funds, and sovereign funds to unlock the power of alternative data – like user traffic, employee data, app and product reviews, and more. Our no-code platform unifies 100+ real-time performance metrics on companies around the globe layered with a rich analytics toolkit. To learn how Synaptic can benefit your sourcing, tracking, and due diligence efforts, schedule a personalized demo.

Juul, the e-cigarette company that took the U.S. by storm five years ago — and which was valued at its peak at $38 billion — is about to get kicked out of the country, according to the WSJ. Per the outlet’s report earlier today, the Food & Drug Administration could announce as early as today that the San Francisco-based outfit is no longer allowed to sell its products in the U.S.

The “marketing denial order,” writes the WSJ, would follow a nearly two-year review of data presented by Juul, which in 2019 said it was suspending of all print, broadcast and digital advertising in the United States after parents around the country complained that their children were becoming exposed to — and addicted to — Juul’s products.

The company also agreed to stop selling its sweetly flavored e-liquid pods, including its fruit, creme, mango and cucumber flavors.

Since that time, Juul — which sold a 35% stake in its business to tobacco giant Altria in 2018 for $12.8 billion — has spent millions of dollars to lobby the federal government in the hopes of continuing to sell its tobacco- and menthol-flavored products on the U.S. market.

According to a New York Times report last summer, Juul also submitted a 125,000-page application to the agency; shelled out $40 million to settle just one lawsuit; and paid $51,000 to have the entire May/June 2021 issue of the American Journal of Health Behavior devoted to 11 studies that were funded by the company and aimed to show that Juul products help smokers quit traditional cigarettes.

Juul, which was facing thousands of lawsuits until they were combined into multi-district litigation overseen by a single federal judge, also agreed to pay $22.5 million in April to settle a lawsuit brought by Washington state that alleged the company intentionally targeted teenagers with its products and deceiving consumers about the addictiveness of its products.

As reported at the time, under the terms of the settlement, Juul admitted no wrongdoing or liability, saying it settled “for the purpose of compromising” and to avoid further litigation (litigation that could hamper the headway it hoped to make with the FDA).

Evidently, all that effort was a little too little and came too late, even while the FDA will apparently allow Juul’s biggest rivals, Reynolds American and NJOY Holdings to keep selling their own tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes on the market.

More here.

Alladapt Immunotherapeutics, a four-year-old startup based in Menlo Park, Ca., that is developing an oral immunotherapy designed to treat food allergies, raised a $119 million round led by Elevate Sciences with additional participation from Gurnet Point Capital, Allerfund, Novartis, Red Tree Venture Capital, and WestRiver Group. Fierce Biotech has more here.

Ataccama, a 14-year-old startup based in Toronto that develops data governance, data catalog, data quality and data management capabilities for enterprises, raised a $150 million round from Bain Capital Tactical Opportunities at a $550 million valuation, reports TechCrunch, which has more here.

Cashify, a seven-year-old marketplace for gadgets trade-ins and buybacks in India, has raised $90 million in Series E funding led by Prosus Ventures and NewQuest Capital Partners. Paramark Ventures and earlier backers Bessemer Venture Partners, Blume Ventures and Olympus Capital also participated in the new round, which included some secondary transactions. TechCrunch has more here.

FalconX, a four-year-old startup based in San Mateo, Ca., that operates an institutional-level digital asset platform and crypto brokerage, raised $150 million at an $8 billion valuation. GIC and B Capital Group were the co-leads; Tiger Global Management, Adams Street, and Thoma Bravo also participated. The company has raised a total of $477 million. CoinTelegraph has more here.

Ledger Investing, a six-year-old New York startup that has created a marketplace for insurance risk, raised a $75 million Series B round led by WestCap, with Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Intact Insurance, and previous investors SignalFire, MassMutual Ventures, Allegis Capital, and Accel also contributing. The company has raised a total of $90.8 million. Reinsurance News has more here.

Openly, a five-year-old, Boston-based startup that offers homeowners insurance all "wrapped in modern convenience," has raised $75 million in Series C funding from a mix of new and earlier backers. Among these is Advance Venture Partners, Clocktower Ventures, Obvious Ventures, Gradient Ventures, PJC Ventures, Techstars, and Mtech. Insurance Journal has more here.

