As we all begin attending holiday parties, here鈥檚 a not so subtle reminder that your tipped-over champagne glass and dropped hors d’oeuvres don鈥檛 clean themselves. Someone has to pick it up, so be mindful while you鈥檙e celebrating.

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Now let鈥檚 get festive with a company we covered this week that wants you to swap that whole milk in your peppermint latte with some DNA-sequenced fungi. Perfect Day Foods, a Berkeley-based startup,听raised $140 million for its dairy-free milk protein.

Other funding continued with Zeus,聽a corporate housing startup that got an investment from Airbnb聽among other founders. There was also Ride Home Media, which raised聽$1 million to build a podcast network, and聽a drone startup that netted $32 million. Bigger rounds included Charlotte-based聽Passport鈥檚 $65 million Series D, and聽Hometap鈥檚 $100 million to get a stake in customers鈥� homes. More on funding in聽Last Week in Venture.

From the M&A front,听Apple bought Spectral Edge听补苍诲听Credit Karma bought Haven Money. And from the new fund side,听Operator Collective raised its debut $45 million聽from over 100, well, operators. Meanwhile聽Piva closed a first fund at $250 million to focus on the energy industry.

Plus, Builders VC chatted with us to share聽how it invests in 鈥渘onsexy鈥� industries.

In the latest turn of events with the scooter industry saga, which we all thought (and I hoped), was over,听we saw signs of consolidation within the once highly saturated market. And that reminds me, despite momentum, one report showed that聽investor confidence as a whole is down.

Finally, Bill.com may seem like a boring IPO compared to its controversial ride-hailing predecessors, but聽its debut on the public market was impressive.

To close on a more cheerful note than we began, I鈥檒l leave you with one of my favorite holiday drinks (and hacks) of all time: Trader Joes鈥櫬�. Thank me later.

Cheers,
Natasha

<em>Illustration: <a href=”https://www.behance.net/user/?username=DomGuzman”>Dom Guzman</a></em>

1. Start near the food, preferably the people hovering around the cheeseboard.
2. Instead of asking about a person鈥檚 job, ask if they want to find a way to divide and conquer the revolving hors d’oeuvres. Trust me, that kind of collaboration surpasses any connection swapping business cards could manage.

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With the very serious housekeeping out of the way, let鈥檚 get into the stories that come out of our conversations here at聽.

To address the impeachment in the room, let鈥檚 get into the slew of executives exiting this week: Juul鈥檚 CEO, Kevin Burns,听stepped down amid the teen vaping crisis, and WeWork鈥檚 CEO, Adam Neumann,听stepped down after a botched IPO. Plus, reports came out that another聽SoftBank-fueled real estate company聽faced its own series of departures. Picking on SoftBank a bit more,听聽unpacked how he thinks the聽Vision Fund鈥檚 method of valuing companies looks a bit off.

On a sweeter (and for now, safer) note,听Sweetgreen raised $150 million, and聽Divvy Homes聽raised $43 million to help renters become homeowners. We also wrote about the 鈥�Chime of Mexico,鈥� a Dublin-based聽no code solution, and a startup that raised $4.5 million to help us聽create less trash.

On the IPO front,听聽gave us a聽snapshot of Peloton鈥檚 pricing. Feel free to send over聽. (Sadly, the IPO parade is about to slow down due to the holidays.) For more on Sophia鈥檚 reporting and how 附近上门 News thinks about IPOs, check out our first installment of a podcast mini-series:聽Some Personal News.

On a final, local note, San Francisco may want to be the 鈥渇unky, fog-laced city of steep hills and charming Victorians,鈥� but as聽聽points out,听the data says otherwise.

Until next week,

滨濒濒耻蝉迟谤补迟颈辞苍:听.

After living in San Francisco for six months, I鈥檝e started to roll my eyes at Brex-branded hot chocolate with Bailey鈥檚. What makes me pause, however, is seeing Patricia. She鈥檚 the florist in my neighborhood who tirelessly tends to the orchids every day but somehow also remembers my name.

