Adobe and Figma call it off, Trevor Milton gets sentenced to four years, and Farfetch finds a rescuer, and more!

The merger between Adobe and Figma is off due to pressure from regulators in the UK and EU. The breakup is particularly bad news for Adobe, according to TechCrunch.

Google will pay $700 million to settle a lawsuit brought by all 50 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, accusing it of quashing competition to its Play Store on Android devices. The announcement of the terms of the settlement comes after Epic Games, the maker of popular online game Fortnite, won a related case against the tech company last week.

OpenAI's board says that it can overrule CEO Sam Altman and prevent the company from releasing a new AI model if it deems the model to be unsafe.

Apple plans to halt sales of its Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 as early as this week due to a patent dispute. Behind the scenes, says Bloomberg, the company is racing to tweak the software so it can avoid this scenario.

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Meltwater, a 22-year-old San Francisco company that provides tools for businesses to track and analyze media coverage and online conversations, raised a $65 million round at a valuation of approximately $592 million. Verdane was the lead investor. TechCrunch has more here.

Tamara, a three-year-old Riyadh startup that has built a BNPL platform for consumers in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf region, raised a $340 million Series C round at a $1 billion valuation. The co-leads were SNB Capital and Sanabil Investments, with additional participation from Shorooq Partners, Pinnacle Capital, Impulse, and previous investor Checkout.com. The company has raised a total of $500 million in equity and $400+ million in debt. TechCrunch has more here.

Totus Medicines, a three-year-old startup based in Cambridge, Ma., that says it can screen billions of drug candidates against thousands of targets simultaneously via a DNA-encoded covalent library technology, machine learning, and AI, raised a $65 million Series B round led by DCVC, with North Pond Ventures, Camford Capital, and the Regents of the University of Minnesota also participating. More here.

Lingrove, a 10-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that has developed a wood veneer alternative out of flax fiber and plant-based resins, raised $10 million in Series B funding, led by Lewis & Clark Agrifood and Diamond Edge Ventures, with participation from Bunge Ventures and SOSV. TechCrunch has more here.

Salvador Technologies, a startup that claims its platform enables critical infrastructure operators and industrial organizations to quickly recover from cyberattacks and malfunctions in just 30 seconds, raised a $6 million seed round led by Pico Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Pitango VC and Sarona Partners. CTech has more here.

Spotta, a five-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that says it uses advanced monitoring technology to detect and alert businesses about harmful activity by insects (e.g. bedbugs) in real-time, raised a $3.8 million round. The Yield Lab, STIHL Ventures, and ACF Investors co-led the deal, with Growthworks as well as previous investors Martlet, Wren Capital, and Remus Capital also piling on. More here.

Vectoflow, an eight-year-old German startup that produces advanced flow measurement systems and air data systems for sectors including wind energy, aviation, and turbomachinery development, raised a $4.4 million round. Investors include Bayern Kapital, WN Invest, Asto One Investment, Argo Vantage, Schwarz Holding, AM Ventures, and KfW. EU-Startups has more here.

The Techcrunch podcast network has an episode coming out every day to keep you up to date on the latest startup news, founder interviews, and the latest in crypto. Among these: Equity is a podcast about the business of startups unpacking the nuance and numbers behind the headlines. We wade through the hype to keep you up to date on the world of business, technology and venture capital. This week, hosts TechCrunch+ Editor in Chief Alex Whilhelm and TechCrunch senior reporter, Mary Ann Azevedo are doing their annual end of the year wrap up. Listen to part one here.

Springdale Ventures, an Austin, Tex.-based venture capital firm, has closed its second fund with $40 million in capital commitments to invest in early-stage consumer brands across the food, beverage, pet, health, and beauty sectors. AgFunderNews has more here.

Six-year-old Pivotal bioVenture Partners has closed its second fund with $389 million in capital commitments, money that will go toward North American and European companies working to develop new therapeutics, says FierceBiotech. More here.

New York-listed e-commerce giant Coupang plans to buy Farfetch Holdings in a deal that will provide the struggling online luxury fashion retailer with $500 million in capital to stay in operation, the companies said in a joint statement. Trading in shares of Farfetch, which has a market capitalization of $226.7 million, were halted, while those of Coupang were down 4.5% today. Reuters has more here.

Improbable, a startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz and SoftBank that specializes in creating large-scale virtual worlds and simulations, sold its gaming unit to Keywords Studios for $97 million. CNBC has more here. 

The publicly traded data analytics outfit Snowflake is buying Samooha, a one-year-old startup based in Los Altos, Ca., that has built a "data clean room" platform that enables partners to securely share data. TechCrunch has more here. 

Alteryx, an Irvine, Ca.-based software company developing data science and analytics products, today announced that it’s agreed to be acquired by private equity firms Clearlake Capital Group and Insight Partners in a deal worth $4.4 billion. Clearlake and Insight reportedly beat out Symphony Technology Group, another private equity firm. TechCrunch has more here.

Elon Musk has had quite a year, as John Oliver reports. 

Nikola founder Trevor Milton has been sentenced to serve four years in prison and pay a $1 million fine. According to prosecutors, Milton put Nikola's logo on a General Motors vehicle and tried to pass it off as his company's own.

Almost a year after confirming that Strava co-founder Michael Horvath is leaving the proverbial corner office a second time, the company said last week that Michael Martin will take the reins at the fitness app the first week of January, leaving his current role as general manager at YouTube’s shopping unit. Martin previously served in technology roles at Nike, NBCUniversal Media and Disney.

In just the last three months, Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Winklevoss twins among others have funded crypto super-PACs to the tune of $78 million, reports Axios, which has more here.

The age of weaponized LLMs is here. 

How the "All-In" podcast captured Silicon Valley.

The EU has launched a probe into whether X may have violated its tough new Digital Services Act by disseminating "illegal content" related to Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel and not being as transparent as required under the rules.

The U.S.-based owner of apparel brands including Vans, Supreme and The North Face, has confirmed a cyberattack has impacted the company’s ability to fulfill orders ahead of Christmas, one of the biggest retail events of the year.

Brock Purdy was selected dead last in last year's NFL draft, earning him the sobriquet "Mr. Irrelevant." This season, he could be the league's MVP.

A present-day teen channels the 1940s.

What every holiday party needs - a "vibe pope" with "selfless charisma." 

High fashion hits the slopes.

A $20 million prewar penthouse overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.