A big markdown of Canva, Zume runs out of fumes, and where to commission a painting (of yourself)

Happy Friday night, all; hope you have a great weekend.:) If you find yourself craving shop talk, you might enjoy our newest StrictlyVC Download, featuring Greycroft co-founder Ian Sigalow, who we first interviewed when the L.A.- and New York-based venture firm was teeny tiny -- and which has been expanding ever since. (It announced more than $1 billion in fresh capital commitments just a few weeks ago.) We talked about investing into the frothy market that ended abruptly last year. We also talked about why Greycroft quietly restructured as a registered investment advisor last year, and the increasingly rarified air that firms capable of writing a $50 million+ check occupy these days. You can find that chat here.

Much thanks to this week's podcast sponsor, Finley, a debt capital management platform for startups. Founded by a former Goldman Sachs debt investor, Finley says its software helps startups manage their borrowing bases, financial covenants, and other debt capital must-haves. For a free debt capital consultation, head on over here. 

Apple's most significant product launch event in nearly a decade kicks off Monday; in addition to that $3,000 mixed-reality headset, here's what to expect.

In a reversal of its election integrity policy, YouTube will leave up content that says fraud, errors or glitches occurred in the 2020 presidential election and other U.S. elections, the company confirmed to Axios earlier today.

An Air Force colonel who oversees AI testing used what he now says is a hypothetical to describe a military AI going rogue and killing its human operator in a simulation in a presentation at a professional conference. After reports of the talk emerged yesterday (we pointed you to one in yesterday's "Essential Reads"), the colonel said that he misspoke and that the "simulation" he described was a "thought experiment" that never happened. Insider has more here.

Partnering with strategic buyers can serve as a catalyst for premium exit outcomes for techology companies. Although Private Equity (PE) aggressively acquires tech businesses, founders and management teams often prefer strategic buyers who dominate the technology buyer landscape. Unlike PE, strategic buyers take a more nuanced approach to acquisitions and the seller may have a slower exit process. This article by Allied Advisers provides strategies to help technology companies catalyze the desired exit outcome with strategic buyers.

Last summer, Blackbird, one of Australia’s largest venture operations, marked down the value of one of its most prized stakes, in the Sydney-based design platform Canva. Valued at $40 billion by investors in a $200 million round in the fall of 2021, Blackbird adjusted its own valuation of the company 36% to $25.6 billion.

Now, T. Rowe Price — the mutual fund goliath that began investing aggressively into late-stage startups nearly a decade ago, continued to fund them throughout the pandemic, and which led that $40 billion round in 2021 — has marked down the value of its stake in Canva even more dramatically, adjusting it by a whopping 67.6%. (T. Rowe’s Blue Chip Growth Fund, which owns several classes of Canva shares but predominantly Series A shares, has to date invested $99.1 million in Canva and states in its most recent prospectus, dated March 31, that it now values those shares on a cost-adjusted basis at $32.1 million.)

Asked for comment earlier today, a spokesman for Canva responded: “Overall, despite the broader market conditions, our metrics continue to rapidly move in the right direction. We just crossed 135 million monthly users, $1.5 billion in annualized revenue and had our sixth year of profitability.”T. Rowe’s “changes in valuation are a result of [Canva] being marked to market when compared to our publicly listed peers,” the spokesman said.

T. Rowe’s investment in Canva represents a minuscule amount of money for the sprawling investment firm. Its Blue Chip Growth Fund had roughly $53 billion in assets under management at the end of the first quarter of this year, down from $63 billion a year ago, in June 2022.

Still, it’s notable that one of the savviest asset managers in the U.S. thinks a company that was for a time the fifth most valuable startup on the planet is currently worth far less — essentially $13 billion and not $40 billion.

Asked if Canva has adjusted its own, independent 409A valuation to match up with T.Rowe’s assessment — T. Rowe’s markdown is really just its opinion, after all — Canva’s spokesman said its assessment does not match that of T. Rowe but declined to comment further.

More here.

NexWafe, an eight-year-old German startup that aims to produce ultra-thin, highly efficient, monocrystalline green solar wafers, raised a $33 million convertible loan as part of a three digit Series D round it is raising. Malcolm Turnbull AC and Keshik Capital as well as previous investors Reliance New Energy Limited, Aramco Ventures, and ATHOS Venture all participated in the deal. The company has raised a total of $107 million. Reuters has more here.

Sami, a five-year-old São Paulo startup that offers health care plans to corporations, raised a $18 million Series B round co-led by Redpoint eventures and Mundi Ventures. HIT Consultant has more here.

