Hi, all, hope you had a great weekend! Apologies for the very late send. It’s been a busy day on our end, including an exchange with one of San Francisco’s notoriously obstinate parking enforcement officers. (Predictably, we lost that argument.)

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Top News in the A.M.

Juno promised drivers equity. When it was acquired by Gett for $200 million in April, the equity program was extinguished. Now those drivers are suing Juno.

Vice Media revealed today that it has raised $450 million in new funding from the private equity firm TPG in a deal that assigns the 23-year-old, Brooklyn company a stunning $5.7 billion post-money valuation.

Why Stackshare is Quietly Becoming a Secret Tool for Devs and CTOs

On Stackshare, Airbnb lists over 50 services in its “stack,” Slack lists 24, and Spotify lists more than 31; these stacks are collections of different pieces of software that each company is using to run their operations, and range from infrastructure tools to communications tools to container tools to email services.

Why are companies beginning to share the specific mix of apps that’s enabling their businesses to grow? Because they know it’s the missing piece of the puzzle for developers, many of whom struggle to learn which tools certain companies use and why, says Stackshare founder and CEO Yonas Beshawred.

In fact, Stackshare is quietly becoming a go-to platform for numerous players in the startup ecosystem for a few reasons, Beshawred argues.

The benefits are clearest for developers. “If you’re trying to build a new on-demand service,” he notes, “you can come to Stackshare and see all the tools that Instacart uses.” Stackshare also benefits companies; when big or small startups volunteer what tools they’re using, they have a better shot at attracting developers who are well-versed in those very same technologies.

Meanwhile, Stackshare is attracting the attention of SaaS vendors, a small but growing number of which are beginning to sponsor sections of the platform and that now have a new place for their communities to evangelize their products.

Certainly, something seems to be clicking. Stackshare, founded in San Francisco in 2014, currently features the “verified” tech stacks of 7,000 companies. More, it claims that more than 150,000 developers are now using the service, where they not only see which companies are using what but they’re also invited to (and do) comment on the tools, helping their peers understand what they should be using and avoiding.

Investors like it, too. At least, today, Stackshare is announcing that it had raised $1.5 million in seed funding late last year, led by Cervin Ventures. Other participants include Precursor Ventures, Square exec Gokul Rajaman, and former VMWare and Facebook exec turned VC Jocelyn Goldfein. The round follows $300,000 in earlier seed funding from 500 Startups; MicroVentures; Airbnb’s first employee, Nick Grandy; Heroku’s former engineering manager Glenn Gillen, and others.

Beshawred — an Ethiopian-American from Maryland and former Accenture analyst — has some competition, as you might guess.

More here.

New Fundings

Augury, a five-year-old, Haifa, Israel and New York -based industrial IoT startup focused on mechanical diagnostics, has raised $17 million in Series B funding. Eclipse Ventures and Munich Re/HSB Ventures co-led the round; other participants include Sound Ventures, First Round Capital, Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Pritzker Group Venture Capital. Globes has more here.

Casper, the three-year-old, New York-based mattress startup, has raised $170 million led by Target, at a pre-money valuation of $750 million, reports Dealbook. (If this sounds familiar, it’s because of reports in late May that the company had raised $75 million from Target.) Target yesterday also began selling Casper mattresses, pillows, sheets and more in its stores and on its website. More here.

ClassPass, a four-year-old, New York-based subscription service for fitness classes and gyms, has raised $70 million in Series C funding led by Temasek. Earlier investors that include Acequia Capital, CRV, General Catalyst, GV, M13 and Thrive also joined the round. More here.

FuboTV, a three-year-old, New York-based over-the-top video startup dedicated to premium live sports, has raised $55 million in Series C funding led by Northzone, with participation from 21st Century Fox, Sky and Scripps Networks Interactive. The company has now raised $75 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Gamida Cell, a 12.5-year-old, Jerusalem -based genetic disease company, has raised $40 million in funding led by Shavit Capital. Other participants in the round include VMS Investment Group, Israel Biotech Fund, Novartis, and earlier backers Clal Biotechnology Industries and Israel HealthCare Ventures. Globes has more here.

Julia Computing, a two-year-old, Berkeley, Ca.-based open source computing language for data, analytics, algorithmic trading, machine learning and artificial intelligence, has raised $4.6 million in seed funding from General Catalyst Partners and Founder Collective. More here.

Well, hello!

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Top News in the A.M.

Perhaps you’ve heard? Amazon — the everything store —  announced this morning that it’s buying 431 actual stores across the country by purchasing upscale grocer Whole Foods for a whopping $13.7 billion in cash.

Meanwhile, Walmart  – which has more than 5,000 stores and clubs nationwide — just snapped up the online men’s retailer Bonobos for $310 million in cash.

Investor Benedict Evans of Andreessen Horowitz summed up the situation nicely in a tweet: “Amazon buys Whole Foods, Walmart buys Bonobos. Tanks on the lawn.”

Our colleague over at TechCrunch, Sarah Perez, has also chimed in with a smart piece, writing that Amazon wants to become Walmart before Walmart can become Amazon.

Other grocers’ stocks have plummeted on the news of Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods. Observers think this is also bad news for Blue Apron and Instacart.

The Atomico Partner Who U.S. Founders Should Know

If you’re a U.S.-based founder and you’ve ever wondered how to pitch the London-based firm Atomico or, more specifically, who to pitch, Hiro Tamura is someone you might get to know better. Though he’s based in London, Tamura is the general partner who spends the most time in the U.S. — about one week a month on average.

How does it  work? Tamura says he gets ample help from Atomico’s executive-in-residence, Carter Adamson, who lives in Brooklyn and formerly cofounded one of the first modern music streaming services, Rdio. (Atomico backed the company, which shut down in 2015.) Adamson was also formerly the head of product at Skype, which was famously cofounded by Atomico founder Niklas Zennstrom.

Earlier this week we talked with Tamura about leading a fresh, $64 million investment in Clutter, an L.A-based on-demand storage company. We also asked what else Atomico has cooking stateside.

You’ve been with Atomico for the past decade — so since its start, essentially. How did land at the firm?

It’s an equal opportunity employer; I’m a Japanese guy. [Laughs.] I’ve been in different markets doing tech since 1996; I worked on Asian internet companies like China.com at Lehman in New York; afterward, a bunch of us left and launched a pan-Asian investment firm [focused on media and telecom] that covered Tokyo, Seoul, Greater China. I then started my own investment firm in Tokyo and I started working with Niklas and the board of Skype as an adviser [given that] I knew something about the region and how to help make scalable Internet companies effectively grow and navigate regulatory issues.

After eBay acquired Skype [in 2005], Niklas asked a few us to come along with him to focus on Atomico. In 2010, I moved from Tokyo to London to permanently reside in the U.K. and help grow the business.

For some reason, I thought you actually ran a Silicon Valley outpost for Atomico.

No, I love living in London, though I’m frequently seen in airports, hopping on and off flights to the U.S.

While Atomico looks at the European opportunity as being incredibly robust, we have a heritage of being global investor by virtue of who we were in our past lives, and there’s obviously a lot of innovation still happening in Silicon Valley and L.A. and New York and a number of other U.S. hubs that have emerged over the last five, six years. We feel like those trends will have a long-lasting impact, and we should be a part of them.

How does a VC from London cover the U.S.?

More here.

New Fundings

Atrium LTS, a new, San Francisco-based company that was founded by serial entrepreneur Justin Kan and aims to “disrupt the legal industry” (the company isn’t being much more specific for that right now), has raised $10.5 million in funding in a gigantic party round that includes dozens of firms and investors. TechCrunch has much more here.

Bright Greens, a 1.5-year-old, Rockville, Md.-based frozen smoothie company, has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Eighteen94 Capital (a unit of Kellogg Co.), with participation from Blue Venture Investors. Fortune has more here.

Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, a 2.5-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based immunotherapy company focused on treating skin cancer, has raised $27 million in Series B funding led by F-Prime Capital Partners, with participation from earlier backers Sofinnova Ventures and VenBio Partners. Xconomy has more here.

Codota, a four-year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based maker of workflow optimization software for developer communities, has raised $2 million in seed funding from Khosla Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Common Networks, a year-old, San Francisco-based wireless internet service provider, has raised $7 million in Series A funding from Eclipse Ventures and Lux Capital. More here.

Covr Financial Technologies, a four-year-old, Boise, Idaho-based digital personal insurance platform, has raised $5 million in funding from Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. More here.

Dingxiang Technology, a Beijing-based cybersecurity startup focused on risk control systems, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital China. China Money Network has more here.

Entelo, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based recruiting software company, has raised $20 million in Series C funding led by U.S. Venture Partners, with participation from Battery Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Correlation Ventures. More here.

Evasc Neurovascular Enterprises, a nine-year-old, Vancouver, Canada-based medical device company focused on treating cerebral aneurysms, has raised $7.6 million in Series A funding led by Yonghua Capital. More here.

Fairy, a year-old, San Francisco-based startup that offers 30-minute, daily, “hotel like” cleanings, has raised $4.1 million in funding from investors that include CrunchFund, Naval Ravikant, Flight Ventures’ Gil Penchina, Cyan and Scott Bannister, and others. TechCrunch has more here.

