Musk takes a seat, Fast runs out of runway, and the U.S. looks to ban all new investment in Russia

The U.S. and the EU are set to unveil new sanctions on Russia this week, after allegations from Ukraine of potential war crimes against civilians by Russian forces galvanized a push for tougher measures against the Kremlin. Meanwhile, the U.S. plans tomorrow to announce a new package of sanctions that would include a ban on all new investment in Russia, according to the WSJ.

After becoming Twitter’s largest shareholder, Elon Musk is joining the social media company’s board of directors. The company announced the appointment today; yesterday, Musk revealed he has bought a 9.2% stake in the social media giant. Later in the day, Musk refiled the disclosure of his stake in Twitter to classify himself as an active investor, a filing that indicates Musk plans to take an active role in shaping Twitter’s agenda.

If you had invested $10,000 in Renaissance Technologies’ Medallion fund in 1988, you could’ve cashed out in 2018 with a cool $200,000,000. Medallion’s secret sauce? It’s run by computer scientists and mathematicians, not slick-talking Wall Street suits. But unless you are a PHD-caliber Python coder, quant investing has been out of your reach … until now. Composer lets you easily drag, drop, and swap your own rules-based strategies - no engineering degree required. So stop investing with your gut and start power-trading today. *See important disclosures.

Base10, a venture firm founded only four years ago, just closed its third fund with $460 million in capital commitments. Because cofounder Ade Ajao -- originally from Spain -- is half Nigerian, the new fund makes Base10 -- which now has $1.3 billion in assets under management -- the world’s largest Black-led venture capital fund, it says.

While that's notable, far more interesting to us is how Ajao and firm cofounder TJ Nahigian are using that distinction to their advantage without making diversity an express part of their own investing mandate. Indeed, the firm says it is -- and has always been -- solely concerned with backing startups that help automate "real economy" sectors, like food, retail, logistics, and fintech. More, it says by simply focusing on good companies and not approaching teams with a kind of 'ideal' founder profile in mind, it naturally finds its way into strong startups with very diverse teams.

Maybe so. Something about its approach appears to be working certainly. Some of the bets Base10 has made include the Brazilian fintech company Nubank, which went public late last year. (Ajao wrote it an early personal check but says Base10 was formed too late to invest in the outfit until it was already a growth-stage business.) Base10 is also an investor in such buzzy startups as Notion (now valued at $10 billion), Figma (valued at $10 billion), FTX (valued at $32 billion), and Handshake (valued at $3.5 billion) to name just a handful of its 79 portfolio companies to date.

We talked yesterday with Ajao, who helped cofound the Madrid-based ride-share company Cabify before jumping into VC via Workday Ventures. We wanted to better understand how he and Nahigian -- also an investor and former entrepreneur -- built what they have in such a short period, and how conditions are impacting their outlook.

Doug Leone of Sequoia suggested recently that startups should be prepared that some of the money that has been sloshing around is going to dry up as market turmoil knocks the confidence of investors. In the meantime, we're already starting to see layoffs, down rounds, implosions. How are you thinking about this moment in time?

If you look at the amount of money raised by venture capital and recorded in the last eight quarters -- I think it hit a record amount every quarter -- that money has to go somewhere. The other thing I will say is that for the last two years, basically every LP has seen record amounts of cash distributions from venture capital funds.

I'm no macro economist. I don't know if we're about to enter into a recession. I just think back 10 or 11 years ago when I was fundraising [for Cabify] on Sand Hill Road, and it is day and night [compared with today]. I mean, like 10 years ago, if you were doing a company in Spain or doing a company in Colombia, like, good luck. And Nigeria? I mean, that was crazy talk. 

More here.

Built Robotics, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based outfit that upgrades off-the-shelf heavy equipment with AI guidance systems, has raised $64 million in Series C funding led by Tiger Global. More here.

Climeworks, a 12-year-old, Zurich, Switzerland-based carbon removal startup that says it operates the world’s largest direct-air capture plant in Iceland, where trapped CO₂ is injected deep underground and stored permanently, has raised $650 million co-led by Partners Group and GIC. Other investors in the round include Baillie Gifford, Carbon Removal Partners, Global Founders Capital, John Doerr, M&G, Swiss Re and BigPoint Holding. Bloomberg has more here.

