Sam Bankman-Fried is arrested, AI photo apps take over the App Store, and a spritz for your trips

Happy Monday, all. Just a quick mention that we're shutting down the works for two weeks beginning this coming Monday, December 19, for our Annual Two-Week Holiday Zone-Out with the Interns and Extended Family©. We'll be back up and running on January 3rd.:) 

P.S. Our January event is now at capacity, (CBRE's space is beautiful but can only host so many people). To accommodate more of you locally and farther away, we're opening up a limited livestream of the conversations; we'll also have plenty of coverage afterward as always! 

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, said earlier today that he planned to testify remotely rather than in person before Congress about his company's meltdown because he’s “quite overbooked” and has security concerns about “paparazzi” if he were to travel to Washington, DC. 

Cut to: Bankman-Fried was arrested this afternoon by The Royal Bahamas Police Force following reports that the United States had filed criminal charges against him and is likely to request his extradition. The Office of the Attorney General of the Bahamas issued a statement tied to the arrest, that it will hold Bankman-Fried in custody until “a formal request for extradition is made.”

FTX CEO John J. Ray III plans to tell the House Financial Services Committee tomorrow that the cryptocurrency exchange under Bankman-Fried went on a $5 billion “spending binge” and commingled assets with those of his hedge fund, Alameda Research, according to the executive’s prepared remarks. CNBC has more here.

Affinity, the relationship intelligence platform for dealmakers, recently launched a report analyzing investment trends that point toward future unicorn status. While the impact of an economic downturn can’t easily be predicted, deal activity trends can help us better understand current conditions and future outlooks. In this U.S. vs. European Unicorn report, Affinity takes a comparative look at global investment data to understand how the landscape for investors and hopeful unicorns has evolved against economic challenges and the role relationship intelligence plays in these transactions. Read the report.

Snyk, a seven-year-old Boston startup whose platform allows developers to find and fix security issues in proprietary code, open source dependencies, container images, and cloud infrastructure, raised a $196.5 million round at a $7.4 billion, a 13% decline from its previous valuation last September. Investors included Evolution Equity Partners, G Squared, Irving Investors, and Qatar Investment Authority as well as previous investors Boldstart Ventures, Sands Capital, and Tiger Global. The company has raised a total of $1.1 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

ArkeaBio, a year-old, Boston startup that is developing a vaccine to drastically reduce methane emissions from ruminant animals, raised a $12 million seed round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. More here.

Darwin CX, a five-year-old Toronto startup whose platform provides brands with tools such as customized check-out pages, targeted audience offerings, real-time A/B testing, and analytics, raised a $38.4 million round led by First Ascent Ventures and Felicitas Global Partners, with Metropolitan Partners Group also chipping in. More here.

Equinom, a 10-year-old Israeli startup that develops non-GMO crops optimized for food with minimal processing, raised a $35 million round led by Synthesis Capital led, with Praesidium, Bunge Ventures, BayWa, CPT Capital, and previous investors Fortissimo and Phoenix also contributing. The company has raised a total of $71 million. Calcalist has more here.

Evertas, a five-year-old Chicago startup that provides insurance to owners of crypto assets, raised a $14 million Series A round led by Polychain Capital; additional investors included SinoGlobal Capital, CMT Digital Ventures, Foundation Capital, Morgan Creek, Bloccelerate, network0, Matrixport, and HashKey. The company has raised a total of $19.8 million. CoinDesk has more here.

MessageGears, a 12-year-old Atlanta startup that can orchestrate the delivery of email and text messages via data stored in existing data warehouses rather than requiring companies to export their data to the cloud, raised a $62 million round. Long Ridge Equity Partners was the deal lead, with Argentum Group and Atlanta Ventures also participating. The company has raised a total of $80.4 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Nillion, a one-year-old startup based in Zug, Switzerland, that is aiming to build a non-blockchain decentralized network, raised more than $20 million led by Distributed Global, with AU21, Big Brain Holdings, Chapter One, GSR, HashKey, OP Crypto, and SALT Fund also piling on. TechCrunch has more here.

Robco, a two-year-old Munich startup that has built a platform for designing low-cost modular robots for small and medium industrial businesses, raised a $13.7 million Series A round led by Sequoia Capital, with Kindred Ventures and Promus Ventures also taking part. The company has raised a total of $18.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Avarni, a one-year-old Sydney startup that automates the reporting of carbon emissions, raised a $7 million round led by Main Sequence, with additional participation from previous investors Vulpes Ventures and Common Sense Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Taeillo, a four-year-old Lagos startup that sells furniture online for customers in Kenya and Nigeria, raised a $2.5 million round from Aruwa Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

How do you know you’re choosing the right fund administrator? To help you make this critical decision, Juniper Square created a guide you can use to evaluate fund administrators and find the partner that will give you the support you need to administer your investments, impress your investors, and optimize your operations in a time of rapid change. Get the guide here now.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the hedge fund analyst, turned biotech executive, turned Fox pundit (we met him during his biotech executive days), is reportedly building an investment firm called Strive Asset Management that is backed by Peter Thiel; the venture firm of Thiel protege and now Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, who went to Yale Law School with Ramaswamy; and other investors. The idea, says The New Yorker, is to compete with BlackRock and its peers. It also notes that Ramaswamy -- a native Ohioan who recently moved his family to an affluent suburb of Columbus, Oh -- may have political ambitions, too. More here.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is offering to sell insider shares of the private company for $77 apiece, according to Bloomberg. At that price, the company would enjoy an implied valuation of $140 billion, compared with a $127 billion valuation in July, according to data provider PitchBook.

One of Europe’s most valuable privately held startups, Checkout.com, has slashed its internal valuation to about $11 billion, becoming the latest high-flying start-up forced to respond to the rout in tech stocks and falling investor sentiment. The Financial Times has more here.

As of today, the top three spots on the U.S. App Store are all held by AI photo editors, and even more AI art apps are newly ranking in the Top 100. TechCrunch has more here.

Suspected of alleged money laundering, tax evasion, and US sanctions violations, Binance has been under investigation by the US Department of Justice since 2018 but has never been formally accused of any wrongdoing. Now, says Reuters, some federal prosecutors feel they’ve amassed enough evidence to file criminal charges against Binance—including individual charges against Binance founder Changpeng Zhao—but other DOJ officials are standing in the way. More here.

Scientists at a federal nuclear weapons facility have made a potentially significant advance in fusion research that could lead to a source of bountiful energy in the future, according to a government official. The New York Times has more here.

“I had a friend who said, ‘You don’t want to be seen with them,’” Larry Kramer, a former dean of the law school and a close friend of the Bankman-Fried family, tells the New York Times. “I don’t see how this doesn’t bankrupt them.” The WSJ also has a piece about the Bankman-Fried family here.

Twitter has dissolved its Trust & Safety Council.

The most embarrassing ways I've lost $8 billion.

Steve Martin and Martin Short monologue. 

What happened on the internet this year.

Definitely not a long string of unhinged reactions to my interview with economist Paul Kedrosky on Friday  👀 :

A reconditioned 1977 International Harvester Scout II Traveler that's🤌.

Face mist for after the flight.

Casa Bosques Chocolates.