“Everybody likes to forecast recessions and there will be one,” billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin said at a CNBC conference in New York today. “It’s just a question of when, and frankly, how hard.” A recession could happen as soon as next year, he added.
More pay transparency is coming to California. The Golden State is joining New York City, Colorado, and Washington in requiring employers to disclose pay ranges in job ads. Protocol has more here.
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Avidbots, an eight-year-old Canadian startup that develops autonomous cleaning robots, raised a $70 million Series C round led by Jeneration Capital, with BMO Capital Partners, Golden Vision Capital, Nicola Wealth, and previous investors True Ventures, Next 47, SOSV, GGV Capital, BDC Capital, Golden Ventures, and Kensington Capital Partners also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $106.4 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Kate Farms, a 12-year-old Santa Barbara startup that produces organic formulas for tube-feeding people with chronic illnesses, as well as oral nutrition shakes for those with shorter-term or milder conditions, raised a $75 million Series C round led by Novo Holdings. Additional capital was provided by Goldman Sachs, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, and Main Street Advisors. The company has raised a total of $188 million. Just Food has more here.
Moxion Power, a two-year-old startup based in Richmond, Ca., that aims to produce battery-powered generators, raised a $100 million Series B round led by Tamarack Global, with Energy Impact Partners, Sunbelt Rentals, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Enterprise Holdings Ventures, Marubeni Ventures, Suffolk Technologies, and Rocketship.vc also piling on. TechCrunch has more here.
Ocelot, a 19-year-old Boulder, Co., startup that provides an AI-based platform to facilitate easier communications between universities and their students around applications for financial aid and other services, raised a $117 million round from K1 Investment Management. TechCrunch has more here.
Pigment, a three-year-old, Paris-based business planning and forecasting platform, has raised $65 million in "Series B+" funding less than a year after originally closing the round with $73 million. IVP and Meritech Capital led the round. TechCrunch has more here.
Satispay, a nine-year-old Milan startup that operates an independent payment network that bypasses big banks and credit companies and promises lower transactions fees and better budget controls for its users, raised a $320 million Series D round at a valuation in excess of $1 billion. The lead investor was Addition, while Coatue, Grehound Capital, Block, Lightrock, Tencent, and Mediolanum Gestione Fondi also participated. The company has raised a total of $466.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Sitetracker, a nine-year-old Palo Alto startup whose platform allows enterprises to deploy infrastructure assets such as electric vehicle charging stations, solar farms, and 5G cell towers, raised a $66 million round led by Energize Ventures as well as $30 million in debt from Bridge Bank. SiliconANGLE has more here.
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Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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AIKON, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that develops autonomous cleaning robots for the commercial market, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Morgan Creek Digital; Blizzard the Avalanche Fund, Up2 Opportunity Fund, Hestia Investments, Yugen Partners, Mighty Capital, Alpha Edison, and Think+ Ventures also chipped in. TechCrunch has more here.
Cionic, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that is incorporating soft exoskeletons into garments to increase mobility for people living with conditions such as strokes, cerebral palsy, and multiple sclerosis, raised a $12.5 million Series A round. BlueRun Ventures was the deal lead, with additional participation from Caffeinated Capital, EPIC Ventures, JobsOhio Growth Capital Fund, and LDV Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Coalesce.io, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that offers tools designed to simplify modeling, cleansing, and governance of data primarily in the Snowflake cloud, raised a $26 million Series A round led by Emergence Capital, with 11.2 Capital, GreatPoint Ventures, and Industry Ventures also participating. TechCrunch has more here.
Deribit, a seven-year-old Panama startup that operates a crypto derivatives exchange, raised a $40 million round at a $400 million valuation from previous investors QCP Capital, Akuna Capital, and 10T Holdings. The company's previous valuation was $2.1 billion, but the company says it tooks a "small hit" after liquidating Three Arrows Capital's positions after the now-bankrupt crypto hedge fund failed to meet margin calls. Deribit has raised a total of $140 million. The Block has more here.
