The U.S. Senate today passed a bill to renew the National Security Agency’s warrantless internet surveillance program for six years with minimal changes, overcoming objections from civil liberties advocates that it undermines the privacy of Americans.

Uber’s big SoftBank deal has officially closed.

Today’s StrictlyVC is sponsored by Siftery Track. As a reader, get free early access to track and easily optimize your team’s software expenditures. Simply sync your credit card or accounting system, and Siftery Track will automatically create beautiful visualizations of your historic and forecasted spend. You’ll also get alerts for new products, duplicate charges, unexpected increases in spend, and more.

Apartment List, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based online rental marketplace for renters and landlords, has raised $50 million in Series C funding led by Passport Capital, with participation from Allen & Company, Canaan Partners, Industry Ventures, Matrix Partners, Quantum Partners, Tenaya Capital, and WTI. TechCrunch has more here.

Babblabs, a year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based speech processing startup, has raised $4 million in seed funding led by Cognite Ventures. More here.

Baffle, a two-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based data encryption company, has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Envision Ventures, with participation fromServiceNow Ventures, Thomvest Ventures, Industry Ventures and earlier investors True Ventures and Engineering Capital. SiliconAngle has more here.

Birch Finance, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that helps its users earn credit card reward points more effectively, has raised a $1 million seed round from AGP Miami, former Ebates CEO Kevin Johnson, and Alienware founder Frank Azor. TechCrunch has more here.

C3 IoT, a seven-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based AI and IoT software platform provider for digital transformation, has raised $100 million in funding. Investors include TPG Growth, Breyer Capital, Sutter Hill, Pat House, and founderThomas Siebel, and The Rise Fund. Business Insider has more here.

CareDox, a seven-year-old, New York-based pediatric healthcare startup focused on bridging the gap between K-12 schools, parents, and medical professionals (it engages parents about broader health events, for example, and makes sure they’re atop their kids’ immunizations), has raised $16 million in Series B funding. AI Life Sciences Investments and 7wire Ventures led the round, with participation from Digitalis, Prolog Ventures, StartUp Health, and Wanxiang Healthcare Investments. More here.

Carmot Therapeutics, a nine-year-old, San Francisco-based developer of a Type 2 diabetes drug, has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by Horizon Ventures, with participation from The Column Group. FierceBiotech has more here.

Centerity, a 12-year-old, Newton, Ma.-based company that sells performance analytics and business services management, has raised $10 million from Merlin International. More here.

Clover, a four-year-old, Toronto-based dating app, has raised $7 million in funding led by Jackson Investment Group. More here.

Eyeota, an eight-year-old, Singapore-based company that sells audience data to advertisers around the world, has raised $12.5 million in Series B funding led by the French private equity firm Jolt Capital SAS. TechCrunch has more here.

Go-Jek, a seven-year-old, Jakarta, Indonesian-based ride-hail company, is raising $1.2 billion in new funding from backers that include Google, Temasek andMeituan-Dianping, says Reuters. More here.

Grove Collaborative, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based e-commerce company that’s selling natural home and personal care products, has raised $35 million in Series C funding led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from earlier investors, including Mayfield Fund, MHS Capital, Bullpen Capital, NextView Ventures, and Serious Change. TechCrunch has more here.

Iris Automation, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based computer vision startup focused on collision avoidance for commercial drones, has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Bee Partners. Techvibes has more here.

Ledger, a three-year-old, Paris-based developer of hardware wallets for cryptocurrency, has raised a whopping $75 million in Series B funding led by DFJ Esprit, with participation from FirstMark Capital, Cathay Innovation, Korelya Capital and earlier investors CapHorn Invest, GDTRE and Digital Currency Group. Bloomberg has more here.

Ollie, a nine-year-old, New York-based company that connects renters with furnished micro-studios and shared suites, has raised $15 million to expand beyond New York and Pittsburgh. Aviva Investors Real Estate Capital Global Co-Investment Fund led the round. Other investors include Currency M and tech entrepreneur Justin Mateen. TechCrunch has more here.

PacketFabric, a 2.5-year-old, Culver City, Ca.-based connectivity-as-a-service platform and a member of the NantWorks ecosystem of companies (controlled by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong), has raised $25 million in Series B funding fromNantCapital (also controlled by Soon-Shiong). More here.

Pioneer Square Labs, a 2.5-year-old, Seattle based startup studio that partners with founders to create companies from scratch, has raised $15 in funding led byFoundry Group. Other, earlier venture firms that had supported the company, also re-invested, along with 60 angel investors. More here.

Rokid, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based company whose in-home robots deliver information and perform tasks via audio and visual interactions, has raised $100 million in new funding, according to Chinese media Reports. Temasek reportedly led the round, with participation from Credit Suisse,CDIB Capital and earlier backer IDG Capital. China Money Network has more here.

Roofstock, a nearly three-year-old, Oakland, Ca.-based marketplace for buyers and sellers of single-family homes that have tenants residing in them, has added $7 million to its Series C round, which had closed with $35 million in October. (We’d written about it here.) The new funding comes from Silicon Valley Bank and property investor Asia Pacific Land.

Sparta Science, a nine-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based sports tech company, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by Playground Global. More here.

Tiki, a seven-year-old, Vietnam-based e-commerce company, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding co-led by JD.com and the Vietnamese entertainment and social media firm VNG Corp, says Reuters. The outlet notes that Vietnam is the latest focal point in JD.com’s strategic push into Southeast Asia, where Alibaba and Amazon have also made significant investments in the past year. More here.

Unitas Global, an eight-year-old, L.A.-based company that designs, deploys, and manages its enterprise clients’ infrastructure, has raised $10 million in new funding led by Boathouse Capital, with participation from earlier investor MK Capital. More here.

Urban Remedy, an eight-year-old, Point Richmond, Ca.-based “ultra fresh” food and juice company, has raised $17 million in Series B funding. General Mills’s venture unit, 301 INC, led the round. BevNet has more here.

Varo Money, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based mobile banking app startup, has raised $45 million in Series B funding, including from Warburg Pincus and The Rise Fund. (Perhaps notably: last summer the company applied for a national bank charter.) American Banker has more here.

Venture capital firm Accomplice has closed its latest fund with $205 million in capital commitments, reports Axios, which says the capital will likely be invested primarily in Boston-area startups. More here.

Partech Ventures, the Paris-based private equity and venture capital firm, has closed on $70 million in commitments for its Partech Africa fund. It’s targeting $122 million in commitments altogether, says VentureBeat. More here.

StrictlyVC is sponsored this week by Meld Valuation, a premiere independent valuation firm. We care about understanding the unique risk profile of your situation and most importantly making the quantitative reflect the qualitative story. Contact us today to learn about our services and how we can help you with everything from cap table management to complex valuation engagements.

The home-security company ADT‘s IPO is likely to price below its expected range of $17 to $19 a share today, say people familiar with the deal. The company’s shares start trading publicly tomorrow. More here.

Coinbase, the white-hot cryptocurrency exchange, is bringing on more engineering talent to help it continue to capitalize on the crypto boom. The company has announced that it’s bringing on the engineering team from Memo.AI, a two-year-old startup that built a Slackbot for helping technical teams manage notes and instructions. TechCrunch has more here.

Facebook has added a new member to its board of directors: Ken Chenault, the CEO of American Express, who is set to retire from his post at AmEx in February. Chenault is the first new Facebook board member since WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum joined in 2014 after Facebook bought his messaging startup. Recode has the story here.

Matt Mazzeo has joined the private investment group of Coatue Management, says Axios. He was previously a managing director with Lowercase Capital.

Amazon has canceled three original series developed under ousted studio head Roy Price.

Snap has laid off around two dozen people in recent days, mostly in its content team, says The Information. The staff cuts, it notes, are the latest sign of how Snap is being cost-conscious amid struggles with slow user and revenue growth.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly shelled out big bucks — between $95 million and $150 million — to do the typical “business titan” type thing and buy a yacht. (Maybe he’s hoping he can sail away from paparazzi.)

Bolt, the hardware-focused venture firm, is looking to hire a full-time associate. The job is in San Francisco.

Nearly 240 cities applied to become the second headquarters of Amazon. But Amazon had just 20 roses to hand out. Here are the finalists still vying to win the juggernaut’s heart.

The fall of Travis Kalanick was a lot weirder and darker than you thought, says Bloomberg.

Great news, stalkers: Instagram now shows when users were last active.

The ins and outs of raising a social media star.

Perfectly matching sweaters and backgrounds.

Two-term Republican Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who left office on Jan. 16, was reportedly just blocked from a VIP entrance he had used for eight years at Newark airport and directed to stand in TSA screening lines like everybody else.

The Panton Chrome Chair. Not for sitting unless you’re okay with completely ruining the aesthetic.

No column today. We’ve been tied up at our eight-year-old’s spelling bee, which was almost comically nerve-racking. (For us. The kid was cool as a cucumber.)

Today’s StrictlyVC is sponsored by Siftery Track. As a reader, get free early access to track and easily optimize your team’s software expenditures. Simply sync your credit card or accounting system, and Siftery Track will automatically create beautiful visualizations of your historic and forecasted spend. You’ll also get alerts for new products, duplicate charges, unexpected increases in spend, and more.

