Tuesday! [Roundhouse kick.]

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Top News in the A.M.

Twitter execs are continuing deal talks with at least one suitor, the online software company Salesforce.com, according to Dealbook. More here.

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A Hedge Fund is Now Suing Theranos, Citing “Lies” and “Omissions”

Partner Fund Management (PFM), a San Francisco-based hedge fund that reportedly wrote out a $96 million check to Theranos back in 2014, is now suing the blood-testing startup and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, saying it was duped into its investment “through a series of lies, material misstatements, and omissions,” and accusing the firm of engaging in “securities fraud and other violations by fraudulently inducing” it to invest and to maintain its investment in the company.

The $198 million Series C-2 round in which Partner appears to have participated drove the firm to a reported valuation of $9 billion. Fortune wrote about the round in June 2014 in a flattering feature story about Holmes, for which it later published a protracted correction.

According to the WSJ, in a letter sent earlier today to its shareholders about the suit, filed in a Delaware court, Partner says Holmes and another former Theranos executive blatantly lied to the hedge fund by claiming it had developed “proprietary technologies that worked” and that it was nearing regulatory approvals.

Theranos is saying the “suit is without merit, and Theranos will fight it vigorously.”

Theranos announced last week that it’s shutting down its laboratory operations and firing 340 people — about 40 percent of its staff — to focus instead on an initiative to create small medical testing machines.

The new miniaturized devices aim to allow lab tests to be “decentralized” and carried out at more locations, but it underwhelmed an audience of scientists, doctors, and lab professionals when unveiled at a medical conference in Philadelphia in August.

More here.

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New Fundings

Cassia Networks, a two-year-old, New York-based maker of a Bluetooth router, has raised $10.27 million in Series B funding co-led by IDG-Accel and Everest Capital, with participation from China Rock, Social Starts, GCP Venture, Z-park Capital, TEEC Angel, and SumaVision USA. More here.

Cityworks, a 30-year-old, Sandy, Ut.-based company that makes public asset and land management software for local governments, has raised $14.5 million in funding from Polaris Venture Partners, with participation from Blue Cloud Ventures. More here.

CloudCoreo, a two-year-old, Seattle-based company working in stealth mode on a “next-gen” way to manage and secure cloud infrastructure, has raised $2.9 million in seed funding led by Madrona Venture Group, with participation from Divergent Ventures, Aristos Ventures, and Data Collective. More here.

Everwise, a three-year-old, San Francisco and New York-based startup focused on how to make professional development scalable, has raised $16 million in Series B funding led by earlier backer Sequoia Capital, with participation from two other earlier backers, Canvas Ventures and Webb Investment Network. TechCrunch has more here.

Evidation Health, a four-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based company whose software aims to enable companies across healthcare to design and execute clinical studies easily and quickly, has raised $15 million in funding led by B Capital Group (a newish firm cofounded by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin). Earlier backers GE Ventures, AMV, Fresco Capital, and new investor Pappas Ventures also joined the round. More here.

Kindly Care, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based online marketplace that pairs caregivers with older clients who might not be interested in or can’t afford an assisted living situation, has raised $3.1 million in funding led by MHS Capital, with participation from Floodgate and Jackson Square Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

HomeMe, a 1.5-year-old, Culver City, Ca.-based startup whose rental application process pre-approves and screens potential renters for apartments and landlords, has raised $3.2 million in its first round of funding led by Menlo Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Infutor Data Solutions, a 13-year-old, Plainfield, Il.-based maker of data compilation and data management software, has received an undisclosed amount of funding led by the growth equity team at Norwest Venture Partners. More here.

The Iran Internet Group, a two-year-old, Iran-based startup behind a ride-sharing application called Snapp, has raised €20 million ($22.1 million) in Series A funding from the South African mobile phone company MTN. TechCrunch has more on the funding here.

Navya, a two-year-old, Paris-based startup that makes driverless shuttles, has raised $34 million in funding co-led by two strategic backers: the public transportation provider Keolis and the automotive parts group Valeo. TechCrunch has more here.

Payfit, a seven-month-old, Paris-based startup whose software aims to help small and mid-size companies easily and quickly pay their employees, has raised $5.6 million from Otium Venture and Xavier Niel. TechCrunch has more here.

Remote Year, a 1.5-year-old, Chicago, Il.-based company that brings together people from across the globe to spend a year, working, travelling, and exploring 12 cities internationally, has raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Highland Capital Partners, with participation from WeWork Labs co-founder Jesse Middleton and Airbnb co-founder Nate Blecharczyk. TechCrunch has much more about the company here.

VenueNext, a three-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based connected venue technology platform company, has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by Causeway Media Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

YuppTV, an eight-year-old, Alpharetta, Ga., and Mumbai, India-based video streaming service that serves Indian video content to viewers all over the world, has sold a minority stake in its business to Emerald Media, a Pan-Asian platform established by the private equity firm KKR. The price: $50 million. More here.

Zymergen, a three-year-old, Emeryville, Ca.-based biological materials engineering company that leverages both robotics and big data, has raised $130 million in Series B funding led by SoftBank Group. Other participants in the round include Iconiq Capital, Prelude Ventures, and Tao Capital Partners, as well as earlier investors Data Collective, True Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, DFJ, Innovation Endeavors, Obvious Ventures and Two Sigma Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

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New Funds

Amino Capital, a four-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based early-stage venture firm that focused largely on artificial intelligence and data-driven startups, has closed its second fund with $50 million. The outfit was formerly called zPark Venture. More here.

Greylock Partners, the decades-old early-stage venture firm, has closed its 15th fund with $1 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

Private equity executive Sam Valenti is joining forces with his entrepreneur son, also named Sam, in a new Bloomfield, Mi.-based venture capital firm called V5 Partners that has secured $200 million to invest in auto tech. Crain’s Detroit Business has much more here.

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IPOs

Investors gearing up for the IPO of Ant Financial, the $60 billion online finance arm spun off by e-commerce giant Alibaba, will have to wait until at least late 2017, reports Reuters. More here.

—–

People

It’s been a terrible few weeks for Yahoo. The Washington Post looks at whether it’s Marissa Mayer‘s fault.

Dan Primack, a well-known columnist who writes about venture capital and private equity (and is an adored former colleague of ours), is leaving Fortune to join a new content startup from the co-founders of Politico. Recode has more here.

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Essential Reads

Samsung just killed the Galaxy Note 7 for good, owing to safety fears over defective batteries.

Amazon is considering building its own convenience stores to sell perishable items such as produce, milk and meat.

The Honest Company, which reportedly spent part of this fall in talks with CPG companies about an acquisition, is now looking to expand internationally.

Inside the spectacular collapse of Fab.com, or, how not to strangle your unicorn.

—–

Detours

The fight to save Johnny Manziel from all-out self-destruction.

Your kitchen counter is far dirtier than your floor and other takeaways from this piece on bacteria.

