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Long day, no column, more tomorrow.:)
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Companies including Amazon and Facebook could face fines over fake reviews or other misleading endorsements online, according to a new warning from the Federal Trade Commission. The warning comes as social media has blurred the line between authentic content and advertising, according to the FTC’s announcement this morning. The agency sent more than 700 companies a notice that they could incur penalties of up to $43,792 per violation if they use endorsements in ways that run counter to past FTC enforcement cases. Bloomberg Law has more here.
Facebook told employees yesterday that it was making some of its internal online discussion groups private in an effort to minimize leaks.
Instacart could see a significant walk-out this weekend. The Toronto Star has more here.
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* Aware, a 4.5-year-old, Columbus, Oh.-based outfit whose tech monitors internal messaging systems to gauge sentiment, ensure compliance and more, has raised $60 million in Series C funding. Goldman Sachs Asset Management led the round, joined by Spring Mountain Capital, Blue Heron Capital, Allos Ventures, Ohio Innovation Fund, JobsOhio, and Rev1 Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
* Beacon Platform, a 7.5-year-old, New York-based maker of trading and risk management apps, has raised $56 million in Series C funding. Warburg Pincus led the round, joined by Centana Growth Partners, Global Atlantic Financial Group, and PIMCO. Business Insider has more here.
* Celsius Network, a four-year-old, Hoboken, N.J.-based cryptocurrency earning and borrowing startup that seemingly competes with BlockFi, has raised $400 million in funding led by WestCap, with participation from Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Coindesk has more here.
* GoodLeap, a nearly two-year-old, Bay Area-based solar financing company founded by a former top executive at SolarCity, has raised more than $1 billion in the past 10 months from luminaries like Michael Dell and Laurence Tosi. A September funding round valued the company at $12 billion. The WSJ has more here.
* Halo Investing, a six-year-old, Chicago-based fintech company whose software helps banks more easily offer investing products to older clients, including structured notes, annuities and buffered ETFs, has raised more than $100 million in Series C funding. Owl Capital led the round, with participation from Allianz Life Ventures, Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners, William Blair, and Alumni Ventures Group. Crain's Chicago Business has more here.
* Hibob, a six-year-old, New York-based maker of HR software, has raised $150 million in Series C funding. General Atlantic led the round, joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, Eight Roads, and Entrée Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
* Karat, a seven-year-old, Seattle-based technical-interviewing-as-a-service platform, has raised $110 million in Series C funding valuing it at $1.1 billion. Tiger Global Management led the round. GeekWire has more here.
* Lively, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based health savings account company, just raised $80 million in Series C funding. B Capital Group led the round, with participation from Telstra Ventures and earlier backer Costanoa Ventures. The company has now raised more than $120 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
* TripActions, a six-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based corporate travel and spend management platform, has raised $275 million in Series F funding led by Greenoaks, with participation from entrepreneur-investor Elad Gil. It was the company's second major funding of the year. Reuters has more here.
* Weights & Biases, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based machine learning operations company, has raised $135 million in Series C funding from Felicis Ventures, Insight Partners, Bond and Coatue. TechCrunch has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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* Black Kite, a five-year-old, Boston-based cyber risk ratings company, has raised $22 million in Series B funding led by Volition Capital, with participation from Moore Strategic Ventures, Glasswing Ventures, and Data Point Capital. The company has now raised $33.1 million altogether. SecurityWeek has more here.
* Blank Street, a 1.5-year-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based mobile coffee cart company, just raised $25 million in Series A funding. General Catalyst and Tiger Global led the round. TechCrunch has more here.
* BRINC, a four-year-old, Las Vegas-based maker of "first response" drones for emergency situations, has raised $25 million in Series A funding. Index Ventures led the round, joined by Tusk Venture Partners, Jeff Weiner’s Next Play Ventures, and numerous individual investors, including OpenAI's Sam Altman and Figma's Dylan Field. More here.
* Flowhub, a six-year-old, Denver, Co.-based cannabis retail platform for dispensaries, has raised $19 million in funding co-led by Headline and Poseidon, with participation from Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, among others. Green Market Report has more here.
* Flux, two-year-old, Bay Area-based web-based, real-time collaboration tool for electronics design and engineering, has raised $12 million in seed funding led by Outsiders Fund, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, 8VC and Liquid2 VC. TechCrunch has more here.
* Humn.ai, a four-year-old, London-based motor insurtech that says its pricing is correlated to real-time driving data, has raised £10.1 million ($13.7 million) in Series A funding. BXR Group and Shell Ventures co-led the round, joined by Hambro Perks Leaders Fund and Woodside Holdings. More here.
* Matik, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that has created automated data-driven software for customizing Google Slides or PowerPoint presentations, just raised $20 million in Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Menlo Ventures, BoxGroup and Oceans Ventures also joined the round, which brings the company's total funding to $23 million. TechCrunch has more here.
