Apple opens up its App Store, Instagram tests a BeReal clone, and SBF faces the music

U.S. prosecutors today charged FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried with eight counts of fraud and conspiracy in what they called a scheme to defraud his crypto exchange’s customers and his hedge fund’s lenders. New CEO John Ray, who testified at a congressional hearing, said FTX presents as “old-fashioned embezzlement.” From his opening comments:

FTX Group's collapse appears to stem from absolute concentration of control in the hands of a small group of grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals who failed to implement virtually any of the systems or controls that are necessary for a company entrusted with other people's money or assets. Some of the unacceptable management practices identified so far include the use of computer infrastructure that gave individuals and senior management access to systems that stored customer's assets without security controls to prevent them from redirecting those assets; storing of certain private keys to access hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto assets without effective security controls or encryption; the ability of Alameda to borrow funds held FTX.com to be utilized for its own trading or investments without any effective limits whatsoever; the commingling of assets; the lack of complete documentation for transactions involving nearly 500 separate investments made with FTX Group's funds and assets in the absence of audited or reliable financial statements; lack of personnel and financial risk management functions; and the absence of independent governance throughout the FTX Group. The fundamental challenge we face is we're in many respects starting from near zero in terms of the corporate infrastructure and record keeping that one would expect in a multibillion dollar corporation.

Ray also noted that FTX used the accounting tool QuickBooks(!!). More here and here.

Meanwhile, in a Nassau, Bahamas courtroom today, Bankman-Fried's lawyer told a judge that Bankman-Fried will fight extradition to the U.S., while also proposing that Bankman-Fried pay $250,000 cash bail and wear an ankle bracelet rather than remain in the local jail cell where he was delivered yesterday. 

Coindesk set the scene, reporting that the judge seemed "unconvinced" that Bankman-Fried is not a flight risk, and writing that his parents were "seated in the third row behind members of the press. They appeared to oscillate between dejection and defiance, at times holding their heads in their hands and clasping their hands. Bankman-Fried’s mother audibly laughed several times when her son was referred to as a 'fugitive' and his father occasionally put his fingers in his ears as if to drown out the sound of the proceedings." More here.

We'll stop soon with the jailhouse cartoons, we promise.

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Dataiku, a nine-year-old AI and analytics platform in France, has raised $200 million in a Series F funding round at a $2.7 billion valuation, down from the $4.6 billion valuation the company was assigned during its $400 million Series E round led by Tiger Global in August 2021. Wellington Management led the new round, which brings the company’s total funding to approximately $850 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Shield AI, a seven-year-old, San Diego startup that develops platforms and planes for autonomous flying systems (it targets the U.S. military and its allies as customers), has raised $60 million in extended Series E funding that brings the round -- originally announced in June -- to $225 million altogether. The money comes from a single investor: Hollywood producer Thomas Tull. TechCrunch has more here.

Vic.ai, a six-year-old New York startup whose platform claims to automate accounting processes, raised a $52 million Series C round co-led by GGV Capital and ICONIQ Growth, with Cowboy Ventures and Costanoa Ventures also tagging along. The company has raised a total of $115 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Zappi, a 10-year-old London startup that built a market research platform that utilizes AI and automation to speed up product development, raised a $170 million round from Sumeru Equity Partners. The company has raised a total of approximately $192 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Alio, a 10-year-old, startup based in Broomfield, Co., that offers a remote monitoring system for dialysis patients, raised an $18 million Series C round led by the Widjaja Family Investment Office, with participation from previous investor Chase Field LLC. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Api.video, a three-year-old Bordeaux, France-based video infrastructure startup, has raised a $12 million Series A round led by MMC Ventures, with additional participation from Open Ocean, Blossom Capital, and Financiere Saint James. Tech.eu has more here.

Beamery, a nine-year-old London startup that claims to use AI to identify potential job candidate matches for open roles, raised a $50 million Series D round at a $1 billion valuation. The lead was Teachers’ Ventures Growth, an offshoot of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. TechCrunch has more here.

BehaVR, a six-year-old London startup that uses digital therapeutics and VR to treat severe mental health conditions, raised a $13 million Series B round co-led by Optum Ventures and Oxford Science Enterprises, with Confluent Health, Accenture Ventures, Chrysalis Ventures, and Thornton Capital also piling on. As part of this financing, the company will also merge with OxfordVR. BehavR has raised a total of $21.2 million. MobiHealthNews has more here.

BondIT, a 10-year-old Tel Aviv startup that allows institutional entities to automatically manage their clients' bond portfolios, raised a $14 million round led by BNY Mellon, with previous investors Fosun Group, Wind, Talanx, and SixThirty Ventures also participating. Calcalist has more here.

Fashion Cloud, a seven-year-old startup based in Hamburg, Germany, whose B2B data exchange allows fashion retailers to receive updates on stock and marketing from wholesale fashion brands and other suppliers, raised a $26.5 million round led by Verdane, with previous investor Heartland also pitching in. Tech.eu has more here.

iNNBeauty Project, a three-year-old, White Plains, N.Y.-based skincare brand that describes its offerings as vegan and cruelty-free, raised $12 million in Series B funding led by Alliance Consumer Growth, with participation from earlier backers Strand Equity and Beechwood Capital. RetailDive has more here.

Ngrok, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup that helps developers share sites and apps running on their local machines or servers, raised a $50 million Series A round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with Coatue chipping in. TechCrunch has more here.

Paper.id, a six-year-old Indonesian startup whose software handles digital payment, invoicing, expense tracking, inventory, and financial statements, raised a $12 million Series B round led by Go-Ventures, with Skystar Capital and Living Lab Ventures also contributing. FinTech Global has more here.

