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Drat. We missed the chance today to interview on stage Greg Solano, cofounder of the money-minting machine Yuga Labs, which has spun out the Bored Ape and Mutant Ape and Mecha Ape NFT collections; acquired the intellectual property of the CryptoKitties and Meebits NFT collections; and is busy at work on a metaverse called Otherside that's powered by the British metaverse tech company Improbable. (You might have seen its snazzy trailer before.)
We had all kinds of questions for Solano. We were eager to learn how much Yuga Labs receives in royalty fees from the secondary sales of its growing output of NFTs, and how it keeps its "cool" factor once its metaverse is open wide to everyone, which is the plan and probably has to be. (No one wants to hang out in an empty metaverse, as Facebook is learning the hard way.)
Naturally, we wanted to ask, too, about falling NFT trading volume and that SEC probe and the company's growing emphasis on NFTs as intellectual property. The idea is that if you buy an NFT from
Yuga Labs, you can use it to create your own business around it, but it's not clear how many people can pull this off who aren't Snoop Dogg, who could find an audience for anything he sells. (The company does also like to point to a restaurant in Long Beach called Bored & Hungry.)
Alas, it was not to be. Solano -- who seems down to earth in person, despite how much his life has presumably changed in just the 20 months(!) since Yuga Labs was founded -- called in sick at the eleventh hour. Hopefully we'll talk with him another time. Now that we've finally dived into it all, we're genuinely intrigued.
P.S. Note that Yuga Labs CEO Nicole Muniz is separately speaking at TechCrunch's Crypto Miami event two weeks from today. You should go if you live in Miami.
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Stripe has announced that it’s laying off 14% of its workers, impacting around 1,120 of the fintech giant’s 8,000 workforce. The latest round of layoffs follows a string of cutbacks in the fintech sphere, with Brex last month revealing it was laying off 11% of its workforce, while just yesterday Chime confirmed that 12% of its employees will lose their jobs. “We overhired for the world we’re in," Patrick Collison wrote in a memo to employees that the company published online. TechCrunch has more here.
Lyft also said today that it is conducting layoffs. It's cutting 13% of its workforce as it tries to reduce operating expenses, according to a securities filing. The ride-hailing company described the cuts as proactive step to ensure it “is set up to accelerate execution and deliver strong business results in Q4 of 2022 and in 2023.” TechCrunch has more here.
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AMP Robotics, an eight-year-old startup based in Louisville, Co., that produces AI software and robotic equipment used to automate sorting of recyclable materials in waste streams, raised a $91 million Series C round co-led by Congruent Ventures and Wellington Management and including Blue Earth Capital, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, Tao Capital Partners, XN, Sequoia Capital, GV, Range Ventures, and Valor Equity Partners. The company has raised a total of $167.1 million. The Boulder Daily Camera has more here.
Aventon, a 10-year-old electric-bike maker that's based in the U.S. and China, is raising a round of funding led by Sequoia Capital China at a post-money valuation of $590 million, reports The Information. The company last raised funding eight months ago at a $200 million valuation, it says. More here.
Emalex Biosciences, a four-year-old Chicago startup that is developing a drug to address Tourette Syndrome, raised a $250 million Series D round led by Bain Capital Life Sciences, with Fidelity, Valor Equity Partners, and Paragon Biosciences also participating. The company has raised a total of $285 million. More here.
project44, an eight-year-old Chicago startup that helps shippers, carriers, and logistics professionals manage their supply chains, raised an $80 million round at a $2.7 billion valuation. Generation Investment Management and A.P. Moller Holding were the co-leads; CMA CGM, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, TPG, Emergence Capital, Chicago Ventures, Sapphire, 8VC, Sozo Ventures, and Omidyar Technology Ventures also contributed. The company has raised a total of $897.5 million. Reuters has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Concerto Biosciences, a two-year-old startup based in Cambridge, Ma., that is designing microbial communities that restore deficient microbiomes in order to treat disease, raised a $23 million Series A round led by Safar Partners, with Horizons Ventures and M Ventures also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $26 million. More here.
Dropit, an eight-year-old London startup whose mission is to unify merchants’ online and in-store inventories, raised a $25 million Series C round led by Vault Investments, with Tiga Investments, Axentia, and Sugarbee also taking part. The company has raised a total of $50 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Fintecture, a four-year-old Paris startup that wants to upgrade B2B payments, raised a $25.3 million Series A round. Investors included Target Global, Eurazeo, RTP Global, Samaipata, Allianz Trade, and Société Générale. The company has raised a total of $32.7 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Intus Care, a three-year-old startup based in Providence, R.I., that aims to synthesize financial, clinical, and administrative data to identify trends in long-term care facilities by integrating with electronic health record, claims, and accounting software, raised a $14 million Series A round led by Deerfield Management. The company has raised a total of $19.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Lodgify, a 10-year-old Barcelona startup that integrates with the main vacation rental channels to help small rental property businesses generate more customer bookings, raised a $30 million Series B round led by Octopus Ventures, with Bonsai Partners, Aldea Ventures, ICF, Intermedia Vermögensverwaltung, and Nauta Capital also participating. The company has raised a total of $36.6 million. Tech.eu has more here.
Meez, a two-year-old New York startup whose recipe management app allows food and beverage professionals to digitally manage recipe workflow, from creation and cost analysis to organization and training, raised an $11.5 million Series A round led by Craft Ventures, with Struck Capital, FJ Labs, AME Cloud Ventures, and Moving Capital also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $18.3 million. TechCrunch has more here.
