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Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and his inner circle won’t see any more money from the company. FTX spelled out in a court filing over the weekend that neither Bankman-Fried nor the three recently fired members of his inner circle (nor their family members) will see any compensation from the now-bankrupt company. Decrypt has more here.
Cryptocurrency firm Genesis Global Capital is still trying to raise cash. The lender has approached crypto exchange Binance for an investment and to bid for its loan book, according to the WSJ. Binance reportedly decided not to invest, fearful that some of Genesis’s business could create a conflict of interest down the line. More here.
Covid-19 cases in China are spiraling toward record highs, forcing officials to again lock down large swaths of the country. The world’s second-biggest economy reported nearly 28,000 new Covid cases today, with outbreaks in the Chinese capital, the southern manufacturing hub of Guangzhou and the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing continuing to grow. The FT has more here.
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| Hacker George Hotz, a Frenemy of Elon Musk, Signs On for 12 Weeks at Twitter |
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A lot has been made of Twitter's shrinking workforce, which is reportedly down to 2,300 people down from the 7,500 employed by the company when new owner Elon Musk took control.
While we posited that the newest wave of departures was part of Musk's master plan to shrink the company, many worry about the haphazard ways it has been downsized. Insider reported on Friday, for example, that Twitter's payroll department was decimated last week when employees who were given a stark ultimatum by Musk opted to bounce.
Still, Musk has plenty of supporters who want to help him improve Twitter, and he apparently just brought one into the fold on a short-term basis: George Hotz, the security hacker known for developing iOS jailbreaks and reverse engineering the PlayStation 3 before later founding Comma.ai, whose driver assistance system startup aims to bring Tesla Autopilot-like functionality to other cars.
Hotz definitely falls into the category of people-who-wouldn't-be-on-your-remake-of-Twitter bingo board. Hotz founded Comma.ai after getting into a fight with Musk after Musk allegedly tried to hire him at Tesla but "kept changing the terms," as Hotz told Bloomberg in 2015. At the time, Tesla said Hotz's bold claims that his tech could beat that of Autopilot was “extremely unlikely." Hotz promptly set out to prove Musk and the rest of Tesla wrong.
So why team up now? For one thing, Hotz has a little extra time on his hands right now. As TechCrunch reported early this month, Hotz considers that some of his own work at Comma.ai is done for the moment. It currently sells a $1,999 driver assistance system developer kit that is compatible on more than 200 vehicles; the company is also on solid ground as it looks to turn its devkit into a productized consumer product, he told TechCrunch.
The momentum gives him a little space to explore. “I’m good at things when it’s wartime,” Hotz told TechCrunch for that story. “I’m not so good at hands-on, ok, let’s patiently scale this up. ‘Do you want to deal with a supply chain that’s capable of making 100,000 devices a year?’ Like, not really.”
Hotz, now 33, may also want to again prove his mettle to Musk.
More here.
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FogPharma, a seven-year-old startup based in Cambridge, Ma., that is developing a class of polypeptide therapeutics designed to overcome the limitations of today’s precision medicines, raised a $178 million Series D round. ARCH Venture Partners, Milky Way Investments, and Fidelity participated in the financing round, as did earlier investors VenBio Partners, Deerfield Management, GV, Cormorant Asset Management,T. Rowe Price, Invus, Farallon Capital Management, HBM Healthcare Investments, Casdin Capital, and PagsGroup. The company has raised a total of $362 million. Silicon Valley Journals has more here.
