Ukraine urges Apple to do more, Shein shelves its IPO plans, and SPACs ... aren't working out

Mykhailo Fedorov, who is Ukraine’s vice prime minister and oversees digital operations, urged Apple to halt product sales in Russia and shut down its App Store in the country. In a request to Apple CEO on Twitter, Fedorov also said Apple should support the U.S. sanctions placed on Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. He argued that cutting off access to Apple products could motivate young people in Russia to oppose military aggression. Bloomberg has the story here.

The Russian government announced today that it will begin to “partially restrict” access to Facebook, according to an announcement from its internet regulatory agency. Russia claimed that it would implement the measures, which were not specified, after Facebook put its own restrictions on four Russian state-linked media outlets: the television network Zvezda, news agency RIA Novosti, and the websites Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru. TechCrunch has more here.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today that it is relaxing its mask guidance for communities where hospitals aren't under high strain. Under the new guidance, nearly 70% of the U.S. population lives in an area considered to be low or medium risk, and residents there are advised they can go indoors without masks.

President Biden today said he would nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, a federal appeals court judge who, if confirmed, would become the first Black woman to serve as a justice.

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AddApptr, a 10-year-old, Hamburg, Germany mobile ad-tech company, has raised $60 million in funding from a new video gaming group called Aonic Group. More here.

dbt Labs, a nearly six-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based cloud data transformation and workflow software company, has raised $222 million in Series D funding led by Altimeter. Other backers in the round include a mix of new and earlier backers, including Amplify Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Coatue, Tiger Global, ICONIQ Growth, GV, and GIC. The deal, notes Forbes, values the company at $4.2 billion, down from the $6.2 billion valuation it originally targeted. More here.

H2scan, a 20-year-old, Valencia, Ca.-based company that sells hydrogen sensors for electricity utilities and industrial markets,  has raised $70 million in funding from investors, including LetterOne and GS Energy. Dot.LA has more here.

Scipher Medicine, a nearly eight-year-old, Waltham, Ma.-based outfit that's developing a line of blood tests that are able to predict how individuals will respond to specific drugs and drug classes, has raised $110 million in Series D funding, a round that brings its total funding to $227 million. Cowen Healthcare Investments led the Series D, joined by investors both old and new, including Neuberger Berman, Hitachi Ventures, Laurion Capital, Monashee Investment Management, and Khosla Ventures, along with numerous other new and earlier backers. FierceBiotech has more here.

SellerX, a two-year-old, Berlin, Germany-based outfit has raised $500 million in new debt and equity financing to buy up e-commerce brands and expand its stable of businesses selling goods on Amazon.com. The company’s latest funding was led by Sofina, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, and Victory Park Capital. Bloomberg has more here.

Canary Technologies, a nearly five-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that sell hotels what it describes as fully mobile guest management system software, has raised $15 million in Series A funding. F-Prime Capital led the round, joined by Y Combinator, Thayer Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Acronym Capital, and renowned operator Gokul Rajaram. This brings the company’s total fundraising to date to $17 million. More here.

Canela Media, a three-year-old, New York-based minority-owned digital media technology company that caters to Latino and Spanish-speaking communities, has raised $32 million in Series A funding led by Acrew Capital and Angeles Investors. Forbes has more here.

InfStones, a nearly four-year-old, Beijing- and Palo Alto, Ca.-based blockchain infrastructure startup, raised $33 million in Series B funding from investors including Susquehanna International Group, Dragonfly Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, and others. Coindesk has more here.

Made by Nacho, a three-year-old, New York-based cat food company cofounded by chef Bobby Flay, has raised $14 million in Series A funding led by CAVU Venture Partners, with participation from New Fare Partners and Mars' Companion Fund. Pet Product News has more here.

OpenComp, a nearly three-year--old, San Francisco-based compensation intelligence company, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by K5 Global and J.P. Morgan, with participation from new and earlier backers, including TIME Ventures, 8VC, Circle Ventures, and Mantis Ventures. More here.

Piñata, a nearly two-year-old, New Jersey-based startup that rewards renters for on-time payments with in-app currency that can be spent on various brands (that then pay the startup fees), has raised $13 million in Series A funding led by Wilshire Lane Capital. The company has now raised $20 million altogether. More here. led its most recent round, which brings its total raised to $20 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Story Health, a Saratoga, Ca.-based health virtual specialty care company that helps enable patients to be treated at home, has raised $22.6 million in Series A funding. Northpond Ventures and B Capital Group led the round, joined by LRVHealth and earlier investors Define Ventures and General Catalyst. MobilHealth News has more here.

Wave Sports + Entertainment, a nearly five-year-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based sports and entertainment company (it provides sports content on social media platforms), has raised $27 million in Series B funding led by TZP Group. Other backers in the round include Crossbeam Venture Partners, GPS Investment Partners, Verance Capital, Nimble Ventures, and Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. Dot. LA has more here.

Cococart, a 20-month-old, Singapore- and San Francisco-based tool to enable merchants to set up an online store in minutes with no code, no design and no app download, has raised $4.2 million in seed funding led by Forerunner Ventures and Sequoia Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Cortina, a year-old, New York-based retail-focused software company that allows brands to sell other vendor's products directly on their own site, keeping their own brand experience while offering complementary products for their customers, just raised $6 million in seed funding led by Point72, with participation from AlleyCorp, Primary VC, Blue Watch, and Lorimer. More here.

