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The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 600 points today, its steepest one-day loss of 2022, as geopolitical tensions and the prospect of tighter monetary policy ahead roil markets.
According to the WSJ, federal and state regulators have widened their investigations into how Activision Blizzard's leadership handled workplace misconduct claims as the videogame giant works to complete a planned $75 billion sale to Microsoft.
California, the first U.S. state to lock down its economy over the coronavirus, today became the first to explicitly shift to a new strategy of managing Covid as an ongoing risk. Under a plan unveiled by Governor Gavin Newsom, the state will use wastewater surveillance to spot new infections and variants. Bloomberg has more here.
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| When the Founder Becomes the Story |
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A year ago, few knew the brand Bolt, a checkout technology company that was founded in 2014, nor its founder, Ryan Breslow, a seemingly archetypal Silicon Valley type: smart, strong-willed and a college dropout who left Stanford after only two years to start a company.
Fast-forward to today and Bolt has suddenly become a company to watch, with Breslow commandeering the attention of reporters, investors and founders through a series of splashy pronouncements beginning this past January.
The question is, is courting so much controversy in the best interests of Bolt?
Breslow’s latest declaration came this Monday, when he announced on Twitter that Bolt — which already offers employees more time to exercise their stock options than most companies — was offering every employee the chance to borrow money from the company to exercise their stock options. This “radical” and possibly unprecedented proposal, Breslow explained, promised to give regular employees the same tax benefits in purchasing stock as high-level executives. (Employees who buy their stock earlier theoretically reduce their tax exposure if the value of the stock continues to rise.)
Numerous founders applauded the move, including Harry Hurst, the co-founder and co-CEO of Pipe, a fast-growing outfit that provides upfront capital to companies with recurring revenue streams. “Yep, no brainer! We did this back in 2020 and it’s been incredible. It’s the right thing to do,” Hurst tweeted.
But many others weighed in to suggest the idea was neither novel nor wise, suggesting that such loans could put employees in a highly precarious financial position should their company’s shares sink.
Jeff Richards, a managing director of GGV Capital, was among them. Asked yesterday for comment, Richards wrote us in an email, “Usually I stay out of commenting on founder ‘advice’ threads, but on this one I couldn’t remain silent. It is literally one of the worst pieces of advice you can give fellow founders."
More here.
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Equip, a nearly three-year-old, San Diego-based eating disorder treatment startup, has raised $58 million in Series B funding led by The Chernin Group. Other backers in the round included Tiger Global, General Catalyst, Katie Couric Media and earlier backers F-Prime Capital, Optum Ventures and .406 Ventures. Fast Company has more here.
Instrumental, a nearly seven-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based company that was founded by two former Apple mechanical engineers and whose software helps its customers make changes on their manufacturing lines, just raised $50 million in Series C funding. BAM Elevate led the round, joined by earlier investors Canaan Partners, Root Ventures and Eclipse Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
J&T Express, a seven-year-old, Indonesia-based company that provides express services and cross-border logistics for a network that spans ten countries, including China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Singapore, has raised $2 billion in new funding from Temasek and earlier backers Hillhouse Capital, Boyu Capital and Sequoia Capital China. Bloomberg has more here.
Sólides, a seven-year-old, Brazilian HR tech company, has raised $100 million in Series B funding led by Warburg Pincus in exchange for a minority stake in the company. Reuters has more here.
Synthego, a 10-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based genome engineering company that was founded by two former SpaceX engineers, has raised $200 million in fresh funding led by Perceptive Advisors. Other backers in the round include SoftBank, Declaration Partners, Laurion Capital Management, Logos Capital, GigaFund, Chimera Abu Dhabi and earlier backers Wellington Management, RA Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures. More here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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DealShare, a 3.5-year-old, Bangalore, India-based social commerce startup, has raised $45 million in extended Series E funding from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, bringing the round total to $210 million and the company's all-time funding to $393 million, says TechCrunch. More here.
DuploCloud, a four-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based no-code/low-code infrastructure automation and compliance startup, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Mayfield led the round, joined by Monta Vista Capital. VentureBeat has more here.
