Hi, everyone! Happy Tuesday. We’re looking forward to seeing some of you tonight at an email newsletter discussion in San Francisco that features StrictlyVC, NextDraft, Nuzzel, and Inside.com. We’re also running off to a demo day in the city this morning; see some of you there, too, we hope.:)

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Top News in the A.M.

Verizon is reportedly planning to submit a second-round bid of about $3 billion for Yahoo core internet business. The WSJ has more here.

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A Startup That Pays Cash for Startups Now Offers a Money-Back Guarantee

Opendoor, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based startup is a swing-for-the fences type of bet during a time when the most ambitious startups are suddenly less fashionable than they once were.

That’s not crimping the company’s style. In fact, Opendoor, which is on a mission to make it simple to buy and sell houses online, just added another layer of uncertainty onto its big-risk, big-reward model.

The roughly 100-employee company currently buys homes sight unseen when a home seller visits its site, asks for a quote, and accepts Opendoor’s bid, which the company comes up with based on public market information about historical home sales and its own proprietary data about market conditions. (The company says its offers are typically one to three points below what the seller might fetch on the open market roughly three months into the future. That’s the average time required to sell a home in the U.S., it says.)

Starting today, it’s making two more bold promises. First, it will buy back a home if the new owner is unhappy with it. Specifically, if someone changes his or her mind for any reason, that person has 30 days to receive a full refund. More, Opendoor will provide each new buyer with a 180-point inspection report on the condition of their new home; if anything breaks in the first two years, it will fix it.

“We stand behind our homes,” says Eric Wu, CEO and co-founder of Opendoor. “Unlike a typical seller who is trying to hide information from [the seller], we’re fully transparent because we want our customers to be happy.”

Wu, who previously sold a startup to the real estate portal Trulia, cofounded Opendoor in March 2014 with three others: operator-investor Keith Rabois; Ian Wong, who formerly led data science at Square; and JD Ross, who oversaw product at the investment management platform Addepar.

Their plan from the outset was to use technology to flip homes, an idea that has garnered roughly $110 million from investors, including its biggest shareholder, Khosla Ventures.

Wu says Opendoor has also raised “hundreds of millions of dollars” in debt in order to carry the homes on its balance sheet while it works toward re-selling them.

In an interview yesterday, Wu declined to say how many homes have so far been bought or sold using the platform. But he did say that OpenDoor typically buys 10 houses a day across the two markets in which it’s currently operating: Phoenix and Dallas.

More here.

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New Fundings

Bunker, a year-old, San Francisco-based insurance technology startup, has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Comcast Ventures and Route 66 Ventures, with participation from insurance carriers Hiscox and American Family Ventures. More here.

Convercent, a 3.5-year-old, Denver-based company that makes enterprise compliance management software, has raised $11 million in Series C funding led by Tola Capital, with participation from Sapphire Ventures and other existing investors. More here.

CrowdFlower, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based company whose platform enables users to create large-scale datasets for machine learning and data categorization, has raised $10 million in Series D funding led by Microsoft, with participation from Canvas Ventures and Trinity Ventures. The company has now raised a total of $38 million, according to CrunchBase. TechCrunch has more here.

DocPlanner, a 4.5-year-old, Warsaw-based online booking platform for healthcare appointments, has raised $20 million in Series C funding led by Target Global. Part of the round is being used to merge with the Spain-based company Doctoralia. TechCrunch has more here.

Greycork, a two-year-old, Providence, R.I.-based furniture brand whose products can ostensibly assembled and disassembled in less than 10 minutes, has raised $1 million in seed funding led by ff Venture Capital. BostInno hasmore here.

Helpshift, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based mobile help desk that helps software companies build a chat bridge between their mobile apps users and their customer service teams, has raised $23 million from Microsoft and Salesforce, along with previous investors Intel Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, True Ventures and Visionnaire Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Hibob, a year-old, London-based startup whose cloud platform helps companies manage employee perks, staff engagement, and employee enrollment in retirement savings plans, has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from LocalGlobe and Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder and CEO of TransferWise. TechCrunch has more here.

iContainers, a nine-year-old, Barcelona, Spain-based freight forwarding company that provides online ocean and air quotes and bookings, has raised $6.7 million in new funding led by Serena Capital. The company has now raised $9 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Instabug, a three-year-old, Gizah, Egypt-based mobile bug app reporting service, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding led by Accel Partners, with participation from Cloudera cofounder Amr Awadallah and MoPub founder Jim Payne. TechCrunch has more here.

