Bytedance wants a bite of Spotify's biz, Microsoft's Canva competitor, and the newest Elizabeth Holmes news

Lawyers for Adam Rosendorff, the former Theranos lab director who testified against founder Elizabeth Holmes in her criminal-fraud trial, asked a judge today to reject a subpoena from Holmes as she seeks a new trial. Last month, Holmes asked for a new trial, citing a visit to her California home by Rosendorff, in which he allegedly expressed regret for his role in her prosecution. But Rosendorff said in a filing today that those statements don’t accurately reflect how he felt then or now. “He wanted to be able to forgive her for the pain and suffering her actions have caused in his life,” his lawyers wrote in the filing. “He wanted to be able to express his condolences that her child may grow up without a mother” if she receives a lengthy prison sentence, they wrote. “And he wanted to be able to draw a line under the nine-year saga of his employment at Theranos, the harassment and intimidation directed at him after he left, his participation in the subsequent investigation, and his high-profile testimony in the trials in this case.” The WSJ has the story here.

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Mori Taheripour teaches negotiations at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where she has taught undergraduates, MBA students and executive MBA students how to have better business conversations. Taheripour has also coached corporate clients, including on behalf of Goldman Sachs and Major League Baseball, about how to feel more confident and comfortable in negotiating, a skill that everyone uses daily but which tends to be seen as a kind of dark art.

Amid the backdrop of one of the highest-profile negotiations in recent memory, centered on Elon Musk’s ongoing stop-and-go plans to buy Twitter, and aware that many readers are negotiating on their own behalf right now — for more time, more funding, a better exit package, fewer investor protections — we talked with Taheripour earlier this week to ask where negotiations tend to falter and how to help them succeed. Excerpts from that chat follow, edited for length and clarity.

You’ve been an expert in dispute resolution and negotiation for more than a decade. You also published a book on the topic during the pandemic that’s been well-received. For people who haven’t yet read it, is the ability to negotiate well somewhat intuitive or entirely learned?

It’s something you learn, and I actually think most people are better negotiators than they think they are because we do it so much. It’s only when we see negotiations through the lens of things that are really transactional and maybe conflict ridden that people put negotiations in a category of things people don’t really enjoy or they’re really afraid of or that are really uncomfortable, and they want to put it off. But any parent, anybody who’s in a relationship, anybody who has employees, anybody who has a pet . . . is probably really good at negotiations.

What are some of the most common missteps people make when they’re in a business-related negotiation process?

More here.

Connex One, a nine-year-old Manchester, UK startup whose customer engagement platform includes customer communication, calling, shift organization, web form designing, and speech analytics tools, raised a $103.7 million Series C round from GP Bullhound. UKTN has more here.

Immersive Labs, a five-year-old startup based in Bristol, UK, that provides realistic simulations and hands-on cybersecurity labs to evaluate individual and team capabilities, raised a $66 million round led by Ten Eleven Ventures; additional investors included Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Summit Partners, Insight Partners, Menlo Ventures, and Citi Ventures. The company has raised a total of $189 million. SecurityWeek has more here.

Inari, a six-year-old Cambridge, Ma., startup that combines AI with multiplex gene editing to make seeds in order to enable sustainable agriculture, raised a $124 million Series E round at a reported $1.5 billion valuation. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Flagship Pioneering co-led, with participation from Hanwha Impact Partners, NGS Super, Banque Pictet, and Sage Hill Investors. The company has raised a total of $506 million. Bloomberg has more here.

TripActions, a seven-year-old, Palo Alto-based corporate travel and expenses company, has raised a combination of equity and debt at a post-money valuation of $9.2 billion, up from its prior valuation of $7.5 billion. The funding is a $154 million equity round from returning investors Andreessen Horowitz and Premji Invest, and a $150 million structured financing deal from Coatue. The deal comes weeks after the Palo Alto-based company was said to have filed confidentially to go public in the second quarter of next year at a $12 billion valuation. TechCrunch has more here.

