A new generation of companies is moving up in San Francisco -- and taking over prime real estate in the process

In closing arguments for FTX co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's fraud trial, the prosecution argued that Bankman-Fried built FTX on a "pyramid of deceit," while defense lawyers maintained that SBF was merely a "math nerd" who was unaware that customer money had been misused. (More here.)

The Department of Justice has arrested the CEO and CTO of crypto startup SafeMoon and accused them of using more than $200 million of investors' money for the purchase of luxury cars and homes. 

The Biden Administration issued draft rules today that would require the constant monitoring of algorithms used in health care, law enforcement, and housing to make sure they are not discriminatory.

Twenty-nine countries including the U.S. and China have signed a document called The Bletchley Declaration that outlines some of the risks of AI now and in the future. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced plans for a "safety institute" that would work with other governments to cement safety standards. 

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Ten years ago, Pear VC, then a tiny new venture firm, operated out of a nondescript office in Palo Alto that was enlivened by bright, computer-themed art. Last week, the outfit – which closed its largest fund to date in May – quietly inked a deal to sublease 30,000 square feet of “Class A” office space in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood from the file-storage giant Dropbox.

It’s among a number of fast-growing outfits taking up more space in San Francisco as an earlier generation of companies shrinks its physical footprint.

As the San Francisco Chronicle first reported last week, ChatGPT creator OpenAI also just subleased two buildings totaling a collective 486,600 of square feet from Uber. The ride-share giant, which originally leased a grouping of four buildings down the street from Dropbox and will continue to occupy two of these, told the paper it is “right-sizing.”

Meanwhile, a rival to OpenAI – Anthropic – also just reportedly closed a sizable subleasing deal. Its plan: to take over the entire 250,000-square-foot building in downtown San Francisco that was previously Slack’s headquarters.

Salesforce, which acquired Slack in 2021, is an investor in Anthropic. Meanwhile, Pear VC co-founder Pejman Nozad wrote one of the first small checks to Dropbox when he was still relatively new to the U.S. from Iran and selling Persian rugs to Silicon Valley bigwigs.

Such subleases don’t necessarily begin with hand-shake deals, however. Asked if Nozad zeroed in on Pear’s new space owing to his connection to Dropbox, Nozad scoffs. The office -- which has room for more than 200 desks, features more than 20 conference and call rooms, and has dedicated events space to host talks -- “was a business deal for them,” says Nozad. “The founders were not involved. As you know, I sold rugs for 17 years, so I have some skills in negotiation,” he adds with a laugh.

Certainly, it’s a good time to strike a subleasing deal if you’re a well-funded company on the rise. 

More here.

Chainguard, a two-year-old startup based in Kirkland, WA, that helps customers like Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Snowflake secure their open source software, raised a $61 million Series B round led by Spark Capital, with additional participation from Sequoia Capital, Amplify Partners, Mantis VC, Banana Capital, and K5/JPMC. The company has raised a total of $116 million. GeekWire has more here.

Covera Health, a six-year-old New York startup that uses AI and data analytics to help radiologists improve their accuracy and reduce misdiagnosis, raised a $50 million Series C extension. Previous investor Insight Partners led the transaction. MobiHealthNews has more here.

FusionAuth, a five-year-old startup based in Broomfield, Co., that builds tools that allow engineering and product teams to add registration, login, and user management features to apps, raised a $65 million. Updata Partners was the deal lead. TechCrunch has more here.

NEXT Insurance, a seven-year-old Israeli startup that focuses on insuring small- and medium-size U.S. businesses, raised a $265 million round at a $4 billion valuation, which was the same valuation as its previous 2021 round, according to Calcalist. Allstate and Allianz X were the co-leads. The company has raised a total of $1.1 billion. CTech has more here.

Tabby, a four-year-old Riyadh startup whose platform offers BNPL services to customers in the Middle East, raised a $200 million Series D round at a $1.5 billion valuation. Investors included Wellington Management and Bluepool Capital as well as previous investors Peak XV Partners, STV, Mubadala, PayPal Ventures, and Arbor Ventures.The company has raised over $950 million in equity and debt. TechCrunch has more here.

Engine Biosciences, a nine-year-old startup based in Singapore and Redwood City, Ca., that says it is leveraging machine learning and biology to discover and develop precision oncology medicines, raised a $27 million Series A extension led by Polaris Partners, with Coronet Ventures and SEEDS Capital as well as previous investors ClavystBio, Invus, and EDBI also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $86 million. More here.

Free Market Health, a four-year-old Pittsburgh startup that partners with payers to provide consumers with access to low-price medications, raised a $20 million Series B round led by Questa Capital, with Alta Partners, Highmark Ventures, and 653 Investment Partners also stepping up. SVJ has more here.