Jiff, a five-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based enterprise health benefits platform, has raised $17.7 million in Series C funding from undisclosed backers. Earlier investors in the company include GE Ventures, Venrock, Ooga Labs, Rosemark Capital, Aeris Capital and Aberdare Partners. More here.

Moogsoft, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based company that makes real-time IT operations analytics software, has raised $30 million in Series C funding from Northgate Capital, Singapore Technologies Telemedia, SingTel Innov8, Cisco, Redpoint Ventures, Wing Venture Capital and HCL Technologies. More here.

SMS Assist, a 21-year-old, Chicago-based company that makes property management software, has raised $150 million in Series D funding from Goldman Sachs Investment Partners with participation from earlier backers Insight Venture Partners and Pritzker Group Venture Capital. More here.

Zimperium, a nearly six-year-old,  San Francisco-based mobile threat management platform, has raised $25 million in Series C funding led byWarburg Pincus, with participation from earlier investors Sierra Ventures, Telstra Ventures, and Lazarus Israel Opportunities Fund. More here.

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New Funds

Initialized Capital, a nearly three-year-old, New York-based venture firm that was founded by former YC partner Gary Tan, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, and Triblebyte cofounder and CEO Harjeet Taggar, is raising up to $100 million for its third fund, shows an SEC filing that also lists Alina Libova (and does not list Taggar). Libova is a former Facebook engineer who has been working as an investor with a Palo Alto-based investment group called the Tamares Group.

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Exits

Media company E.W. Scripps is continuing its push into podcasting, buying Stitcher for $4.5 million in cash. Scripps purchased Stitcher from Deezer, the French streaming company that acquired the service in 2014. A WSJ source characterizes the transaction as a small “acquihire.” Before its acquisition by Deezer, Stitcher had raised about $25 million in funding. More here.

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People

Troy Carter has confirmed yesterday’s report from Hits Daily Double that he’s now going to work for Spotify as Global Head of Creator Services. Carter is best known for being Lady Gaga’s longtime manager; his hire is seemingly designed to compete with the star power of Jimmy Iovine at Apple and Jay Z at Tidal.

Four Cisco execs who created some of the company’s biggest hit products are resigning over an apparent disagreement with a recent reorganization. The WSJ has the story here.

Twitter is replacing its head of product again. Recode has the story here.

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Essential Reads

Now Facebook wants to dominate the video game streaming business. More here.

Bendable phone screens may be coming.

Behind the scenes of the Code conference, where “billionaires dream of space while the media looks to the stars.”

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Detours

Muhammad Ali at the ballgame.

A poor man’s “Game of Thrones” intro.

One way to get better at witty comebacks.

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Retail Therapy

This is what a $40 million Caribbean beach house looks like.

Hi, good Monday morning, everyone! No column today.

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Top News in the A.M.

French tax authorities are seeking roughly $400 million in unpaid taxes from Booking.com, a unit of Priceline Group. It’s the latest multinational to be investigated in France’s widening crackdown on tax avoidance.

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Top News in the A.M.

Bitauto Holdings, a 16-year-old, Beijing, China-based publicly traded company that operates a giant car marketplace, as well as invests in transportation startups, has raised $300 million from Baidu, Tencent Holdings, and JD.com, each of which is investing $50 million in the company. The company is also issuing up to $150 million in convertible bonds to PA Grand Opportunity Limited. TechCrunch has more here.

Cloudability, a five-year-old, Portland, Ore.-based maker of cloud cost management software, has raised $24 million in Series B funding led by Foundry Group. The company has now raised $40 million altogether, including from Techstars, 500 Startups, Trinity Ventures and First Round Capital.More here.

EarlySense, a 12-year-old, Israel-based startup that’s developing an electronic device for remote monitoring and follow-up of patients, has raised $25 million in Series G funding led by Bank Hapoalim, with participation from earlier backers Pitango Venture Capital and JK&B Capital. GeekTime has more here.

goPuff, a three-year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based on-demand convenience store delivery service, has raised $5 million in venture funding, led by existing investor Anthos Capital. The company has now raised $8.25 million altogether.

Metamason, a three-year-old, L.A.-based healthcare-focused 3D scanning and 3D printing company, has raised $3 million in seed funding from 3P Equity Partners, a manufacturing-focused private equity firm in San Jose, Ca.; and Tsing Capital, a cleantech venture capital firm in China. The round also included unnamed angel investors. More here.

