App stores are losing their grip, Meta takes remote work to the extreme, and another Malibu manse for Marc Andreessen

Badly out-gunned by Russia on land, in the air and at sea, the information war is the one arena in which Ukraine is clearly winning. That’s thanks in no small part to Volodymyr Zelensky’s international road show, made possible only by the post-Covid normalization of video conferencing.

Spotify has reached a deal with Google to offer an alternative payment method within its app for users, the latest sign of the weakening grip that app stores have over third-party software.

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Affini-T Therapeutics, a two-year-old, Watertown, Ma.-based cell therapy company spun out of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center that aims to treat solid tumors, just raised $175 million in funding co-led by Vida Ventures and Bayer. GeekWire has more here.

Astronomer, a nearly seven-year-old, Cincinnati, Oh.-based data orchestration platform, has raised $213 million in Series C funding led by Insight Ventures. Other participants in the round included Meritech Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, Venrock and Sierra Ventures. TechCrunch has more here. 

Dave, the 5.5-year-old, L.A.-based publicly traded company behind the banking app of the same name (it merged with a blank-check company in January), has struck a strategic partnership with FTX US, the stateside arm of cryptocurrency exchange giant FTX. The company also received a $100 million investment from FTX Ventures, the exchange’s $2 billion venture capital fund. Coindesk has more here.

Datagen, a four-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based company that says it is creating a "complete CV stack that will propel advancements in AI by simulating real-world environments to rapidly train machine learning models," has raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Scale Venture Partners and earlier backers. TechCrunch has more here.

Firefly Aerospace, an eight-year-old, Cedar Park, Tex.-based rocket developer, just announced $75 million in Series B funding led by AE Industrial Partners. The private equity firm separately last month acquired a stake in Firefly from Noosphere Ventures, a fund run by Ukrainian software entrepreneur Max Polyakov, who came under scrutiny for national security concerns by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. CNBC has more here.

KoRo, a nearly six-year-old, Berlin-based based natural food brand, says it has raised €50 million in funding led by HV Capital, with participation from Five Seasons Ventures and Partech. More here

LifeMine Therapeutics, a nearly five-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based drug discovery outfit that says it's mining genetically-encoded small molecules from the biosphere, has raised $175 million in Series C funding led by Fidelity, with participation from Invus, 3W Partners Capital, GlaxoSmithKline, GV, Arch Venture Partners, Blue Pool Capital and MRL Ventures. FierceBiotech takes a look here.

RapidAPI, a nearly seven-year-old, San Francisco-based API marketplace, has raised $150 million in Series D funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Citi Ventures, Qumra Capital and earlier investors Andreessen Horowitz, M12, Viola Growth, Green Bay and Grove Ventures also joined the round. According to Crunchbase data, the outfit has now raised roughly $270 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Island, a 17-month-old, Southlake, Tex.-based company behind a security-focused enterprise web browser, has raised $115 million in Series B funding led by Insight Partners, with participation from earlier investors Stripes and Sequoia Capital. VentureBeat has more here.

Lucca, a 20-year-old, Paris-based outfit that sells HR software to small and mid-size businesses (and was previously bootstrapped), has raised €65 million in Series A funding from One Peak. Tech.eu has more here.

Theta Lake, a five-year-old, Santa Barbara, Ca.-based maker of collaboration security and compliance software, has raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Battery Ventures, with a long list of participating investors that you can read about here.

TokenEx, a 12-year-old, Edmond, Okla.-based platform enables organizations to tokenize any structured data, so they can transmit and store data securely by exchanging tokens without storing any data on on-site systems, has raised $100 million in Series B funding led by K1 Investment Management. VentureBeat has more here.

Alife, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that's trying to improve the efficacy of IVF procedures through AI (it's part of the fast-growing investment category of women’s digital health), just raised $22 million in Series A financing co-led by earlier backer Lux Capital, Union Square Ventures, and Maveron. MobiHealth News has more here.

Beep, a four-year-old, Lake Nona, Fla.-based autonomous EV shuttle startup, raised $25 million in extended Series A funding. ABS Capital led the round, joined by Intel Capital, Blue Lagoon Capital, TDF Ventures and Hidden Creek Management. Pymnts has more here.

ChargeAfter, a five-year-old, New York-based buy-now-pay-later startup, just raised $44 million in Series B funding led by The Phoenix. Other backers in the round included Citi Ventures, Banco Bradesco and MUFG. Calcalist has more here.

COR, an eight-year-old, Bay Area-based in-home blood-testing hardware and software startup focused on nutrition and wellness, has raised $12 million in Series A funding led by earlier investors Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund, with participation from West Ventures and Bellamack Partners. More here.

D-ID, an Israel-based startup that uses AI and deep learning to develop reenactment-based products ranging from animating still photos to developing digital avatars, has raised $25 million in Series B funding led by Macquarie Capital. Calcalist has more here.

