Bitcoin is tumbling, Google Street View spies a fugitive, and turning farts into crypto (gives new meaning to gas fees)

It's slow out there this week (we aren't complaining).

Google infringed on audio patents held by Sonos and is barred from importing some of its Nest audio speakers and other violating products, a U.S. trade agency ruled today regarding the companies' patent dispute. The U.S. International Trade Commission found the search giant violated five of Sonos’s patents related to synchronizing audio, adjusting volume and connecting to Wi-Fi and determined that Google should stop importing products that used those patents. The WSJ has more here.

Bitcoin sentiment is turning bearish.

Alt is the simplest alternative asset platform that helps you confidently invest in what you’re passionate about. It is reimagining liquidity and banking products to support the next generation of investors. Alt envisions a world where anything can be an investible asset – starting with trading cards.

Assent Compliance, a 12-year-old, Ottawa-based company focused on supply chain sustainability management (it aims to help manufacturers make smarter decisions regarding “who they do business with and how their products are sourced,” it says), has raised $350 million in funding led by Vista Equity Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

CloudKitchens, the nearly six-year-old, L.A.-based ghost kitchen startup founded by former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, quietly raised about $850 million in a November funding round that valued the startup at $15 billion, according to Business Insider. The company also reportedly brought aboard longtime Amazon exec John Curran as CFO. More here.

Dunzo, a six-year-old, Bangalore, India-based hyperlocal delivery service, has raised $240 million in funding led by Reliance Retail, with participation from earlier backers Lightbox, Lightrock, 3L Capital and Alteria Capital. More here.

Eikon Therapeutics, a 2.5-year-old, Hayward, Ca.-based live-cell super-resolution microscopy for drug discovery company, has raised $517.8 million in Series B funding from a long list of investors, including T. Rowe Price Associates funds, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, EcoR1 Capital, UC Investments, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. TechCrunch has more here. 

Labelbox, a 3.5-year-old, San Francisco-based training data platform for enterprise machine learning applications, has raised $110 million in Series D funding led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2. Snowpoint Ventures and Databricks Ventures also participated, along with previous investors B Capital Group, Andreessen Horowitz and ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood. To date, Labelbox has raised $189 million in venture funding. Forbes has more here.

Lineage Logistics, a 10-year-old, Novi, Mi.-based warehousing and temperature-controlled logistics services company that says it controls 2 billion cubic feet of capacity, just raised a whopping $1.7 billion in funding from investors, including a Canadian firm called  BentallGreenOak, CenterSquare Investment Management, and D1 Capital Partners, among others. DBusiness has more here.

PayFit, a nearly seven-year-old, Paris-based maker of payroll and HR management software for small and mid-size businesses, has raised €254 million ($287.2 million) in Series E funding led by General Atlantic. Other backers in the round include Eurazeo, Bpifrance, and Accel Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Remilk, a 2.5-year-old, Rehovot, Israel-based dairy product substitute company, raised $120 million in Series B funding led by Hanaco Ventures. Other investors in the round include Precision Capital, Rage Capital, CPT Capital, Intercap, OurCrowd, Aliya Capital, Chartered Group, Indorama Ventures, Tal Ventures and others. Calcalist has more here.

Goldfinch, a 1.5-year-old San Francisco-based decentralized credit platform that says it allows anyone to be a lender, not just banks, has raised $25 million in extended Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, which led its $11 million Series A round last June. Other backers in the round include hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, crypto investment firm BlockTower and investment management firm Kingsway Capital. CoinDesk has more here.

Little Otter, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based digital mental health company that aims to provide tools and treatment for both children and their families, has raised $22 million in Series A funding. CRV led the round, joined by Torch Capital, Vast Ventures, Hinsdale, and numerous other investors in a round that brings the startup's funding to $26.75 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Nifty Island, a nine-month-old, Sheridan, Wy.-based startup whose online world invites players to create personalized islands that function as the metaverse equivalent to Facebook pages, has raised $20 million in funding. Investors in the round include Arrington XRP Capital, Hashed, Distributed Global, Alameda Research and the Solana Foundation. The Information has more here.

Rupifi, a two-year-old, Bangalore, India-based buy-now-pay-later service that is looking to expand to business-to-business offerings, has raised $25 million in a new funding co-led by Tiger Global and Bessemer Venture Partners. Earlier backers Quona Capital and Ankur Capital also joined the round. TechCrunch has more here.

