An FDA-approved pill for postpartum depression, another Nikola CEO steps down, and SF tires of self-driving cars

Friday! We're just back from the last of our summer travels. ⛱️ (We were facing a use-it-or-lose it situation tied to some vacation hours; if only we were forced to hightail it out of town more often.)

Amid unpacking today, we had a chance to talk with Dan Gwak, the Managing Partner of Point72 Private Investments, which makes venture and growth-stage bets on behalf of hedge fund billionaire "Stevie" Cohen. Gwak has spent his adult life at the intersection of investing and national security and we covered a lot of ground, from who signs off on deals, to the potential impact of autonomous drone swarms.

You can read excerpts of that conversation below; for the full conversation, you can find the newest StrictlyVC Download right here.

Thank you, team SaaStr, for sponsoring this week's episode. If you don't want to miss its Bay Area cloud event, note that it's coming up fast: September 6th through the 8th. Investor-entrepreneurs Michael Siebel, David Sacks and Jack Altman are among the many speakers you can catch there amid your feverish networking; more here.

The first pill to treat post-pregnancy depression will soon be available, after the Food and Drug Administration approved it today. Sage Therapeutics and its partner Biogen plan to start selling the pill, which will be sold under the brand name Zurzuvae, before the end of this year. The WSJ has more here.

Coinbase is asking a judge to dismiss the SEC's lawsuit against it. In a motion filed today, Coinbase maintains that it doesn’t trade securities, rendering the SEC’s arguments invalid. (As The Verge notes, similar arguments haven't stopped the SEC from suing Coinbase rival Binance and others.) More here.

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Dan Gwak has had a more varied life than many investors. He grew up in Jakarta, the son of Korean parents who ran a shipping business. After high school, he headed to Cornell in the U.S., and became an associate at The Carlyle Group.

Everything was moving up and to the right, so to speak. Then, like a gut punch, the financial recession hit in 2008.

Gwak was among many who suddenly found themselves on uneven footing and evaluating their next steps. Unlike most of his young investing banking peers, Gwak quickly decided to join the U.S. Marine Corps as a machine gunner. It seemed like a natural decision, given that in Korea, where military service is compulsory for men between ages 18 and 35, both Gwak’s father and brother had served. It was also Gwak's way of "becoming American," he says.

While he wasn’t expecting his service to end four years later in Afghanistan – he was wounded and sent home – Gwak again didn't waste much time deliberating about his next moves. He applied and was accepted to Harvard Business School, and nearly since that time, he has been investing at the intersection of national security and technology. Out of school, he joined In-Q-Tel, which is the venture arm of the CIA. In 2017, when the billionaire hedge fund manager “Stevie” Cohen decided to build out a venture practice -- Point72 Ventures -- he poached Gwak, and Gwak has remained active since, including leading a 50-person team that has invested more than $1 billion into roughly 130 companies on Cohen’s behalf.

The deals range across four key areas: deep tech, fintech, enterprise and defense tech. But in a lengthy conversation with Gwak earlier today, he talked the longest about defense tech as he’s passionate about it and because the way he sees it, Washington is focused more than ever on the global balance of power -- and looking for any edge it can find. Below are excerpts from that part of our chat, edited lightly for length and clarity. 

More here.

Endor Labs, a two-year-old Palo Alto, Ca., startup that offers a platform developers can use to manage and secure their use of open source code, raised a $70 million Series A round. Investors included Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, Dell Technologies Capital, and Section 32. The company has raised a total of $95 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Tenstorrent, a seven-year-old, Toronto-based AI chip startup helmed by engineering luminary Jim Keller, says it has raised $100 million in a convertible note funding round co-led by Hyundai Motor Group and Samsung Catalyst Fund. TechCrunch has more here.

Haus, a New York startup that helps companies measure the ROI on their marketing efforts, raised a $17 million Series A round led by Insight Partners, with Baseline Ventures, Haystack Ventures, Upside Partnership, Octave Ventures, and Mantis Venture Capital also participating. The company has raised a total of $22.9 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Lula, a three-year-old Miami startup that says it is building an insurance API in order to “eliminate the need for companies to build their own insurance infrastructure," raised a $35.5 million Series B round co-led by NextView Ventures and Khosla Ventures, with Founders Fund and Nextera Energy also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $53.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Luxury Presence, a nine-year-old startup based in Santa Monica, Ca., that provides growth marketing software to real estate agents and brokerages, raised a $19.2 million Series B1 round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with Switch Ventures also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $50.5 million. More here.