Bingobox, a two-year-old, Guangdong, China-based automated convenience store startup, has raised $80 million in Series B funding led by Fosun Capital, with participation from Prometheus Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, GGV Capital and Ventech China. China Money Network has more here.

Caocao Zhuanche, a 2.5-year-old, Hangzhou, China-based all-electric vehicle-sharing company backed by Chinese automaker Geely, has closed on $156 million in Series A funding, it said today, without disclosing its backers. The round reportedly assigns the company a valuation of $1.6 billion. China Money Network has more here.

CircleCI, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based continuous integration and delivery platform, has raised $31 million in Series C funding led by Top Tier Capital Partners. Other investors in the round include Industry Ventures, Heavybit,Scale Venture Partners, Baseline Ventures, Harrison Metal, and DFJ Ventures. More on the company, which has now raised $56.5 million altogether, in TechCrunch.

Data Nerds, a 4.5-year-old, British Columbia, Canada-based operator of an API for real estate and property data, has raised $3 million in Series A funding, including from Foundry Group and Techstars Ventures. More here.

Finery, a year-old, New York-based online wardrobe platform with predictive analytics for styling and shopping, has raised $5 million in seed funding led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Farfetch, BBG Ventures,Correlation Ventures, Next Coast Ventures and Halogen Ventures. The WSJ has more here.

Hyr,  a 2.5-year-old, New York-based platform that connects traditional businesses with hourly paid workers to fill shifts on-demand, has raised $1.3 million in funding led by Flybridge Capital Partners, with participation from XFactor Ventures andNewark Venture Partners. More here.

LumaTax, a two-year-old, Seattle-based company whose software streamlines sales tax reporting for small business owners, has raised $3 million in funding led byCowboy Ventures, with participation from Madrona Venture Group, Greycroft Partners and Vulcan Capital. GeekWire has more here.

Owkin, a two-year-old, New York-based predictive analytics company, has raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Otium Venture, with participation fromCathay Innovation, Plug and Play and NJF Capital. FierceBiotech has more here.

Sweatcoin, a two-year-old, London-based startup whose free smartphone app lets users earn cryptocurrency in exchange for working out (no kidding), has raised $5.7 million in seed funding. Goodwater Capital led the round, which also included  Greylock Partners, Rubylight and Seed Camp. TechCrunch has more here.

Understand.ai, a two-year-old, Karlsruhe, Germany-based machine-learning startup for training and validation data in autonomous vehicles, has raised $2.8 million in seed funding led by LEA Partners, with participation from Frontline Ventures, Synapse Partners and Agile Partners. More here.

Usermind, a five-year-old, Seattle-based company whose software tries to make it simpler to integrate enterprise applications, map data between them, and measure their impact, has raised $23.5 million in Series C funding led by Northgate Capital, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures and CRV. More here.

VDOO, a seven-month-old, Israel-based cybersecurity company whose technology allows IoT makers to add security features to devices post-deployment, has raised $13 million in funding led by 83North, with participation from Dell Technology Capital and numerous individual investors. Calcalist has more here.

Wattpad, an 11-year-old, Toronto-based multiplatform entertainment company for original stories, has raised $51 million in new funding, including from Tencent Holdings, BDC, Globe Telecom’s Kickstart Ventures, Peterson Group, and existing investor Raine. TechCrunch has more here.

StrictlyVC is sponsored this week by Meld Valuation, a premiere independent valuation firm. We care about understanding the unique risk profile of your situation and most importantly making the quantitative reflect the qualitative story. Contact us today to learn about our services and how we can help you with everything from cap table management to complex valuation engagements.

Famed former Cisco CEO John Chambers has launched a new, self-funded venture firm called JC2 Ventures with his son John, according to Axios. The firm has already made some bets, including investing in drone software company Airware and the social media management company Sprinklr. More here.

One of the most prominent seed investors in Utah, Kickstart Seed Fund, has closed on its fourth fund at $74 million — nearly double the size of its previous, $39 million, fund.  Among its LPs are local entrepreneurs, including Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith and Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard. TechCrunch has more here.

Venture capital firm Shenzhen Green Pine Capital Partners has launched a $155 million fund to help overseas Chinese scientists return home to start businesses in the southern city of Shenzhen. China Money Network has more here.

The 19-year-old polling company SurveyMonkey is preparing to go public later this year, according to Recode sources. It would be one of the most closely watched IPOs of the year. As some of you may recall, we talked with SurveyMonkey CEO Zander Lurie at one of our nighttime StrictlyVC events in late 2016, and Lurie said then that an IPO was likely after 2017.)

Biotech giant Celgene is in talks to buy the five-year-old, publicly traded biotechnology company Juno Therapeutics just days after announcing another major deal to bolster its portfolio of blood-cancer drugs, reports the WSJ. It couldn’t learn terms of the deal but Juno had a market value of about $5.5 billion as of yesterday afternoon. (Also worth noting — and the WSJ does — this wouldn’t be a gunshot wedding: In 2015, the companies announced a 10-year collaboration in which Celgene paid Juno $150 million upfront and acquired $846.3 million of shares in exchange for options to market some Juno immunotherapy treatments.) More here.

Grab, Uber’s main rival in Southeast Asia, is continuing to develop its mobile payment strategy, announcing the acquisition of five-year-old, India-based startup iKaaz. Terms of the deal aren’t disclosed, but iKaaz’s engineering team will reportedly join the Bangalore-based engineering office that Grab opened last year. TechCrunch has more here.

Apple told employees today that it’s issuing a bonus of $2,500 worth of restricted stock units to most of them worldwide, following the introduction of the new U.S. tax law.

Monique Woodard, the first black partner at the (now somewhat beleaguered) venture firm 500 Startups, says she’s leaving the firm but staying in venture capital. More here.

Cota Capital, the four-year-old venture firm headed up by Bobby Yazdani, is looking to a hire an associate. The job is in San Francisco.

Amazon looks to be taking on Wish with an “Under $10” selection of products that ship for free.

Chipmaking giant Broadcom says it’s under investigation by U.S. antitrust officials for potentially anticompetitive conduct.

No one wants your old clothes anymore (which means there’s an opportunity here).

Twenty films to see at Sundance.

Michael Wolff’s explosive account of the Trump White House, “Fire and Fury,” willsoon be a television series.

How Vans became the shoes that everyone is wearing — again.

Thirty-four pretty solid Valentine’s Day cards you can buy on Amazon.

We’re getting so excited about our upcoming event the evening of February 27 in San Francisco! In addition to talking next-gen e-commerce with Tina Sharkey of Brandless, and about the latest cyber breaches with Marten Mickos of HackerOne, our newest guest speaker is Ryan Williams, the founder of New York-based Cadre, a commercial real estate platform that Williams co-founded with the Kushner brothers, is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, and has huge ambitions to delve into much more than real estate. (Banks are paying close attention.)

More announcements to come. You can still grab a seat here (note that their numbers are dwindling).

We also want to thank our generous partners in the evening, including venture firm New Enterprise Associates, which is hosting everyone at its beautiful, glass-lined space in San Francisco’s South Park neighborhood; Morrison Foerster (or MoFo), the progressive global law firm that’s been setting up and advising new ventures for more than 130 years; and Anduin Transactions, a transaction workflow platform founded by Joe Lonsdale and Alin Bui with the goal of making private market transactions far more efficient.

It’s a team effort, and we greatly appreciate the support. It’s going to be another fun night.:)

Former Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski is facing new claims of stealing trade secrets, this time from a former nanny.

Today’s StrictlyVC is sponsored by Siftery Track. As a reader, get free early access to track and easily optimize your team’s software expenditures. Simply sync your credit card or accounting system, and Siftery Track will automatically create beautiful visualizations of your historic and forecasted spend. You’ll also get alerts for new products, duplicate charges, unexpected increases in spend, and more.

Sequoia Capital, the top-tier venture firm, has just closed on a $180 million new fund called Sequoia Scout III that’s focused exclusively on seed-stage opportunities.

It’s a development that startup founders will be watching closely, no doubt, so we caught up yesterday with Bryan Schreier, a Sequoia partner who sits on the boards of Dropbox, Thumbtack and Qualtrics among others, to ask how the vehicle works exactly.

Sequoia doesn’t talk often about its processes. Perhaps owing to greater transparency throughout the industry, as well as growing competition, including from AngelList — which is increasingly providing founders with seed money to invest in other founders — the firm offered to shine some light on its offerings and approach.

More from our conversation with Schreier follows, edited lightly for clarity.

This new fund is an interesting hybrid. Unlike in past years, where Sequoia made seed bets from its main, early-stage funds, it’ll be used to invest directly in seed deals. Sequoia will also be incorporating investments that are being brought to the firm by so-called “scouts.” Is that correct?

Yes, we have a long-standing seed practice at Sequoia, going back to the very beginning, and this new fund just represents the consolidation of our seed program into a single fund. As with Airbnb, Dropbox, and Stripe, we’ll be looking for seed investments that we’ll be investing in directly. We’ll also be [relying on Sequoia’s network of more than 100] scouts, who come from the Sequoia network [and who are mostly] founders and execs.

