The Senate's stance on TikTok, more Twitter accounts get banned, and why SPV managers are scrambling

The Senate today unanimously approved legislation that would ban the use of TikTok on government phones and devices as part of the push to combat security concerns related to the Chinese-owned social media company. A similar bill passed the Senate in a previous Congress but never moved forward in the House. The Hill has more here.

Investors withdrew as much as $3 billion from Binance yesterday, according to blockchain analytics firm Nansen, as a deluge of negative headlines about the cryptocurrency industry rattled users of the world’s largest exchange. CNN has more here.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point today as it continues its crackdown on slowing but stubborn inflation. NPR 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.

Over the last decade or so, the once-clubby world of startup investing has been cracked wide open by a number of innovations, including special purpose vehicles (SPVs), which are essentially pop-up venture funds that come together quickly with monies from all kinds of accredited investors -- from institutions to VCs to dentists -- to nab a stake in a single privately held company.

Yet as the market has soured, many investors are learning the hard way that SPVs are complicated, expensive, and not the sure-fire path to riches they once appeared to be. In fact, some who began assembling these SPVs were just left high and dry by a popular SPV administration platform, Assure, which announced somewhat abruptly in late November that it is shutting down and that its customers need to find a new home for their funds by the end of the year.

The move has left many scrambling, and furious. Says Eric Bahn, a co-founder of the seed-stage firm Hustle Fund, which turned to Assure five years ago to set up some SPVs: "We were very unhappy there for some time; the software felt janky to use. But to be told Assure is shutting down right before Thanksgiving -- it's the worst timing possible. If you're going to run a search for a new provider, you don't want to do it at the end of the year."

We've reached out to Assure in recent days for comment and haven't received a response. We also reached out to Jason Calacanis, an investor who formed an SPV to invest in Assure, then heavily promoted its services on his "This Week in Startups" podcast.

In response to our request for help, Calacanis replied via email to "feel free to ask me on Twitter."

More here.

Alpha-9 Theranostics, a three-year-old Vancouver startup that is developing radiopharmaceuticals to combat cancerous tumors, raised a $75 million Series B round led by Nextech Invest, with additional participation from Frazier Life Sciences, Samsara BioCapital, Quark Venture, and previous investors Longitude Capital and BVF Partners. More here.

HistoSonics, a 13-year-old Minneapolis startup that is developing ultrasound technology to destroy kidney tumors from outside the body, raised an $85 million round led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, with Venture Investors, Lumira Ventures, Yonjin Venture, and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board also taking part. FierceBiotech has more here.

Nerdio, a two-year-old Chicago startup whose platform lets customers deploy and manage virtual desktops running in Microsoft Azure, raised a $117 million Series B round. Updata Partners was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $125 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Bondaval, a two-year-old London startup that provides a bond that can be used to assure credit teams that their customers will fulfill their obligations, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Talis Capital; additional investors included Octopus Ventures, Insurtech Gateway, TrueSight, Expa, FJ Labs, and Broadhaven Ventures. The company has raised a total of $23.6 million. TechCrunch has more here.

DataVisor, a nine-year-old based in Mountain View, Ca., whose platform provides online fraud detection and risk management for financial services and digital commerce customers, raised a $40 million round. Brighton Park Capital was the deal lead; previous investors NewView Capital and GSR Ventures also participated. More here.

EnCharge AI, a startup based in Santa Clara, Ca., that claims its hardware uses AI to accelerate applications in servers and “network edge” machines while reducing power consumption, raised a $21.7 million Series A round led by Anzu Partners, with AlleyCorp, Scout Ventures, Silicon Catalyst Angels, Schams Ventures, E14 Fund, and Alumni Ventures also pitching in. TechCrunch has more here.

Fruitcore Robotics, a five-year-old German startup that is building robots for small- to medium-sized factories, raised a $24.5 million round from Capricorn Partners, KOMPAS, and XAI Technologies as well as previous investors UVC Partners, Matterwave Ventures, CNB Capital, Pecon, and btov Private Investor Network. Tech.eu has more here.

Heyday, a seven-year-old New York startup that operates med spa salons and is moving into franchising its operations as well as rolling out a line of skin care products, raised a $12 million Series B extension round led by previous investor Level 5 Capital Partners. WWD has more here.

LexCheck, a seven-year-old New York startup that claims to use AI to analyze contracts, raised a $17 million Series A round. Mayfield Fund was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $25 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Quantum Space, a startup based in Rockville, Md., that is developing spacecraft for cislunar space, raised a $15 million round from Prime Movers Lab. TechCrunch has more here.

