Tiger Global's Scott Shleifer Transitions to Advisory Role After Wild, Bumpy Ride

Numerous outlets reported today that negotiations between the OpenAI board and its former CEO, Sam Altman, are ongoing. According to the New York Times, one "sticking point" have been guardrails intended to improve Altman's communication with the board and which he has rejected. The pressure for the board to reverse course is immense: at this point, more than 95% of OpenAI's employees have signed a letter threatening to leave for Microsoft unless Altman is reinstated.

Binance founder and CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao pleaded guilty today to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering laws, and he is stepping down from his role as CEO. In addition, he will pay a $50 million fine, small change compared to the $4.3 billion in penalties that Binance has to pay. Although he still retains his majority ownership of the company, he will not be able to return to Binance in an executive role for a period of three years after a compliance monitor is appointed. 

There is “reasonable evidence” to conclude that Tesla and its officers, including CEO Elon Musk, knew its vehicles had defective Autopilot systems but still allowed the cars to be driven in areas “not safe for that technology,” a Florida judge found today.

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Tiger Global Management is going through a major management change. Per a message from founder Chase Coleman sent this afternoon to investors of the 22-year-old venture- and hedge-fund outfit and obtained by TechCrunch, Coleman is taking over both the outfit’s public company investing and private equity businesses, while the longtime head of the latter, Scott Shleifer, becomes a senior advisor, a role that is a full-time position with no end date, per a source with knowledge of the maneuver.

According to Coleman, the decision was made by Shleifer, largely because Shleifer and his family have “made their home in Florida and want to stay there.” Meanwhile, wrote Coleman, “Tiger Global is operating in-person out of our New York offices,” and has “found that having everyone together in New York is highly productive and a better operating model for our firm.”

Tiger was founded by Coleman, a protégé of hedge fund pioneer Julian Robertson, in 2000. Shleifer joined two years later.

This is not the firm’s first major leadership change. In 2015, one of its investment heads, Feroz Dewan, left to set up his own investment firm, now called Arena Holdings Management, in New York.

Tiger’s private equity business was subsequently headed by Lee Fixel, who joined the firm in 2006 and stepped down to hang his own shingle in March of 2019. Fixel has subsequently raised a number of multibillion-dollar investment funds at that firm, called Addition.

After Fixel’s departure, Shleifer and Coleman continued as co-managers of the portfolios Fixel had overseen, with Shleifer taking over as its head. But he assumed control at what looks in retrospect to have proved a treacherous period for the firm.

After announcing in January 2020 that Tiger Global garnered $3.75 billion in commitments for its 12th fund, Schleifer put the pedal to the metal, overseeing an operation that made bold bets at a rapid-fire clip despite already heated valuations. For a time, investors were so happy with the strategy — which appeared to be working — that they awarded Tiger with a whopping $12.7 billion vehicle that it closed in March 2022 after just four months of fundraising.

Around this same time, Shleifer purchased a Palm Beach home for $132 million. When purchased, it was the second-most expensive single-family home in the U.S.

More here.

A121 Labs, a six-year-old Tel Aviv startup that is developing generative AI products along the lines of OpenAI’s GPT-4 and ChatGPT, raised a $53 million Series C extension round at a $1.4 billion valuation. Intel Capital and Comcast Ventures were the deal leads. The company has raised a total of $336 million. TechCrunch has more here.

LucidLink, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup whose platform enables teams to work on files without having to download or sync them, raised a $75 million Series C round led by Brighton Park Capital, with Headline, Adobe Ventures, and Baseline Ventures also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $90 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Quotient Therapeutics, a startup based in Cambridge, Ma., that is researching genetic variation at the cellular level in order to discover new therapeutics, raised a $50 million round. Flagship Pioneering, which incubated the company, was the deal lead. More here.

Ingenious.Build, a seven-year-old Nashville startup that specializes in project management software for real estate development and construction, raised a $37 million Series A round co-led by Morpheus Ventures, Navitas Capital, and Koch Real Estate Investments, with additional participation from American Family Ventures, JLL Spark Global Ventures, and Crow Holdings. More here.

