SBF's DMs, Elon Musk's "extremely hardcore" ultimatum, and the market loses faith in Tesla

HOLY. In a lengthy direct message exchange with Vox reporter Kelsey Piper, Sam Bankman-Fried answered how he really feels about regulators after very publicly engaging with them as the CEO of his now-collapsed crypto exchange FTX ("f#ck regulators . . . they make everything worse"). He also breezily conceded that a "lot of dumb shit" he said on other fronts was "not true, not really." And, while admitting he screwed up, "multiple times," Bankman-Fried appears from the exchange to see himself as a victim, telling Vox that FTX's complete downfall could have been avoided had it not declared bankruptcy, which took financial matters out of his hands. It's quite an exchange! More here.

Elon Musk said today that Twitter workers need to answer through an online form by late tomorrow if they want to work for him, saying that those who stay will be “working long hours at high intensity" and that "only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.” The New York Times has more here.

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There’s nothing sexy about corporate retreats. But BoomPop, a 26-person, San Francisco-based outfit that the startup studio Atomic launched in 2020, is managing to infuse some pizazz into the long-formulaic industry. Given what BoomPop is building, one could even see it evolving into more than a way for companies to more easily plan luxury meet-ups for their far-flung employees, which is how it largely exists right now. Think weddings, family reunions, business conferences and more.

The startup’s pitch is persuasive, at least. Here’s we know right now, based on an interview earlier today with the company’s CEO Healey Cypher. The company was born during the pandemic. Cypher, who is also the COO of Atomic, was intent on keeping his colleagues’ morale up and began devising creative ways to do it, including through virtual Napa Valley wine-tastings, magic shows, customized games and the like. Along the way, it occurred to Cypher and his Atomic colleagues that there could be a business in creating a curated marketplace of virtual experiences. A gregarious connector type, Cypher blasted 150 contacts to advertise its services, and by the end of last year, he says, 2,500 customers were letting BoomPop plan their virtual team-building exercises.

Fast forward to today, and the viability of the business is even more assured, says Cypher. He says that some of its customers have already paid BoomPop to organize “60 to 70” mini meetups for them – both virtual and offline. They also have many more options from which to choose. According to Cypher, BoomPop now features “thousands of hotel options, meeting spaces, activities, photographers who can create sizzle reels of these events and swag” to give to participants as they head back home.

BoomPop also handles the invitations, creates event pages with agenda, tracks scheduling and budget changes and handles payments. (It creates an escrow account for every event that shuts off when it’s over.) In short, it’s a lot of mini-businesses in one, and it has all been built from the ground up, says Cypher, who claims that so far, 4,000 companies have made arrangements for 150,000 of their employees at an average price of $65,000 per event.

More here.

CG Oncology, a 12-year-old startup based in Irvine, Ca., that is focused on developing novel therapeutics for patients with urologic cancers, raised a $120 million Series E round led by ORI Capital, Longitude Capital, and Decheng Capital, with additional participation from RA Capital Management, Acorn Bioventures, Malin Corporation, Ally Bridge Group, and Sirona Capital. The company has raised a total of $212.6 million. More here.

Dandelion Energy, a five-year-old startup based in Mount Kisco, N.Y., that helps homeowners tap into geothermal energy sources, raised a $70 million Series B1 round co-led by LENX and NGP ETP, with participation from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, NEA, GV, Collaborative Fund, and Building Ventures. The company has raised a total of $134.5 million. Bloomberg has more here.

DispatchHealth, a nine-year-old Denver startup that provides in-home care and testing for consumers, raised a $330 million Series E round led by Optum Ventures, with Adams Street Partners, Olayan Group, SVB, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Blue Shield of California, and previous investors Humana, Oak HC/FT, Echo Health Ventures, and Questa Capital piling on. Home Health Care News has more here.

Grail, a six-year-old startup based in Menlo Park, Ca., that is developing DNA-based blood tests for the early detection of cancer, raised a $300 million round led by Ally Bridge Group and co-led by Hillhouse Capital Group and 6 Dimensions Capital. Other investors included Blue Pool Capital, China Merchant Securities International, CRF Investment, HuangPu River Capital, ICBC International, Sequoia Capital China, and WuXi NextCODE. The company has raised a total in excess of $1.5 billion. The European Union blocked Illumina’s years-long quest to acquire Grail back in September. FierceBiotech has more here.

Matter Labs, a three-year-old startup that developed zkSync, an Ethereum scaling solution that drastically reduces the cost of Ethereum transactions, raised a $200 million Series C round co-led by Blockchain Capital and Dragonfly, with LightSpeed Venture Partners, Variant, and Andreessen Horowitz also chipping in. TechCrunch has more here.

Aescape, a five-year-old New York startup that is building automated massage therapy devices, raised a $30 million Series A round co-led by Valor Siren Ventures and Valor Equity Partners, with Fifth Wall, Alley Robotics Ventures, and previous investors Crosslink Capital, Alumni Ventures, and pro basketball player Kevin Love also taking part. More here.

