|
Federal Reserve officials voted today to lift interest rates, with plans for six more increases by year’s end. The WSJ notes that it's the "most aggressive pace in more than 15 years" to slow inflation that is running at its "highest levels in four decades."
The expanded arsenal that the U.S. is sending to Ukraine includes $6,000 armed drones that are tube-launched from the ground and plunge into their targets, says Bloomberg. The dive-bombing Switchblade drones are made by the publicly traded company AeroVironment.
Meta and YouTube said today that they removed uploads of a deepfake video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordering troops to surrender.
|
|
|
|
| Ukraine’s President Just Signed a Law to Legalize Crypto, as Digital Donations Roll In |
|
|
|
|
A month ago, Ukraine’s parliament passed a bill to legalize cryptocurrency, preparing a framework for the regulation and management of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Today, the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed into law that bill, named “On Virtual Assets,” which establishes a legal framework for the country to operate a regulated crypto market.
According to reports coming out of Cointelegraph, Coindesk and other digital asset-focused outlets, crypto exchanges and firms handling digital assets will now be required to register with the government to operate legally in Ukraine, and banks will be allowed to open accounts for crypto firms.
The law also reportedly empowers Ukraine’s National Securities and Stock Market Commission with the ability to determine the country’s policies on digital assets, issue licenses to businesses dealing with crypto, and act as a financial watchdog. (Indeed, Ukraine’s parliament previously passed a law legalizing cryptocurrency back in September, but President Zelenskyy vetoed the bill soon afterward, saying the country couldn’t afford to stand up a new regulatory body for managing crypto.)
If you thought crypto was already legal in Ukraine, you have plenty of company. Even without formal regulation, Ukrainians, Russians and Venezuelans (in that order) had become among the active retail users of digital currencies by the fall of 2020, according to the blockchain analysis outfit Chainalysis.
More here.
|
|
|
|
|
Amplience, a 14-year-old, London-based company that makes a "commerce experience" platform for B2C and B2C clients, including Coach and Crate & Barrel, says it has raised $100 million in Series D funding from Farview Equity Partners and Sixth Street. The company has now raised $180 million altogether. VentureBeat has more here.
Linktree, a six-year-old, Melbourne, Australia-based startup known for its "link-in-bio" service (it was also started by brothers, which you don't see every day), has raised $110 million in fresh funding co-led by Index Ventures and Coatue, with participation from AirTree Ventures, Insight Partners and Greenoaks. The company had earlier raised $55.7 million in funding. TechCrunch has more here.
Multiplier, a two-year-old, Singapore-based remote work startup that helps companies to hire and pay remote workers while complying with local laws, has raised $60 million in Series B funding co-led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital India. TechCrunch has more here.
Run.ai, a four-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based AI optimization startup, has raised $75 million in Series C funding co-led by Tiger Global and Insight Partners, and were joined by earlier backers TLV Partners and S Capital VC. The outfit has now raised $118 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.
Wasoko, a nine-year-old, Nairobi, Kenya-based e-commerce inventory platform, has raised $125 million in Series B funding co-led by Tiger Global and Avemir Growth Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
|
|
|
|
| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
|
|
|
|
Clockwork.io, a four-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based company focused on synchronizing the clocks of its customers' servers (to ensure things work properly, whether they involve electronic trading or distributed databases), has raised $21 million in Series A funding. NEA led the round, joined by well-known angel investors, including Alphabet Chairman John Hennessey, early Google investor Ram Shriram and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang. TechCrunch has more here.
EarnUp, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based company that automates mortgage loan payment scheduling, has raised $31 million in Series C funding from LendingTree, KeyBank, Bain Capital Ventures, SignalFire, Blumberg Capital and Flourish Ventures. Pymnts has more here.
Gauntlet, a four-year-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based startup that has built a blockchain simulation and testing platform for financial systems (its founder previously logged time at D.E. Shaw), just raised $23.8 million in Series B funding led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from Paradigm and Polychain. Bloomberg has more here.
Moonshot Brands, a two-year-old, Oakland, Ca.-based e-commerce aggregator, has raised $30 million in equity led by Anthemis, with participation from Y Combinator and Garage Capital. The company also secured $150 million in debt. TechCrunch has more here.
Plantish, a year-old, Rehovot, Israel-based alternative seafood startup that says its plant-based product mimics cooked salmon in taste, texture, appearance, has $12 million in seed funding led by State of Mind Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Quadric, a six-year-old, Burlingame, Ca.-based developer of AI edge chips to accelerate AI workloads offline, has raised $21 million in Series B funding led by a subsidiary of Denso. Other backers include MegaChips, Leawood VC, Pear VC, Uncork Capital and Cota Capital. VentureBeat has more here.
Rutter, a nearly three-year-old, San Francisco-based universal API for e-commerce, raised $27 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. A list of other backers joined the round. TechCrunch has more here.
Silent Eight, a nine-year-old, Singapore-based financial crime compliance company, has raised $40 million in Series B funding. TYH Ventures led the round, joined by HSBC Ventures and Wavemakers Partners. Finovate has more here.
Treehouse, a 10-month-old, Singapore-based decentralized finance analytics firm, has raised $18 million in seed funding from backers, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Binance, and MassMutual Ventures. Coindesk has more here.
