Stripe's machinations, Ant Group's newest haircut, and NEA is becoming an RIA

Within the next 12 months, Stripe, one of most valuable startups in the world, will either be taken private or employees will be allowed to sell shares in a private-market transaction, its founders reportedly told employees today. The WSJ has more here. The Journal separately reported today that Stripe has approached investors about raising at least $2 billion in fresh cash at a valuation of $55 billion to $60 billion, a sharp decline from its last private fundraising nearly two years ago. Its sources say the money wouldn’t be used to fund its operations but to cover a large annual tax bill associated with some employee stock units. More here.

Fintech giant Ant Group’s valuation was trimmed again by Fidelity Investments, more than two years after the Chinese government torpedoed its record IPO in October 2020. Boston-based Fidelity cut its estimate for Ant by about 9% to about $63.8 billion as of the end of November from the end of May, according to Bloomberg calculations based on filings. That’s down from $235 billion just before Ant’s IPO was halted in November 2020. More here.

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Boston Metal, an 11-year-old, Boston-based clean steel tech company that spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has raised $120 million in funding led by the international steel giant ArcelorMittal, with participation from Microsoft. Bill Gates’s investment fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, had previously invested in Boston Metal. CNBC has more here.

Welcome to the Jungle, a nine-year-old Paris startup that creates elaborate photo and video profiles of companies in order to entice new recruits, raised a $54.3 million Series C round. Investors included blisce, Cipio Partners, Groupe ADP, Kostogri, and Raise Sherpas as well as previous investors XAnge and Bpifrance. The company has raised a total of $87.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Crux, a six-year-old San Francisco startup whose cloud-based software helps enterprises with end-to-end data integration, transformation, and observability, raised a $50 million round. Two Sigma and Goldman Sachs Asset Management co-led the transaction. The company has raised a total of $157.9 million. More here.

Floodbase, a startup based in Menlo Park, Ca., that provides near real-time data and analysis on flooding and flood risk, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Lowercarbon Capital, with Collaborative Fund, Floating Point, and Vidavo also pitching in. More here.

Hawk AI, a five-year-old Munich startup that helps banks combat money laundering and fraud, raised a $17 million Series B round led by Sands Capital and including Picus Capital, DN Capital, Coalition, and BlackFin Capital Partners. The company has raised a total of $27 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Inscribe, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that detects fraud in documents that are supplied to insurers and lenders, such as proof of address documents and bank statements, raised a $25 million Series B round led by Threshold Ventures, with Crosslink Capital, Foundry, and Uncork Capital also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $38.7 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Kittl, a three-year-old Berlin startup that offers browser-based graphic design tools to create logos, labels, and postcards à la Canva, raised an $11.6 million Series A round led by Left Lane Capital and joined by Speedinvest. TechCrunch has more here.

Log9 Materials, a nine-year-old Bengaluru startup that develops and manufactures lithium batteries, raised a $40 million Series B equity and debt round. Amara Raja Batteries and Petronas Ventures were the co-leads; other investors included Incred Financial Services, Unity Small Finance Bank, Oxyzo Financial Services, and Western Capital Advisors. Your Story has more here.

Makeup by Mario, a three-year-old New York startup that has developed a line of makeup products, raised a $40 million round. Provenance and Silas Capital were the deal leads. RetailDive has more here.

Meati Foods, a seven-year-old startup based in Boulder, Co., that is creating proteins from the structural fibers of mushrooms, raised a $22 million Series C extension round led by Revolution Growth; Rockefeller Capital also participated. The company has raised over $250 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Method, a two-year-old Austin startup that aims to make it easier for fintech developers to embed repayment, balance transfers, and bill pay automation into their apps, raised a $16 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with additional capital provided by Abstract Ventures, SV Angel, and Y Combinator. The company has raised a total of $18.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Miach Orthopaedics, a seven-year-old Boston startup that is developing an implant to help patients repair torn anterior cruciate ligaments rather than replacing them, raised a $30 million Series B round co-led by Sectoral Asset Management and Endeavour Vision, with additional funds supplied by previous investors Amzak Health, Smith+Nephew, DSM Venturing, and the NFL Players Association. The company also raised $10 million in debt from Silicon Valley Bank. More here.