ArmorCode, a two-year-old startup based in Palo Alto, Ca., that aims to deliver a unified view into customers’ application security procedures, raised a $14 million Series A round led by Ballistic Ventures, with Sierra Ventures and Cervin also taking part. The company has raised a total of $25 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Baraka, a two-year-old Dubai startup that has built a commission-free investment platform, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Valar Ventures, with Knollwood also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $25.1 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Buildkite, a nine-year-old Australian startup that provides a way to build, test, and deploy software at any scale, raised a $21 million Series B round co-led by OneVentures and AirTree, with additional capital provided by General Catalyst. The company has raised a total of $41.5 million. VentureBeat has more here.

Buynomics, a four-year-old startup based in Cologne, Germany, that uses machine learning to model the preferences and buying decisions of large groups of individual customers in order to help clients optimize price changes, promotions, and product innovations, raised $13.4 million in Series A funding. Insight Partners led the round; LaFamiglia, Seedcamp, Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures, and Tomahawk also participated. Business Insider has more here.

Cambridge GaN Devices, a six-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that designs and develops energy-efficient GaN-based energy power devices, raised a $19 million Series B round co-led by Parkwalk Advisors and BGF, with participation from IQ Capital, CIC, Foresight Williams Technology, and Martlet Capital. The company has raised a total of $28.5 million. Electronics Weekly has more here.

Loops.ai, a startup based in San Francisco and Tel Aviv that claims its analytics tool helps product and data teams find growth opportunities, raised a $14 million seed round led by Scale Venture Partners, with Cardumen Capital also pitching in. Calcalist has more here.

Parallel Domain, a five-year-old startup based in Palo Alto, Ca., that has built a data-generation platform for autonomous driving companies, raised a $30 million Series B round led by March Capital. Previous investors Costanoa Ventures, Foundry Group, Calibrate Ventures, and Ubiquity Ventures also joined the financing. The company has raised a total of $43.9 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Torigen Pharma, a nine-year-old startup based in Farmington, Ct., that claims to be harnessing the immune systems of pets to create personalized cancer immunotherapies, raised a $13 million Series A1 round co-led by Werth Family Investment Associates and Connecticut Innovations. Additional funds were supplied by Ironwood Capital and Advantage Capital, along with previous investors Emerald Development Managers, Gaingels, Kema Fund, University of Notre Dame, SoGal Ventures, and the UCONN Innovation Fund. The company has raised a total of $18 million. More here.

Valcre, a six-year-old San Diego startup that makes appraisal software for the commercial real estate industry, raised a $12.7 million Series A round led by Avenue Growth Partners and including Second Century Ventures. Commercial Observer has more here.

Adway, a five-year-old startup based in Gothenburg, Sweden, that is building a Gen Z social hiring platform, raised a $10.4 million Series A led by Octopus Ventures and joined by previous investors Brightly Ventures and Spintop Ventures. TFN has more here.

Ayble Health, a two-year-old Boston startup that provides virtual care for patients with digestible diseases, raised a $4.6 million seed round co-led by Upfront Ventures and M13. Axios has more here.

Beam, a Thai startup that has developed a one-click checkout process for online retailers in Southeast Asia, raised a $2.5 million seed round co-led by Surge and Sequoia Capital India and joined by Partech. Fintech Finance has more here.

Curavit, a three-year-old startup based in Scarsdale, NY, that is focused on designing and executing digital-first decentralized clinical trials, raised a $5 million Series A round led by Osage Venture Partners, with Royal Street Ventures and Narrow Gauge Ventures also throwing in. FierceBiotech has more here.

The Eighth Notch, a startup based in Alamo, Ca., whose platform is focused on logistics for last-mile deliveries, raised a $3.5 million round led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund. More here.

Fennel, a one-year-old startup whose app arms investors with ESG data and information about upcoming corporate elections, raised a $5 million from individual investors. BuiltinNYC has more here.

Freshpaint, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that says it enables businesses to capture and activate customer data across hundreds of integrations such as Google Analytics, Mixpanel, and Snowflake without relying heavily on engineering, raised a $9.5 million Series A round and $5 million in debt. The deal led was Intel Capital. Silicon Valley Journals has more here.

TheGist, an Israeli startup that simplifies the content of internal data and communications, such as Slack messages, raised a $7 million pre-seed round. The deal was co-led by StageOne Ventures and Aleph. More here.

Metaspectral, a four-year-old Vancouver startup that uses hyperspectral imagery to analyze plastic waste, raised a $4.7 million seed round. Investors included SOMA Capital, Acequia Capital, the Canadian government, and angel investors including Jude Gomila and Alan Rutledge. TechCrunch has more here.