DPL Financial Partners, an eight-year-old startup based in Louisville, Ky., whose product discovery and comparison tools enable insurance advisors to compare a range of commission-free annuity products from leading carriers, raised a $20 million round extension. The deal leads were Eldridge and Atlas Merchant Capital. The company has raised a total of $61 million. More here.
Eclipse, a San Francisco startup that helps crypto developers scale their applications, raised $15 million in pre-seed and seed funding at a nine-figure valuation. Eclipse’s $9 million seed round was co-led by Tribe Capital and Tabiya; other participants in the round included Infinity Ventures Crypto, Soma Capital, Struck Crypto, and CoinList. The platform’s earlier $6 million pre-seed round was led by Polychain Capital and included participation from Tribe Capital, Tabiya, Galileo, Polygon Ventures, The House Fund, and Accel. CoinDesk has more here.
Elicidata, a seven-year-old startup based in Cambridge, Ma., whose machine-learning platform provides R&D teams with access to clean, curated biomolecular data that can be queried and analyzed through a graphical user interface or programmatically, raised a $16 million Series A round. The lead investor was Eight Roads Ventures; F-Prime Capital, IvyCap Ventures, and Hyperplane VC also participated. More here.
Everest Labs, a four-year-old Fremont, Ca., startup that has developed an AI system to help recycling facilities recover more waste on average than they did before, raised a $16.1 million Series A round led by Translink Capital, with additional funds provided by NEC Orchestrating Future Fund, BGV, Sierra Ventures, Morado Ventures, and Xplorer Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Hofy, a two-year-old London startup that delivers office equipment to remote hires, raised a $15 million Series B round. Investors included CNP, Stride, 20VC, Day One Ventures, Kindred Capital, Activum, and TrueSight. The company has raised a total of $30.2 million. TechCrunch has more here.
MPCH Labs, a New York startup founded this year that is developing a customizable operating platform that allows multiple users to securely manage digital assets, wallets, and workflows, raised a $40 million Series A round. Investors included Liberty City Ventures, Animoca Brands, QCP Capital, and Mantis VC. CoinDesk has more here.
Numida, a seven-year-old Ugandan startup that lends capital to small- to medium-size businesses in the country, raised $12.3 million in equity and debt. Serena Ventures led the transaction, while Y Combinator, Breega, 4Di Capital, Launch Africa, and Soma Capital also participated. The company has raised a total of $14.6 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Optellum, a six-year-old startup based in Oxford, U.K., that is developing an AI platform to diagnose and treat early-stage lung cancer, raised a $14 million Series A. The round was led by Mercia, with Intuitive Ventures and Black Opal Ventures also participating. The company has raised a total of $15.3 million. TFN has more here.
Perenna, a four-year-old London startup that aims to offer British consumers 95% loan-to-value mortgages with a fixed-for-life interest rate, raised a $30 million Series A round. IAG Silverstripe was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $40 million. PYMNTS has more here.
Prolific Machines, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that aims to develop cell-based meat without using expensive recombinant proteins for cell production, raised a $42 million seed and Series A. Investors included Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Mayfield. TechCrunch has more here.
Shaype, a four-year-old Australian startup that offers enterprises single API access to a full suite of microservices for payments, KYC, data, insights, and real-time transaction monitoring, raised a $21.5 million Series C round led by previous investor Regal Funds Management. The company has raised a total of $34.1 million. Financial Review has more here.
SINAI Technologies, a five-year-old San Francisco startup whose mission is to help companies automate the way they are monitoring and pricing carbon analysis to better calculate their emissions, raised a $22 million Series A round led by Energize Ventures, with additional investment from Stardust Equity, HighSage, Obvious Ventures, Valo Ventures, Afore, High Alpha, Presidio Ventures, and NEC Translink Capital. The company has raised a total of $36 million. Reuters has more
here.