FraudScope, a year-old, Atlanta, Ga.-based enterprise SaaS platform aimed at reducing healthcare billing claims fraud, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding, including from Spider Capital, GRA Venture Fund, TechSquare Labs, and Mosley Ventures. More here.

Goodera, a three-year-old, Bengaluru, India-based company that connects businesses with nonprofits that help them reach their sustainability goals, raised $5.5 million in Series A funding from Nexus Venture Partners and Omidyar Network. The Economic Times has more here.

HLTH, a year-old, New York-based industry event focused around how healthcare companies can reduce costs, has raised $5 million in funding led by Primary Venture Partners and Launch Capital. More here.

Mindstrong Health, a 2.5-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.- based maker of mobile-based cognitive-function diagnostic tests, has raised $14 million in Series A funding led by Foresite Capital and ARCH Venture Partners. Other partipants in the round include Optum Ventures, Berggruen Holdings, and the One Mind Brain Health Impact Fund.

Mobike, a 1.5-year-old, Shanghai-based on-demand bike rental company, has raised $600 million in Series E funding led by Tencent Holdings, with participation from Sequoia Capital, TPG, and Hillhouse Capital, BOCOM International, ICBC International, and asset manager Farallon Capital. TechCrunch has the story here.

Regroup Therapy, a six-year-old, Chicago-based company that enables mental health professionals to virtually meet with patients at a variety of institutions, has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by OSF Ventures, with participation from Hyde Park Angels, OCA Ventures, HLM Venture Partners, Furthur Fund, and Impact Engine. The Chicago Tribune has more here.

Scopely, a six-year-old, Culver City, Ca.-based mobile game publisher, has raised $60 million in Series C funding at a valuation north of $600 million led by Revolution Growth. Other participants in the round include Greenspring Associates, Sands Capital Ventures, Cross Creek Advisors, and Pritzker Group Venture Capital. Variety has more here.

Spry Health, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based company that makes health management technologies and remote patient monitoring software, has raised $5.5 million in Series A funding led by Grove Ventures, with participation from Stanford-StartX Fund, OVO Fund, and Think+. More here.

Voiceitt, a five-year-old, Ramat Gan, Israel-based startup that develops apps for people with speech impairments, has raised $2 million in funding, including from Cahn Capital, Technion, Quake Capital Partners, Dreamit Ventures, and Buffalo Angels. More on the company here.

ZineOne, a three-year-old, Milpitas, Ca.-based analytics platform that aims to help brands engage with their customers contextually, has raised $2.5 million in funding led by Golden Seeds Angels and Hyderabad Angels. More here.

New Funds

Medicxi Ventures, a London-based early-stage venture capital firm focused on early- to later-stage biotech companies, has raised $300 million for its latest fund, says FierceBiotech. Among its limited partners: Novartis and Verily. More here.

Middle East Venture Partners is set to raise a new and much bigger fund than the vehicle its current investing. According to The National, founding partner and chief executive Walid Hanna said yesterday that the firm, which right now has $120 million under management, is poised to triple that amount with its next fund, noting that venture capital had “taken off” as an asset class regionally. (Hanna also pointed to the announcement last month that Saudi Telecom’s STC Ventures is creating a $500 million fund.) More here.

Exits

Samsung quietly bought a New York-based startup called VRB, which has developed several apps to capture and view 360-degree content. Sources tell TechCrunch that Samsung, an investor in the company, paid $5.5 million in the deal. (VRB never publicly disclosed exactly how much it raised or from whom.) TechCrunch has more here.

Tencent is considering a takeover of “Angry Birds” maker Rovio for close to $3 billion, according to The Information. More here.

Also Sponsored By . . .

StrictlyVC is also sponsored today by the Financial Solutions Lab at CFSI, which just announced the eight winning startups selected for its 2017 FinLab class. Each gets $250,000 plus other resources most startups only dream of, including executive-level mentors at CFSI and JPMorgan Chase. FinLab’s first two classes of innovators have collectively raised more than $110 million in follow-on capital since joining the program, and today serve more than 1.2 million American consumers. Who made the cut this year? Blueprint Income, Dave, EverSafe, Grove, Nova, Point, Token Transit, and Tomorrow.

People

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is looking for some ideas about where to focus his shorter-term philanthropic efforts.

After dipping its toe into the water with “Planet of the Apps,” Apple is apparently pushing more aggressively into original content, hiring Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, who since 2005 had been co-presidents of Sony Pictures Entertainment. More here.

Alda Leu Dennis has joined Initialized Capital as an investing partner and its COO. Dennis was last an investor with the secondaries firm 137 Ventures; she was also previously the COO of Airtime, general counsel at Founders Fund, and assistant general counsel at Clarium Capital Management. We talked with her yesterday.

Astasia Myers has joined the early-stage enterprise team of Redpoint Ventures as an associate. Prior to Redpoint, Myers worked at Cisco Investments, where she focused on cloud-infrastructure M&A and investments. She also spent two years as an equity research analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co.

These Twitter VPs are leaving the company.

Jobs

23andMe, the genetic testing company, is looking for a corporate development associate. The job is in Mountain View, Ca.

Essential Reads

Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma may team up with SoftBank Group Corp.’s Masayoshi Son in a $1.5 billion investment in ride-hailing startup Grab, according to Bloomberg. The investment would be part of Grab’s previously reported $1.5 billion fundraising, led by SoftBank and aimed at giving the Singaporean startup cash to battle Uber in Southeast Asia.

Hi, happy Thursday, all.:)

Today in Austin, Tex., today’s sponsor —  the Financial Solutions Lab at CFSI — is announcing the startups selected from more than 350 applicants for its next FinLab class. The eight winning startups are set to receive $250,000 each, plus incredible access to resources and mentors that can help them scale. Put your hands together for Blueprint Income, Dave, EverSafe, Grove, Nova, Point, Token Transit, and Tomorrow — each of which offers a solution that can improve Americans’ financial health. Who says fintech can’t be a force for good?

Top News in the A.M.

Slack, the enteprise messaging startup, has reportedly received interest about a potential acquisition from Amazon. According to Bloomberg’s sources, the company could be valued at a jaw-dropping $9 billion in such a deal. More here.

The price of bitcoin is plunging after a record run.

The Federal Reserve said yesterday that it’s raising its benchmark interest rate to a range of 1 percent to 1.25 percent in a widely expected move. More here.

Now Trucker Path is Getting into the Lending Business, Too

Trucker Path, a  three-year-old, Mountain View-based platform that helps connect drivers, brokers, shippers, and carriers, has just lined up $30 million in debt funding so it can start loaning some of those truckers money right after they deliver their freight.

It’s seemingly a win-win. It means truckers needn’t wait 30 to 60 days to get paid by the vendors who hire them. In the meantime, the loans are a new revenue opportunity for Trucker Path, which is charging its customers slightly more in interest than it’s paying its debt provider: Flexible Funding, a lower-flying, 25-year-old lending institution in San Francisco.

It’s the latest twist in the war to win over the hearts of the 1.6 million long-haul truckers in the U.S., 550,000 of whom are already using Trucker Path’s app, according to cofounder and CEO Ivan Tsybaev.

Why do they use it? Well, partly to communicate to their peers where parking is, and isn’t, available. In fact, it’s one of the stickiest features of the app, which began as a navigational tool but now features everything from crowdsourcing to the ability to track shipments from dispatch to delivery.

While people outside the industry might not grasp what a pain in the butt it is to park a truck, a survey by the Department of Transportation has shown that 75 percent of drivers say they regularly have trouble finding a safe place to park when they need to rest. Meanwhile, using Trucker Path, drivers save 11 hours, or $600, each month, insists Tsybaev. And you can imagine the savings for enterprise customers like Pepsi and FedEx that send out thousands of trucks every day.

Trucker Path is not the only shiny new option in the industry, of course. You’ve probably read about the growing spate of startups looking to elbow aside traditional trucking companies, including Turvo, which we wrote about here, and Uber Freight — a freight broker that’s eventually expected, like Trucker Path, to offer a single platform where brokers, shippers, and carriers can work together in real time.

Tsybaev says his company already has the kind of network effect that can mean the difference between barely surviving and thriving, though, and investors apparently buy his argument. The 60-person company — which has already raised $21.5 million from Renren and Wicklow Capital of Chicago, among others — says it’s right now talking with investors about a Series B round. (It says it’s already fielding sheets, actually.)

More here.

New Fundings

BeauCare Clinics, a four-year-old, Beijing-headquartered plastic surgery clinic franchise, has raised $29 million in Series B funding led by GP Capital, a Shanghai-based investment firm backed by state-owned Shanghai International Group. China Money Network has more here.

Bowery Farming, a two-year-old, New York-based indoor farming company, has raised $20 million from investors, including General Catalyst Partners and GV. The round brings the company’s total funding to $27.5 million. Forbes has more here.

Careem, a five-year-old, Dubai-based ride-hailing company that’s currently operating in 80 cities across the Middle East, has added $150 million in financing to a previously announced Series D funding, bringing to the round to $500 million. The lastest capital infusion was led by Dubai’s Kingdom Holding, which also owns a stake in Lyft ; German automaker Daimler (which itself has acquired Hailo in the UK, Taxibeat in Greece and MyTaxi in Germany); and venture firms DCM Ventures and Coatue Management. TechCrunch has more here.

