Hackers have apparently stolen email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses, and even financial details for 560 million Ticketmaster customers and are trying to sell the lot for $500,000. 

"There are a lot of jobs to be done in venture. We’re always sourcing and fundraising, but we're also always looking to be human in those processes, and Affinity helps us do that most effectively.” Kelly Graziadei, Founder & General Partner at f7 Ventures spoke to Affinity about how her team is building a multi-generational fund—and the tools they're using to do that with ease. Want to learn more? Check out the case study.

Last month, one of the Bay Area’s better-known early-stage venture capital firms, Uncork Capital, marked its 20th anniversary with a party in a renovated church in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood, where 420 guests showed up to help the firm celebrate, trade tips and share war stories.

There’s no question the venture scene has changed meaningfully since Uncork got its start. When firm founder Jeff Clavier launched the firm, he was mostly using his savings to write six-figure checks to founders. Now Clavier and his contemporaries, including Josh Kopelman of First Round Capital and Aydin Senkut of Felicis, collectively oversee billions of dollars in assets. Zooming out, the whole industry has gotten a whole lot bigger. In 2004, venture firms plugged roughly $20 billion into startups. In 2021, that amount reached a comparatively jaw-dropping $350 billion.

As the industry’s scale has changed, numerous rules of the road have changed, too — some for better, some for worse and some because the original rules didn’t make a lot of sense in the first place. On the eve of Uncork’s anniversary, we talked with Clavier and his managing partner of many years, Andy McLoughlin, about some of those shifts.

More here.

Frore Systems, a six-year-old startup based in San Jose, CA, whose product enhances the cooling of high-performance electronic components, including AI chips, raised an $80 million Series C round led by Fidelity, with Prosperity7 as well as previous investors Mayfield, Clear Ventures, Addition, Qualcomm Ventures, MVP Ventures, Stepstone Group, and Alumni Ventures also piling on. EE News has more here.

Natural Cycles, an 11-year-old Stockholm company that has developed the first FDA-cleared contraceptive app, which uses body temperature data to help women track their menstrual cycle and determine their fertile days, raised a $55 million Series C round. Lauxera Capital Partners was the deal lead. Tech.eu has more here.

Solutions by Text, a 16-year-old Dallas company whose text messaging platform allows businesses to send payment reminders and facilitate transactions via text, raised a $110 million in equity and debt co-led by Edison Partners and StepStone Group. TechCrunch has more here.

Authentic, a two-year-old New York startup that enables SaaS platforms, associations, and other communities to create their own captive insurance programs for offering small business insurance, raised an $11 million Series A round led by FirstMark Capital, with Slow Ventures, Altai Ventures, MGV, Upper90, and Commerce Ventures also anteing up. Coverager has more here.

ExpressionEdits, a three-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that uses AI-driven intronization technology to enhance protein expression for pharmaceutical and industrial applications, raised a $13 million seed round co-led by Octopus Ventures and redalpine, with BlueYard Ventures, Wilbe Capital, Acequia Capital, Amino Collective, and Hawktail also pitching in. More here.

Firefly, a three-year-old Israeli startup that enables businesses to manage their cloud infrastructure to ensure compliance and reduce costs, raised a $23 million Series A round led by Vertex and including Hanaco, SoftBank, InMotion Ventures, and Redseed. The company has raised a total of approximately $30 million. CTech has more here.

Gameto, a four-year-old New York startup that is developing treatments for ovarian aging and improving female reproductive health, including advanced in vitro fertilization techniques aimed at enhancing fertility outcomes for women, raised a $33 million Series B round co-led by Two Sigma Ventures and RA Capital, with previous investors Insight Partners, Future Ventures, and BOLD Capital Partners also contributing. The company has raised a total of $73 million. Femtech Insider has more here.

HoneyNaps, a nine-year-old Seoul startup that uses advanced algorithms to analyze sleep data and provide accurate diagnostic insights, raised a $11.6 million Series B round. Investors included Korea Industrial Bank, Hi investment Partners, and Quad Investment Management. The company has raised a total of approximately $16.2 million. More here.

ifeel, a seven-year-old Madrid startup whose platform connects employees with professional therapists in order to provide personalized mental health care, raised a $20 million Series B round co-led by FinTLV Ventures and Korelya Capital. The company has raised a total of $40 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Relay, a six-year-old Toronto startup whose platform is designed to help SMBs manage their cash flow, raised a $32.2 million Series B round led by Bain Capital Ventures, with BTV, Garage, Industry Ventures, and Tapestry also investing. The company has raised a total of $51.6 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Wayspring, a 12-year-old Nashville company that provides value-based care for people with substance use disorders, raised a $45 million round led by CVS Health Ventures, with previous investors Valtruis, HLM Venture Partners, and .406 Ventures also taking part. More here.

Anzen Finance, a Hong Kong startup that issues stablecoins backed by physical assets, raised a $4 million seed round from a syndicate that included Mechanism Capital, Circle Ventures, Frax, Arca, Infinity Ventures, Cherubic Ventures, Palm Drive Ventures, M31 Capital, and Kraynos Capital. The Block has more here.

