Elliott ditches SoftBank, Boom's big agreement, and over-the-counter hearing aids get help from the FDA

The Food and Drug Administration said today it will allow some hearing aids to be sold over the counter, aiming to widen their availability in ways that could bring down costs and encourage development of better devices. The WSJ has more here

Hedge fund Elliott Management has dumped almost all of its position in SoftBank, having lost faith in founder Masayoshi Son's ability to turn the company's fortunes around. The FT has more here.

Most major research teams like Goldman Sachs are forecasting equity returns of 3-4% over the next decade – not even breaking inflation at its current levels. In other words, investors could be facing negative real returns for years. But one often-overlooked market has actually appreciated by 33% on average during periods of inflation and sluggish economic growth. With Masterworks, this formerly-exclusive asset class has now been opened to all investors. Just follow today’s special link to skip the waitlist. See important Regulation A disclosures.

AtoB, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based startup at work on a payment system specifically designed for truckers, tells Forbes it recently raised $75 million in equity funding led by investor-entrepreneur Elad Gil and General Catalyst. It also secured $80 million in debt funding. More here.

Guesty, a nearly nine-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based company whose platform is used to manage property listings across multiple sites like Airbnb, Vrbo, Expedia and Booking.com, just raised $170 million. Apax Digital Funds, MSD Partners and Sixth Street Growth co-led the round; TechCrunch has more here.

Mudflap, a 4.5-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based startup behind a fuel discount app for truck drivers, has raised $50 million in Series B funding, says Fortune. QED and 9Yards Capital led the round, joined by Commerce Ventures and others. More here.

Pliops, a five-year-old, Israel-based data processing chip startup, has raised $100 million in Series D funding led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, with participation from SK Hynix and Walden International’s Lip-Bu Tan. The company has now raised more than $200 million altogether, reports TechCrunch.

SAIC Mobility Robotaxi, an arm of state-owned Chinese automaker SAIC that aims to launch a commercial robotaxi service, has raised $148 million in Series B funding led by SAIC Group. Other investors in the round include Momenta, Gaoheng Management Consulting and other institutions. TechCrunch has more here.

TerraPower, a 16-year-old, Bellevue, Wa.-based nuclear power company co-founded by Bill Gates, has raised at least $750 million in new funding led by Gates and SK, a large South Korean conglomerate that is one of South Korea’s largest energy providers. CNBC has more here.

Arc, a 20-month-old, San Francisco-based financing company that caters to SaaS startups, has raised $20 million in Series A financing led by Left Lane Capital. Other participants in the round included NFX, Y Combinator, Clocktower Technology Ventures, Torch Capital, Atalaya, Bain Capital Ventures, and Dreamers VC. TechCrunch has more here.

Eat Just, the 11-year-old, San Francisco-based developer of plant-based alternatives to conventionally produced egg products and meat products, has secured $25 million from C2 Capital Partners, a private equity firm with Alibaba as its anchor investor. Just Eat, earlier known as Hampton Creek, launched in China three years ago; TechCrunch has more here.

Explo, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based startup centered around tool for building customized business intelligence dashboards, has raised $12 million in Series A funding. Craft Ventures led the round, joined by Felicis Ventures, Amplo VC, and various industry angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.

GrayMatter, a 2.5-year-old, Gardena, Ca.-based startup developing robots and sensor networks to automate factory tasks that its industrial customers deems too tedious or ergonomically challenging for humans, has raised $20 million in Series A funding. Bow Capital led the round, joined by earlier investors B Capital Group, Calibrate Ventures, OCA Ventures, Pathbreaker Ventures, Stage Venture Partners, and 3M Ventures. New investors including Swift Ventures also joined the financing round. Dot.LA has more here.

Materna Medical, a 12-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based OBGYN platform, has raised $20 million in Series B funding. InnovaHealth Partners led the round, joined by Wavemaker 360 Health and Kimera. Forbes has more here.

Northbeam, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based e-commerce and DTC marketing measurement startup, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Silversmith Capital Partners. Business Insider has more here.

Pomelo, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based lending startup, has raised $20 million in seed funding led by Keith Rabois at Founders Fund and Kevin Hartz at A* Capital, with participation from Afore Capital, Xfund, investor Josh Buckley and The Chainsmokers. The company has also secured $50 million in debt. TechCrunch has more here.