Qadium, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based company that continuously scans servers, routers, CCTV cameras, power plant control systems and any other device connecting to the public internet, then reports back vulnerabilities to customers before malicious hackers get there first, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by New Enterprise Associates. Forbes has more here.

Recharge, a year-old, San Francisco-based company whose app enables users to book a stay in a hotel for just 67 cents a minute, or $40 an hour, has closed on $2.3 million in seed funding. Binary Capital led the round, with participation from Floodgate, entrepreneur Rick Marini, Eniac VC, Expansion VC, entrepreneur-investor Scott Banister and early Google engineer Harry Cheung. More here.

Vedanta Biosciences, a six-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based company that’s developing a new class of therapies designed to modulate the human microbiome, has raised $50 million in new funding from Rock Springs Capital, Invesco Asset Management, Health For Life Capital (Seventure) and PureTech. Xconomy has more here.

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New Funds

New York-based ff Venture Capital, which recently raised $54 million for its fourth fund, is looking to raise up to $150 million for its first opportunity fund, shows an SEC filing. The idea is to invest in roughly 15 of the best-performing companies in the firm’s existing portfolio of roughly 85 companies.

It is Friday, and not a moment too soon! Hope you have a terrific weekend, everyone; see you Monday.:)

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Top News in the A.M.

Walmart and Sam’s Club will begin testing last-mile grocery delivery that uses services including Uber, Lyft and Deliv, to bring customers’ orders to their homes. More here.

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Talking Brazil with Accel’s Kevin Efrusy

As you might have noticed, things aren’t going so well in Brazil. Its economy shrank 5.4 percent in the first quarter, according to government figures released Wednesday. Its president, Dilma Rousseff, was temporarily suspended by a congressional impeachment vote. Brazil is also home to much of the outbreak of the dreaded Zika virus, which has a growing number of people wondering whether it’s worth attending — as well as competing in — the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. (A U.S. cyclist withdrew yesterday, out of concern for his pregnant wife.)

We couldn’t help but wonder what kind of impact Brazil’s endlessly troubling developments are having on the country’s startups, which seem to fall in and out of fashion with the season. To get some sense of what’s happening, we caught up with Kevin Efrusy, a partner at Accel Partners who once lived temporarily in Rio to help steer the firm into the right investments and who still commutes to the country regularly. Our chat has been edited for length and clarity.

Accel has been investing in Brazil for several years, along with Kaszek Ventures and Redpoint e.Ventures and Monashees Capital and Atomico. Is there a nervousness right now among you given all of the macro stuff going on in Brazil?

The companies down there are doing remarkably well. Our portfolio companies are growing between 70 and 200 percent annually. I know it sounds strange, but the tech and macroeconomic cycles are pretty uncoupled. Adoption of smart phones, digitization of the economy, adoption of the cloud — they’re all in their early stages in Brazil and have a long way to go there. So as bad as the economy is, no one is saying, “Hey, let’s go back to banking on our laptops instead of our phones.” These [trends] don’t decline in a recession.

For years, investors and you in particular have said that VCs have to play the long game to win in Brazil. How many years behind the U.S. do you think the country is right now in terms of tech adoption?

Seven to nine years, which is why these companies are growing so well.

But certainly, they aren’t immune to what’s happening around them.

The macro does affect them in several ways. One is fundraising. It definitely scares foreign or less sophisticated investors, which makes it hard for startups to raise follow-on financing. And the valuations they command [is] lower. The third and most important factor is currency [the Brazilian real]. From the peak of the boom to the trough about five or six months ago, the currency went from 2 [reais] to the dollar to 4.2 [reais], so these companies were doing well and enjoying phenomenal growth, but in U.S. dollars, [their revenue] felt anemic. The currency is now trading at 3.6 [reais per each dollar], so it has strengthened. But when your currency in weakening, growth appears less dramatic.

On the flip slide, when things get better, it’s like a rocket boost.

What do you think outsiders misunderstand the most about Brazil?

The important thing is knowing this [macro] stuff happens. If anyone thought they’d go to Brazil or any emerging market and rifle shot a great company as an investment strategy, they were sorely mistaken.

More here.

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New Fundings

DemandJump, a year-old, Indianapolis, In.-based startup that makes predictive intelligence marketing software, has raised $1.8 million in seed funding from 4G Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, along with numerous individual investors. The Indianpolis Business Journal has more here.

