Tesla rumors, App Store winners, and why streaming services keep creeping up in price

Tesla reportedly has a new Model 3 design in the works. More here and here.

Sam Bankman-Fried plans to speak at the Dealbook Summit tomorrow in New York, and the internet does not approve. 

Venture capital firms and their investors have realized that a fund administrator without best-in-class technology is no longer acceptable. But experienced firms also know that when it’s crunch time and that capital call needs to go out now, no technology can replace the need for an expert, highly responsive fund accountant working with you. Meet Juniper Square: the first technology-driven fund admin built for sophisticated venture capital firms.

Cajal Neuroscience, a two-year-old Seattle startup that is developing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, raised a $96 million Series A round co-led by The Column Group and Lux Capital, with Two Sigma Ventures, Evotec, Bristol Myers Squibb, Alexandria Venture Investments, and Dolby Family Ventures also chipping in. GeekWire has more here.

Escient Pharmaceuticals, a four-year-old San Diego startup that is developing small molecule therapeutics for several neurosensory-inflammatory disorders, raised a $120 million Series C round. The co-leads were NEA, Abingworth, and Forge Life Science Partners, with additional participation from Avego, PFM Health Sciences, The Eleven Fund and insiders Column Group, 5AM Ventures, Redmile Group, Cowen Healthcare Investments, Sanofi Ventures, Osage University Partners, and Altitude Life Science Ventures. The company has raised a total of $237.5 million. FierceBiotech has more here.

Modern Milkman, a four-year-old startup based in Manchester, UK, that operates a grocery delivery service with a focus on reducing plastic waste, raised a $60 million Series C round. Insight Partners and ETF Partners were the co-leads; additional investors included Praetura Ventures and Avery Dennison. The company has raised a total of $83.8 million. FoodBev Media has more here.

Atom Bank, an eight-year-old neobank based in Durham, UK, raised a $36 million round. Investors included BBVA, Toscafund, and Infinity Investment Partners. PYMNTS has more here.

Deepgram, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup that focuses on building custom voice-recognition models for customers such as Spotify and NASA, raised a $47 million Series B extension round. Madrona was the deal lead; Alkeon and previous investors Tiger Global, Wing VC, Citi Ventures, SAP.io, and Nvidia also participated. The company has raised a total of $86.4 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Medical Informatics, a twelve-year-old Houston startup that provides hospitals with real-time waveform data from bedside devices, enabling remote monitoring "from hospital to home," raised a $17 million Series B round plus $10 million in debt. Catalio Capital Management and Intel Capital were the co-leads, with additional participation from Notley and TGH Innoventures as well as previous investors TMC, DCVC, and nCourage. The company has raised a total of $38.9 million. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Morse Micro, a six-year-old Sydney startup that is developing low-power WiFi modules for Internet of Things applications, raised a $19.9 million Series B round led by TelstraSuper, HESTA, Hostplus, NGS (managed by Blackbird Ventures), and UniSuper (managed by Uniseed). The company has raised a total of $147.8 million. More here.

Nyra Medical, a four-year-old Atlanta startup that is developing a transcatheter technology for the treatment of mitral regurgitation, raised a $20 million Series A round co-led by Vensana Capital and an undisclosed global medical device company, with Broadview Ventures, Epidarex Capital, and the Georgia Research Alliance Venture Fund also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $20.2 million. More here.

Pearpop, a two-year-old Los Angeles startup that allows creators and brands to buy collaborations with celebrities like Madonna and creators like Sommer Ray, raised an $18 million Series A round at a $300 million valuation. Investors included Sound Ventures, Seven Seven Six, Blockchange Ventures, Avalanche’s Blizzard Fund, and C2 Ventures. The company has raised a total of $34 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Saltbox, an Atlanta startup that operates a network of warehouses and fulfillment centers in major metropolitan areas for use by e-commerce entrepreneurs, raised a $35 million Series B round co-led by Cox Enterprises and Pendulum Holdings with participation from Playground Global, XYZ Capital, Fundrise, Kapor Capital, Wilshire Lane Capital, Colliers, Lincoln Property Company, Flexport, and Overline. TechCrunch has more here.

Torr FoodTech, a three-year-old Israeli startup that combines mechanical pressure and ultrasonic energy to press ingredients together in the production of snack bars and other food products, thereby eliminating the need for sugar binders and artificial ingredients, raised a $12 million Series A. Harel Insurance Investment & Financial Services was the deal lead, with Mondelez International, the Kitchen Hub, and Strauss Group also piling on. Calcalist has more here.

V7 Labs, a four-year-old, London-based startup whose tech automates notations and the other categorizing of data needed for AI training models, has raised $33 million co-led by Radical Ventures and Temasek.  Earlier backers Air Street Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners and Partech also joined the round. TechCrunch has more here.