Dongnae, a two-year-old, South Korea-based startup that helps tenants find apartment rentals, has raised $16.4 million in Series A equity and another $4.1 million in debt from NFX, Daol Investment, and Hana-Magna, among other backers. TechCrunch has more here.

Lightlytics, a two-year-old, Ramat Gan, Israel-based cloud configuration deployment startup, has raised $26 million in Series A funding led by Energy Impact Partners. VentureBeat has more here. more here.

Lucky, a four-year-old, Egypt-based fintech startup whose app offers credit products and cashback rewards, among other things, raised $25 million in funding. Nclude led the round, joined by PayU, Global Ventures, National Bank of Egypt, Venture Souq, and half a dozen other backers. Bloomberg has more here.

Pantastic, a two-year-old, San Francisco based e-commerce platform designed to empower indie brands, says it has raised $18 million in equity and debt financing led by B Capital Group, participation from Commerce Ventures. More here.

Players Health, a seven-year-old, Minneapolis, Mn.-based digital risk services and insurance firm that protects athletes and sports organizations, has raised $28 million in funding from SiriusPoint, Mastry Ventures, RPM Ventures, EOS Venture Partners and Will Ventures. Business Insurance has more here.

Recora, a nearly two-year-old, New York-based home care platform for heart attack survivors, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by SignalFire, with participation from Valor Equity Partners and earlier backer Pear VC. HIT Consultant has more here.

Skyline, a 16-month-old, New York-based company that makes robotic systems designed to clean skyscrapers windows, has raised $6.5 million in funding led by Skyline Standard Holdings, a round that brings the company's total funding to $9 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Spectro Cloud, a three-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based platform provider of a modern Kubernetes management platform, has raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Stripes. Earlier backers also joined the round, including Sierra Ventures, Boldstart Ventures, WestWave Capital, T-Mobile Ventures and Alter Venture Partners. The company has now raised $67.5 million altogether. Crunchbase News has more here.

TimeDoc Health, a seven-year-old, Chicago-based virtual and in-person care management outfit, just raised $48.5 million in Series B funding. Aldrich Capital Partners led the round, joined by Grand Ventures and Vocap Partners. MedCity News has more here.

Tome, a 20-month-old, Bay Area based startup that's promising to liven up slide decks with real-time data and flexible analytics, has raised $32.3 million in funding to date from Greylock (where cofounder Keith Peiris was previously an entrepreneur-in-residence) and Coatue. TechCrunch has more here.

Tomo, a two-year-old, Seattle-based startup founded by former Zillow execs that aims to speed up the mortgage approval process, has raised $40 million in funding led by SVB Capital, with participation from Ribbit Capital, NFX, Zigg Capital, Parker89, and Telesoft Partners. GeekWire has more here.

Wealth, a year-old, Tempe, Az.-based digital estate planning platform, raised $16 million in seed funding led by Anthos Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Blidz, a five-year-old, Helsinki, Finland-based social shopping app that offers discounts on goods based on how many people are coming together to buy them (it then presents users with a selection of games on top of that to unlock more deals), has raised $6 million in funding co-led by General Catalyst and Peak. TechCrunch has more here.

Boom & Bucket, a two-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based heavy equipment marketplace, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding co-led by Human Capital and Brick and Mortar Ventures, with participation from 8VC, GFC, Streamlined Ventures, Quiet Capital and MaC VC. More here.

CloudFrame, a seven-year-old, New York-based mainframe modernization startup, raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Eldridge, with participation from Henry Kravis and New York Angels. SiliconAngle has more here.

Handle, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based software platform for construction payment compliance (including to put a lien on a property), has raised $10 million in Series A financing round led by Energize Ventures and Ironspring Ventures. More here.

Haystacks.ai, a year-old, New York-based data aggregation and intelligence platform for fund managers targeting the single family rental markets, has raised $3 million in funding co-led by RRE Ventures, Assurant and Preface Ventures. More here.

Lago, a new, New York-based startup making display frames for NFT art, says it has raised $4.2 million in seed funding from numerous individual investors, including James Ho, a director of strategic partnerships at Animoca. More here.

Nocnoc, a four-year-old, Montevideo, Uruguay-based e-commerce marketplace startup that aims to connect global sellers with Latin American marketplaces, has raised $7 million in seed funding co-led by Mouro Capital and Quona Capital. More here.

Ribbon, a 17-month-old, Singapore-based DeFi startup focused on crypto derivatives, raised $8.8 million led by Paradigm. CoinDesk has more here.

Rugged Robotics, a four-year-old, Houston, Tex.-based construction tech startup aimed at modernizing the commercial construction sector, starting with a “layout Roomba” that marks architectural and engineering designs directly onto unfinished concrete floors, has raised $9.4 million in Series A funding co-led by BOLD Capital Partners and Brick & Mortar Ventures. TechCrunch wrote about the startup last summer.