Tado, a twelve-year-old Munich startup that sells smart thermostats and a platform for managing home heating and cooling systems, raised a $46.9 million round from Trill Impact Ventures, Bayern Kapital, Kiko Ventures, and Swisscanto. The company previously abandoned its plans to go public via a SPAC. Tado has raised approximately $207 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Addie, a startup based in Norwood, Ma., that operates a drive-up grocery store, raised a $10.1 million seed round led by Rose Park Advisors. TechCrunch has more here.

Emperia, a four-year-old London startup that helps brands create virtual retail stores, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Base10 Partners, with additional funds provided by Dastore, Sony Ventures, Background Capital, Stanford Capital Partners, and Concept Ventures. Fashion United has more here.

Foro, a 10-year-old startup based in Charlotte, N.C., that is building a digital commercial lending platform for business owners, raised an $8 million Series A round led by TTV Capital, with Fin Capital, Correlation Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures and a former Bank of American CEO (Hugh McColl, Jr.) also contributing. Banking Dive has more here.

Free From Market, a two-year-old, Kansas City, Mo.-based digital platform aiming to empower lower-income Americans living with chronic health conditions to order the diet-specific foods and the support they need, has raised $2.1 million in seed funding led by Bluestein Ventures. Other backers in the round include Acumen America, Beta Boom, KCRise Fund, 1st Course Capital and AssetBlue Ventures. More here.

Kanpla, a three-year-old Danish startup that aims to cut food waste in cafeterias, raised a $2.4 million seed round led by HenQ. TechCrunch has more here.

Salv, a five-year-old startup based in Tallinn, Estonia, that helps financial institutions combat money laundering, raised a $4.35 seed round extension led by ffVC, with G+D Ventures and existing investors also participating. The company has raised a total of $8.2 million. Tech.eu has more here.

Senken, a four-year-old startup based in Berlin and Cape Town that has built a trading platform for on-chain carbon credits, raised a $7.5 million seed round led by Obvious Ventures, with Offline Ventures, Inflection, Kraken Ventures, and Climate Capital also piling on. More here.

Spatial Labs, a Los Angeles-based web3 infrastructure and hardware company, raised a $10 million seed round led by Blockchain Capital and joined by Marcy Venture Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Suppli, an Austin startup whose mission is to simplify and accelerate payments for construction suppliers, raised a $3.1 million seed round led by Equal Ventures and also including Audacious Ventures and Dash Fund. More here.

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New Enterprise Associates, the now 46-year-old venture firm, is announcing that it last year closed on two new funds totaling $6.2 billion which, more amazingly, push the outfit's total assets under management to $25 billion. TechCrunch also reports that NEA is in the process of restructuring as a registered investment advisor, as have many of its peers, including Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, and Bessemer Venture Partners. More here.

Venture capital firm Sapphire Sport based in Palo Alto, Ca., has raised $181 million for its second fund, adding investors from across the sports world as it looks to capitalize on growing interest in the sector. Investors include Adidas, Sinclair Broadcast Group, the Bank of Montreal, AEG, Madison Square Garden Sports and City Football Group, the Emirati owners of English Premier League club Manchester City. It’s also backed by franchise owners such as Stephen Pagliuca and David Blitzer and sports investment firms including Arctos Sports Partners. Bloomberg has more here.

Volition Capital, a nearly 13-year-old, Boston-based firm growth equity investment firm that wrote the first check to the pet and product site Chewy (which later sold for $3.35 billion to Petsmart), has closed its fifth fund with a whopping $675 million in capital commitments. The firm's assets under management are now $1.7 billion. More here.

High-earning men are cutting back on their working hours, says the economics department at Washington University in St. Louis.

Venture capital investments into blockchain are in free fall, according to Cointelegraph Research.

Activist investor Elliott Management Corp. is preparing to nominate a slate of directors at Salesforce, according to the WSJ, which calls it a "sign that a battle may be looming for board seats at the business-software maker."

BuzzFeed leans into ChatGPT.

A look at the sharply different ways that Tesla and insurers are addressing the cars' expensive repair costs.

The food expiration dates you should actually follow.

A "show that was affordable to all." 💀

The "Succession" season 4 trailer.

"Savoring."

M3GAN 2.0.

Rolex is beginning to refurbish its own watches. "The mother ship is leading the way."

Rao’s Homemade Marinara. If you have to go with jarred, it could be your best option.

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