The SEC wants startups to spill it, YC just changed its terms, and Meta to employees: get boosted or beat it

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The SEC has begun work on a plan to require more private companies to routinely disclose information about their finances and operations, as regulators grow concerned about the lack of oversight of the private fundraising that has fueled their rise. The WSJ has more here.

Y Combinator today announced a new standard deal. When a company is accepted into the YC batch program, YC will continue to invest $125,000 for a 7% stake of the business, but it will now also invest an additional $375,000 in an uncapped note at a valuation that reflects the best possible terms offered in a subsequent round by a company’s later investors. The Information looks at why the deal is a good one for YC -- and why it has seed investors nervous.

Facebook parent Meta said today it will require Covid-19 booster shots for employees. It is also delaying employees’ return to U.S. offices until March 28 from Jan. 31, adding that if employees want to work remotely after that date, they need to request a deferral by mid-March. CNBC has more here.

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With every year, more scientists and academics are very specifically trying to lengthen the lifespan of humans and ensure that those extra years are worth living. Some of these teams are focused on detecting cancer earlier as a means of extending longevity; some are working to improve people’s metabolism.

A small but growing group is also beginning to focus on menopause, which impacts half the population and whose onset is associated with a long list of health conditions, from higher blood pressure, “bad” cholesterol and triglycerides, which is a form of fat in the blood, to, even more frighteningly, a greater risk of breast cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis.

The newest outfit focused on the cause is Gameto, which says it wants to solve the problem of “accelerated” ovarian aging to change the trajectory of women’s health and equality.

As explained by the company’s co-founder and CEO, Dina Radenkovic, who studied medicine at University College London and has spent most of her career in computational medicine, ovaries age up to five times faster than any organ in the sense that they stop working far earlier than, say, the liver, or brain, or even skin. While women are born with a certain number of ovocytes — an immature female sex cell that later gives rise to a fully mature ovum or egg cell — they eventually run out of these, at which point their ovaries stop functioning as an organ and stop producing the hormones that control women’s physiology.

One-year-old Gameto wants to help delay that process, or even push it off forever if a woman chooses.

More here.

Ankorstore, a two-year-old, France-based marketplace platform that invites independent brands to sell their products to independent retailers who can then sell the products to their own customers, has raised $283 million in Series C funding co-led by Bond and Tiger Global. Other backers in the round include Eurazeo, Coatue and earlier backers Index Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, GFC, Alven and Aglae Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Bolt, an eight-year-old, Tallinn, Estonia-based mobility platform that operates on-demand ride hailing, shared cars and scooters, as well as powers restaurant and grocery delivery, has raised €628 million ($709 millions), at a valuation of €7.4 billion ($8.4 billion). Sequoia Capital and Fidelity Management and Research Company co-led the round, joined by Whale Rock, Owl Rock, D1, G Squared, Tekne, Ghisallo, and other unnamed backers. TechCrunch has more here.

eFishery, a nine-year-old, West Java, Indonesia-based company that provides feeding devices, software and financing to fish and shrimp farmers, has raised $90 million in Series C funding co-led by Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Sequoia Capital India. Earlier backers Northstar Group, Go-Ventures, Aqua-Spark and Wavemaker Partners also joined the round. TechCrunch has more here.

Gousto, a nearly 10-year-old, London-based company that provides consumers with various recipe box kits, delivered fresh to their doorstep, has raised $150 million in equity and debt. SoftBank led the $100 million equity piece, while HSBC and Barclays provided an additional $50 million in debt. Tech.eu has more here.

Maze Therapeutics, a 2.5-year-old, South San Francisco-based biotech with nine precision medicines in its preclinical pipeline, has raised $190 million in fresh funding led by Matrix Capital Management, with participation from General Catalyst, a16z, Woodline Partners and more. FierceBiotech has more here.

MeMed, a 13-year-old, Haifa, Israel-based company that has developed new diagnostic host immune response testing methodsm has raised $93 million in Series E funding in a round that brings the company's total funding to more than $200 million, including support from the U.S. Department of Defense and EU Commission. Some of the new and earlier investors in this newest round include Horizons Ventures, Shavit Capital, Social Capital, La Maison Partners, Touchwood Capital, and Caesarea Medical Holdings. Calcalist has more here.

ODDITY, an eight-year-old, New York-based outfit that builds and scales digital-first brands (the beauty brand IL MAKIAGE appears to be its highest-profile production), has raised $130 million in funding led by Thomas Tull, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity Management & Research Company and First Light Capital Group. More here.

PrimaryBid, a 10-year-old, London-based platform that helps individual investors to access public companies that are raising capital, is reportedly in talks to raise $150 million in Series C funding led by SoftBank. Sky News has more here. 

Addon Optics, a 5.5-year-old, Kadima-Zoran, Israel-based startup that integrates an off-the-shelf, single-focal corrective contact lens with a proprietary flexible lens to create progressive lens, has raised $12 million from AP Partners. Calcalist has more here.

Arive, a months-old, Germany-based fast-delivery startup focused on high-end consumer products, has raised $20 million in fresh funds from Balderton Capital. Business Insider has more here.

ClearGov, a 6.5-year-old, Boston, Ma.-based budget cycle management startup catering to local governments and their department heads, has raised $20 million in funding led by Frontier Growth, a growth equity firm. More here.