Space and Time, a startup founded this year based in Newport Beach, Ca., that aims to help web3 app developers simplify their data ecosystems and architectures through automating access to smart contracts, raised a $20 million round led by M12 (Microsoft's VC arm), with Framework Ventures, HashKey, SevenX Ventures, Foresight Ventures, Polygon, and Blizzard also pitching in. TechCrunch has more here.
Sudo Biosciences, a startup based in Menlo Park, Ca., that is developing treatments for autoimmune disorders such as psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and lupus, raised a $37 million Series A round. Frazier Life Sciences and Velosity Capital were the co-leads. FierceBiotech has more here.
Una Brands, a 1.5-year-old Singapore-based e-commerce aggregator focused on brands in the Asia-Pacific region, announced the first close of its Series B round at $30 million today. The funding was led by White Star Capital and Alpha JWC Ventures. The company has now raised a total of $100 million. TechCrunch has more here.
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Block Green, a startup founded less than a year ago and based in ZĂĽg, Switzerland, that has developed a Bitcoin protocol for use in lending and staking transactions, raised a $3.7 million round led by Founders Fund; additional investors included Coinbase Ventures, Dao5, Blizzard, New Layer Capital, and 10X Founders. FENQ has more here.
BlooBloom, a five-year-old London startup that sells "ethical glasses" directly to consumers while fully disclosing their cost and its margins, raised $3.9 million round led by Pembroke VCT, with DMG Ventures also chipping in. Retail Times has more here.
Climate Club, a one-year-old New York startup that incentivizes employees to reduce their carbon consumption, raised a $6.5 million seed round co-led by XYZ Venture Capital and Vestigo Ventures, with Red Sea Ventures and MCJ Collective also anteing up. More here.
Glass, a one-year-old Chicago startup that allows creators to monetizing their videos as NFTs, raised a $5 million seed round. 1kx and TCG Crypto co-led the deal. Gem Hodlers has more here.
Harpie, a one-year-old startup that aims to protect Ethereum wallet users by allowing them to setup a “trusted network” of apps and users they want to send tokens to and blocking any other activity, raised a $4.5 million seed round led by Dragonfly Capital, with Coinbase Ventures and OpenSea also participating. The Block has more here.
HeadsUp, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based outfit whose software helps non-technical sales team sift through data about sales leads, has raised $8.5 million in seed funding led by 645 Ventures, with participation from Wing Venture Capital, Firstminute Capital, and Character, among others. TechCrunch has more here.
Kaleidos, the startup behind open-source design software Penpot, said it raised $8 million in new funding two weeks after Adobe agreed to buy Figma for $20 billion. Decibel, which is backed by Cisco, led the funding round, with participation from Athos Capital, an existing investor. CNBC has more here.
Kaleidoscope, a six-year-old New York startup that is developing an operating system to help keep R&D teams in sync, raised a $6 million seed round co-led by Hummingbird Ventures and Dimension, with Caffeinated Capital, SV Angel, and Hawktail also joining in. More here.
Krypton, a startup that has developed a decentralized exchange where people can conduct peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trades via smart contracts without losing control of control of their funds, raised a $7 million round led by Framework Ventures. Decrypt has more here.
Papaya Technologies, a London startup that is developing software to help fleet operators source and manage electric or light-electric vehicles, raised a $3.5 million seed round led by Giant Ventures, with additional capital provided by Seedcamp, 20VC, FJ Labs, Flexport, and Cocoa. TechCrunch has more here.
Pattern Health, a 10-year-old Durham, N.C., startup that provides a no-code platform to help clinicians and researchers create digital health programs like apps, clinical decision support tools, and surveys, raised a $3.3 million Series A round. The William H. Joyce Family Office led the deal. The company has raised a total of $4.8 million. MobiHealthNews has more here.