Conviva, an 11-year-old, Foster City, Ca.-based company that delivers metrics to brands like HBO, Sky and ESPN so they can create better in-screen viewing experiences for their customers, has raised $40 million in fresh funding. Investors include Australia’s sovereign wealth fund Future Fund, New Enterprise Associates, Foundation Capital, and Time Warner Investments. Altogether, the company has raised $121 million so far. TechCrunch has more here.

Cybrexa Therapeutics, a months-old, New Haven, Ct.-based cancer therapeutics startup, has raised $6 million in funding from Connecticut Innovations; an investment vehicle affiliated with HighCape Partners; and a group of unnamed angel investors. More here.

Guazi.com, a two-year-old, China-based online used car trading platform, has raised $400 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital China. A number of other participants also joined the round, including H Capital, CMB International, Jingxin Venture Capital, a fund management company established by Chinese steel maker Shougang Group, and Dragoneer Investment Group, along with earlier backers Matrix Partners China and BlueRun Ventures. China Money Network has more here.

Highspot, a 5.5-year-old, Seattle-based startup whose sales software analyzes various communications with prospective clients, then provides data about their effectiveness, has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by Shasta Ventures, with participation from Salesforce Ventures and earlier backer Madrona Venture Group. TechCrunch has more here.

MobiKwik, an eight-year-old, Gurgaon, India-based mobile payments company that’s number two to Paytm in India, is reportedly in talks to raise $100 million to $150 million from investors in a round that would value the company at more than $1 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

Ocugen, a four-year-old, Malvern, Pa.-based biopharmaceutical company that’s developing treatments for sight-threatening diseases, has raised $7.5 million in Series B funding co-led by Abdi Ibrahim, a Turkish pharmaceutical company, and the JSC Lancaster Group, which is a diversified holding company based in Kazakhstan. Individual investors also joined the round. More here.

Ola, the 6.5-year-old, Bangalore, India-based mobile app for cab booking in India (and Uber’s biggest rival there), has reportedly raised about $50 million in fresh funding from hedge fund Tekne Capital Management, as an extension of an ongoing round. The capital brings Ola’s total funding to date to about $2.4 billion, says the outlet Inc 42.

Optoscribe, a seven-year-old, Livingston, U.K.-based maker of glass-based integrated photonics components, has raised £1.8 million ($2.3 million) led by the Scottish business angel investment syndicate Archangels, with participation from Par Equity, Scottish Investment Bank, unnamed individual angels and the Optoscribe management team. More here.

Ridibooks, an eight-year-old, Seoul-based e-book provider that claims to be Korea’s biggest, has raised a $20 million Series C funding, including from Praxis Capital Partners, ShinHan Finance Investment, and Company K Partners. The company has now raised $35 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Twist Bioscience, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup specializing in synthetic DNA, has raised $27 million, completing a $60 million round it began raising in March. The company’s newest investors include Biomatics Capital, Reinet Fund, NFT Investment Limited, Kangmei Group, Bay City Capital GF Xinde Life Science Investment Fund, 3W Partners Capital, and Ditch Plains Capital Management. The company has now raised $181 million altogether. More here.

Unikey, a seven-year-old, Orlando, Fl.-based smart lock startup, has raised an undisclosed amount of  funding from ff Venture Capital, Asset Management Ventures and Samsung NEXT. More here.

New Funds

500 Startups has closed its first Japan-focused fund with $35 million, thanks to help from a government fund, Cool Japan Fund, along with other investors that include camera-maker Nikon, Meizhou Bank, Mitsubishi Estate and the Japanese social network Mixi. TechCrunch has more here.

Foresite Capital, a six-year-old, venture and growth equity firm with offices in San Francisco and New York, is looking to raise up to $650 million for its fourth fund, shows an SEC filing first flagged by Axios.

Glynn Capital, a 47-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based venture and private equity firm, has raised $153 million for its fifth fund, according to an SEC filing that lists a $200 million target.

Hi, happy Wednesday, all.:)

StrictlyVC is being brought to you this week by Rosebud Communications:  AR +PR = better market awareness and more sales. Our monthly public relations retainer of $5,500 includes a full-service analyst relations package. Forrester, Gartner, IDC, Frost & Sullivan — they matter to enterprise software companies, and we can help navigate the waters. Email us at info@rosebudpr.io; operators are standing by.

Top News in the A.M.

David Bonderman, an Uber board member and partner at private equity firm TPG, resigned from the board of the company last night, hours after he made a remark at an Uber meeting, insinuating that adding more women to a company’s board results in “more talking.” TPG, a major stakeholder in the company, is already looking for his replacement. The New York Times has the story here.

Element AI, a year-old, Montreal-based platform and incubator that wants to help companies of all sizes that are building or want to include AI solutions in their businesses but lack the resources to get started, has raised a mammoth Series A round of $102 million. In fact, the company says it’s the biggest round to date for a pure AI company. Data Collective led the round. TechCrunch has more here.

No Active CEO at Uber, No Problem?

Uber has bucked convention from the outset, so it wasn’t entirely surprising when yesterday, company cofounder and CEO Travis Kalanick announced that he’s taking a leave of absence from his San Francisco-based ride-hailing juggernaut —  without naming an interim CEO or disclosing a return date.

Instead, Kalanick told employees, the company will be run by his direct reports. Meanwhile, owing to the results of a probe led by former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder — who was hired to look into allegations of harassment, bullying, and discrimination at the company — some of Kalanick’s responsibilities will be shared or given outright to other senior executives when he does return.

Of course, it all begs the question of how long a 12,000-person company that’s valued at between $60 billion and $70 billion can operate without an active CEO.

Jeffrey Pfeffer, a renowned professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business who has written extensively about organization theory, suggests the answer is, pretty long, particularly given that Kalanick will still have his hand in executive decision-making.

“My sense is that most of what Uber has done is to ‘signal’ that they are changing,” says Pfeffer. “Whether they are [truly implementing change] is another matter.”

Consider: If there are disagreements between sales and operations, who will settle them? If one of Kalanick’s direct reports threatens to quit or takes another job, who has the authority to fill that role? Assuming Uber’s COO search continues, who is doing the interviewing? If it’s Kalanick — who said yesterday that he’ll “still be available as needed for the most strategic decisions ” — then he’s not really taking a leave.

Still, Uber had to do something, says one well-known crisis communications expert who asked not to be named. “As long as Travis was in the CEO role, the company would continue to be the focus of media attention and would be likely the focus of criticism. I think this maneuver puts an end to it, because the focus of all that media criticism is now gone.”

Uber’s move isn’t entirely unprecedented — though it comes close. Pfeffer notes, for example, that it’s not uncommon for CEOs to take a leave of absence, pointing to Oscar Munoz of United Airlines, who took a leave of absence in 2015 to have a heart transplant, and who returned to the role in 2016.

Another CEO who recently took a leave of absence: Ron Wainshal, the CEO of the commercial aircraft leasing company Aircastle, who was granted time away in January to focus on his health (and who announced yesterday that he’s now resigning entirely to “focus on a speedy recovery”).

Of course, both Munoz and Wainshal stepped aside for medical reasons. Jeff Cohn — a succession planning expert at the New York-based leadership development firm Elevate Partners —  says he has never before seen a CEO step aside when there wasn’t a medical reason for it.

“Perhaps it has happened,” says Cohn. “But I can’t think of any high-profile situations where a board has encouraged its CEO to step aside in the context of becoming a better leader.”

There’s a reason for that, says Cohn, who claims it “doesn’t work.”

More here.

New Fundings

AEye, a four-year-old, Pleasanton, Ca.-based robotic vision startup, has raised $16 million in Series A funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and an unnamed investor, with participation from Airbus Ventures, Intel Capital, and Tyche Partners. The WSJ has more here.

Art Medical, an eight-year-old, Netanya, Israel-based developers of smart intubation devices for use in intensive care, has raised $20 million in new funding led by Advanced Medical Technologies. Mobi Health News has more here.

CognitiveScale, a four-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based developer of industry-specific machine intelligence software, has raised $15 million in funding Norwest Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Microsoft Ventures, The Westly Group and USAA. The company has now raised $50 million altogether. Silicon Hills has more here.

Fortanix, a Menlo Park, Ca.-based cybersecurity company, raised $8 million in Series A funding from Foundation Capital and NeoTribe. More here.

Fusion Risk Management, a nine-year-old, Chicago-based company that makes subscription-based disaster recovery software, has raised $41 million in new funding led by Catalyst Investors. Crain’s Chicago Business has more here.

Futu Securities, a five-year-old, Hong Kong-based online brokerage, has raised $145.5 million in Series C funding led by Tencent Holdings, with participation from earlier investors Matrix Partners China and Sequoia Capital China. China Money Network has more here.

GeoQuant, a year-old, San Francisco-based platform for measuring political risk in real time, raised $4 million in seed funding, including from Aleph and XL Innovate. More here.

G.Network, a London-based startup that provides ultra-fast fibre connectivity to businesses, has raised roughly $5.9 million from Albion Capital. More here.