Partly, a two-year-old startup based in Christchurch, New Zealand, that provides car parts data to marketplaces like eBay and Shopify, raised a $21 million Series A round led by Octopus Ventures; additional investors included Shasta Ventures, Square Peg, Blackbird, Ten13, Hillfarrance, and I2BF. TechCrunch has more here.

Peroxitech, a six-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based based biopharma outfit that's growing a novel peptide meant to treat acute lung damage, has raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Perceptive Advisors, which also provided seed funding for the startup. Peroxitech was launched by the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Center for Innovation Ventures. More here.

Post News, a New York startup founded this year by former Waze CEO Noam Bardin to provide an alternative to Twitter, is in the market to raise $50 million at a $250 million valuation, reports Axios, which has more here.

Sana Labs, a six-year-old Stockholm startup that provides an AI-based platform to help people manage information at work and use that data to bolster e-learning within the organization, raised a $34 million Series B round led by Menlo Ventures, with EQT Ventures also taking part. TechCrunch has more here.

TheyDo, a seven-year-old Amsterdam startup whose platform helps companies improve customer experience design in their products, raised a $12.7 million Series A round led by Blossom Capital, with 20VC also kicking in. TechCrunch has more here.

Cinder, a one-year-old New York startup that aims to streamline the content moderation process for companies, raised a $10 million Series A round led by ​​Accel and including Y Combinator. The company has raised a total of $14 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Finterest, a 10-month-old, Detroit-based  crypto lending protocol designed to facilitate native Bitcoin borrowing and lending, has closed on $1.5 million in seed funding, including from Polychain Capital and 9Yards Capital. More here.

Forum3, a one-year-old Seattle startup that helps companies like Starbucks create helped Starbucks Corp. create nonfungible token-based loyalty rewards programs, raised a $10 million seed round led by Decasonic, with Bloccelerate, Liberty City Ventures, Arca, Polygon Ventures, and Valor Siren Ventures also taking part. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Plann.ly, a two-year-old Phoenix startup that helps companies provide customized workplace benefits, raised a $1.2 million round from VEST Her Ventures. The company has raised a total of $2.4 million. More here.

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.

Fifth Wall has raised $866 million for its latest proptech fund, the largest-ever dedicated venture fund of its kind. The L.A.-based outfit, which is just six years old, is now managing more than $3 billion from limited partners like CBRE and other major real estate companies. The WSJ has more here.

Foundamental, a four-year-old, Berlin-based venture firm that focuses on early-stage construction tech startups, says it has closed its second fund with $85 million in capital commitments. The outfit had closed its debut fund with $65 million; TechCrunch has more here

Speedinvest, an 11-year-old, Vienna-based pan-European early-stage VC firm, has collected €300 million in capital commitments for its fourth, early-stage flagship fund and another €200 million for an overage fund. Bloomberg has more here.

Another deal bites the dust. Quanergy Systems, a maker of high-tech sensors and related software, filed for bankruptcy today, about 10 months after going public through a merger with a blank-check company. Bloomberg has more here.

Zeekr, the premium electric car brand under China’s Geely, said Tuesday it has confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO. If it goes through, it’ll be the first major Chinese listing in the country in nearly two years, following China’s effective ban of foreign IPOs. TechCrunch has more here.

Markus Braun’s lawyer has filed a motion to suspend the criminal trial of the former CEO of disgraced German payments group Wirecard just days after the case began. The attorney told a Munich court yesterday that prosecutors failed to properly investigate the case, ignored crucial evidence and relied on flawed testimony of an unreliable witness who was telling a “pack of lies”. The FT has the story here.

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey issued a warning on the social network’s current state and prospects, saying it meets none of the standards he hoped to achieve and that the company's "current attacks on my former colleagues could be dangerous" and don't "solve anything." More here.

Elon Musk is no longer the richest man on earth. His fortune has tumbled by more than $100 billion since January, making him the second richest person in the world after Bernard Arnault, who owns fashion giant LVMH. Bloomberg has more here.

Former CNN president Jeff Zucker has named CEO of a joint venture between RedBird Capital Partners and Abu Dhabi-based International Media Investments that invest in sports, media and entertainment entities. The WSJ has more here.

Apple is preparing to allow alternative app stores on its iPhones and iPads, part of a sweeping overhaul aimed at complying with strict European Union requirements coming in 2024. Bloomberg has the story here.

A leading medical ethics advocacy group asked federal regulators today to disqualify data collected by Elon Musk’s Neuralink medical device company during animal tests, potentially stymieing its aspirations to develop brain implants, as any sanctions could force Neuralink to start the rigorous approval process anew. The Washington Post has more here.

At a recent all-hands meeting, Google employees reportedly raised concerns about the company’s competitive edge in AI, given the sudden popularity of ChatGPT, which was launched by OpenAI. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Jeff Dean, the long-time head of Google’s AI division, apparently said the company has similar capabilities but that the cost if something goes wrong would be greater given Google's size and reputation. CNBC has more here.

Meta is testing out a BeReal clone: Instagram just today began testing out Candid Stories in South Africa.

How quantum computing will change the world.

Powering Argentina at the World Cup? 1,100 pounds of yerba mate.

Elon Musk receives experimental Neuralink implant in attempt to delete memory of being booed.

UK police barged into an art gallery to save a person in distress. It turned out to be a sculpture.

Also a sculpture! (As seen at our November 2019 event).

Banksy's Agile Rat Screen Prints.

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