Foxconn's focus on India, Sotheby's newest pitch, and crypto firms, including Coinbase, ditch Silvergate

A raft of crypto companies cut ties today with one of the top digital-currency market’s banks, Silvergate Capital, a 35-year-old outfit whose financial troubles threaten the industry’s ability to fulfill basic financial transactions, says the WSJ. The outlet observes that Silvergate bet big on the crypto market, focusing on crypto firms as a way to distinguish itself from other regional banks. But its fall has been swift. More here.

Apple has delayed the approval of a ChatGPT-powered email-app update over concerns that it could generate inappropriate content for children. “Your app includes AI-generated content but does not appear to include content filtering at this time,” Apple’s app-review team said last week in a message to the developer, BlueMail, which were reviewed by the WSJ. Apple’s "attempt to set an age restriction to help moderate content from a language-model-based AI is an indication the tech giant is closely watching the new technology and the risks it poses," observes the outlet. More here.

How will venture capital handle the headwinds of 2023? Watch Juniper Square’s State of Venture Capital webinar to hear Sean Park from First Republic Bank, Jeff Bloom from Gunderson Dettmer, and Zack Ellison from A.R.I. Venture Debt Opportunities Fund discuss how venture investors should operate today and prepare for tomorrow. Watch now.

Felicis, a now 17-year-old, San Francisco- and Menlo Park-based venture firm, is announcing today that it has closed its ninth flagship fund with $825 million, compared with the $600 million core fund that it announced in the summer of 2021. The vehicle brings the firm’s total assets under management to exactly $3 billion, and it took just three months to raise, it says.

It’s a feat in the current market, but Joanna Rupp, managing director of private equity at the University of Chicago — which is among Felicis’ limited partners — suggests is boils it down to the numbers, saying in a statement to TechCrunch that Felicis has “delivered strong results for the endowment.” (Some of Felicis’ exits include the IPOs of Shopify, Adyen, Recursion and Matterport, along with acquisitions, like Credit Karma’s sale to Intuit and Fitbit’s 2021 sale to Google after first going public back in 2015.) 

The question is whether the returns of Felicis will look as strong in the coming years. Its most recent fund was aggressively invested into the frothiest market on record in terms of dollars invested and startup valuations. Investor Chamath Palihapitiya summed up the fears of many institutional investors at a recent investing conference, saying despite the “successive amounts of capital” that startups raised during the pandemic and the ensuing “valuation creep” they enjoyed, it “won’t translate into what the actual money is that [VCs] are going to get back.”

In an interview this week, firm founder Aydin Senkut said he’s not concerned and suggested the best returns for Felicis may be yet to come, primarily for two reasons.

More here. 

Cargo Therapeutics, a one-year-old startup based in San Mateo, Ca., that aims to develop a cancer cell therapy for people with lymphoma whose cancer has relapsed or grown resistant to existing cellular treatments, raised a $200 million Series A round. Third Rock Ventures, RTW Investments, and Perceptive Advisors co-led the deal, while Nextech, Janus Henderson Investors, Ally Bridge Group, Wellington Management, T. Rowe Price, Cormorant Asset Management, Piper Heartland, Samsara BioCapital, Red Tree Venture Capital, and Emerson Collective also piled on. BioPharma Dive has more here.

Inflection AI, a year-old AI startup founded by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman and LinkedIn creator Reid Hoffman, is reportedly in discussions to raise up to $675 million from investors as the growing hype around generative AI drives a surge of investor interest. The outfit raised $225 million last year. The FT has the story here.

Wunderkind, a 13-year-old New York company that helps brands to target web visitors through emails, texts, and other digital advertising formats, raised a $76 million Series C round. Neuberger Berman was the deal lead. TechCrunch has more here.

Attio, a four-year-old London startup that has created what it calls a "next-gen" CRM platform, raised a $23.5 million Series A round led by Redpoint Ventures, with previous investors Balderton Capital and Point also contributing. The company has raised a total of $31.2 million. TechCrunch has more here.

BelliWelli, a three-year-old Los Angeles startup that makes gut-friendly snack bars that are free from gluten, dairy, and other gut irritants, raised a $15.4 million Series A round. The Invus Group led the transaction. The company has raised a total of $16.4 million. Forbes has more here.

Edurino, a two-year-old Munich startup that works with educators and occupational therapists to provide children (from 4 to 8+ years) with a safe introduction to digital learning through gamified lessons, raised an $11.1 million Series A round led by DN Capital, with FJ Labs and Tengelmann Ventures as well as previous investors btov Partners, Jens Begemann, and Emerge Education also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $15.4 million. Silicon Canals has more here.

Hexa, an eight-year-old, Tel Aviv-based 3D asset visualization and management platform, has raised $20.5 million in Series A funding from Point72 Ventures, Samurai Incubate, Sarona Partners and HTC. TechCrunch has more here.

ION Mobility, a four-year-old Singapore startup that develops hardware and software for electric motorbikes, raised an $18.7 million Series A round. Investors included TVS Motor, AC Ventures Malaysia, Michael Sampoerna, TNB Aura, Quest Ventures, Monk's Hill Ventures, Village Global, GDP Venture, and Seeds Capital. The company has raised a total of $25.5 million. TechNode Global has more here.

