India passes stiff crypto tax laws, Yuri Milner goes on the defensive, and a "dangerous" new personality type?

FRIDAY. 🎉 Thanks for reading; hope you have a terrific weekend.

Before we go, we leave you with the newest StrictlyVC Download, featuring Jim Breyer, the billionaire founder and CEO of Breyer Capital, which invests around the world and whose most recent bets include SandboxAQ, the newly independent quantum company that emerged this week from Alphabet. We talked with Breyer about his growing interest in so-called quantum sensing; we also discussed blockchains; what innovations he's seeing in healthcare; and the challenge right now of investing in China, where he has many business interests. We enjoyed talking with him (our last deep dive was in 2017); we think you'll enjoy hearing from him, too.

Special thanks to this week's podcast sponsor, Daloopa, an AI-driven investment data platform that says it covers every KPI across hundreds of software and growth industries. Download Daloopa's top 10 software industry comp sheet right here.

Sequoia Capital China is in early talks with U.S.-based and other institutional investors to raise more than $8 billion across four new funds, according to The Information. The outlet notes that the firm is "trying to pull off one of the biggest fundraisings in the history of Chinese venture capital despite a global tech stock rout and domestic regulatory actions that hit Chinese public and private companies particularly hard." 

But institutional investors in the U.S. and elsewhere might also hesitate to commit to the funds if China moves to further cement its ties with Russia, given Russia's attack on Ukraine --  a war that could potentially spill into other countries. For right now, at least, U.S. government officials are hoping for the best, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen saying today she does not believe the U.S. should impose sanctions on China. “I don’t think that that’s necessary or appropriate,” she told CNBC. “Senior administration officials are talking privately and quietly with China to make sure that they understand our position . . . We would be very concerned if they were to supply weapons to Russia, or to try to evade the sanctions that we’ve put in place on the Russian financial system and the central bank,” she said. “We don’t see that happening at this point.”

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Firstbase, a nearly three-year-old, New York-based remote infrastructure for teams company, has raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from earlier backers Andreessen Horowitz, Alpaca VC, and Forum Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Mohalla, a seven-year-old, Bangalore, India-based social media company whose products include ShareChat and Moj, is reportedly in talks with Temasek and Times Internet to raise at least $200 million in new funding at a $5 billion valuation. Bloomberg has the story here. 

Bigblue, a four-year-old, Paris-based order fulfillment platform for D2C brands, has raised $15 million in Series A funding. Runa Capital led the round, joined by LPV and earlier backer Samaipata. TechCrunch has more here.

Captain, a year-old, Walnut, Ca.-based fintech platform for rebuilding homes after natural disasters, has raised $4 million in seed funding from investors including NFX, GGV Capital, and Red Swan. TechCrunch has more here.

Clear Skye, a seven-year-old, Emeryville, Ca.-based identity governance and security startup, has raised $14 million in Series A funding. Storm Ventures and Toba Capital co-led the round, joined by Point Field Partners and Inner Loop Capital.  VentureBeat has more here. 

MixMode, a three-year-old, Santa Barbara, Ca.-based predictive cybersecurity platform, has raised $45 million in Series B funding led by PSG and was joined by Entrada Ventures. SecurityWeek has more here. 

Nalagenetics, a six-year-old, Singapore-based genetic testing solutions company, raised $12.6 million in Series A funding. Intudo Ventures and Vulcan Capital co-led the round, joined by Diagnostics Development Hub. Tech in Asia has more here.

Triple Whale, a year-old, Columbus, Oh.-based app used by e-commerce businesses to track profits, LTV and more, has raised $27.7 million in extended Series A funding. Elephant VC contributed $24 million, with NFX joining the round with a $2.7 million investment and angel investor Shaan Puri contributing another $1 million. and NFX. More here.

Avnio, a two-year-old, London-based RFP and pre-sales automation software, has raised £3 million in seed funding led by Felicis Ventures. UKTN has more here.

Colabs, a three-year-old, Lahore, Pakistan-based flexible workspace startup, has raised $3 million in seed funding led by Indus Valley Capital, Zayn Capital, and Fatima Gobi Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Quinsite, a five-year-old, Chapel Hill, N.C.-based healthcare data analytics startup, has raised $2.5 million in new seed funding. Jeff Clark, regional investor who is also the chair of the company’s board of directors, led the round. More here.

