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We have to cut this one short tonight to get somewhere. More tomorrow.:)
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A California civil rights agency has sued Tesla, alleging racist harassment of and discrimination against Black workers that has persisted for years at the company’s car assembly plant and other facilities in the state. In the complaint, which became public today, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing says it conducted a three-year-long investigation, and received hundreds of complaints from Tesla workers. More here.
Affirm, the buy-now-pay-later giant founded by serial entrepreneur Max Levchin, saw its shares plunge more than 20% today after it mistakenly posted earnings results early, then faced tough questions about how new partnerships were affecting revenue. Specifically, it looks to some that while Affirm's new partnership with Amazon is driving additional volume for the company, it may come with a lower “take rate,” meaning Affirm’s yield on each transaction.
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Get smarter in 5 minutes by reading Morning Brew - the free daily email covering the latest business, finance, and tech news from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Unlike traditional news, Morning Brew knows how to keep you informed and entertained for free. Check it out.
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Expressable, a 2.5-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based online speech therapy company that connects children with a licensed network of speech-language pathologists, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by F-Prime Capital. Earlier backers Lerer Hippeau, NextView Ventures and Amplifyher Ventures also joined the round. MedCity News has more here.
Everyrealm, formerly the metaverse real estate arm of the crowdfunding platform Republic, has spun off on its own and raised $60 million Series A funding as part of the process. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, joined by Coinbase Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Dapper Labs, and some celebrity angel investors like Paris Hilton, Lil Baby and Nas, among others. TechCrunch has more here.
hOS, a months-old, Boston-based AI technology startup that was founded by Jeremy Achin, cofounder of the unicorn company DataRobot, and which says it's still operating in stealth mode, has raised $12.8 million in seed funding. NEA led the round, joined by B5 Capital, Cortical Ventures, IA Ventures, and Sequoia Capital. More here.
Houwzer, a seven-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa. -based real estate brokerage with three products that aim to get people into and out of houses quickly, just raised $18 million in equity funding led by earlier backer Edison Partners (which also helped the company secure a $100 million warehouse line of credit). Technical.ly has more here.
m3ter, a two-year-old, London-based metering and pricing engine for SaaS companies, has raised $17.5 million in funding from investors including Kindred Capital, Union Square Ventures, and Insight Partners. TechCrunch has more here.
Neo Cybernetica, a new, Boston-based stealth-mode startup, raised $30 million seed funding led by NEA, with participation from B5 Capital, Cortical Ventures, and Open Field Capital. This one is also a Jeremy Achin production (see hOS above) and he says he is actively leading both as CEO right now. Achin, as industry watchers may know, was elbowed out of DataRobot last year under pressure from the board of directors, who'd grown frustrated with his management of the company, according to an earlier report by The Information. Clearly, VCs still think he's a star, no matter. More here.
ODAIA, a four-year-old, Toronto, Ontario-based commercial insights SaaS platform for pharmaceutical companies, has raised $13.8 million in Series A funding led by Flint Capital. Other backers in the round include Innospark Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Graphite Ventures, BDC Capital’s Women in Tech Fund, MaRS IAF, StandUp Ventures, and Panache Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Odys Aviation, a three-year-old, Cincinnati, Oh.-based aircraft startup making hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for regional mobility, just raised $12.4 million in seed funding from investors, including Giant Ventures, Soma Capital, 11.2 Capital, and Countdown Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Salt Security, a six-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based API security company, has raised $140 million in Series D funding led by CapitalG. Earlier backers Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, Tenaya Capital, S Capital VC, Advent International, Alkeon Capital, and DFJ Growth also joined the round. Forbes has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Deepdub, a two-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based startup that's capitalizing on the growing demand for localized content by automating parts of the dubbing process, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners. Earlier investors Booster Ventures and Stardom Ventures also joined the round, along with numerous others. TechCrunch has more here.
Mystery, a nearly three-year-old, Seattle-based startup that curates virtual and in-person experiences for team building, has raised $18.5 million in a Series A led by Greylock, with participation from talent agency Endeavor. Forbes has more here.
