BlockFi's fire sale, Meta's memo, and confirmed: founders say venture investors are offering tougher terms

The S&P 500 suffered its worst first half since 1970 but analysis by S&P Dow Jones Indices says historically there has been little to no correlation between the index’s performance in the first and second half of the year. 🤞

The crypto exchange FTX is close to finalizing a term sheet to buy BlockFi and a deal is expected to be signed by the end of this week, reports CNBC. It comes after FTX provided a $250 million emergency line of credit to BlockFi. The price tag is well below BlockFi’s last valuation ($4.8 billion), leaving equity investors in BlockFi wiped out. One source tells CNBC that FTX is expected to pay roughly $25 million for the five-year-old, Jersey City, N.J.-based crypto lending company. Another CNBC source pegs the price at $50 million. (Cofounder and CEO Zac Prince meanwhile tweeted today that he can "100% confirm that we aren't being sold for $25M.") 

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Cleo, a six-year-old London startup whose app helps Gen Z users improve their financial planning, raised an $80 million Series C at a $500 million valuation led by Sofina, with EQT Ventures, Balderton, and LocalGlobe also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $137.3 million. Fintech Futures has more here.

ReCode Therapeutics, a seven-year-old startup based in Dallas that is developing genetic therapies for cystic fibrosis and primary ciliary dyskinesia, raised a $120 million Series B extension led by Leaps by Bayer and AyurMaya; Amgen Ventures also participated. The company has raised a total of $282 million. FierceBiotech has more here.

April, a one-year-old New York startup that has built a personal income tax platform that embeds into digital financial apps, raised a $30 million Series A led by Treasury, with additional investment from QED Investors, Nyca Partners, Team8, Euclidean Capital, and Atento Capital. The company has raised a total of $40 million. More here.

Aware, a five-year-old Berlin startup whose subscription service will allow patients to receive a detailed snapshot of their current health condition via regular blood draws, raised a $15 million seed round. Lakestar, Cherry Ventures, and June Fund were the co-leads. Sifted has more here.

Btt, a 17-year-old startup based in Aventura, Fl., that says it's harnessing the power of brain thermodynamics, thermoregulatory frequencies, and AI to develop molecular treatments for neurologic diseases, raised a $29.3 million round from Oklahoma Rock Holdings. More here.

Collage Group, a nine-year-old startup based in Bethesda, Md., that offers brands consumer data in areas such as race, ethnicity, generation, LGBTQ+, and identity and gender, raised a $25 million round led by Wavecrest Growth Partners. Technically has more here.

Fleetzero, a year-old, New Orleans-based startup aiming to build battery-electric cargo ships to affordably decarbonize ocean freight, has raised $15.5 million in funding led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with participation from Founders Fund, McKinley Capital and previous investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Modular, a five-year-old startup based in the Bay area that is creating an artificial intelligence development platform, raised a $30 million seed round led by GV, with additional participation from Greylock, The Factory, and SV Angel. TechCrunch has more here.

Mona, a year-old, San Francisco startup offering a platform for creators to build and sell virtual metaverse worlds as NFTs, has raised $14.6 million in new funding co-led by Protocol Labs, Archetype and Collab+Currency. VentureBeat has more here.

Omeda Studios, a two-year-old startup based in London that focuses on developing multiplayer online battle arena games, raised a $20 million Series A funding led by Haveli Investments. The company has raised a total of $22.2 million. VentureBeat has more here.

Progcap, a five-year-old New Delhi startup that is extending revolving credit lines of $10,000 to $12,500 to more than 700,000 small retailers, raised a $40 million round led by Creation Investments, with Tiger Global Management, Google, and Sequoia Capital India rounding out the financing. The company has raised a total of $102 million. Business Standard has more here.

Soba, a nearly three-year-old startup based in Berlin that is developing a web 3 platform to allow anyone to create games for any device using no-code tools, raised a $13.5 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with FTX Ventures and Cherry Ventures also contributing to the financing. VentureBeat has more here.

Stake, a four-year-old New York startup that enables renters to earn cash back when they take positive actions like signing a lease and paying rent, raised a $12 million Series A led by RET Ventures, with additional participation from Enterprise Community Partners, Hometeam Ventures, Operator Stack, Second Century Ventures, Shadow Ventures, and Olive Tree Ventures. The company has raised a total of $16.9 million. More here.

TaskHuman, a five-year-old startup based in Palo Alto, Ca., that provides consumers and companies with access to its network of professional development coaches, raised a $20 million Series B round led by Madrona; additional investors included Impact VC, RingCentral Ventures, Sure Ventures, USVP, Gaingels, PeopleTech Angels, Propel(x), and Zoom Ventures. The company has raised a total of $33 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Visby Medical, a 10-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based medical diagnostics company whose mission is to provide fast and accurate PCR results right at the point of care, has raised $35 million in extended Series E funding, bring the round, closed earlier this year, to $135 million altogether. Lightrock led the tranche, joined by earlier backers John Doerr, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, ND Capital, Artiman Ventures, Pitango Venture Capital, Blue Water Life Science Advisors and J Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
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WiredScore, a nine-year-old New York startup that has created digital connectivity and smart building rating certifications for real estate developers, raised a $15 million Series B led by Beringea, with additional investment from Cushman & Wakefield, Crow Holdings, Taronga Ventures, Fifth Wall, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Jona Capital. The company has raised a total of $24 million. More here.