Grainful, a eight-year-old, Ithaca, N.Y.-based food company that makes frozen entrees and meal kits that are centered around steel cut oats, has raised $3.3 million in funding from Advantage Capital, Rand Capital and CircleUp. More here.

Humm Kombucha, an eight-year-old, Bend, Ore.-based maker of kombucha drinks, has raised $10 million in funding led by Velocity Made Good Partners. BevNet has more here.

Hurdl, a year-old, L.A.- and Nashville, Tn.-based experiential marketing company, has raised $2.5 million in seed funding from a long list of angel investors that includes athletes and executives across the NBA, NHL, CBS, 300 Entertainment, LaCorte Ventures, Turner Sports, and CNBC, among other places. More here.

Inturn, a four-year-old, New York-based B2B retail marketplace that helps brands buy and sell excess inventory, has raised $22.5 million in Series B funding led by B Capital Group. TechCrunch has more here.

LabConnect, a 15-year-old, Seattle, Wa.-based company that provides laboratory services to biopharmaceutical organizations, has raised $24.5 million in Series A funding from ABS Capital Partners, Pablo Capital, and BroadOak Capital. More here.

Landed, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that offers to pay up to half of the 20 percent down payment on homes for educators with zero interest or monthly payments, recouping its investment when the home is sold or refinanced, has “landed” $5 million in funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. TechCrunch has more here.

NowRx, a two-year-old, Mountain View, Calif.-based on-demand pharmacy, has raised $2 million in seed funding from individual investors and via the crowdfunding platform SeedInvest.com. More here.

Osso VR, a year-old, Boston-based virtual reality surgical training technology company, has raised $2 million in seed funding led by SignalFire, with participation from Anorak Ventures. More here.

Peerfit, a six-year-old, Tampa, Fl.-based digital platform for employee health benefits, raised $2.3 million in funding from individual investors. More here.

PingCAP, a two-year-old, Beijing-based company that’s building a NewSQL database, has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by China Growth Capital, with participation from Matrix Partners China, Yunqi Partners, Frees Fund and K2VC. China Money Network has more here.

Ponycar, a year-old, Shenzhen-based electric vehicle rental company, has raised $22 million in funding from Chinese smartphone maker OPPO Electronics and investment firm Huiyou Capital, with participation from investment bank China Peakedness. China Money Network has more here.

Proterra, a Greenville, S.C.-based maker of all-electric buses, has raised $55 million in new funding led by Generation Investment Management, with participation from BMW i Ventures. The financing follows a $140 million round that closed in January. Bloomberg has more here.

ROKT, a seven-year-old, Singapore-based digital marketing company, has raised $11 million in additional Series B  from Moelis Australia, Time Inc., Square Peg Capital, and individual investors, including Lachlan Murdoch. The round has now been closed with $26 million. The Australian has more here.

Shadow, a 1.5-year-old, Paris-based cloud computing company, has raised a humongous $57.1 million in Series A funding, and it has reportedly raised the capital from angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Shopmatic, a two-year-old, Singapore-based e-commerce company, has raised $5.7 million in funding led by ACP and Spring Seeds Capital. LiveMint has more here.

SnappCar, a six-year-old, Netherlands-based peer-to-peer carpooling platform, has raised €10 million ($11.2 million) from investors, including Europcar Group, Autobinck Group and Startup Studio Founders. Tech.eu has more here.

Sqrrl, a five-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based cyber security company, has raised $12.3 million in Series C funding led by Spring Lake Equity Partners. More here.

Sure, a 2.5-year-old New York-based on-demand personal insurance company, has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by IA Capital, with participation from Menlo Ventures, FF Venture Capital, Nationwide Ventures, Assurant and AmTrust. VentureBeat has more here.

Trusona, a two-year-old, Scottsdale, Ariz.-based maker of online identity products, has raised $10 million in Series B funding led by Microsoft Ventures, with participation from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. VentureBeat has more here.

WhiteSource, a six-year-old, Woodbury, N.Y.-based maker of security and compliance management software, has raised $10 million in Series B funding led by 83North led the round. Other participants in the round include Microsoft Ventures and David Strohm of Greylock Partners. More here.

Wonderschool, a year-old, San Francisco-based network of boutique early childhood programs, has raised $2 million in Series A funding led by First Round Capital, with participation from Cross Culture Ventures, SoftTech VC, Lerer Ventures, FundersClub, and Edelweiss. More here.

Xealth, a six-month-old, Seattle-based digital prescription service, has raised $8.5 million in funding led by DFJ. VentureBeat has more here.

XG Entertainment, a two-year-old, Shanghai-based TV entertainment production company, has raised $73 million in Series B funding led by the investment banking group China International Capital Co. China Money Network has more here.

ZenIQ, a two-year-old, Los Altos, Ca.-based company whose software is built for B2B marketers, has raised $4.6 million in funding led by Costanoa Ventures and Salesforce Ventures. More here.

New Funds

Extreme Venture Partners, a 10-year-old, Toronto-based venture capital firm and accelerator, raised closed on a third fund of an undicslosed size, saying it plans to invest the capital  in more than 30 international startups, writing initial checks of between $50,000 and $100,000. More here.

Grove Ventures, a two-year-old, Ramat HaSharon, Israel-based, early-stage venture firm focused on regional startups, has raised $76.8 million for debut fund, according to an SEC filing that lists a $100 million target. More here.

Exits

Amazon is in preliminary talks to buy the Indian grocery site BigBasket, as it steps up efforts to gain ground in the fast-growing market, says Bloomberg. BigBasket raised $150 million last year in a funding round led by Dubai’s Abraaj Group, and its backers also include Bessemer Venture Partners and Helion Venture Partners.

Also Sponsored By . . .

Calling all Data scientists! Android engineers! Full stack engineers! Content marketers! StrictlyVC is sponsored today by the Financial Solutions Lab at CFSI, which reminds you that they’re looking for brains, brains, brains. Or actually, the companies they support are — which is why FinLab has a job section where you can see who among the hottest fintech companies is hiring. Check it out.

People

Dylan Morris has joined venture firm CRV as general partner focused on bioengineering opportunities. (We’d written about the firm’s newfound attention to this ballooning sector here.) Morris was previously on the investment team of Innovation Endeavors.

Who’s in and out at Uber (pretty stark graph).

Jobs

Propel Venture Partners in San Francisco is looking to bring aboard both an analyst and an associate. Write to recruiting@propel.vc.

Essential Reads

Google owner Alphabet is finalizing an order to buy 300 modular apartment units from a startup for a building likely to serve as short-term housing for employees.

Instagram is making it clearer when influencer posts are really paid ads.

Box just made it a little easier to access your files while you’re at your computer.

Detours

The best of 1950s fashion.

The best 100 restaurants in the U.K.

People will like you more if you ask them questions.

Retail Therapy

Modify Watches. (Fun.)

Hi, happy Tuesday, all! We’re still smarting from last night; we were really hoping for another game this week. (Well, okay, fine, we were hoping the Cavs would win the Finals again.) Happy for the many Warriors fans in our lives, though, and what an amazing series to watch.

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Top News in the A.M.

Travis Kalanick is maybe not going to follow all of the recommendations coming out of Eric Holder’s investigation into the company. According to Recode, Kalanick is still deciding whether or not to step aside from some period or ride out the storm. (For what it’s worth, members of our own household are divided on the issue.)

The ‘Instagram for Doctors’ Just Raised $10 Million More

Figure 1 isn’t for the squeamish, but investors apparently love it. The company, a kind of social network where more than a million healthcare professionals can view rare conditions, learn about novel treatments and even teach cases, has just raised $10 million in Series B funding.

Kensington Capital Partners led the round in Figure 1, which has also been called the Instagram for doctors. Other participants include Samsung NEXT, insurance conglomerate John Hancock/Manulife, the venture debt firm WTI, the Canadian investment firm Hedgewood, and earlier backers Union Square Ventures, Rho Canada Ventures, and Version One Ventures.

Last week, we caught up with Figure 1 founder and CEO Gregory Levey to learn the latest about the operations (ahem) of his four-year-old, 50-person, Toronto-based startup, which has now raised more than $20 million altogether. Our chat has been edited for length.

People are under the impression that only medical professionals can sign up to Figure 1, but that’s not so.

Anyone can join. In fact, we kid that it’s all journalists and VCs — people who are curious. But only medical professionals can post photos and make comments. Otherwise, you get a modified experience where you can see see stuff but you can’t post or comment. If we verify you as a healthcare professional, you get access to different stuff, as well.

When you say healthcare professional, that’s doctors and nurses. What about students?

We don’t want pre-med, but we make an exception for nursing students, and about 70 percent of med students around the country are members.

So your members are mostly in the U.S.?

About two-thirds are the in U.S. The second most engaged user base we have is in Latin America. We inadvertently [hired a lot of Brazilians] and have a whole Portuguese-speaking side of the office [laughs], so we make the app in both Spanish and Portuguese. We also have a lot of members in the U.K., and Australia is big. People also like us in emerging markets, but you get into bandwidth issues; the phones aren’t really at the level where you can keep [the Figure 1 app] on your phone because of storage issues.

How many registered and active users do you have?