Atarraya, a 3.5-year-old, Mexico City-based shrimp farming technology company, has raised $3.9 million in Series A funding led by Jeff Horing of Insight Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Dr. B, a two-year-old, New York-based prescription fulfillment startup, has raised $8 million in new funding led by Lerer Hippeau and Founders Fund, Axios Pro has more here.

Chamberlain Coffee, a two-year-old, Los Angeles-based coffee company founded by YouTube influencer Emma Chamberlain, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Blazar Capital, with numerous individuals participating. Forbes has more here.

Byte Kitchen, a year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based startup that works to scale independent restaurants via its Noshery food halls, has raised $6 million in funding led by Crosslink Capital, Emergent Ventures and entrepreneur-investor Kevin Mahaffey, with participation from Correlation Ventures, Wndrco, Soma Capital, and Y Combinator, among others. The San Francisco Business Times has more here.

Closinglock, a five-year-old, Austin-based maker of wire fraud prevention software for the real estate industry, raised $4 million in seed funding led by LiveOak Venture Partners, with RWT Horizons and GTMfund also participating. More here.

Flyway, a year-old, London and Athens-based proptech company offering fully managed second home co-ownership, has raised $10 million in seed and debt funding from a number of institutional and angel investors. Flyway's co-founder and CEO, Nikos Drandakis, previously founded Beat, a ride-hailing app that Daimler acquired. More here.

The next recession isn’t just coming – it's already here. With investor confidence declining across the board, 67% of top financial advisors just revealed that they are trading their exposure to public equities for exposure to alternative investments. What makes art an attractive alternative? It’s a $2 trillion asset class that's appreciated more than 3x the S&P in the last 25 years. Masterworks allows you to join this once-exclusive club. Just follow today’s special link to skip the waitlist. See important Regulation A disclosures.

Agya Ventures, a 3.5-year-old, New York-based early-stage venture firm focused on real estate tech and the metaverse, has closed its debut fund with $32 million in capital commitments. The Commercial Observer has more here.

A crypto venture company, Dragonfly, has acquired MetaStable, one of the oldest investment funds in cryptocurrencies, and completed a rebranding, reports Bloomberg. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Dragonfly added the firm has dropped “Capital” in its name under a new logo. More here.

Two SPACs sponsored by investor Chamath Palihapitiya (called "The Pied Piper of SPACs" by the New Yorker last year) are struggling to complete deals. Bloomberg has more here.

Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison is selling an estate in North Palm Beach, Fla., for almost double the price he paid for it last year.

Elon Musk says he was joking about buying Manchester United, the kidder.

The hottest L.A. startups right now, according to the VCs who love them.

American Airlines has agreed to buy 20 supersonic planes from Boom, a year after United Airlines agreed to buy 15 of its jets. We've been fascinated with this company since sitting down with founder and CEO Blake Scholl at a StrictlyVC event in 2019. Boom says its Overture jet will fly as fast as Mach 1.7, or 1,304 mph, dramatically cutting trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific flight times. Still, notes CNBC, the Overture is years away from becoming a reality. More here.

Twitter is trying to get its hands on Elon Musk's text messages amid its $44 billion legal battle with him, new court documents show. The company yesterday said it wants a search conducted of all of Musk's text messages during "the relevant period" for "material" related to its lawsuit. Business Insider has more here.

Federal Trade Commission officials have made unreasonable demands of Amazon, including targeting employees' homes to serve subpoenas, as part of the agency's investigation into the company's Prime membership program and other subscription services, Amazon said in a new legal filing. Nearly 20 current and former Amazon employees and executives, including founder Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy, were subpoenaed as part of the probe.  Business Insider has more here.

After almost four years in charge, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon's strategy to diversify the bank has not been as transformative as many had hoped, reports the FT.

Why border smugglers are trafficking bologna.

When every ketchup but once went extinct.

"Hello, aspiring minimalists, and welcome to today’s episode of 'Cut the Crap!'"

Sleep in a human-size dog bed (if you must).

A hot sauce to spice up your cocktails.