Playter, a four-year-old London startup that supplies buy-now-pay later-payment options to small businesses, enabling them spread the cost of such items as software, rent, and marketing over 6 or 12 months, raised $55 million in equity and debt funding. The deal was co-led by Adit Ventures and Fasanara Capital; Fin Capital, Act VC, and 1818 Ventures also participated. The company has raised a total of $58.4 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

Prime Trust, a six-year-old crypto custody platform based in Las Vegas, raised a Series B in excess of $100 million. The investment syndicate included FIS, Fin Capital, Mercato Partners, Kraken Ventures, Commerce Ventures, William Blair & Co., Decasonic, University Growth Fund, Gaingels, GateCap Ventures, and Seven Peaks Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Wefox, a seven-year-old insurtech startup based in Berlin that distributes its insurance policies through a network of agents rather than selling its products directly to consumers, is reported by Bloomberg to be raising a Series D round at a valuation of at least $5 billion. Mubadala, Salesforce Ventures, Horizons Ventures, and Ashton Kutcher's Sound Ventures have all previously invested in the company. Insurance Journal has more here.

Zap Energy, a six-year-old, Seattle-based startup that says it's building a seriously cheap, compact, scalable fusion reactor without using magnets, has raised $160 million in Series C funding. Lowercarbon Capital led the round, joined by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Shell Ventures, DCVC and Valor Equity Partners. Earlier investors Addition, Energy Impact Partners and Chevron Technology Ventures also chipped in. TechCrunch has more here.

AiVF, a four-year-old startup based in Tel Aviv that claims its advanced machine learning and computer vision algorithms have the potential to increase IVF predictability and success rates, raised a $25 million round. Insight Partners and 166 2nd (Adam Neumann’s family office) led the deal. More here.

AppSmith, a three-year-old, Bangalore-based startup that says its open-source low code tool helps developers build dashboards and admin panels very quickly, has raised $41 million in Series B funding. Insight Partners led the round, joined by Accel, Canaan Partners, OSS Capital and individual angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Courier, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that provides an API and “studio” to send and build app notifications across multiple channels, including email, text, web and mobile, has raised $35 million in Series B funding led by GV. TechCrunch has more here.

Cyberint, a twelve-year-old startup based in Tel Aviv that provides security alerts based on dark web data harvesting combined with autonomous analysis of the organization’s attack surface, raised a $28 million Series C co-led by StageOne Late Stage Arm, Neva SGR, and Viola Growth and a $12 million credit line provided by Bank Leumi. The company has raised a total of $68 million. CTech has more here.

Deno, a San Diego startup whose eponymous runtime environment aims to provide a “productive” and secure scripting space that can be used to manage servers and perform scientific computations, raised a $21 million Series A round led by Sequoia Capital. The company has raised a total of $25.9 million. TechCrunch has more here.

FinBox, a seven-year-old startup based in Bangalore that enables both fintech and non-fintech platforms to offer digital financial products, such as personal loans, working capital loans, invoice financing, and buy now/pay later services, raised a $15 million Series A round led by A91 Partners, with Aditya Birla Ventures, Flipkart Ventures, and previous investor Arali Ventures also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $60 million. TechInAsia has more here.

Florence Healthcare, an eight-year-old startup based in Atlanta that offers tools for managing clinical trials, including remotely setting up and monitoring trial sites, managing operations and administrative tasks, collecting digital documents, and receiving informed consent from study participants, raised a $27 million Series C extension. Previous investor Insight Partners led the round. The company has raised a total of $114.1 million. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Gemelli Biotech, a four-year-old startup based in Raleigh, NC, that provides non-invasive precision diagnostics which enable clinicians to detect and treat GI diseases, raised a $19 million Series A round led by Blue Ox; Cedars-Sinai, Carolina Angel Network, and CerraCap Ventures also contributed. The company has raised a total of $28.3 million. More here.

Glowforge, an eight-year-old Seattle startup that has built a 3D laser printer, raised a $43 million Series E led by DFJ Growth, with additional investors including Foundry Group, True Ventures, and Revolution Growth. The company has raised a total of $70 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Idoven, a startup based in Madrid that uses a deep learning system to help clinician's ability to identify, triage, and diagnose heart disease, raised a $12.9 million Series A round co-led by Insight Partners and Northzone, with Wayra also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $22 million. More here.

Join, a five-year-old startup based in Oakland, Ca., that is creating a construction workflow platform, raised a $16 million Series A round led by SignalFire, with additional participation from Ironspring Ventures, Metaprop, Building Ventures, and Standard Ventures. The company has raised a total of $20 million. TechCrunch has more here.

