Instacart slashes its valuation, Apple is prepping a hardware subscription service, and the rise of Ethereum Classic

The circle is nearly complete(?). Uber has reached an agreement to list all New York City taxis on its app, an alliance that could ease its driver shortage and temper high fares while directing more business to cab drivers, who weren't exactly fans of the car-sharing app for obvious reasons. 

Instacart, a pandemic darling that’s now facing decelerating growth, is slashing its valuation by almost 40% to about $24 billion from $39 billion, a move it says will help the company attract talent and adapt to market conditions. That's a big drop. On the other hand, the news isn't surprising given a conversation we had earlier this month with Instacart's longtime head of talent, who left earlier this year to join Pear VC and told us that in the recruiting world, "One of the trends we are seeing — for a lot of companies that grew incredibly quickly during the pandemic and have subsequently [been impacted by a] kind of market correction — is if you look at the value of your equity, you may be underwater."

Apple is reportedly working on a hardware subscription service for iPhones.

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If you aren’t drowning in email these days, you either don’t have an email account or you are a very young person who marketers haven’t discovered quite yet (they will!).

To push back against the assault, a 10-month-old, Bay Area-based startup called Gated has emerged with an approach to help both overwhelmed email recipients and hopefully benefit society at large. The big idea: to force unknown senders to donate to a nonprofit chosen by the email recipient in order to get into their inbox. Want to tell strangers about your event next month, pitch your company, sell your gizmo? That’s fine, but it’s going to cost you — maybe a lot, depending on who you’re trying to reach.

Gated — founded by Andy Mowat, an angel investor who was most recently the VP of growth operations at the employee engagement startup CultureAmp — works by creating a separate folder in one’s Gmail account. According to Mowat, the software automatically builds a list of allowed senders based on who the email holder has communicated with previously; when unknown senders reach out, they’re promptly moved into this separate folder, where they’re told they can only reach the user’s inbox if they make a donation to that person’s charity of choice. The individual sets the price — beginning with a minimum of $2 per email — after which 70% of the payment goes to the (vetted) nonprofit. The rest flows to Gated, whose software is free.

Unsurprisingly, venture capitalists, who are the target of hundreds of pitches each day, love the idea. Indeed, Gated is announcing that it has raised $3.3 million in seed funding led by Corazon Capital, with participation from Precursor Ventures, Burst Capital, Tuesday Capital and other early-stage funds.

Of course, as much as the concept may resonate with potential users (waves hand), it also raises questions, including, first and foremost, around privacy.

For its part, Gated says it never reads the contents of any message. “We’re only looking at the metadata, the ‘to’ and the ‘from,'” says Mowat. Even still, there are only so many people being flooded by enough strangers' requests that Gmail filters aren't enough. Some of those people are likely influential in their own way and might not love Gated mapping their connections over time.

More here.

Celsius Therapeutics, a four-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based biotech whose first candidate aims to treat irritable bowel syndrome, raised $83 million in funding led by Casdin Capital. Other backers in the round include Amgen Ventures, Amplitude Ventures, and, among others, Third Rock Ventures, which originally launched the company. FierceBiotech has more here.

Digits, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based finance and accounting platform for small businesses, raised $65 million in Series C funding led by SoftBank, with participation from 20VC Growth, GV, and Benchmark. The company says it has now raised $97.5 million altogether. More here.

Nasuni, a 13-year-old, Boston-based file data services firm, has raised $60 million from Sixth Street Growth. More here.

Osso VR, a six-year-old, Boston-based virtual reality surgical training company, has raised $66 million in Series C funding. Oak HC/FT led the round,  joined by Signalfire (which led the company's $2 million seed round in 2017), GSR Ventures, Tiger Global and Kaiser Permanente Ventures. Axios has more here.

Span.io, a nearly four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that's developing residential energy storage devices that provide renewable electricity and charging services for electric vehicles, just raised $90 million in Series B funding. Fifth Wall and Wellington Management co-led the round, joined by Angeleno Group, FootPrint Coalition, Obsidian Investment Partners and A/O PropTech. Bloomberg has more here.

Tarana Wireless, a 12-year-old, Milpitas, Ca.-based fixed wireless access company, has raised $170 million in fresh funding co-led by Axon Capital, Khosla Ventures and Prime Movers Lab. Bloomberg has more here.

