Musk's journalist ban, Harvard's new president, FinTwits face charges, and 36 hours in Seoul

Crikey. Elon Musk tonight banned from Twitter at least half a dozen prominent journalists with tens of thousands of followers, including from The New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN. The company said the accounts “violate the Twitter rules” and Musk himself tweeted that the individuals were booted for seven days for "doxxing" his family, adding that they had "posted my real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter's terms of service." 

That's false, for what it's worth. The reporters wrote in the course of their work about an account that Twitter banned yesterday, @elonjet, which had long tracked Musk's private jet via publicly available information that it blasted out to its followers. 

The account has been a nuisance for Musk since nearly its outset in June 2020. It's not going away, either. Run by college student Jack Sweeney, it moved two days ago to the social network Mastadon, where it already has 36,000 followers ; Sweeney also earlier this year launched a page that track's Musk's jet on Facebook, where 27,000 people follow it. 

At least one now-banned reporter guessed that he may have lost access to his Twitter account after linking to that Facebook version of @elonjet. "Perhaps that did it," wrote Aaron Rupar, a self-employed writer who used to work at Vox. "But I still don't know what policy that could've possibly violated."

Of course, including such a link in a tweet is par for the course on Twitter. Which is why the journalists' ban shook many on the platform, who gathered in a live audio Twitter Spaces "room" to voice their fears that Musk is bending Twitter's rules to an extreme to suit his own agenda. 

In fact, soon after, in the room -- it was led by journalist Katie Notopoulos of Buzzfeed and Drew Hartwell, a Washington Post reporter whose Twitter ban apparently did not extend to his use of Twitter Spaces -- Musk briefly joined its tens of thousands of listeners -- including Box CEO Aaron Levie and Musk biographer Walter Isaacson --  to double down on his stance, saying: "I'm sure everyone who's been doxxed would agree, you know, showing real time information about somebody's location is inappropriate. And I think everyone on this call would not like that, you know, put to them, and there is not going to be any distinction in the future between journalists, so-called journalists and regular people. Everyone's going to be treated the same. You're not special because you're a journalist." 

Musk clicked out of the conversation immediately afterward, leaving the group to discuss at greater length his comments and the seemingly arbitrary, sometimes contradictory, and increasingly dangerous decisions Musk has been making on the platform he now owns. (While the banned journalists did not reveal Musk's real-time location or threaten his family, Musk himself last weekend imperiled Twitter's former safety head Yoel Roth by taking to Twitter to misrepresent Roth's academic writing. Indeed, facing escalating threats from some of  Musk's roughly 120 million Twitter followers, Roth reportedly and his family had to leave their home.)

In the meantime, presumably none of these maneuvers are good for others of Musk's brands, with Tesla shares in free fall, and current Tesla owners feeling increasingly ambivalent about their cars (according to a poll of our Tesla-owning acquaintances outside a middle-school basketball practice earlier.)

Still, curiously, friends of Musk love the drama:

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Akulaku, a six-year-old Jakarta startup that operates a banking and digital finance platform in Southeast Asia, is in the market to raise $200 million from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, according to Bloomberg. The company has raised a total of $448.1 million. More here.

Amber Group, a Singapore-based Sequoia Capital- and Temasek-backed crypto trading firm, has closed a hefty $300 million Series C funding round as the collapse of FTX shakes the crypto world. The news comes on the heels of a Bloomberg report claiming the crypto trader has ditched a Chelsea FC sponsorship deal and is axing 40% of its staff amid market turmoil. TechCrunch has more here.

Group14 Technologies, a seven-year-old startup based in Woodinville, Wa., that is making silicon anode batteries for EV manufacturers such as Porsche, raised a $214 million round at a $3+ billion valuation. Investors included Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Lightrock Climate Impact Fund, Moore Strategic Ventures, Oman Investment Authority, and Molicel. The company has raised a total of $756.2 million. The WSJ has more here.

MasterControl, a 29-year-old Salt Lake City startup that helps life sciences and other regulated companies digitize, automate, and manage quality and manufacturing processes, raised a $150 million Series A round. Sixth Street Growth was the deal lead. SiliconAngle has more here.

