Another TikTok ban, GPT-powered deepfakes and the Justice Department looks to block that Adobe-Figma deal

U.S. stocks rebounded from early losses today, snapping a days-long selloff in the S&P 500 that was driven by concerns about the trajectory of interest rates. The S&P 500 climbed 21.27 points, or 0.5%, to 4012.32, breaking its longest losing streak this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 108.82 points, or 0.3%, to 33153.91 after initial declines. 🎉

The Justice Department is preparing an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Adobe’s $20 billion acquisition of startup Figma, Bloomberg reporter earlier today. The outlet notes the deal also faces an antitrust review in the European Union after the bloc’s antitrust watchdog said it had received requests from national regulators to look into the deal, and the UK Competition and Markets Authority is reviewing the merger. 😭

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Chain Reaction, a 3.5-year-old Israel-based semiconductor and blockchain company, has raised $70 million in Series C funding led by Morgan Creek Digital. Other investors in the round included Hanaco Ventures, Jerusalem Venture Partners, KCK Capital, Exor, Atreides Management, and BlueRun Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Spreetail, a 16-year-old, Lincoln, Ne.-based company that serves more than 500 brands, helping them push their e-commerce sales through analytics, insights and logistics, has closed a $208 million funding round that company said “was supported by McCarthy Capital, internal management, and other investors.” It is Spreetail's first outside funding, says Crunchbase News.

Vytalize Health, an eight-year-old Hoboken, N.J.-based healthcare outfit helps schedule care and flags issues, as well as gets preventative (including virtual in-home) visits scheduled, has raised $100 million in additional Series B funding. Backers in the round include previous investor Enhanced Healthcare Partners, Monroe Capital and North Coast Ventures. Axios Pro has more here.

Aquafortus, an Auckland, New Zealand-based water tech company that purifies high salinity brines and says it derives valuable metals and minerals from them in the process, has raised $17 million for its Series A1 round, led by DCVC and Novo Holdings. More here.

Buk, a nearly six-year-old, Santiago, Chile-based HR software company focused on Latin America, has raised $35 million in funding co-led by Base10 and Greenoaks Funds. Contxto has more here.

Electra Vehicles, an eight-year-old, Boston-based battery management software company, has raised $21 million in new funding led by United Ventures; other backers in the round included Stellantis Ventures, LIFTT, Club degli Investitori, and BlackBerry Limited. More here.

Finch, a 2.5-year-old San Francisco-based startup whose platform aims to help companies connect to various HR apps, services and systems, raised $40 million in Series B funding led by General Catalyst and Menlo Ventures; they were joined by QED Investors, Altman Capital, and PruVen Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

GeoPura, a 3.5-year-old British company that aims to replace traditional diesel generators with its "hydrogen power unit" technology (in quotes because we don't have time to figure out what this actually means), has raised £36 million in funding from GM Ventures, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, and SWEN CP. More here.

Kratos Studios, an Indian company developing a blockchain-based reputation system for gamers, has raised $20 million in funding led by Accel, with participation from Prosus Ventures, Courtside Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, and Nazara among others. Inc42 has more here.

Metomic, a nearly-five-year-old, London-based startup that aims to give security teams visibility and control of their data across collaborative SaaS apps, including Slack, Jira, and Zendesk, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from Resonance and Connect Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Slync, a nearly six-year-old, Dallas-based logistics software company whose former CEO, Chris Kirchner, was recently indicted on fraud charges by multiple(!) federal agencies, has gone on to raise $24 million in funding from earlier backer Goldman Sachs, along with Blumberg Capital, ACME Ventures, and Gaingels. “It's absolutely a double down for our investors, because a lot of the money that they've invested in the past is gone," the new CEO tells Forbes. 

Tome, a 2.5-year-old San Francisco-based PowerPoint alternative tool that uses OpenAI's GPT-3 and DALL-E 2 to produce presentations in seconds based on a typed description, has raised $43 million in Series B funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Other participants in the round included Coatue, Greylock Partners, Audacious Ventures, Wing Venture Capital, 8VC, Eric Schmidt, Stabilty AI CEO Emad Mostaque and others. Forbes has more here.

