Twitter released its eagerly awaited 2022 Q1 earnings this morning, missing analyst estimates with $1.2 billion in revenue, but showing a bit of user growth.

Why it matters: While owner-in-waiting Elon Musk has said that he doesn't "care about the economics at all," it's still important to see how Twitter's business has fared in the last three months.

By the numbers: Twitter posted $513 million in net income for the quarter, or $0.61 in diluted earnings per share.

• Revenue: $1.2 billion, compared $1.23 billion expected, per Refinitiv. It's up 16% year-over-year.
• Monetizable daily active users: 229 million, up 15.9% year-over-year.

Notably: The company also admitted that it was accidentally overcounting users since 2019, when it introduced a feature that let users link multiple accounts, and switch between them more easily. (Yes, really.)

Yes, but: Because of the pending acquisition, there’s no customary analyst call this morning. So...

In the spirit of earnings season, I came up with some questions that I wished had been asked on the (imaginary) call:

• How much (if at all) did this past quarter's performance factor into the board's decision to agree to sell to Elon?
• How much did Facebook's own woes affect your decision to sell?
• How have you been miscounting daily active users for two years without noticing?
• Your revenue from subscriptions and non-advertising is minuscule ($94 million in Q1). How do you plan on growing this since Elon and Jack have expressed desire to move away from the advertising model?
• What's the plan to boost profits in the coming quarters, since the new owner will have to repay the debt he's using to acquire Twitter?

The bottom line: We might not get any answers right away, but the Twitter saga continues.

Elon Musk also got a win and a loss in two separate legal battles yesterday:

• SolarCity-Tesla: A Delaware court ruled in Musk's favor in shareholder lawsuit alleging that he used his position on Tesla's board to acquire SolarCity (on whose board he also sat). This could still get appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court.
• SEC scuffle: A judge struck down Musk's attempt to end the agreement he reached with the agency following his infamous "funding secured" tweet, which subjects his material company tweets to legal vetting.

Yandex, a Russia-based company known for search and other internet services, has inked a deal to sell its news aggregation and infotainment services to VK Group — a social media company described as a "local" version of Facebook.

Why it's the BFD: It's a reminder that Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, and has exerted huge ripple effects on global businesses.

The bottom line: "While there's no word on how much VK has agreed to pay to buy the two media products, the social media and services group reported issues with servicing its own debt last month — saying it may not have enough liquidity to pay its debt holders if most of them demand their redemption rights on a $400M bond, citing uncertainty around the impact of sanctions on Russia. So it's possible that the deal to acquire News and Zen is being done as an asset swap, rather than a cash transfer." — Natasha Lomas, TechCrunch

• Anduril Industries, a Costa Mesa, Calif.-based AI–powered defense tech startup, is raising at least $500 million in Series E funding at a $7 billion valuation, per The Information. http://axios.link/m4yP

⚽️ OneFootball, a Germany-based soccer-focused media company, raised $300 million in Series D funding led by Liberty City Ventures, with Dapper Labs, DAH Beteiligungs GmbH, Quiet Capital, RIT Capital Partners, as well as Animoca Brands also participating. http://axios.link/YYPN

⛽️ Sun King, a Kenyan provider of solar energy products for off-grid homes in Africa and Asia, raised $260m in Series D funding led by General Atlantic's BeyondNetZero. M&G Investments' Catalyst team and Arch Emerging Markets Partners also participated. http://axios.link/PDAb

• Taxfix, a Germany-based robo-tax service, raised $220 million in Series D funding led by Teachers' Venture Growth, with Index Ventures, Valar Ventures, Creandum and Redalpine also participating. http://axios.link/Cqeg

• Veza, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based data security platform, raised $110 million in funding led by Accel. http://axios.link/ojIP

🚙 Spotawheel, a Greece-based used-car marketplace, raised €100 million in equity and debt funding led by VentureFriends, with Adevinta Ventures, UNIQA Ventures, Rockaway Ventures, Velocity Partners, FJ Labs, Collective Spark and others also participating. http://axios.link/6V1N

