Tim Cook is losing control, Discord is testing a "watch together' feature, and the Fed sends a warning (kind of)

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The Fed said it could soon slow its large-scale purchases of government-backed bonds and indicated it might raise interest rates in 2022. 😬

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At TechCrunch Disrupt today, Slack founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield and Salesforce COO Bret Taylor discussed with us their $28 billion merger, announced last December, a deal the Department of Justice signed off on this summer but that shareholders still seem to be second-guessing. At least, they aren’t convinced of the value that Slack brings to Salesforce if one uses as a barometer the performance of Salesforce’s shares — they’re valued roughly where they were a year ago.

Taylor, perhaps naturally, sounded unconcerned, suggesting that major acquisitions can take time to digest. “When we do acquisitions, just by the way we finance them, it often takes us a handful of quarters for our shareholders to really understand the strategic rationale [and] see that we can execute on the integration.”

To Taylor’s point, Salesforce has only in the last month begun to weave Salesforce features into Slack, whose newest feature, Clips, allows users to record themselves or their screens to send as videos to their colleagues. Users can also “do speech-to-text and create a transcript of these videos that are indexed for search so they’re findable later,” said Butterfield, explaining, as did Taylor, that Slack remains very much focused on asynchronous communications.

Still, one lingering question for some shareholders may be whether Butterfield intends to stay at Salesforce. He’s already a billionaire. There was no earn-out component of the deal, he confirmed.

Further, Butterfield hasn’t had great experience with parent companies. After selling photo-sharing company Flickr to Yahoo, he peeled off as soon as he could, but not before penning a resignation letter that noted he’d come to feel “sidelined” and “adrift.” He told Wired years later that “innovation at Flickr turned blue and choked out” under the control of Yahoo.

More here.

Bilt Rewards, a months-old, New York-based loyalty program for property renters to earn points, just raised $60 million in funding led by Wells Fargo and Mastercard. Other participants in the round included Blackstone Group, AvalonBay Communities, Douglas Elliman, Equity Residential, GID-Windsor Communities, LENx, The Moinian Group, Morgan Properties, and Starwood Capital Group. TechCrunch has more here.

Centivo, a 4.5-year-old, Buffalo, N.Y.-based digital health plan provider catering to self-funded employers, has raised $51 million in extended Series B funding, roughly nine months after closing its Series B round with $34 million. Earlier backers B Capital and Maverick Ventures co-led the round. More here.

Dapper Labs, the 3.5-year-old, Vancouver, British Columbia-based blockchain company behind "NBA Top Shot" and the Flow blockchain, has raised $250 million in its newest funding round. Coatue led this one, with participation from earlier and new investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, GV, Version One Ventures, Bond, and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. TechCrunch has more here.

FLYR Labs, an 8.5-year-old, San Francisco-based software maker for the airline and travel industries, has raised $150 million in Series C funding led by WestCap. Other participants in the round include Silver Lake Waterman, WndrCo, Peter Thiel, Streamlined Ventures, JetBlue Technology Ventures, and Gopher Asset Management. TechCrunch has more here.

Hai Robotics, a five-year-old, Shenzhen, China-based warehouse robotics startup, has raised around $200 million in Series C funding led by 5Y Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital China, Source Code Capital, VMS, Walden International, and Scheme Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Iron Ox, a six-year-old, Bay Area-based automated farming startup that's growing produce using robotic greenhouses, has raised $53 million in Series C funding led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Other participants in the round, which brings the startup's total funding to $98 million, include Crosslink Capital, R7 Partners, Pathbreaker Ventures, I/O Ventures, Amplify Partners, ENIAC Ventures, Tuesday Ventures, At One Ventures and Y Combinator. SiliconAngle has more here.

June Homes, a 3.5-year-old, New York-based apartment rental agency that says it developed a process to clean up apartments in disrepair, then quickly list them, has raised $50 million. Earlier backer SoftBank Ventures Asia led the round, joined by TQ Ventures, FJ Labs, K50, Reshape, Quiet Capital, and individual investors including performer Demi Lovato and entrepreneur Scott Belsky. TechCrunch has more here.

Nomad Health, a six-year-old, New York-based digital marketplace that connects nurses to short-term medical jobs, has raised $63 million in funding led by Adams Street Partners in a round that brings the company's total funding to more than $100 million. Bloomberg has more here.

