Watching Jake Paul fight Anthony Joshua tonight -- then hearing about the purse involved -- I told the interns that I would have climbed into the ring for that amount. They said that for $92 million, they would have driven me to the arena, wrapped my hands, and pushed me into the ring themselves.

Speaking of our beloved children, as always happens this time of year, we're unplugging StrictlyVC for a couple of weeks to spend more time with family, binge read, and if all goes as planned, not much else.:) We wish you the happiest of holidays, and we'll see you back here Jan. 5. 🌲🎁 🥂 —CL

Delaware’s Supreme Court reinstated Elon Musk’s 2018 Tesla pay package worth $56 billion, reversing a lower court ruling after years of litigation over disclosure, conflicts, and shareholder approval that pushed Musk and Tesla to publicly break with Delaware. TechCrunch has more here.

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By Ivan Mehta

Celeste Amadon and Asher Allen were working on an app that used AI to book restaurants for dates when they stumbled on a bigger idea that encourages people to meet in person. And now it’s catching on with investors.

The duo created a voice-powered AI onboarding system for their app that helped them learn more about users without them having to fill out a form. What they discovered: People loved to talk, and that increased the length of the onboarding session with the app clocking 26 minutes on average. That is how San Francisco-based dating startup Known was born. 

“Our take is that for the first time, we could know enough about somebody to serve them a date that would make sense. And if we could do that much faster with less rejection rate, we could create a user experience that could get people out on more dates,” she said.

And early results suggested they were on to something. 

In its test phase in San Francisco, Known said it observed 80% of its introductions led to in-person dates, which is much higher than swipe-based dating apps. Buoyed by these signals, the startup has raised $9.7 million from investors, including Forerunner and NFX, along with Pear VC and Coelius Capital. Notably, this is the first dating app investment for Forerunner.

“Celeste is a really thoughtful founder who understands the mindset of the consumer, which is a young female, to be honest. There are other people who can be focused on the male demographic, but she is focused on the young female who has a lot of unspoken desires and needs that, if you put them in a profile, they would never say, this versus that. And I think in a conversation, you can get a lot of those nuances out, but in the past, the conversation required a $10,000 matchmaker,” Eurie Kim, a partner at Forerunner, told TechCrunch.

Atavistik Bio, a five-year-old startup based in Cambridge, MA, that is developing precision allosteric small molecule therapeutics, raised a $120 million Series B round co-led by Nextech Invest and The Column Group, with Lux Capital and Regeneron Ventures also participating. CityBiz has more here.

Edison Scientific, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI to help biologists and chemists read research, analyze data, and design experiments faster, raised a $70 million seed round at a roughly $250 million valuation co-led by Spark Capital, Triatomic Capital, and an unnamed biotech investor. Tech Funding News has more here.

Neural Concept, a seven-year-old startup based in Lausanne, Switzerland, that develops AI-powered computer-aided design and simulation software to accelerate and optimize physical product engineering, raised a $100 million Series C round led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with Forestay Capital, Alven, HTGF, D.E. Shaw Ventures, and Aster Capital also taking part. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Resolve AI, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that develops an autonomous site reliability engineer that maintains software systems, has reportedly raised an undisclosed amount for its Series A round, a portion of which was sold at a $1 billion valuation. The deal lead is Lightspeed, according to TechCrunch, which has more here.

EtherealX, a four-year-old Bangalore startup that is developing a reusable medium-lift launch vehicle, raised a $21 million Series A round co-led by TDK Ventures and BIG Capital, with Accel also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

Neurable, an eleven-year-old Boston company that develops brain-computer interface technology, raised a $35 million Series A round. Spectrum Moonshot Fund was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $65 million. MassDevice has more here.

Ciphero, a New York startup founded this year that provides security and governance for AI tools used inside enterprises, raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round co-led by Sovereign’s Capital and Chingona Ventures, with BlueWing Ventures, Bullpen Capital, Everywhere Ventures, Hustle Fund, Propeller, and Viaka also engaging. More here.

Givefront, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that builds financial and spend management tools for nonprofit organizations, raised a $2 million seed round led by Script Capital, with Y Combinator, C3 Ventures, and Phoenix Fund also weighing in. TechCrunch has more here.

InfiniteWatch, a one-year-old New York startup that provides an observability layer for AI-mediated customer interactions across web and voice channels, raised a $4 million pre-seed round led by Base10 Partners, with Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Kibo Ventures, Kfund, and LifeX also contributing. Pulse 2.0 has more here.

Peripheral Labs, a one-year-old Toronto startup that uses sensors and AI to create immersive 3D sports broadcasts from fewer cameras, raised a $3.6 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures, with Daybreak Capital, Entrepreneurs First, and Transpose Platform also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here.

Speed, a five-year-old Dubai startup that builds Bitcoin and stablecoin payment infrastructure on the Lightning Network, raised an $8 million round co-led by Tether and Ego Death Capital. PYMNTS has more here.

StretchSense, a 13-year-old company based in New Zealand and Edinburgh, Scotland, that develops data-capture gloves for XR training and simulation, raised a $2.3 million round led by PXN Ventures, with Scottish Enterprise also investing. The company has raised a total of approximately $20 million. Tech.eu has more here.

ZeroPhase, a one-year-old Munich startup that builds adaptive communications software for unmanned defense systems, raised a $6.8 million seed round led by BlueYard Capital. EU-Startups has more here.

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Krafton, an 18-year-old Seoul VC firm and gaming company that invests in gaming, content, fintech, and consumer internet startups, has raised a $670 million growth fund to back later-stage Indian technology companies. TechCrunch has more here.

Netflix is acquiring Ready Player Me, a five-year-old startup based in Tallinn, Estonia, that enables consumers to create a single digital avatar that can be used across multiple online games and virtual environments. Terms were not disclosed. The company previously raised $72 million from backers like Andreessen Horowitz, Endeavor, Konvoy Ventures, and Plural. TechCrunch has more here.

Cursor developer Anysphere is acquiring five-year-old Graphite, a code review startup that helps engineering teams review, merge, and ship code more quickly. Terms were not disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.

Morgan Stanley is emerging as the front-runner to lead SpaceX’s long-anticipated IPO thanks to Elon Musk’s long ties to the bank. Reuters has more here.

Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire wrongly accused an innocent Palestinian student of being the Brown shooter and continued amplifying false claims after police identified a different suspect. TechCrunch has more here.

Sam Altman is spinning Merge Labs out of Los Angeles nonprofit Forest Neurotech, creating a stealth brain-computer interface startup that uses ultrasound to read brain activity as investor interest builds around commercially viable neural technologies. Wired has more here.

Netflix is cutting exclusive video podcast deals and testing whether shows can replace daytime talk fare in the hope that it might blunt YouTube’s grip as viewing shifts away from traditional television. TechCrunch has more here.

At this year’s NeurIPS conference in San Diego, more than 24,000 artificial intelligence researchers, executives, and investors gathered for papers, recruiting, and social events that underscored how the field has shifted from an academic niche into a crowded, capital-heavy industry. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Airlines and crews are grappling with a surge of able-bodied passengers dubbed “Jetway Jesuses” who request wheelchair assistance to skip boarding lines and then miraculously walk off the plane upon arrival.

A four-level, seven-bedroom, eight-thousand-square-foot Kiawah Island manse with direct beach access, golf course views, a heated saltwater pool, expansive decks, and a chilled wine room just hit the market for $18.5 million, a 6x step-up from what its owners paid for the property back in 2011.

Ring watches suggest that somewhere, a designer looked at a regular watch and thought: What this needs is to be 90% smaller and 100% harder to read.

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