KoinWorks, a seven-year-old, Jakarta, Indonesia-based financial platform for small and mid-size businesses, says it raised $43 million in Series C funding led by MDI Ventures. The outfit separately raised $65 million in debt capital for the working capital loans KoinWorks provides to its customers. TechCrunch has more here.

VitalConnect, an 11-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based maker of remote and in-hospital wearable biosensor technology, has raised $39 million in new funding led by EW Healthcare Partners, with participation from other new and earlier investors. More here.

CoPilot, a three-year-old, Pittsburgh, Pa.-based fitness tech company that pairs individuals with dedicated coaches for one-on-one instruction, has raised $5.6 million in seed funding six months after announcing a separate $3.3 million round. Hyde Park Venture Partners led the newest round, joined by the Rise of the Rest fund, Sandalphon Capital, and earlier backers TenOneTen Ventures, Alpha Edison and Maven Ventures. Technical.ly has more here.

Flip, a 10-month-old, Birmingham, Ala.-based NFT marketplace aggregator (eventually the world might need one?), raised $6.5 million in seed funding led by Distributed Global and Chapter One. The Block has more here.

Headversity, a 2.5-year-old, Calgary, Alberta-based startup that's developing preventative mental health training tech for employers, has raised $10 million I Series A funding led by the New York-based growth equity firm Level Equity. Westcap Management and Birchcliff Partners also joined the round. More here.

Parrot, a 1.5-year-old, Monterrey, Mexico-based startup that makes point-of-sale software for restaurants, has raised $9.5 million in funding led by F Prime Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Pocket Network, a nearly five-year-old, Tampa, Fl.-based Web3 developer platform, raised $10 million from investors that include Republic Capital, RockTree Capital and Arrington Capital. Coindesk has more here.

ThankUCash, a 3.5-year-old, Lagos, Nigeria-based loyalties and rewards platform, has raised $5.3 million in funding co-led by 500 Global and Unicorn Growth Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

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Chrysalix Venture Capital, the 19-year-old, Vancouver, Canada-based tech-focused venture firm, says it has closed its new Chrysalix RoboValley Fund with nearly $100 million (U.S.) in capital commitments to invest in "intelligent systems, resource productivity and environmental solutions for resource intensive industries such as energy, mining, mobility, construction, chemicals and materials, and manufacturing." More here.

Katie Haun, who recently announced that she was leaving the crypto practice of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) to launch her own venture firm, aims to raise at least $900 milliom for a pair of cryptocurrency investment funds, reports the Financial Times. According to the outlet, Haun plans to raise $300 million for a fund making early investments in cryptocurrency start-ups and $600 million for another fund investing in larger companies and digital tokens. It further reports that a16z has committed $50 million to the funds as an anchor investor. More here.

Sozo Ventures, a 10-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based venture firm formed to invest in and support tech startups with their global expansion, has secured nearly $600 million in commitments for its third fund, which appears to be targeting $800 million, per an SEC filing.

Today Take-Two Interactive today announced plans to acquire mobile games giant Zynga, in a deal valued at $9.86 per share — $3.50 in cash and the remaining $6.36 in shares of Take-Two common stock. Zynga’s enterprise value in the deal works out to $12.7 billion. The deal will bring together two gaming powerhouses: Take-Two in consoles and PC games, and Zynga in mobile games. TechCrunch has more here.

Carousell, a 10-year-old, Singapore-based online classifieds marketplace operator, is in talks to go public through a merger with blank-check company L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp., according to Bloomberg sources who say the combined entity could be valued at as much as $1.5 billion. According to Crunchbase data, the outfit has raised roughly $290 million (at least) from investors like Sequoia Capital India and Rakuten Ventures over the years. More here.

Car-sharing marketplace Turo has publicly filed for an IPO and says some of the car owners and renters on the platform could get a chance to participate in the offering. TechCrunch has more here.

The early-stage, Mumbai, India-based venture firm Elevation Capital has promoted Mukul Arora to co-managing partner alongside Ravi Adusumalli. Arora joined Elevation (formerly SAIF Partners) as an associate in 2010. The Economic Times has more here.

Rivian's COO, Rod Copes, left the company last month as the startup was ramping up production of its first three models, reports the WSJ. Copes spent less than two years with Rivian, which went public in November; his LinkedIn account lists him a "retired from Rivian" currently.

Eli Manning is the latest retired NFL star to jump into investing full-time, joining the private equity firm Brand Velocity Partners as a partner. "People don't realize that I do the 'Monday Night Football' gig from my house," Manning tells Axios. "So unless BVP is planning meetings between 8:15 to 11:30 on Monday nights, I'm pretty much wide open."

Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of the popular encrypted communications app Signal, announced today in a blog post that he is stepping down in a move that he says has been in the works for several months. While unexpected, the move seems tied in some way to the rise of MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency startup that counts Marlinspike as its earliest technical advisor. We have more here.

Sarah Wang has been promoted to general partner on the three-year-old growth investing team of Andreessen Horowitz. Wang joined the unit at its outset from TA Associates. More here.

Are Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites overcrowding space? China and rivals say they are. 

Electric vehicle maker Rivian has filed a new trademark for bicycles and electric bikes, as well as their corresponding structural parts. As TechCrunch notes, companies often file trademarks for products they don’t end up using, but numerous automakers are beginning to see the value in the e-bike industry.

The second coming of Stephen Curry.

Former "Jeopardy" champions ponder why more contestants are winning longer.

This year's Golden Globes winners were announced in a bizarre, live-tweeted event. Here's the full list.

A cabin designed to be towed.

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