The lowdown on Biden’s capital gain tax rate

Here it is.

President Joe Biden is expected to propose a significantly higher capital gains tax rate on wealthy individuals, per Bloomberg. Adding in the existing income surtax, those earning $1 million or more could be on the hook for a federal tax rate as high as 43.4%.

Here’s the breakdown of that number: Biden is reportedly set to propose an increase in the marginal income tax rate for that group from 37% to 39.6%, and a near doubling on capital gains taxes from 20% to 39.6%. The Bloomberg figure also factors in a 3.8% tax on investment income that funds Obamacare.

Predictably, the news sent shockwaves over the stock market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shaving off 1% Thursday. Investor anxiety, simmering since the start of the Biden administration, is spiking. The potential of a capital gains tax increase is already serving as added incentive for investors looking to close their M&A deals in 2020.

The news catalyzed outrage on certain corners of Twitter. Billionaire Tim Draper, for instance, argued that a 43.4% capital gains tax “might kill the golden goose that is America/Silicon Valley.” 

But the enormous bump in the capital gains figure may well be a high-ball tactic. “We expect Congress will pass a scaled-back version of this tax increase,” a Goldman Sachs group of analysts led by Jan Hatzius wrote Thursday.

TROUBLE IN THE CLOUDKITCHEN: Back in 2017, Uber founder Travis Kalanick was ousted after major investors demanded he step down amid a cascade of scandals. Kalanick learned his lesson in the formation of his newest venture CloudKitchen—though perhaps not the right one, per this must-read investigation by Business Insider’s Meghan Morris. Kalanick appears to have cemented his control in the company by bringing on Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund as a largely silent investor, and no venture investors on the board. The report also alleges that some 300 corporate employees have left the company since the start of the year.

THE LATEST ON VC DIVERSITY: Slow progress in diversity in venture capital is certainly being made. Minority-led venture firms have risen in prominence and startups led by Black and Latino founders raised $500 million more in 2020 than the year prior. But a challenging trend has also risen: Many minority-led funds are led by Black men rather than Black women, fanning concerns about the gender gap, per my colleague Rey Mashayekhi. Read more.

Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: lucinda.shen@fortune.com

VENTURE DEALS

- Loft, a Brazilian real estate platform, raised another $100 million in Series D-2 funding valuing it at $2.9 billion. Investors included Baillie Gifford, Tarsadia, and Flight Deck.

- Tamara, a Saudi Buy-Now-Pay-Later platform, raised $100 million in Series A funding. Checkout.com led the round.

- AfterShip, a Hong Kong-based tracking platform for e-commerce businesses, raised $66 million in Series B funding. Tiger Global led the round and was joined by investors including  GL Ventures.

- Kandji, a San Diego-based Apple device management platform, raised $60 million in Series B funding. Felicis Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including SVB Capital, Greycroft, and Okta Ventures

- Sift, a San Francisco-based digital trust platform, raised $50 million in funding valuing it at over $1 billion. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Union Square Ventures and Stripes. 

- Unsupervised, a Boulder, Colo.-based automated analytics platform, raised $35 million in Series B funding. Cathay Innovation and SignalFire led the round and was joined by investors including Coatue, Eniac Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners and Elad Gil.

- ZincFive, a Tualatin, Or.-based nickel-zinc batteries solution, raised $33 million in Series C funding. Helios Capital Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Senator Innovation and Sustainability Fund and General Ventures.

- Boundless Immigration, a Seattle-based immigration-focused startup, raised $25 million in Series B funding. Foundry Group led the round and was joined by investors including Emerson Collective and Jerry Yang from AME Cloud Ventures.

- Atmosphere, an Austin-based streaming TV for businesses, raised $25 million in Series B funding. Valor Equity Partners invested.

- Universal Hydrogen, a Los Angeles-based carbon-free flight startup, raised $20.5 million in Series A funding. Playground Global led the round and was joined by investors including Fortescue Future Industries, Coatue, Global Founders Capital, Plug Power, Airbus Ventures, JetBlue Technology Ventures, Toyota AI Ventures, Sojitz Corporation, and Future Shape.

- Tortuga AgTech, a St. Louis-based farming robotics company, raised  $20 million in Series A funding. Lewis & Clark AgriFood led the round and was joined by investors including Ceres Partners, Root Ventures, Spero Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Morado Ventures, Colorado Impact Fund, Remus Capital, and Grit Ventures.

- Medchart, a Dallas-based startup focused on medical records, raised $17 million in Seed and Series A funding. Crosslink Capital and Golden Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including Vast Ventures, Union Ventures, iGan Partners, Stanford Law School, and Nas.

Brella Insurance, Claymont, De.-based health insurance startup, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Brewer Lane led the round and was joined by investors including Fidelity Security Life Insurance Company, SymphonyAI, Digitalis Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, New York Life Ventures, and Founder Collective.

