Google lowers the hammer, LogMeIn lets loose LassPass, and a look at Marc Lore's newest act

Tuesday! Just a quick mention that Friday will be our last issue until the New Year. We typically shut down operations the last two weeks of December so we can embrace our inner sloth. We'll be back and ready to go on January 4.:)

Google has told its employees that they will lose pay — and will eventually be fired — if they don’t comply with the company’s Covid-19 vaccination policy, according to internal documents viewed by CNBC. As the outlet notes, Google is requiring its workforce to eventually come into physical offices three days a week at some point in the new year and is showing limited patience for those who refuse to get widely available vaccines.

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Norwest Venture Partners, the now 60-year-old venture and growth equity firm backed entirely by the banking giant Wells Fargo, today rolled out its sixteenth fund, a $3 billion vehicle and its biggest to date.

It’s easy to shrug off the development, but this new pool brings the assets Norwest has raised altogether across the decades to $12.5 billion. Put another way, despite that gigantic fund announcements have become routine, this one is kind of a big deal and another indicator that this market is a very different one from even five years ago.

Certainly, one can see why, in a go-go environment, Wells might agree to such a commitment. For one thing, on the growth equity side, it’s not possible to compete anymore unless you have a ginormous money cannon. Consider that Tiger Global Management alone held a first close of $8.8 billion on its biggest fund ever back in October, according to Bloomberg. (As a reminder, Tiger closed its previous fund with $6.7 billion just six months ago.) To win deals, you need to be able to elbow out at least some of the other multibillion-dollar funds that are also writing checks right now.

More here.

* Anchorage Digital, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based digital asset financial platform, says it has raised $350 million in its latest funding led by private equity firm KKR & Co. Other investors in the round included Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz, Apollo credit funds and Wellington Management. Reuters has more here.

* Cadence, a year-old, L.A.-based digital health-care startup that specializes in virtual patient monitoring and plans to provide care to patients suffering from such chronic conditions as hypertension, cardio-obstructive pulmonary disease and type-2 diabetes, reached a $1 billion valuation after raising $100 million in funding round led by Coatue Management. Bloomberg has more here.

* Carto, a 9.5-year-old, New York-based spatial analytics platform, has raised $61 million in Series C funding led by Insight Partners. Other backers in the round include European Investment Fund and earlier investors Accel, Salesforce Ventures, Hearst Ventures, Earlybird and Kibo. TechCrunch has more here.

* Course Hero, a 15-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based online learning platform that features what the company says are 60 million course-specific study resources, has raised $380 million in Series C funding. Wellington Management led the round, joined by Sequoia Capital Global Equities, OMERS Growth Equity and D1 Capital Partners, as well as earlier investors including, GSV Ventures, NewView Capital, SuRo Capital, TPG and Valiant Peregrine Fund. Axios has more here.

* Dazz, a months-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based cloud security remediation startup founded by former employees of Microsoft, Armis and Claroty, has raised $60 million from Insight Partners, Greylock, Index Ventures and Cyberstarts. More here.

* Fresha, a six-year-old, London-based company that sells salon and spa management software, just raised $52.5 million in extended Series C funding led by entrepreneur Michael Lahyani and BECO Capital. Earlier backers General Atlantic, Partech, Target Global and FMZ Ventures also joined the round. The company has now raised $182 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

* Future Meat, a 3.5-year-old, Rehovot, Israel-based cultured meat company whose tech is rooted in the rapid natural proliferation of connective tissue, is raising $320 million at a $600 million, reports Calcalist. It says that U.S. food giants Tyson Foods and ADM, both of which participated in Future Meat’s $26.75 million Series B in February of this year, are expected to be part of the upcoming round, too. More here.

* Lokalise, a four-year-old, Dover, De.-based translation management system built for agile teams who want to automate their localization process, raised $50 million in Series B funding. CRV led the round, joined by Creandum, Dawn Capital, Chalfen Ventures, 3VC and S16VC. VentureBeat has more here.

* Medal.tv, a nearly seven-year-old, L.A.-based platform for short-form videos for games that creators can make, watch and share, has raised $60 million in previously undisclosed funding that happened in two tranches and came from  OMERS Ventures, Makers Fund, Horizon Ventures, Dune Ventures, and others. VentureBeat has more here.

* Papaya, a five-year-old, L.A.-based mobile bill payment app that says users can take a photo of any bill and it will take care of the rest through "bill understanding technology," has raised $50 million in funding in Series B funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round, joined by Sequoia Capital, Acrew Capital, 01 Advisors, Mucker Capital, Fika Ventures, F-Prime, and Sound Ventures. More here.