Break the Love, a 2.5-year-old, New York-based social sports platform that's focused for now on helping users discover, create,  and book group-based tennis activities, has raised $2.5 million in seed funding led by Lake Nona Fund. More here.

ReadyWorks, a 2.5-year-old, White Plains, N.Y.-based IT infrastructure management platform, has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Credit Suisse’s NEXT Investors. VentureBeat has more here.

Mine’d, a 2.5-year-old, New York-based digital platform and wellness network that connects consumers with emotional health experts and community, has raise $3.5 million in seed funding led by Listen Ventures. Other participants in the round include WndrCo, Able Partners, Joyance Partners, and Route 66 Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Verb Data, a two-year-old, Boston-based customer-facing analytics startup, has raised $3 million in funding led by El Cap Holdings. TechCrunch has more here.

Make 2022 the year you speak a new language with Babbel, the app that's sold over 10 million subscriptions. Babbel gives you bite-sized lessons in a variety of languages. It'll have you speaking the basics in 3 weeks. Plus, it has podcasts, games, videos to switch things up! Sign up to get 60% off.

Grove Ventures, a 6.5-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based early-stage venture firm, raised $185 million in capital commitments for its third fund. The outfit is headed by Dov Moran, a veteran entrepreneur and investor credited with inventing the USB flash drive. Times of Israel has more here.

INCE Capital, a 2.5-year-old, Shanghai, China-based, China-focused venture fund, says it has secured $700 million in commitments for two dollar-denominated funds. Some of the outfit's LPs include Duke University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, and Kaiser Permanente, which suggests that U.S. investors haven't exactly given up on country despite Beijing's regulatory crackdown on the tech sector. INCE was founded by JP Gan, a University of Chicago grad who left a managing partner post at Qiming Venture Partners to launch his own shop. Reuters has been more here.

Khosla Ventures, the now 17-year-old, Sand Hill Road firm, says it has raised more than $550 million for its first opportunity fund. The new vehicle comes a few months after Khosla closed its Fund VII with $1.4 billion in capital commitments. TechCrunch has more here.

Korea Investment Partners, a 36-year-old, Seoul-based venture and private equity firm, has closed a new fund called KIP Re-Up II Fund with roughly $285 million in capital commitments that will focus primarily on tech in the country. DealStreetAsia has more here.

Two firms that specialize in loans for subscription software startups have merged and raised a new, $128 million fund. Dreadnought Capital of Columbus, Oh., has joined forces with Seattle's SaaS Capital under the SaaS Capital brand. Columbus Inno has more here.

The New York Times Co has agreed to acquire the six-year-old subscription sports site The Athletic in a deal valued at around $550 million, according to The Information. It notes that the deal is a major acquisition for the Times, which has set a goal of reaching 10 million subscribers by 2025. (As of Sept 30, it reported 8.3 million digital and print subscribers.) According to Crunchbase data, The Athletic had raised roughly $140 million from investors. More here.

Dave, a nearly five-year-old, West Hollywood, Ca.-based banking app, made its debut as a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq today, and its shares closed roughly where they opened, giving the outfit a market cap of around $3 billion. The startup had merged with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by Chicago-based investment firm Victory Park Capital. Dot.LA has more here.

Jeff Bezos's New Year's Eve style hits a nerve on social media.

Westlake Village BioPartners, co-founded by longtime VC Beth Seidenberg, has brought aboard Mira Chaurushiya as a senior partner. Chaurushiya joins from 5AM Ventures, where she spent more than six years. More here.

Criminals took home a record $14 billion in cryptocurrency in 2021, thanks in large part to the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, according to new data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

Home sales over $100 million exploded last year (thanks to tech moguls, mostly).

Snap is suing the US Patent and Trademark Office for rejecting its application to trademark the word “spectacles” for its digital eyewear camera device. The USPTO maintains that “spectacles” is a generic term for smart glasses and that Snap’s version “has not acquired distinctiveness,” as required for a trademark. The Verge has more here.

German start-ups are laying the groundwork for a marijuana bonanza.

LinkedIn plans to launch interactive, audio-only live events this month in beta for some creators and a video version in the spring.

One of Italy’s most infamous fugitives was photographed after 20 years on the run by a Google Street View vehicle.

The big men's fashion trend of 2022: dressing like a tween. (Really?)

How to send smoke signals.

The boy king of YouTube.

Um, okay!

Ten beautiful restaurants to open last year.