PlayEmber, a London startup that aims to make it easier for gaming advertising dollars to transition from web2 to web3 via a Unity-based software development kit, raised a $2.3 million pre-seed round led by Shima Capital, with Huobi Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Hyperithm, Warburg Serres, and Lyrik Ventures also participating. The Block has more here.

Prof Jim, a two-year-old startup based in Sunnyvale, Ca., that uses generative AI to transform textbooks into visually dynamic online courses, including automatically generating assessments and avatar instructors, raised a $1.5 million round. Investors included Hannah Grey, Avalanche VC, and Behind Genius Ventures. More here.

Relay Commerce, a New York startup that is rolling up e-commerce SaaS businesses, raised a $6.25 million seed round led by Primary and including Twelve Below, AlleyCorp, and Max Ventures, with TriplePoint Capital also providing a $20 million debt facility. Axios has more here.

SigmaOS, a one-year-old London startup that has developed a browser designed to enhance productivity, raised a $4 million seed round led by LocalGlobe and including Y Combinator, 7percent Ventures, Moonfire Ventures, Shine VC, TrueSight Ventures, Pioneer Fund, and Venture Together. TechCrunch has more here.

Supernova, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that wants to make it easy to move design elements to code bases, raised a $4.8 million seed round led by Wing VC; additional investors included EQT Ventures and Kaya VC. The company has raised a total of $11.8 million. TechCrunch has more here.

The Trading Pit, a one-year-old Liechtenstein startup that plans to create a proprietary trading app and then expand into investments and asset management, raised a $10.4 million round led by Pinorena Capital. More here.

Zest, a New York startup that has built an AI-based credit underwriting platform, raised a $4.2 million seed round led by GV, with BoxGroup, Character, Operator Partners, Bungalow Capital, and Company Ventures also participating. American Banker has more here.

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Fiat Ventures, a two-year-old seed-stage venture firm that's focused on fintech startups and tells TechCrunch to "think us as basically a turnkey fractional CMO," has closed its debut fund with $25 million in capital commitments. More here.

Evernote, the note-taking and task management app founded over 20 years ago, has been acquired by Milan-based app developer Bending Spoons. In a post on Evernote’s newsroom, Evernote CEO Ian Small said that Bending Spoons will take ownership of Evernote in a transaction expected to close in early 2023. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but the development marks the end of a long roller coaster ride for the outfit and its employees, observes TechCrunch.

Denver-based SonderMind, a therapist matchmaking platform, has acquired another startup, Total Brain, a mental health monitoring and support platform. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. FierceHealthcare has more here.

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Elizabeth Holmes will be sentenced on Friday for defrauding investors at the blood-testing company she founded, Theranos. She has already asked the court to land on a sentence of maximum 18 months of home confinement, and to look past the “caricature” the media has created. The government is meanwhile urging the judge to send her to prison for 15 years and to order her to pay $800 million in restitution to investors in the failed blood-testing startup. More here.

Drive Capital's Mark Kvamme is raising a fund to invest in Ohio, one month after stepping down from the $2.2 billion venture-capital firm he cofounded with former Sequoia Capital colleague Chris Olsen in Columbus. (Not all of Drive's LPs, from what we've heard, are thrilled about this development.) Unlike Drive Capital, the Ohio Fund will invest in multiple asset classes, including other funds, public stocks, private companies in Ohio, and infrastructure, says Business Insider. More here.

The economist known as “Dr. Doom” slammed cryptocurrency platform Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao as a “walking time bomb” today, following the implosion of FTX. Nouriel Roubini also blasted “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, a former FTX spokesman and early investor, as a “paid hack for FTX.” Said Roubini of O’Leary, who also appears on “Money Court" on CNBC, “I hope CNBC is going to get rid of him." The New York Post has more here.

Tesla stock has dropped 51% since April 4, when Elon Musk revealed he had bought a stake in Twitter.

The US Food & Drug Administration has for the first time given the green light to meat grown from cells.

Another FTX investor writes down its stake to zero. This time it's Singapore's Temasek, which says it lost $275 million, adding: "It is apparent from this investment that perhaps our belief in the actions, judgment and leadership of Sam Bankman-Fried, formed from our interactions with him and views expressed in our discussions with others, would appear to have been misplaced.”

A venture firm botched a chance to sell its FTX stake days before the outfit's collapse, says (probably) the rival firm that was asked to pay more than it wanted and is now having a laugh about the whole thing. More here.

Meanwhile, the broader fallout continues: A well-known cryptocurrency market maker, B2C2, said today that it's extending a hand to the struggling crypto lending firm Genesis, after the latter company froze customer withdrawals. Decrypt has more here.

Amazon may have just confirmed that it would be laying off employees, but it seems to still have room in the budget for a Steve Aoki concert.

Twitter users, sensing the end of an era, confess their secrets.

One of the most coveted postwar Alfa Romeos is up for grabs.