Rezo Therapeutics, a San Francisco startup that maps molecular disease networks to provide information for drug discovery, raised a $78 million Series A round co-led by SR One, a16z Bio + Health, and Norwest Venture Partners and including SV Angel, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Hawktail. BioPharma-Reporter.com has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Cobee, a three-year-old, Madrid-based startup that says its online platform that automates and simplifies employee benefits management,has raised €40 million ($41 million) in Series B funding co-led by Octopus Ventures and Notion Capital, with participation from previous backers Balderton Capital, Speedinvest and Dila Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Fairmat, a two-year-old Paris startup that aims to recycled unused carbon fiber composite pieces into a material that can be used in new products, raised a $34.8 million Series A round co-led by Temasek and CNP, with Pictet Group, Singular, and The Friedkin Group International also taking part. The company has raised a total of $44.9 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Laundrygo, a three-year-old Seoul startup whose app enables users to place an order to pick up and drop off their laundry and dry cleaning within 24 hours, a raised a $37 million Series C round led by private equity firm H&Q Korea, with participation from KB Securities, Hanwha Securities, Badgers Investment, Pebbles Investment, and Musinsa, a Korean fashion platform, as well as previous investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Nymbl Science, a six-year-old Denver startup that provides digital balance training for older adults, raised a $12 million Series B round co-led by Cobalt Ventures and Outcomes Collective Growth Capital, with 450 Ventures also contributing. The company has raised a total of $19.8 million. More here.
SponsorUnited, a five-year-old startup based in Stamford, Ct., that provides provides analytics data to marketers regarding the efficacy of sponsorship deals, raised a $35 million Series A round led by Spectrum Equity at a post-money valuation “north of” $100 million, according to TechCrunch. The company has raised a total of $38.6 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Taktile, a two-year-old, New York-based software platform that says it allows businesses to build, run and evaluate automated decision flows quicker, has raised $20 million in Series A funding co-led by Index Ventures and Tiger Global, bringing the startup’s total raised to $24.7 million. TechCrunch has more here.
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Capitol, a 1.5-year-old, New York-based health care data AI startup led by former Airbnb design lead Shaun Modi, tells Axios that it raised $10 million in seed funding led by 468 Capital. Other investors include Brian Chesky (Airbnb), Chase Coleman of Tiger Global), Designer Fund, Fuel Capital, Nomad Capital, AirAngels, Sanno Capital and John McCormick, formerly of Blackstone. More here.
Diffblue, a six-year-old startup based in Oxford, UK, that uses AI to automatically generate code to test software platforms, raised an $8 million round led by Albion VC, with IP Group, Parkwalk, Hostplus, Oxford Technology, and Innovations EIS Fund also chipping in. More here.
Surfboard, a one-year-old London startup that claims its predictive scheduling software allows managers to better allocate team members and help prevent burnout, raised a $5 million round. Speedinvest led the seed round, with participation from Fly Ventures, Seed Camp, Nomad Capital, Foreword VC, and Tokyo Black. Tech.eu has more here.
Surround Insurance, a four-year-old startup based in Cambridge, Ma., that offers lifestyle-based insurance for driving, renting, and freelancing, raised a $2.5 million seed round. MassMutual led through its MM Catalyst Fund, with Aperture VC and previous investors Newark Venture Partners and Cameron Ventures also participating. More here.
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Recess Pickleball is offering you the gift of the year! As seen in Business Insider, Forbes, and WWD, Recess builds paddles that are fun and meant for play. Recess paddles are designed by local artists, have a durable fiberglass surface with a honeycomb polypropylene core, and feature a highly condensed foam grip used in the tennis and golf industries. There is no better way to impress your family, friends, employees, or clients than with a Recess Pickleball paddle. For corporate gifting, check out our discounted bulk
bundle. For smaller gifts, view our selection of fun pickleball paddles at the Recess Pickleball website. Shop this week to take advantage of our sitewide 20% off Black Friday, Cyber Monday sale!
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Disney is throwing stacks of cash — and stock — at the fix-it man. Returning CEO Bob Iger will get $27 million a year, including $1 million annual salary, $1 million in bonus, and $25 million in Disney stock and stock options. The Verge has more here.
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Coinbase has lost over a quarter of its value in the past four trading sessions as investors fear more fallout from FTX’s collapse.
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At Beyond Meat: Slumping sausages and mounting losses.
FTX customers are losing hope they will ever see their money again.
What you missed if you quit: Elon Musk wants every Twitter employee sending weekly updates about their work via email now. Per an internal memo to employees, every Friday all Twitter employees are required to send an email update on their work with the subject line structure: “Weekly Update, name, dept, and date.” More here.
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Twenty-five must-have travel experiences.
Tips for a successful Thanksgiving dinner.
John Oliver discusses the Qatar World Cup. ("It's like the Super Bowl. Except the rest of the world actually gives a f#ck.")
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