* Mulberry, a three-year-old, New York-based product protection platform that gets embedded into online retailers’ websites, has raised $22 million in Series B funding. Commerce Ventures led the round, joined by Hudson Structured Capital Management, Ally Bank, and CreditEase. Coverager has more here.
* Nexla, a five-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based startup that says it has created an "enterprise grade" data platform that enables companies to safely send or receive data from their ecosystem of partners, customers, and vendors, just raised $12 million in Series A funding. Industry Ventures led the round, joined by Liberty Global Ventures, Blumberg Capital, Engineering Capital, Storm Ventures, and Correlation Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
* Oshi Health, a three-year-old, New York-based, virtual-first healthcare company focused around the management and treatment of digestive health conditions, just raised $23 million in Series A funding. Flare Capital Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Frist Cressey Ventures co-led the round, joined by CVS Health Ventures and Takeda Digital Ventures. MedCity News has more here.
* Rose Rocket, a six-year-old, San Francisco- and Toronto-based SaaS-based transportation management system that specializes in workflow automation for enterprise transport companies, has raised $25 million in Series A funding co-led by Addition Capital and Shine Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
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* Approach, a new Kansas City, Mo.-based gym management software company, raised $1.5 million in seed funding. Crux Collective led the round. Startland News has more here.
* Callia, a five-year-old, Winnipeg, Manitoba-based direct-to-consumer floral delivery company, raised $6.4 million in Series A funding. Brightspark led the round, joined by Golden Ventures and Sandpiper Ventures. BetaKit has more here.
* CAST AI, a two-year-old, Miami-based cost analysis company, just raised $10 million in Series A funding, with Cota Capital and Samsung Next leading the round. VentureBeat has more here.
* Cloudtamer.io, a three-year-old, Fulton, Md.-based cloud management software company, has raised $9.5 million in Series A funding. Blue Heron Capital and TDF Ventures co-led the round, joined by Blu Venture Investors, Early Light Ventures, and Gaingels. More here.
* Intro, a 1.5-year-old, L.A.-based startup that's putting its customers in touch with a variety of experts through personalized one-on-one video calls, has raised $10 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Other participants in the round, which brings the company's total funding to $12 million, include Seven Seven Six, CAA founder Michael Ovitz, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, 23 & Me CEO Anne Wojcicki, Kevin Durant, Tiffany Haddish and other strategic investors. TechCrunch has more here.
*Lendflow, a two-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based startup looking to make it easier for software companies to create and embed lending services into their products, just raised $10.8 million in Series A funding led by Underscore VC. More here.
* LIT Videobooks, a three-year-old, New York-based company turning books into videos, raised $5 million in seed funding. MaC Venture Capital led the round, joined by Founders Fund, Noemis Ventures, Bloom VP, Pipe founder and CEO Harry Hurst, Long Journey Ventures partner Cyan Banister, and numerous others. More here.
* OptoScale, a six-year-old, Norway-based startup that develops and sells advanced biomass sensors for fish farming, has raised $4.1 million in funding led by SWEN Capital Partners. More here.
* Perx Health, a five-year-old, Chicago-based digital behavior change platform that first launched in Australia and addresses numerous conditions, has raised $3 million AUD ($2.2 million) in seed funding led by AirTree Ventures. More here.
* Surer, a year-old, Singapore-based insurtech startup that says it helps insurance intermediaries get rapid access to insurance quotes and to to distribute their products more efficiently, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding from Norwegian investor Kistefos along with Markel Digital Investment and an unnamed angel investor. TechCrunch has more here.
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Lunar Ventures, a two-year-old, Berlin, Germany-based early-stage venture fund focused on deep tech startups, has closed its debut fund with €40 million in capital commitments. The firm's limited partners include Isomer Capital, Multiple Capital, Aldea Ventures, Compagnia di San Paolo and the European Investment Fund, it says. TechCrunch has more here.
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* ClassPass said today that it has been acquired by Mindbody, a business-to-business software company that helps fitness studios and spas manage their bookings. Terms of the all-stock deal for nine-year-old ClassPass aren't being disclosed. Mindbody also today disclosed a $500 million strategic investment from the growth arm of global asset manager Sixth Street. More here and here.
* Poshmark is buying a sneaker authentication software firm Suede One for undisclosed terms. It's Poshmark's first acquisition since its 2011 founding. The Information has more here.
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GitLab is poised to hit the Nasdaq tomorrow at a valuation that could top $10 billion, which would mark about a 420-fold return for famed retired quarterback Joe Montana, whose Liquid 2 Ventures invested in the company at a $12 million valuation. “We’re all pretty pumped,” Montana said in an interview with CNBC this week while vacationing in Italy.
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Alibaba founder Jack Ma, largely out of public view since a regulatory clampdown started on his business empire late last year, is currently in Hong Kong and has met business associates in recent days, two sources tell Reuters.
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Apple is studying ways to make AirPods into a health device, including for enhancing hearing, reading body temperature and monitoring posture, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and its source.
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