Trust & Will, a six-year-old, San Diego-based digital estate planning company, has raised $15 million in fresh funding, including Amex Ventures, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, SEI Ventures and USAA. The company has now raised $48 million since its inception. TechCrunch has more here.

Vitally, a nearly six-year-old, Brooklyn-based customer success software company, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Next47, with HubSpot Ventures, NewView Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

Zellerfeld, a two-year-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based 3D printing shoe company that has 15 designs to start and plans to roll out a new design on a weekly basis, has raised $15 million in seed funding led by Founders Fund. HypeBeast has more here.

Brale, a year-old, Des Moines, Ia.-based startup that's developing technologies for deploying digital assets into public and private blockchains, has raised $1.1 million in funding led by NEA, with Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince and longtime VC Albert Wenger also participating. NEA head honcho Scott Sandell is joining the board. More here.

Gofrendly, a seven year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based friend-matching app for women, raised $1.25 million in funding led by JNE Invest. Arctic Startup has more here.

Sublime Security, a Washington-based anti-phishing email security company, has raised $9.8 million in funding led by Decibel, with participation from Slow Ventures and individual investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Hidden Level, a 4.5-year-old, Syracuse, N.Y.-based developer of passive sensing technology of unmanned aerial systems, such as drones, for high-interference environments, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Booz Allen Ventures, the venture arm of the consulting giant Booz Allen Hamilton. More here.

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Walmart is selling e-commerce outdoor retailer Moosejaw to Dick’s Sporting Goods after purchasing it six years ago. The financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close in March, were not disclosed. Walmart acquired Moosejaw for $51 million in February 2017 to bolster its e-commerce offerings. At the time, the deal was seen as another entry point into apparel for Walmart. TechCrunch has more here.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was just hit with four new criminal charges, including campaign finance violations. TechCrunch has more here.

Elon Musk is trying to unwind at least some of the terms of an earlier settlement with the SEC of his Twitter behavior, but the agency just argued in a new letter that Musk still needs a so-called “Twitter sitter,” and that an earlier settlement agreement between them is fully constitutional and valid.

Rachel Slaybaugh has been promoted to partner at the venture firm DCVC. Slaybaugh focuses on startups that are using so-called deep tech to address climate change. She joined DCVC last year as a principal; previously, she was a division director at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and an associate professor at UC Berkeley. More here. 

Gregg Wallace has been promoted to partner at Building Ventures, a Boston-based venture firm focused on the built environment. Wallace joined the firm in 2021 after logging eight years with Hilti, a multinational company that develops, makes, and markets products for the construction, building maintenance, energy and manufacturing industries. More here.

Per the WSJ: "Ozy Media Chief Executive Carlos Watson was arrested this morning after a former executive with whom he founded the embattled startup pleaded guilty to fraud charges in a secretive federal court proceeding." You may remember this story is bananas; you can read the prosecutor's announcement here as a refresher.

Remote job opportunities are dwindling as fewer employers feel the need to lure talent with the promise of working from home.

After peaking at $47.7 trillion last June, the total value of U.S. homes declined by $2.3 trillion, or 4.9%, in the second half of 2022, according to real estate brokerage Redfin. That’s the largest drop in percentage terms since the 2008 housing crisis. Bloomberg has more here.

The 20 most affluent places in the U.S.

Meet the $10,000 Nvidia chip powering the race for AI.

GPT-powered deepfakes are a "powder keg."

The European Commission will ban its staff from using TikTok, as western governments express safety and security concerns over the growing use of the Chinese-owned social media app, reports the FT.

How to avoid photo memory notifications: "A beautiful collage of exes."

Delicate off-roading in the Cybertruck. 

"Commenting for reach."

Succession, RIP.

Can you help Heinz find this ketchup customer?

The Woodstock Barn.

The new Burberry. 

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