There has long been fascination over this scouting trend, which Sequoia sort of helped to create and a lot of venture firms now employ. Can you talk a bit more about it? For example, how transparent are these founders when they approach their network on behalf of Sequoia? Also, do they have to scout on your behalf exclusively?

We encourage them to be totally transparent. That’s always been the case. The money that’s wired [to a startup] literally says “Sequoia.” As for whether the scouts work exclusively on behalf of Sequoia, we don’t require it, but I’d guess that for the most part they do.

What kind of cut do they receive, and does the entire network of scouts benefit if one scout finds a winner, or does the person who brought you the deal reap the financial rewards?

There’s carry in the fund that’s shared among the scouts, [so] they all benefit from the returns in the scout fund [when a company performs well].

Does Sequoia identify a theme and say to its scouts, “Find us the best people working in this area?”

We’ve actually found the most success in following the entrepreneurs. There’s a bit of a virtuous cycle, where you have entrepreneurs who have inspiration of their own and as they’re successful, other founders come to them with their ideas. And it’s a wonderful way for us to double down [on that network].

You’re making direct seed investments, as well as working with these scouts. In both cases, does Sequoia receive information rights? Warrants? Right of first refusal?

There’s a big difference. Scout investments are led by scouts, and we don’t have information rights. It’s meant to empower founders in our network who may not have the administrative support or overhead required to run a seed-investing practice, so they are making decisions together with us. But it’s different from a Sequoia investment in that Sequoia isn’t on the cap table of the company; we aren’t taking information rights or board seats.

How much of this new fund will be invested with the help of scouts?

More here.

Aprinoia Therapeutics, a two-year-old, Taiwan-based neuroscience biotech startup, has raised $11.1 million in Series B funding co-led by KTB Network and DCI Partners, with participation from ShangPharma Investment Group andTaiAn Technologies. More here.

Bidgely, a six-year-old, Mountain View, Ca-based SaaS-based service that applies machine learning to utility meter data to itemize the amount and cost of energy used by various home appliances (it sells to utility companies), has raised $27 million in Series C funding. Georgian Partners led the round; earlier investors Khosla Ventures, E.On and Innogy also participated. More here.

Bringg, a 4.5-year-old, Chicago-based delivery logistics platform, has raised $12 million in fresh Series B funding, bringing its previously closed round to $22 million. Investors include Salesforce Ventures, Aleph VC, Coca-Cola and earlier backer Pereg Ventures, among others. TechCrunch has more here.

Forest, a 1.5-year-old, Paris-based startup that’s aiming to unify disparate SaaS administration interfaces into a single platform, has raised $3.7 million in seed funding from Connect Ventures and participation from investor Xavier Niel and TransferWise founder Taavet Hinrikus. TechCrunch has more here.

Kuaishou, a Beijing, China-based video streaming company that’s backed by Tencent Holdings, is looking to raise $1 billion in new funding at a $17 billion valuation. Bloomberg has more here.

JD Logistics, the logistics unit of China’s second-biggest e-commerce firm JD.com, is reportedly looking to raise up to $2 billion at a $10 billion valuation. Business Insider has more here.

Nyansa, a 4.5-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based wired and wireless data analytics company, has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by Intel Capital, with participation from earlier backer Formation 8. The company has now raised $27 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Propagate, a 2.5-year-old, L.A.-based studio that has developed, produced and distributed programming for Apple, Amazon, and ABC, among others, just raised an undisclosed amount of funding from The Raine Group. More here.

Ratehub, a Toronto-based financial product comparison site, has raised C$12 million in Series A funding led by Elephant, a Boston-based venture firm founded by Jeremiah Daly (a previous principal with Accel Partners) and Warby Parker cofounder Andy Hunt. Simon Nixon, a co-founder of the U.K.-based company MoneySuperMarket, also joined the round. The Globe and Mail has more here.

Social Bicycles, a 7.5-year-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based dockless electric bike share company, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Menlo Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Tissue Analytics, a 3.5-year-old, Baltimore, Md.-based startup whose image analysis algorithms help clinicians make more informed decisions about wound care, has raised $5 million in Series A funding led by DigiTx Partners, with participation from Tencent, Dreamit, Molnlycke Health Care, Intermountain Healthcare, and Penn Medicine. More here.

StrictlyVC is sponsored this week by Meld Valuation, a premiere independent valuation firm. We care about understanding the unique risk profile of your situation and most importantly making the quantitative reflect the qualitative story. Contact us today to learn about our services and how we can help you with everything from cap table management to complex valuation engagements.

AngelList has expanded its syndicates program to India in the latest overseas move for the crowdfunding platform. The launch comes some 18 months after TechCrunch reported that AngelList had hired longtime angel investor Utsav Somani to launch the service.

Ontario Capital Growth Corporation, the venture capital agency of the government of Ontario, Canada, says it plans to invest $60 million into VC funds that develop the venture sector in the province. More here.

Cardlytics, a nine-year-old, Atlanta, Ga.-based marketing analytics company, has filed for a $75 million IPO. The company has raised roughly $180 million in funding, including from Canaan Partners, Polaris Partners, Discovery Capital, TTV Capital, ITC Holdings, Total Technology Ventures and Kinetic Ventures. The Atlanta Business Chronicle has more here (sub required).

SoftBank Group said yesterday that it’s considering listing its Japanese wireless business—a move that could reportedly raise $18 billion and would accelerate the conglomerate’s transformation into one of the world’s biggest tech investors. The spinoff could potentially be the biggest IPO by a Japanese company in nearly two decades, notes Reuters.

In a move that represents further consolidation in the crowdsourced in-store data gathering space, London-headquartered BeMyEye has acquired U.K. rival Task360. Similar to BeMyEye, the company offers an app that pays users to collect data for its corporate clients, but with a greater emphasis on time-sensitive tasks. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.

Instacart is acquiring Toronto-based startup Unata for about $65 million, says Bloomberg, which notes the move could signal where Instacart is headed in its battle with Amazon: into making and tracking digital coupons and circulars. More here.

According to Dallas Mavericks owner and tech entrepreneur Mark Cuban, fans of the NBA team will be able to buy tickets to its games in Bitcoin starting next season. Not that anyone is going to spend their precious bitcoin on basketball tickets. But they could.

Insight Venture Partners just promoted Anika Agarwal, Rachel Geller and Ross Devor to managing directors. It also promoted Matt Gatto, Kevin Hurth and Philip Vorobeychik to principals.

When it comes to raising tens of millions of dollars in venture capital, it helps to be a veteran of Baidu’s artificial intelligence units. Over the last 12 months, former employees of the Chinese tech giant have raised close to $300 million in venture funding rounds, according to a review of deals by China Money Network.

Jump Capital is looking to add an associate to its investment team. The job is in Chicago.

The latest crypto crash is here.

Alexa, we’re still trying to figure out what to do with you.

Apple just put the finishing touches on its new $5 billion headquarters — and the results are stunning.

How automakers invented the crime of “jaywalking.”

The best places to travel in February.

Ferrari is planning a battery-powered supercar that it says will leave comparative upstart Tesla in the dust.

Speaking of which: according to a new Bloomberg survey, Americans are more likely to get a day off to honor Dr. King than they are for holidays remembering Christopher Columbus or George Washington. (Yay for that, employers.) NBA star LeBron James separately had some words about MLK Jr. Day, which reminds us to remind you: the Cavs are playing the Warriors today at 5 pm. PST. [Squeal!]

Researchers have found that one person likely drove Bitcoin from $150 to $1,000, says TechCrunch

Meawhile, China is escalating its clampdown on cryptocurrency trading, targeting online platforms and mobile apps that offer exchange-like services, according to Bloomberg.

Today’s StrictlyVC is sponsored by Siftery Track. As a reader, get free early accessto track and easily optimize your team’s software expenditures. Simply sync your credit card or accounting system, and Siftery Track will automatically create beautiful visualizations of your historic and forecasted spend. You’ll also get alerts for new products, duplicate charges, unexpected increases in spend, and more.

Auto1, a five-year-old, Berlin-based online car dealer, has raised €460 million ($565 million) from Softbank‘s Vision Fund, which gets a 20 percent stake in the business for its money. TechCrunch has more here.

CalmCar Vehicle Vision, a nearly two-year-old, China-based intelligent driving vision system startup, has raised $4.6 million from China’s National SME Development Fund. DealStreetAsia has more here.

Ellevation, a six-year-old, Boston, Ma.-based startup whose software tools are designed specifically for professionals serving English language learners, has raised more than $10 million in Series B funding led by Reach Capital, with participation from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Omidyar Network, and earlier investors. More here.

Hupu Sports Media, a 10-year-old, Shanghai, China-based sports-focused website, has raised $95 million in fresh funding led by China International Capital Corp in a deal that reportedly values the company at north of $1 billion. DealStreetAsia has more here.

Liking Fit, a 1.5-year-old, China-based company that develops smart devices to connect users and franchisees to its gyms, has raised $54 million in Series B and Series C funding, according to its investors. Its Series C round was led byGuangkong Zhongying Capital, a new technology, media and telecommunications fund. Its Series B round was led by Sigma Square Capital. Other investors in the company include Lightspeed China Partners, Focus Media Information Technology Co., Terminus Technologies, Cowin Capital, and Zhonglu Capital. China Money Network has more here.