Helios, a ten-year-old Tel Aviv startup that aims to help developers spot problems in their software in the development phase, raised a $5 million seed round co-led by Entrée Capital and Amiti VC. TechCrunch has more here.

HomeLister, a seven-year-old, digital brokerage and real estate startup in Santa Monica that gives homeowners a way to list and sell their properties online, with support, has raised $10 million in Series A funding co-led by M13 and Homebrew. The outfit has now raised nearly $15 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Kukua, a seven-year-old educational entertainment startup based in Nairobi that claims to have created the first African animated superhero franchise, raised a $6 million round co-led by Tencent and Alchimia; additional investors included EchoVC, firstminute Capital, and Auxxo Female Catalyst. The company has raised a total of $8.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Modo Energy, a startup based in Birmingham, U.K., that benchmarks the performance of various energy storage assets and helps funds, banks, and investors realize the best returns while working towards sustainability goals, raised a $3.9 million pre-Series A round. Fred Olsen Ltd. led the deal, while Triple Point Ventures also participated. EU-Startups has more here.

MoHash, an Indian startup that is building a decentralized finance protocol that will tap into global capital and liquidity for alternative asset investors in fast-growing economies, raised a $6 million seed round led by Sequoia India & Southeast Asia and Quona Capital; Ledger Prime, Jump Crypto, Hashed Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and CoinSwitch also chipped in. TechCrunch has more here.

Ophelos, a three-year-old London startup that uses AI to help businesses assess consumers' debt, raised a £5 million round led by AlbionVC, with additional capital provided by Vast Ventures, Form Ventures, Connect Ventures, and Fly Ventures. The company has raised a total of $7.3 million. AltFi has more here.

Sava, a South African startup that is developing a spend management platform primarily aimed at small African businesses, raised a $2 million pre-seed round; investors included Quona Capital, Breega, CRE Ventures, Ingressive Capital, RaliCap, Unicorn Growth Capital, and Sherpa Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Trinsic, a three-year-old, New York crypto identity management startup, raised a $8.5 million seed round led by Georgian, with additional investment from Forward Venture Capital. The company has raised a total of $9 million. More here.

Tyson 2.0, the 10-month-old, Orange County, Ca.-based cannabis brand of boxer Mike Tyson, has raised $9 million in Series A funding led by JW Asset Management and its president and CIO, Jason Wild. Other investors in round include K2, Ambria Capital, and Tress Capital. More here.

Vibrant, a two-year-old startup based in Copenhagen whose app transforms Android devices into points of sale, raised a $4.2 million seed round from lead investor byFounders, with Luminar Ventures also pitching in. Tech.EU has more here.

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Financial services startup Carta has been in talks to acquire Vauban, a London-based startup that provides software for raising venture capital funds and investing capital, according to The Information. Carta, which builds software for startups and investors to track their equity stakes, raised $500 million at a $7.4 billion valuation last summer in a round led by Silver Lake Partners; Vauban, founded in 2018, sells access to software to help angel investors pool capital for an investment, and it has raised at least $6.3 million from investors. More here.

Enjoy Technology, a retail startup founded by former Apple executive Ron Johnson, filed for bankruptcy today, less than a year after going public through a merger with a blank-check company. Enjoy operates what it calls mobile retail stores that help consumers buy and set up technology gadgets, like mobile phones, in their homes. The Palo Alto-based company, which was founded in 2014, has struggled to raise the capital needed to fund its operations lately, according to court papers reviewed by Bloomberg.

The Apple lawyer who was once responsible for enforcing the company’s insider trading policy admitted he used his access to draft SEC filings to personally profit. Gene Levoff, Apple’s former director of corporate law, pleaded guilty today to six counts of securities fraud between 2011 and 2016. Levoff, 48, was co-chairman of the company’s disclosure committee, which allowed him to see Apple’s revenue and earnings statements before they were filed with the SEC. Bloomberg has the story here.

Elon Musk is on his longest stretch without posting on Twitter in nearly five years, a nine-day hiatus that comes in the midst of tumultuous efforts to complete his planned $44 billion deal to buy the platform. The WSJ has more here.

Plug and Play Tech Center is hiring venture associates in Sunnyvale, Cleveland, and Chicago.

Facebook-parent Meta has warned employees to expect a tough second half of the year as the company continues to weather challenges related to its core online advertising business amid a weakening economy.

A driverless robotaxi fleet was reportedly paralyzed for hours in San Francisco yesterday, with the internet speculating the cars might be unionizing (among other theories).

Confirmed: startup founders say venture-capital investors are offering tougher terms as companies attempt to raise money amid economic uncertainty and a broad selloff in tech stocks.

A Chainsmokers' song becomes a rallying cry.

Where the French travel in France.

Your kids have totally been off screens and playing outside for the entire 15 minutes before you picked them up.

"Wearable onion" and other perfumes for men.

"Hot Property: San Diego."

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