* Quinyx, a 16-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based platform for gig and hourly work scheduling and time reporting, just raised $50 million in funding led by Battery Ventures at a $550 million valuation. The tranche brings the company's total funding to more than $89 million. VentureBeat has more here.

* Vay, a 3.5-year-old, Berlin, Germany-based company working on driverless mobility technology (it eventually wants to launch a driverless fleet of cars), has raised $95 million in Series B funding from a large syndicate of new and earlier backers. Among them was Kinnevik, Coatue Management, Eurazeo, Atomico, La Famiglia, Creandum, Project A, Visionaries Club and Signals Venture Capital. Tech.eu has more here.

* Air Mail, a two-year-old, New York-based subscription-based digital magazine company launched by former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, has raised $17 million in Series B funding led by Standard Investments, with participation from RedBird Capital Partners and earlier backer TPG Growth. The company, which has now raised $32 million altogether, tells Axios it intends to use the capital to expand into new editorial verticals like podcasts and a book imprint. More here.

* Andie, a five-year-old, New York-based swimwear, loungewear, and intimates brand, has raised $18.5 million in Series B funding led by Marcy Venture Partners, with participation from previous investors City Rock and Gaingels, among others. More here.

* BHub, a months-old, São Paulo, Brazil-based startup developing back-office software for Latin American SMEs, just raised $20 million in Series A funding. Monashees and Valor Capital Group co-led the round, joined by QED Investors, Picus Capital and Clocktower Technology Ventures. TechCrunch has more here. 

* Brinc, a 7.5-year-old, Hong Kong-based venture accelerator, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands, which will also be investing $100 million directly into startups through Brinc. TechCrunch has more here.

* Garner Health, a three-year-old, New York-based B2B, company that provides doctor recommendations to employees, has raised $45 million in Series B funding led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation from Founders Fund, Thrive Capital, and Optum Ventures. To date, the company has raised more than $65 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

* Guardio, a 3.5-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based company whose browser extension monitors for suspicious and malicious activity when a customer is on the web or using any digital service that interconnects using the internet (think messaging services, shopping, banking services), has raised $47 million led by Tiger Global. Other backers in the round include Emerge, Vintage, Cerca Partners, Union and Samsung Next. TechCrunch has more here.

* Hippo Harvest, a nearly three-year-old, Half Moon Bay, Ca.-based sustainable agriculture company that grows vegetables in greenhouse environments and was founded by a former Google engineer, has raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Congruent Ventures, with participation from Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, Collaborative Fund and Energy Impact Partners. More here.

* Mixhalo, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based low-latency, in-person audio streaming service, has raised $24 million in Series B funding. Fortress Investment Group led the round, joined by L-Acoustics and earlier backers Foundry Group, Sapphire Sport, Founders Fund, Defy Partners and Another Planet Entertainment. TechCrunch has more here. 

* Superside, a six-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based startup whose network of freelance creatives are tapped by companies to work on logos, display ads, packaging, marketing campaigns and other design-based efforts, has raised $30 million in funding. Prosus Ventures and Lugard Road Capita co-led the round, joined by earlier backers Slack Fund and Acequia Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

* Sweep, a year-old, Montpellier, France-based outfit that helps companies capture carbon emission data in their supply chain, has raised $22 million in funding from Balderton Capital, New Wave, La Famiglia, and 2050. VentureBeat has more here.

* Danvas, a three-month-old, L.A.-based startup that’s developing digital art canvases to showcase NFTs, has raised $7 million in seed funding from VaynerFund, Greycroft, Lerer Hippeau, UTA Ventures, Waverley, and more. More here.

* PleasrDAO, a blockchain-aligned group of a few dozen crypto investors who have been teaming up to buy high-priced NFTs in recent months, has sold less than 5% of its governance tokens to Andreessen Horowitz. (Neither the organization, nor a16z, is breaking out the exact size of the firm's investment.) TechCrunch has more here.

* Wowzi, a two-year-old, Nairobi, Kenya-based startup that connects social media users with advertisers to provide them with consumer insights, has raised $3.2 million in seed funding, including from 4DX Ventures, To.org, Golden Palm Investments, LoftyInc Capital, Afropreneur Angels, and Future Africa. Individual investors, including Andela co-founder Christina Sass, also joined the round. TechCrunch has more here.