Glassdoor, a nine-year-old, Mill Valley, Ca.-based site that helps people look for jobs and research companies that interest them, has raised $40 million in Series H funding. The financing values the company at around $1 billion, according to CEO Robert Hohman, and it was led by T. Rowe Price, with participation from previous investors Battery Ventures, Google Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures and Tiger Global Management. TechCrunch has more here.

InFlectis BioScience, a three-year-old, Nantes, France-based drug discovery company, has raised €6 million ($6.8 million) in Series A Funding co-led by CM-CIC Innovation and Remiges Ventures, with participation from earlier backers Go Capital and Participations Besancon. More here.

Nomadd, a two-year-old, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia-based startup developing a smart and ecological desert solar panel cleaning system, has raised $1 million in Series A funding from The Kaust (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) Innovation Fund. FinSMEs has more here.

Qumulo, a four-year-old, Seattle, Wa.-based company that’s developing enterprise data storage systems, has raised $32.5 million in Series C funding  from new investors Allen & Company, Top Tier Capital Partners, and Tyche Partners. Earlier backers Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers,Madrona Venture Group, Highland Capital Partners, and Valhalla Partners also joined the round. The company has now raised $100 million altogether. GeekWire has more here.

Udemy, a six-year-old,San Francisco, Ca.-based marketplace for learning and teaching online, has raised $60 million in fresh funding from Naspers Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Vyze, an eight-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based company whose software enables retailers and manufacturers to offer their customers real-time financing options at the point of sale, has raised $13 million in Series B funding led by Austin Ventures and StarVest Partners, two firms that had previously invested $15 million in the company. AustinInno has more here.

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New Funds

Greenspring Associates, a 16-year-old, Owings Mills, Md.-based investment firm, has closed its second secondary fund with $200 million. Greenspring Secondaries Fund II, L.P., is expected to invest in venture capital funds as well as in growth-stage companies, on a secondary basis. Baltimore Business Journal has more here.

Moneta Ventures, a two-year-old, Folsom, Ca.-based micro VC fund that focuses largely on nascent tech startups in and around Sacramento, has raised $25 million for its second fund, which is targeting $30 million. The firm closed its debut fund with $25 million early last year. TechCrunch has more here.

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IPOs

Blue Coat, the cybersecurity company acquired by Bain Capital from Thoma Bravo just over a year ago, filed for IPO yesterday. Fortune has more here.

Impinj, a 16-year-old. Seattle-based RFID tech company, has also filed for an IPO. This is the company’s second attempt to go public. The Seattle Times has more here.

NantHealth, a biomolecular medicine company that bets on big data in the growing field of personalized health care, started trading on Nasdaq yesterday, and things are going pretty well so far. The shares opened at $14; they’re trading right now at $18.46.

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Exits

Snapchat has acquired 3D photo app maker Seene (also known as Obvious Engineering) a couple of months ago, says TechCrunch. Seene lets users capture 3D models from their phone with a simple smartphone camera. Snapchat could use Seene’s format for a brand new category of selfie lenses, a new 3D photo format, and potentially for future virtual reality projects, says TechCrunch. According to AngelList, Seene had raised $600,000 from Knight Foundation, Kima Ventures, EC1 Capital, OREFA, and numerous individual investors. More here.

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People

B Capital Group’s Eduardo Saverin (who you may remember for cofounding Facebook) says there are still plenty of opportunities for venture-capital investment in Southeast Asia, despite a financing boom to the region. [Video.]

Speaking of Facebook, its board has proposed removing Mark Zuckerberg’s majority voting control in the event that he decides to exit management at some point in future. Fortune has the story.

The other figure who’s trying to kill Gawker Media.

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Essential Reads

Another online subscription e-tailer looks to brick-and-mortar stores to fuel its growth. This time it’s Birchbox.

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Detours

Cavs meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Interior Monologue for the Twenty-Four Minutes My Phone Was Dead on the Bus Ride Home.

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Retail Therapy

We wanted flying cars. Instead behold the Foldimate.

Hi, everyone, happy Thursday!

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Top News in the A.M.

The payday loan industry could soon be gutted by a set of rules that federal regulators plan to unveil today. More here.

Snapchat just passed Twitter in terms of daily active users, says Bloomberg. More here.