ORO, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based cloud-based procurement platform, has raised $25 million in Series A funding co-led by Norwest Venture Partners and B Capital. Other backers in the round include XYZ Venture Capital and Array Ventures, among others. ORO was founded by three former product leaders at SAP Ariba. SiliconAngle has more here.
Plend, a two-year-old London startup that claims to be an ethical lender, raised a $44 million seed round in debt and equity led by Active Partners, with Velocity Juice, Sivo, and existing investors Ascension, Tomahawk VC, DD Venture Capital, and Haatch also involved. AltFi has more here.
Revuze, a nine-year-old Israeli startup that uses AI-based natural language processing technology to generate consumer insights, raised a $12 million round led by PSG. The company has raised a total of $24 million. Calcalist has more here.
Runwise, a 12-year-old New York startup that makes building control hardware and software, raised a $19 million Series A round led by Fifth Wall, with participation from Rudin Management, SOJA Ventures, The Strykers, MCJ Collective, Derive Ventures, Helium-3, Silence VC, The Cannon Project, and Waterman Ventures. The company, formerly known as Heat Watch, has raised a total of $24 million.
Smartex, a four-year-old, Portugal-based startup that uses machine vision to identify fabric defects and make manufacturing processes more efficient, raised a $24.7 million round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Build Collective (Tony Fadell's group), with additional capital provided by H&M Group, DCVC, HAX, Spider Capital, Momenta Ventures, Bombyx Capital Partners, and Fashion for Good. The company has raised a total of $27.6 million. TechCrunch has more here.
WalletConnect, a one-year-old startup that is building a crypto wallet interoperability and messaging platform, raised a $12.5 million round. Investors included Shopify, Coinbase Ventures, ConsenSys, Circle Ventures, Polygon, Uniswap Labs Ventures, Union Square Ventures, 1kx, HashKey, and Foresight Ventures. CoinDesk has more here.
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Alethea, a three-year-old startup based in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco that detects and mitigates disinformation, misinformation, and social media manipulation, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Ballistic Ventures. More here.
Centrifuge, a five-year-old New York startup that claims to be the first DeFi protocol to finance real-world assets such as mortgages, bills, and consumer loans on the blockchain, raised a $4 million round. Investors included Coinbase Ventures, BlockTower, Scytale, and L1 Digital. The company has raised a total of $15.8 million. The Cryptonomist has more here.
Exer AI, a Denver startup that uses apps to assess the mobility of patients, raised a $6.5 million round from Backstage Capital, Life Extension Ventures, Morado Ventures, Oceans Ventures, Operator Partners, Signia Venture Partners, Anne Wojcicki, and David Ko. Fortune has more here.
Grip, a Miami startup founded this year that helps companies manage the shipment of perishable goods, raised a $2 million round from Soma Capital and Western Technology Investment. TechCrunch has more here.
Guaranteed, a New Jersey startup whose mission is to provide tech-enabled hospice care in the comfort of one's own home, raised a $6.5 million seed round led by BrandProject, with additional capital provided by Precursor, Springbank, Lakehouse, and Cake Ventures. Axios has more here.
Hoken, a New York startup founded this year whose marketplace allows consumers to resell their hotel room reservations to secondary buyers, raised a $9 million round led by Streamlined Ventures, with BY Venture Partners also chipping in. More here.
InterPrice Technologies, a two-year-old New York startup that normalizes bond, commercial paper, and loan pricing information across different currencies and financing products, raised a $7.3 million Series A round co-led by Nasdaq Ventures and DRW Venture Capital, with additional funding from Bowery Capital. The company has raised a total of $9.8 million. More here.
Mozart, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that helps game developers integrate blockchain technology into their games, raised a $3 million pre-seed round from Arcanum Capital, AG Build, Future Perfect Venture, and SaxeCap. More here.
NuCicer, a three-year-old startup based in Davis, Ca., that
uses machine learning and a genome-guided breeding platform to increase the protein content of chickpeas, raised a $7 million led by Leaps by Bayer (an investing arm of Bayer AG) alongside previous investors Lever VC, Blue Horizon, and Trellis Road. AgriBusiness Global has more here.
Treet, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that helps brands resell their goods, raised a $3.5 million seed round led by First Round Capital, with Bling Capital, Techstars, Interlace, Alante Ventures, BAM Ventures, and BBG Ventures also piling on. The company has raised a total of $6.4 million. FashionUnited has more here.
Util, a five-year-old London startup that says it helps investors research companies, report on portfolios, and create differentiated financial products benchmarked against material sustainability issues, raised a $6 million led by Eldridge and including the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE), the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE Global Markets), and Oxford Science Enterprises. More here.
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Learn best practices on deal sourcing in 2023. Join Affinity, the relationship intelligence platform for dealmakers, and VU Venture Partners, a leading VC educator that sources 20k+ deals per year, as they discuss how VU is helping VCs take deal sourcing to the next level. Hold your spot.
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The esports gaming company Misfits Gaming Group says it's launching a $20 million creator fund aimed at helping creators and influencers bring projects to life. The fund is specifically earmarked to provide the infrastructure so creatives can easily implement their projects. VentureBeat has more here.
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Twitter may have lost more than a million users since Elon Musk took over, says MIT's Technology Review.
Robinhood is shaving its losses but its monthly active user count fell 35% to 12.2 million from a year ago, the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2020, reports the WSJ.
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Ten fascinating facts about Lego.
The worst flight delays at the world’s busiest airports (updated!).
Fake heiress Anna Delvey is holding a dinner series in her New York City apartment, which she’s currently unable to leave.
I Feel Great About Turning 40 and Never Think About the Things I Haven't Accomplished.
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Vecna’s Lair, the "Stranger Things" Creel house, just hit the market for $1.5 million.
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