Coro, an eight-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based cyber security platform, has raised $60 million in Series C funding led by Balderton Capital, with participation from earlier investor Jerusalem Venture Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Data.World, a 6.5-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based company that says its cloud-native data catalog maps your siloed, distributed data to familiar and consistent business concepts, creating a unified body of knowledge anyone can find, understand, and use, has raised $50 million in Series C funding led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The outfit has now raised $132 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Remote, a three-year-old, San Francisco-headquartered startup whose platform aims to help its customers hire distributed employees, then ensure they are remunerated easily and legally, has raised $300 million in Series C funding. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the round, joined by earlier backers Accel, Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, General Catalyst, 9Yards, Adams Street and Base Growth. TechCrunch has more here.

VerSe Innovation, the 15-year--old, Bangalore, India-based parent firm of news aggregator app Dailyhunt and short-video app Josh, said today it has raised $805 million in Series J(!) funding. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board led the round. Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Luxor Capital, and Sumeru Ventures, along with earlier backers Sofina Group and Baillie Gifford, also participated. TechCrunch has more here.

Amplemarket, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based maker of sales software, has raised $12 million in Series A funding co-led by Comcast Ventures and Armilar Venture Partners. Other backers in the round included Flexport and Caixa Capital. More here.

Boba Network, a 16-month-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based Ethereum Layer 2 scaling project, has raised $45 million in Series A funding. Participants included Dreamers VC (Will Smith, Keisuke Honda), M13, and industry players, including Quantstamp, Origin Protocol, The Graph, Crypto.com, and many others. The Block has more here.

Conversica, a 15-year-old, Foster City, Ca.-based maker of conversational AI software for enterprise revenue teams, has raised $25 million in funding from investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital. More here.

Eleos Health, a two-year-old, Boston- and Tel Aviv, Israel-based voice Ai startup that voice AI says it operates in the background of mental health clinician-patient conversations to capture and interpret in-session themes and moments and generate post-session clinical progress notes and insurance coding, has raised $20 million in Series A funding. F-Prime Capital and Eight Roads Ventures co-led the round, joined by earlier backers aMoon Fund, lool ventures, and Arkin Holdings. The company has now raised $28 million altogether. More here.

Endel, a four-year-old, Berlin-based outfit that creates soundscapes that it says help people relax, focus, and sleep better, has raised $15 million in Series B funding co-led by Waverley Capital and True Ventures. More here.

RenoFi, a three-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based technology home renovation loan platform, has raised $14 million in Series A funding led by earlier backer Canaan Partners, with participation from Nyca Partners and CMFG Ventures. Technical.ly has more here.

Tinybird, a three-year-old, New York-based startup that say it helps developers and data teams build data products over analytical data, at any scale, just raised $37 million in Series A funding co-led by CRV and Singular Ventures, with participation from Crane Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Thunkable, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based no-code mobile app development platform, has raised $30 million in Series B funding. Owl Ventures led the round, joined by DJ and investor Diplo, Sky9 Capital and earlier backers Lightspeed Venture Partners, NEA, and PJC, among others. More here.

Warp, a nearly two-year-old, New York-based developer productivity startup, has so far raised $23 million in funding, it said today, including via a $17 million Series A round that was led by Figma co-founder and CEO Dylan Field. Other backers of the company include Elad Gil, Time Ventures, and Next Play Ventures. SiliconAngle has more here.

8base, a five-year-old, Miami, Fla.-based low-code dev platform, has raised $10.6 million in Series A funding led by Foundry Group. Other backers in the round included MongoDB Ventures, Techstars, and Firebrand Ventures, among others. SiliconAngle has more here.

Dayslice, a 20-month-old, San Francisco-based software startup providing virtual storefronts for 'solopreneurs,' has raised $6 million in pre-seed and seed funding led by Upfront Ventures. Other investors included Founder Collective, Ground Up Ventures, The House Fund and former Stripe COO Claire Hughes Johnson. The Information has more here.

Playhouse, a 17-month-old, Bay Area-based company that's trying to make the act of surfing real estate more social, including via TikTok-like videos about active real estate listings, has raised $2.8 million in seed funding. Backers in the round include Agya Ventures, Gaingels, Goodwater Capital, Nomo Ventures, PKO Investments, and Y Combinator. TechCrunch has more here.

Rattle, a 17-month-old, San Francisco-based company whose revenue orchestration platform aims to help enterprise reps lead more predictable sales cycles, has raised $26 million in Series A round. Insight Partners led the round, joined by GV and earlier investors Sequoia Capital India and Lightspeed India Partners. Forbes has more here.