—–

Retail Therapy

Oktober Fuel. We’ll take two gallons, please.

Happy Monday, everyone!

—–

Top News in the A.M.

Anew study from Germany’s Federal Highway Research Institute has found the autopilot feature of the Tesla Model S constitutes a “considerable traffic hazard.” Unsurprisingly, Tesla CEO Elon Musk doesn’t agree and today said in a tweet that those reports were “not actually based on science.”

Jack Dorsey just tried to rally Twitter around an independent strategy in a new memo.

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The IPO Window May be Opening, But Getting Liquid is Tricky for VCs

Venture capitalists and their financial backers may be feeling a skip in their step this week, following the recently successful IPOs of several tech companies, including the cloud software companies Nutanix, Apptio and Coupa Software. In fact, media outlets are already tallying up who’s going to make what off each of the deals.

If only it were so simple.

While there’s plenty of reason for the startup industry to be feeling a wave of optimism, it’s rarely so straightforward as it looks to exit a public company, and it may be even trickier today than in past years.

One primary reason is float. In recent years, more startups have been offering smaller batches of shares to test an uncertain market for tech offerings, as well as to drive up demand through some scarcity. These smaller floats seem to be having the desired effect, at least in the shorter term. But to keep a company’s share price from plummeting once their lock-up period has expired, VCs have to take more care than ever in making distributions to their own investors (or LPs).

“Most companies, even if they’re at a billion-dollar market cap, there’s no float these days, so you have to plan carefully, including selling in tranches,” says managing director Naveen Chadda of the venture firm Mayfield. “If you sell on day one, the stock will take hit, so exit planning is extremely important.”

As you may have noticed, LPs have also grown somewhat impatient. While they continue pouring money into venture firms, those same firms  — some of which hold stakes in more than a dozen so-called unicorns — are also under pressure to act quickly given the eye-catching paper returns LPs have been shown in recent years — and the real returns on which they’ve been waiting.

“Our LPs are very clear with us, which is they are paying us to manage private and not public money,” Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz told this editor at a recent event, explaining that for the most part, the idea is to pay back the firm’s investors and fast.

It can be a complicated dance.

More here.

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New Fundings

Beyond Meat, a six-year-old, El Segundo, Ca.-based company that makes plant-based products and has raised at least $17 million from investors over the years (including from Obvious Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and Bill Gates), has just sold a five percent stake in its business to the giant meat company Tyson Foods. The dollar amount isn’t being disclosed. Dealbook has more here.

Eve Sleep, a 1.5-year-old, London-based luxury mattress e-tailer, has raised $18.3 million in Series B funding led by Woodford Investment Management, with participation from Channel 4 and earlier backers Octopus Investments and DN Capital. FinSMEs has more here.

OncoResponse, a year-old, Houston, Tex.-based immuno-oncology antibody discovery startup, has raised $7 million in Series A funding from GreatPoint Ventures and Helsinn Investment Fund. More here.

Soundtrap, a four-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based cloud-based music and audio recording platform, has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by the Nordic VC firm Industrifonden, with participation from an array of existing investors and other new backers, including former Spotify CFO and COO Peter Sterky. The company has now raised $8.5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

StreetTeam, a five-year-old, London-based company whose sales and marketing software helps brands build, deploy, and manage large decentralized ambassador programs, has raised $10 million in funding. The round was led by Kindred Capital, with participation from Frontline Ventures, Backed and numerous strategic investors, including Universal Music Group, Saatchi Invest, and Peter Davies. TechCrunch has more here.

Vectary, a two-year-old, Bratislava, Slovakia-based startup whose online 3D design tool for modeling and customization aims to provide easy ways to create complex shapes, has raised $2.5 million in funding led by the Berlin-based venture firm BlueYard Capital, with participation from Neulogy Ventures, based in Bratislava. TechCrunch has more here.

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New Funds

BioVentures Investors, a Wellesley, Ma.-based venture firm focused on med-tech startups, has closed its fourth fund with $87 million in capital commitments, the firm announced in a news release. It says it has now raised $220 million altogether. More here.

EQT Partners, a Stockholm Sweden-based firm that burst onto the European scene earlier this year with a roughly $600 million growth fund, has now closed its first dedicated U.S. mid-market growth buyout fund with $726 million. EQT was formed by a small group of highly successful European entrepreneurs, including former Booking.com CEO Kees Koolen. More here.

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IPOs

iRhythm Technologies, a 10-year-old, San Francisco-based developer of cardiac diagnostic monitoring products (one of its products is a 14-day patch), has set its IPO terms to 5.35 million shares being offered at between $13 and $15 per share. Priced in the middle of that range, it would have a fully diluted value of roughly $310 million. iRhythm has raised roughly $200 million in private funding; you can see who owns what here.

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People

Cyanogen, a startup behind its own, alternative version of the Android operating system, has a new CEO. More here.

Rishi Garg has joined the early-stage venture firm Mayfield as a general partner. While readers might recall that Garg’s last full-time gig was Twitter’s VP of corp dev, a role he left in July 2015, he spent the previous two years leading M&A at the payments company Square and before that, logged time at General Catalyst Partners as an entrepreneur-in-residence; at MTV Networks in biz dev; and as an associate with the venture firm Highland Capital Partners, where he focused on software and digital media. We have more for you over at TechCrunch.

—–

Data

McKinsey has published new study showing that 20 to 30 percent of the working age population in the U.S. and Europe engage in independent work, and they largely fall into four categories: free agents, who actively choose independent work and derive their primary income from it; casual earners, who use independent work for supplemental income and do so by choice; reluctants, who make their primary living from independent work but would prefer traditional jobs; and the financially strapped, who do supplemental independent work out of necessity. More here.

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Essential Reads

Samsung has now temporarily halted production of the Galaxy Note 7 amid reports that a number of the devices have caught fire. More here.

Netflix wants to brings its products and services to 130 countries around the world. It’s looking like China won’t be one of them, though.

People have become “violently ill” after eating the food bars of venture-backed Soylent; now the company has some theories why.

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Detours

What 18th-century Paris sounded like.

Eff millennials: why more people are dropping the “f” bomb at the office.

—–

Retail Therapy

Cover clamp. People steal duvets. Don’t let them steal yours.

Friday! Hope it goes as well as possible. See you soon, everyone.:)

—–

Top News in the A.M.

As reported by the WSJ, Snap is working on an IPO that could value the fast-growing virtual-messaging company at $25 billion or more, making it one of the highest-profile share debuts in years and — VCs are praying — possibly signaling a turnaround in the new-issue market.

In the wake of Yahoo‘s admission that the user names and passwords of 500 million accounts were swiped in 2014, Verizon wants a discount off its pending $4.8 billion agreement to buy the company. Like, a $1 billion discount. The New York Post has the story here.

