The bear market has nearly been erased, fewer than 20 months after it began

Hi.:) We were in back-to-back meetings all day (Mondays!) so we have a shortish one for you . . . 

Elon Musk is continuing to erase the company that users have known since 2006 as Twitter, rebranding it X as he looks to turn the platform into an everything app by the same brand. 

Leaving aside that Meta, Microsoft and others already have intellectual property rights to X, the renamed outfit will need to establish far more credibility before people trust it with anything (let alone everything!) beyond their text-based posts. Since March of this year, press questions to the oft-beleaguered company have been met with an automated email response in the form of a poop emoji. (Just four days ago, Musk said the company “is now changing the auto reply to “a ‘We will get back to you soon’ infinite loop.”) Some think it's all very hilarious, but people can turn humorless when it comes to their financial transactions. 

Meanwhile, Twitter's cofounder, Jack Dorsey, seemed less nostalgic than many of the platform's users about its brand being dismantled, including literally, outside the outfit's San Francisco headquarters earlier today. Responding to someone's suggestion that rebranding was essential in order for Musk to turn Twitter into an "everything app," Dorsey wrote on the platform: "It's definitely not 'essential'. But you can make an argument for reconsideration being the best path forward. The Twitter brand carries a lot of baggage. But all that matters is the utility it provides, not the name."

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Bunq, an 11-year-old, Amsterdam-based outfit that provides banking, savings, payments, card and other services to consumers with a focus on those needing such services in more than one country across Europe, has raised €100 million in equity funding, including €44.5 million that just closed today and a previously undisclosed €55.5 million earlier this year. The money comes from insiders, including Pollen Street Capital, Bunq CIO Raymond Kasiman and founder and CEO Ali Niknam. The deal values Bunq at €1.65 billion, which is where the company was valued by its investors when it led its most recent round prior to this year ($228 million in 2021). TechCrunch has more here.

OneTrust, a seven-year-old, Atlanta-based privacy and security software outfit, just raised $150 million in fresh funding led by Generation Investment Management, which is former vice president Al Gore’s firm, with participation from Sands Capital, an existing investor. The deal was done at a slightly lower valuation to the company's previous round (it is now valued at $4.5 billion down from $5.1 billion in late 2020); the company has now raised more than $1 billion altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Ati Motors, a six-year-old Indian startup that makes autonomous industrial robots, raised a $10 million Series A round led by True Ventures, with Athera Ventures Partners, Blume Ventures, Exfinity Ventures, and MFV Partners also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $14.4 million. More here.

BluLever Education, a four-year-old Johannesburg startup that provides apprenticeships (such as plumbing and electrical apprenticeships) and artisan business programs to South African youth, raised a seed round of an undisclosed amount (although suitable for "smaller fundings," we're told). The lead was A to Z Impact, with additional investment from Autodesk Foundation, elea Foundation, and Oppenheimer Generations. More here.

Cleanlab, a two-year-old startup based in Cambridge, Ma., whose open source software identifies and cleans incorrect data labels, raised a $5 million seed round. Bain Capital Ventures led the transaction. VentureBeat has more here.

GlobalComix, a Pittsburgh startup that provides creators of comic and graphic novels with tools to reach new audiences, monetize their work, and engage with fans, raised a $6.5 million Series A round led by Point72 Ventures, with Endeavor also signing on. More here.

Quench.ai, a London startup that uses AI to search for the most relevant educational video content for professionals, raised a $5 million pre-seed round. Investors included firstminute capital, Tuesday VC, BY Venture Partners, Ada Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Notion Capital, Antler, Sequoia Scout Fund, and Northzone. Tech.eu has more here.

Stylib, a three-year-old London startup whose platform is designed to streamline the discovery of architectural products and materials, raised $1.9 million pre-seed round led by Foundamental, with Nemetschek Group and Redstone Built World Strategy also taking part. Tech Funding News has more here.

UpLift, a nine-year-old startup based in Menlo Park, Ca., that partners with health insurance plans to provide their members with virtual psychotherapy and psychiatry services, raised a $10.7 million Series A round. Ballast Point Ventures was the deal lead, while Kapor Capital, Front Porch Ventures, and B Capital also anted up. Behavioral Health News has more here.

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The Coca-Cola Company just took the wraps off the Greycroft Coca-Cola System Sustainability Fund, a new venture fund formed with eight of the beverage giant’s worldwide bottling partners. The $137.7 million vehicle will be reportedly be dedicated to sustainability-focused investments. Venture firm Greycroft, with its experience investing in enterprise, health tech, fintech, and consumer startups, will manage the fund. Each participant contributed approximately $15 million in capital commitments to the effort. Thomasnet has more here.

Supply Change Capital, a two-year-old, Los Angeles-based venture firm focused on the future of food, tells TechCrunch it has closed its debut fund with $40 million in capital commitments. More here.

TitletownTech, a four-year-old, Green Bay, Wi.-based venture firm formed out of a partnership between the Green Bay Packers and Microsoft, says it has closed its second fund with $70 million in capital commitments from 27 new and existing investors (including the Green Bay Packers and Microsoft). The organization now has $95 million in assets under management. More here.

United Ventures, a 10-year-old, Milan-based early-stage venture firm that invests across consumer and enterprise tech, says it has held a €65 million first close on a third fund that is targeting €150 million in capital commitments altogether. Sifted has more here.

Bain Capital has agreed to buy the 90% stake Gautam Adani’s family holds in an Indian shadow bank, reports Bloomberg. The Boston-based investment firm will buy the stake in Adani Capital and Adani Housing, and while a related statement didn’t specify how it’s paying for the stake, Bain has committed $120 million in primary capital to the company and will make available a $50 million liquidity line in the form of non-convertible debentures.

Publicly traded French defense electronics and cybersecurity company Thales says it has agreed to buy U.S. cybersecurity company Imperva from PE firm Thoma Bravo in a deal worth $3.6 billion on an enterprise value basis. Reuters has more here.

Benchmark has brought aboard Victor Lazarte as its newest general partner, per a spokesperson. Lazarte previously cofounded and was CEO of Wildlife Studios, a 12-year-old mobile gaming studio that launched out of Brazil and which Lazarte had started with his brother, Arthur. Benchmark led the company's $60 million Series A round in 2019. More here.

Sequoia Capital has let go of seven people, or one third, of its team of people who help startups with their recruiting. The move was part of a broader “restructuring” of the firm two years in the making to move away from “support on a one-on-one level to something that could be delivered to more founders simultaneously," the firm tells Forbes.

Why we may be about to see the shortest housing cycle ever.

The bear market has nearly been erased, fewer than 20 months after it began.

A new report has found rampant child sexual abuse material on the social media site Mastodon, and researchers say the findings raise major questions about the effectiveness of safety efforts across so-called “decentralized” platforms, which let users set their own moderation rules. “We got more photoDNA hits in a two-day period than we've probably had in the entire history of our organization of doing any kind of social media analysis, and it’s not even close,”  one of the report's authors tells the Washington Post. More here.

In other social networking news, TikTok just added text posts to its arsenal to take on Twitter (now X), Mastodon, and Meta’s Threads. TechCrunch has more here.

Cleaning up ChatGPT takes a heavy toll on human workers; the WSJ takes a look.

A key Byju’s investor has gone on record to express its disappointment in the edtech giant’s reporting and governance practices, just weeks after all the independent members quit the startup’s board. Prosus, one of the most prolific investors in India, said today in a statement that Byju’s “reporting and governance structures did not evolve sufficiently for a company of that scale,” and that it “disregarded advice and recommendations” despite repeated attempts. TechCrunch has more here.

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