Citadel's new co-owners, Tony Xu's big board seat, and Tiger's (surprisingly) terrible year

The World Health Organization warned today against treating COVID-19 as an "endemic" illness. (Too soon, said its senior emergency officer for Europe.)

A federal judge today ruled the Federal Trade Commission can move forward with its revised antitrust case, alleging that Facebook is abusing a monopoly position in social media, and rejecting its parent company's request to dismiss the government’s amended lawsuit

Citadel, the Chicago-based market maker and electronic trading company led by Ken Griffin (net worth $21 billion), has sold a minority stake in its business -- its first outside investment --  to Sequoia Capital and Paradigm (the crypto fund cofounded by former Sequoia partner Matt Huang) for $1.2 billion. The deal values Citadel at roughly $22 billion; it also suggests that Griffin, long a crypto skeptic, is ready to jump into the pool. Bloomberg's Matt Levine has a smart, funny take here.

Tiger Global Management lost money during a phenomenal year for investors. In a piece that we missed yesterday, Bloomberg reports that Tiger's hedge fund tumbled 7% last year, its first annual loss since 2016. More here.

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Back Market, a seven-year-old, Paris, France-based company that sells refurbished electronic devices and appliances to customers, has raised $510 million in capital led by Sprints Capital, a London-based investment firm. The deal assigns the outfit with a $5.7 billion valuation -- almost 80% higher than the $3.2 billion level that Back Market achieved in May, when it raised $335 million. As the WSJ notes, the "increase underscores the heady market for startups in Europe, which had previously been seen as an also-ran in the tech universe."

Brex, the nearly five-year-old, San Francisco-based corporate credit card fintech company, today confirmed it has raised $300 million in Series D funding co-led by Greenoaks Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures. The outfit has now raised $1.2 billion altogether and is valued by its backers, it says, at $12.3 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

DNA Script, a nearly eight-year-old, Paris, France-based benchtop DNA printer developer, has  raised $35 million in extended Series C funding that brings the round total to $200 million. Investors in the latest tranche include T. Rowe Price Associates, Baillie Gifford, Healthcor Management, eureKARE, and Irving Investors. FierceBiotech has more here.

Envoy, an eight-year old San Francisco-based platform that began as a sign-in system for office receptions and today helps companies reopen flexible workplaces, has raised $111 million in Series C funding. Brookfield Growth led the round, joined by BAM Elevate, Seven Seven Six, Triple Point Capital, Elad Gil and earlier investors Menlo Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Initialized Capital, and Haystack. VentureBeat has more here.

Foxtrot, a nearly nine-year-old, Chicago-based retail platform operator and delivery company, has raised $100 million in Series C funding led by D1 Capital Partners. Other backers in the round include earlier investors Monogram, Imaginary, Almanac, Wittington, Fifth Wall, Beliade, Lerer Hippeau, and Revolution. The company has now raised $160 million altogether. Progressive Grocer has more here.

Harry's, the eight-year-old, New York-based direct-to-consumer razor startup that was prevented by the FTC from being acquired by Edgewell Personal Care, has raised $139.9 million in fresh funding, shows a new SEC filing. It lists the company's founders, Zola co-founder Shan-Lyn Ma, and Addition Capital founder Lee Fixel, among other involved parties. TechCrunch has more here.

Pentera, a nearly seven-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel- and Boston-based maker of so-called automated security validation software, has raised $150 million in Series C funding led by K1 Investment Management, with participation from Evolution Equity Partners and Insight Partners. Other backers in the round include Awz Ventures and Blackstone. NoCamels has more here.

Project44, a nearly eight-year-old, Chicago-based supply chain visibility platform, has raised $240 million in funding co-led by TPG, Thoma Bravo, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The investor group, which also included Emergence Capital, Insight Partners, Chicago Ventures, Generation Investment Management, Sapphire and Sozo Ventures, also acquired $180 million of the firm’s closely held shares from earlier investors -- such as OpenView -- for a total investment of $420 million, says Bloomberg.

Tul, a 1.5-year-old, Bogotá, Colombia-based e-commerce platform that sells construction materials to small-sized retailers, has raised $181 million in Series B funding led by 8VC, with participation from Avenir. Reuters has more here.

AcreTrader, a 3.5-year-old, Fayetteville, Ak.-based online investing and fintech platform where accredited investors can acquire predominately farmland, has raised $40 million in Series B funding. London-based Anthemis Group led the round, joined by earlier backers Jump Capital and RZC Investments, the investment firm Walmart founder Sam Walton’s grandchildren. Fortune has more here.

AmazeVR, a nearly seven-year-old, L.A.-based virtual reality concert platform that aims to enable users to experience their favorite artists’ VR concerts, has raised $15 million in funding. Partners Investment and Murex Partners co-led the new funding. TechCrunch has more here.

Alasco, a 3.5-year-old, Munich, Germany-based financial management platform for real estate projects, just raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Insight Partners, with participation from Lightrock. Pymnts.com has more here.

Career Karma, a 3.5-year-old, San Francisco-based platform that matches software engineers with coding bootcamps (and is expanding to match other employees and contractors with job training programs), has raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Top Tier Capital Partners. GV, Bronze Venture Fund, and a long list of other investors also participated in the round. TechCrunch has more here.

Chapter, a nearly two-year-old, New York-based medicare advisory services company, has raised $42 million in Series B funding led by Addition. Other investors in the round include Narya Capital, Susa Ventures, Maverick Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, Core Innovation Capital, and Health2047 Capital Partners. The company, which has raised $61 million altogether, separately raised a round last fall, at which point renowned investor Peter Thiel joined its board of directors. FierceHealthcare has more here.