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In Buyers’ Market, Acquirers Look to Lock in Key Players Longer

Acquisitions are often celebrated in the press. But academic research suggests that 70 percent to 90 percent of mergers don’t succeed, owing to a wide variety of factors. Buyers overvalue the synergies they’ll derive, or they underestimate the impact of the associated costs, or they rely too heavily on assumptions about where a market is heading.

Of course, another reason acquisitions don’t always go as planned is that founders often leave a year or two after their company has been gobbled up.

That’s changing in today’s challenging market for exits, where a growing number of well-funded companies and their investors are hoping that if an IPO isn’t in the cards, an acquisition might be. Indeed, in addition to other changing deal terms, acquiring companies are seemingly thinking long and hard about locking up talent longer than they have in the recent past.

You saw it happen when the e-commerce company Jet sold to Walmart for a whopping $3.3 billion in August. According to Recode, cofounder and CEO Jet Lore agreed to stay on with Walmart for an atypically long five years as part of the acquisition agreement. In fact, according to that same August report, if Lore leaves before the summer of 2021, he’ll forfeit a sizable amount of both cash and stock that could otherwise earn him up to an estimated $1 billion.

Lore may be exceptional in many ways, including his understanding of e-commerce and how to compete specifically with Amazon, which acquired his previous company. It’s easy to understand why Walmart wants him around. He probably won’t be alone, though.

More here.

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New Fundings

Financeit, a nine-year-old, Toronto-based company whose platform allows businesses to offer consumer financing to their customers from various devices, has raised $17 million in new funding co-led by The Pritzker Organization and DNS Capital. More here.

Lulalend, a two-year-old, Cape Town, South Africa-based online business lending platform, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by Accion Venture Lab, with participation from Newid Capital and Hallmann Holding International Investment. More here.

Nauto, a 1.5-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based startup that uses cameras, motion sensors, GPS systems, and its own artificial intelligence software to detect what’s happening on the road and inside a car, has raised an undisclosed amount of venture funding and entered into data-sharing partnerships with big name auto and insurance companies BMW, Toyota and Allianz Group. The company had previously raised $12 million in Series A funding. TechCrunch has more here.

Nugit, a three-year-old, Singapore-based startup focused on marketing, has raised $5.2 million in fresh funding from Sequoia Capital’s India fund. The company had previously raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from 500 Startups and The Hub Singapore. TechCrunch has more here.

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IPOs

Bloom Energy, a maker of fuel cell power generators that has raised $1.2 billion from investors over its 15-year history and was valued by investors at $2.9 billion back in 2011, has filed confidential IPO papers, reports the WSJ. More here.

CRISPR Therapeutics, a Basel, Switzerland-based gene editing company, plans to offer 4.7 million shares at between $15 and $17 per share, it says in its newest IPO-related SEC filing. Priced in the middle of that range, the company would have an initial market capitalization of roughly $636 million. To see who owns what, click here.

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Exits

Paribus — a New York startup that helps online shoppers get automatic refunds when prices drop on items they purchased and that first launched as part of the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2015 — has been acquired by Capital One. Deal terms were not disclosed. Paribus had raised at least $2.2 million in seed funding, shows CrunchBase. Its backers include Y Combinator, Greylock Partners, General Catalyst Partners, and Slow Ventures, among others. TechCrunch has more here.

Rinse, a three-year-old, L.A.-based on-demand laundry service, has acquired the assets of rival Washio — which shut down in August — for undisclosed terms. Rinse has raised roughly $10 million from investors, shows CrunchBase. Its backers include Javelin Ventures Partners, Arena Ventures and CAA Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

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People

A systems engineer in New York who is suing Google, alleging the company systematically discriminates against older job applicants, won a key ruling this week; she can can now notify everyone else in her position that they may opt in to join a class action lawsuit against the search giant. Fortune has more here.

Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey was conspicuously missing from the keynote stage at yesterday’s Oculus Connect 3 conference in San Jose, Ca. TechCrunch has more here.

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Jobs

Goldman Sachs Asset Management is looking to hire an analyst to help with due diligence, among other things. The job is in New York.

—-

Data

Take note, video publishers: A new study released this week from the Pew Research Center found that younger people are actually more interested in reading the news than watching it. Meanwhile, it’s OGs who prefer watching the news instead of reading, Pew found. More here.

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Essential Reads

Inside Rocket Internet‘s ailing startup factory.

Both Uber and Lyft have been hit with a court injunction banning their activity in Philadelphia, following complaints by the local taxi industry.

Postmates, the on-demand delivery company, has reportedly had trouble securing the additional funds it has chased for the better part of this year despite seeking new funding at around $450 million, the same as its Series D valuation. Quartz has more here.

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Detours

North American monsoons.

The cities where rent is rising the fastest.

“Everyone’s been wondering who would be the target of 2016’s worst racism. I didn’t even know Asians were in the running.”

—–

Retail Therapy

Nike Mags. Try and snag a pair; it’s for a good cause.

One more day. You can do this! (We’re projecting here, but you’re with us, right?)

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Top News in the A.M.

U.S. venture capital firms have raised $32.4 billion through the third quarter, putting 2016 on pace for a record-breaking year, the National Venture Capital Association and Pitchbook said today. You can check out their full report here.

Remember when Disney was interested in buying Twitter? That’s apparently no longer the case. Google and Apple aren’t planning to make bids, either, reportedly.

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Twyla, Which Sells Artists’ Prints, Just Raised $14 Million Led by GV

Twyla, a year-and-a-half-year-old startup that collaborates with artists to create exclusive prints for sale at its site, at prices that range from $1,000 to $5,000, has raised $14 million in new funding led by GV, with participation from earlier investors IVP and Redpoint Ventures. The company has now raised $19 million altogether.

Twyla was cofounded by HomeAway cofounder Brian Sharples and employs 30 people in Austin, Tex., and it’s pitching itself a win for artists and art lovers a like. While it’s making accessible the work of people who’ve shown at top museums and galleries, including LACMA, MoMA, and the Whitney Museum, it says a limited-edition licensing model that it employs should also provide these artists with valuable revenue and exposure to a wider audience.

To make things even easier, the artist chooses a frame for customers, which is included in its price. To make the prints easier to consider in person, the company is beginning to partner with venues like boutique hotels that can act as “showrooms” for its pieces.

Twyla has plenty of competition, starting with 18-year-old Art.com and including younger companies Curioos and Juniqe, among others. We were in touch last night with Sharples’ cofounder and company CEO Matt Randall — who previously cofounded the POP Austin International Art Show — to ask why that isn’t stopping the company.

More here.

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New Fundings

Botfactory, a 3.5-year-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based startup developing an electronic circuit printer, has raised $1.3 million from investors led by NY Angels. TechCrunch has more here.

Code Climate, a 5.5-year-year-old, New York-based company that consolidates the results from a suite of static analysis tools into a single, real-time report, has raised $4.5 million in Series A funding from Union Square Ventures, NextView Ventures, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Trinity Ventures and Fuel Capital. More here.