TruEra, a three-year-old, Redwood City, Ca-based startup that says its software can help enterprises analyze their machine learning and improve their model quality, has raised $25 million in Series B funding. Menlo Ventures led the round, joined by Greylock, Wing VC, Harpoon Ventures, Conversion Capital, Data Community Fund, Forgepoint Capital and B Capital Group. More here.
|
|
|
|
|
Copper Labs, a nearly six-year-old, Boulder, Co.-based outfit that says its wireless energy monitor can deliver real-time, grid-edge intelligence about electric, gas and water usage, with or without smart meters, has raised $5.5 million in Series A funding. Clean Energy Ventures led the round, joined by National Grid Partners and Blue Bear Capital. More here
JustPoint, a four-year-old, New York-based outfit that says its AI platform match patients medical malpractice claims with the best law firms for their unique claims, has raised $6.9 million in extended seed funding co-led by Divergent Capital and Charge Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.
Legion Health, a nearly year-old, Austin, Tex.-based mental health marketplace, has raised $2 million in seed funding from Y Combinator, UpHonest Capital and Soma Capital. More here.
Twelve Labs, a 15-month-old, Berkeley, Ca.-based AI startup focusing on building a 'video understanding AI' that enables semantic search for videos, has raised $5 million in seed funding led by Index Ventures. Radical Ventures, Expa and Techstars Seattle also participated, along with numerous angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.
|
|
|
|
| Not-Saying-How-Much Fundings |
|
|
|
|
Challenger, a San Diego-based on-demand video game wagering platform, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from SeventySix Capital, Revel and Acies Acquisitions. Esports Insider has a bit more here.
|
|
|
|
|
Join Affinity's webinar, Sourcing the Best Deals Like Bessemer Ventures, tomorrow, March 17, as they discuss the best channels, tactics, and stories where top firms such as Bessemer Ventures find their most successful investments, including how to source deals, their deal flow process, and how they’ve adapted to a changing investing landscape. Register here.
|
|
|
|
|
Frazier Healthcare Partners, the 31-year-old, Seattle-based private equity and venture firm, has raised $987 million for its eleventh fund. Frazier, which also raised an $830 million public-market fund in October, has now closed on more than $1.8 billion over the last few months for biotech investments, notes the WSJ. Several of the firm’s portfolio companies have either gone public or been acquired recently, including Amunix Pharmaceuticals, which was bought by drugmaker Sanofi SA last month for an upfront payment of $1 billion and up to $225 million more based on meeting certain milestones.
A team of national security experts has launched a new venture capital fund targeting entrepreneurs developing critical dual-use commercial and defense technology, reports DefenseNews. Shield Capital, whose debut fund just closed with $125 million in capital commitments, is focused on four areas: artificial intelligence, space, autonomy and cybersecurity. The firm's founders are Philip Bilden, a businessman and former military intelligence officer, and Raj Shah, the first director of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit.
|
|
|
|
|
Vestiaire Collective, the 13-year-old, Paris-based online marketplace for secondhand luxury and fashion items, agreed to buy 10-year-old, L.A.-based rival Tradesy for undisclosed terms. Vestiaire has raised at least $662 million from it investors, per Crunchbase data. Tradesy had raised $145 million from its own backers, closing its most recent round, a $65 million Series D, last fall. Bloomberg has more here.
|
|
|
|
|
Two special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), backed by billionaire investor Ken Moelis have rescinded their plans to launch IPOs, per new regulatory filings. As Reuters notes, Moelis was one of several high-profile investors, including Bill Foley and Chamath Palihapitiya, who took advantage of SPACs’ lucrative dealmaking frenzy to make a profit.
|
|
|
|
|
More than 7,000 Russian troops have been killed in less than three weeks of fighting, according to conservative U.S. estimates. “Sometimes, I wish I could put these bodies on a plane and drop them all onto Moscow, so they realize what is happening here.”
|
|
|
|
|
The criminal-fraud trial of former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani was delayed today when a federal judge sent a packed courtroom home as a health precaution, citing a Covid-19 exposure. The delay is one in a long series, owing to the pandemic.
Dov Charney, founder of American Apparel -- once among America's most popular retailers -- has officially filed for bankruptcy. Bloomberg has more here.
Lydia Hylton has joined Bain Capital Crypto as a partner. Hylton spent several years with Bain & Co. as she was obtaining her MBA from Stanford. She most recently spent 15 months with Redpoint as an investor.
LiveOak Venture Partners promoted Creighton Hicks and Mike Marcantonio to partners. Hicks joined the firm in 2020, after spending a few years with Dell Technologies Capital as a partner. Marcantonio joined the firm in 2018 from Blue Heron Capital, where he was a principal. More here.
Volition Capital has promoted Tomy Kihoon Han to partner and Jim Ferry to principal. Han joined the firm right out of Harvard in 2012; similarly, Ferry joined the firm in 2014 after graduating from Providence College. More here.
Kanye West has been banned from Instagram for a day for violating the platform’s policies. He directed a racial slur at “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah, after Noah expressed concern that West is harassing his former wife, Kim Kardashian.
|
|
|
|
|
Robinhood is planning to let users loan out their stocks to other financial institutions -- a program known as fully paid securities lending.
Netflix is is testing a warning that will show up when people borrow account login information from anyone outside their own household (tsk, tsk).
Bored Ape Yacht Club is developing a new “play-to-earn” NFT game.
|
|
|
|
|
The Atlantic is inviting members of StrictlyVC to its sold-out flagship event, In Pursuit of Happiness, taking place in Half Moon Bay, California, May 1–3. Across workshops in leadership, wellness, and relationships, industry leaders and experts will share tactics that drive happiness and create more purposeful environments for you and your teams. Let’s build happiness together. To purchase a StrictlyVC ticket, use this link before March 27.
|
|
|
|
|