Pager, a seven-year-old, New York-based virtual care company, raised $50 million in Series C funding. Susquehanna Private Equity Investments led the round, joined by Horizon Healthcare Services. The company separately secured a $20 million debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank. More here.

StreamElements, a four-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based startup that makes engagement and monetization tools for video creators, has raised $100 million in funding. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the round, joined by PayPal Ventures and MoreTech. TechCrunch has more here.

Vestiaire Collective, the 11-year-old, Paris-based luxury resale marketplace, has raised $210 million in fresh funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Generation Investment Management. Bloomberg has more here.

Amberdata, a four-year-old, New York-based blockchain analytics startup, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Citi. More here.

Aviv Scientific, a four-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based company focused on age-related declines, has raised $40 million in Series B funding. Investors include the medical services conglomerate Danel and Deep Insight Fund. More here.

Chapter, a 1.5-year-old, New York-based medicare plan selection and enrollment guide, has raised $17 million in Series A funding. JD Vance's Narya Capital led the round, joined by previous investors Susa Ventures, Maverick Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, Core Innovation Capital, and Health2047 Capital Partners. Peter Thiel, another earlier investor,  has meanwhile joined the company’s board of directors. Business Insider has more here.

GrowthSpace, a 2.5-year-old, New York-based maker of personalized talent development programs, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by M12. More here.

HumanCo, a two-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based holding company that invests in and builds brands focused on healthier living and sustainability, has raised $35 million in a bridge round of funding. Investors include 8VC, JAZZ Venture Partners, PLUS Capital, and former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, among others. Forbes has more here.

Nex, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based motion-based game company, has raised $25 million in Series B funding. Blue Pool Capital and Samsung Ventures co-led the round, joined by SparkLabs, Susquehanna, "Shang-Chi" actor Simu Liu, and Albert Pujols of the L.A Dodgers, among others. TechCrunch has more here.

NOCD, a four-year-old, Chicago-based startup that offers online therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder, has raised $33 million in Series B funding. F-Prime Capital led the round, joined by Eight Roads Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, 7wireVentures, Health Enterprise Partners, and Chicago Ventures. Business Insider has more here.

Orca, a months-old, Solana-based decentralized cryptocurrency exchange, has raised $18 million in a token sale. Three Arrows Capital, Polychain Capital, and Placeholder VC co-led the round, joined by Coinbase Ventures, Jump Capital, Sino Global Capital, Collab+Currency, DeFiance Capital, Zee Prime Capital, and Solana Capital. The Block has more here.

Pearl Health, a 1.5-year-old, New York-based primary health tech company that is promising physicians a more predictable revenue stream, among other things, has raised $18 million in Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, joined by investors including AlleyCorp and AlleyCorp founder Kevin Ryan. More here.

Spenmo, a 2.5-year-old, Singapore-based spend management platform, has raised $34 million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners. Other participants in the round include Addition, Salesforce Ventures, Alpha JWC, Global Founders’ Capital, Broadhaven, Operator Partners, Commerce Ventures, and individual investors, including Plaid co-founder William Hockey. TechCrunch has more here.

Tag, a one-year-old, Pakistan-based startup that offers banking and financial services to users in the country, has raised over $12 million in what is apparently the largest seed financing round in the South Asian market. Liberty City Ventures, Canaan Partners, Addition, Mantis VC and Banana Capital among others participated in the round, which brings the startup's funding to $17.5 million altogether. The investment in Tag -- which recently passed through the Y Combinator accelerator program -- represents the first investment in Pakistan for many of its backers, including Addition. TechCrunch has more here.

Xealth, a four-year-old, Seattle-based digital health prescribing platform that says it enables clinicians to integrate and monitor the digital health of patients (it spun out of Providence, the largest health system in Washington state), has raised $24 million in Series B funding led by Advocate Aurora Enterprises. GeekWire has more here.

Business Canvas, a 1.5-year-old, South Korea-based document management SaaS startup, has raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Mirae Asset led the round, joined by Kakao Ventures and Nextrans. TechCrunch has more here.