Craftwork, a startup founded this year based in Charlotte, N.C., that aims to create a consumer brand for home repairs, starting with house painting, raised a $6 million seed round. Forerunner Ventures led the transaction, with additional funds provided by General Catalyst, Y Combinator, a16z General Partner Jeff Jordan, and DoorDash Co-founder Evan Moore. More here.

Munch, a two-year-old Tel Aviv startup whose platform uses AI to transform long-form content into short-form videos, thereby increasing ROI, raised a $7.2 million seed round led by A* Capital, with Liquid2, Cardumen Capital, and Reimagine Ventures also participating. StartupHub.ai has more here.

Quoherent, a two-year-old startup based in Huntsville, Al., that is developing developing room-temperature edge-capable quantum processors, raised a $4.7 million seed round led by Morpheus Ventures, with Draper Associates, Khosla Ventures, and Alpha Edison also taking part. More here.

Reboxed, a three-year-old London startup that sells refurbished and pre-owned phones, laptops, tablets, and smartwatches, raised a $2 million seed round from ACF Investors. Tech Funding News has more here.

Scalestack, a two-year-old New York startup that helps B2B SaaS sales teams make sense of their existing data by enriching it with third-party data sources, raised a $1 million round from Ripple Ventures, Forum Ventures, Flyer One Ventures, and Founders Network Fund. Metaverse Post has more here.

SeeChange Technologies, a five-year-old British startup that uses AI and machine vision systems at retail locations to reduce product losses from damage, theft, and fraud, raised a $10 million seed extension round led by Triple Point Ventures, with Runa Capital, True, Portfolio Ventures, and Material Ventures as well as existing investor Crane Venture Partners also stepping up. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Vizcab, an eight-year-old startup based in Lyon, France, that is designed to assist builders in developing net-zero building strategies, meeting environmental regulations, and adhering to carbon budget requirements, raised a $5.5 million Series A round led by KOMPAS VC, with additional investment from Rise PropTech Fund, Cemex Ventures, and Altur Investissement as well as previous investors A/O and Banque des Territoires (Groupe Caisse des Dépôts). EU-Startups has more here.

Zerve, a two-year-old Irish startup that is working on a coding platform to allow data scientists and developers
to collaborate more easily, raised a $3.8 million pre-seed round led by Elkstone Ventures. The Business Post has more here.

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Kinterra Capital, a Canadian private equity firm, has closed its $565 million debut fund dedicated to securing critical mineral assets for battery development. The influx of private capital comes amid increasing government incentives into the sourcing and production of battery materials in North America.

Figure Technologies, the fintech firm co-founded by former SoFi founder Mike Cagney, is working with several blue-chip banks on an IPO for its lending arm, says Bloomberg, which says the idea is to take public Figure's so-called LendCo division in the first half of next year, at a valuation of $2 billion to $3 billion.

Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn was once a vocal proponent of  "effective altruism" and spent millions promoting it, but in the wake of the OpenAI/Sam Altman debacle, he is having his doubts. 

A new report from Oxfam finds that the world's richest 1% generate as much carbon emissions as the poorest two-thirds of the Earth's total population.

Democrats are pressing the IRS for any developments regarding its investigation of 100 cases of tax fraud involving Puerto Rico's so-called Act 22, which enables investors to qualify for a 0% capital gains tax rate if they purchase a residence on the island.

Tesla's Texas factory is a mess - explosions, concussions, and even gruesome robot injuries. 

The Las Vegas Formula One race was truly the place to be this past weekend.

Fashionistas are dishing on "fashion food" ... and the lack thereof.

Speaking of food, Henrietta's Table is the place in Boston to see and be seen.

Has Banksy revealed his first name?

A tech investor who co-founded Ariba and was an early investor in LinkedIn is selling his 12,640-square-foot Manhattan Beach manse for a cool $150 million.

Detox it all with this infrared sauna blanket.

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