LynxCare, a seven-year-old startup based in Leuven, Belgium, that enables hospitals to unlock legacy data in order to gain better insights into the performance of treatments, raised a €20 million Series A round led by MTIP, with additional participation from Elaia and previous investors Heran Partners, BTOV, and PMV. The company has raised a total of $26.1 million. Tech Gist Africa has more here.

MyOme, a five-year-old startup based in Palo Alto, Ca., that has developed a genomic platform that allows patients and providers to better understand a patient's genetic makeup and susceptibility to disease, raised a $23 million Series B round led by Healthcare Venture Partners; additional investors included SoftBank, Natera, Sequoia Capital, Foresite Capital, and Founders Fund. More here.

PayGlocal, a one-year-old startup based in Bangalore that enables merchants to accept cross-border payments in the currency of their choice, raised $12 million co-led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital India, with BeeNext also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $16.8 million. The Economic Times has more here.

Potloc, an eight-year-old startup based in Montreal that describes itself as a tech-enabled consumer research company that conducts survey sampling through social networks, raised a $27.3 million Series B equity and debt round led by Investissement Québec; additional investors included First Ascent Ventures, Brightspark Ventures, Desjardins Capital, Cap Horn, EcoFuel, BDC Capital, and CICB Innovation Banking. The company has raised a total of $55.3 million. BetaKit has more here.

SHARE Mobility, a six-year-old startup based in Columbus, Oh., that helps companies provide transportation perks to their employees, raised a $12 million Series A funding co-led by Iron Gate Capital and Renewal Funds, with additional capital coming from Employment Technology Fund, JobsOhio, Seamless Capital, TrendForward Capital, Venn Ventures, Jumpstart, LOUD Capital, JMAC, and SustainVC. TechCrunch has more here.

Strapi, a six-year-old, Paris-based open source content management system, says it has raised $31 million in Series B funding led by CRV, with participation from Flex Capital, Index Ventures, and angel investors like former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman. TechCrunch has more here.

Validio, a Stockholm startup whose tools that let users clean up data stored in data warehouses as well as in other places, raised a $15 million. Lakestar led, while J12 also participated. TechCrunch has more here.

Zenysis, a seven-year-old startup based in San Francisco whose mission is to deliver software that governments need to fight disease outbreaks and respond to large-scale emergencies, raised a $13.3 million Series B. Steele Foundation for Hope led the round. The company has raised a total of $21.9 million. TechCrunch has more here.

4CRisk.ai, a three-year-old startup based in Redwood City, Ca., that uses AI to augment regulatory, risk, and compliance professionals to automate time-consuming risk and compliance processes, raised an $8 million Series A round led by Cloud Apps Capital Partners, with Touchdown Ventures also participating. More here.

The Ankler, a five-year-old startup focused on entertainment industry news, raised a $1.5 million seed round. The deal lead was Imagination Capital. Axios has more here.

Fermyon, a one-year-old startup based in Longmont, Co., that helps developers program microservices, raised a $6 million seed round led by Amplify Partners. The company has raised a total of $10 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Lumi Interactive, a startup based in Melbourne that developed "Kinder World," a free mobile game that lets players take care of virtual houseplants by performing real-world mindfulness tasks, raised a $6.75 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with additional investors including 1Up Ventures, Galileo Ventures, and Heracles Capital. VentureBeat has more here.

Mpathic, a one-year-old startup based in Bellevue, Wa., that analyzes conversations happening in texts, emails, and audio calls to help employees identify potential misunderstandings or misinterpretations in their communication, raised a $4 million seed round led by Next Frontier Capital, with Illuminate, Portland Seed Fund, Full-Circle, WXR Fund, Graham & Walker, and First Row Partners also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $5.2 million. GeekWire has more here.

Parallelz, a Toronto startup that claims its technology enables mobile games and apps to run instantly in a browser with no loss in quality, no downloads, no performance losses, and no need for additional coding, raised a $3 million pre-seed round. Investors included AnyQuestion founder and CEO Ed Baker, Product Hunt founder Ryan Hoover, and Maple VC general partner Andre Charoo, along with Global Founders Capital, Play Ventures, Garage Capital, and Two Small Fish Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.

Post Script Media, a four-year-old startup that produces podcasts focused on climate change, raised a $2 million seed round. Prelude Ventures was the deal lead. InsideRadio has more here.

Psyomics, a seven-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that automates the classification of mental health concerns, raised a $2.95 million round led by Parkwalk, with Meltwind and Newable Ventures also ponying up. Insider has more here.