We’re tracking toward a big user milestone now, but we’ve disclosed in the past that we have more than 2 million registered users and have hundreds of thousands of monthly active users. There are 800,000 doctors in the U.S.

In terms of engagement, what do you see? Is it like other social networks, where a small subset of visitors is active and everyone else is sort of playing the part of voyeur?

More here.

New Fundings

Clutter, a four-year-old, on-demand storage company, has raised $64 million in Series C funding led by Atomico, with participation from earlier backers Sequoia Capital, GV, and Fifth Wall. TechCrunch has more here.

Mrs. Wordsmith, a one-year-old, London-based edtech startup focused on high-quality visual content, has raised £2 million ($2.5 million) in seed funding. London-based Kindred Capital led the round, with participation from Reach Capital, SaatchiNvest and Ropart Asset Management. TechCrunch has more here.

Notion, a four-year-old, Denver-based maker of an all-in-one IoT smart home sensor, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Draper Nexus and TransLink Capital. Earler investors also joined the round, including XL Innovate, and Mesh VC. The company has now raised $15 million altogether. More here.

ShipBob, a three-year-old, Chicago-based company that helps ecommerce businesses with shipping and logistics, has raised $17.5 million led by Bain Capital Ventures. Earlier backers also joined the round, including Hyde Park Venture Partners, FundersClub, Hyde Park Angels and FJ Labs. VentureBeat has more here.

Snapsheet, a seven-year-old, Chicago-based maker of virtual claims software for the personal and commercial insurance industry, has raised $12 million in Series D funding led by Tola Capital. More here.

Submittable, a seven-year-old, Missoula, Montana-based startup that’s used by more than 9,000 companies to manage submissions, has raised $5 million in Series A funding from True Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Yofumo Technologies, a two-year-old, Denver-based cannabis storage and processing startup, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding led by MedScience Ventures, with participation from other, unnamed angel investors. More here.

Yumi, a 1.5-year-old, L.A.-based organic baby food delivery service, has raised $4.1 million in seed funding from Brand Foundry, August Capital and New Enterprise Associates. Several angel investors, including Ali Partovi, Automatic founder Matt Mullenweg, and Philip Krim, co-founder of mattress company Casper, also joined the round. TechCrunch has more here.

New Funds

Indonesia has a new venture fund; Intudo Ventures has raised $10 million for a debut fund that it intends to invest across 12 to 16 companies. TechCrunch has more here.

Exits

Hello, a sleep monitor maker that raised over $40 million in venture capital, including from Temasek, Facebook executives David Marcus and Dan Rose, former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, and hardware executive Hugo Barra, is likely shutting down. More here and here.

Magazine giant Condé Nast has closed its experiment with e-commerce, Style.com, months after its launch. Now it’s joining forces with Farfetched — a venture-backed marketplace for high-end boutiques in which Condé is an investor.

Also Sponsored By . . .

This week’s StrictlyVC is also being brought to you by the same people who say crazy things like, “The internet would be better if we paid for things,” “Let’s bring fintech to the other 111 million,” and “Closing the women’s wealth gap is a billion-dollar opportunity.” (So not so crazy at all.) If you’re interested in everything from patents to fintech regulations to product marketing to nonprofit partnerships, you’re in luck: The Financial Solutions Lab has a blog.

People

Venture capitalist Jeremy Liew has read the criticisms of “Planet of the Apps” but he says it’s still worth watching for the pitch meetings in the latter half of each episode. “Anyone wanting to know what a real pitch process is like could do a lot worse then watch them to see what works.”

Marissa Mayer has officially resigned from Yahoo, following Verizon’s announcement that it has finally closed its acquisition of the company.

Jobs

BlueYard Capital, a young, primarily Europe-focused, early-stage venture firm, tells us it’s looking to hire a new analyst into a two-year-role. The job is in Berlin.

Data

These 50 companies are holding the biggest piles of overseas cash.

Essential Reads

Apple CEO Tim Cook has for the first time laid out exactly what the company is up to in the automotive market: It’s concentrating on self-driving technology. Bloomberg has more here.

Interesting stuff: When employees sell a small percentage of stock back to Uber, CEO Travis Kalanick gets 100 percent of the employees’ voting rights. The New York Times has the scoop here.

Detours

Sometimes, you’ve got to fly some cows to Qatar.

The man who stands in line for a living.

The seventh season of “Game of Thrones” will feature a couple of verrrry long episodes (which we be sitting through, one hand ready, always, to shield our eyes).

Retail Therapy

Sixty-six gifts for the stylish men in your life, just in time for Father’s Day.

Welcome back!:)

StrictlyVC is being brought to you this week by Rosebud Communications:Public relations for startups.

Top News in the A.M.

Uber executive Emil Michael just announced his resignation internally. More on the latest twists and turns at the beleaguered ride-hailing company below.

Uber’s Board is Discussing a Leave of Absence for Travis Kalanick; Will Garrett Camp Replace Him?

According to a variety of media reports, Uber’s board met yesterday in Los Angeles for what may have been the most critical sit-down in the company’s eight-year history.

The biggest item on the agenda, according to the New York Times, was whether or not cofounder and embattled CEO Travis Kalanick should take a leave of absence. How strongly the board pushed for this will likely depend on the findings of a months-long investigation spearheaded by former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder.

In recent months, on Uber’s dime, Holder’s current employer, the white-shoe firm Covington and Burling, has interviewed hundreds of employees to obtain a picture of Uber’s culture; they were hired after the publication of a widely read account by former Uber engineer Susan Fowler Rigetti, who blogged in February about the company’s rampant sexual discrimination and harassment issues.

According to Recode, the findings, which are being presented to the company tomorrow, depict “a landscape of trouble.”

Uber didn’t respond to our requests for comment yesterday, but according to Recode, Uber’s chief business officer, Emil Michael, just announced his resignation internally.

More here.

New Fundings

Alto, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based digital pharmacy startup previously known as ScriptDash, has raised $23 million in Series B financing. Greenoaks Capital led the round, with participation from Jackson Square Ventures, Rahul Mehta of DST, Craig Sherman from Meritech Capital, Justin Kan from Y Combinator and Twitch, and Cruise Automation COO Daniel Kan (who happens to be Justin’s brother). TechCrunch has more here.

CloudCare, a Shanghai-based cloud computing company, has raised $14 million in Series C funding led by Fosun Group, with participation from earlier backer Sequoia Capital China. China Money Network has more here.

Compliance.ai, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based regulatory and compliance management platform, has raised $4 million in funding from Cota Capital. More here.

Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you have a terrific weekend. See you soon.:)

StrictlyVC is being brought to you this week by Rosebud Communications. It’s Friday, and we all deserve to take it down a notch for a couple of days. We’ll be here next week; in the meantime, remember the media never sleeps, nor do we. Send us an email. Operators are always standing by: info@rosebudpr.io.

Top News in the A.M.

Alphabet has agreed to sell renowned robotics firms Boston Dynamics, and the lesser known robotics firm Schaft, to SoftBank, potentially ending its flirtation with the world of humanoid and industrial robots. TechCrunch has more here.

Pandora, the publicly traded, perenially struggling streaming music company, has sold a 16 percent stake in its business to the satellite radio company SiriusXM for $480 million in cash. TechCrunch has more here.

Tesla this morning zoomed past BMW to become the fourth-most valuable automaker in the world, behind Toyota, Daimler and Volkswagen. Bloomberg has more here.

Uber’s Former Employees are Gunning for Management

Earlier this week, at a staff meeting in San Francisco, Uber executives revealed to the company’s 12,000 employees that 20 of their colleagues had been fired and that 57 are still being probed over harassment, discrimination and inappropriate behavior, following a string of accusations that Uber had created a toxic workplace and allowed complaints to go unaddressed for years.

Those complaints had pushed Uber into crisis mode earlier this year. But the calamity may be just beginning.

Indeed, if Uber executives were hesitant to part ways with particular employees for fear of recrimination, it’s suddenly easy to see why. Since announcing those firings on Monday, which reportedly included senior executives, Uber —  which has long operated like an impenetrable fortress — has begun springing leaks right and left.

The question is whether the stories coming to light now are the most damning of the bunch, or leakers are starting in reverse and building toward a kind of crescendo that could finally lead to the ousting of CEO and cofounder Travis Kalanick.

Certainly, he’s having an especially challenging week.

More here.

New Fundings

AvidXchange, a 17-year-old, Charlotte, N.C.-based company that makes accounts payable and on-demand invoice management software, has raised $300 million in funding from MasterCard, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Temasek and Peter Thiel. Finextra has more here.

Houzz, an eight-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based online platform for home remodeling and design services, is close to finalizing a new $400 million round of funding that values the company at around $4 billion, according to a company spokesperson. Recode says the round is being led by Iconiq Capital, the low-flying investment firm that has managed money for Facebook execs Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. Earlier investors GGV Capital and Sequoia Capital are also reportedly participating. Fortune has more here.

Packagd, a months-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based startup whose app curates “unboxing” and product review videos that have been uploaded to YouTube in way that’s reminiscent of QVC video programming, has raised $6 million in Series A funding. Forerunner Ventures and GV co-led the round, which follows on the heels of a $1.5 million injection from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. (Packagd was founded by KPCB general partner Eric Feng.) More here.