MLog Tianqijia, a China-based commercial weather service company that provides its customers with customized meteorological services to reduce losses caused by the weather and climate, has raised $18 million in Series B funding co-led byDongfang Hongdao Capital and Lan Fund, with participation from PICC Capital,Zhencheng Capital, and Weiran Investment Consulting. DealStreetAsia has more here.

NA-KD, a two-year-old, Gothenburg, Sweden-based e-commerce company that sells women’s clothes direct to consumers, has raised $45 million in Series B funding led by Partech, with the participation from FJ Labs and earlier backers, including Northzone and eEquity. Techcunch has more here.

Pony.ai, a 16-month-old, Freemont, Ca.-based company working on autonomous driving vehicles, has raised $112 million in Series A funding co-led by Morningside Venture Capital and Legend Capital, with participation from earlier backerSequoia China. TechCrunch has more here.

Razorpay, a 3.5-year-old, Bangalore, India-based company whose payments gateway for businesses aims to help them quickly integrate payments services into their websites and apps, has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by earlier investors Tiger Global Management and Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund, with participation from another earlier backer, Matrix Partners. The company has now raised $31.5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Rivigo Services, a three-year-old, Gurgaon, India-based transportation and logistics company,  has raised $50 million in Series D funding led by earlier backersWarburg Pincus and SAIF Partners. The Economic Times has more here.

SuperMeat, a two-year-old, Israel-based biotech and food-tech startup that’s on a mission to produce lab-grown “clean meat” for the masses, has raised $3 million in seed funding led by New Crop Capital and Stray Dog Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Suzhou Zelgen Biosciences Co., a nine-year-old, China-based biopharmaceutical company, has raised $62 million in Series B funding co-led  by Shenzhen Capital Group, Minsheng Life Insurance and Share Capital. Northern Light Venture Capital and China Youth Finance Network also participated in the round. China Money Network has more here.

True Fit, a seven-year-old, Boston-based personalization platform for apparel and footwear that helps online shoppers find goods that fit and are to their liking, has raised $55 million in Series C funding. Leading the round is Georgian Partners, with participation from Cross Creek Captial and earlier backers Jump Capital,Signal Peak Ventures, and Intel Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Vaccitech, an Oxford University spin-out that’s developing a universal flu vaccine, has raised $27.1 million in Series A funding co-led by GV and Sequoia China, with participation from earlier backer Oxford Sciences Innovation and Neptune Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Yida Media, a Shaanxi, China-based film production company, has reportedly raised $15 million in Series A funding round led by China Merchants Securities Zhiyuan Capital. Beijing Hualian Group and Shenzhen Fuersitai Investment Partners also participated in the round. DealStreetAsia has more here.

StrictlyVC is sponsored this week by Meld Valuation, a premiere independent valuation firm. We care about understanding the unique risk profile of your situation and most importantly making the quantitative reflect the qualitative story. Contact us today to learn about our services and how we can help you with everything from cap table management to complex valuation engagements.

Huami, the four-year-old, smart wearable device partner of Xiaomi, has filed to raise up to $150 million in a IPO on Nasdaq. The Hefei, China-based startup is the sole partner of Xiaomi for design and manufacture of its wearable products such as smart bands, watches (excluding children watches and quartz watches), scales and associated accessories. TechNode has more here.

Xiaomi has chosen Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group among international banks for its planned IPO, according to a Bloomberg source. More here.

People who’ve known Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for a long time say they see a concerted effort by him and Amazon to show more of his personality.

Vitalik Buterin, the high-profile co-founder of Ethereum, has quietly left China-based investment firm Fenbushi Capital, telling TechCrunch that he plans to spend more time ensuring that Ethereum fulfills its potential as a platform. (Buterin had tweeted last month: “So total cryptocoin market cap just hit $0.5T today. But have we *earned* it?”)

TMZ followed Elon Musk into an L.A. dance club Saturday night, where not a lot happened, but such is the life now of Elon Musk. In more relevant news, Musk tweeted this weekend that the Tesla 3 will have more features controlled by voice command.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey are stepping down from Walt Disney’s board as the increasing competition between media and technology companies creates new conflicts.

Forty-five young companies are building processors just for artificial intelligence. At least five have raised more than $100 million from investors. Dealbook has more here.

Here are the U.S. states that attracted the most venture capital in the fourth quarter (chart courtesy of GeekWire).

Say “I love you” with a better card. No matter who you love this Valentine’s Day we have the perfect Lovepop to help you express yourself. Dozens of pop-up card designs mean you can find the perfectly appropriate Lovepop to make Valentine’s Day special. Explore Valentine’s Day cards.

Everyone is getting hilariously rich off cryptocurrencies (except us, and maybe you, too).

How Facebook’s media divorce could backfire.

Alibaba Group Holding has reportedly paid $3 billion for shares of the high-flying dockless bike company Ofo, buying the stake from GSR Ventures. Another of Ofo’s shareholders is ride-share giant Didi, which recently announced plans to launch its own bike-sharing services.

A first look at “The Handmaid’s Tale,” season two.

How to use that Google app to find what piece of art you look like.

What is the perfect age? It’s complicated.

Nobu Hotel Shoreditch. Book now before prices go ^.

Separate note: We will be publishing SVC on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day; meanwhile, here are some great ways to observe the holiday.

Online bulk-order wholesaler Boxed has received acquisition interest from grocery giant Kroger and several other major retailers, according to Forbes, whose sources say the startup could fetch up to $500 million. More here.

Mark Zuckerberg saw his fortune fall $2.9 billion today after he posted plans to shift users’ news feeds toward content from family and friends at the expense of material from media outlets and businesses. More here.

The best way to raise capital is to “run a process.” The best way to run a process is to use Foundersuite. Foundersuite makes the leading Investor CRM, used by startups to raise more than $500 million in seed and VC since Q1:16. Foundersuite’s platform also includes a searchable database of 50,000 angels and VCs, as well as an Investor Update tool to engage stakeholders and “warm up” prospective investors. StrictlyVC readers get a full 30% off for 6 months using code “StrictlyVC,” or email us to discuss volume pricing for your entire portfolio.

Acorns, a five-year-old, Irvine, Ca.-based micro-investing app, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from The Rise Fund, a TPG-sponsored global investment fund. More here.

Braeburn Pharmaceuticals, a five-year-old, Princeton, N.J.-based specialty pharmaceutical company that’s trying to tackle opioid addiction, has raised $110 million in funding led by Wellington Capital Management, with participation fromAvista Capital Partners, RA Capital Management, New Leaf Venture Partners, Deerfield Management, Rock Springs Capital and Apple Tree Partners. More here.

Closetbox, a three-year-old, Greenwood Village, Co.-based self-storage startup, has raised $7.3 million in Series A funding from investor Peter Roshko, with participation from earlier backer Boulder Ventures. The Denver Post has more here.

Elliot, a six-month-old, San Francisco-based software platform that aims to help retail brands centralize their online and offline sales channels, has raised $3 million in funding led by Bowery Capital and Susa Ventures, with participation fromAcceleprise, Bam Ventures, Flexport, and SV Angel. More here.

Meicai, a three-year-old, Beijing, China-based startup that helps farmers sell vegetables to restaurants, has raised $450 million in funding co-led by Tiger Global Management and China Media Capital. China Money Network has more here.

Pager, a 3.5-year-old, New York-based mobile-first patient engagement and care navigation platform for large health plans and health systems, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by Horizon Healthcare Services, with participation from Lux Capital, Goodwater Capital, New Enterprise Associatesand Vero Norte. More here.

The Plum Guide, a two-year-old, London-based startup that tries to match travelers with the right homes in London for their vacation (a curated Airbnb, essentially), has raised $7.8 million in Series A funding. Investors include Octopus Ventures, Local Globe, BGF Ventures and the founders of Secret Escapes,Zoopla, and Love Film. More here.

SalesPro, a five-year-old, Bangalore-based sales consultancy startup, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from 3737 North Capital. The outlet Inc 42 has more here.

Smava, a 10.5-year-old, Berlin, Germany-based online loan comparison platform, has raised $65 million in fresh funding led by Vitruvian Partners, with participation from Runa Capital, among others. The company has now raised $135 million altogether. More here.

Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners Private Markets team, an investment team within Morgan Stanley Investment Management, has closed its first standalone co-investment fund with $425 million, above the $350 million it says it was targeting. More here.

Truffle Capital, a 17-year-old, Paris-based investment firm, say it has closed its newest venture fund, Truffle BioMedTech, with $102 million in capital commitments from European and Asian institutional investors, corporations, and family offices. The apparent idea is to create up to 12 startups in France using “major breakthroughs” at North American and European research centers. More here.

StrictlyVC is sponsored this week by Meld Valuation, a premiere independent valuation firm. We care about understanding the unique risk profile of your situation and most importantly making the quantitative reflect the qualitative story. Contact us today to learn about our services and how we can help you with everything from cap table management to complex valuation engagements.

Maoyan Weying, China’s largest movie ticketing app, is planning a Hong Kong IPO that could raise about $1 billion, according to Bloomberg’s sources. More here.