Small Door, a four-year-old New York startup that has built a membership-based veterinary care platform that works in concert with five clinics that it owns, raised a $40 million Series B round. Investors included C&S Family Capital, FS Investors, and previous investors Toba Capital, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Primary Venture Partners, and TriplePoint Capital. More here.

Tepeo, a four-year-old U.K.-based startup that claims it has developed a new form of low carbon heating that can work with existing heating and hot water systems, raised a $13 million Series A round led by BGF, with Clean Growth Fund, Bonheur, and Renewable Environmental Investments also participating. More here.

TransVoyant, a 10-year-old startup based in Alexandria, Va., that helps companies like Merck and McKesson analyze their global supply chains, raised a $12 million round. Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and P74 Ventures co-led the deal. The company has raised more than $30 million. More here.

Arketa, a two-year-old Los Angeles startup that helps fitness businesses monetize activities beyond in-person classes, such as live-streamed classes, retreats and teacher trainings, and branded retail, raised a $7.6 million seed round. First Round Capital was the deal lead, while Amity Ventures, Fitt Capital, and Y Combinator also contributed. Fitt Insider has more here.

Beni, a nine-year-old startup based in Santa Barbara, Ca., whose browser extension lets consumers browse listings for resale items while they are shopping online, raised a $4 million seed round. Buoyant Ventures led the investment. BuiltinLA has more here.

NF3, a Singapore startup founded this year that creates swaps and options based on users' NFTs, raised a $1.65 million seed round. Infinity Ventures Crypto and Spartan Group co-led the deal. More here.

Nilus, a 1.5-year-old, New York-based "no code" financial operations platform, has raised $8.6 million in seed funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Better Tomorrow Ventures, Symbol, and individual investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Oxyle, a two-year-old Zurich startup that claims that its wastewater treatment and monitoring process eliminates persistent and toxic micropollutants from water in a sustainable manner, raised a $3 million round led by Wingman Ventures, with SOSV, Better Ventures, and Another.vc also chipping in. TechCrunch has more here.

Oyster, a one-year-old New York startup that partners with merchants to provide personal insurance for consumers at the point-of-sale, raised a $3.6 million seed round led by New Stack Ventures and Cambrian Ventures. BuiltinNYC has more here.

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U.S. Venture Partners (USVP), the now 41-year-old, Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, said today it has closed its thirteenth fund with $400 million in capital commitments, money that will be used to fund Series A- and B-stage companies in cybersecurity, enterprise software, consumer and healthcare. More here.

Former Twitter employee Ahmad Abouammo was sentenced today to 3.5 years in prison, after being found guilty in August of spying for Saudi Arabia. Reuters has more here.

The Twitter account @ElonJet, which uses publicly available data to track the whereabouts of Elon Musk’s private jet, has been permanently suspended from Twitter, as has the account of Jack Sweeney, the University of Central Florida student who created the account. “My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk,” Musk tweeted on November 6. Over the last month, notes TechCrunch, it seems Musk changed his mind. More here.

Relatedly: tonight Musk added on Twitter that "[l]egal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family." Musk was reacting to a "crazy stalker" who approached a car in Los Angeles holding one of his youngest children, though it's not clear what Sweeney has to do with the incident. More here.

Separate but still related: Musk sold more than 20 million shares of the company stock between Monday and Wednesday, reports TechCrunch The sale is worth about $3.5 billion, according to a regulatory filing. Musk’s latest stock dump follows the nearly $4 billion worth of shares he sold last month and while he hasn’t provided a reason publicly for the newest share sell, some analysts think the sale is Musk’s answer to some of the high interest debt he’s paying on his $44 billion Twitter deal. More here.

John Paulson, the investor who made $15 billion betting against subprime mortgage bonds in 2007, has given New York University $100 million toward the cost of a new academic complex in Greenwich Village that is named after Paulson and slated to open next month.

Jack Selby, who runs Peter Thiel's family office and recently set up a fund in Arizona (that we told you about here), has reportedly submitted a bid to buy the Phoenix Suns and Mercury professional basketball teams for $3 billion along with Jason Pressman, a managing director at Shasta Ventures. Per the WSJ, the offer could include financing from Thiel; it adds that the group is one of a handful of potential buyers. More here.

Caroline Ellison was Alameda’s CEO, but officials say Sam Bankman-Fried ran it.

Boom takes the wraps off its supersonic Symphony engine design.

A Shakespearean psychodrama set in Silicon Valley.

The rise of fentanyl, mapped.

Barbie's Dreamhouses, a six-decades tour.

The Twenty Two, in London.

A "prop" Ferrari from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

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