Penpot, a Madrid startup that has developed an open source competitor to Figma, raised an $8 million round led by Decibel, with additional investment from Athos Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Scout, a Los Angeles startup that has developed an investing platform organized around lifestyle themes, raised a $2.6 million seed round led by Chingona Ventures, with additional participation from BDMI, OnDeck, OneTeam Partners, Reach Capital, Gaingels, Hustle Fund, Alive VC, Broadhaven Ventures, and basketball star Chris Paul. TechCrunch has more here.
Tavros Therapeutics, a three-year-old Durham, NC, startup that is using functional and computational genomics technologies to develop better cancer drugs, raised $7.5 million in additional seed financing co-led by Piedmont Capital Investments and KdT Ventures; Alexandria Venture Investments also participated. The company has raised a total of $10.5 million. More here.
Workist, a three-year-old Berlin startup whose mission is to automate all the processing of commercial transactions such as purchase orders, invoices, and delivery bills, raised a $9 million round led by Earlybird VC. The company has raised a total of $11.7 million. EU-Startups has more here.
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Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management has debuted the ARK Venture Fund, the firm’s first foray into private investments. The venture fund intends to invest in early- to late-stage private companies and publicly traded businesses similar to those held by ARK’s high-growth, tech-focused exchange-traded funds. The ARK Venture Fund is available to U.S. investors, including individuals, for a minimum initial investment of $500 on the online investment platform of financial-technology startup Titan. The WSJ has more here.
Designer Fund, a 10-year-old, Bay Area-based seed-stage venture firm has closed its third fund with $40 million in capital commitments. Crunchbase News has more here.
Fasanara Capital, an 11-year-old, London-based investment firm, has raised $350 million in capital commitments for a fintech and web3 venture fund. CoinDesk has more here.
Scale Venture Partners, a 22-year-old venture firm focused primarily on enterprise software, says it has closed its eighth fund with $900 million in capital commitments, marking its largest fund to date. TechCrunch has more here.
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Calendly, the scheduling startup that landed with a splash last year when it raised a huge round out of nowhere at a $3 billion+ valuation, has acquired Prelude, a specialist in automating scheduling and organization around to job recruitment. Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed; Prelude had raised $2.4 million from investors that included Sam and Jack Altman, Fuel Capital, Elad Gil and more. TechCrunch has more here.
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TripActions, a startup last valued at $7.25 billion that aims to modernize business travel, has filed confidential paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to go public next year, according to Business Insider. Founded in 2015 by Ariel Cohen and Ilan Twig, the Palo Alto-based company helps businesses manage travel, company cards and expenses for employees. More here.
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Ahmed Al Mosa, who the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) venture team for more than 20 years, has joined Blue Opal Capital. More here.
Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia has joined Tesla’s board of directors; a seat was vacated three months ago when Larry Ellison stepped down from his seat. CNBC has more here.
Nikola founder Trevor Milton’s hype about the electric truck startup’s prospects lulled a real estate investor into accepting millions of dollars in Nikola stock options as partial payment for a 4,600-acre Utah ranch, he told the jury in Milton’s criminal fraud trial. Bloomberg has more here.
Less than two years remarrying, the billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott and her second husband, Dan Jewett, a former science teacher, are parting ways. As the New York Times notes, Jewett's name and a letter he authored have already vanished from the site of the Giving Pledge, where billionaires promise to give away half of their wealth before they die. So have other digital traces of their coupledom. More here.
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AI can now create any image in seconds, bringing wonder and danger. "Do we think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks?” UC Berkeley professor Hany Farid, who specializes in digital forensics, computer vision, and misinformation. tells the Washington Post. “It’s not the early days of the internet anymore, where we can’t see what the bad things are.”
The venture-backed telehealth startup Cerebral treated a 17-year-old without his parents' consent. They found out the day he died.
Inside the human cost of Better.com's layoffs.
GV shelves its algorithm.
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Seven all-inclusive resorts that are in a different category, raves Robb Report.
Iron Man-style jetpacks. (Cost of pretending you are Tony Stark: $400,000.)
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