Menlo Therapeutics, a seven-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based biotech that’s developing therapies for severely itchy skin, said it plans to raise $85 million in an offering 5.7 million shares at between $14 to $16 a piece. Nasdaq has slightly more here.

According to Axios, First Alert, a subsidiary of Newell Brands, has quietly acquiredLuma, a home WiFi system maker that had raised $22 million in VC funding from firms like Accel Partners and Amazon and we’d written about here. Terms aren’t being disclosed, but this isn’t “any sort of win” for Luma shareholders, says the outlet, which notes that competitor Eero also recently announced layoffs.

Publicly traded Cision, a Chicago-based company that sells public-relations software and analytics services (and owns a bunch of brands, including PR Newswire and Gorkana Group), is acquiring Prime Research, which sells media measurement and analysis services. Terms aren’t being disclosed. More here.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, are donating $33 million in the form of a scholarship grant to help 1,000 undocumented immigrant high school graduates with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status attend college.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein appeared to take another shot at Donald Trump in a tweet today.

Kelly Graziadei, former director of media partnerships at Facebook, has joined Foundation Capital as an entrepreneur-in-residence.

A look at the life of Steve Jobs‘s formerly estranged daughter, Lisa

Nimi Katragadda has been promoted to partner at the venture firm BoxGroup. She’d joined BoxGroup in 2015 after spending a year with Rough Draft Ventures.

Jamey Sperans has joined Foundry Group as a partner with its fund-of-funds platform. Sperans previously spent 17 years with Morgan Stanley, leaving as a managing director.

One in six Americans — that’s 39 million people — now own a smart speaker, according to new research out this week from NPR and Edison Research. TechCrunch has more here.

The top U.S. tech companies founded by immigrants are now worth nearly $4 trillion, notes Recode.

GM and Cruise are ditching the steering wheel.

Hackers could, gulp, blow up factories using smartphone apps, according to new findings by two security researchers.

Improving ourselves to death.

Diamond Atelier’s Urban21 Series. [Eyes fill with cartoon hearts.]

Bitcoin slumped to its lowest level since Christmas day today as South Korea’s justice minister reiterated his proposal to ban local cryptocurrency exchanges. More here.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted today to renew some of the U.S. government’s sweeping digital surveillance powers, despite objections from both Democrats and Republicans. More here.

The best way to raise capital is to “run a process.” The best way to run a process is to use Foundersuite. Foundersuite makes the leading Investor CRM, used by startups to raise more than $500 million in seed and VC since Q1:16. Foundersuite’s platform also includes a searchable database of 50,000 angels and VCs, as well as an Investor Update tool to engage stakeholders and “warm up” prospective investors. StrictlyVC readers get a full 30% off for 6 months using code “StrictlyVC,” or email us to discuss volume pricing for your entire portfolio.

Social Leverage, a seed and early-stage venture outfit, is looking to raise up to $50 million for its third fund, shows a new SEC filing.

It’s of interest in large part because of co-founder Howard Lindzon, a kind of internet celebrity and serial entrepreneur known for creating WallStrip, an online video show that took a satirical approach to financial news and was acquired by CBS in 2007, and later StockTwits, a venture-backed social network for traders and investors.

Social Leverage dates back roughly a decade. As Lindzon told StrictlyVC in 2015, he’d started the firm with Tom Peterson, a classmate of his at Arizona State University. He explained at the time that “[o]riginally, back in 2008, we started a holding company inspired by Betaworks that would invest in and operate startups, but we learned that we’re best-suited for just investing, using social leverage as a means for accelerating startups.”

At the beginning of 2015, the firm added a third general partner: Gary Benitt, who’d earlier sold his company, Assistly, to Salesforce.

It isn’t clear how much money Social Leverage is currently managing altogether. Lindzon never announced the size of Social Leverage’s second fund, which the team was out marketing in 2015.

More here.

Adapsyn Bioscience, a two-year-old, Ontario, Canada-based developer of a bioinformatics platform for drug discovery, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Pfizer and Genesys Capital. FierceBiotech has more here.

Cardlay, a 1.5 year-old, Odense, Denmark-based credit card and expense management platform, has raised $5 million in new funding from SEED Capital and SEB Venture Capital. More here.

Chronext, a 4.5-year-old, London-based online platform for luxury watch trading, has raised $34 million in fresh funding from Endeit Capital and Tengelmann Ventures. The round brings the company’s total funding to $50 million. TechCrunch has more here.

CryptoMove, a 2.5-year-old, Walnut Creek, Ca.-based cybersecurity startup, has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Social Capital. More here.

FloDesign Sonics, an eight-year-old, Wilbraham, Ma.-based startup at work on a technology that aims to changes the way we capture, filter, separate, and concentrate particles in fluid, has raised an undisclosed amount of money fromDynamk Capital. More here.

Fritz, a Boston-based provider of an edge computing platform for mobile developers to manage machine learning models, has raised $2 million in seed-stage funding led by Eniac Ventures, with participation from Uncork Capital and Hack VC, among others. More here.

Grab, the 5.5-year-old, Singapore-based ride-hailing company that recently raised at least $2 billion in funding, revealed earlier today that among its newest investors in carmaker Hyundai. TechCrunch has more here.

Harver, a 7.5-year-old, New York-based maker of AI-driven recruitment software, has raised $4.2 million in new Series A funding led by Insight Venture Partners, which had provided the company with $8.1 million in Series A funding last year. More here.

HelloTeam, a 1.5-year-old, Boston, Ma.-based SaaS employee engagement and talent management platform, has raised $2.7 million in funding, including from Bain Capital Ventures, Osage Ventures, VT Technology Ventures and select angels. More here.

minuteKEY, a nine-year-old, Boulder, Co.-based network of self-service kiosks for accurate key duplication, has raised $83 million in funding, including from the private equity firm Comvest Partners. More here.

Pagoda, a 16-year-old, Shenzhen, China-based fresh fruit e-commerce company, has raised $230 million in Series B funding from Co-Stone Capital, Source Code Capital, Shenzhen Capital Group, Zhongzhi Capital, Zhongjin Zhide Equity Investment Management and Yuexiu Industrial Fund. China Money Network has more here.

Qualifio, an eight-year-old, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium-based company behind an interactive marketing and data collection platform, has raised €3 million ($3.6 million) in Series A funding, including from Volta Ventures and SRIW. More here.

SyncThink, a 10-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based developer of eye-tracking technology for use in diagnosing concussions, has raised $3.5 million in Series A-1 funding led by Quadrant Management. The SF Chronicle has more on the company’s tech here. (H/T: Axios.)

Unbabel, a 4.5-year-old. Lisbon-based language translation platform, has raised $23 million in Series B funding led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from Microsoft Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Samsung Next, Notion Capital, Caixa Capital, and Funders Club. TechCrunch has more here.

Voyage, a year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based self-driving taxi service, raised $15 million in funding, including from InMotion Ventures, Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, Initialized Capital, Amino Capital and Charles River Ventures. The Information has more here.

Xinshang, a two-year-old, China-based marketplace for secondhand luxury goods in China, has raised $50 million in Series C funding co-led by GGV Capital and Joy Capital. China Money Network has more here.

Full Tilt Capital, a 1.5-year-old, Raleigh, North Carolina-based venture firm that focuses on seed-round investments, is going all in on crypto. To wit, it says in a letter to investors that it’s investing 100 percent of its next fund in crypto. The outfit was founded by Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano, who worked briefly at both Facebook and Snapchat previously, and it’s seeking to raise $25 million, says Bloomberg. More here.

OurCrowd, the Jerusalem-based crowdfunding investment platform, is looking to raise a $100 million fund to finance early-stage companies focusing on artificial intelligence, deep-learning and robotics. More here.

StrictlyVC is sponsored this week by Meld Valuation, a premiere independent valuation firm. We care about understanding the unique risk profile of your situation and most importantly making the quantitative reflect the qualitative story. Contact us today to learn about our services and how we can help you with everything from cap table management to complex valuation engagements.

Dropbox, the file-sharing private company valued at $10 billion, has filed confidentially for a U.S. IPO, says Bloomberg. More here.

Some time last year — possibly last August — Google quietly acquired a four-year-old, U.K.-based startup called Redux whose technology turns surfaces such as phone displays into speakers. Google isn’t discussing the purchase price, though some paperwork around the deal first surfaced last month. Redux had raised at least $5 million, including from Arie Capital. Bloomberg has more here.

InMobi, a 10-year-old, India-based mobile ad company, has acquired AerServ, a five-year-old, Irvine, Ca.-based maker of revenue tools for mobile publishers, for $90 million in cash and stock. AerServ doesn’t appear to have disclosed any outside funding. The Economic Times has more here.

Private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners has acquired Talkwalker, a cloud-based social media listening platform for undisclosed terms. Talkwalker, founded nine years ago in Luxembourg, had raised just more than $9 million, shows Crunchbase. Backers included Main Mezzanine Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Did you know: Jeff Bezos‘s mother was just 16 years old when he was born.

Berkshire Hathaway is Apple’s fifth-largest shareholder, but founder Warren Buffett says he’s sticking with his Samsung flip phone. CNet has more here.