TemperPack, a seven-year-old, Richmond, Va.-based maker of insulated packaging (it makes thermal liners that it says are recyclable and non-toxic), has raised $140 million in Series D funding. Goldman Sachs led the round, joined by Grosnevor, Harbert Growth Partners, Tao Capital Partners, Revolution Growth, SJF Ventures and Arborview Capital. More here.

Weglot, a six-year-old, Paris, France-based SaaS start-up that says it turns any website into a multilingual one, has raised $50 million in Series A funding from Partech. TechCrunch has more here.

Activ Surgical, a 7.5-year-old, Boston-based digital surgery imaging startup, has tacked on $15 million in extended Series B funding led by Hikma Ventures. The round originally closed last October with $45 million led by Cota Capital. More here.

Flock Homes, a two-year-old, Denver, Co.-based startup that converts individual rental properties into fully passive, diversified shares in a pool of houses, has raised $26 million in funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, joined by 1Sharpe Ventures and Human Capital, along with earlier backers Susa Ventures, Primary Venture Partners and BoxGroup. TechCrunch has more here.

HeyJobs, a six-year-old, Berlin, Germany-based recruiting startup that says it helps employers hire at scale, has raised $47 million in Series B funding. Digital+ and FMZ Ventures co-led the round, joined by earlier investors Notion Capital, Heartcore Capital and Creathor Ventures. Tech.eu has more here.

Kargo, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based supply chain visibility startup, has raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Sozo Ventures, with participation from Founders Fund, Activant Capital, Human Capital, Strike Capital, Lineage Ventures and Flexport. VentureBeat has more here.

Kayrros, a six-year-old, Paris-based climate analytics and modeling startup that sells its findings to both global energy market participants (both companies and governments), has raised €40 million in funding from French Tech Souveraineté, EIB, NewSpace Capital and Opera Tech Ventures. EU Startups has more here.

MaxSold, a 12-year-old, White Plains, New York-based online auction company that specializes in cataloging and selling estate sale items, has raised $11.1 million in Series B funding led by Framework Venture Partners, with participation from Canadian Business Growth Fund. More here.

Nucleus Security, a four-year-old, Sarasota, Fl.-based vulnerability management and process automation company, has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Lead Edge Capital, with added participation from Arthur Ventures. SiliconAngle has more here.

Ocelot Bio, a two-year-old. San Diego-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on end-stage liver disease therapeutics, has raised $36 million in Series A funding led by RA Capital Management, Venrock, and Vivo Capital. FierceBiotech has more here.

Podimetrics, an 11-year-old, Somerville, Ma.-based company that makes an FDA-cleared "SmartMat" to help with early detection of foot health issues and prevention of foot ulcers and worse, has raised $45 million in Series C funding led by D1 Capital Partners. MedCity News has more here.

Simetrik, a five-year-old, Bogota, Colombia-based payment infrastructure startup, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by FinTech Collective, with participation from Tiger Global and Moore Strategic Ventures, along with earlier backers, including Cometa. TechCrunch has more here.

Unleash, a three-year-old Oslo, Norway-based open-source feature management platform, has raised $14 million in Series A funding. Spark Capital led the round, joined by Frontline Ventures, firstminute capital, Alliance Venture and Arkwright X. VentureBeat has more here.

Bower, a seven-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based app that rewards people with money or coupons when they recycle, raised $4.7 million in seed funding led by the Swedish investment firm blq Invest, with added participation from Almi Invest GreenTech, Verdane Foundation, Orkla Ventures, and others. EU Startups has more here.

BriteCo, a five-year-old, Chicago-based jewelry and watch insurance startup, has raised $9 million in Series A funding led by Brand Foundry Ventures, with participation from Western Technology Investment and Hyde Park Angels. More here.

Della, a four-year-old, London-based legal tech startup focused on legal review, raised $2.5 million in seed funding from Pragmatech Ventures, and individual investors. Tech.eu has more here.

Fairwords, an eight-year-old, Longmont, Co.-based maker of AI-powered communications software that proactively trains employees (not to get your company in trouble) as they type, has raised $5.25 million in Series A funding led by Fintop Capital. More here.

Kwik, a nearly four-year-old, Lagos, Nigeria-based outfit whose last-mile delivery service connects businesses of different sizes to independent delivery riders, has raised $2 million in Series A funding led by XBTO Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Native Pet, a five-year-old, St. Louis, Mo.-based pet nutrition company that makes what it describes as all-natural and "limited ingredient" pet supplements for dogs, has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by CAVU Venture Partners, with participation from Mars’ Companion Fund and Selva Ventures. More here.