DeepScribe, a 4.5-year-old, San Francisco-based automated medical documentation platform, has raised $30 million in funding led by Index Ventures. Other backers in the round include Bee Partners, Stage 2 Capital, 1984 Ventures, Scale.ai CEO Alex Wang, and Figma CEO Dylan Field. Forbes has more here.

DNA Script, a nearly eight-year-old, Paris, France-based benchtop DNA printer developer, has raised $35 million in extended Series C funding that brings the round total to $200 million. Investors in the latest tranche include T. Rowe Price Associates, Baillie Gifford, Healthcor Management, eureKARE, and Irving Investors. The company has now raised $315 million altogether. FierceBiotech has more here.

EduMe, a nearly six-year-old, London-based, mobile-based training platform for gig and other deskless workers has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Prosus, with participation from Workday Ventures and earlier investor Valo Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Mangata Networks, a two-year old Phoenix, Az.-based satellite data service startup, has raised $33 million in Series A funding led by Playground Global. Other investors include Temasek, KTSat, Scottish Enterprise and Promus Ventures. GeekWire has more here.

Quris, a two-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based drug development company, has raised $28 million in seed funding – inclusive of an initial $9 million announced late last year. Welltech Ventures led the round, joined by iAngels, GlenRock Capital, and others. More here.

Twig, a 1.5-year-old, London-based fintech that's targeting Gen Z and younger millennial consumers with e-money accounts that give them instant cash on fashion and electronics they want to sell, has raised $35 million in Series A round of funding. U.K.-based fintech specialist Fasanara Capital led the round. TechCrunch has more here.

Wonderschool, a nearly six-year-old, San Francisco-based child care management platform, has raised $25 million led by Goldman Sachs. Other backers in the round include Citi Impact Fund, a16z, Uncork Capital, Unusual Ventures, Imaginable Futures, and Gaingels. Forbes has more here.

Assemble, a 20-month-old, Miami, Fl.-based startup whose software aims to help companies eliminate pay inequities, has raised $5 million in seed funding from Susa Ventures, Goldcrest Capital and several industry angels. More here.

Garden Society, a nearly six-year-old, Sonoma County, Ca.-based cannabis brand featuring craft gummies, gourmet chocolates, and rosette pre-rolls, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by RJ Primo, an investment firm focused on the cannabis industry. More here.

BondCliQ, a nearly six-year-old, New York-based company that operates a consolidated quote system for the corporate bond market, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding led by London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), along with Aflac Ventures, SEI, and Vanguard. The WSJ has more here. 

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Decentral Park Capital, a four-year-old investment firm founded by a former investment banker and cloud storage entrepreneur named John Quinn, has raised $74 million for a second fund to invest in decentralized finance (DeFi). Quinn's debut fund had closed with $17 million. Coindesk has more here.

Kleiner Perkins, a Silicon Valley’s stalwart that underwent a nearly complete reboot several years ago, is kicking off the year with $1.8 billion in capital across two new funds: KP20 and Select2. KP20 is an $800 million venture fund focused on early-stage investments in enterprise, consumer, hard tech, fintech and healthcare companies, while Select2 is a $1 billion fund that will be used to double-down on the firm's breakout portfolio companies. TechCrunch has more here.

TMV, a 5.5-year-old, New York-based early stage venture firm formerly known as Trail Mix Ventures, has closed its second institutional venture fund with $64 million in capital commitments. Forbes has more here.

A 120-acre hilltop estate with sweeping views of L.A. that was owned by the late Paul Allen has sold for $65 million. The property, known as Enchanted Hill, was originally asking for $150 million; sitting between Bel-Air and the Hollywood Hills, it is reportedly one of the largest undeveloped properties in the region.

Karandeep Anand has joined the fast-growing fintech Brex as its chief product officer after having led Meta’s business products group and, prior to that, spending 15 years at Microsoft.

Kleiner Perkins has promoted Annie Case and Josh Coyne to partners. Case joined the firm in 2018, after logging two-and-a-half years with Uber as a manager of its Uber Eats strategy; before joining KP in 2017, Coyne worked for the investment bank Qatalyst Partners.

Brick & Mortar Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, has promoted Kaustubh Pandya and Curtis Rodgers to partners. Pandya joined the firm in 2018 after logging time at McKinsey & Co; Rodgers joined the outfit in 2015, following stints in the construction industry.

Doordash co-founder and CEO Tony Xu has joined the board of directors of Meta, Facebook's parent company.

Female founders secured only 2%(!) of venture capital in the U.S. in 2021, the smallest share since 2016, notes Bloomberg. It was the second year in a row that women’s percentage of VC funding shrank, according to a report by research firm PitchBook. More here.

Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are among numerous celebrities being sued for allegedly leading investors into a cryptocurrency “pump and dump” scam. The WSJ has more here.

Apple has cleared out the Wordle clones.

Axel Webber was rejected from Juilliard, then the internet stepped in.

The Omicron wave is dividing the vaccinated.

Teaching your parents how to FaceTime.

Hot-water bottles are . . . hot, says the Financial Times. "Much like a wearable radiator covered in cashmere or Belgian linen, the 81 centimeter-long YuYu Bottle (from £33) can be worn across the body or tied around the waist." 🔥??

Another way to go: designer coffee mugs.

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