Dutch, a year-old, Martinez, Ca.-based veterinary telemedicine startup, has raised $20 million in Series A funding co-led by Forerunner Ventures and Eclipse Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Flow, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that makes what it says is flexible infrastructure software to make raising and managing venture capital and private equity funds easier, just raised $20 million in Series A funding. SVB led the round, joined by Frontier Ventures, GFR Fund, HOF Capital, L’Attitude Ventures, WOCstar Fund and Mantis VC. More here.
Motorq, a five-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based connected car API startup, has raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Insight Partners. Earlier backers Story Ventures, FM Capital, Monta Vista Capital and Avanta Ventures also joined the round. More here.
RideCo, a nearly nine-year-old, Waterloo, Ontario-based on-demand public transit tech startup, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Eclipse Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Subskribe, a two-year-old, San Ramon, Ca.-based subscription management software (for software), has raised $18.4 million in from 8VC and Slow Ventures. More here.
Talespin, a seven-year-old, L.A.-based startup that's using virtual reality and augmented reality — or spatial technologies — to train people to do work, has raised $20 million in Series C funding. SEEK Investments and Allomer Capital co-led the round, joined by Pearson Ventures, Accenture Ventures, Go1 and Sony Innovation Fund. VentureBeat has more here.
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Actual, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based startup whose software aims to help domain experts and communities to more easily plan sustainable infrastructure projects and assess their environmental and social impacts, has raised $5 million in seed funding. Investors in the round include Buckley Ventures, Hyper, Wndrco, Sequoia Capital, and Signalfire, among others. TechCrunch has more here.
Advisr, a four-year-old, New York-based B2B sales operating system startup, has raised $5.75 million in funding led by Next Frontier Capital, with participation from Granite Capital. More here.
Bardeen, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based no-code workflow automation startup, has raised $3.5 million in seed funding from 468 Capital and FirstMark Capital. SiliconAngle has more here.
Been, a 4.5-year-old, London-based startup that invites users to livestream themselves in AR, just raised $4 million in seed funding. Backers in the round include 5 Lion, Ascension Ventures, Grouport Ventures, Inertia Ventures, Lior Messika and other strategic angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.
Earnipay, an eight-month-old, Nigeria-based earned wage access startup, has raised $4 million in seed funding led by Canaan, with participation from XYZ VC, Village Global, Musha Ventures, Voltron Capital and Ventures Platform. TechCrunch has more here.
Freterium, a three-year-old, Morocco-based freight trucking software startup, has raised $4 million in seed funding led by Partech. TechCrunch has more here.
Goldcast, a two-year-old, Boston-based virtual and hybrid events platform, has raised $10 million in seed funding led by Unusual Ventures, with participation from Hubspot Ventures, Afore Capital and Underscore VC. TechCrunch has more here.
Liefergrün, a 1.5-year-old, Münster, Germany-based zero-emissions last-mile delivery startup, has raised €3 million in seed funding led by Speedinvest. Tech.eu has more here.
Mad Rabbit, a nearly three-year-old, Forest Park, Ga.-based maker of tattoo aftercare skin products (it was a "Shark Tank" contestant last year), has raised $4 million in funding from investor Mark Cuban, Acronym Venture Capital, Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, LB Equity, and Seamless Capital. More here.
Mezubo, a two-year-old, Bogotá, Colombia-based used car financing platform, raised $5.5 million from Canary and DILA Capital. Bloomberg has more here.
NanoNets, a nearly five-year-old, San Francisco-based, 35-person document processing automation software startup, just raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Elevation Capital. VentureBeat has more here.
Paywallet, a year-old, Jacksonville, Fla.-based payroll-linked verification and remittance startup, hsa raised $8.8 million in Series A funding led by Pasaca Capital. More here.
Rubi Labs, a 20-month-old, San Francisco-based developer of cellulosic textiles that was founded by twin sisters Neeka and Leila Mashouf (whose family built the retail giant Bebe Stores), has raised $4.5 million in seed funding co-led by Talis Capital and Necessary Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Voila, an eight-year-old, West Hollywood, Ca.-based social commerce infrastructure startup, has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Sinovation Ventures, with participation from Fosun Rz Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
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Cherry Ventures, a 10-year-old, Berlin-based venture firm, says it has raised a $34 million fund to focus on web3 investments. More here.