Cloover, a two-year-old German startup that helps accelerate the adoption of solar energy by providing financing options for solar installers, raised a $5.8 million seed round and $108.5 million in debt. The deal was led by Lowercarbon Capital, with additional participation from 9900 Capital and QED. TechCrunch has more here.

Ducky, a Nashville startup whose product uses artificial intelligence to handle common customer inquiries, streamline workflows, and improve overall efficiency for support staff, raised a $2.7 million pre-seed round led by Penny Jar Capital, with Bread & Butter Ventures, NOMO Ventures, and Wilson Sonsini also investing. More here.

Iris.ai, a nine-year-old Oslo startup whose AI engine uses natural language processing to analyze and contextualize scientific literature, making it easier for researchers to gather insights and stay updated with the latest developments in their fields, raised an $8.2 million round led by Silverline Capital, with EIC also opting in. Tech.eu has more here.

Kintsugi, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that helps companies manage sales tax compliance across multiple jurisdictions, raised a $6 million Series A round at a $40 million valuation. The deal was led by Link Ventures, with Venture Highway, KyberKnight, Plug and Play, and DeVC also joining in. PYMNTS has more here.

OpenSocial Protocol, a Hong Kong startup that enables the creation of decentralized social networking apps that integrate blockchain-based financial services, raised a $5 million seed round co-led by Portal Ventures and SNZ, with Animoca Brands, Awesome People Ventures, Arche Fund, Decima Fund, Moonrock Capital, OKX Ventures, Orange DAO, Panony, and Summer Ventures also taking stakes. More here.

PlayAI, a web3 AI startup that offers rewards to gamers who let the company use their gaming data to train AI models, raised a $4.3 million  seed round at a $70 million post-money-valuation. Investors included P2 Ventures, Jump Crypto, Alphawave, Zentry, MH Ventures, and Tykhe Block Ventures. The Block has more here.

Scrypt, a four-year-old Swiss startup that offers trading, custody, and staking for crypto assets, raised a $5 million led by Braza Bank, with additional participation from Funfair Ventures, Cabrit Capital, and Atlantic Labs. Silicon Canals has more here.

Slingshot, a startup that that provides financial tools tailored for content creators to help manage their earnings and financial operations more efficiently, raised a $2.2 million pre-seed round from Dorm Room Fund, 1916 Enterprises, and Key Partners Group. TechCrunch has more here. 

Switchboard, a three-year-old Miami startup whose platform provides secure and reliable data feeds for smart contracts, enabling applications such as decentralized finance, gaming, and other blockchain-based services to access external information, raised a $7.5 million Series A round co-led by Tribe Capital and RockawayX, with additional funds provided by the Solana Foundation, Aptos Labs, Mitzen Labs, Subzero Ventures, Starkware, Arche Capital, Breed VC, and Ascensive Assets. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Vizcab, a nine-year-old startup based in Lyon, France, whose platform assesses and manages the environmental impact of building projects by calculating carbon emissions throughout the construction process, raised a $4.9 million Series A extension led by KOMPAS VC, with Global Brain and Brick and Mortar Ventures also chipping in. ESG Today has more here.

Zendata, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that helps businesses manage and secure their data, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations and improving the governance of AI systems, raised a $2 million round. Investors included PayPal Ventures, First-hand Alliance, Geek Ventures, and Altari Ventures. More here.

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Harness, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup that provides tools for developers, has acquired Split, a nine-year-old startup based in Redwood City, CA, that focuses on helping developers manage the release of new features. Terms were not disclosed.  TechCrunch has more here. 

CoreWeave, a seven-year-old New Jersey startup backed by Nvidia that provides infrastructure-as-a-service tailored for industries like AI, machine learning, and CGI, is preparing to go public in the first half of next year, according to The Information, which has more here. 

According to reporting in The Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump and Elon Musk talk several times a month, and Trump has offered Musk an advisory role in his administration. 

Thanks to open sourcing Meta's artificial intelligence models, Mark Zuckerberg is popular again in Silicon Valley. (Or at least, so says The New York Times.)

EV startup Fisker is axing hundreds of employees in a desperate bid to stay alive. The company now has a headcount of only 150, according to TechCrunch, which has more here. 

In a 2022 effort to avoid U.S. government action, TikTok offered the Biden administration extraordinary control over its operations, including the opportunity to choose its U.S. board of directors and possess a kill switch that would instantly shut off the service. The White House rejected the deal. The Washington Post has more here. 

Researchers say that AI may be better at reading financial statements than some financial analysts.

A NERF blaster that fires 288 foam balls a second.

Almost half of GenZers feel like they are living a "double life," according to a new study.

Meme Depot.

A smart wallet that you will never lose. (But can you sit on it?)

Priced at almost $5 million, Pee-wee's playhouse comes with a "catio," among other features.