Canopus Networks, a five-year-old Sydney startup that claims to offer a scalable, privacy-friendly, and encryption-resistant application-aware network traffic analytics platform, raised a $3 million Series A extension, increasing the total size of the round to $10.6 million. Konvoy Ventures was the deal lead. More here.

Chamberlain Coffee, a three-year-old Los Angeles startup that sells organic coffee roasted in California that it says is sustainably sourced, raised a $7 million round. Blazar Capital, founder and YouTube influencer Emma Chamberlain, and United Talent Agency co-led the deal. TechCrunch has more here.

Demox Labs, a two-year-old San Francisco startup whose aim is to develop a decentralized, trustless oracle protocol for the connection of smart contracts to any off-chain data source, raised a $4.5 million pre-seed round led by HackVC, with DCVC, Amplify Partners, Coinbase Ventures, CRV, OpenSea, and CSquared also chipping in. More here.

Galvanick, a two-year-old Los Angeles startup that is fashioning software to enable industrial companies to continuously monitor complex infrastructure against cyber attacks without hiring security teams, raised a $10 million seed round. Investors included MaC Venture Capital, Founders Fund, Village Global, Countdown Capital, Hanover Technology Investment Management, Shrug Capital, and 8090 Industries. More here.

Klearly, a one-year-old Amsterdam startup that enables SMBs to quickly transform their phones into payment terminals, raised a $2.25 million pre-seed round. Antler and Global PayTech Ventures were the co-leads. EU-Startups has more here.

Uncaged, a three-year-old startup based in White Plains, N.Y., that's focused on developing sustainable leather alternatives, raised a $2 million pre-seed round led by InMotion Ventures (Jaguar Land Rover’s investment arm), with additional funds provided by VegInvest, Stray Dog Capital, Alwyn Capital, Hack Capital, and GlassWalls Syndicate. More here.

XONAI, a two-year-old London startup that aims to help corporations reduce their cloud costs by identifying ways in which their data software can run more efficiently, raised a $3.5 million seed round led by Kadmos Capital, with Adara Ventures, Deep Science Ventures, Nauta Capital, and Notion Capital also contributing. TechCrunch has more here.

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New York and Warsaw-based venture firm ff Venture Capital, which invests in cybersecurity, AI, machine learning, drones, and cloud software, has held a first close on €32 million in capital commitments for a fund -- ff Red & White -- that it is using to support Central European startups. The team hopes to close the fund with €60 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Selva Ventures, a four-year-old, L.A.-based venture firm that invests in consumer brands that promote healthier living in the areas of health, wellness, beauty and personal care, has closed its second fund with $34 million in capital commitments. TechCrunch has more here.

Aurum, a prop tech firm, is acquiring NestAway, a once high-flying Indian startup operating in the same space, for up to $10.9 million, in a "deal that marks a near complete erosion in value for the startup’s investors," observes TechCrunch. It says eight-year-old NestAway raised $115 million over the years and was valued at $227 million in a funding round in 2019. The startup counts Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global, Goldman Sachs, Yuri Milner and Chiratae Ventures among its investors. More here.

After 10 months of courtship, marketing tech holding company The Brandtech Group has completed its acquisition of Jellyfish, a digital media and marketing group. Put together, the firms tally up some 7,000 employees globally and generate some $1 billion in revenue, according to Brandtech Group’s founder and CEO. Digiday has more here.

Unbabel, a platform that helps businesses deliver multilingual customer experience at scale, says it has acquired Bablic, a website translation company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. More here.

Zume, which raised $375 million from SoftBank to automate pizza-making with robots before switching to developing sustainable packaging, has fully shut down. The company is insolvent and has retained restructuring firm Sherwood Partners to liquidate the assets for the benefit of the creditors, an alternative to bankruptcy, according to Martin Pichinson, Sherwood Partners’ cofounder. It ceased operations late last month, according to The Information.

And another one gone.  A.J. Brown, Twitter’s head of brand safety and ad quality, has decided to leave the company, the WSJ reported earlier today. He was a top executive who has worked to assure advertisers that Twitter is a safe place for their ads.

The surprising new source of lithium for batteries.

Graphics chip maker Nvidia has gained more than $650 billion in market value since October, and still, Wall Street analysts rate it a "buy." The WSJ has more here.

Johnny Carson's original "Tonight Show" set just sold for $287,000. (We're hoping Mark Malkoff took it home.)

The U.S. companies with the best and worst reputations right now.

Would you pay $1,200 for an oil painting . . .of yourself?

Tim Robinson and the golden age of cringe comedy.

"Neither of the homes has any landmark protection, but the listing agent said he is confident that prospective buyers won’t want to tear down either property. “It’s our hope that nobody ever has that intention,” he said. 

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