Convoy's haul, Afterparty's party round, and Musk's filings suggest he's serious about that 'buying Twitter' idea

Former President Barack Obama today called for greater regulatory oversight of the country’s social media giants, saying their power to curate the information that people consume has “turbocharged” political polarization and threatened the pillars of democracy across the globe. “So much of the conversation around disinformation is focused on what people post," he said in a speech at Stanford University earlier. "The bigger issue is what content these platforms promote.”

Elon Musk said in an SEC filing today that he has -- no kidding -- lined up funding for a $46.5 billion to fund his bid for Twitter, including loans from investment bank Morgan Stanley and other banks, worth $13 billion and $12.5 billion, respectively. The third source is described as an equity commitment of $21 billion from Musk himself. He also said today in a filing that he's considering taking his offer straight to Twitter shareholders, bypassing a board that appears dug in.

U.S. administration officials said today they believe the next month will shape the war’s outcome, with long-lasting consequences for Europe. “In another month, I anticipate exhaustion on both sides without a military decision/outcome either way,” a retired former commander of U.S. Special Operations forces in Europe tells the New York Times. “A stalemate means Putin wins, and if Putin ‘wins’ we are in for a rough ride.”

Is this the hottest market on earth? The global wealth of billionaires has soared by $5 trillion since the pandemic and they know what they want: art and more art. With some works selling for 15x the asking price, you can see why many billionaires allocate 10% to 30% of their portfolios to art. We’ve strategically aligned with Masterworks, a revolutionary start-up, unlocking this $65 billion dollar market for you. And it gets better. The company is giving StrictlyVC readers this special offer. (See important Regulation A disclosures.)

When the Vietnam-based outfit behind the crypto game “Axie Infinity” was hacked last month — hackers stole upwards of $625 million in Ethereum from its blockchain, with the FBI now pointing fingers at a North Korean state-sponsored group as the culprit — questions quickly arose around who, exactly, would make the company’s customers whole.

The outfit later said it would use its own balance sheet funds, along with an injection of $150 million in capital led by Binance, to make up the difference, but the episode, along with a newer lawsuitlodged earlier this month again three venture investors in the crypto token exchange Uniswap, has raised questions about who is protected against what in a more decentralized world where companies are building atop blockchains like Ethereum and Solana.

Turns out, there aren’t a lot of answers — or products — right now. (Sorry, everyone.)

In some ways, it wouldn’t require a complete reinvention of what’s available today. Venture firms, and individual VCs have long used insurance products to protect themselves from lawsuits that could be filed against them by an unhappy portfolio company or its unhappy customers; colleagues who might sue for harassment or discrimination or wrongful termination; and even from their own limited partners, who may sour on the firm.

The good news for these investors, say insurance experts, is that modern-day coverage is substantial enough in most cases that it should protect them no matter what they are funding.

Meanwhile, startups — which also shell out for plenty of coverage, including to protect their directors and officers and to bolster them against wire fraud and cybercrime — are in a much tougher spot. “I do think more of the unique needs around coverage are going to fall to the portfolio companies,” says John Wallace, the chief insurance officer of the venture-backed startup Vouch and a veteran of traditional firms like Travelers and Zurich Insurance Group.

Wallace points, as an example, to current crime policies that cover startups for the theft of money and securities and that was largely designed to protect companies against embezzlement and cyber fraud, including a third-party actor trying to steal from the company (as in the case of “Axie Infinity”).

The problem, he explains, is that the policies “very specifically do not include digital assets, meaning if the hackers had gotten in and stolen cash [from “Axie”], it would have been squarely covered by a crime policy.” Since they didn’t, it wasn’t.

More here.

Convoy, the seven-year-old, Seattle-based trucking marketplace, has raised $160 million in Series E funding at a post-money valuation of $3.8 billion led by Scottish fund manager Baillie Gifford and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates. It also secured a $100 million venture-debt investment from Hercules Capital and a new, $150 million line of credit from J.P. Morgan. Forbes has more here.

Creative Juice, a 16-month-old, Bay Area-based financial startup that is lending money to digital creators in exchange for a cut of their revenue, has secured $50 million in funding toward that effort from the bank HCGFunds. TechCrunch has more here.

Treez, a six-year-old, Oakland, Ca.-based enterprise cloud platform for the cannabis market, has raised $51 million in Series C funding led by Long Ridge Equity Partners. The company has now raised $79 million in funding to date. More here.

Upside Foods, the seven-year-old, Berkeley, Ca.-based company that makes lab-grown meat and was formerly known as Memphis Meats, has privately raised $400 million from investors including the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund and Baillie Gifford. Like a growing number of outfits, it's still trying to gain regulatory approval to sell these products, including beef, pork and duck, to consumers. The WSJ has more here.