EarthOptics, a three-year-old, Arlington, Va.-based agriculture tech company that says it can map the physical and chemical composition of fields faster, better, and more cheaply than traditional techniques, raised $10.3 million in Series A funding. Leaps by Bayer led the round and was joined by S2G Ventures, FHB Ventures, VTC Ventures, and Route 66 Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Fauna Bio, a three-year-old, Emeryville, Ca.-based company that aims to identify and develop new drugs for neurologic, metabolic, fibrotic, and cardiovascular disorders using genetic, epigenetic, and proteomic data from animals, has raised $9 million in seed funding. LifeForce Capital led the round; it was joined by True Ventures, Boom Capital, Pacific 8 Ventures, BioMed Ventures, Vibe Capital, and Arcadia Science. More here.

Just Insure, a 2.5-year-old. L.A.-based pay-per-mile insurance tech company, has raised $8 million in funding. CrossCut Ventures, ManchesterStory and Western Technology Investments co-led the investment, which brings its total raised to $15.3 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Rose, a 3.5-year-old, New York-based startup that describes itself as a data workspace, analytics engine, and marketplace platform, raised $5.5 million in seed funding. Portage Ventures led the round, joined by BoxGroup and Sound Ventures. More here.

UnifiHealth, a two-year-old, Columbus, Oh.-based health plan for small businesses, has raised $5.4 million in seed funding. Anthemis led the round, joined by Echelon Capital, Flare Capital, Digitalis Ventures and Great Oaks VC. More here.

Vodori, a nearly 16-year-old, Chicago-based cloud software provider for life science companies, has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding led by Baird Capital. More here.

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Indian budget hotel chain startup Oyo is looking to file for an IPO in India as soon as next week, according to TechCrunch. The seven-year-old startup, founded by 27-year-old Ritesh Agarwal, is reportedly planning to raise as much as $1.2 billion in the IPO. 

In related news, India could surpass the U.K. as the world’s fifth largest stock market by 2024, according to a new Goldman Sachs report. CNBC has more here.

Astasia Myers has joined early-stage fund Quiet Capital as the first partner at the firm to focus exclusively on enterprise software. She previously spent four years at Redpoint Ventures. More here.

Inspired Capital cofounder Penny Pritzker has been named as a member of President Joe Biden’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. As readers may remember, Pritzker also served as the 38th U.S. Secretary of Commerce. You can find the full list of members here.

Brynn Putnam has stepped down as CEO of connected fitness company Mirror, which she sold to Lululemon last year for $500 million, shy of five years after founding the company. We talked last year with Putnam about that sale and whether, because of the pandemic, she had any regrets about selling when she did.

Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer just announced that he's stepping down from the role next year and transitioning to a part-time position as a “Senior Fellow” at the company. Schroepfer, who joined the company in 2008, will be replaced by Andrew Bosworth, who has been leading the company’s Facebook Reality Labs and who will continue to lead the AR/VR organization in his new role, says the company. More here.

SEC Regional Director Erin Schneider's on whether the agency sees NFTs as securities: “I certainly have seen some NFTs that [didn’t] raise an eyebrow for me … But if things are going to be pooled together, and you’re going to be relying on the efforts of others, and investors are going to expect a profit, that’s something that I would take a closer look at." More here.

According to Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney, Apple has told the “Fortnite” videogame maker that its ability to release software on Apple platforms won’t be reinstated until the legal battle between the two companies ends. More in the WSJ.

In a small study, researchers from New York University School of Medicine have discovered that infants have 10 to 20 times higher microplastic concentrations in their stool than adults.

Tim Cook says employees who leak memos do not belong at Apple, according to leaked memo.

Discord is starting to test YouTube integration. The feature is called Watch Together, and as the name implies, it allows Discord members to watch YouTube videos together.

A guide to the iPhone you should buy -- and avoid -- right now (and what to do with your old mobile device afterward).

A brand-new reason to hate clowns.

How humans lost their tails.

The man behind those annual "Sept. 21" videos makes his masterpiece.

VHS sneakers.

What do JAZZ Venture Partners, Obvious Ventures, Fifth Wall, Maven Ventures, and Fika Ventures have in common? They were all emerging funds featured at the RAISE Global Summit over the past five years. The RAISE Global Summit helps LPs identify and invest in the best emerging venture funds, before they make it big. Which new rising stars will emerge from this year's class? Click here to request an invite.