* Xandar Kardian, a 4.5-year-old, Toronto-based company that develops contactless health monitoring software powered by digital ultra wide-band radar signal processing (it promises continuous vital sign monitoring and is cleared as a class II medical device), has raised $10 million in Series A funding. Backers in the round include Phoenix Venture Partners, Portfolia Active Aging & Longevity Fund, and Taronga Ventures. More here.

Join hundreds of military veteran entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who are building the future at the Military Veteran Startup Conference hosted by Context Ventures on Friday, Feb 4,  in San Francisco. Conference panels will cover the following topics: 1) women veteran entrepreneurs; 2) veteran entrepreneurs who survived Shark Tank; 3) veterans in venture capital; 4) veteran entrepreneurs building consumer brands; 5) dual use startups. The event is free for military veteran (spouses &) entrepreneurs. Enlist here.

* Chapter One Ventures, a four-year-old, L.A.-based early-stage venture firm led by solo general partner Jeff Morris Jr., who was previously the VP of product and revenue at Tinder, has closed its newest fund with $40 million, capital that will be primarily be invested in crypto startups, says Morris Jr. More here.

* Initialized Capital, the nine-year-old, San Francisco-based early stage fund, has closed its newest early-stage fund with $530 million in capital commitments and a follow-on fund with $170 million in capital commitments. Bloomberg has more here.

* Venture Friends, a five-year-old, early-stage venture firm that got its start in Greece, has held a €90 million first close on a €100 million-targeted third fund that is focused on startups in Southern Europe, MENA and Latin America. TechCrunch has more here.

* LogMeIn plans to spin out password management tool LastPass as a standalone company, six years after purchasing the outfit for $125 million. With the change, LastPass is promising that customers will receive enhancements on an “accelerated timeline” next year.  The Verge has more here.

* Vox Media says it is acquiring Group Nine Media, a deal that unites two of the biggest players in digital publishing, notes the WSJ. Under the terms of the stock deal, Vox Media will have 75% ownership of the combined company, with the remaining 25% going to Group Nine Media. Vox, owner of the Verge, Vox.com and SB Nation, agreed to acquire cocktail website Punch in summer. Group Nine Media, whose brands include NowThis, Thrillist, and the Dodo, has also been an active consolidator in the media sector, including buying PopSugar in 2019. More here.

Footprint, an eight-year-old, Gilbert, Az.-based material sciences company focused on eliminating single-use plastics, has agreed to go public at an implied $1.6 billion valuation via Gores Holdings VIII, a SPAC led by private equity billionaire Alec Gores. Bloomberg has more here.

* Jet founder Marc Lore tells the New York Post he has secured the rights to the menus of top chefs like Bobby Flay and sushi dynamo Daisuke Nakazawa and now plans to open so-called ghost kitchens all over the country, where an army of kitchen-equipped trucks will pick up partly-cooked meals that will eventually be finished at the curb or in a driveway. More here.

* Elon Musk’s stock sales could total $18 billion by the end of year. CNBC explains why. (In separate Musk news, the cryptocurrency dogecoin surged today after he tweeted that Tesla will accept some payments for "merch" in the digital token. He also found time today to call Senator Elizabeth Warren "Senator Karen," in a Twitter spat over taxes in which he likened her to an "angry mom.")

* Jonathan Yantis, the 51-year-old co-founder of the NFT blockchain Worldwide Asset eXchange, has purchased a roughly 70-acre estate outside Denver, for $12.5 million, from the former CEO of the discount store chain Dollar General.

According to Ilya Strebulaev, a professor of finance at Stanford Graduate School of Business, a whopping 286 founders across 521 unicorn companies have a doctoral degree (as cited in Exponential View). Here are some of Strebulaev's other findings.

* How Solana’s first backers got in on one of the biggest scores in crypto investments.

* Millennials are now supercharging the housing market.

* "Diet" soda is disappearing from store shelves.

* The iPhone feature to set up before you die.

* Paul Thomas Anderson on what makes a movie great.

Limited-edition LED-lit turntables designed by Brian Eno. (Note: "Prices are subject to change without notice.")

The venture investing landscape has changed. New investors are forgoing long due diligence and deploying capital faster than anyone has before. With the pandemic still hanging over us, preventing the normal face-to-face engagement of founder relationship building, how do we break through to win more investment deals? Relationship intelligence. See our all-star panel, featuring Harry Stebbings of The Twenty Minute VC, and Drew Oetting of 8VC, discuss how they are closing VC deals and staying ahead of the competition. Watch now.