I like to say that you can’t make up the crazy stuff people are doing in tech. But venture capitalist Bradley Tusk has me convinced that maybe you can.
His second book, Obvious in Hindsight, which was released to a handful of independent bookstores this week and will be more broadly available later this month, is his first attempt at fiction writing—but the politicians and technological mishaps all stem from his lived experience as a political consultant to startups. Tusk, who was New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s campaign manager for his 2009 re-election, made a name for himself in Silicon Valley after he successfully lobbied against Bill de Blasio’s attempt to cap the number of Ubers in New York—helping Travis Kalanick keep his ride-hailing startup alive in an important market. Tusk runs the political consultancy firm Tusk Strategies and early-stage venture capital firm Tusk Venture Partners, where he’s worked with startups like scooter company Bird and crypto exchange Coinbase.
Tusk’s new novel details the short life of a flying car company named Flight Deck that had raised more than $80 million from a handful of venture capitalists who hardly understand its technology. It’s a written drama on New York and Austin politics, with the company hiring on an ethically compromised political consultant to do whatever it takes to get its cars in the air. Meanwhile, the founder, Susan Howard, is putting pressure on her chief engineer, Yevgeny Kolnikoff, to deliver technology that is absolutely unprepared for launch.
“Everything in the book is exaggerated,” Tusk told me in an interview. But it’s a depiction of very real tensions within the startup world—tensions between founders and politicians, growth and discipline, and innovation and public safety. Particularly in the last few years, with valuations so wildly inflated, Tusk says that “everything is predicated solely on growth, so that a CEO and founder is under a lot of pressure to really grow as quickly as possible, kind of regardless of the cost.”
Tusk says he hopes that his book will help people better understand what drives the behavior of all the different players in the ecosystem. “I just think that if readers can understand how and why founders think, how and why investors think, how and why politicians think—then you’re in a position to do something about it,” he says.
We’re seeing some of these tensions play out in a very real way at this very moment—particularly in San Francisco, where California just last month banned the GM-owned autonomous robo-taxi company Cruise from allowing its autonomous taxis on its streets. Tusk calls that “a really bad decision” and a “really sad example” of politics overriding the needs of the people who live there.
On Wednesday…Equity management startup Carta laid off more members of its workforce on Wednesday—marking at least its third layoff event this year, I reported yesterday. It is unclear exactly how many employees were impacted. A Carta spokeswoman declined to comment.
Have a good weekend! Until Monday,
Jessica Mathews
Twitter: @jessicakmathews
Email: jessica.mathews@fortune.com
Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.
Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.
VENTURE DEALS
- Elucid, a Boston, Mass.-based medical technology company designed to provide precision care to cardiology patients, raised $80 million in Series C funding. Elevage Medical Technologies led the round and was joined by others.
- Snaptrude, a New York City-based operating system designed to help architecture, engineering, and construction companies build efficient and sustainable buildings faster, raised $14 million in Series A funding. Foundamental and Accel led the round and were joined by Fortius Ventures.
- Dotwork, an Austin, Texas-based strategic alignment platform, raised $12 million in Series A funding from Jim Crane, Tim Arnoult, Hunter Nelson, and Steve Elliott.
- Ooodles, a London-based marketplace for companies to rent tech products, raised $12 million in funding. Smart Lenders Asset Management led the round and was joined by others.
- DeepInfra, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based platform designed to help developers better integrate and execute AI models, raised $8 million in seed funding from A.Capital and Felicis.
- Sift, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based startup developing tools to help hardware companies get to market, stay under budget, and avoid preventable errors, raised $7.5 million in funding from Riot Ventures, Fika Ventures, and others.
- EduFi, a Singapore-based student loan platform, raised $6.1 million in pre-seed funding. Zayn VC led the round and was joined by Palm Drive Capital, Deem Ventures, Q Business, and others.
- Lunar.dev, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based platform designed to provide organizations with complete oversight and control over their API usage, raised $6 million in seed funding. Uncork Capital led the round and was joined by existing investor Angular Ventures.
- Performativ, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based developer of wealth management software, raised €5.5 million ($5.9 million) in seed funding. FinTech Collective led the round and was joined by iGlobe Partners, Upfin.vc, and EIFO.
- Forum, a New York City-based marketplace for peer support groups, raised $5.3 million in funding. NextView Ventures led the round and was joined by MBX Capital, Cue Ball Capital, Sahil Bloom of SRB Ventures, Romeen Sheth, Shaan Puri, and City Light Capital.
- Pathway, a Montreal, Canada-based platform where medical professionals can share knowledge, raised $5 million in seed funding. Yamaha Motor Ventures led the round and was joined by Verge HealthTech Fund and existing investors Amplify Capital, BoxOne Ventures, Formentera Capital, and others.
- Integration.app, a Boston, Mass.-based integration stack for SaaS products, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Crew Capital and Cortical Ventures led the round and was joined by Seedcamp, Accel Starters, DataRobot, and others.
- Era, a San Francisco-based platform designed to make wealth management more accessible, raised $3.1 million in seed funding. Northzone led the round and was joined by Protagonist and Designer Fund.
- Davinci Micro Fulfillment, a New York City-based provider of micro-fulfillment services designed that provides local inventory storage and e-commerce strategy, raised $3 million in seed funding from Las Olas Venture Capital, Venture 53 Fund and Accelerator, and Silicon Road Ventures.
- Heali, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based provider of personalized, therapeutic nutrition plans, raised $3 million in seed funding. Astanor Ventures led the round and was joined by others.
- Pioneer, a San Francisco-based AI-powered service designed to help companies discover, access, and manage government incentives, raised $2.9 million in seed funding. Blue Bear Capital led the round and was joined by Collaborative Fund, Soma Capital, Cool Climate Collective, and Kayan Ventures.
- Betterleave, an Austin, Texas-based platform designed to improve access, experience, and outcomes of bereavement care, raised $2.4 million in funding. Chingona Ventures led the round and was joined by Bread and Butter Ventures, Vitalize VC, Wisdom Ventures Fund, Coyote Ventures, and AARP.
- Eilla AI, a London, U.K.-based AI platform designed to automate tasks in M&A, VC and PE deal workflows, raised $1.5 million in seed funding. Eleven Ventures led the round and was joined by Fuel Ventures and others.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Francisco Partners and TPG took New Relic, a San Francisco-based software observability platform, private for approximately $6.5 billion.
- Jones Fish Hatcheries & Distributors, backed by Fort Point Capital, acquired Ponds Rx, a Fishers, Ind.-based provider of pond and lake management services to commercial and residential customers. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Resolution Economics, a portfolio company of Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, acquired the Affirmative Action Plan, DE&I, Pay Equity, and related training services of Biddle Consulting Group, a Folsom, Calif.-based TK. Financial terms were not disclosed.
IPOS
- The Fortegra Group, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based specialty insurance company, filed to go public. Tiptree Holdings and Warburg Pincus back the company.
Correction: Yesterday’s newsletter misstated that 01 Ventures had raised a venture fund and promoted one of its partners. It was 01 Advisors.
This is the web version of Term Sheet, a daily newsletter on the biggest deals and dealmakers in venture capital and private equity. Sign up for free.