CognitiveScale, three-year-old, Austin, Tx.-based startup specializing in artificial intelligence and machine learning, has raised $25 million in funding including a strategic investment from Microsoft Ventures. Silicon Hills News has more here.

Cybric, a 1.5-year-old, Boston-based cloud-based platform that checks applications, integrations, operating systems, data centers, and other components of an enterprise network for anomalies using a shadow environment, has raised $6.3 million in seed funding from Capstone Ventures and Petrillo Capital. More here.

DiCentral Corporatiion, a 16-year-old, Houston, Tex.-based IT services firm, has raised $15 million in outside financing from the private equity firm Kayne Partners. More here.

Enable Injections, a 6.5-year-old, Cincinnati, Oh.-based maker of wearable, large volume “injectors” for the subcutaneous delivery of biologics and high volume drugs, has raised $30 million in Series A funding led by ORI Healthcare Fund. More here.

Goby, a year-old, New York-based electric toothbrush subscription service, has raised $2 million in seed funding from a long list of investors, including Lerer Hippeau Ventures, BBG Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Galvanize, and Red Sea Ventures. More here.

Happycar, a three-year-old, Hamburg, Germany-based car rental comparison startup, has raised a fresh €2.6 million ($2.9 million) in funding led by Creathor Venture, with participation from HR Ventures, Capnamic Ventures, NWZ Digital, and TruVenturo. TechCrunch has more here.

Madefire, a five-year-old, New York-based motion book tool provider for content creators, has raised $6.5 million in Series B funding from investors that include Plus Capital, Kevin Spacey, Drake (yes), True Ventures, Big Loud Capital, Anthem Ventures and Framestore Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

OpenGamma, a seven-year-old, London-based company that makes risk analytics software for the derivatives markets, has raised $13.3 million in funding led by Accel Partners and ICAP. Tech.eu has more here.

Welltok, a seven-year-old, Denver, Co.-based consumer enterprise platform for the healthcare industry, has raised $33.7 million in Series E funding from a long list of investors that New Enterprise Associates, Bessemer Venture Partners, Georgian Partners, Emergence Capital, InterWest Partners, Sigma Partners, HLM Venture Partners, Flare Capital Partners, Okapi Venture Capital and Miramar Ventures. The Denver Post has more here.

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New Funds

Corazon Capital, a 2.5-year-old, Chicago-based venture firm founded by serial entrepreneur Sam Yagan, has raised $37 million for its second fund, according to an SEC filing that lists a $39.9 million target. The firm closed its debut fund with $13 million. ChicagoInno has more here.

—–

IPOs

Shares of Coupa Software, a U.S. maker of cloud-based software that helps companies manage spending, hit the trading floor this morning, more than doubling in their debut. The stock rose to a high of $39.50 in early trading on the Nasdaq, valuing the company at $1.9 billion. Fortune has more here.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times asks: Can rising momentum amid unicorn stocks last?

—–

Exits

eBay has acquired Corrigon, an eight-year-old, Israel-based startup that specializes in computer vision and visual search technology. Terms of the deal were not disclosed by eBay. The Israeli newspaper The Marker is reporting a price of $30 million but TechCrunch sources say the deal was for a smaller amount. It isn’t clear how much Corrigon had raised from investors. More here.

Samsung is acquiring four-year-old Viv, an AI and assistant system co-founded by Siri creators Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham. Presumably, Samsung will use the tech to compete with Siri’s acquirer, Apple. (Quel scandale!) TechCrunch has the scoop here.

—–

People

Jim Freeman, a longtime Amazon executive who’d been vice president of video since early 2015 and was considered the chief engineering architect of the platform, quietly left for German retailer Zalando last month, and Jeff Blackburn, a top lieutenant of Jeff Bezos is now directly overseeing Amazon’s video division. It seems a signal of videos importance to Amazon’s business, reports The Information (subscription required).

Vanity Fair published its annual New Establishment list yesterday.

—–

Jobs

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, formed nearly a year ago by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, is looking to bring aboard a principal to help identify investment opportunities in for-profit companies that are trying to transform learning. The job is in San Francisco.

—–

Essential Reads

Uber Slayer: How China’s Didi beat the ride-hailing superpower.

Mark Zuckerberg in Lagos land.

Poor Theranos. It’s closing its labs and wellness centers to focus on another product that academics don’t seem all that excited about, either.

—–

Detours

Tilting house.

Why voices deepen and thin over time.

—–

Retail Therapy

Solar hats to keep your iPhones charged. (Hey, we’ll do what it takes.)

Hi, happy Wednesday, everyone. We have a shorter-than-planned edition of the newsletter for you this a.m. as we need to run out the door for a meeting but more tomorrow!

—–

Top News in the A.M.

Yikes. A “hard Brexit” that would leave Britain with restricted access to the EU’s single market could cost the U.K. finance industry upwards of $48 billion, says a new report.

—–

Metamorphic Ventures Has a $50 New Fund, and a New Brand

Metamorphic Ventures, a six-year-old, New York-based seed-stage fund, is officially taking the wraps off a $50 million fund — its third. The firm is also rebranding itself simply as Compound. (One-word names seem to be a growing trend; you might recall that Pejman Mar Ventures is now simply Pear.)

The name change is a nod to the way that the firm sees itself — as an element that works among others, including its founders, advisors, and investors. The fund size, which is smaller than the firm’s $70 million second fund, likely owes to the departure of Marc Michel, a longtime investor who cofounded Metamorphic with David Hirsch, who was Google’s second employee in New York and stayed eight years before diving into venture capital in 2009. (Michel left in January to start yet another venture firm called Runway Venture Partners, which focuses more narrowly on post-seed-stage e-commerce startups. Michel appears to be in fundraising mode currently. Hirsch says the split was “completely amicable.”)

We talked earlier today with Hirsch, who today runs Compound with Josh Nussbaum, a principal who has worked his way up from an analyst position in 2012. Among other things, he explained that the firm — which funds both East and West coast startups and originally invested primarily in digital media, commerce, payments, and ad tech — is now focusing on artificial intelligence and regulated industries like health care, among other newer areas of interest.

More here.
—–

New Fundings

BEFORE Brands, a five-month-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based consumer products company aiming to bring proprietary nutritional products directly to families, has raised $13.1 million in Series A funding led by Gurnet Point Capital, with participation from a long list of individual investors, including Martha Goldberg Aronson and Dan Aronson, and Justine and John Arrillaga. BEFORE was co-founded by Ashley Dombkowski, a longtime healthcare investor who once served as chief business officer at the genome research company 23andMe. More here.

Clearpath Robotics, an eight-year-old, Ontario-based company whose self-driving vehicles autonomously move boxes and pallets around factories, warehouses and distribution centers, has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by INovia Capital, with participation from Caterpillar Ventures, GE Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, RRE Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank. TechCrunch has more here.

iwoca, a five-year-old, London-based finch startup that offers small businesses fast online credit, has raised £21 million ($26.8 million) in fresh funding from Prime Ventures, as well as existing investors Acton Capital Partners, CommerzVentures, Global Founders Capital, and Redline Capital. Business Insider has more here.