Flipside Crypto, a five-year-old, Boston-based blockchain analytics startup, has raised $50 million in funding led by Republic Capital, with participation from True Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Terra, Dapper Labs, M13 and Blockchain Coinvestors. The Boston Globe has more here.

Instabox, an eight-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based outfit that describes itself as a service that lets “select online partners” receive deliveries at its smart boxes seven days a week., has raised $160 million in fresh funding led by Verdane, with participation from Creades and EQT Ventures. Pymnts has more here. 

Octant, a nearly five-year-old, Emeryville, Ca.-based programmable biology and chemistry startup, has raised $80 million in Series B funding. Catalio Capital Management led the round, joined by Bristol Myers Squibb, Andreessen Horowitz, Allen & Co. and 50 Years VC. More here.

Satellite Bio, a three-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based developer of implantable tissue treatments to (hopefully) replace damaged organs, has raised $110 million in seed and Series A funding. aMoon is its lead investor; others of its backers include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Polaris Partners, Section 32, Catalio Capital Management and Waterman Ventures. FierceBiotech has more here

Falkbuilt, a three-year-old, Calgary, Alberta-based interior construction manufacturing company construction tech company that uses prefabricated products, has raised $27.7 million in funding led by Stephens Capital Partners and earlier investor RET Ventures. More here.

Financepeer, a five-year-old, Mumbai, India-based peer-to-peer lending platform that offers loans to students to pay school and college tuition, has raised $31 million in funding co-led by QED Investors and Aavishkaar Capital. The Economic Times has more here.

Fresco, a 10-year-old, Bay Area based cross-brand platform that helps connect the apps and appliances of brands like Bosch, Electrolux, GE Appliances, has raised $20 million in Series B funding. Instant Brands, Vorwerk and MetaLab co-led the round, joined by Act VC, Alpha Edison, Alsop Louie Partners and Morpheus Ventures. The Spoon has more here.

Glide, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based no-code software development platform that says it helps its customers build data-driven apps and websites, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Benchmark, with participation from earlier backers Y Combinator, First Round, SV Angel and strategic angels. Benchmark's Miles Grimshaw has also joined the board of the company -- the first he has backed since joining the firm. TechCrunch has more here.

Greenly, a three-year-old, Paris-based provider of carbon emissions tracking and reduction solutions for SMEs, raised $22 million in Series A funding co-led by Energy Impact Partners and Xange. VentureBeat has more here.

Jarvis ML, a year-old, Cupertino, Ca.-based personalization engine for brands, has raised $16 million in seed funding led by Dell Technologies Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Mendel, a six-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based startup that uses artificial intelligence to clean unstructured clinical data, has raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Oak HC/FT, with participation from earlier backer DCM. MobiHealth News has more here.

Tulu, a three-year-old, New York-based startup that provides on-demand rentals of home products and household items and also offers micro-bodega style self-serve shops, has raised $20 million in Series A funding. New Era Capital Partners led the round,joined by Robert Bosch VC, Kärcher New Venture and Round Hill Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Vaayu, a 16-month-old, Berlin, Germany-based carbon tracking platform for retailers, has raised $11.5 million in seed funding led by Atomico, with participation from Seven Seven Six and earlier backer CapitalT. TechCrunch has more here.

Zubale, a four-year-old, Mexico City-based marketplace that matches gig workers with e-commerce fulfillment work, has raised $40 million in Series A funding. QED Investors led, and was joined by GFC, Felicis Ventures, NFX and Maya Capital. Pymnts has more here.

Afterparty, a year-old, L.A.-based NFT platform that's focused on creative festivals, artist events, and deeper artist-fan connections, has raised $4 million in funding that brings its total capital raised to date to $7 million. More than 25 entrepreneurs, creators, and VCs participated in the round, including Paris Hilton, Spencer Rascoff (Zillow), and Jason Calacanis (The Syndicate). More here.

Perfect Venue, a year-old, San Francisco-based maker of private event management software for restaurants and venues, has raised $3.6 million in seed funding led by Defy Partners. Other backers in the round include Amity Ventures, Context Ventures, Caviar cofounder Shawn Tsao, Dutchie cofounder Sam Ellis, and Meritech cofounder Paul Madera. TechCrunch has more here.

Aisti, a nearly three-year-old, Jyväskylä, Finland-based building materials startup developing recyclable wood-fiber tiles, has raised €1.6 million in seed funding led by Maki.vc. Axios has more here.

Bach, a two-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based group travel planning app, has raised $8 million in seed funding led by Corazon Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Carbon Upcycling Tech, an eight-year-old, Calgary, Alberta-based developer of a CO2-embedded cement and concrete additive, just raised $4.7 million in funding led by Clean Energy Ventures. Other backers in the round included CEMEX Ventures, Amplify Capital and Oxy Low Carbon Ventures. Axios has more here.

