Pathological liar or "math nerd": Sam Bankman-Fried's court case gets underway in Manhattan

The trial of FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried kicked off today, and the opening statements described a man who either "lied to the world" or a "math nerd" who "acted in good faith." (Here's a look at the jurors who will decide. and here's a short play-by-play of what unfolded.)

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Brite Payments, a four-year-old Stockholm startup that offers embedded account-to-account payment software to its clients, raised a $60 million funding round led by Dawn Capital and including Headline and previous investor Incore. TechCrunch has more here.

Clearco, an eight-year-old Toronto startup that uses AI and proprietary machine learning-based technology to underwrite businesses and help customers fund inventory and marketing invoices of between $10,000 and $2 million, raised a $60 million Series D round co-led by existing backers Inovia Capital and Founders Circle Capital and a $100 million credit facility spearheaded by Pollen Street Capital. TechCrunch delves into the company's recent struggles here.

Headway, a healthcare tech startup that connects patients and in-network therapists, has raised $125 million in Series C funding, it tells Reuters. The round, which valued the company at $1 billion, was led by Spark Capital, with participation from earlier investors including Thrive Capital, Accel, and Andreessen Horowitz. Insurance company Health Care Service Corporation also joined the round. More here.

Mach Industries, a one-year-old Austin-based startup that is developing a suite of hydrogen-powered platforms and munitions for the military, including unmanned aerial vehicles and hydrogen generation systems, raised a $79 million Series A led by Bedrock Capital at a $335 million post-money valuation. TechCrunch has more here.

Blackbird Labs, a one-year-old New York startup founded by Resy and Eater co-founder Ben Leventhal whose software will give independent restaurants the means to identify and reward regulars, raised a $24 million Series A round. Andreessen Horowitz was the deal lead, while Amex Ventures, QED, Union Square Ventures, Shine, Variant, Quality Branded, Rustic Canyon Family, Souvla, and Brooks Reitz also piled on. The company has raised a total of $35 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Loop, a two-year-old Chicago startup that provides audit and payment systems for logistics companies, raised a $35 million Series B round co-led by J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners and Index Ventures. The WSJ has more here.

Opsera, a three-year-old Palo Alto startup that offers a range of tools that enables developers to create, secure, and deploy apps, raised a $12 million Series A extension led by Taiwania Capital, with previous investors Felicis Ventures and Clear Ventures also participating. The company has raised a total of $31.3 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Osmoses, a two-year-old startup based in Cambridge, Ma., that is developing membranes to separate hydrogen from other gases, raised an $11 million seed round led by Energy Capital Ventures, with Engine Ventures, Fine Structure Ventures, and New Climate Ventures also investing. The company has raised a total of $14 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Saleo, a two-year-old San Francisco-based startup that has built a live sales demo platform that allows businesses to easily share sales collateral, raised a $12 million round from Emergence Capital and Tech Square Ventures. More here.

Shorla Oncology, a startup based in Cambridge, Ma., that is focused on oncology treatments for orphan and pediatric cancers, raised a $35 million Series B round led by Kurma Partners, with previous investors Seroba Life Sciences and Enterprise Ireland also taking part. More here.

Centro, a one-year-old Toronto startup that intends to provide a central hub for ecommerce brands where they can manage inventory, procurement, and risk management, raised a $2 million pre-seed round co-led by Ripple Ventures and 2048VC, with Valia Ventures and Comma Capital also chipping in. More here.

Dharma, a two-year-old Abu Dhabi startup that plans and sells trips hosted by influencers and brands, raised a $4.7 million seed round. The lead was Convivialite Ventures, with FJ Labs, Stephen Ross, and Liontree also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $10 million. PhocusWire has more here.

Helios, a startup based in Tysons, Va., that combines clients’ supplier data with “climate, economic, currency and political risk signals” to create business insights, raised a $1.85 million pre-seed round led by Supply Change Capital and joined by January Ventures. AgFunder News has more here.

KittyCAD, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that is building a programmable CAD platform with a set of APIs that will allow developers to build their own hardware design tools, raised a $5M seed round led by Venrex Partners, with additional financing provided by USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering, Gaingels, Kelvin Beachum, Matt Terrell, Undeterred Capital, Liquid 2, Tom Preston-Werner’s Family Office, Madrona Venture Group, Bernie Lagrange, and Nat Friedman. More here.

Kraaft, a four-year-old Paris startup that has developed a messaging app specifically designed for contractors, raised a $3.4 million round. Investors included Chalfen Ventures, Stride VC, and OSS Ventures. EU-Startups has more here.

Lokavant, a nine-year-old New York startup whose platform helps pharmaceutical companies increase the accuracy and efficiency of trial planning and execution, raised an $8 million Series A extension from Mitsui & Co. The company has raised a total of $29 million. More here.

Previsico, a four-year-old London startup that provides flood alerts for insurers, public agencies, major corporate clients, and SMBs, raised a $2.4 million round led by 24Haymarket, with Foresight Group also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $5.3 million. Insurance Business has more here.

Rainforest, a one-year-old Atlanta startup that helps software companies embed financial services into their offerings, raised an $8.5 million seed round. Accel was the deal lead, while Infinity Ventures, BoxGroup, The Fintech Fund, Tech Square Ventures, and Ardent Venture Partners also contributed. Silicon Valley Bank added $3.25 million in venture debt. TechCrunch has more here.

RQD Clearing, a two-year-old New York startup whose platform offers clearing and custody services for brokers, raised a $10 million Series A round. Nyca Partners and ABN Amro co-led the deal. More here.

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Investors are not loving the Cisco-Splunk deal.

Blackberry said in a statement that it is planning on spinning off its Internet of Things division next year and taking it public, causing Blackberry's stock to surge 5% in late trading. (In related news, Blackberry is still around.)

Doosan Robotics more than doubled in its trading debut in Seoul after raising 421 billion won ($312 million) in South Korea’s largest IPO this year. Bloomberg notes that the debut signals strong investor appetite for the sector in tech-savvy South Korea, which is the world’s top robot adopter, employing 10 manufacturing workers for every industrial robot.

In a fascinating analysis of an anecdote from Michael Lewis' book Infinity Dollars about Sam Bankman-Fried's early days as a trader at Jane Street Capital, Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine concludes that Bankman-Fried never understood (or perhaps cared) how to size his bets.  

Wang Chuanfu, the founder of Chinese EV maker BYD, once drank battery fluid in order to impress Warren Buffet lieutenant David Sokol, according to a report in today's WSJ.

"Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli made a surprise appearance at FTX CEO and co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried's trial today, sitting in an overflow gallery. He was accompanied by Tiffany Fong, recipient of a 15,000 word Bankman-Fried tweetstorm subsequently published by The New York Times. 

U.S. venture investments fell 30% in the third quarter to $32.7 billion, the sixth straight quarter investing has dropped from the year earlier period, and the lowest level since the second quarter of 2018, according to PitchBook.

Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry today for discovering "quantum dots" that may play a big role in the future development of  electronics, solar cells, and encrypted quantum information.

On X, the site formerly known as Twitter, some users today were seeing news stories without headlines and links. Earlier this month, X owner Elon Musk confirmed a Fortune report that the company was considering the change, saying it would “greatly improve the esthetics.”

"Gobsmackingly bananas": scientists stunned by planet’s record September heat.

Everything you always wanted to know about bedbugs but were afraid to ask.

Ryan Reynolds strikes again.

I am a dainty little rings person now.

People in glass houses should definitely buy this book about glass houses.

Ferrari surfboard.