Money Forward, a four-year-old, Tokyo-based personal financial management and cloud-based accounting software service, has raised roughly $11 million in Series D funding from Mizuho Capital and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, with participation from earlier backers Fenox Venture Capital and Toho Bank. Tech in Asia has more here.

Ollie, a year-old, New York-based company that makes all-natural pet food for dogs, has raised $4.4 million in seed funding. Primary Ventures and Lerer Hippeau Ventures led the round, with participation from other investors that included Canaan Partners. Business Insider has more here.

Payoneer, an 11-year-old, New York-based fintech company that helps businesses send and receive money across borders online, has raised a whopping $180 million in Series E funding from Technology Crossover Ventures. Business Insider has more here.

Wine n Dine, a year-old, New York-based meal review app that helps consumers decide where to eat, has raised $2.5 million in seed funding from Jordache Ventures, The Chetrit Group and Melo7 Tech Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

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IPOs

Coupa Software, the 10-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based corporate spend management platform, increased its IPO terms yesterday, reporting it will now offer 7.4 million shares at between $16 to $18 per share, up from its original plans to sell 6.7 milion shares at between $14 and $16. Business Insider has more here

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People

Jack Dorsey is losing control of Twitter, reports Bloomberg. More here.

Pinterest has hired its first chief financial officer, Todd Morgenfeld, who was most recently vice president of finance at Twitter. TechCrunch has more here.

Fenox Venture Capital has put plans for its India focused fund on hold after a recently appointed general partner who was hired to lead that fund, Venktesh Shukla, hastily departed the firm. TechCrunch has more here.

A senior deal maker at Goldman Sachs, John Vaske, will retire from the investment bank after 28 years, the company announced yesterday. Dealbook has more here.

—–

Jobs

Scripps Network Interactive is looking for a VP of corp dev. The job is in New York.

seed+speed Ventures, an early-stage German venture capital firm, is looking to hire an associate who will help the firm plant a flag in the U.S. The job is in San Francisco.

—–

Essential Reads

Chris Anderson’s 3D Robotics has laid off more than 150 people, burned through almost $100 million in venture capital funding, and completely changed its business strategy. Forbes reports on its woes here.

Open Whisper Systems, a maker of a widely used encryption app called Signal, received a subpoena in the first half of the year for subscriber information and other details associated with two phone numbers that came up in a federal grand jury investigation in Virginia. And it was told not to tell anyone about the information request for a year.

MailChimp and the un-Silicon Valley way to make it as a startup, in the New York Times.

—–

Detours

How Americans rank on science knowledge.

We are not endorsing this clip. (We will note, however, that this particular video never gets old for us, no matter how many times it’s used.)
—–

Retail Therapy

Countdown clock.

We would definitely live in this house FOREVER.

It’s Tuesday! Holla! Hope you’re enjoying yours.:)

—–

Top News in the A.M.

Amazon has, at long last, banned reviews tied to free or discounted products.

So Google had some announcements this morning. You can learn about its answer to Amazon’s Echo here, its new VR headset here, and its new phone, called Pixel, here.

—–

Another Former Rothenberg Employee Sues, Citing Wage Abuse

Katie Fanelli — a former chief of staff of Rothenberg Ventures — has brought a proposed class-action lawsuit against the beleaguered San Francisco-based investing outfit, saying it routinely failed to pay contract workers their final paycheck across its four-year history, and that it failed to compensate Fanelli and other hourly workers for overtime.

The suit aims to address anyone who failed to receive final or overtime pay from Rothenberg Ventures Management Company and whose individual claims fall below $75,000. That isn’t an arbitrary distinction. Federal courts may hear suits only where “the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $75,000,” while California law and statutes protect plaintiffs who are seeking less.

Fanelli’s suit employs both colorful prose — and some brow-raising accusations. Describing Rothenberg’s business practices as “lucrative, repressive, and unlawful,” it goes on to say that as part of a “systemic scheme of wage abuse,” Fanelli’s employment was terminated, after which Rothenberg Ventures failed to provide her with a final paycheck covering the hours she had worked in her final pay period.

The lawsuit seeks to represent “all California-based employees who worked any time during the four years preceding” the suit and who “were not paid their final paycheck upon separation and/or termination” from Rothenberg Ventures Management Company.

Fanelli is also accusing Rothenberg of not paying herself and others deserved overtime wages.

More here.

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New Fundings

AppsDaily, an eight-year-old, Mumbai, India-based mobile application development and distribution company, has raised roughly $3.75 million from earlier backers, including Zodius Capital, Kalaari Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Ru-Net and Mumbai Angels. LiveMint has more here.

Aspire Health, a 3.5-year-old, Nashville, Tn.-based palliative care provider, has landed $32 million in fresh funding led by GV. Aspire was co-founded by former U.S. Senator Bill Frist. The Daily Tennessean has more here.

Eatigo, a three-year-old, Bangkok, Thailand-based discount restaurant booking service that bills itself as an anti-Groupon, has raised more than $10 million in fresh funding from travel giant TripAdvisor. TechCrunch has more here.

Grana, a two-year-old, Hong Kong-based online fashion retailer, has raised $10 million in new funding led by Alibaba’s entrepreneurship fund, with participation from earlier backers Golden Gate Ventures (in Singapore) and MindWorks Ventures (Hong Kong). TechCrunch has more here.

GoEuro, a four-year-old, Berlin-based travel planner and booking platform, has raised $70 million in new funding led by Silver Lake Kraftwerk and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. TechCrunch has more here.

Paperspace, a two-year-old, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based startup that aims to bring the virtual desktop experience to the enterprise, has raised $4 million in funding from Ludlow Ventures, Data Collective and Initialized Capital. Individual investors also participated, including Digital Ocean co-founder Jeff Carr. TechCrunch has more here.

Restless Bandit, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that says it finds the highest-potential job candidates from the pool of people who’ve applied for positions previously with a company, has raised $8 million in fresh funding fromGGV Capital and Toba Capital. The company has now raised $10 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Saldum Ventures, a three-year-old, Spain-based startup whose digital-first, vertically integrated sunglasses business — called Hawkers — wants to take on the big brands like Ray-Ban, has raised $56 million in funding. The round was led by Félix Ruiz and Hugo Arévalo, the founders of Tuenti, a social networking app in Spain that was acquired by Telefonica and has since expanded into other mobile services like calls. Others investing include O’Hara, an investment group controlled by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, and unnamed private investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Source{d}, a two-year-old, Madrid, Spain-based AI-driven recruitment startup, has raised $6 million in Series A funding from Xavier Niel, Otium Venture, and Sunstone Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Stripe, the six-year-old, San Francisco-based online payments platform, has raised an undisclosed amount of new funding from Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company. TechCrunch has more here.