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TheSkimm Lands $8 Million in Series B Funding Led by 21st Century Fox

Newsletter startup theSkimm has raised $8 million in Series B funding from what looks to be a very strategic investor: 21st Century Fox, which was joined by earlier backers RRE Ventures, Homebrew and Greycroft Partners.

If you’re wondering what a newsletter might have in common with a global TV and film giant, the answer centers on theSkimm’s ambitions.

To date, the four-year-old, New York-based outfit has been steadily building up its readership of largely female millennials. In fact, at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York last month, theSkimm co-founders (and former NBC producers) Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin told the audience that the newsletter now has 3.5 million subscribers worldwide.

Those readers are getting theSkimm’s content — akin to a CliffsNotes of important news events — at no cost. To generate revenue, the 20-person company says it makes money through product endorsements and native advertising, both of which it says it’s transparent about.

It also hopes to make money through a new calendar service that asks subscribers to pay $2.99 a month to be kept abreast of happenings from social events to new feature releases on Netflix. (Launched recently, Weisberg and Zakin aren’t talking yet about how many people have signed up for a subscription.)

More here.

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New Fundings

AccuraGen, a three-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based liquid biopsy startup, has raised $40 million in Series B funding from Junson Capital, Temasek investments, DT Capital, Stanford-StartX Fund, and Nan Fung Capital. Earlier investors Decheng Capital, Denlux Capital, Yifang Group Holdings, and WS Investment also joined the round. More here.

Blued, a four-year-old, China-based gay social networking mobile app, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series C funding from Ventech and Vision Knight Capital in a financing that reportedly values the company at more than $300 million. China Money Network has more here.

Digit, a year-old, San Francisco-based company whose software monitors cash flow into a user’s checking account and diverts small amounts into savings (users can save more or less via text message prompts), has raised $22.5 million in Series B funding led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from earlier backers Baseline Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, and GV. The company has now raised $36 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Droom, a two-year-old, Gurgaon, India-based online marketplace for secondhand vehicles, has reportedly raised between $25 million and $30 million in Series B funding from Beenext and Digital Garage, with participation from earlier backers Lightbox and Beenos Partners. The round closed with a post-money valuation of more than $200 million, says TechCrunch. More here.

EarlySense, a 12-year-old, Ramat Gan, Israel-based company that makes continuous monitoring tech that supports remote patient monitoring, has raised $25 million in Series G funding led by Israel’s largest bank, Bank Hapoalim. Other participants in the round include Pitango Venture Capital, JK&B Capital and other previous (unnamed) investors. MedCity News has more here.

LinkBee, a year-old, New York-based stealthy IoT hardware startup, has raised $6 million in seed funding co-led by Pegasus Capital Advisors and Loeb Enterprises. More here.

Luxury Garage Sale, a 5.5-year-old, Chicago-based upscale consignment service, has raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Data Point Capital, with participation from Chicago Ventures, Hyde Park Angels, Pallasite Ventures and individual angels. More here.

Notion, a three-year-old, Denver-based connected home startup, has raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by XL Innovation, with participation from Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures. The company has now raised $5.7 million dollars altogether. More here.

RubiconMD, a three-year-old, New York-based online medical consulting platform for primary care providers, has raised $4 million in Series A funding led by Waterline Ventures, with participation from Dioko Health Ventures and Alma Mundi Fund. More here.

Tile, a 3.5-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based company that makes a bluetooth tracking device and app to enable users to find valuable items, like their keys or phone, has raised $18 million in new funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from earlier backers GGV Capital, Khosla Ventures, Tandem and Tencent Holdings. TechCrunch has more here.

Tenjin, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based mobile marketing infrastructure company, has raised a fresh $2.5 million in funding led by NetEase Capital, the venture arm of the NASDAQ-listed Chinese Internet company NetEase, with participation from angel investors Herman Yang and Waikit Lau. More here.

Uber, the seven-year-old, San Francisco-based ride-sharing giant, has raised a fresh $3.5 billion from Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s main investment fund; the capital is part of its latest investment round and the largest to date for Uber. It brings the total amount of both cash and debt that the company has raised to date to more than $11 billion. Reportedly, its valuation of $62.5 billion remains unchanged. More here.

uSens, a three-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based company that’s developing hand-and-head tracking technologies for augmented and virtual reality, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Fosun Kinzon Capital. More here.

Verto Analytics, a three-year-old, New York and Helsinki-based audience measurement company, has raised $16.1 million in Series B funding led by EQT Ventures,  with participation from Vision+, Finnish Industry Investment, and earlier backers Conor Venture Partners and Open Ocean Capital. The company has now raised $23.9 million altogether.