Tappp, a nine-year-old, New York-based outfit that recently expanded and built the technology and infrastructure to allow viewers to bet on sporting events via televisions and streaming platforms, has raised $10 million in funding co-led by Accomplice and Verance Capital, with participation from Boston Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca among others. Forbes has more here.

Venture capitalist and political strategist Bradley Tusk hosts Firewall, a twice-weekly podcast covering the intersection of tech and politics. Check out our recent episode with journalist, Sebastian Mallaby on his latest book 'The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future,' where he and Bradley discuss the early days of venture capital and how it's transformed over the years.

Fast, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that develops one-click checkout software for online merchants, is shutting down entirely and will discontinue its products and brand, according to The Information. It reported yesterday that the company was in desperate need of a buyer. Notes the outlet, it's a "stunning collapse for a fintech company that had raised $120 million in funding from backers including payments giant Stripe, Index Ventures and Lee Fixel’s Addition." Reportedly, the company was spending aggressively on hiring -- LinkedIn shows 666 employees (an inauspicious number if ever there was one) -- while having generated revenue of just $600,000 last year. More here.

FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange, today announced it has entered into an agreement to make a strategic investment in IEX Group, run by the people at the center of the Michael Lewis book, Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt. In 2016, IEX became a U.S. regulated national stock exchange amid grumbling that divided Wall Street. Coindesk has more here.

Niantic, the AR juggernaut, is growing yet again. The Pokemon Go maker is acquiring NZXR, a New Zealand-based AR game development team. NZXR joins a list of recent Niantic purchases that includes 8th Wall, Lowkey, Hoss and Scaniverse. Niantic hasn’t disclosed the price for any of these deals. The Information has more here.

Farfetch is taking a stake in Neiman Marcus Group as part of a broader strategic partnership that will see Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus join the Farfetch platform. Farfetch said it will make a minority common equity investment of up to $200 million in NMG, joining existing investors including PIMCO, Davidson Kempner Capital Management and Sixth Street. The arrangement will start with the “replatforming” of NMG’s Bergdorf Goodman website and app, using Farfetch’s technology to update and expand the New York retailer’s global reach. Meanwhile, both Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus will join Farfetch's online marketplace, adding brands in key markets. WWD has the story here.

JetBlue Airways has offered to buy budget carrier Spirit Airlines for $3.6 billion, potentially spoiling a competing bid by rival Frontier Group and reshaping the landscape for ultra-low-cost air travel. The surprise development comes about two months after Frontier reached an agreement to buy Spirit for $2.9 billion. Bloomberg has more here.

GB Agboola, the CEO of Flutterwave -- which is currently the most highly valued private tech startup in Africa -- is being accused by a former employee of harassment and bullying. TechCrunch has more here.

David Baszucki, the boss of Roblox, received a pay package that the videogame company valued at $233 million last year, instantly putting him in the ranks of the country’s top-paid chief executives, per new regulatory filings. The WSJ has the story here.

Morgan Cheatham has been promoted to vice president at Bessemer Venture Partners. Cheatham, who studied neuroeconomics at Brown, previously worked at Goldman Sachs in the consumer retail and halthcare group of its investment banking division. He joined Bessemer in 2017.

Jason Kilar, the chief executive of WarnerMedia who led one of the most radical overhauls in the entertainment industry, told staff he plans to exit his post Friday. The WSJ has more here.

Only about a third of the workday is spent doing what we were actually hired to do, according to a new survey by business software maker Asana. 

Apparently it wasn't just an April Fools' joke. Twitter confirmed today that it is indeed working on an edit button.

Coast to coast: Uber just partnered with the San Francisco taxi drivers it originally set out to disrupt.

The future of NFTs lies with the courts.

Some AI researchers now believe that the sound of your voice might be the key to understanding your mental state, but concerns around such tech range from privacy to black box algorithms that work in ways that even the developers themselves can’t fully explain.

Why we're all forgetting things right now.

What was it about Michael Douglas?

The remarkable brain of a hyperpolyglot.

Netflix actually added a short-ass movie section. (Thank you, Pete Davidson.)

It took 12 years, but this is finally finished. According to Robb Report, it's the second-tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, at a neck-breaking 1,427 feet tall. (Let hope its elevators work!)