Petal, an Atlanta startup that provides access to credit cards that don't require a credit score, raised a $20 million round from previous investors as well as a $200 million debt facility from Victory Park Capital. The company has raised has raised more than $300 million in equity capital and more than $680 million in debt financing. Fintech Finance has more here.

Transcend, a four-year-old company based in Princeton, N.J., that uses generative design software to automate the design of water and power infrastructure projects, raised a $20 million Series B round led by Autodesk, with additional participation from Arosa Capital and Riverstone Holdings as well as previous investors HG Ventures, PureTerra, Arosa Capital, and Riverstone Holdings. The company has raised a total of $33 million. Tech Funding News has more here.

TytoCare, an 11-year-old Israeli company that provides virtual care through a connected device connected device that gathers readings from its otoscope, tongue depressor, thermometer, and stethoscope, raised a $49 million round led by previous investor Insight Partners, with new investors MemorialCare, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, and Clal also taking part. The company has raised a total of $205.7 million. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Acelab, a four-year-old New York startup that has built a searchable product database for architects and builders, raised a $5.3 million in round co-led by Pillar VC, PJC, and Draper Associates, with Alpaca, Transcend Partners, Branagh Construction, Klingenstein Fields, and Westview PE Fund also joining in. The company has raised a total of $8.8 million. VentureBeat has more here.

AMOpportunities, a 10-year-old Chicago company that manages clinical training for schools, hospitals, and students, raised a $2 million Series A extension round. Investors included Laerdal Million Lives Fund and LAGO Innovation Fund. The company has raised a total of $11.8 million. TechStartups has more here.

Divirod, a seven-year-old startup based in Boulder, Co., whose technology continuously monitors locations on-site using a network of proprietary sensors for signs of impending floods, raised a $3.6 million bridge round from GHD, Thin Line Capital, and TDK Ventures. The company has raised a total of $6.6 million. More here.

Jericho Security, a New York startup that says it assists enterprises in defending against social engineering attacks by leveraging AI to create sophisticated simulations and educational content for employees, raised a $3 million pre-seed round led by Era, with Lux Capital, FoundersXFund, MetaLabs, Alcove, Textbook, Alumni Venture Group, Thorntree Capital Partners, and Contrary Capital also piling on. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Mthmr, a three-year-old Saudi Arabian startup that develops personal expense management software, raised a $1.6 million seed round. Waed Ventures, Dahran Trading Group, and Le Augure all invested. More here.

Orbital, a six-year-old London startup whose mission is to help enterprises adopt blockchain and fiat payments rails in one single platform, raised a $6.35 million round led by Golden Record Ventures, with New Form Capital, GSRV, Psalion, and Luminous Futures also pitching in. EU-Startups has more here.

Pockit, an eight-year-old London startup that has built an app offering a host of financial services to UK consumers, raised a $10 million round led by Puma Private Equity, with The North East Development Capital Fund also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $49.6 million. TechCrunch has more here.

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Arash Ferdowsi has joined the Palo Alto-based seed-stage venture firm Pear as a visiting partner, meaning he'll actively work with Pear portfolio companies, as well as invest in some of them. Ferdowsi is best known for cofounding the file-sharing company Dropbox, and his ties to Pear co-founder Pejman Nozad date back to its seed round. Though Pear didn't exist at the time (it was founded in 2013; meanwhile Dropbox was founded in 2007), Nozad wrote a check to the outfit alongside Sequoia Capital after Ferdowsi and cofounder Drew Houston presented at a Y Combinator demo day.

Ilya Lichtenstein, a New York tech entrepreneur married to a wannabe rapper named Razzlekhan, yesterday admitted in federal court in Washington that in 2016 he broke into crypto exchange Bitfinex’s network and stole bitcoin that is now worth billions of dollars. 

Another Nikola CEO steps down.

Meet Window Snyder, the trailblazer who helped secure the internet and billions of devices.

Humans may be terrible drivers, but they hate self-driving cars.

The party’s over for Chinese venture capitalists in Silicon Valley amid souring Sino-U.S. relations.

SoftBank once invested in social app IRL at a $1.1 billion valuation. Now, the Japanese conglomerate is suing the defunct company for fraud, alleging $150 million in damages. Though IRL's self-reported numbers elicited a $170 million Series C round led by the Japanese conglomerate in 2021, an internal investigation by IRL’s board of directors earlier this summer found that a stunning 95% of the app's users were fake. TechCrunch has more here.

Movie extras were scanned to make digital avatars; they have no idea where they might be used.

The most nutrient-dense veggie on earth, according to the CDC.

For passive homeowners, "It's hard to go back."

I regret to announce that I will not be canceling my plans with you tonight.

13187 Chalon Road, Brentwood.

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