Freshflow, a year-old, Berlin, Germany-based startup whose forecasting platform aims to help retailers optimize stock replenishment of fresh, perishable goods like fruit, vegetables, and meat, has raised €1.7 million in seed funding co-led by Capnamic and World Fund. TechCrunch has more here.

Hedge, a four-year-old, New York-bsaed lending protocol on the Solana blockchain co-run by a former product manager at Google, has raised $3.7 million in seed funding. Race Capital led the round, joined by Pantera Capital, Solana Ventures, ShimaCapital and DCM. Coindesk has more here.

Influur, a two-year-old, Miami-based,  invite-only marketplace that connects influencers with brands, has raised $5 million in seed funding led by Point72 Ventures. Tubefilter has more here.

MadEats, 1.5-year-old, Philippines-based Y Combinator alum that claims to be the first “‘full-stack’ delivery-only startup in the country, with its own virtual storefront, ghost kitchens and fleet of drivers, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding led by JAM Fund, Crystal Towers Capital, Starling Ventures, MAIN and Rebel Fund. TechCrunch has more here.

MetaLend, a six-month-old, Santa Monica, Ca.-based web3 banking startup, has raised $5 million in seed funding led by Pantera Capital. Decrypt has more here.

Ordinary Folk, a two-year-old, Singapore-based telehealth startup focused on sexual and mental wellness, has raised $5 million in pre-Series A funding from Monk's Hill Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Privy, an eight-month-old, New York-based web3 user data security startup whose founder was previously a research scientist with Protocol Labs, has raised $8.3 million in seed funding co-led by BlueYard Capital and Sequoia Capital. VentureBeat has more here.

SoundMint, a two-year-old, Chicago-based music collectibles NFT startup, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding. Animoca Brands led the round, and was joined by Castle Island Ventures, Focus Labs, Sfermion, Sky Vision, Tess Capital and Goodwater Capital. 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 Aakash Kumar, the founder and CEO of Shiftsmart, who believes "fractionalizing" work can repair the broken labor market.

Amazon said today it has launched a new $1 billion venture capital fund to invest in logistics, fulfillment and supply-chain technology. Start-ups backed by the new fund (it has made a handful of investments already) include Modjoul, a company developing wearable safety technology that issues alerts and recommendations aimed at reducing injuries. CNBC has more here.

Ahead of Earth Day, Cycle Capital, a clean-tech venture firm in Montréal, and Demeter, a European investment platform dedicated to ecological transition, say they've held first close on €150 million in capital commitments for a new, joint vehicle dubbed the Circular Innovation Fund. Anchor investor L’Oréal is contributing €50 million through its L’Oréal for the Future sustainability program. BetaKit has more here.

WndrCo, the six-year-old, L.A.- and Bay Area-based firm cofounded by media mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, is looking to raise up to $450 million for its second fund, per an SEC filing. The outfit had closed its debut fund with $600 million in 2017. Dot. LA has more here.

Afield but too remarkable not to include: the CNN+ streaming service is shutting down just one month(!) after launching. (Please, lord, let someone else pick up this series.)

SoftBank Group expects to retain a controlling stake in Arm after the planned IPO of the chip business, selling a smaller portion than originally expected, according to Bloomberg's sources. One of those sources says SoftBank has decided that selling a smaller portion of Arm now, given the current slump in chip stocks, provides the opportunity to get a higher valuation for the remainder later. More here.

Plaid cofounder William Hockey and his wife, Annie Hockey, a former Bain consultant, have launched a fintech backed up by a bank they acquired for $50 million so they wouldn't have to rely on someone else's banking charter, as do the vast majority of fintechs (including Plaid). TechCrunch has more here. TechCrunch has more here.

Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg is now facing “internal scrutiny” at the company after pressuring U.K. tabloid the Daily Mail to kill a story about her former boyfriend, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. The revelations come in an explosive new report from the WSJ detailing a coordinated campaign to discourage the tabloid from publishing the story, pulling resources from both Activision Blizzard and Meta. TechCrunch has more here.

A major industrial conglomerate has resorted to buying washing machines and tearing out the semiconductors inside for use in its own chip modules, says the CEO of a company central to the chipmaking supply chain.

ApeCoin and the death of staking.

The inside story of The Simpsons' remarkable second life.

A look at the rise(?) of finfluencers.

Megablock, when you want nuke a tweet.

Paul Allen’s 414-foot superyacht Octopus will be available for charter in Antarctica this winter.

A spruced-up Sag Harbor cottage hits the market.

Raise your next round with SeedInvest, and plug into a network of over 600,000 accredited and retail investors. A few could become your next big brand evangelists. More than 250 founders across SaaS, healthtech, CPG, and more have found fundraising success on SeedInvest. Find out if your company has what it takes to raise a community round. Submit your deck and connect with our team.