Sardine, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based fraud and compliance platform for fintechs, has raised $19.5 million in Series A funding from Andreessen Horowitz, NYCA, and Experian Ventures. Sardine CEO Soups Ranjan previously ran data science and risk at Coinbase. Coindesk has more here.
Splendid Spoon, a nine-year-old, New York-based food delivery platform focused around plant-based meals, has raised $12 million in Series B funding led by Nicoya. Other backers in the round included Torch Capital, Danone Manifesto Ventures, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Rent the Runway co-founder Jennifer Fleiss, and others. Food Business News has more here.
Wander, a year-old, Austin, Tex.-based short-term luxury rental company, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by QED Investors. Other backers in the round include Redpoint Ventures, Authentic Ventures, Fifth Wall, Susa Ventures, and Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Ventures. Forbes has more here.
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AiVidens, a three-year-old, Brussels-based AI-powered debt collection startup, has raised €1.5 million ($1.7 million) in funding led by Faraday Venture Partners, with participation from The Faktory Fund and Finance.Brussels. More here.
Allure Security, an 11-year-old, Waltham, Ma.-based outfit focused on online brand abuse detection and protection, has raised $6.8 million in seed funding led by Gutbrain Ventures. Other backers in the round include PBJ Capital, Impellent Ventures, Glasswing Ventures, Zetta Venture Partners, and Portage Partners. More here.
Alma, a five-year-old, Paris-based company trying to build a new buy-now-pay-later giant in Europe, has raised $130 million in Series C funding, including from new investors Tencent, GR Capital and Roosh Ventures. The outfit has separately closed on $109 million in debut funding. TechCrunch has more here.
Enable Dental, a nearly-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based mobile dental care services company, has raised $5.4 million in funding led by CareQuest Innovation Partners, with participation from FCA Venture Partners. More here.
Epicore Biosystems, a five-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based microfluidic sensors company (it uses skin patches to measure stress), has raised $10 million in Series A funding from investors, including Chevron Technology Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and Joyance Partners. More here.
Kyro Digital, a seven-month-old, Venice, Ca.based Web3 multi-chain services platform that was founded by serial entrepreneur Samir Arora, raised $10 million in Series A funding from investors including Avalanche (Blizzard), Polygon, Rally, and Tezos. VentureBeat has more here.
MetaStreet, a year-old, San Juan, Puerto Rico-based maker of liquidity routing and scaling software for NFT collateralization platforms, has $3 million in seed financing and $11 million in initial protocol liquidity led by Dragonfly Capital. Other backers in the round included Ethereal Ventures, Sfermion, Nascent Capital, Animoca Brands, Bitscale Capital, and many others. (We're trying to understand this one.) More here.
Micruity, a four-year-old, Toronto, Ontario-based startup that's building software to automate competitive micro life annuity quotes and transactions inside retirement plans, has raised $5.1 million in seed funding. SixThirty Ventures led the round, joined by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, Franklin Templeton, Pacific Life, and Western & Southern Financial Group, among others. More here.
Orthox Limited, a 13-year-old, Oxfordshire, U.K.-based medical implant developer for repairing damaged knee articular cartilage and other orthopedic injuries, has raised $4.3 million in extended Series A funding to bring the round total to $12.5 million. Parkwalk led this newest tranche, joined by earlier backers Oxford Technology & Innovations EIS Fund, Perivoli Innovations, and Additio Investment Group. More here.
Respira Labs, a four-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based company that makes a clinical-grade respiratory health wearable, has raised $1 million pre-seed funding led by Zentynel Frontier Investments, with participation from VentureWell and ImpactAssets. More here.
Sprinto, a two-old, Bangalore, India-based compliance automation platform for SaaS companies, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Elevation Capital with participation from Accel and Blume Ventures. The Economic Times has more here.
WingRiders, a year-old, decentralized exchange platform, raised $4.5 million in seed funding from investors including cFund, Spartan Group, Coti, and Longhash. More here.