Tannico, a four-year-old, Milan, Italy-based wine e-commerce platform, has raised $4.3 million from investors, including the Italy-based venture firm VC P101, and Stefano Saccardi, a managing director at Campari. TechCrunch has more here.

Tock, a two-year-old, Chicago-based company whose software helps restaurants sell and manage bookings in advance, has raised $7.5 million in funding led by Origin Ventures, with participation from restaurateurs, chefs, and hospitality groups, including Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and Will Guidara and Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park.

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New Funds

Xiaodong Jiang, a longtime managing director in China for venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, is leaving to launch a new firm called Long Hill Capital Partners. Long Hill plans to raise up to $125 million for its debut fund, which will invest in Chinese startups, with NEA being among its investors. Fortune has more here.

—–

Exits

Salesforce is spending $700 million in cash and stock to acquire the San Francisco-based ad tech company Krux; the move aims to bolster its marketing-data and analytics segment. According to CrunchBase, Krux had raised raised roughly $50 million from investors, including Sapphire Ventures. The WSJ has more here.

—–

People

In a new Recode podcast, renowned investor Aileen Lee notes that, from what she has seen, men can get roped in as investors in a hot deal just for being fun to socialize with; she says that women meanwhile have to have specific domain expertise, typically, along with a strong professional network. More here.

—–

Jobs

CSC Venture Capital, the venture arm of CSC Group, one of the largest private equity and venture capital firms in China, is looking to hire a quantitative analyst. The job is in Palo Alto.

—–

Essential Reads

Whoa. Reuters is reporting that Yahoo last year agreed to demands by U.S. intelligence officials to create a kind of backdoor, one that let the NSA and FBI scan all off its customers’ incoming emails for specific information. More here.

The anything-goes web property 4chan is facing collapse (but not for the reasons you think).

—–

Detours

Can’t hear in noisy places? It’s a real medical condition.

How to raise kinder, less entitled, kids, according to science.

“Before the Flood” trailer.

—–

Retail Therapy

The unapologetically impractical Renault Trezor Concept car.

Good morning! Hope you had a super weekend, everyone, and that many of you are enjoying a happy Rosh Hashanah.:)

Thanks to those of you again who came last week to our most recent SVC event! Attendees, here are some pictures you might enjoy.

Also, for those who missed it, here’s video of our interview with Marc Andreessen who had a lot of instructive things to say about the industry and his firm in particular. We broke down where he answers what so you can speed through. (Reporter friends, we’re hoping this might be helpful when it comes to future stories.) Numerous outlets covered our first questions about Twitter if you want to skip past those.

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Top News in the A.M.

Good news for depressed tech investors (and their frustrated LPs): Nutanix, the cloud data-storage firm that made its market debut Friday morning, has seemingly jammed open the window for IPOs. More here.

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SurveyMonkey CEO Zander Lurie: IPO, Yes; 2017, Not Likely

On Thursday night, at a StrictlyVC event at SurveyMonkey in Palo Alto, this editor sat down with CEO Zander Lurie to learn more about the direction of the 17-year-old company, known for the roughly 90 million surveys that the outfit and its customers create for their various constituents each month (and whose average order volume is $300, says Lurie).

I was particularly interested in Lurie, a former GoPro, CBS, and CNET executive, given his relatively quiet tenure as chief executive — a role he accepted in January after the passing of longtime CEO Dave Goldberg last year (and following a brief stint by a more immediate precedessor, tech veteran Ben Veghte).

We wound up chatting about the company’s valuation, polling accuracy, and whether and when the company will go public, among other things. Part of that chat, edited for length, follows.

You’ve been a CEO for nine months. What do you now appreciate much more about every CEO you’ve ever known?

I always had a boss or somebody who was there for constant feedback, and it’s different when you’re CEO. We have an amazing board of directors . . . but as CEO, you’re in charge of the script: What’s the strategy, who are the teams you’re entrusting to build the company, then all the comms and the motivation and accountability associated with delivering on the company’s promise. It’s on you to be that great storyteller. And I love it, but that’s what has struck out for me. There’s no one to ask: Am I doing a good job?

You inherited a unicorn company – valued at $2 billion at its last financing in late 2014. You also inherited the company under unique circumstances. Do you feel extra pressure owing to those circumstances?

We’re fortunate to have one of the most profitable businesses on the internet. You couldn’t really do a survey until SurveyMonkey and its founder really invented this new online survey platform. The company in 2009 had about 12 employees and $25 million in profits, then beloved Dave Goldberg became CEO in a buyout and in six years hired about 600 people, and today we’ll do about $200 million in revenue, with EBITDA margins in the mid 30s. So sure, the circumstances under which I became CEO were awful. Dave was one of my best friends in the whole world. But the culture he built, and his ability to recruit a team of world-class people across product and engineering and marketing, amazes me still. So while it’s a lot of pressure, it’s also super fun and a great honor.

How many people are using your surveys?

There are 15 million who are sending [surveys] on an annual basis and interacting with our products in different ways. The vast majority are responding to surveys from people they trust, increasingly on a mobile device.

We have a very detailed cohort analysis whereby people who try [the service] on a monthly basis tend to come on a somewhat transactional basis, and those who sign up for an annual plan — the longer they stay, the less likely they are to churn, and those are obviously our most profitable companies.

Uber is one of your many corporate customers, correct? Are they responsible for those five-star ratings we’re asked to give drivers at the end of each ride?

Uber is using a variety of [our] products, though I can’t say exactly which. I think the largest survey company in the world today is Uber. Today, every time you take an Uber, you take a .2-second survey where you’re rating your driver, and obviously those data points are helping inform them about which drivers are doing a great job, as well as [informing Uber about] the customers who drivers like. It’s using what we call people-powered data in a really refreshing way to drive their product forward.

I always give drivers five stars out of some paranoid fear that if I don’t, there will be ramifications. Other people game surveys for their own reasons. How do you ensure these surveys are actually useful to your customers?

Good morning, dear readers! We are in transit this morning so have a very streamlined version of SVC for you today that we’ll call SVC Lite because we are dorks. We had a great time last night at our Palo Alto event with our guests Zander Lurie of SurveyMonkey, Hunter Walk of Homebrew, Kim Malone Scott of Radical Candor, and Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz. We greatly appreciated everyone’s time, and we’re going to have a bunch of follow-up coverage for you as soon as we’re up and running (including, we think, the entire interview with Andreessen). In the meantime, here’s a story in TechCrunch and another in Bloomberg about the night.

Hope you have a terrific weekend. See you back here Monday.

—–

Top News in the A.M.

G Suite? Er, you sure about this, Google?

—–

New Fundings

Dozr, a year-old, Ontario, Canada-based online marketplace that enables contractors to earn income by renting their underutilized construction equipment to other operators, has raised $1.9 million led by Fair Ventures, an investment and innovation unit within Fairfax Financial Holdings. TechCrunch has more here.