Sesamm, a nine-year-old Paris startup that helps financial firms and corporates adhere to their ESG goals by using natural language processing to monitor their partners' ESG practices, raised a $37 million round co-led by Opera Tech Ventures and Elaia, with additional participation from Unigestion, Carlyle, Elevator Ventures, AFG Partners, CEGEE Capital, and New Alpha Asset Management. The company has raised a total of $55.4 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Skin + Me, a five-year-old London startup that provides an online skincare consultation service, raised a $13.3 million Series B round. Octopus Ventures was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $22.3 million. Global Cosmetics News has more here.

SpotDraft, a six-year-old Bangalore startup that claims to use AI to reduce repetitive tasks associated with the analysis, monitoring, and creation of legal contracts, raised a $26 million Series A round led by Premji Invest, with additional investment from Prosus Ventures, 021 Capital, Arkam Ventures, Riverwalk Fund, and 100x Entrepreneur Fund. TechCrunch has more here.

Henchman, a three-year-old startup based in Ghent, Belgium, that allows company lawyers to easily access and reuse information from company contracts, raised a $7 million Series A round. Adjacent VC and Acton Capital co-led the deal.. More here.

Immi, a startup that has developed a plant-based version of instant ramen that it claims has lower carbohydrates and increased protein, raised a $10 million Series A led by Touch Capital and including Siddhi Capital, Gold House Ventures, and Anti VC as well as celebrities such as Usher. The company has raised a total of approximately $15 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Indent, a Seoul-based startup whose video review marketing tool helps shoppers generate reviews of products, which in turn can ostensibly help merchants drive sales  (they post the reviews to their sites), has raised $8.1 million in Series A funding led by SV Investment. Other backers include LG Uplus (a telco unit of LG), Korea Investment Partners and Crit Ventures, among others. TechCrunch has more here.

Redeem, a Kansas startup that provides web3 technology that allows users to send and redeem NFTs using their phone numbers, raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round. Kinetic Capital was the deal lead, while Monochrome Capital, VC3 DAO, The Fund, Flyover Capital, CMT Digital, KCRise Fund, and KESTREL 0x1 also pitched in. CoinDesk has more here.

Secfix, a two-year-old Berlin startup that claims it automates all the processes that SMEs need to set up their IT security and obtain with ISO 27001, TISAX, GDPR and SOC 2 certification, raised a $3.8 million seed round led by Octopus Ventures, with Neosfer also participating. The company has raised a total of $4.5 million. FinTech Global has more here.

TeraPore Technologies, a 10-year-old company based in South San Francisco that is developing nanofiltration membrane systems for biomanufacturing, raised a $10 million round. Previous investor Anzu Partners was the deal lead, while Entegis and RA Capital Management also invested. More here.

Zarta, a two-year-old startup whose platform allows creators to upload videos, set parameters for a free preview, and then charge viewers a small amount to unlock the whole video, raised a $5.7 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. TechCrunch has more here.

From pipeline quality to fundraising forecasts and showcasing value to portcos, your CRM data holds valuable insights. Learn about the top 7 VC platform metrics to track, and how to get started with them, on the Affinity blog.

8VC, the venture firm led by Joe Lonsdale, who moved its operations from Silicon Valley to Austin during the pandemic, has raised $880 million in capital commitments for its fifth fund. TechCrunch has more here.

Kinship Ventures, an L.A.-based outfit led by actress and lifestyle brand guru Gwyneth Paltrow, and Moj Mahdara, a longtime beauty industry entrepreneur and investor, is raising $75 million for a debut, early-stage fund, Axios reports. More here.

The chip designer Arm has reportedly decided against selling shares on the London Stock Exchange for now, dealing a blow to UK politicians who were lobbying the home-grown technology giant ahead of its IPO, says Bloomberg. The SoftBank Group Corp.-owned company will instead focus on a sole listing in New York for Arm later this year, according to the outlet's sources. More here.

Private equity pioneer Thomas H. Lee took his own life one week ago without leaving a note; now, sources close to Lee Equity Partners tell Axios there is no skeleton in the firm's portfolio that would have prompted Lee to kill himself - a message the firm has reportedly conveyed to limited partners, too.

Engineer Blake Lemoine, who was fired by Google after he claimed the company's AI chatbot had gained sentience, is now warning that the AI bots being developed are the "most powerful" pieces of technology invented "since the atomic bomb."

Tencent founder Pony Ma has been left off a list of delegates to China’s annual parliamentary session this week as the country’s most prominent tech leaders lose sway in Beijing, reports the FT. Tencent is China’s most valuable company by market capitalization and Ma remains its chair and chief executive.

Salesforce has reportedly been paying actor Matthew McConaughey more than $10 million a year to serve as a creative adviser and TV pitchman. 👀 

Elon Musk's private jet flew enough last year to circle the globe a dozen times.

"Twitter is not a town square. It's Times Square. Have you been to Times Square? It's f*cking terrifying." -- Hasan Minhaj, moments before deleting his Twitter account on air.

U.S. regulators have rejected Elon Musk’s bid to test brain chips in humans, citing safety risks. Reuters has the story here.

Apple partner Foxconn Technology Group plans to invest about $700 million on a new plant in India to ramp up local production, reports Bloomberg, which notes the "accelerating shift of manufacturing away from China as Washington-Beijing tensions grow."

The auction house Sotheby’s is pitching investors a first of its kind: a securitization of personal loans to the wealthy secured on their art collections.

Why $30 million worth of Funkos are headed to the landfill.

On TikTok, dating mishaps become viral content.

Diesel sling bag.

St. Patrick's Day gear.

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