Platelet BioGenesis, a three-year-old, Boston, Ma.-based biotech startup developing a process to produce human platelets from stem cells for therapeutic applications, has raised $10 million in Series A financing led by Qiming U.S. Healthcare Fund. Other participants in the round include Vivo Capital, VI Ventures, Adena Partners, eCoast Angels, and others. FinSMEs has more here.

Shedul, a two-year-old, Dubai- and Warsaw-based maker of free scheduling software for the salon and spa industry, has raised $6 million in funding led by Dubai’s Middle East Venture Partners, with participation from BECO Capital and Lumia Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Spektral, a three-year-old, Copenhagen-based visual effects company that applies machine learning to image and video editing, has raised $2.8 million in funding from Litecap and Amp Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Supr Daily, a 1.5-year-old, Mumbai-based daily milk delivery service that’s now active in 15 neighborhoods in Mumbai, has raised $1.5 million from a range of investors to expand its service, including Soma Capital, Great Oaks Ventures, 122 West Ventures, and numerous angel investors, including Y Combinator partner Paul Buchheit. TechCrunch has more here.

New Funds

The Geekdom Fund, a three-year-old, San Antonio, Tex.-based venture firm that invests locally and closed its debut fund with just $3.4 million in 2015, has closed its second fund with $20 million, reports Xconomy. More here.

Also Sponsored By . . .

StrictlyVC is also being brought to you this week courtesy of Dreamit UrbanTech. Its message to readers (and founders of breakthrough startups, particularly):

The Dreamit UrbanTech Accelerator Program is officially accepting applications for their Fall 2017 cycle through June 23rd. Participating startups will benefit from unprecedented access to Dreamit’s national customer and investor network, including a chance to interface with the $3 billion Tampa Bay Urban Redevelopment Initiative being led by Strategic Property Partners, a joint venture between Jeff Vinik and Bill Gates’ Cascade Investments. The Dreamit UrbanTech accelerator seeks startups that use digital solutions to make urban areas more livable, sustainable, connected and efficient. We’re looking for startups working in real estate tech, construction tech, IoT, smart cities, clean energy, agriculture, transportation, and AI to join our 14-week growth-focused program. Apply before June 23!

IPOs

DocuSign‘s CEO is prepping for a CEO. It’s been a long time coming, notes Bloomberg.

Exits

In addition to raising fresh funds from Sirius XM, Pandora is selling Ticketfly — the ticketing service that it acquired for $450 million in October 2015 for $450 million — to Eventbrite for $200 million. More here.

Legal research company LexisNexis has acquired Ravel Law, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based  legal search, analytics, and visualization platform, for undisclosed terms. Ravel had raised $14 million in funding from X Fund, New Enterprise Associates, North Bridge Venture Partners, Work-Bench and Ulu Ventures. More here.

Uber is reportedly in late-stage talks to acquire some technology and team members from Luxe, the on-demand car valet service. More here.

People

Erica Baker, an engineer and outspoken advocate for diversity and inclusion in tech, is leaving her job at Slack in San Francisco and moving East to join Kickstarter.

The jockeying for top roles has begun at Oath, the newly combined entity of AOL and Yahoo, with Yahoo’s chief information security, Bob Lord, among the first executives to leave.

Thursday! We’re still in a deep depression this morning, one triggered by the last three minutes of last night’s basketball game, when everything abruptly fell apart for the Cavs. As Slate noted last night, “If Game 3 were Bambi, that’s the moment your parents would turn off the VCR and send you to bed.”

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Top News in the A.M.

Isaac Choi, the founder of WrkRiot — written about extensively last summer for burning through $700,000 in 10 months, then lying about back pay — was just charged with five counts of wire fraud. More here.

Essential, the new smartphone startup run by Android creator Andy Rubin, has raised $300 million in new funding from undisclosed investors, reports Bloomberg. The company had last year raised $30 million from Rubin’s Playground Global and Redpoint Ventures. Others of the company’s investors include Altimeter Capital, Tencent Holding and Foxconn Technology Group. As the WSJ reported in March, Softbank was set to invest $100 million in the company but backed out at the eleventh hour, ostensibly because of Softbank’s increasingly close relationship with rival Apple.

The Gamer Chat Tool Discord Recently Raised Around $50 Million, as Insiders Cashed Out

It’s been a rocky road to glory for Discord, a startup whose iPad battle arena game, “Fates Forever,” earned it a top spot at the 2013 TechCrunch Disrupt show, but wound up flopping with users.

What a difference a few years makes. After pivoting to a voice and text chat tool for video game teams and trash talkers in 2015, Discord’s current trajectory makes it one of few consumer-facing companies that’s now reaching “escape velocity,” as one of its early investors gushes.

In fact, San Francisco-based Discord has 45 million registered users on its platform, quadrupling from a year ago, with 9 million daily actives. Now Discord is aiming to become the communication layer for gaming, recently closing a competitive financing round toward that end.

Index Ventures is said to have led the roughly $50 million funding round, which quietly took place in January at a pre-money valuation of $725 million, according to our sources. Institutional Venture Partners also chipped in a significant amount. And earlier backers — including Spark Capital, Greylock Partners and Benchmark — participated.

A source close to the company says Discord will likely raise more money soon, too, given outside interest. (There “isn’t much else going on in consumer land right now,” observes this person.)

More here.

(Other) New Fundings

Addepar, an eight-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based startup that helps wealth management firms get a more comprehensive view of their clients’ assets, has raised $140 million in a round led by Valor Equity Partners, 8VC and investment manager Harald McPike. TechCrunch has more here.

Algolia, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based company that provides businesses with the infrastructure, engine, and tools needed to create intuitive searches for their customers, has raised $53 million in Series B funding led by Accel Partners, which had previously led the company’s $18.3 million Series A round. Other participants in the funding include the SaaStr Fund, AppDynamics founder Jyoti Bansal,  and previous backers Alven Capital, Point Nine Capital and Storm Ventures, among others. TechCrunch has more here.

Automat, a year-old, Montreal-based conversational marketing startup, has raised $8.3 million in funding led by You & Mr Jones, with participation from Comcast Ventures and Omidyar Technology Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.

AxeTrading, an eight-year-old, London-based maker of fixed income trading technology, has raised $2.6 million in funding led by Illuminate Financial Management. More here.

Wednesday! Also, game three of the NBA Finals(!) Warriors fans, we live in San Francisco; we love them, too, in the regular season. Tonight, our allegiance is to King James. (Can. Not. Wait!)

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Top News in the A.M.

Coursera, a five-year-old, Mountain View, Ca.-based online education company, is apparently prancing toward unicorn status. It just raised $64 million in Series D funding at a post-money valuation of $800 million, reports TechCrunch. Investors include earlier backers GSV Asset Management, New Enterprise Associates, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, and Learn Capital, along with new investor The Lampert Foundation. The company has now raised $210 million altogether. More here.

Variety has reviewed Apple‘s first TV offering, “Planet of the Apps,” and its review is not kind. Writer Maureen Ryan likens the show to “something that was developed at a cocktail party, and not given much more rigorous thought or attention after the pitcher of mojitos was drained.”

Cadre Collects $65 million in Series C Funding

Cadre, a three-year-old, New York-based real estate startup, has raised $65 million in Series C funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Famed VC Jim Breyer of Breyer Capital also joined the round, along with the Ford Foundation, General Catalyst Partners, Goldman Sachs, Khosla Ventures, and Thrive Capital.

Ryan Williams, a Goldman Sachs and Blackstone alum, cofounded Cadre along with Joshua Kushner and Jared Kushner. The brothers are part of a renowned New York real estate family; Joshua is now a full-time venture capitalist and Jared is now better-known as the son-in-law of, and White House senior advisor to, President Trump.

Cadre, which aims to make it easier for family offices, endowments and other moneyed investors to invest in real estate using technology, had closed its Series B round with $50 million in January of 2016. It had raised $18.3 million in Series A funding in 2015.

Williams appeared on stage at TechCrunch’s New York Disrupt event several weeks ago.

More here.

(Other) New Fundings

Autopilot, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based marketing automation startup, has raised $12 million in new funding from investors, including Blackbird Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and earlier investor Rembrandt Venture Partners. The company has now raised $32 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Chewse, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based office catering company that serves both restaurants and business managers, has raised $7.3 million in Series B funding led by Foundry Group, with participation from Telegraph Hill Capital, Rocketship VC and Galvanize. The company has raised $15 million altogether so far. TechCrunch has more here.

Coocaa, an 11-year-old, Shenzhen, China-based smart TV unit of Chinese TV maker Skyworth Digital Holdings, has sold a 7.7 percent stake in its business to Tencent Holdings for $44 million. DealStreetAsia has more here.

Digital Pharmacist, a 6.5-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based company that helps pharmacies engage with their patients over their mobile devices, has raised $6.5 million in Series B funding led by Activate Venture Partners and LiveOak Venture Partners. More here.

High Brew Coffee, a three-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based company that makes cold brew coffee products (including in “dark chocolate mocha” and “creamy cappuccino” flavors), has raised $17 million in fresh Series B funding. Colorado-based Boulder Investment Group Reprise led the round, with participation from the firm CAVU Venture Partners, which had led the company’s $4 million Series A round last year. Daily Coffee News has more here.