Forerunner Ventures, the 10-year-old, San Francisco-based venture fund that has long been a go-to for top e-commerce and other consumer-focused companies, says it has closed its sixth fund with $1 billion in capital commitments. Firm founder Kirsten Green has more here.
Nina Capital, a three-year-old, Barcelona, Spain-based health tech-focused venture firm, has closed its second fund with more than €40 million in capital commitments. The outfit backs startups in Europe, Israel, and the U.S., it says. More here.
Sequoia Capital, the powerful, decades-old venture firm, is raising money for three new funds, reports Axios: a $500 million to $600 million crypto token fund; a $900 million to $950 million fund of funds to back other venture firms spun up by former Sequoia partners and scouts; and a more global expansion fund that is expected to secure around $3 billion in capital commitments. More here.
Sony Ventures Corporation (SVC) announced today that it has completed the first closing of its $215 million (25 billion JPY) fourth fund to back all stages of emerging tech companies. SVC was established last July to manage all of Sony’s venture investment activities. TechCrunch has more here.
A new venture outfit, Swiftarc Ventures, has raised what it says is the first venture fund to targeting telehealth startups explicitly, closing the vehicle with $75 million in capital commitments. FierceHealthcare has more here.
Thrive Capital, the venture firm founded in 2009 by a then 25-year-old Joshua Kushner, says it has closed its eighth fund with approximately $3 billion in capital commitments, $500 million of which it plans to invest in early-stage startups and another $2.5 billion that it has earmarked for later-stage companies. The young outfit says it is now managing roughly $16 billion in assets across all of its funds. Given that many firms are adopting a survival-of-the-biggest type mentality, Thrive's newest capital raise isn’t entirely shocking. Thrive has wedged its way into a lot of companies that have become big brands, too. We have more here.
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Cryptocurrency operator Circle Internet says it has been valued at $9 billion under new deal terms with Concord Acquisition Corp a blank-check firm backed by former Barclays boss Bob Diamond, that was planning, through an earlier agreement with Circle, to value the company at half as much. As notes The Information, in a sea of disappointing deals, this may be on one of the first SPACs where the value of a SPAC deal was revised upward. More here and here.
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The Justice Department today announced the selection and appointment of Eun Young Choi to serve as the first Director of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team. She's a prosecutor with nearly a decade of experience within the department. More here.
Federal Aviation Administrator Steve Dickson, who headed the agency in the wake of two fatal Boeing 737 Max crashes, is resigning, he announced yesterday. Dickson’s announcement comes just halfway into his five-year term. In an e-mail to staff, Dickson said after long separations from his family “it is time to devote my full time and attention to them.
Nyca Partners promoted Stephanie Khoo to partner and hired Jasleen Kaur as a principal. More here.
Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner, called out the “wretched excess” in both venture capital and Bitcoin, and said that cryptocurrencies should be banned. “I wish it had been banned immediately, and I admire the Chinese for banning it,” the 98-year-old billionaire reportedly said yesterday at Daily Journal Corp.’s annual meeting, which was held virtually. “I certainly didn’t invest in crypto. I’m proud of the fact I’ve avoided it. It’s like a venereal disease or something. I just regard it as beneath contempt.”
VC Keith Rabois talks with reporter Kara Swisher about Miami, answering the question: is tech's love affair with the city about taxes, or something else?
Steve Taub has joined JetBlue Technology Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of JetBlue Airways, as its new head of investments. Formerly, he was with In-Q-Tel.
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Spotify bet big on Joe Rogan (twice as much as was reported at the time). It got more than it counted on.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has initiated a new Tesla safety probe after receiving 354 drivers’ complaints about phantom braking in their vehicles.
Tencent is in and Meta is out when it comes to the world's 10 most valuable companies.
That vacation home on Airbnb might be owned by Wall Street.
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A new luxury hotel by Mandarin Oriental is opening on the southwest coast of the Peloponnese. 🌊🌊🌊
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