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Affinity, the relationship intelligence platform that helps teams manage and grow their networks by unlocking introductions to decision makers, has a new report that's chock-full of investment trends that point toward future unicorn status. Affinity used its proprietary data to analyze over 925 unicorns from the last five years. Learn how top venture capital firms use relationship intelligence to spot more unicorns. Read the report.
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Jeremy Achin, cofounder of DataRobot, also has new $50 million venture fund called Cortical Ventures. He partnered on the venture with Igor Taber, who led DataRobot's Series B round for Intel Capital before Achin hired him in 2018 to be the company's SVP for corporate development. Forbes has more here.
Specialist VC, a five-year-old, Estonian venture firm, has held a first close on a new fund with €42 million in capital commitments, money it intends to invest in the Baltic region investing in both primary and secondary shares (meaning it's more than willing to snap up the shares of previous investors in certain cases). Tech.eu has more here.
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Brookfield Asset Management, one of the world’s largest alternative investment groups, is weighing a spin-off of its asset management business into a separate public company that one analyst said could be valued at more than $75 billion. In addition to its fee-based asset management business, reports the Financial Times, Brookfield also owns a portfolio of real estate including London’s Canary Wharf, two of New York City’s largest office developments and more than 100 U.S. malls. More here.
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Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, is making a $200 million strategic investment in Forbes, the 104-year-old magazine and digital publisher, CNBC reports. The funds aim to help Forbes execute on its plan to merge with blank check company in the first quarter, despite growing investor skepticism that SPACs make sense. Per CNBC, Binance will replace half of the $400 million in commitments from institutional investors announced by Forbes in August; the deal will make Binance one of the top two biggest owners of Forbes. More here.
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Last week, says the Financial Times, an Apollo Global Management lawyer told regulators in Nevada that if firm cofounder and former CEO Leon Black ever wanted to return to the investment company’s space on 57th Street in New York, he would first have to line up with other visitors and register with building security. As readers know, Black stepped down from Apollo following revelations he paid the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein $158 million for (ostensibly) personal financial advice. But he also remains Apollo’s largest individual shareholder with a 12% stake in the $40 billion company. More here.
Hopin, a nearly three-year-old, virtual events platform that was often lauded for its rapid growth throughout the pandemic and which was valued at nearly $8 billion in a funding round last summer, has cut 138 full-time employees, or 12% of staff, as well as some contractors, reports TechCrunch. “Following unprecedented growth and several acquisitions, we are reorganizing to align with our goals for greater efficiency and sustainable growth,” the company said in a statement to the outlet. More here.
Uber has resolved a bankruptcy-court lawsuit over its alleged involvement in a theft of Google’s driverless-car technology, agreeing to settle with former engineer Anthony Levandowski, who claimed Uber was culpable for his role in the misappropriation of trade secrets and demanded Uber cover a related $179 million civil judgment. The WSJ has more here.
A lawyer for the New York couple accused of a scheme to launder $4.5 billion in stolen Bitcoin argues they aren't a flight risk because they want to stay near their frozen embryos.
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Fueled by cheap electricity and Chinese hardware, households across Siberia are furiously mining cryptocurrency.
Is the gene-sequencing powerhouse Illumina trying to speed innovation in the field of cancer blood tests or thwart it with an acquisition?
Following multiple reports of stalking, Apple says it plans to improve AirTag safeguards against unwanted tracking later this year. Specifically, Apple says users will be alerted sooner when an unknown AirTag is detected traveling with them.
For years, Apple has quietly changed the job titles of its former employees to “associate.” Former employees say it can have “devastating consequences” for some where specific titles represent levels of technical expertise.
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Want to know about using DAOs to develop therapeutic drugs? Drug discovery and development is a very slow and unpredictable process. Sign up to Linqto Learn on Feb 15th to hear from Founder and CEO Dr. Gennaro D'Urso and co-founder and Nobel Prize Laureate Dr. Leland Hartwell of Genetic Networks about how blockchain can reduce time to market in the pharmaceutical industry. Register now. Learn more about Linqto here.
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