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Exits

On-demand auto-rickshaw aggregator Jugnoo, based in Chandigarh, India, has acquired fellow Indian startup SubKuchFresh for an undisclosed amount to strengthen its recently launched grocery delivery service, Fatafat. SabKuchFresh is an online fruits and vegetables marketplace with ties to more than 100 farmers. LiveMint has more here.

The publicly traded oftware services provider ServiceNow has agreed to acquire BrightPoint Security, a San Mateo, Ca.-based cyberthreat intelligence platform, for an undisclosed amount. BrightPoint had raised more than $8 million in funding, shows CrunchBase. Its backers include Aligned Partners, EMC Ventures, and Founder Collective, among others.

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People

Ifty Ahmed, a former general partner at Oak Investment Partners, was indicted yesterday for engaging in a separate scheme to embezzle $54 million from Oak. Ahmed had already fled the U.S. last year after being hit with criminal insider trading charges. Now prosecutors say Ahmed, 44, also submitting false invoices, overstated prices of business deals he orchestrated, and set up fraudulent bank accounts over the course of roughly a decade in order to buy a $9.6 million residence in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a luxury New York condo for about $8.6 million. Much more here.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich was planning to hold a fund-raiser for Donald Trump tonight night at his Atherton, Ca. The company abruptly canceled that event, though. More here.

In a conference appearance last night, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he doesn’t think Google will compete with it on self-driving cars, but that Apple might.

Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, said yesterday at the Code conference that Peter Thiel will remain on the company’s board of directors despite the controversy surrounding his involvement in a lawsuit against Gawker. More here.

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Essential Reads

The National Labor Relations Board complaint lodged against Google and Nest recently by a former Nest employee has raised the prospect that tech firms could be forced to change confidentiality rules to allow employees to talk publicly about working conditions. The employee says he was fired for uploading memes about Nest CEO Tony Fadell on a private Facebook group. Meanwhile, Google’s Data Classification Guidelines prohibit employees from discussing with outsiders anything that happens at the company, which labor attorneys say could be illegal. The Information has the story here. (Sub. required.)

Didi, China’s biggest ride-hailing company — and the recent recipient of a $1 billion investment from Apple — says it books four times the number of daily rides as the entire U.S. market. And it’s just reaching a tiny slice of Chinese consumers.

China is stepping up its investment in Hollywood.

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Detours

How to earn $250 an hour in the gig economy.

How good are you at recognizing familiar faces?

Light Rider.

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Retail Therapy

Man bun in Carson shirt.

Hi, all, happy Wednesday!

Just a mention that we’ve been hard hit by a virus that’s winding its way around San Francisco right now. We’re also single parenting for a few days, a combination that led us to this site by yesterday evening. (Truthfully, we would have had that beer either way.) If you’ve emailed and we’ve gone dark on you in recent days, now you know why.:)

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Top News in the A.M.

Tragedy at UCLA‘s engineering complex today.

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Clear Ventures, Run by Veteran Investors, Closes $120 Million Debut Fund

With institutional investors being approached regularly for fresh capital from the venture firms with which they work, it’s harder than ever for a new fund to secure the commitments it needs to get off the ground.

There is one major exception to the rule, however: institutional investors are much more willing to consider a new fund with known investors who’ve established a record of working together successfully.

That’s largely why serial entrepreneur and longtime angel investor Rajeev Madhavan, and Christopher Rust, formerly of Sequoia Capital and U.S. Venture Partners, decided long ago to start backing more deals together. They were laying the groundwork for Clear Ventures, a new firm that is today announcing a $120 million debut fund.

Indeed, Rust says that while he and Madhavan –who have known each other since 1998 — began fundraising in earnest about six months ago, the duo began collaborating back in January 2014 “to lay out a plan to prove to ourselves –and later, for others – that we have a strong team synergy and do great work together and align on strategy.”

With blowups by other teams that have less experience in working together, you can see why.

Clear Ventures already has eight companies in its portfolio, including six that the two invested in together as angel investors and have since folded into Clear’s portfolio. Some of those companies include Swift Navigation, a San Francisco-based company at work on an ultra-precise GPS technology; Vera, a Palo Alto-based cyber security company; Paysa, a Palo Alto-based online career platform; and Robin Systems, an infrastructure software company in San Jose.

More here.