Ride1Up, a four-year-old, San Diego-based electric bike maker, has raised $6.5 million in Series A funding led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund. Axios has more here.

Radish Health, a three-year-old, New York-based concierge healthcare platform providing primary care services to municipal governments and midsize businesses, has raised $4 million in seed funding led by Tusk Venture Partners. Other participants in the round include MaC Venture Capital, Global Founders Capital, and The Fund. More here.

SparkMeter, a 10-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based grid management startup,  has raised $10 million from Accurant International, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Clean Energy Ventures. Axios has more here. 

WeLoveNoCode, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based marketplace that aims to match companies needing "no-code" development work with the talent for the job in exchange for a flat, monthly fee, has raised $3 million in funding led by Mantis Venture Capital. Other investors in the round include Liquid2, CapitalX, and Abe Burns, a former Sound Ventures partner. More here.

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

Watch out Fifth Wall? Tishman Speyer, the New York-based developer, owner, operator and asset manager of first-class real estate, has raised $100 million in commitments for its first proptech venture capital fund -- a fund that is targeting $150 million in capital commitments and is anchored by the National Pension Service of Korea and Investment Management Corporation of Ontario. The effort is not an entirely new one, suggests the firm. Since 2017,  it has invested in 19 emerging proptech companies, including OpenSpace, VTS, Agora, Monograph and Blank Street. Real Estate Weekly has more here.

In Geekwire: "Leen Kawas, the Seattle biotech exec who resigned as CEO of Athira Pharma after an investigation found she had altered doctoral research images that helped to form the initial basis for the company, [has] re-emerged as co-founder and managing general partner of a new investment firm called Propel Bio Partners LP. Co-founded with Richard Kayne, a prominent Los Angeles-based asset manager who was an early Athira investor, Propel Bio Partners also has support from several other Athira investors. Among them: John Fluke Jr., who remains on Athira’s board as the publicly traded company pursues therapies for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease." Propel Bio is seeking to looking to raise up to $150 million for its debut fund, per an SEC filing. More here.

SoftBank is finalizing loans worth as much as $10 billion from banks -- including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group -- ahead of a planned blockbuster IPO of chip designer Arm Holdings, reports the Financial Times. The loans, which will be secured against Arm, were a pre-condition set by SoftBank for the banks to participate in the stock offering that is aiming to happen before the end of March next year, according to the outlet's sources.

A venture capital fund backed by sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich appears to be trying to wipe any trace of its operations since he was sanctioned by the United Kingdom and European Union as the Kremlin wages war on Ukraine, observes CNBC. Impulse VC, an investment fund that has offices in Russia and Germany, has wiped nearly every part of their website that identifies who they are. Its website now shows only the name “Impulse.”

As with Matt Damon and Crypto.com, David Beckham just joined the ranks of celebs turned "brand ambassador" for a crypto outfit. His particular tie-up is with DigitalBits Blockchain, an open-source blockchain. Coindesk has more here.

The most wealthiest Russian in the U.S., Yuri Milner, talked with Bloomberg for hours over Zoom for a story that ran earlier this week and outlines how Milner built his fortune, beginning with Kremlin-connected sources. Milner told the outlet, "I cannot go back and change history," and "I cannot change the fact I was born in Russia. I cannot change the fact we had some Russian funds.” But Milner is still on the defensive, going so far as to tweet out a "fact sheet" yesterday. More here.

Behind the scenes, the IPO playbook is changing.

Google is taking away its bidets, and (some) employees are furious.

The Parliament of India passed a controversial tax proposal today, sparking uproar and disappointment among those in the country's crypto industry, who will have to begin paying a tax of 30% on crypto transactions beginning one week from now.

Ukraine’s government is raising funds by selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on a timeline of Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country. Ukraine Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov announced the collection’s launch on Twitter, writing that “while Russia uses tanks to destroy Ukraine, we rely on revolutionary blockchain tech.” All sales funds will go to the Ministry of Digital Transformation to support the “army and civilians” of Ukraine.

"You're grounded." Security cams and smart apps are killing teenage house parties.

Scientists reveal new ‘most dangerous’ personality type. (And it sounds like a lot of VCs we know. Just kidding! Half-kidding.)

When New York City was a wiretapper's dream.

Subnado, the "world's lightest and smallest underwater scooter," it would have you believe.