GV has lost its one female general partner. London-based Avid Larizadeh Dugganis joining Kobalt​, a New York-based music tech company that acts as a publisher and provides royalty tracking services for tracks when any sample or full track is played across various digital platforms. TechCrunch has more here.

Halsey Minor, a serial entrepreneur who cofounded CNET and more recently launched the crypto wallet Uphold, has embarked on yet a new journey, this time to deploy a video encoding and content distribution network running on the blockchain with a native protocol token. SiliconAngle has more here.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly attempted to recruit venture capitalist and “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance to run for Senate in Ohio. Vance would be up against Democratic incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown.

The electric car boom is running into a metal crunch.

Ride-hail drivers work alone, but they’re now banding together online to compare notes, uncover new policies, and help each other navigate the gig economy.

Speaking of which: Uber is in trouble again, this time over secret tools meant to keep cops in the dark.

Why Wall Street hasn’t had its #MeToo moment yet.

Seven island vacations to cure your winter blues.

A 24K gold forest canopy bed that looks made for Sean Parker.

Seven people had to receive medical attention after an iPhone exploded in a Swiss Apple store.

A major power outage has hit CES, the consumer electronics show, in the latest bit of chaos to mar the Las Vegas event.

Ford just became the latest automaker to be accused of lying about its diesel efficiencies.

The best way to raise capital is to “run a process.” The best way to run a process is to use Foundersuite. Foundersuite makes the leading Investor CRM, used by startups to raise more than $500 million in seed and VC since Q1:16. Foundersuite’s platform also includes a searchable database of 50,000 angels and VCs, as well as an Investor Update tool to engage stakeholders and “warm up” prospective investors. StrictlyVC readers get a full 30% off for 6 months using code “StrictlyVC,” or email us to discuss volume pricing for your entire portfolio.

Cadre, a three-year-old, New York-based online platform helping accredited investors delve into commercial real estate deals in what it claims is a far more transparent way, has received a big vote of confidence from Goldman Sachs.

According to CEO Ryan Williams, Goldman’s private wealth clients are committing $250 million to the platform, money that will get funneled directly into a portfolio of real estate stakes assembled by Cadre.

The move isn’t a complete surprise for numerous reasons, beginning with Cadre’s ties to Goldman. Williams spent a couple of years at the bank right after getting his undergraduate degree from Harvard. Goldman also participated in the company’s $65 million Series C round, which was led by Andreessen Horowitz and closed last summer.

Cadre, which was cofounded by Joshua and Jared Kushner, has also been amassing a star cast of executives, including, most notably, Michael Fascitelli, formerly the CEO of Vornado Realty Trust. Fascitelli, who’d written an early seed-size check to Cadre, took over Cadre’s investment committee as its chair and senior adviser a year ago and he now approves all deals.

Either way, for Cadre — which invests directly in real estate assets, then passes its investment on to its clients for an upfront fee and a recurring subscription rate — the tie-up is a major coup. Not only does Cadre benefit from brand association with Goldman, but Goldman’s investor pool helps it move into new phases of its business, one of which seems to be creating a secondary marketplace.

More here.

Arbour Group, a 27-year-old, Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based maker of regulatory compliance software and services for the life sciences industry, has raised an undisclosed amount from funding from Keystone Capital. More here.

Arctic Wolf Networks, a five-year-old, Sunnyvale, Ca.-based security operations center-as-a-service company, has raised $16 million in funding. Sonae Investment Management led the round and was joined Lightspeed Venture Partners,Redpoint Ventures and Knollwood Investment Advisory. More here.

Black Fish, a Nanjing, China-based consumer loan platform, has raised $145 million in Series A funding from Lightspeed China Partners, Gobi Partners,Morningside Venture Capital, JAFCO Asia, Fullcent Capital and Dianping.com founder Zhang Tao. China Money Network has more here.

CloudLex, a two-year-old, New York-based maker of cloud software for personal injury law firms, has raised $4 million in funding led by Aligned Partners. NewsCenter.io has a bit more here.

FieldIn, a five-year-old, Israel-based startup that integrates all data from a farming operation into one control center, allowing farmers to monitor how agronomic decisions were executed, has raised $4 million in funding co-led by Gal Venturesand Germin8 Ventures. Earlier investors Terra Ventures and the Israel Innovation Authority also joined the round. More here.

Igloo Software, a 10-year-old, Kitchener, Ontario-based maker of productivity software, has raise $47 million from Frontier Capital. More here.

Ladder, a 2.5-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based startup that sells instant life insurance, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by RRE Ventures, with participation from Thomvest Ventures and earlier backers Canaan Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Nyca Partners. More here.

MOD Pizza, a 10-year-old, Bellevue, Wa.-based fast-growing casual pizza chain, has raised $73 million in funding. Investors include PWP Growth Equity, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Keybanc Capital Markets,  SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Raymond James. Business Insider has more here.

Motosumo, a five-year-old, Denmark-based maker of smartphone software that enables far-flung gyms or gym members to conduct group training, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding, including from Vedere Ventures and Promentum Equity Partners. More here.

NiYO Solutions, a two-year-old, Bangalore, India-based fintech startup for salaried employees, has raised $13.2 million in Series A funding from Social Capital, JS Capital (the family office of Jonathan Soros), and Horizons Ventures, with participation from earlier backer Prime Venture Partners. The company has now raise more than $14 million altogether. More here.

Nozomi Networks, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based cybersecurity startup focused around industrial control systems, has raised $15 million in Series B financing led by the Invenergy Future Fund, with participation from THI Investments. Earlier backers GGV Capital, Lux Capital and Planven Investments also joined the round, which brings the company’s total funding to $23.8 million. More here.

Ovation.io, an eight-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based clinical laboratory information and commercialization platform, has raised $1.85 million in funding co-led byStageDotO and Longfellow Ventures. More here.

Petal, a 1.5-year-old, New York-based credit card startup that’s targeting consumers without a credit history, has raised $13 million in Series A funding led byValar Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Reviver Auto, a nearly nine-year-old Foster City, Ca.-based company that produces a digital license plate (it’s trying to create a network of connected vehicles via the technology), has raised $11.1 million in funding. ACK Group led the round, with participation from WRV and other, unnamed individual investors. More here.

Sheprd, a 1.5-year-old, Newton, Ma.-based on-demand school bus, has raised $1 million in funding from InMotion Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s venture capital arm. More here.

SkySpecs, a five-year-old, Ann Arbor, Mi.-based automated infrastructure inspection company, has raised $8 million in Series B funding, including fromStatkraft Ventures, UL Ventures, Capital Midwest, Venture Investors, andHuron River Ventures. More here.

TAI Diagnostics, a two-year-old, Milwaukee, Wi.-based maker of non-invasive diagnostics tests that monitor the health of transplanted organs, has raised $10 million in funding from  undisclosed investors. The company has now raised $21 million altogether. More here.

YieldStreet, a two-year-old, New York-based startup that packages and sells business loans to investors, has closed on $113 million in funding, including $12.8 million in Series A funding co-led by Greycroft Partners and Raine Ventures, and a revolving credit facility of $100 million from an unnamed New York-based family office. More here.

The world’s largest automaker, Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi, has launched a $1 billion corporate venture capital fund to focus on investments in “new mobility” including electrification, autonomous systems, network connectivity and artificial intelligence. It’s called Alliance Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

AngelList cofounder Naval Ravikant has raised $35 million for a new fund calledSpearhead that plans to groom tech investors and invest in very early-stage startups, according to The Information, which says Ravikant has personally invested in the new fund and that the Boston-based early-stage venture firm Accompliceput up 25 percent of the capital.

Parker Thompson, an alum of AngelList and 500 Startups’ accelerator, is also raising a fund of about $40 million to groom venture capitalists, reports The Information.

StrictlyVC is sponsored this week by Meld Valuation, a premiere independent valuation firm. We care about understanding the unique risk profile of your situation and most importantly making the quantitative reflect the qualitative story. Contact us today to learn about our services and how we can help you with everything from cap table management to complex valuation engagements.

Twenty-year-old Akamai Technologies has reportedly hired Morgan Stanley to explore a strategic alternatives, according to Bloomberg. The company has been under activist pressure from Paul Singer’s Elliott Associates, which holds a 6.5 percent stake.

Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world, begging the question: what good will he do with all that money?

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has given two potential successors new high-profile titles at Berkshire Hathaway.

Kevin Harrington, a senior aide to the Trump administration who’d previously worked for Peter Thiel both at Clarium Capital and Thiel Macro, reportedly suggested withdrawing U.S. troops from Eastern Europe last year in a bid to gain favor with Russian President Vladimir Putin. [Spits out coffee.]

Last week, Billboard reported Jimmy Iovine, who helped sell Beats to Apple in 2014, was set to leave Apple in August. Now Iovine is refuting those rumors.

Google Fiber, once one of the internet company’s most audacious projects, just lost another executive as the business struggles to gain traction: Gabriel Stricker, who joined the company from Twitter in late 2015, just joined the gaming company Niantic. CNBC has more here.

Aflac, the insurance giant, is looking to hire a senior associate. The job is in the Bay Area.