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New Fundings

Cognical, a four-year-old, New York-based company that uses its own algorithms to produce a lease-to-own payment option for in-store and online shopping, has raised $12.5 million in Series B funding led by Victory Park Capital, with participation from earlier backers Blumberg Capital and Tribeca Venture Partners. More here.

Mediachain, a months-old, New York-based digital media startup that’s using blockchain to create a global rights database, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures, with participation from RRE Ventures, Digital Currency Group, LDV Capital, and numerous angel investors. CoinDesk has more here.

SevenFifty, a four-year-old, New York-based online platform working to make it easier for retailers to see what distributors have to offer, has raised $8.5 million in Series A funding led by Formation 8, with participation from Pritzker Group Venture Capital and others. TechCrunch has more here.

Signals, a seven-year-old, Netanya, Israel-based big data and business intelligence platform, has raised $10 million in Series B funding led by Israel-based Qumra Capital, with participation from earlier backers Sequoia Capital and TPY Capital. GeekTime has more here.

Vendini, a 15-year-old, San Francisco-based ticketing business, has raised its first outside capital via a $20 million investment from the New York-based private equity firm Level Equity. More here.

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New Fundings

Singapore-based Jungle Ventures, a venture that launched a $100 million fund last year, has a new initiative focused on seed-stage investments in the region. TechCrunch has more here.

Romulus Capital, an eight-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based seed-stage venture firm, has raised $75 million for its third, and largest, fund. General partners Neil Chheda and Krishna Gupta plan to invest in between 15 and 20 companies with the capital. TechCrunch has more here.

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Exits

Salesforce is spending $2.8 billion to acquire Demandware, a cloud-based provider of e-commerce services to businesses big and small that went public in 2012. More here.

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People

Amazon honcho Jeff Bezos insists that Amazon isn’t trying to kill UPS.

Bezos also says that Alexa could be the fourth financial pillar of Amazon.

The Gates Foundation is trying to stop Zika by giving mosquitos a sexually transmitted disease.

Speaking of the Gateses, Bill Gates has landed a few new billionaires for his “Giving Pledge.” The latest to sign up includes Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff; the three cofounders of Airbnb (Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk); Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal; and Intuit founder Scott Cook.

First Round Capital founder Josh Kopelman will succeed Gerry Lenfest as chairman of Philadelphia Media Network, which operates the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com. More here.

Six years ago, Google backed out of China, but Google CEO Sundar Pichai now says, “We want to be in China serving Chinese users.”

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Essential Reads

Banking star turned VC Mary Meeker just gave her annual internet trends presentation at Recode’s Code conference this morning; here are the slides and some analysis to boot.

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Detours

Can anyone save the New York Times from itself?

Oops. A kid just broke a $15,000 Lego statue one hour after an exhibit opened in Ningbo, China.

Instagram secrets of the “sexiest doctor” alive. (What? There are useful tips in here, people.)

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Retail Therapy

The life-size Pong table you never knew you needed.

Hi, everyone, welcome back from what we hope was a wonderful long weekend!

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Top News in the A.M.

Facebook and Twitter just pledged to remove hate speech within 24 hours. CNN has more here.

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New Fundings

AutoFi, a year-old, San Francisco-based company that makes point-of-sale software for the auto industry, has raised $17 million in new funding led by Crosslink Capital, with participation from Lerer Hippeau Ventures. More here.

Codoon, a 5.5-year-old, China-based sports and wellness service startup that integrates mobile apps with wearables, has raised $50 million in fresh funding led by a new sports investment fund co-established by Focus Media and FountainVest Partners. Earlier backers SIG and SBCVC also joined the round. China Money Network has more here.

Lalamove, a three-year-old, Hong Kong-based last-minute, intra-city delivery technology company, has raised $10 million in new funding led by earlier backer MindWorks, with participation from Thailand’s Asia Plus and other previous backers Crystal Stream (in China), AppWorks (Taiwan), and Aria Group (Hong Kong). TechCrunch has more here.

Mosaicoon, a six-year-old, Palermo, Italy-based company whose software tackles end-to-end management of video campaigns, has raised €8 million ($8.9 million) in Series B funding from undisclosed investors. Tech.eu has more here.

Robin, a two-year-old, Boston-based company whose software helps offices organize, track, and monitor their spaces, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by FirstMark Capital, with participation from earlier backers Accomplice, Boldstart Ventures, FundFire, Space Pirates, and Mike Germano (he’s the chief digital officer of Vice Media). TechCrunch has more here.

