Techmeme: Cockroach Labs, which makes the SQL database CockroachDB, raises a $278M Series F at a $5B valuation led by Greenoaks, up from $2B valuation in January (Ron Miller/TechCrunch)

Reddit confidentially files its S-1 with the SEC for an IPO; the number of shares to be offered and the price range have yet to be determined — Reddit, Inc. today announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission …

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

Reddit, home to 100K+ active communities visited by 50M+ people every day, has raised $1B+ over its lifetime and was most recently valued at $10B+ in August — Reddit announced on Wednesday that it had confidentially filed paperwork for an eventual public offering of its stock …

More: Bloomberg, Reuters, CNET, ntmbulo.com, and Waivly

Henry Mance / Financial Times:

Interview with Meta's VP of Global Affairs Nick Clegg on leaving politics, the impact of Haugen's leaks, and his leading role in the decision to ban Trump — Nick Clegg may be available in Berlin. He has a slot in Paris. He'll make time for lunch in Brussels.

Tanya Basu / MIT Technology Review:

Meta says a woman was groped in Horizon Worlds on November 26; an internal review found she should have used the VR platform's Safe Zone tool — Last week, Meta (the umbrella company formerly known as Facebook) opened up access to its virtual-reality social media platform, Horizon Worlds.

More: Bloomberg, Futurism, and Pandaily

Tweets: @calbucci, @tanyabasu, @lazerwalker, @parmy, @teachguz, @parmy, @mikebutcher, @parmy, @damienmcferran, @oliviasolon, @mattnavarra, @vickiturk, @markgongloff, @autumncapital, @niallfirth, @eileenguo, @jjaron, and @quicktake

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Job listings show Apple is hiring engineers for a new office in Irvine, California to develop wireless chips that could replace Broadcom and Skyworks components — - Company seeks engineers for location in Irvine, California — Apple is poised to attract employees from Broadcom, Skyworks

More: AppleInsider, MacRumors, The Verge, 9to5Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, and Cult of Mac

Tweets: @markgurman and @benbajarin

Orla McCaffrey / Wall Street Journal:

Tax preparation company H&R Block sues Block, formerly Square, for trademark infringement, claiming Block's name and logo are “nearly identical” to its own — Square changed name to Block earlier this month, a nod to CEO Jack Dorsey's blockchain ambitions

More: Decrypt, Engadget, Protocol, CoinDesk, Bloomberg, GlobeNewswire News Room, and CNBC

Tweets: @theryanford, @rstephens, @readdanwrite, and @orla_mccaffrey

Liza Lin / Wall Street Journal:

TikTok says it will adjust its recommendation algorithm to avoid negative reinforcement and let users pick words and hashtags to remove videos from their feed — The app says it is working to diversify the content it pushes to individual users in order to protect their mental well-being

More: TikTok, TechCrunch, Protocol, 9to5Mac, Engadget, The Verge, Tubefilter, TechCrunch, and Axios. Tweets: @tiktokcomms

Kris Holt / Engadget:

Sidewalk Labs plans to shut down, fold its products into Google, and spin out Canopy Buildings; CEO Dan Doctoroff says he is stepping down for health reasons — Alphabet's smart city project is winding down and Google will take over its products. Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff announced …

More: Sidewalk Talk and Protocol

Tweets: @andyjayhawk, @sidewalklabs, @richard_florida, and @kantrowitz

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Memo: Apple delays its return to corporate offices to a “date yet to be determined”, after previously setting a February 1 return date — - Company had planned to bring corporate workers back by Feb. 1 — Delay comes in response to rising Covid-19 cases, new variant

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Apple closes three retail stores in Miami, Annapolis, and Ottawa, Canada after a rise in employee COVID-19 cases and exposures

More: iMore, NBC News, MUO, PCMag, The Verge, Engadget, Benzinga, CNBC, The Information, MacDailyNews, iDownloadBlog.com, TheStreet, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, and Reuters

Tweets: @markgurman, @zoeschiffer, @markgurman, and @creative_rants

Chainalysis:

Analysis: cryptocurrency scams cost victims $7.7B in 2021, up 81% from 2020, driven by DeFi-based “rug pulls” wherein developers unexpectedly abandon projects — This blog is a preview of our 2022 Crypto Crime Report. Sign up here to reserve your copy and we'll email you the full report when it comes out in February!

More: Protocol, Decrypt, and CryptoSlate

Tweets: @ryan, @arvidkahl, @chainalysis, and @mdudas

Bloomberg:

Sources: Indian edtech company Byju's is in advanced talks to go public via a SPAC on the NYSE, raising around $4B and seeking a $48B valuation — - Education startup is discussing deal with Churchill Capital — SPAC merger could value Byju's at more than $40 billion

More: TechCrunch, The Economic Times, Financial Times, SPACInsider, Reuters, Inc42 Media, DealStreetAsia, and Tech in Asia

Tweets: @chandrarsrikant and @saritharai

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

Apple releases Swift Playgrounds 4, which lets users develop iPhone and iPad apps on their iPads, preview apps in real time, and upload them to the App Store — Apple announced that it has officially released Swift Playgrounds 4. The tech giant first announced the upcoming launch of the new software at WWDC earlier this year.