Home Chef, a 3.5-year-old, Chicago, Il.-based fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service, has just announced that it’s raised a new $40 million round of funding atop the $10 million round that the company raised earlier this year. It was led by L Catterton, the private equity firm formed by the recent merger of Catterton with the PE arm of luxury conglomerate LVMH. TechCrunch has more here.

Prowler.io, a months-old, Cambridge, U.K.-based company that’s building a platform that can be used by makers of autonomous systems to help those machines think and learn to make better decisions, has raised £1.5 million ($2 million) from Passion Capital, Amadeus Capital and Singapore’s Infocomm Investments. TechCrunch has more here.

Remitly, a five-year-old, Seattle mobile-remittance company, has raised $38.5 million in new funding that includes both equity and debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. The Seattle Times has more here.

—–

People

Laurene Powell Jobs, already a major investor in the Walt Disney Company and Apple, said this morning that her company, Emerson Collective, has taken a minority stake in Anonymous Content, a prominent production and talent management company behind the fabulous (and frustrating!) “Mr. Robot.” Dealbook has more here.

—–

Jobs

Attention attorneys: Google Capital is looking for a corporate attorney to focus on investment transactions and provide general legal support and analysis for Google Capital and its portfolio companies. The job is in Mountain View, Ca.

—–

Essential Reads

The exceptional human toll behind the battery in your smartphone.

—–

Detours

What a $5 million townhouse looks like in three different cities.

—–

Retail Therapy

Aston Martin makes a yacht. (Who knew?)

Thursday! We’re so excited to see a bunch of you later today at our event; wish we could have accommodated more of you but we’ll cover what you miss right here and elsewhere. One final pre-game thank you to our wonderful sponsors Ballou PR, Mattermark, and Bolt for all their support! More tomorrow.:)

——

Top News in the A.M.

The streaming music company Spotify is reportedly in advanced talks to buy fellow online music service provider SoundCloud. The Financial Times has more here.

Qualcomm is in talks to acquire NXP Semiconductors NV, a deal that would likely be valued at over $30 billion and represent the latest merger in a rapidly consolidating semiconductor industry. The WSJ has more here.

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Venky Ganesan on Interest Rates, Diamonds, and Quietly Imploding Startups

Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told lawmakers that she’s not ready to hold interest rates low for much longer, but she isn’t raising them right now.  Afterward, we talked about the news and what it might augur for startups with Venky Ganesan, a managing director at Menlo Ventures, the early-stage firm that led Uber’s Series B round (among its many other investments). Part of that chat, edited for length, follows.

Are we wrong or does it sound from Yellen’s testimony like the money is going to keep rushing into Silicon Valley?

Yes, though it’s not about when the Fed raises interest rates; it’s when [the Fed] tells the market they’re going to do it. There’s a sea of liquidity that gets pushed out when interest rates are low and gets pulled back fast when people think they’re going to rise. Remember, the slowdown in the market happened in the third quarter and fourth quarter of last year, when the Fed said it planned to raise interest rates in Q1. Then they backed down. Then they said the same in Q3 and they didn’t [raise rates].

Is that good news or bad news for the startup ecosystem?

My sense is that you’re going to see an uptick in financings. The money is still flowing in. I don’t think it’s going to go back to where it was in early 2013, but you’re going to see some big financings get announced in Q4.

What are implications of that? Are there enough good companies to fund?

There’s enough big change in the word that people want to invest behind it. Are there enough good companies? No. But let’s say I told you there’s a treasure chest, and there are hundreds of balls in the chest and inside five of them, there’s a diamond ring worth a lot of money. The others are worth a dollar. You can either opt out of the game or you can try to buy all the balls, knowing you’re going to get a diamond. That’s [the mindset of investors]. They don’t know which companies will be the next Facebook or Uber, so they’re investing in everything. And you have to keep investing because what if the next one was Uber and you missed it?

More here.

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New Fundings

Apptus, a 16-year-old, Lund, Sweden-based software company that helps online retailers develop, manage, and optimize their merchandising strategies, have raised $88 million in Series D funding led by the UAE investment firm GII, with participation from Iconiq, K1 and KIA. The funding values Apttus at more than $1.3 billion. Forbes has more here.

codeSpark, a 2.5-year-old, Pasadena, Ca.-based startup whose web and mobile games teach kids how to code, has raised $4.1 million in seed funding led by Kapor Capital, with participation from Idealab, PGA Advisors, Felton Group, NewGen Venture Partners, and angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Folloze, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based account-based marketing sales platform, has raised $7.3 million in funding co-led by Canvas Ventures and earlier investor New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Cervin Ventures and others. More here.

Karamba Security, a 1.5-year-old, Hod Hasharon, Israel-based startup aiming to protect internet-connected and self-driving cars from hackers, has raised $2.5 million in Series A funding led by Fontinalis Partners, with participation from earlier investors YL Ventures and GlenRock. TechCrunch has more here.

Lingumi, a year-old, London-based ed tech company that has created a pre-school English language learning system for children, has raised roughly $650,000 in seed funding from LocalGlobe, founded by former Index Partners investors Robin Klein and Saul Klein. TechCrunch has more here.

Lydia, a three-year-old, Paris-based iPhone and Android app that enables users to pay anyone very easily and for free, has raised raised $7.8 million from New Alpha AM and Oddo & Cie. TechCrunch has more here.

Lystable, a two-year-old, London-based startup that helps companies more easily onboard, manage, talk with, and pay their external workers, has added an undisclosed amount of Series A funding to a previously closed, $11 million round, the new funding comes from PayPal co-founder Max Levchin. TechCrunch has more here.

Remedy, a year-old, San Francisco-based startup that helps consumers save money on medical billing errors, has raised $1.9 million in seed funding from Karlin Ventures, Marc Benioff, Brian Lee, Haystack, Precursor Ventures, Slow Ventures, Susa Ventures, Baroda, and others. More here.

Skymind, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based company that’s developing an open-source deep-learning library for Java (along with tools for implementation), has raised $3 million in new funding from Tencent, SV Angel, GreatPoint Ventures, Mandra Capital and Y Combinator. TechCrunch has more here.

—–

Exits

Analogix Semiconductor, a 13-year-old, Santa Clara, Ca.-based startup that designs and manufactures high-performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors for the digital media market, is being acquired for more than $500 million by Shanhai Capital. Analogix had raised roughly $40 million from investors, who say this is one of the biggest deals for a semiconductor company in the last decade. More here.

—–

People

Emergence Capital, a venture firm focused on enterprise cloud companies, is announcing a few promotions this morning. Joe Floyd, who joined the firm as a principal in 2012, has been named partner. Floyd was previously a Kauffman Fellow and an associate at McKinsey & Co. Emergence also promoted Jake Saper to principal (he joined as a senior associate in 2014 from Kleiner Perkins). And Emergence has brought aboard Kara Egan as a senior associate. Egan was most recently director of product marketing at Stitch Labs.