Illumio, a four-year-old, Sunnyvale, Ca.-based company that provides protection for data centers and cloud services, has raised $125 million in Series D funding led by J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Earlier investors Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst Partners, 8VC, Accel Partners and Data Collective all participated, alongside other unnamed new and earlier investors. The round brings the company’s total funding to $267 million. More here.

Klarna, a 12-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based payments company that’s valued at upwards of $2.25 billion, has sold roughly 10 percent of its business to Brightfolk, controlled by fashion tycoon Anders Holch Povlsen. This is a secondary deal, says TechCrunch; specifically, Povlsen is buying shares from earlier backers General Atlantic, DST Global and co-founder Niklas Adalberth, all of whom still retain stakes as Klarna shareholders. More here.

Lung Therapeutics, a nearly four-year-old, Austin, Tex.-based clinical-stage pharmaceutical company that’s developing therapeutics for orphan drug indications in fibrosis, lung injury and disease, has raised $14.3 million in Series B funding. Bios Partners, a life-sciences private equity firm based in Dallas, led the round, with participation by earlier investor, the UT Horizon Fund. The company has now raised $17 million altogether. More here.

Mercadoni, a two-year-old, Colombia-based grocery delivery app and service that also operates in Argentina and Mexico, has raised $6.2 million in Series A funding. Axon Partners Group and Grupo Pegasus led the round, with participation from numerous unnamed individual investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Minerva Labs, a three-year-old, Petah Tikva, Israel-based company that makes advanced malware protection software, has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding round led by Amplify Partners, with participation from StageOne Ventures and Webb Investment Network. More here.

Misterb&b, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that’s building an apartment-renting platform focused on the LGBTQ community, has raised $8.5 million in funding from Project A and Ventech. More here.

neoSurgical, a 10-year-old, Newton, Ma.-based medical technology company focused on advancing surgical wound healing, has raised $5.5 million in Series B funding from earlier (undisclosed) investors, with participation from the San Antonio, Tex.-based outfit Targeted Technology Fund. The company expects to raise another $1.75 million before closing the round. More here.

Neuronetics, a 14-year-old, Malvern, Pa.-based medical device company focused on transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy, has raised $15 million in Series G funding round from its existing investor base, along with new investor Ascension Ventures. More here.

Pinterest, the seven-year-old, San Francisco-based social pinning site, has raised $150 million in venture funding from a group of existing investors at the same share price as two years ago, with Bloomberg citing the company’s inability to keep pace with internet rivals as the reason. The last fundraising round was in April 2015, valuing the business at about $11 billion; because the number of shares in the company has grown over time, its new valuation is $12.3 billion. More here.

Plynk, a two-year-old, Dublin, Ireland-based money messaging app founded by a former Facebook manager and a former Wonga engineer, has raised $28 million from a Swiss investment trust. The team claims it’s the biggest ever Series A round for an Irish software startup. Business Insider has more here.

Quantifi, a year-old, Indianapolis, In.-based company whose software helps marketers perform digital ad experiments at scale, has raised $2.3 million in seed funding from High Alpha Capital, Router Ventures and numerous early customers, including The Indianapolis Motor Speedway. More here.

Scout RFP, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that helps companies streamline their supplier selection, centralize their data, and ostensibly make more informed purchasing decisions, has closed on $15.5 million in Series B funding led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from New Enterprise Associates, which had led the company’s Series A round. The round brings its total funding to $27.25 million. More here.

Shortlist, a two-year-old, San Francisco- and New York-based talent management platform, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding, including from Impulse VC, FundersClub, and Alchemist Accelerator. TechCrunch has more here.

Stem, a two-year-old, L.A.-based financial platform that aims to simplify payments for musicians and content creators, has raised $8 million in Series A funding co-led by Evolution Media and Aspect Ventures, with participation from earlier backer Upfront Ventures. A long string of individual investors, including numerous music managers, also joined the round. More here.

Tractable, a three-year-old, London-based insurtech start-up that specializes in computer vision, has raised $8 million in Series A funding, led by Ignition Partners, and earlier investor Zetta Venture Partners, among others. U.K. Startups has more here.

Upbeat, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based startup whose cloud-based PR platform aims to automate how companies handle their public relations, has raised $1.5 million in funding from a long list of investors that includes Draper Associates, Maverick Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, FirstRock Capital, UpHonest Capital, Quest Venture Partners, SV Angel, 500 Startups, Stanford-StartX Fund, and Y Combinator. More here.

Wavecell, a seven-year-old, Singapore-based cloud communications platform, has raised $8.2 million in Series B funding co-led by venture firm Qualgro and MDI Ventures, the venture unit of Telkom Indonesia. Earlier backer Wavemaker Partners and other, unnamed new investors also joined the round. DealStreetAsia has more here.

Yubico, a 10-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based company that sells authentication and encryption hardware, has raised $30 million through the sale of primary and secondary shares, including from New Enterprise Associates; the Valley Fund, a Menlo Park-based venture capital firm; and Bure, a Swedish growth equity firm. More here.

New Funds

Chinese venture capital firm Legend Capital has raised $448 million for its seventh China-focused venture capital fund, a vehicle that hit the road to raise funds more than a year ago. Legend Capital, the investment arm of Chinese technology company and Lenovo’s owner Legend Holdings, had raised $500 million in May 2014 for its previous vehicle. DealStreetAsia has more here.

A Richmond, Va.-based venture capital firm, NRV (formerly known as New Richmond Ventures), has raised $33 million to invest in early-stage businesses in the Richmond region and throughout Virginia. More here.

Also Sponsored By . . .

StrictlyVC is also being brought to you this week courtesy of Dreamit UrbanTech. Its message to readers (and founders of breakthrough startups, particularly):

The Dreamit UrbanTech Accelerator Program is officially accepting applications for their Fall 2017 cycle through June 23rd. Participating startups will benefit from unprecedented access to Dreamit’s national customer and investor network, including a chance to interface with the $3 billion Tampa Bay Urban Redevelopment Initiative being led by Strategic Property Partners, a joint venture between Jeff Vinik and Bill Gates’ Cascade Investments. The Dreamit UrbanTech accelerator seeks startups that use digital solutions to make urban areas more livable, sustainable, connected and efficient. We’re looking for startups working in real estate tech, construction tech, IoT, smart cities, clean energy, agriculture, transportation, and AI to join our 14-week growth-focused program. Apply before June 23!

IPOs

ShotSpotter, whose gunshot detection is used in law enforcement, has raised $30.8 million in an IPO that, ahem, hit its target. Silicon Valley Business Journal has more here.

People

The leader of the U.S. government’s leading patent agency, Michelle Lee, has unexpectedly resigned from her post, according to Recode. Lee, a former lawyer for Google, took over the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office during the Obama administration, and many in the tech industry expected Trump to renominate her to the post. More here.

Michael Segal, who joined Bessemer Venture Partners’ New York office in 2009, has been promoted to vice president. Segal took time away from the firm from 2011 until 2015 to launch and run a company, Skylight, a consumer IOT platform.

Uber informed employees yesterday that it has fired 20 people, following a company-wide investigation into harassment claims. More here.

Jobs

Sanofi, a French multinational pharmaceutical company, is looking to bring a director of investments (a junior position) into its corporate venture unit. The job is in Cambridge, Ma.

Essential Reads

Amazon is going after Walmart with a 45 percent discount on Prime for lower-income shoppers.

It’ll take a few more years before Tesla officially launches the Model Y, but we now kinda, sorta know what it could look like.

The newest Fortune 500 list is out.

Detours

The “insane” private island resort where Miranda Kerr and Evan Spiegel honeymooned.

How Russian propoganda spread from a parody website to Fox News.

What elite athletes can teach you about time management.

Retail Therapy

The big trend in sunglasses this summer is right above your nose.

Hi, everyone, happy Tuesday!

StrictlyVC is being brought to you this week by Rosebud Communications. Smart, on-message media coverage = higher valuations. We’re the hardest-working PR firm in the business. Send us an email; operators are standing by: info@rosebudpr.io

Top News in the A.M.

Everything that Apple announced yesterday at its Worldwide Developers Conference.

Uber is expected to share some findings of its harassment probe today.

The RealReal Ropes in $50 Million in Funding

The RealReal, a six-year-old, San Francisco-based company focused on authenticated, high-end resale items for women, men, and the home, has landed $50 million in growth funding from the private equity firm Great Hill Partners.

The round, which brings the company’s total funding to $173 million, did not include previous backers; a spokeswoman for the company says Great Hill “wanted all of the investment.”

The cash infusion comes at an important juncture for The RealReal, which now employs more than 800 people and has pushed out the time by which it will turn profitable, setting its sights instead on spreading brand awareness by expanding its physical footprint.

Already, the company has opened six valuation offices in the last 18 months, including in San Francisco, New York, L.A., Chicago, and Washington, D.C. The spaces enable consignors to consult directly with valuation experts about their fine jewelry and watches.

Last month, in a sit-down with this editor in San Francisco, CEO Julie Wainwright said that The RealReal is also weighing a strategy of opening a series of brick-and-mortar stores, starting first with one New York location that a RealReal spokeswoman says is still being locked down and should be open for business in late fall or early winter this year.