More: Apple Developer, SiliconANGLE, MacRumors, Thurrott, PhoneArena, O'Grady's PowerPage, Cult of Mac, Redmond Pie, Wccftech, Pocketnow, and appadvice.com

Tweets: @tommyprezioso, @zollotech, @timroesner, and @chris_lawley

Dan Primack / Axios:

Source: delivery startup Gopuff, which recently launched in London and NYC, raised $1.5B in convertible notes at a valuation of up to $40B — Gopuff, an instant delivery platform for everyday items, has raised $1.5 billion in new funding at around a $40 billion valuation, Axios has learned.

More: Bloomberg, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, and Fortune. Tweets: @daiwaka

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Spotify rolls out a podcast ratings system that will let users rate a show from one to five stars only after listening to it — Spotify is borrowing a page from rival Apple with the addition of a five-star user ratings system for podcasts — a new tool for sorting through …

More: Spotify, TechCrunch, The Verge, Word of Mouth, XDA Developers, Hollywood Reporter, Engadget, MSPoweruser, and Tubefilter. Tweets: @spotifynews

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Washington Post:

An in-depth look at the four-minute tornado in Illinois, with the only deaths coming at an Amazon warehouse, where workers sheltered in restrooms — A woman told 911 that one of the people sheltering with her had been ‘bent in half’ by rubble. A driver detailed his frantic flight to safety.

More: VICE, The Verge, New York Post, and Ars Technica

Tweets: @gerritd, @washingtonpost, @markseibel, @markseibel, @markseibel, @markseibel, and @moreperfectus

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Adidas Originals launches an NFT collection with Bored Ape Yacht Club, Gmoney, and Punks Comic that offers access to wearables in The Sandbox virtual world — Adidas Originals will launch its first nonfungible tokens (NFTs) as it dives into Web 3 and the metaverse.

More: The Verge, designboom, Crypto Briefing, Coinspeaker, and Tech in Asia

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Spotify acquires Australian company Whooshkaa, which helps radio broadcasters turn existing content into podcasts and sell ads around them — Spotify on Thursday said it acquired Whooshkaa, a podcast technology platform that specializes in technology for radio broadcasters to turn existing content into podcasts.

More: TechCrunch, Spotify, and Whooshkaa

Tweets: @sarafischer and @sarthakgh

Gillian Tan / Bloomberg:

Stocktwits, a social network used by investors and day traders, raises $30M, source says at a $210M valuation, led by Alameda Research, and says it has 1M MAUs — Stocktwits, a social-media platform used by day traders and other retail investors, raised $30 million in a funding round led by Alameda Research Ventures.

Tweets: @michaelbatnick, @jposhaughnessy, and @mdudas

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

Cockroach Labs, which makes the SQL database CockroachDB, raises a $278M Series F at a $5B valuation led by Greenoaks, up from $2B valuation in January — Cockroach Labs, makers of CockroachDB, has been raking in money this year. It started the year with a $160 million Series E …

More: CRN, VentureBeat, Reuters, CNBC, PR Newswire, SiliconANGLE, Cockroach Labs …, and The Register

Andrea Navarro / Bloomberg:

Latin America-based Nowports, which lets importers and exporters ship goods directly through its service, raises a $60M Series B led by Tiger Global — - Nowports raised $60 million in its Series B funding round — Startup growing fast amid problems with global supply chain

More: PR Newswire and Alt Goes Mainstream

Lucy Harley-Mckeown / The Block:

Dutch startup Silverflow, which claims to be the first cloud-native card payments service, raises a $17M Series A led by Coatue — Quick Take — Dutch payment tech company Silverflow has closed a $17 million Series A round, led by Coatue Management. — The round was joined …

More: TechCrunch, FinSMEs, Finextra, Silicon Canals, and Insider

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Amazon says it will reduce its Alexa skills commission from 30% to 20% for developers who earn less than $1M per year, starting in Q2 2022 — Amazon is joining other tech giants by lowering its cut of developer revenue generated by voice apps, known as Alexa skills, which run on Amazon's smart speakers and other Alexa-powered devices.

More: ZDNet, alexa-blog, Android Central, and PYMNTS.com

Ryan Weeks / The Block:

Nansen, a crypto analytics service known for its ability to track high-value investors, raises a $75M Series B led by Accel, sources say at a $750M valuation — Quick Take — Venture capital firm Accel led the fundraise, with participation from a16z and Tiger Global.

More: Decrypt, CoinDesk, Reuters, The Economic Times, and Crypto Briefing

Henry Meyer / Bloomberg:

Google loses a court appeal in Russia and faces daily fines following a lawsuit to unblock a YouTube account of a TV channel owned by a sanctioned Putin ally — - Google lost an appeal over suit to unblock a YouTube account — U.S. technology giant says it's complying with U.S. sanctions

Jackie Davalos / Bloomberg:

Uber says it plans to launch a driverless food-delivery pilot in Santa Monica next year in partnership with Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv — Uber Technologies Inc. plans to launch a driverless food-delivery pilot program in the U.S. next year, the company announced on Thursday.

More: Engadget, AiThority, and TechCrunch

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Elementary, which uses AI to automate product inspections in factories, raises a $30M Series B led by Tiger Global, bringing its total funding to $47.5M+ — While it might not be the first example that comes to mind when thinking of AI applications, AI systems are increasingly being used in the manufacturing sector.

More: TechCrunch

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google's in-house incubator Area 120 launches Qaya, which helps US creators set up online storefronts to sell products and services directly to customers — A team at Google is today launching a new service called Qaya, which will allow creators to easily set up new web storefronts …

More: The Keyword, TechRadar, Social Media Today, WinBuzzer, PYMNTS.com, Neowin, and 9to5Google

Tweets: @dangrover and @gabor

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