Oro Labs, a three-year-old Palo Alto startup whose platform is designed to orchestrate procurement and supplier management processes across disparate systems and data, raised a $34 million Series B round led by Felicis, with Norwest Venture Partners, B Capital, and XYZ Venture Capital also participating. The company has raised a total of $60 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Promise Robotics, a two-year-old Toronto startup that aims to turn standard industrial robots into plug-and-play homebuilding systems, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Horizons Ventures, with Radical Ventures, PSP Investments, United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Relay Ventures, and Alate Partners also taking part. BetaKit has more here.

Vespa.ai, a Norwegian startup spun out of Yahoo last month that uses AI to help clients like Spotify and Yahoo sift through billions of documents for actionable insights, raised a $31 million Series A round from Blossom Capital. More here. [Editor's note: StrictlyVC is owned by Yahoo.]

CipherStash, a one-year-old Sydney startup that provides businesses with encryption tools to guard against cyberattacks, raised a $3 million round led by Skip Capital, with SixThirty Ventures also participating. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Connectly, a three-year-old San Francisco startup whose platform helps businesses create messaging campaigns and automate conversations with customers across messaging apps, raised a $7.9 million Series A round led by Volpe Capital and including RX Ventures and DST Global. The company has raised a total of $17.25 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Freeplay, a startup based in Boulder, Co., that assists companies in building and testing apps powered by generative AI models, raised a $3.25 million seed round. Conviction Partners and Matchstick Ventures co-led the transaction. TechCrunch has more here.

GreenLite, an Austin startup founded this year that helps businesses obtain building permits, raised an $8 million seed round led by Trust Ventures, with LiveOak Ventures and Chicago Ventures also joining in. TechCrunch has more here.

Layr, a seven-year-old Atlanta startup that allows small brokers to offer their policyholders an online hub with account management tools, raised a $10 million round led by Cota Capital, with The K Funds, HCSM Ventures, Sandbox Industries, and Flyover Capital also opting in. Coverager has more here.

Midas Healthcare, a Cleveland startup that has produces a wheeled workstation to help health care professionals manage the safe disposal of excess medications, raised a $2 million round from MCPC Healthcare Investment. The company has raised a total of $3.2 million. More here.

Tupu, a two-year-old Berlin startup that says it is using AI and robotics to expand the farming of mushrooms in urban areas, raised a $3.2 million seed round co-led by FoodLabs and Zubi Capital, with Clear Current Capital, FoodHack, IT-Farm, and CoastCap also opting in. Tech.eu has more here.

Financial health isn’t just about the numbers. Meet Cleo, the AI assistant that’s defining a new category, one that goes beyond saving and budgets to actually changing how we feel about our finances. In fact, 84% of users feel better about their money after using Cleo for just 30 days. Recently named a Forbes 2023 Next Billion-Dollar startup with 100% YoY growth and $72m ARR, discover how Cleo is changing the world’s relationship to money.

Village Global has raised $250 million for its third fund focused on seed and pre-seed deals, with a typical first check ranging from $250,000 to $1.5 million. It now has $500 million under management. The firm also announced that Reid Hoffman will serve as Chairman. More here. 

Bee Partners, a San Francisco-based seed-stage firm, has closed its fourth fund with $50 million in capital commitments. TechCrunch has more here.

HubSpot, the CRM platform, is acquiring Clearbit, an eight-year-old startup that uses AI to enhance unstructured data for B2B sales teams. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. For its part, Clearbit has raised a total of $17 million and was valued at $250 million when it completed its last round (a Series A) in January 2019. 

Supply chain logistics platform Flexport is acquiring the assets of shuttered digital freight network Convoy, according to a memo Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen sent to staff earlier today.

Making another appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast after a previous visit in which he puffed a doobie on-air, Elon Musk claimed that George Soros "hates humanity" and said that he bought Twitter because it was being "controlled by the far left."

Speaking of Joe Rogan, the controversial color commentator may go his own way when his podcast contract with Spotify expires in 2024.

President Joe Biden reportedly became more worried about AI after watching the latest Mission Impossible movie (which, it must be said, was terrible.)

Instagram has been spotted developing an “AI friend” feature that users would be able to customize to their liking.

NASA has had to apologize for telling space fans that they will never visit Jupiter in their lifetimes. 

What to do when you encounter your time-traveling future self.

A "genius" Walmart commercial starring three members of the original Mean Girls cast. 

And now for our special Halloween coverage: NBA 7' 4" phenom Victor Wembanyama won Halloween last night with his take on Slenderman; a round of a-paws, please, for New York's Halloween dog costume contest; and Halloween in Shanghai.

Goggle beanie. 

The Puffer Jacket for your laptop.

A healthy candy bar? 

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