⛽️ Brimstone, an Oakland, Calif.-based maker of carbon-negative Portland cement, raised $55m in Series A funding led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and DCVC, with Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Fifth Wall Climate Tech, Collaborative Fund and AccelR8 also participating. www.brimstone.energy

• Movable Ink, a New York-based content personalization startup, raised $55m in Series D funding led by Silver Lake Waterman, with participation from Contour Venture Partners, Intel Capital and others. www.movableink.com

🍋 Lemon Perfect, an Atlanta-based producer of flavored lemon water, raised $31m in Series A funding from Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Trousdale Ventures, Beechwood Capital, NNS Capital and others. www.lemonperfect.com

• Food Rocket, a Chicago-based ultra-fast grocery delivery service, raised $25m in series A funding led by Alimentation Couche-Tard's Circle K fund. http://axios.link/mnHy

• Minka, a Colombia-based payments infrastructure startup, raised $24m in new funding led by Tiger Global and Kaszek. http://axios.link/5tRn

• CommandBar, a San Francisco-based software user experience startup, raised $19m in Series A funding led by Insight Partners and Itai Tsiddon, with Thrive Capital and BoxGroup also participating. www.commandbar.com

• Mozart Data, a San Francisco-based data management software company, raised $15m in Series A funding led by Craft Ventures. Goldcrest Capital, Spearhead, Apollo Projects and Valor Equity Partners were also participants. http://axios.link/ZBmE

🚑 CytoTronics, a Boston-based biotech company, raised $9.25m in seed funding led by Anzu Partners, with BoxOne Ventures and others also participating. www.cytotronics.com

• Sumutasu, a Japan-based prop-tech startup, raised $8.2m in Series B funding led by World Innovation Lab and Mobile Internet Capital. http://axios.link/WrmE

• Smallstep Labs, an SF-based software certification automation startup, raised $7m in seed funding led by boldstart ventures with Accel Partners, Bain Capital Ventures and Upside Partnership also participating, and $19m in Series A funding led by StepStone Group.

• Our Happy Company, a Singapore and U.S.-based NFT company, raised $7.5m in seed funding led by Infinity Ventures Crypto and Animoca Brands, with Cherubic Ventures, Circle Ventures, FBG Capital, Highstreet, HTC, Jump Trading, and North Island Ventures also participating. www.ourhappy.company

🚑 Pillsorted, a U.K.-based automated prescription delivery startup, raised $6m in seed funding from Pear VC, Hoxton Ventures and Edison Partners. http://axios.link/4BkZ

🚙 Dat Bike, a Vietnam-based electric motorbike startup, raised $5.3m in Series A funding led by Jungle Ventures, with Wavemaker Partners also participating. http://axios.link/A8w9

• Womp, a New York-based maker of cloud-based 3D creation software, raised $4.7m in seed funding led by Female Founders Fund and Haystack. NEO Investment Partners, Ari Aster and Daniel Katz also participated. http://axios.link/Wz9a

• Audit Sight, an Atlanta-based maker of auditing tools, raised $4m in additional seed funding from Hyde Park Venture Partners. www.auditsight.com

🚑 Ceryx Medical, a U.K.-based health tech startup, raised £3.8m in seed funding. www.ceryxmedical.com

• Oware, a Pakistan-based warehousing and distribution startup, raised $3.3m in pre-seed funding from Flexport Fund, Ratio Ventures, Seedstars International Ventures, The Osiris Group, Swiss Founders Fund, Reflect Ventures, +92 Ventures, Walled City Co. and others. https://oware.co/

• Streamlined, an Oakland, Calif.-based invoicing and payments startup, raised $3m in seed funding led by Greycroft and SignalFire, with Unusual Ventures and others also participating. http://axios.link/ktqX