CrowdStreet, a nine-year-old, Austin startup that raises capital for commercial real estate transactions through crowdfunding, raised a $28 million in round. Investors included TIAA Ventures, Cypress Equity Investments, The Dinerstein Companies, Foulger-Pratt, Grotech Ventures, Rally Ventures, Seven Peaks Ventures, and Green Visor Capital. The company has raised a total of $67.9 million. The Commercial Observer has more here.

Diagrid, a two-year-old, Seattle-based startup founded by a veteran of Microsoft for 22 years, has announced $24.2 million in funding, including a $4.2 million seed round led by Amplify and, just now, a $20 million Series A round led by Norwest Venture Partners. TechCrunch has more here on the company, whose mission is to boost developer productivity by providing tools and APIs for building cloud native applications.

Flueid, a five-year-old Austin startup whose platform provides data to mortgage companies to help them close deals faster, raised a $15 million Series B round from Aquiline Technology Growth and Commerce Ventures and $5 million in debt from Silicon Valley Bank. Built in Austin has more here.

FOLX Health, a two-year-old Boston startup that supplies LGBTQIA+ healthcare services through a diverse network of queer and trans-specialized providers, raised a $30 million Series B round led by 7wireVentures; Foresite Capital and previous investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Define Ventures, and Polaris Partners also joined in. The company has raised a total of $59.4 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Katana, a five-year-old Tallin, Estonia-based maker of ERP software company for small and midsize companies, has raised $35 million in Series B funding led by Northzone, with the participation of Lightrock and earlier investors Atomico and 42CAP. TechCrunch has more here.

Net Purpose, a three-year-old London startup that claims its ESG investing platform "provide[s] investment-grade facts on the social and environmental performance of companies and investment portfolios and no black box ratings or scores," raised an $11 million Series A round led by ETF Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Ntropy, a New York startup whose software helps fintechs classify financial transaction data, raised an $11 million Series A round led by Lakestar, with QED Investors and January Ventures also pitching in. TechCrunch has more here.

Nxyz, a startup based in Mountain View, Ca., that aims to create fast, reliable, and scalable blockchain indexing and data infrastructure, taking real-time data directly from the chains and their associated applications, raised a $40 million Series A round led by Paradigm. Other backers in the round include Coinbase Ventures, Greylock Partners, and Sequoia Capital. CoinDesk has more here.

Pillow, a 15-month-old, Singapore-based platform that says it helps even newbie users save, spend and invest in crypto currency, has raised $18 million in Series A financing co-led by Accel and Quona Capital, with participation from Elevation Capital and Jump Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Pleno, a five-year-old San Diego startup whose mission is to uncover biomarkers to help fight disease, raised a $40 million Series A round led by Deerfield Management Company, with Foresite Capital also participating. The company has raised a total of $55 million. San Diego Tribune has more here.

Solestial, a nine-year-old startup based in Tempe, Az., that is developing solar panel technology for space, raised a $10 million round led by Airbus Ventures; additional investors included AEI HorizonX, GPVC, Stellar Ventures, and Industrious Ventures. The company has raised a total of $11.3 million. More here.

Spren, a startup whose app tracks and API tracks various biomarkers such as stress and cardiovascular performance, raised a $11.3 million seed round, according to Axios. The round was led by Drive by DraftKings, with Boston Seed Capital, Karlani Capital, Permit Ventures, Eli Manning, and Theo Epstein also investing. Axios has more here.

Stairwell, a three-year-old startup based in Mountain View, Ca., whose platform helps security teams responds to attacks, raised a $45 million Series B round led by Section 32, with Sequoia Capital, Accel, Lux Capital, and Gradient Ventures also contributing. The company -- founded by former Google ad boss Sridhar Ramaswamy --  has raised a total of $69.5 million. Silicon Valley Business Journal has more here.

