A break in the Bob Lee case, stock sales on Twitter, and Reid Hoffman's role in a lawsuit against Donald Trump

The fatal stabbing of tech executive Bob Lee in the early hours of the night last week was not a random act of violence in San Francisco but instead tied to an altercation with someone whom Lee was riding in a car with earlier in the evening, according to the outlet Mission Local. The relationship between the two isn't yet clear (publicly), but the suspected assailant, who was arrested earlier today, is a UC Berkeley grad who, according to his LinkedIn, runs a tech support outfit from Emeryville, Ca. More here and here.

Starting tomorrow, Thursday, a new feature will be rolled out on the Twitter app that will allow users to view market charts on an expanded range of financial instruments and buy and sell stocks and other assets from eToro, a 16-year-old, Israel-based online brokerage. The move is apparently part of Elon Musk's mission to turn Twitter into a so-called “super app," observes CNBC. Meanwhile, Bloomberg's Matt Levine wonders what could possibly go wrong.

Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, venture capitalist, and critic of Donald Trump, has helped pay for a lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll, the New York magazine writer who sued Trump for rape and defamation, according to newly filed court papers in the case. The New York Times has more here.

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Alentis Therapeutics, a four-year-old, Switzerland-based clinical-stage biotechnology company that focuses on developing treatments for CLDN1+ tumors and organ fibrosis, has raised $105 million in Series C funding. Jeito Capital led the round, joined by Novo Holdings, RA Capital Management and earlier investors BB Pureos Bioventures, Bpifrance and Schroders Capital. FierceBiotech has more here.

Cybersyn, a year-old, New York-based data-as-a-service startup, raised $62.9 million in Series A funding led by Snowflake, with participation from Sequoia Capital and Coatue, where Cybersyn's CEO previously spent six years, including as its head data scientist. Martech Series has more here.

Kepler Communications, an eight-year-old, Toronto-based company that's building out an on-orbit data network, including by launching a constellation of optical communications satellites next year (is the plan), has raised $92 million in fresh funding led by earlier backer IA Ventures. Other participating investors include Costanoa Ventures, Canaan Partners, Tribe Capital and BDC Capital’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund. The company has now raised more than $200 million to date. TechCrunch has more here.

1upHealth, a nearly six-year-old, Boston-based health care data platform, has raised $40 million in Series C funding led by Sixth Street Growth, with participation from earlier backers F-Prime Capital, Jackson Square Ventures and Eniac Ventures. More here.

Elevate, a 2.5-year-old, Denver-based consumer benefits administration platform, has raised $28 million in funding led by Anthemis, with participation from Fin Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Greycroft, Bowery Capital and Firebolt Ventures. Elevate has now raised $43 million altogether, says TechCrunch.

NetBox Labs, a new open source startup spun out of the venture-backed network automation company NS1 back in January, today announced it has raised $20 million in a Series A round. Flybridge Capital was the deal lead; it was joined by IBM, Salesforce Ventures, GGV Capital, Mango Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, the Founder Collective, Entrée Capital and Grafana Labs CEO Raj Dutt. TechCrunch has more here.

Otterize, an 18-month-old, Israel-based network policy automation startup, has raised $11.5 million in seed funding led by Index Ventures, with participation from Dig Ventures, Vine Ventures, Jibe Ventures, Crew Capital and Operator Partners. TechCrunch has more here. 

Recuro Health, a two-year-old, Richardson, Tex.-based digital medical home care startup has raised $47 million in Series B funding from Arch Venture Partners, Flippen Group, GPG Ventures and 4D Capital. More here.

Spendflo, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based SaaS buying and management tool, has raised $11 million in Series A funding co-led by Prosus Ventures and Accel. More here.

Thynk, a four-year-old, Brussels, Belgium-based maker of hospitality industry software, raised $13 million in Series A funding led by Singular, with participation from earlier backer Fly Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Tradier, a 10-year-old, Charlotte, N.C.-based retail brokerage for active traders, has raised $24.6 million in Series B funding led by Peak6 Strategic Capital, with participation from earlier backers F-Prime Capital and KF Business Ventures. Axios has more here. 

Ampersand, an eight-month-old, San Francisco-based startup that helps SaaS companies build user-facing integrations into their products, has raised $4.7 million in seed funding led by Matrix Partners, with participation from Base Case Capital, Flex Capital, and 2.12 Angels. TechCrunch has more here.

Companion, a six-year-old, Bay Area-based maker of interactive devices for dogs, has raised $6 million in funding from Lerer Hippeau and Digitalis Ventures. More here.

Kala, a year-old, Colombia-based startup that builds fintech infrastructure for lending, has raised $4 million in funding led by Cometa, with participation from Canary, Acrew, Clocktower and 99 Startups. TechCrunch has more here.

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A 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based venture fitm -- MetaVC Partners -- has closed its debut fund with $62 million in capital commitments (down from an original target of $100 million). The team plans to invest in startups commercializing metamaterials, an area of materials science that could improve the performance and reduce the size and weight of devices such as lenses and sensors, notes the WSJ. The outfit's backers include Corning, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, and Nathan Myhrvold, formerly chief technology officer at Microsoft who runs intellectual-property firm Intellectual Ventures. More here.

Washington Commanders owners Dan and Tanya Snyder have reached a preliminary nonexclusive agreement to sell the storied NFL franchise to a group led by Apollo cofounder Josh Harris, who also co-owns teams in the NBA and NHL, for a record $6.05 billion, sources told ESPN earlier today. Puck reported yesterday that Jeff Bezos, who'd had some interest in buying the franchise and even hired a firm, Allen & Co., to explore a bid, had dropped out of the running.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy saw his 2022 compensation "crater last year, notes The Hollywood Reporter, with a massive stock award he received in 2021 making up the backbone of his long-term Amazon remuneration. According to Amazon’s annual proxy filing, which the company filed this morning, Jassy was paid $1.3 million in 2022, including a $317,500 salary (that is famously the maximum base salary any employee at the company can receive). The remaining $981,000 included company personal security costs, travel costs, and company contributions to his 401K plan. More here.

Spark Capital has hired Fraser Kelton, the former head of product at OpenAI, as a venture partner. The Information has more here.

Three executives from the formerly high-flying Chicago-based startup Outcome Health were convicted earlier this week for their roles in a $1 billion fraud scheme that targeted the company's clients, lenders, and investors. Rishi Shah, 37, co-founder and former CEO; Shradha Agarwal, 37, former president; and Brad Purdy, 33, former chief operating officer, were convicted of defrauding Outcome Health's customers, including major pharmaceutical companies like Novo Nordisk A/S, as well as investors including Goldman Sachs Group. According to the WSJ, Shah was close to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and a budding star in Democratic circles before fraud was revealed in a Journal article in 2017. Chicago’s then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel declared at a company press conference “as Outcome goes, so goes Chicago.” More here.

About 30% of U.S. opposite-sex marriages are egalitarian in earnings, according to new data from Pew Research Center, meaning each spouse earns somewhere between 40% and 60% of the couples’ joint earnings. The WSJ takes a look here.

Amazon is throwing its hat into the generative AI ring. But rather than build AI models entirely by itself, it’s recruiting third parties to host models on AWS.

A computer-generated swatting service is wreaking havoc across America.

The internet is abuzz over what some suspect is a redesigned Tesla Model 3.

What kind of mind does ChatGPT have?

A specific complaint with TikTok's old-age filter.

Ice cream is secretly sort of good for you.

DJ set list, courtesy of ChatGPT.

A site where scalping restaurant reservations is encouraged.

Coronation coins.

The only thing missing from this whisky tumbler ad is Kit Harington.

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