Swaypay, a 10-month-old, Chicago-based startup that links creators with advertisers for in-video product placement, quietly raised $4.2 million back in November co-led by Anthemis and BBG Ventures, says The Information. Other participants included Tribe Capital, Not Boring Capital and Nikki Bogopolskaya, the brand partnership lead at TikTok. 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!

To help provide blockchain startups with early-stage funding, a former partner at Polychain Capital is launching a $125 million fund called dao5. In an interview with Decrypt, Tekin Salimi said dao5 will become a fully founder-owned DAO by 2025 because he believes it will take three years to fully invest about $40 million annually. (Note: this is worth reading if you want insight into one way venture funds could evolve.) 

Markd, a new, Boulder, Co.-based insurtech venture firm, says it has closed a $100 million debut fund that will be used to fund early- and growth-stage insurance startups. Anchor investors in Fund 1 include Markd founder and managing partner Parker Beauchamp and an undisclosed industry partner. Beauchamp has also run a digital insurance company, Inguard, for the last 10 years. More here.

UC Berkeley SkyDeck, a Berkeley, Ca.-based startup accelerator, has closed on $60 million in capital commitments for a new fund focused on founders from the UC system no matter where they live. To date, in fact, the organization says it has helped founders in more than 30 countries and from seven of the nine University of California schools raise more than $1.7 billion in funding. More here.

Publicly traded Bay Area software giant Autodesk will acquire The Wild, a five-year-old, Portland, Ore.-based startup that helps more than 700 customers across architecture, engineering, construction, and other industries work and collaborate in virtual and augmented reality. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Wild raised little more than $3 million in funding, per Crunchbase data. GeekWire has a bit more here.

Netflix said today that it is buying Boss Fight Entertainment, a small independent video game studio based in Allen, Texas, as the video streaming company pushes further into the lucrative video game market. The acquisition of Boss Fight, a mobile game developer with 130 employees, is Netflix’s third studio purchase since it set its sights on the gaming industry last summer. The New York Times has more here.

Ola, India's ride-hail giant, says it has reached an agreement to acquire Avail Finance, a financial services startup that serves so-called blue-collar workers, as it looks to expand its financial services offerings. Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed. Avail Finance had raised about $38.5 million (including about $4.5 million in venture debt) across multiple rounds. TechCrunch has more here.

SoftBank Group is reportedly seeking a valuation of at least $60 billion for Arm when the business goes public, a higher amount than it would have gotten from its failed sale of the chip designer to Nvidia. As a reminder, SoftBank acquired the business in 2016 for about $32 billion. Bloomberg has more here.

Bill Gates is reportedly tearing down a $43 million San Diego estate to build a bachelor pad, and his neighbors aren't happy.

Google execs facing a barrage of criticism from employees on issues related to compensation, reportedly defended the company’s competitiveness at a recent all-hands meeting, while acknowledging that performance reviews could change. Internal survey results have shown a growing number of staffers don’t view their pay packages as fair or competitive with what they could make elsewhere.

Former WeWork co-CEO and CFO Artie Minson is joining the cannabis wholesale platform LeafLink as its first ever president and COO. More here.

DCM, the global early-stage venture capital firm, has a rare opening for an associate -- a potentially partner track role. (The firm says that many of its most senior investment professionals began their careers as associates at DCM.) Per what we were sent by DCM: "West coast time-zone preferred; slight preference for candidates in close proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area, though also open to candidates with established networks in other locations." Candidates must be authorized to work in the U.S. Send an email and any relevant information about yourself to dcheng@dcm.com.

While the recently issued coins for the Bored Apes NFT collection have captured widespread attention, a throwback offshoot of the second-largest digital token -- Ethereum Classic -- has been surging even more in value. Bloomberg takes a look here.

Former TikTok moderators are suing over the emotional toll of "extremely disturbing" videos. NPR has more here.

How a sloppy extortion gang became one of the world's most prolific hacking groups. In Vice.

A new Apple patent describes AirPods you don't put in your ears.

Humans will never go to Mars, according to Neil deGrasse Tyson.

How balloons blew up.

Why empty nesters are upsizing.

"Remove cat before flight."

A kitesurfing retreat in the Maldives hosted by a two-time world champion. 🌊

Tiger irons.