Telda, a one-year-old Cairo startup that has developed a consumer money and payment app for the Egyptian market, raised a $20 million seed round. The investment syndicate included Block, Sequoia Capital, and Global Founders Capital. The company has raised a total of $25 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Vectara, a startup that is developing search technology based on neural networks to challenge keyword-based searches, raised a $20 million seed round from Vertex Ventures, GTM Capital, Top Harvest Capital, Transform VC, Essence VC, Green Sand Equity, Feld Ventures, Stewart Butterfield, and Bradley Horowitz. VentureBeat has more here.

5C Network, an eight-year-old Bengaluru startup that has built an AI-based platform to speed up the distribution of radiological reports to hospitals, raised a $4.6 million Series A round led by Celesta Capital, with Unitus Ventures and Axilor Ventures also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $5.8 million. Mint has more here.

Arch, a New York startup that aims to become the "BlackRock of web3," raised a $5 million seed round. Digital Currency Group and Upload Ventures co-led the deal, with Ripio, TechStars, and GBV also taking part. The Block has more here.

FANtium, a startup based in Zug, Switzerland, that provides a platform that enables sports fans to invest in athletes and participate in their real-world financial success, raised a $2 million pre-seed angel round. SportTechie has more here.

FlapKap, a 10-month-old, Egypt-based startup whose platform provides financing options for e-commerce businesses, raised a $3.6 million round led by QED; Nclude, A15, and Outliers also chipped in. TechCrunch has more here.

Levity.ai, a two-year-old Berlin startup that has built what it claims to be a no-code, AI workflow automation platform, raised an $8.3 million seed round. Balderton Capital and Chalfen Ventures led the round. The company has raised a total of $10 million. VentureBeat has more here.

Lifestores Healthcare, a Nigerian startup that aims to improve the efficiency of Nigeria’s pharmaceutical supply chain through a marketplace and ERP system for pharmacies, raised a $3 million seed round led by Health54, with Aruwa Capital Management also joining in. TechCrunch has more here.

Munch, a 20-month-old, Prague-based "all-in-one" website builder, have raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding led by Notion Capital and Credo Ventures. More here.

Relay, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that helps companies manage repeated workflows, such as launching features, publishing blog posts, running meetings, and onboarding new employees, raised a $5 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures, with Neo, BoxGroup, and SV Angel also participating. More here.

Switch Bioworks, a startup based in San Carlos, CA, that is developing an all-natural nitrogen fertilizer, raised a $2.3 million round. Investors included Emerson Collective, Acre Venture Partners, and Astanor Ventures. Fortune has more here.

Vecmocon, an Indian startup that is building offers battery management systems, vehicle intelligence modules, instrument clusters, and chargers for EVs, raised a $5.2 million seed round. Tiger Global and Blume Ventures were the co-leads. TechCrunch has more here.

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Bill Clerico, a former investment banker, part-time partner at Y Combinator, and founder of an integrated payments company (WePay) that was acquired by JPMorgan Chase, has garnered $35 million in capital commitments for a new venture firm and fund. Called Convective Capital, the idea is to back early-stage startups whose tech can help detect and contain wildfires. The fund plans to invest in roughly 15 companies by writing seven-figure checks. TechCrunch has more here.

Lightrock, a 12-year-old, London-based venture capital and private equity firm, says it has garnered $834 million (€860 million) in capital commitments for a new fund focused on climate tech. The outfit says it will write checks ranging from $10 million to around $40 million for sustainability-focused startups in Europe and North America. Back in May, Lightrock also announced a $300 million fund aimed at startups in Latin America. TechCrunch has more here.

The family office of French entrepreneur Pierre-Edouard Stérin has committed $150 million to a new fund called Resonance that will write seed and Series A stage checks to tech companies across Europe. TechCrunch has much more here.