Founded by two MIT grads in 2014, Milwaukee-based Bright Cellars has exploded to 40+ employees and is carving a new path for venture-backed startups in the midwest. Bright Cellars’ subscription wine service uses questions like “what’s your favorite type of chocolate” to match members with wines that match their personal taste. Take the quiz to see your wine matches.

The global power needed to create cryptocurrencies this year could rival the entire electricity consumption of Argentina. More here.

What’s Slack doing with your data?

Unpaid internships are back. (Sorry, college students.)

Five questions to ask at your next (paid) job interview.

The story behind the pole-dancing robots that everyone’s talking about at CES.

Harsh! The 2018 Audi S4 is a perfectly nice car if you aren’t looking to attract any attention to yourself, says Bloomberg.

Shares in Eastman Kodak jumped as much as 77 percent this morning, after the former camera and film heavyweight said it would launch the Kodakcoin, “a photocentric cryptocurrency to empower photographers and agencies to take greater control in image rights management.” Bloomberg has more here. (At our StrictlyVC event in September, Cooley attorney Marco Santori predicted that nearly every recognizable brand will eventually have its own cryptocurrency, which sounded crazy at the time . . . )

An expensive, highly classified U.S. spy satellite is presumed to be a total loss after it failed to reach orbit atop a SpaceX rocket, according to industry and government officials. The WSJ has more here.

The best way to raise capital is to “run a process.” The best way to run a process is to use Foundersuite. Foundersuite makes the leading Investor CRM, used by startups to raise more than $500 million in seed and VC since Q1:16. Foundersuite’s platform also includes a searchable database of 50,000 angels and VCs, as well as an Investor Update tool to engage stakeholders and “warm up” prospective investors. StrictlyVC readers get a full 30% off for 6 months using code “StrictlyVC,” or email us to discuss volume pricing for your entire portfolio.

Practice Fusion, a 12-year-old San Francisco-based startup backed by the likes of Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, was written about several years ago as a company on the brink of going public. In 2015, JPMorgan, working with Practice Fusion, estimated that the company could be assigned a valuation of around $1.5 billion if it went public in 2016, a figure based off estimated revenue of $181 million for 2018.

Instead, Practice Fusion is selling for $100 million in cash to publicly traded Allscripts, it was announced yesterday. The amount, roughly two-thirds of the $157 million the company had raised over the years from VCs, is further “subject to adjustment for working capital and net debt.”

The news won’t come as a complete shock to anyone who has been following the electronic medical records company for the last couple of years. Despite backing from Founders Fund — along with Kleiner Perkins, ORIX Growth Capital, Artis Ventures and others — Practice Fusion had stumbled in recent years as bigger competitors like 38-year-old Epic Systems continue to gain market share.

In fact, despite raising a $70 million Series D round in 2013 led by Kleiner, Practice Fusion’s fortunes seemed to turn sharply by mid 2015.

More here.

Alkami, an eight-year-old, Plano, Tex.-based white-label service for power mobile services for banks and credit unions, has raised $70 million in Series D funding led by General Atlantic, with participation from earlier backers S3 Ventures andArgonaut Private Equity. TechCrunch has more here.

Canva, a five-year-old, Australia-based graphic design-as-a-service company, has raised $40 million in new funding at a $1 billion valuation led by Sequoia China, with participation from Blackbird Ventures and Felicis Ventures. Bloomberg has more here.

Cityblock, a five-month-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based urban healthcare services startup focused on low-income patients, has raised $22 million in new funding led byMaverick Ventures, with participation from Thrive Capital and former parentSidewalk Labs. CNBC has more here.

Collibra, a nearly 10-year-old, New York-based maker of data governance software for business users, has raised $58 million in Series D funding co-led by Iconiq Capital and Battery Ventures. Earlier investors also joined the round, includingDawn Capital, Index Ventures and Newion Investments. TechCrunch has more here.

eFounders, a seven-year-old, Paris- and Brussels-based startup studio focused on creating SaaS businesses, has raised €3 million ($3.6 million) led by Connect Ventures and investor Xavier Niel, says Axios. More here.

ElliQ, a two-year-old Israel-based maker of social robots for older adults, has raised $20 million in Series A funding from Samsung NEXT, SPARX Group, Glory Ventures, Toyota AI Ventures, iRobot and Bloomberg Beta. TechCrunch has more here.

Neurogastrx, a 5.5-year-old, Campbell, Ca.-based biopharmaceutical company that’s developing therapies for gastrointestinal disorders, has raised $45 million in Series A funding from 5AM Ventures, OrbiMed and VenBio Partners. FierceBiotech has more here.

Red Points, a six-year-old, Barcelona, Spain-based SaaS company focused around IP infringement detection and removal, has raised $12 million in Series B funding led by Northzone, with participation from Mangove Capital Partners andSabadell Venture Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Skyword, a 7.5-year-old, Boston-based content marketing software and services company, has raised $25 million in growth funding from Rho Acceleration, a division of Rho Capital Partners. Xconomy has more here.

StackShare, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based online community that invites developers to see all the best software tools and who’s using them, has raised $5.2 million in Series A funding led by e.Ventures, with participation Cervin Venturesand numerous angel investors. We’d written about the company’s $1.5 million seed round last summer. TechCrunch has more on its newest round here.

Wonderschool, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based network on in-home daycares and preschools, has raised $2.1 million in new funding from Omidyar Network, Be Curious Partners, Rethink Education, Edelweiss Partners and Learn Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Lerer Hippeau Ventures, the seven-year-old, New York-based venture firm, is looking to raise roughly $100 million for its sixth early-stage fund and $50 million for a second opportunities fund, show SEC filings. The firm had closed its fifth early-stage fund with $113 million in late 2015 and its first opportunities fund, for follow-on investments, with $28 million last June.

Neo, a new venture platform led by serial entrepreneur and longtime investor Ali Partovi, has raised $37 million for a new investment fund that’s tied to an exclusive professional organization. Wired has the story here.

Signia Venture Partners, a 5.5-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based early-stage venture firm, is targeting $100 million for its third fund, shows an SEC filing. The outfit had closed its second fund with $85 million in late 2016. More here.

Sonoma Brands, a two-year-old, Sonoma, Ca.-based health and food brand platform launched by Jon Sebastiani, has closed its second consumer brand-focused growth equity fund with $60 million. Forbes has more here.

StrictlyVC is sponsored this week by Meld Valuation, a premiere independent valuation firm. We care about understanding the unique risk profile of your situation and most importantly making the quantitative reflect the qualitative story. Contact us today to learn about our services and how we can help you with everything from cap table management to complex valuation engagements.

Alibaba Group will consider listing in Hong Kong, potentially providing a powerful boost to the financial hub which is preparing to allow dual-class share listings. Reuters has more here.

Aston Martin is going public and its looking for a valuation of roughly £5 billion (roughly $6.8 billion), says Bloomberg. The company is majority owned by the investment firm Investindustrial Advisors and Kuwaiti investors.

i.am+, a company founded by Black Eyed Pea-turned-tech entrepreneur Will.i.am, has acquired headphone maker Earin, just five months after acquiring smart home hub maker, Wink. Terms weren’t disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.

Salesforce has acquired Attic Labs, the San Francisco-based creator of the Noms open-source decentralized database. Attic Labs had raised more than $8 million from investors, including Greylock Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Viacom, the owner of MTV and Nickelodeon, is acquiring influencer marketing shopWhosay for undisclosed terms. Whosay, founded in 2010, had raised about $30 million in funding from investors, including Comcast Ventures, Greylock Partners, Amazon, Primary Venture Partners, Tencent and CAA. The WSJ has more here.

Sad news: James Dolan—one of the co-creators of SecureDrop —took his own life over the holidays. He was 36. More here.

In a tweetstorm yesterday, former Apple designer Tony Fadell publicly criticized Apple and other Silicon Valley firms for their role in device addiction, arguing that adults and children alike are slaves to their phones and social media.

Mike Novogratz, the Wall Street trader who became one of bitcoin’s most outspoken champions, is starting a merchant bank dedicated to cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based ventures. And he intends to take it public.

Emily Weiss of Glossier, who spoke at one our StrictlyVC events last year, gets a nice write-up in New York magazine, which asks: How long does it take to become millennials’ Estee Lauder? About three years.

The Office of the Chief Investment Officer at the University of California is responsible for managing the University of California’s retirement, endowment, working capital, and cash assets, and it’s looking for an investment officer. The job is in Oakland, Ca.

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Facebook is about to jump into the consumer hardware business in a big way with a video chat device named Portal that will put it in direct competition with Amazon’s hugely popular line of Echo voice-controlled devices.

A crypto website changes its data, and $100 billion in market value vanishes.

Internet ad firms are losing hundreds of millions of dollars following the introduction of a new privacy feature from Apple.

Trump-whisperer-turned-adversary Steve Bannon is “stepping down” from his post as executive chairman of Breitbart News.

Toyota and Pizza Hut are teaming up to create what could eventually become autonomous-driving and pizza-making delivery cars. (Not a joke.)

“Alexa, draw me a bath, please.”

The Diptyque Valentine’s Day collection. (Hey, it’s coming up fast.)