Twiggle, a two-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based search technology company centered around e-commerce, is reportedly raising between $5 million and $10 million from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Bloomberg has more here.

Tynker, a four-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based computing platform that creates apps and curricula that teach kids the basics of coding,  has raised $7.1 million in Series A funding led by Krishna Bharat, the Google researcher who created Google News. Other participants include Cervin Ventures, Felicis Ventures, New Ground Ventures, Reach Capital, and Relay Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

WalkMe, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that sells a cloud-based service to help marketing professionals engage prospects and complete online tasks, quietly raised $50 million in Series E funding in March, reports GeekTime(which doesn’t name backers). WalkMe, which has now raised roughly $92 million altogether, previously raised money from Greenspring Associates, Scale Venture Partners and Gemini Israel Ventures.

Whill, a four-year-old, Tokyo, Japan-based startup that’s focused on building better wheelchairs and mobility devices, has raised $17.5 million in Series B funding led by Eight Road Ventures, with participation from Mirai Creation Investment and Golden Asia Fund II. TechCrunch has more here.

WinView, an eight-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based company that lets users compete in games that run at the same time as sports games, has raised $3.4 million in new funding led by two individual investors: Tom Rogers, chairman of TiVo and the former head of NBC’s cable division, and Hank Ratner, the vice chairman of Cablevision and the former chief of the Madison Square Garden Company. WinView has now raised $6.5 million altogether. Dealbook has more here.

Zoox, a two-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based autonomous-driving startup in Silicon Valley that’s been intentionally flying under the radar, is seeking to raise as much as $252 million in funding, according to an SEC filing flagged by Bloomberg. If the fundraising is successful, the investment could give Zoox a valuation of more than $1 billion, according to an analysis by the venture-capital research firm VC Experts. More here.

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New Funds

5AM Ventures, a 14-year-old life sciences-focused venture firm, is looking to raise up to $285 million for its fifth fund, shows an SEC filing. The firm closed its fourth fund with $250 million in 2013.

Chrysalix Venture Capital, a Canadian venture firm focused on alternative energy opportunities, has partnered with the Dutch robotics commercialization center RoboValley to create a new €100 million ($111 million) fund focused on robotics. More here.

Indie.VC, an offshoot of O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures that focuses on companies’ cashflow and sustainability instead of traditional VC-like milestones, has raised its first dedicated fund for startups and plans to write initial checks of between $100,000 and $500,000 in each. The WSJ has more here.

Yesterday, Microsoft quietly unveiled Microsoft Ventures, a new arm that will focus on “Series A and beyond” investments in North America and Israel, with the first investments to be revealed in the coming weeks. Much more here.

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IPOs

Japanese messaging app operator Line is expected to launch a road show for its planned $2 billion to $3 billion IPO in New York and Tokyo on June 10. More here.

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Exits

Marketo, the 11-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based marketing software giant that went public in 2013, is being taken private again. The private equity firm Vista Equity Partners has acquired the company for $1.79 billion in an all-cash deal. More here.

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People

You already know people have complained about their Tesla Model X vehicles, saying their windows won’t shut and the doors have a mind of their own. This guy is taking things a step further and suing Tesla.

Y Combinator is moving forward with its so-called Basic Income Project. It just hired a PhD to lead its efforts, and it’s launching a short-term pilot program in Oakland. More here.

Far out. Tomorrow, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is planning to host Facebook Live’s first earth-to-space call with three astronauts who are currently in orbit on board the International Space Station. More here.

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Data

According to a new study on mobile app usage, about one in four mobile users only use an app they’ve installed one time. More here.

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Essential Reads

Inside Uber‘s auto lease machine, where almost anyone can get a car.

Jawbone, the San Francisco-based consumer tech device maker, is seeking to sell off its  wireless speaker business and focus exclusively on wearables. Fortune has more here.

A group of computer scientists has released a paper describing numerous security vulnerabilities in a novel cryptocurrency crowdfunding project known as D.A.O. that has raised more than $100 million. Dealbook has more here.

Motion sickness for VR users isn’t going away any time soon — if ever — says someone who has worked in the field for several decades.

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Detours

The top 10 metro areas for newly minted college graduates. (Surprise twist: California isn’t home to one of them.)

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Retail Therapy

A new, old-school record console, replete with pull-out minbar. We think Don Draper would approve.