Vista Equity Partners has agreed to a $4.6 billion all-cash deal to acquire KnowBe4, a publicly traded cybersecurity company specializing in helping enterprise workers avoid phishing attacks. Founded in 2010, Clearwater, Florida-based KnowBe4 delivers simulated phishing attacks via the browser, offering a range of programs spanning videos, games, interactive modules and more. It’s all about getting workers to know how to spot an attack, and reduce the “human error” factor from a company’s attack surface. The company hit the public markets last year after raising more than $300 million in VC funding, but its shares have performed somewhat tepidly in the intervening months, notes TechCrunch. More here.

Miro, an 11-year-old visual collaboration company last valued at $17.5 billion, has quietly acquired Around, a next-generation video conferencing app. The transaction closed in June but both parties kept it under wraps until contacted by Insider this week. Much more here.

The recruitment and job application marketplace The Muse has acquired Fairygodboss, a recruitment platform aimed at women and working mothers. The purchase price was undisclosed, and parties declined to comment on it to TechCrunch, though a source tells the outlet that Fairygodboss is producing about $10 million in yearly revenue, which "infers the purchase price was presumably favorable," says TC. More here.

Elon Musk tweeted today that has sold 10,000 bottles of “Burnt Hair” perfume through his business The Boring Company, earning more than $1 million in sales from the product. Naturally, and fairly, he thinks it's hilarious that this is attracting media attention. (We're wondering if "Musk's Musk" was ever on the table.) 

Elizabeth Warren and six other Democratic senators are pressing Texas’ energy regulator on whether the crypto mining industry is putting additional strain on the state’s grid, and its impact on climate change. Engadget has more here.

Indian edtech giant Byju’s said today it will eliminate 5% of its workforce, or about 2,500 roles, across multiple departments and is cutting its marketing budgets as it looks to improve its finances and achieve profitability by end of the current financial year. The company, valued most recently by its backers at $22 billion, cut hundreds of jobs in June, too. TechCrunch has more here.

TikTok parent ByteDance has reportedly begun talks with music labels about expanding its music-streaming service globally to compete with industry leaders including Spotify. According to the WSJ, significant hurdles remain in the negotiations, but ByteDance wants the service to eventually be integrated within TikTok and to serve as a major platform for distributing music around the world. More here.

Microsoft is launching a simple graphic design app called Designer that will be available for free and as part of Office productivity software subscriptions, the company said today. As CNBC notes, the software represents an alternative to Canva, a design app boasting more than 100 million monthly active users (and that remains privately held for now, with a valuation in the double-digit billions of dollars, per its backers). CNBC has more here.

"We're all trying to get out of it, to be honest," said Andrea Walne, a general partner at Manhattan Venture Partners, which is among other firms that now regret agreeing to provide equity funding to finance Elon Musk's Twitter deal back in April. The banks don't want to hear about it. "They're being very very hush hush about everything," Walne tells Business Insider of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, adding that at times, she has struggled even to get them on the phone.

The first commercial traveler to space plans to go back to orbit with SpaceX on a trip around the moon. Dennis Tito (the very first space tourist) and his wife Akiko purchased two seats on a planned around-the-moon flight on the Starship vehicle SpaceX is developing, the couple tells the WSJ. The flight may be a while off, however.  Notes the WSJ, SpaceX hasn’t attempted to fly Starship to orbit Earth yet, let alone around the moon. More here.

The publicly traded luxury-goods focused consignment business The RealReal has started selling . . . trading cards. (Please don't go out of business; please don't go out of business. 🙏)

How to understand a staggering decline in wildlife.

36 hours in New York City. ❤️ 🍎

Which VC are you?

The Polaroid SX-70 original chrome instant camera, refurbished and restored by Retrospekt.

That floating Ritz Carlton is about to set sail.

Cytonics develops novel therapies to help those living with inflammatory diseases. The biopharma pioneer has raised over $18M to date. In its current round with SeedInvest, Cytonics pursues FDA approval on a leading therapeutic drug for osteoarthritis. This round closes soon. View important disclosures and risks associated with Equity Crowdfunding Investing by clicking here.