More here.

New Fundings

Armis, a 1.5-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based enterprise IoT security company, has emerged from stealth mode with $17 million in funding, including from Sequoia Capital and Tenaya Capital. More here.

BookNook, a year-old, Oakland, Ca.-based reading instruction technology that promotes small group learning for kids, just closed a $1.2 million seed round led by Reach Capital, with participation from Urban Innovation Fund, Better Ventures, and Impact Engine. More here.

Carsome, a 2.5-year-old, Malaysia-based consumer-to-business used-car platform, has raised $6 million in funding led by Gobi Partners, with participation from earlier backers 500 Startups, Spiral Ventures, as well as new investors Lumia Capital and Innoven. Digital News Asia has more here.

Coinbase, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based bitcoin wallet and platform, is in talks with investors about $100 million or more in new funding, at a valuation of more than $1 billion, says the WSJ. To date, Coinbase has raised $116.5 million from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, DFJ, Ribbit Capital and NTT DoComo, as well as half a dozen banks. More here.

Clustree, a four-year-old, Paris-based SaaS business that aims to turn external and internal data into actionable insights for HR departments, has raised $7.9 million in Series A funding from Creandum, with participation from Idinvest Partners and Alven Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

DOC+, a nearly two-year-old, Moscow-based digital health company centered around on-demand medical services and medical data management, has raised $5 million in Series B funding, including from Yandex and Baring Vostok. More here.

Earlens Corporation, a 12-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based hearing aid maker, has raised a whopping $73 million in Series C funding led by Vertex Healthcare, with participation from Windham Venture Partners, Sightline Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Aisling Capital, Lightstone Ventures and Medtronic. More here.

Freight Farms, a seven-year-old, Boston-based company that’s been steadily growing its network of distributed hydroponic farms (made from used shipping containers), has raised $7.3 million in Series B funding, led by Spark Capital. Spark had also led the company’s $3.7 million Series A round in late 2014. More here.

MediaMath, a 10-year-old, New York-based company offering tools and data for automated ad-buying, has secured a $175 million credit facility led by Goldman Sachs, with participation from Santander Bank.The company says the financing will fund its growth, as well as allow it to refinance existing debt. TechCrunch has more here.

Netskope, a five-year-old, Los Altos, Ca.-based cloud-access security broker that has developed a platform to monitor a company’s disparate apps and devices, has raised $100 million in new funding. The Series E was led by previous investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Accel Partners, with participation from other, earlier backers Social Capital and Iconiq Capital. The round also includes two new backers: Sapphire Ventures and Geodesic Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

PhiSkin, a five-year-old, Shanghai-based aesthetic medical products and beauty services company, has raised $17 million in Series B funding led by Legend Capital, with participation from Ares Management. China Money Network has more here.

Plume Design, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based company that has developed a WiFi network extender, has raised $37.5 million funding from Comcast Cable, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, and Presidio Ventures. Earlier backers Liberty Global Ventures, Shaw Ventures, and Jackson Square Ventures also joined the round, which brings the company’s total funding to more than $63 million. More here.

The Relish, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based sports media company that creates content geared toward female fans, has raised an undisclosed amount, including from Precursor Ventures, Halogen Ventures and Slow Ventures. More here.

Riversand Technologies, a 16-year-old, Houston, Tex.-based maker of data management software, has raised $35 million in funding led by Crestline Investors. More here.

Savonix, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that helps gauge cognitive function via a 30-minute assessment that can be accessed from any iOS or Android device, has raise $5.1 million in Series A funding led by DigiTx Partners, with participation from Rethink Impact. The company has now raised $6.6 million altogether. More here.

Shipt, a three-year-old, Birmingham, Ala.-based online grocery delivery company that employs an annual membership model, has raised another $40 million from the company’s previous backers: Greycroft Partners, e.ventures, and Harbert Venture Partners, which had provided the company with $20 million a little less than a year ago. TechCrunch has more here.

STRIVR Labs, a 2.5-year-old, Palo Alto, Calif.-based virtual reality training software company, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from the National Football League, according to WSJ. More here.

Trilogy Education Services, a 1.5-year-old, New York-based continuing education program manager that creates and manages skills-based training programs for 21 universities around the world, has raised $30 million in Series A funding from Highland Capital Partners, with participation from Rethink Education, City Light Capital, and other, individual investors. More here.

Tulip, a three-year-old, Somerville, Ma.-based maker of smart manufacturing apps, has raised $13 million in Series A funding led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Pitango Venture Capital and numerous returning angel investors. More here.

Wahed, a 2.5-year-old, New York-based robo-advisory firm that serves religious Muslims who are looking to build a halal portfolio, has raised $5 million in seed funding from a mix of investors, including Afkar Holdings managing partner Khalid Al Jassim, former JPMorgan Chase managing eirector John Elkhair, and former McKinsey & Company partner Nasr-Eddine Benaissa. TechCrunch has more here.

Wiretap, a 3.5-year-old, Columbus, Oh.-based cloud security platform, has raised $4.85 million in funding co-led by Draper Triangle Ventures and Ohio Innovation Fund, with participation from JumpStart and Rev1 Ventures. More here.

Workey, a two-year-old, Tel Aviv-based career site that uses artificial intelligence to streamline the process of matching companies with potential candidates, has raised $8 million in Series A funding. The round was led by PICO Partners and Magma VC and brings the total Workey has raised so far to $9.6 million. TechCrunch has more here.

New Funds

Causeway Media Partners, a three-year-old, Boston-based investment firm founded by Highland Capital Partners cofounder Bob Higgins; Boston Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck; and Mark Wan, co-founder of Three Arch Partners, has held a $207 million close on its second fund, shows an SEC filing first flagged by Axios.  We talked with Higgins when the firm first launched its $125 million debut fund, to get a handle on its mission.

An SEC filing for Softbank’s Vision Fund has materialized, showing that eight investors have provided the outfit with its $93.15 billion to date. (Softbank, Apple, Qualcomm, Mubadala Investment Company, Saudi Arabia’s PID public fund, Foxconn, and Foxconn-owned Sharp are investors, which, we think, leaves one mystery backer.)

Also Sponsored By . . .

StrictlyVC is also being brought to you this week courtesy of Dreamit UrbanTech. Its message to readers (and founders of breakthrough startups, particularly):

The Dreamit UrbanTech Accelerator Program is officially accepting applications for their Fall 2017 cycle through June 23rd. Participating startups will benefit from unprecedented access to Dreamit’s national customer and investor network, including a chance to interface with the $3 billion Tampa Bay Urban Redevelopment Initiative being led by Strategic Property Partners, a joint venture between Jeff Vinik and Bill Gates’ Cascade Investments. The Dreamit UrbanTech accelerator seeks startups that use digital solutions to make urban areas more livable, sustainable, connected and efficient. We’re looking for startups working in real estate tech, construction tech, IoT, smart cities, clean energy, agriculture, transportation, and AI to join our 14-week growth-focused program. Apply before June 23!

IPOs

Delivery Hero’s much-anticipated IPO is on. Today, the European food delivery company officially announced that it plans to raise as much as €450 million ($506 million) from a public listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. More here.

Exits

Snap has acquired Placed, a Seattle-based location-based analytics and ad measurement startup that aims to demonstrate the extent to which ads are driving users to stores. The purchase price was not disclosed (though Bloomberg’s sources say the deal was sewn up for around $125 million). Placed had raised a little more than $13 million from investors, including a $10 million Series B led by Two Sigma Ventures in 2014. More here.

Professional services company EY has acquired the Melbourne-based identity and access management software company Open Windows; the latter’s tools will now help form the basis of a new centralized IAM advisory platform within EY, led by Open Window’s CEO, Simon Adler. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. More here.

People

Yesterday, we mentioned that Bozoma Saint John, the Apple executive who garnered significant attention for her demo at last year’s worldwide developer conference, is planning to leave the company. The reason, it turns out: she’s headed to Uber. TechCrunch has more here.

In a bid to heal its fractured company culture, Uber has also hired Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei as its new SVP of leadership and strategy. According to Uber, Frei will report to CEO Travis Kalanick, “work as a partner” with chief human resources officer Liane Hornsey, and serve as an executive coach for Uber’s leadership team. TechCrunch has more here.

Elon Musk measures everything in dog years (whether he means to or not).

Jobs

A new fintech-focused venture firm called Motive Partners — its founders are fintech entrepreneurs and investors and they’re reportedly out raising a $150 million debut fund — is looking to hire an associate. The job is in New York.

Essential Reads

After blocking Google users from reading free articles in February, the WSJ’s subscription business soared fourfold. But there was a trade-off.

Carvana, a Phoenix-based company that sells used cars through vending machines, us about to release its first earnings report since going public in April. In preparation, Bloomberg reports on the founder’s checkered past.

Did the Intercept bungle the NSA leak?

Detours

Why drug dealers are killing their customers: A kilo of heroin nets a dealer $60,000. A kilo of fentanyl is worth $1.2 million.

Apple is introducing a new feature called Do Not Disturb while Driving.

Retail Therapy

Museum Hotel.

Seersucker is back.