TaxDown, a three-year-old, Madrid, Spain-based online platform that promises to help taxpayers -- including those who've sold or traded crypto assets -- submit accurate income tax returns, has raised €5.5 million in funding. Base10 Partners was part of the syndicate (the deal marks its first investment in Spain), as was JME Ventures. More here

Tea, a five-month-old, San Juan, Puerto Rico-based developer of an open source software platform on the blockchain, has raised $8 million in seed funding led by Binance Labs. TechCrunch has more here.

Unstoppable Domains, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based outfit that says it's "onboarding the world onto the decentralized web by building blockchain-based domain names," is in talks to raise around $60 million, per TechCrunch, which says new and earlier investors including Draper Associates, Coinbase Ventures, Protocol Labs and Naval Ravikant, are in the mix. More here.

Waitroom, a months-old, San Diego-based streaming platform for host-led live broadcasts, has raised $3 million in seed funding led by Craft Ventures, with participation from Endeavor CEO Ari Emmanuel. The company was founded by serial entrepreneur Vinny Langham, who previously cofounded Civic, an identity protection and management startup from which he stepped down as CEO last summer. VentureBeat has more here.

After raising its Series B in 2021 from Revolution and others, Bright Cellars is investing more resources into its member experience and wine education. Founded by two MIT grads, Bright Cellars uses an algorithm to recommend personalized wine matches and deliver them straight to your door. Try it today - here's 50% off!

New Era Partners, a four-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based early-stage venture firm focused on startups with an Israel nexus and an ESG orientation, has raised $140 million in capital commitments for its second fund, from both U.S. and Israeli institutions, it tells TechCrunch. More here.

Bridgewater Associates is preparing to back its first crypto fund, says CoinDesk. The world’s largest hedge fund is planning to back an external vehicle; it has no current intention of directly investing in crypto assets itself, one of the outlet's sources said.

Apple reportedly paid around $150 million to buy Credit Kudos, a London-based outfit whose software uses consumers’ banking data to make more informed credit checks on loan applications. (It's a challenger to the big credit reporting agencies like Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, notes CNBC.) Apple isn't confirming the deal (which is standard for Apple). Credit Kudos had raised roughly  $10 million from investors. More here.

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX has acquired three-year-old, Olympia, Wa.-based Good Luck Games, developer of the upcoming card battle game "Storybook Brawl," for an undisclosed amount. Good Luck Games will be integrated into FTX Gaming following the acquisition. As Coindesk notes, FTX revealed last month that it was launching a gaming unit to encourage game publishers to adopt cryptocurrencies through a “crypto-as-a-service” platform. Good Luck Games is led by four veteran card game designers and former professional players with ties to games "Magic: The Gathering" and "The Elder Scrolls: Legends." Coindesk has the story here.

Recurrent Ventures, a venture equity-backed digital media company, has acquired Business of Home, a 13-year-old, digital and print publication dedicated to home and interior design enthusiasts, says Axios. It's reportedly the first B2B brand that Recurrent has acquired as it looks to build a small digital publishing empire. More here.

RIP, Madeleine Albright. 😢

Marc Andreessen and his wife, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, have purchased another home in Malibu, this time for $44.5 million, according to the WSJ. The four-bedroom house on Escondido Beach was originally listed for $55 million back in June. The deal comes on the heels of the Andreessens’ purchase of a $177 million property from fashion mogul Serge Azria last year. More here.

It's not just Habitat for Humanity that received a recent check from MacKenzie Scott. The billionaire philanthropist announced todaythat she has given away more than $3.8 billion to 465 organizations.

Former Stripe CMO Jim Stoneham has joined the venture firm SignalFire as its operating partner. Stoneham joined Stripe in January 2020 after spending more years with New Relic. More here.

The man who spawned millions of memes via his invention in 1987 of the humble GIF has died. Steve Wilhite, whose Graphics Interchange Format helped personalize the internet, lost a two-week battle with Covid-19 earlier this month, his wife told NPR. He was 74.

Chinese regulators have reportedly asked some of the country's U.S.-listed firms, including Alibaba, Baidu and JD.com, to prepare for more audit disclosures as Beijing steps up efforts to ensure domestic companies remain listed in New York. Reuters has the story here.

Delivery service Instacart has said it will build micro-fulfillment warehouses as it attempts to fend off the dual threat of newer rapid delivery apps and Amazon’s growing presence in groceries. Fidji Simo, chief executive, told the Financial Times the new effort cements its broader pivot from its core delivery business — which primarily hires gig workers to pick up groceries from existing brick-and-mortar stores — into becoming a platform offered to retailers, one incorporating adtech, warehouse logistics and data analytics.

Meta is taking remote work to the extreme.

The Taliban today reneged on a promise to allow Afghan girls to attend secondary school.

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Landline phones make a comeback. ☎️

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