Before we dive into things: We’re very excited to announce a couple of new additions to our February 27 event in San Francisco at NEA‘s South Park space. Now joining us for the evening are Medha Agarwal, a rising star on Redpoint’s early-stage investing team who some of you may already know (she’ll be joining Tina Sharkey of Brandless in conversation), and Kate Conger of Gizmodo, a former colleague over at TechCrunch and one of the industry’s top cyber security reporters. She’ll be sitting down with Marten Mickos of HackerOne.

We’re also very thankful to those who’ve have raised their hand to partner with us on the event, including the global law firm Morrison Foerster or MoFo, which prides itself on providing cutting-edge advice to startups (without taking itself too seriously); and Anduin Transactions, a young transaction workflow platform founded by Joe Lonsdale and Alin Bui with the goal of making private market transactions more efficient for all parties.

More announcements relating to the evening are coming. If you’d like to join us, don’t wait too long to grab a seat.

The messaging app Telegram plans to raise up to $500 million by issuing digital tokens in what could potentially become the largest ICO to date. TechCrunch has more here.

In an unusual campaign to make Apple more socially responsible, two activist shareholders want the company to develop tools and research effects on young people of smartphone overuse and addiction. The WSJ has more here.

Cryptocurrencies are being sold off left and right amid concerns about regulation and demand from Asia. Bloomberg has more here.

Three class action complaints have been filed against Intel over the Meltdown and Spectre CPU security flaws that were widely publicized last week. The suits cite the security vulnerabilities but also Intel’s response time. Ars Technica has more here.

The best way to raise capital is to “run a process.” The best way to run a process is to use Foundersuite. Foundersuite makes the leading Investor CRM, used by startups to raise more than $500 million in seed and VC since Q1:16. Foundersuite’s platform also includes a searchable database of 50,000 angels and VCs, as well as an Investor Update tool to engage stakeholders and “warm up” prospective investors. StrictlyVC readers get a full 30% off for 6 months using code “StrictlyVC,” or email us to discuss volume pricing for your entire portfolio.

James Damore, the former Google engineer who was fired in August after posting a memo to an internal Google message board, arguing that women may not be equally represented in tech because they are biologically less capable of engineering, has filed a class action lawsuit against the company in Santa Clara Superior Court in Northern California.

His claims: that Google unfairly discriminates against white men whose political views are unpopular with its executives.

Damore is joined in the suit by another former Google engineer named David Gudeman, who spent three years with Google, working on a query engine. According to Gudeman’s LinkedIn profile, he left the company in December 2016 and has been self-employed since.

The lawsuit, filed by Dhillon Law Group, says it aims to represent all employees of Google who’ve been discriminated against due to their “perceived conservative political views by Google,” due to “their male gender by Google” and “due to their Caucasian race by Google.”

More specifically, it accuses Google of singling out, mistreating, and systematically punishing and terminating employees who “expressed views deviating from the majority view at Google on political subjects raised in the workplace and relevant to Google’s employment policies and its business, such as ‘diversity’ hiring policies, ‘bias sensitivity’ or ‘social justice’…”

More here.

BaishanCloud, a 2.5-year-old, Beijing, China-based cloud data services company, has raised $50 million in Series C funding co-led by Alpha Capital and Chunjia Capital. More here.

Citiesocial, a six-year-old, Taipei, Taiwain-based startup that helps emerging brands break into Asia’s e-commerce market, has raised $2.75 million led byAlibaba Taiwan Entrepreneurs Fund, with participation from CDIB Capital and returning investor Cherubic Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Drop, a five-year-old, Dublin, Ireland-based smart kitchen company, has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Alsop Louie Partners, with participation fromFrontline Ventures, Ross Lewis, and Domini Kemp. The Spoon has more here.

Element Analytics, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that makes analytics data management and integration software for industrial companies, has raised $19.5 million in Series A funding. Investors include GE Ventures,Honeywell Ventures, ABB Technology Ventures, Mitsui & Co., Aster, Blue Bear Capital, and Kleiner Perkins. More here.

FinMkt, a six-year-old, New York-based company whose tech platform is designed for use by the online lending industry, has raised $5 million in funding led byManchesterStory Group, with participation from West Loop Ventures, Perot Jain LP, and Vectr Ventures. More here.

Immusoft, a nine-year-old, Seattle, Wa.-based gene therapy company, has raised $3 million in Series B funding led by 600 Mile Challenge Fund. More here.

Inocucor, a 10-year-old, Denver, Co.-based developer of biological crop inputs, has raised $9.5 million in additional Series B funding, bringing the round to $38.5 million altogether. Pontifax AgTech, an investor in the global food and agriculture sector, led the round, with participation from earlier backers Cycle Capital Management, Desjardins Innovatech and Cairn Investments. More here.

StrongAuth, a 17-year-old, Sunnyvale, Ca-based maker of enterprise key management software, has raised $10 million in Series A funding from Systena Corp. More here.

Voatz, a three-year old, Boston-based startup that provides a mobile voting platform and uses the blockchain to anonymously collect and audit voting data, has raised $2.2 million led by Medici Ventures, with participation from Urban Innovation Fund and Oakhouse Ventures. More here.

General Catalyst Partners, the 18-year-old venture firm, with offices in Palo Alto, San Francisco, Boston and New York, is raising a $1 billion fund, according to the WSJ. That’s the firm’s largest yet. In early 2016, GC closed on its eighth and current fund, a $845 million vehicle that was itself a sizable step up from the firm’s previous fund, which closed with $675 million in 2013. More here.

Joe Zawadzki, chief executive of digital ad-buying technology firm MediaMath, andEric Franchi, a co-founder and former executive at Undertone, will lead an ad-tech focused fund they have named MathCapital, alongside three other MediaMath executives. (Because investors have made so much investing in ad tech? This is definitely a counterintuitive play.) The WSJ has more here.

StrictlyVC is sponsored this week by Meld Valuation, a premiere independent valuation firm. We care about understanding the unique risk profile of your situation and most importantly making the quantitative reflect the qualitative story. Contact us today to learn about our services and how we can help you everything from cap table management to complex valuation engagements.

Celgene has agreed to acquire a cancer drug startup called Impact Biomedicinesfor upwards of $7 billion, producing a “silly stupendous return” on investment for Medicxi Ventures, notes Axios. Medicxi was the sole participant in the startup’s $22.5 million Series A funding round. More here.

Ring, the connected home security gadget startup, has acquired Mr. Beams, a maker of LED lighting with wireless connectivity and motion-sensing capabilities. Terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.

Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will sell about 29 percent of his stake in the company to SoftBank for about $1.4 billion. Kalanick owns about 10 percent of Uber.

Teddie Wardie, a partner at Atomico and VP at Dawn Capital before that, has left London to join Insight Venture Partners in New York as a principal.

Jump Capital is looking to hire an associate for its investment team. The job is in Chicago.

Struggling GoPro just quit the drone business. It also just hired JPMorgan to explore a possible sale.

The nine best quotes from Oprah’s Golden Globes speech. (We know you also want to see all the red carpet looks.)

Why hobbies make you happier.

White House advisor Stephen Miller had to be escorted off CNN’s set yesterday.

Collapsible snow shovel. (Sorry, East Coast.)

See you in a couple of weeks.:)

Donald Trump just signed a $1.5 tillion tax cut.

After 17 years between at Google, as both CEO, then Alphabet chairman, Eric Schmidt is stepping down and into a technical advisory role. Alphabet’s statement on the timing wasn’t so telling.

Bitcoin has been on a tear this past with the value of the cryptocurrency jumping from $8,000 to nearly $20,000. That run hit an abrupt end today as the price crashed as much as 23 percent on Coinbase. The price briefly dipped below $12,000 on some exchanges at around 7:30 a.m. London time, notes TechCrunch. More here.

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What a challenging, exhilarating year it has been for women everywhere, starting from the women’s March on Washington to former Uber engineer Susan Fowler’s eye-opening and now famous blog post to the #metoo movement that has swept the country, washing dozens of sexual predators out of their powerful roles in the process.

All the while, women in tech have been driving their companies to new levels of success, including reaching difficult product development milestones and, in many of the cases you’re about to read, raising meaningful follow-on funding.

That’s not always an easy task, as many will tell you. In 2016, companies with at least one female founder raised 19 percent of all seed rounds, 14 percent of early-stage venture, and just 8 percent of late-stage venture rounds, according to Crunchbase.

Herewith, just 42 of the many women who defied the stats this year — and who are posed to kick more arse in 2018.

More here.

Section 32, the San Diego, Ca.-based venture firm founded last year for former GV CEO Bill Maris, has set out to raise $250 million for a second venture fund, shows an SEC filing. Maris had closed the firm’s debut fund in May with $150 million. (We most recently chatted with him about Uber.)

CyrusOne, a publicly traded REIT, is buying Zenium Data Centers, a London-based hyperscale data center provider, for $442 million. Sellers include Quantum Strategic Partners. Data Center Knowledge has more here.

Dan Morehead of Pantera Capital — and the firm’s investors — are having avery good year, thanks to the soaring price of Bitcoin.

Initial public offerings that once took seven months to go from announcement to trading are now taking less than 50 days.

The Coinbase effect : a look at the power of the most important cryptocurrency platform in the U.S.

Related: Goldman Sachs is setting up a cryptocurrency trading desk.

How a wooden surfboard is made.

Zinc House.