De La Calle, a two-year-old, L.A.-based company that aims to sell more Americans on a modern version of the Mexican “street vendor treat” tepache, a probiotic beverage made from fermented organic pineapples, has raised $7 million in funding. Investors include the private equity firm KarpReilly and the contract manufacturer DrinkPAK. Food Navigator has more here.

EverWash, a six-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based car wash membership and subscription management company, has raised $6 million in Series B from Spring Mountain Capital. More here.

Good-Loop, a six-year-old, Edinburgh, Scotland-based online ad startup that operates in the U.K. and E.U. markets and features a charitable component, has raised $6.1 million in Series A funding led by Quaestus Capital Management. TechCrunch has more here.

Hiveclass, a two-year-old, New York-based startup that specializes in youth sports and physical education, has raised $1.25M in seed funding led by Appia Ventures. More here.

Leasy, a nearly four-year-old, Lima, Peru-based startup that offers automobile financing to ride-hailing drivers in Latin America via a subscription model, has secured $2 million in equity and $15 million in debt. Magma Partners led the equity piece. TechCrunch has more here.

Marvin, a two-year-old, Oakland, Ca.-based user research platform for product teams, has raised $3.8 million in pre-seed funding led by Fuel Capital and entrepreneur-investor Sam Altman. More here.

Nori, a nearly five-year-old, Seattle-based carbon removal marketplace, just raised $7 million in Series A funding led by M13, with participation from Toyota Ventures and Placeholder. GeekWire has more here.

PrettyDamnQuick, a two-year-old, Herzliya, Israel-based checkout-to-delivery management platform for e-commerce businesses, has raised $6 million in seed funding led by TLV Partners. Other investors in the round included Ground Up Ventures and Verissimo Ventures. Geektime has more here.

Worldspark Studios, a months-old, Dallas, Tex.-based blockchain game development studio founded by veterans of Riot Games and other established brands, has raised $3 million in seed funding led by Animoca Brands and Shima Capital. Decrypt has more here.

Skipify, a four-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based instant online checkout startup, has raised an undisclosed amount from PayPal Ventures, Synchrony, Amex Ventures and Okta Ventures. More here.

Affinity, the relationship intelligence platform for dealmakers, recently launched a report analyzing investment trends that point toward future unicorn status. Affinity used their 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. Check out the report here.

The investors behind hack.summit(), a major blockchain programmer event, say they quietly closed a $200 million crypto seed fund last fall under the Hack VC umbrella, and that it has already been used to make 15 investments. TechCrunch has more here.

Carvana, the online used car marketplace, has agreed to buy Kar Global’s Adesa U.S. auction subsidiary for $2.2 billion in cash, an acquisition aimed at adding another revenue stream and a network of physical sites that could help bolster operations.
TechCrunch has more here.

Kimberly-Clark has acquired a majority stake in Thinx, a nine-year-old, New York-based maker of reusable menstrual underwear. The personal care product giant had taken a minority stake in the business back in 2019. Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed. The Dallas Morning News has more here.

Zendesk announced today that it is walking away from its proposed $4.1 billion deal to buy Momentive, owners of SurveyMonkey, after stockholders rejected the deal. The announcement comes just two weeks after the company spurned a $17 billion takeover offer by private equity firms. TechCrunch has more here.

Chinese fast-fashion retailer Shein is reportedly shelving plans for a proposed IPO due to market volatility exacerbated by Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Shein had been eyeing a U.S. listing, with company founder Chris Xu mulling becoming a Singapore citizen to help navigate new rules that make it more difficult for Chinese companies to list overseas, according to Reuters.

SPAC startups made lofty promises. They aren't working out. “I feel like we are in a position right now in the world where SPAC is a four-letter curse word," Enrique Abeyta, editor at Empire Financial Research, tells the WSJ.

BitConnect founder Satish Kumbhani was just indicted by a U.S. grand jury on charges he orchestrated a global Ponzi scheme that raised $2.4 billion from investors in a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platform, says the Justice Department. Kumbhani, 36, was charged in San Diego with misleading investors about BitConnect’s purported propriety technology, which falsely promised returns based on phony “volatility software” that tracked cryptocurrency exchange markets. Bloomberg has more here.

The global head of Amex Ventures, Harshul Sanghi, said today he is retiring at the end of this month. Matt Sueoka -- formerly of Amex’s digital innovation and products department, Amex Digital Labs -- will assume Sanghi's role with the outfit. More here.

Day One Ventures, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based venture firm, is bringing aboard ClassPass co-founder Sanjiv Sanghavi as a partner focusing exclusively on climate tech, says TechCrunch.

VC and Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance has walked back sentiments from last weekend, when he said that he doesn't "really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another" and that Ukraine "is a country I don't care about." (Note: There are many Ukrainians in Northeast Ohio.)

Coinbase Ventures investor Katherine Wu is leaving the outfit to join the early-stage crypto venture capital firm Archetype.

Ukraine's booming tech outsourcing sector is now at risk.

Everything you've wanted to know about the metaverse, but were too afraid to ask. 

Renowned investor Chamath Palihapitiya announced his newest investment on Twitter yesterday, describing it as the biggest bet he has made to date (see "Massive Fundings"). But once-devoted followers have seemingly turned on him, saying he led them into numerous SPAC deals where they lost money.

Design tricks for dining chairs.

Simple exercises to save your back.

"No war please." 

Steampunk sunglasses.

A deconstructed skateboard.

Fifteen vodkas with different flavor profiles (really!)

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