Longtime Microsoft executive Qi Lu — he’s in charge of the company’s applications and services unit — is leaving the company following medical issues that arose from a bicycle accident that took place several months ago, says Recode. More here.

Elon Musk wants us to colonize Mars but, er, says he won’t actually go himself because he doesn’t want to die.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg says women are learning in, but facing pushback, too.

Martin Shkreli, the former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO, is now auctioning off the opportunity to punch him in the face for charity.

Kapil Venkatachalam and John Doran have both been promoted to general partner at TCV. Venkatachalam, based in New York, joined the firm as an associate in 2006. Doran joined TCV’s London office in 2012 as a principal and worked previously at Summit Partners, Xander Group and Morgan Stanley.

—–

Jobs

Twilio, the cloud communications software company that went public in June, is looking to hire a corporate development associate. The job is in San Francisco.

—–

Essential Reads

An immigrant-funded biotech center in rural Vermont. What could go wrong?

What millennials actually use the mobile payment app Venmo to do.

—–

Detours

Vox on the sudden, incredible decline in teen births since 2009.

Mark Zuckerberg’s photos from Facebook’s futuristic, arctic data center.

This woman ate a pork bun in a typhoon and now everyone loves her.

—–

Retail Therapy

VW debuted its first dedicated electric car yesterday at the Paris Auto Show. Though it’s technically a concept car, the company says it should be buyable in 2020. (VW says it’ll drive more than 370 miles on a single charge, too.)

Happy Wednesday, everyone! We’re running here and there this a.m., so no column today.

—–

Top News in the A.M.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told lawmakers today that the U.S. will continue to add jobs at a solid rate, though the recent average pace is probably higher than what’s sustainable over the long term and could eventually cause the economy to overheat. If that happens, she said, “We could be faced with having to raise interest rates more rapidly than we would want.” Bloomberg has more here.

Apple has revealed plans to opening a swanky new London headquarters at Battersea Power Station by 2021. The Evening Standard has the story.

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New Fundings

A.I. Nemo, a two-year-old, Beijing-based smart hardware and robotics start-up, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sinovation Ventures and Chengwei Capital. The company says it had raised nearly $30 million in Series A and B funding prior to the new round, but isn’t disclosing from whom. China Money Network has more here.

AppNexus, the nine-year-old, New York-based ad tech company, has raised a $31 million funding round that includes a $10 million investment from News Corp, involvement from Yahoo Japan, and participation from its existing investors. The company has now raised more than $300 million altogether, shows CrunchBase. Business Insider has more here.

AquaSecurity, a year-old, Tel Aviv, Israel-based platform for securing virtual container applications, has raised $9 million in Series A funding led by Microsoft Ventures. Return backers TLV Partners and Shlomo Kramer also participated in the round. Globes has more here.

b8ta, a year-old, Palo Alto-based showroom for trendy tech gadgets, has raised $7 million in Series A funding led by TriplePoint Capital, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Fifth Wall Ventures, Macerich and Eniac Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

BigchainDB, a two-year-old, Berlin-based blockchain database provider for developers and businesses, has raised roughly $3.4 million in Series A funding from Earlybird Venture Capital, Anthemis Group, Digital Currency Group and Innogy SE. Coindesk has more here.

Contrast Security, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based company focused on the security of software applications, has raised $16 million in Series B funding led by General Catalyst Partners, with participation from Acero Capital, Tenable Network Security founder Ron Gula, former Akamai Technologies CEO Paul Sagan, and Microsoft board chairman John Thompson.Technical.ly Baltimore has more here.

Druva, an eight-year-old, Sunnyvale, Ca.-based unified data protection platform, has raised $51 million in fresh funding from earlier investor Sequoia India, along with NTT Finance, Nexus Venture Partners and Tenaya Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Kustomer, a year-old, New York-based customer relationship platform, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Canaan Partners, with participation from other investors, including Boldstart Ventures and Social Leverage. TechCrunch has more here.

MicuRx Pharmaceuticals, a nine-year-old, Hayward, Ca. and Shanghai, China-based company that’s developing antibiotics to prevent and treat drug-resistant bacterial infections, has raised $55 million in Series C funding. GP Healthcare Capital led the round, with participation from new investors GP TMT Capital, 3E Bioventures Capital, and Delian Capital. More here.

OpenSesame, a 14-year-old, Portland, Or.-based company on on-demand e-learning courses for the enterprise, has raised $9 million in Series B funding led by Altos Ventures, with participation from earlier backer Partech Ventures. More here.

Paddle, a four-year-old, London-based company that makes checkout-focused software tools for ecommerce companies, has raised $3.2 billion in Series A funding led by BGF Ventures, with participation from Spring Partners. More here.

Think Labs, a four-year-old, Hong Kong-based company whose flagship device is Handy — a smartphone for hotel guests that allows travelers to make calls and send messages and includes details of services available at the hotel and nearby — has raised a whopping $125 million. The funding was providing by earlier backer and manufacturing giant Foxconn; with participation from Sinovation Ventures, the investment firm from ex-Google China head Kaifu Lee; and Cai Wensheng, a prolific angel investor who is chairman of the popular Chinese photo service Meitu. TechCrunch has more here.

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New Funds

Razor’s Edge Ventures, a 5.5-year-old, Reston, Va.-based venture capital firm that’s focused largely on cyber security, is looking to raise up to $250 million for its second fund, shows a new SEC filing. It’s a huge step up from the $55 million the team raised for its debut fund. We profiled the firm back in 2014 if you’re interested in learning more.

Europe’s biggest software maker, SAP, just earmarked 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) for investments in products that help companies to connect everything from washing machines to cars to the Internet. Reuters has more here.

—–

People

Tyra Banks sat down with TechCrunch to talk startup investing and her new, startup competition show on NBC, “Funded.”

Melinda Gates is returning to her roots to tackle gender inequality in computer science. BackChannel has more here.

Elon Musk has a plan to colonize Mars, but he’s not rushing it, he said yesterday in a conference call from the International Astronautical Conference.

—–

Jobs

Bain Capital Ventures is looking to add two associates to its West Coast team. One associate will work with its infrastructure software team; the other will work with its application software team. To apply, seek out a “warm intro,” says the firm (and not from us, please). More here.

We’re also hearing that Menlo Ventures is seeking a principal, an associate, and a partner for its San Francisco-based consumer group. These new hires will work closely with managing director Shawn Carolan, who recently rejoined the firm in a full-time capacity. Again, we don’t have contact information for you, but work your connections!

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Essential Reads

Oops. “Good guy” loan startup LendUp was just fined $6.3 million by state and federal agencies for overcharging its customers.

Twitter wants you to take make a moment.

Defending against hackers took a back seat at Yahoo, insiders tell the New York Times.

Meanwhile, Verizon is dodging questions about whether that breach of 500 million Yahoo user accounts will impact its takeover plans.

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Detours

The fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?

Smashing two cars together in mid-air.

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Retail Therapy

The amazing, transforming coffee table!