- holoride, a Munich-based in-vehicle media company, raised  €10 million ($12 million) in Series A funding. Terranet AB led the round.

- Signal Advisors, a Detroit-based distributor of annuities and life insurance, raised $10 million in Series A funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by investors including Detroit Venture Partners, Ludlow Ventures, General Catalyst, Mercury Fund, Annox Capital, and SV Angels.

- Hydrant, a New York-based maker of hydration packets, raised $8.5 million in funding. Rx3 Growth Partners led the round.

- PursueCare, a Middletown, Ct.-based telehealth addiction treatment company, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Investors included OCA Ventures, Seyen Capital, and Wasabi Investors.

- Till Financial, a New York-based banking platform focused on kids, raised $5 million. Investors included Elysian Park Ventures, Pivotal Ventures,  Magnify Ventures, Afore Capital, Luge Capital, Alpine Meridian Ventures, The Gramercy Fund, SM Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners (Scout Fund).  

- Albedo, a Denver-based operator of a constellation of satellites that capture visible and thermal imagery, raised $10 million in seed funding. Initialized Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Liquid 2 Ventures, Soma Capital, Jetstream, and Rebel Fund.

- Riverside.fm, a Tel Aviv-based audio-video platform for podcasts and broadcast media interviews, raised $9.5 million in Series A funding. Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six led the round and was joined by investors including Zeev-ventures.com, Casey Neistat, Marques Brownlee, Guy Raz, Elad Gil, and Alexander Klöpping.

- Zigazoo, a New York-based social streaming app for kids, raised $4 million in seed funding. MaC Venture Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Serena Ventures, Talis Capital, and Wheelhouse.

- Nhost, a Swedish open-source startup, raised $3 million in seed funding. Investors included  founders of GitHub (Tom Preston-Werner and Scott Chacon), the founders of Netlify (Christian Bach and Mathias Biilmann), and Antler.

- Thistle Technologies, a San Francisco-based security company, raised $2.5 million in seed funding. True Ventures led the round.

- Oath Care, a San Francisco-based social healthcare startup focused on motherhood, raised $2 million. Investors included XYZ Venture Capital, General Catalyst, Muse Capital, and Eros Resmini.

- Applied XL, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based information company tracking the health of people, places and the climate, raised $1.5 million in seed funding. Tuesday Capital led the round and was joined by investors including frog Ventures, Correlation Ventures, and Team Europe.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- EQT Infrastructure agreed to acquire First Student and First Transit, two North American subsidiaries of the U.K. publicly listed company, FirstGroup, for $4.6 billion.

- Battery Ventures led a $150 million investment in SaaSOptics and Chargify, two cloud-software platforms managing billing and payments.

- Powerhouse Retail Services, a portfolio company of Lincolnshire Management, acquired Dent Enterprises, am DeWitt, Mich.-based outsourced business services provider to the retail, foodservice, financial, hospitality and health care industries. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Century Park Capital Partners recapitalized CJ Pony Parts, a Harrisburg, Pa.based Mustang e-commerce company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Gemspring Capital acquired Outform, a Miami-based design agency, and merged it with Rapid Displays. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

OTHER

- Skyworks Solutions (NASDAQ: SWKS) agreed to acquire the Infrastructure and Automotive business of Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ: SLAB) for about $2.8 billion. 

- NYDIG acquired Arctos Capital, a San Francisco-based commercial lender that provides financing solutions to bitcoin holders, investors, and mining businesses. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Nano Dimension (Nasdaq: NNDM) agreed to acquire DeepCube, an Israel-based deep learning company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

IPOS

- Confluent, a Mountainview, Calif.-based events streaming platform, filed confidentially for an IPO.

Alphawave, a Toronto-based silicon IP company, is preparing for an IPO in London that could value it at $4.5 billion.

- Privia Health Group, an Arlington, Va.-based care platform for physicians, plans to raise $351 million in an offering of 19.5 million shares (86% insider sold) priced between $17 to $19.

- KnowBe4, a cybersecurity training platform backed by KKR, raised $152 million in an offering of 9.5 million shares (5% insider sold) priced at $16, the low end of the range of $16 to $18. 

SPACS

- Vivid Seats, a concert, sports and theater ticket marketplace, will go public via merger with Horizon Acquisition (NYSE: HZAC), an Eldridge Industries-backed SPAC. A deal values the company at about $1.95 billion.

- SmartRent, a Scottsdale, Ar.-based smart home automation startup, will go public via merger with Fifth Wall Acquisition I, a SPAC backed by venture firm, Fifth Wall. The deal will value the combined business at $2.2 billion. Fifth Wall is also an investor in SmartRent.

F+FS

- Basis Set Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based machine learning focused firm, raised $165 million for its second fund.