XanPool, a three-year-old Hong Kong startup that has built a fiat-to-crypto platform for exchanges, wallets, and other cryptocurrency businesses, raised a $41 million at a $400 million valuation. Target Global and Antler Elevate were the deal leads. The company has raised a total of $72.4 million. TechinAsia has more here.

Zylo, a six-year-old Indianapolis startup that helps companies manage their SaaS spend and risk, raised a $31.5 million Series C round led by Baird Capital, with additional capital provided by Spring Lake Equity Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, High Alpha, and Coupa Ventures. The company has raised a total of $66.7 million. More here.

Almond, a one-year-old Los Angeles startup that aims to be the OneMedical of OB-GYN care, raised a $7 million seed round led by True Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Amplio, an 18-month-old, Atlanta-based startup that helps its customers track parts shortages across the electronic components supply chain, has raised $6 million in seed funding. Construct Capital led the round, joined by Slow Ventures, High Alpha Capital, Flexport Ventures, Alpaca Venture Capital and various industry angels. TechCrunch has more here.

Atoa Payments, a London startup founded this year that aims to help UK merchants reduce their credit card processing fees, raised a $2.2 million in pre-seed round co-led by Leo Capital and Passion Capital, with GoCardless and Moon Capital Ventures also anteing up. TechCrunch has more here.

Bright Biotech, a three-year-old startup based in Manchester, UK, that is developing plant-based growth factor technology, which the company says can help significantly reduce the cost of producing cultured meat, raised a $3.2 million seed round led by Food Lab, with Big Idea Ventures, CPT Capital, and the FoodHack syndicate also contributing. Food Matters Live has more here.

Earth Force Technologies, a San Francisco startup that is developing technology to help onsite knowledge workers fight forest fires, raised an $8.6 million seed round led by Alley Robotics Ventures, with participation from Bold Capital Partners and Third Sphere. More here.

The Lanby, a three-year-old New York startup whose membership-based model for primary care emphasizes prevention, raised a $2.7 million seed round led by Female Founders Fund and including Launch, Goodwater Capital, and Magic Fund. The WSJ has more here.

Orda, a two-year-old, Lagos, Nigeria-based cloud operating system for restaurants in Africa, has raised a $3.4 million seed round. Quona Capital and FinTech Collective co-led, joined by Far Out Ventures and Outside VC, angels Doneci Kone and Julian Shapiro, and earlier investors Norrsken Foundation, Lofty Inc Capital and Enza Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Range Energy, a one-year-old startup based in Mountain View, Ca., that is developing commercial truck trailers powered by electricity, raised a $8 million seed round from UP Partners, R7, and Yamaha Motor Ventures. More here.

Upollo, an Australian startup that helps businesses convert, retain, expand, and understand their users so they can grow faster and build more effective products, raised a $2.75 million seed round led by Index Ventures. More here.

XDao, a one-year-old Singapore startup that helps DAOs expand across different blockchain networks, raised a $2.3 million seed round at a $50 million valuation. Investors included DWF Labs, Telos Foundation, and Grizzly Capital. The Block has more here.

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BackingMinds, a five-year-old, Denmark-based seed-stage venture firm, says it has garnered €50 million in capital commitments for its latest fund. The fund’s geographical focus is northern Europe, and includes LPs from Spotify, King, Supercell and the H&M family office. TechCrunch has more here.

How Sam Bankman-Fried tried to cling to FTX. 

Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma has been living in Tokyo for nearly six months, after Beijing’s crackdown on the technology sector, says the Financial Times. More here.

Convicted Fyre Festival fraudster Billy McFarland is reportedly planning another Bahamas venture, but the Bahamian government doesn't want him there, reports Vice.

Forbes just published its 30 under 30 list, which includes the founders of Alameda Research. (Mistakes happen.)

Apple today announced this year's list of App Store award winners. The social network app BeReal won the app of the year award for iPhone, while the notetaking app GoodNotes 5 won for best iPad app. More here.

S&P Global Mobility reports Tesla’s market share of new registered electric vehicles in the U.S. stood at 65% through the third quarter, down from 71% last year. The firm forecasts Tesla’s market share will decline to less than 20% by 2025 as more affordable models proliferate. CNBC has more here.

The Qatari official in charge of delivering the 2022 World Cup said today that between 400 and 500 people died during the construction work associated with preparations for the tournament. This recent Insider video suggests the toll was higher.

AWS is rolling out new chips designed to power the highest-end of computing.

Twitter says it’s no longer enforcing its previous COVID-19 misleading information policy. 

Why streaming Netflix, Disney Plus, and HBO Max keeps getting more expensive.

How hospice became a for-profit hustle.

Wordle gets more intentional.

October? Really, Georgia?

You aren't dreaming. Lordstown Motors has actually starting shipping its all-electric Endurance pickup trucks manufactured by Foxconn. 

Mariah Carey’s ultimate holiday experience (does not include meeting the Queen of Christmas, but you can have eggnog on her rooftop terrace).

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