Stotles, a three-year-old London startup that helps businesses sell to governments, raised a $6.5 million seed round led by Headline, with additional funds supplied by Form Ventures, GTMFund, Speedinvest, FJLabs, and 7Percent. Tech.eu has more here.

Thepeer, a one-year-old African startup whose APIs provide an alternative network where fintechs and businesses can embed different sets of products into their applications and websites, raised a $2.1 million seed round led by Raba Partnership, with additional funds provided by RaliCap, Timon Capital, BYLD Ventures, Musha Ventures, Sunu, and Uncovered Fund as well as African fintechs Chipper Cash and Stitch. The company has raised a total of $2.3 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Vergo, a one-year-old startup based in New York that blends elements of banking with project management and accounting software to serve small architectural, engineering, and construction firms, raised a $4.1 million seed round led by CRV; Nine Four Ventures and Forum Ventures also contributed. Tech Startups has more here.

Discover the platform that has secured successful raises for innovative startups like NowRx, Virtuix and Death&Co. Explore the benefits of joining SeedInvest’s community of over 600,000
investors and diversify your portfolio by investing in early stage companies with the potential for growth. Browse startups. *View important disclosures and risks associated with equity crowdfunding investing.

Andreessen Horowitz announced last week that it closed its third Cultural Leadership Fund, an investment vehicle led by partner Megan Holston-Alexander. The firm's offshoot was formed four years ago with a mission to explicitly raise money solely from Black investors, and while a16z isn't sharing the size of the fund, it says it has raised more than $60 million across all of its Cultural Leadership funds. TechCrunch has more here.

Kiko Ventures, a new, London-based evergreen venture investor focused on cleantech and climate tech, has launched a $450 million investment platform. VentureBeat has more here.

eBay announced today that it’s acquiring a four-year-old, Manchester, England-based NFT marketplace KnownOrigin. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition comes a month after eBay launched its first collection of NFTs in partnership with web3 platform OneOf. TechCrunch has more here.

Human Longevity, a nine-year-old, San Diego-based genome sequencing company that was cofounded by Craig Venter, who helped establish the first sequences of the human genome (the company later fired Venter and accused him of stealing secrets), has agreed to go public via a merger with a blank-check company called Freedom Acquisition I Corp. The deal values the company, which has raised at least $330 million from investors, at about $1 billion. FierceBiotech has more here.

Justin Choi says he has stepped down as a managing director with CVC Capital Partners to join Coinbase as head of corporate development and Coinbase Ventures in Asia-Pacific. He shares more on LinkedIn here. 

MasterClass, the education platform that sells subscriptions to celebrity-taught classes, has cut 20% of its team to get to “self sustainability faster." More here. The micromobility companies Voi and Superpedestrian also announced layoffs.

Porsche Ventures, the venture division of the sports car manufacturer, is looking to hire an investment associate into its team in Palo Alto, Ca. 

Twitter is officially rolling out a long-form "Notes" feature.

It looks like Americans and Canadians are getting nothing from Carl Pei's buzzy phone firm.

Meta Platforms has won a judge’s backing to obtain information from ByteDance's TikTok, Tencent Holdings’s WeChat and Telegram Group to bolster its defense against an antitrust lawsuit by the US Federal Trade Commission. Meta has argued it needs data on each company’s user base and market share to defend itself against the FTC’s suit.

Over the last week of May, Twitter reportedly rang up some members of its incoming class of new hires revoked the recent graduates' job offers in 15-minute calls. Twitter was hardly alone, says Reuters, noting numerous tech companies have been yanking job offers and leaving college graduates scrambling. “It feels a bit like a race against the clock before we see a bigger economic downturn. Pretty soon, I’m also going to be competing against people graduating in 2023," one electrical engineering grad tells the outlet.

The Ohio State University has successfully trademarked the word “THE,” in a victory that's sure to produce eye rolls from Michigan fans.

One of Hong Kong’s most renowned restaurants just gave new meaning to the words “going under.”:(

The second-most-popular bachelorette destination in the U.S.

A treehouse in Manhattan. Inside a condo.

The Best Grilling Cookbook Ever Written By Two Idiots.

Add startups to your portfolio with as little as $1,000 with SeedInvest, the equity crowdfunding platform providing access to highly-vetted investment opportunities across a range of sectors and stages. Explore a curated selection of companies vetted by our Venture Team, review details including terms sheets, team, perks, and start investing. Browse startups. *View important disclosures and risks associated with equity crowdfunding investing.