So, half a year in, I鈥檓 a bit more cynical about聽聽(let鈥檚 get more creative than weather jokes). This makes it all the more exciting when exceptions arise. This week there were two.

Uber, the ride-hailing company announced聽$5.48 billion in operating losses聽last week, and聽now is looking at stopping anniversary balloons as a cost-saving measure.

I guess Uber popped after all.

Next up in the news you don鈥檛 hear every day: I stood in line for聽ice cream that鈥檚 valued, apparently, at $200 million. The millennial pink jumpsuits didn鈥檛 throw me off, but the fact that one customer would鈥檝e paid an entrance fee of $300 dollars just for an Instagram picture definitely did.

While the quirks stopped there, it wasn鈥檛 a calm week by any means. One of聽聽filed to go public:聽WeWork. Our team broke down the聽big numbers听补苍诲听charted the (ludicrous) S-1 for you. Cloudflare also filed with strong revenue growth (big numbers,听charts), and聽Postmates will likely deliver next month.

Now onto some funding news. Lucidworks raised聽$100 million for AI-powered search; Energy Vault landed聽$110 million from SoftBank鈥檚 Vision Fund聽for a jenga-style tower of power; and OpenSpace, a construction tech startup,听raised $14 million from investors. Also,听Twitter led a $100 million investment听颈苍迟辞听Sharechat,听India’s rival to WhatsApp. In acquisitions,听Tumblr was bought聽(again) and聽Scaleworks scooped up Nextopia.

Finally, read about聽how gender disparities continue to exist within venture capital firms. That in mind, read about where your potential聽future technical co-founder likely went to school.

Until next week,

Natasha

笔.厂.听贵辞濒濒辞飞听聽about living in San Francisco, and聽附近上门聽News聽on聽Twitter听补苍诲听Facebook聽for daily updates.

滨濒濒耻蝉迟谤补迟颈辞苍:听

Hot takes feel lukewarm these days. I鈥檇 wager that if we spent less time arguing about cold brew versus iced coffee, that same energy could be pivoted to shed light on more pressing topics.

Complacency about caffeine is not a sin, people.

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For example, we wrote about how聽Webflow raised a $72 million Series A this week. A debate followed on whether it was fair to compare Webflow to other companies that have raised outsized Series As. In this case, it felt helpful to use a take to clarify how聽听迟丑颈苍办蝉听about the ever-changing definition of this round.

Plus, it sets the scene for the next section I want to get into: the funding rounds we covered this week.

Starting big, Ibotta, an in-app coupon company,听raised a nine-figure Series D. It鈥檚 the only tech unicorn in Colorado right now. Another company worth around $1 billion dollars, Cybereason,听raised $200 million led by Softbank聽(We covered SoftBank’s earnings as well, so聽head here to learn about how the Vision Fund is doing).

While SoftBank鈥檚 name pops up in some of the biggest deals we see, reporting on smaller news gives us the best ins for big trends. For example, when Airbnb acquired another company,听we looked at the broader travel startup market. Or as聽Lyft聽and Uber reported their Q2 performance,听we asked what it meant for other ride-hailing companies. We also got into the cannabis market with聽LeafLink鈥檚 $35 million raise, and how Smart News is joining聽a friend group of Chinese-news focused unicorns. For quirkier hits, check out聽Last Week In Venture.

Beyond breaking news,听聽took us through a聽growing trend of hypergiant rounds, which are private financing totals of $250 million or more. We also took a look at two different geographic regions:聽鈥檚 look at a聽lukewarm Texas VC scene, and聽聽inaugural column on Boston,听which had its slowest July in VC funding since 2014.

Finally, to better learn about the people behind the constant deals we read about,听听颈苍迟别谤惫颈别飞别诲听NFX鈥檚 co-founder James Currier, and I chatted with聽Alex Marshall from First Round Capital. Learn about why one thinks Buzzfeed is dead, and why the other can鈥檛 handle hearing about crypto.

Until next week,

滨濒濒耻蝉迟谤补迟颈辞苍:听.

P.S. I put out a personal newsletter every Monday, if you’re interested!