🚑 Ingenovis Health, backed by Cornell Capital and Trilantic North America, acquired VISTA Staffing Solutions, a Cottonwood Heights, Utah-based health care staffing company, from Envision Physician Services. www.ingenovishealth.com

🚑 L Squared Capital Partners acquired Globe Scientific, a Mahwah, N.J.-based provider of laboratory consumable supplies. www.globescientific.com

• Thompson Street Capital Partners completed the sale of LTP Home Services Group, a residential plumbing and HVAC services company, to L Catterton. www.lentheplumber.com

• G.S. Precision, backed by AE Industrial Partners, acquired F.T. Gearing Systems, a U.K.-based provider of highly engineered gears to the aerospace and defense industries. www.ftgearing.com

⛽️ Accel-KKR has invested in Yes Energy, a Boulder, Colo.-based provider of energy market data. www.yesenergy.com

🚑 Tenon Medical, a Los Gatos, Calif.-based surgical implant company, raised $16m by offering 3.2 million shares at $5, the midpoint of its price range. It offered 0.8 million fewer shares than anticipated. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol TNON. The Benchmark Company and Valuable Capital acted as joint bookrunners on the deal. http://axios.link/XeTw

• Ostin Technology Group, a China-based supplier of display modules and polarizers, raised $14m by offering 3.4 million shares at $4. http://axios.link/SklS

• Hony Capital Acquisition, a blank check company targeting tech-enabled consumer and healthcare businesses in China, withdrew its IPO plans. http://axios.link/Ygb5

• Chenghe Acquisition, a blank check company targeting fintech in Asia and led by Richard Li, raised $100m in an IPO. http://axios.link/A2oc

⛽️ ClimateRock, a blank check company targeting the sustainable energy industry in OECD countries, raised $75m in an IPO. http://axios.link/YRIK

• EF Hutton Acquisition, a blank check company led by EF Hutton executives targeting consumer and retail, withdrew its plans for an IPO. http://axios.link/VOvh

⛽️ Blink Charging has acquired Electric Blue, a U.K.-based provider of integrated EV charging and sustainable energy solutions. http://axios.link/LCMm

• Synopsys agreed to acquire WhiteHat Security, a San Jose-based security company, for approximately $330m in cash from NTT Security Corporation. http://axios.link/kDNH

• Beamery acquired Flux, a San Francisco-based internal job change management software company. www.fluxwork.co

• G/O Media acquired Quartz, a New York-based business news site, from its co-founder and CEO Zach Seward. http://axios.link/m2a8

• Dragonfly Capital, a San Francisco-based crypto VC firm, raised $650m for its third fund. http://axios.link/hGSg

• Gaorong Capital, a China-based VC firm, raised about $1.8 billion for a new fund, per The Information. http://axios.link/n1Qw

• Qiming Venture Partners, a China-based VC firm, raised more than $2 billion for two new funds, per The Information. http://axios.link/n1Qw

• Lightspeed India Partners, an India-based offshoot of the U.S. firm, seeks to raise more than $500 million for its fourth fund, per TechCrunch. http://axios.link/5wBv

• MassMutual Ventures, a Boston-based multistage investor, debuted a $300 million fund to back early-stage companies in Asia and Europe. http://axios.link/nh7K

• Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, approved $100.73 million for the Venture Capital Fund for Startups focused on the UAE. http://axios.link/6U1z

• Byron Ling has joined Twelve Below as partner. He was previously a partner at Canaan. www.twelvebelow.co

• CoVenture has hired Meghan Hillery as director of business development, and Rajinder Singh as a credit associate. www.coventure.vc

• Nomura has hired Robert Stark as head of investment management in the Americas. He was previously the founder and CEO of Alterum Capital Partners. www.nomura.com

• Carson Monson has joined Alt as head of its funds investing. He was previously a VC and PE investment analyst at the Utah School & Institutional Trust Funds Office. www.onlyalt.com

• K50 has hired Daniel Vásquez as an investing partner. He has been a K50 limited partner and venture partner since 2020. www.k50ventures.com

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