Mews, a 10-year-old London startup that provides a cloud-based hotel property management platform, raised a $185 million Series C round at an $865 million post-money valuation. The deal was co-led by Kinnevik and Goldman Sachs, with Revaia, Derive Ventures, Orbit Capital and previous investors Battery Ventures, Notion Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Thayer Ventures, and henQ also taking part. The company has raised a total of $232.2 million. TechCrunch has more here.

NotCo, a seven-year-old startup based in Santiago, Chile, that is developing plant-based foods, raised a $70 million Series D1 round at a $1.5 billion valuation. Princeville Capital was the deal lead; additional investors included Bezos Expeditions, Tiger Global, and L Catterton. The company has raised a total of $433 million. Food Dive has more here.

Synchron, a New York startup that is developing a brain-computer interface that aims to give paralysis patients the ability to control digital devices with their thoughts, raised a $75 million Series C round. ARCH Venture Partners led the round, with additional investment from Bezos Expeditions, Greenoaks, Alumni Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Gates Frontier, Project X, and Reliance Digital Health Limited. The company has raised a total of $145 million. MobiHealthNews has more here.

5B, a nine-year-old Sydney startup that manufactures modular solar arrays, raised a $13.7 million round. BP Ventures and previous investors AES Corp. and Artesian Venture Capital co-led the deal. The company has raised a total of $44.86 million. PV Magazine has more here.

Basecamp Research, a three-year-old London startup that designs protein products based on those found in natural biodiversity, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Systemiq Ventures, with Valo, Blue Horizon, True Ventures, and Hummingbird Ventures also pitching in. Sifter has more here.

BetterManager, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that has developed a leadership training platform, raised a $16 million Series A round led by Education Growth Partners, with Polar Capital Group also anteing up. More here.

Cabinet Health, a four-year-old New York startup that uses glass bottles and compostable pill packages tot help pharmaceutical companies reduce their use of plastics, raised $17 million in debt and equity. Global Impact Fund led the round, with participation from Natureza and Unreasonable Group. The company has raised a total of $23.6 million. More here.

Plooto, a seven-year-old Toronto startup that provides end-to-end accounts payable and accounts receivable automation software for small- and medium-size businesses, raised a $20 million Series B round led by Centana Growth Partners; previous investors Fintop Capital and Luge Capital also contributed. The company has raised a total of $26.2 million. PYMNTS has more here.

Poppi, a seven-year-old Austin startup that is building a brand around a gut health-focused prebiotic beverage, raised a $25 million round. CAVU Consumer Partners was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $52.3 million. Forbes has more here.

SafeAI, a five-year-old startup based in Santa Clara, Ca., that specializes in converting heavy construction and mining equipment from driver-operated to self-driving, raised a $38 million Series B round. Investors included Builders VC, McKinley Management, George Kaiser Family Foundation, Energy Innovation Capital, and Moog. The company has raised a total of $64 million. Forbes has more here.

Sweep, a startup that has developed a no-code toolkit for building sales playbooks in Salesforce’s CRM software, raised a $28 million round. Previous investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Insight Partners led the deal. TechCrunch has more here.

Bling, a three-year-old Berlin startup that wants to empower children to manage financial spending and accrue savings with its bespoke spending card and financial education product, raised a $3.72 million round co-led by Peak and La Famiglia, with IBB Invest, Angel Invest, and Prediction Capital also pitching in. Tech.eu has more here.

Clearbox Decisions, a seven-year-old Chicago startup that claims its software helps companies make decisions, raised a $4 million Series A round led by Allos Ventures and including SaaS Ventures, Tawani Ventures, Next Coast Ventures, and previous investor Sandalphon Capital. The company has raised a total of $9.1 million. More here.

Common Fate, a Perth startup founded this year that aims to help clients provide more granular access to critical applications, raised a $3.1 million seed round led by Work-Bench, with Haystack Ventures and Essence VC also contributing. TechCrunch has more here.

CtrlStack, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that helps developers prevent downtime by identifying changes before they impact customers, raised a $5.2 million seed round co-led by Sequoia Capital and Engineering Capital co-led, with Kearny Jackson, Webb Investment Network, and Lightspeed Venture Partners also participating. More here.

