IT

An economic downturn is a great time to back startups on better terms. But investors should be careful of the tricky politics of down rounds.

Sanofi, Access Industries and Alphabet helped Areteia Therapeutics raise $350m, and Nordisk Games acquires Supermassive Games.

Sam Harrison and Banafsheh Fathieh are leading Lightspeed Venture Partners' newly launched Faction team having come from Blockchain.com and Prosus respectively.

The founder and CEO of the corporate fund announced his exit to pursue other investment projects in climate tech and sustainability.

Abhishek Shukla, who recently left Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, is moving to lead the enterprise and deep-tech investments at Prosperity7 Ventures, a subsidiary Saudi Aramco.

Klarna's 83% drop in valuation to $6.7bn is the most visible harbinger of a buy now, pay later sector suffering from defaults and competition - some from the same corporates investing there.

DeNA and Seibu Holdings helped Allm raise $180m, while several corporates are exiting ViaCyte in a $320m acquisition.

The number of crypto and token funding rounds is still climbing but the overall volume of capital in these deals has fallen sharply.

Corporates are still investing in startups but valuations have fallen dramatically. Some areas such as China and healthcare have been hit hard.

Rajeev Misra will step back from his role at the Japanese investment company, following a spate of recent departures.

Volkswagen and Ingka Group helped Northvolt secure over $1bn while Dai-ichi Life has led a $120m series C for YuLife.