Frontrunner, a two-year-old New York startup that has developed a decentralized sports prediction market that makes its betting marketplace look more like a stock market-like experience, raised a $4.75 million led by Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, with additional investment from Soma Capital, Gilgamesh Ventures, FBG Capital, Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, Toy Ventures, Gaingels, Ledger Prime, WAGMI Ventures, and NOA Capital. The company has raised a total of $5.9 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Guidewheel, a four-year-old Oakland startup that provides helps manufacturers better understand their production processes, raised a $9 million Series A-1. Breakthrough Energy Ventures led the transaction. The company has raised a total of $30.2 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Infinity AI, a startup based in Los Altos, CA, that generates automated synthetic training data for AI models, raised a $5 million seed round led by Matrix Partners. More here.

Luminescent Power, an Israeli startup that has developed a liquid-based isothermal engine that can capture, reuse, and store waste heat, raised a $7 million seed round led by Grove Ventures, with participation from Extantia Capital. CTech has more here.

Lynxight, a three-year-old Israeli startup that provides technology to reduce drowning in pools at sports and leisure facilities, raised a $6 million round co-led by Champel Capital. More here.

Pack, a three-year-old San Diego startup that enables brands to upgrade their digital storefronts with technology and tools for non-tech-savvy teams, raised a $3 million seed round led by Norwest Venture Partners, with Alpaca and Vanterra Ventures also investing. The company has raised a total of $6 million. More here.

Poolit, a 1.5-year-old, Miami-based fintech startup that aims to open up access to investing in private equity and VC funds, tells TechCrunch it raised $5.3 million in seed funding a little earlier this year co-led by Harlem Capital and Picus Capital. Other backers in the round included Declaration Capital, which is the family office of The Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein; Coatue Management co-founder Thomas Laffont; and Gilgamesh Ventures. More here.

Shabodi, a two-year-old Toronto startup that aims to to simplify the deployment of 5G applications for developers, raised a $10.3 million Series A round co-led by CEAS Investments and SineWave Ventures, with Blumberg Capital, Counterview Capital, 5G Open Innovation Lab, Green Egg ventures, Maccabee Ventures, and Supernode Ventures also piling on. BetaKit has more here.

SmartHelio, a three-year-old startup based in Lausanne, Switzerland, that uses AI to measure live data current, voltage, weather parameters from solar plants and offer suggestions for fixes when a solar array starts underperforming, raised a $5 million from Y Combinator, ACE & Co., Serpentine VC, and Collab Fund. The company has raised a total of $6 million. TechCrunch has more here.

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Baukunst, a San Francisco-based outfit, recently announcedthat it has garnered $100 million in capital commitments for its debut fund -- which it calls the largest-ever debut fund for a pre-seed firm. The fund's four general partners are Kate McAndrew, Tyler Mincey, Axel Bichara and Matt Thoms. TechCrunch talked with the firm in late summer.

Ventures Platform, a six-year-old, Pan-African early-stage venture capital firm, has closed its newest fund with $46 million in capital commitments. TechCrunch has more here.

‘FinTwit’ influencers face charges in $100 million scheme.

Harvard University named as its new president Claudine Gay, a government professor who for the past four years has led the school’s undergraduate and Ph.D. programs. She will be the second woman and the first Black person to lead Harvard. The WSJ has more here.

For college endowments, this has been the worst year since the financial crisis—and next year might not be much better, with many endowment funds sitting on as-yet-unrealized losses in private-equity and venture-capital holdings. Barron's talks about it with Stephanie Lynch, co-founder of Global Endowment Management, a firm that oversees $11.2 billion for endowments, foundations, and nonprofits.

Trading firms such as Citadel Securities that trade billions of stock shares a year and profit by selling them at slightly higher prices than they bought them, could face new regulatory requirements that could compress their earnings. The WSJ has more here.

36 hours in Seoul.

How the brain distinguishes memories from perceptions.

When they actually did die doing what they loved.

Jeffrey Berns, founder of the technology company Blockchains, has listed two of his Lake Tahoe properties for $45 million. Berns tells the WSJ that the decision to sell the property has "nothing to do with the current volatility of the cryptocurrency market; the homes were listed for sale in early November, he said, before the cryptocurrency platform FTX filed for bankruptcy." 😉

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