Welcome to the first edition of Housekeeping, a 3x weekly newsletter covering the tech, startup, and VC world. We're still in stealth mode (this email is only going out to launch house members), but in a few weeks, we'll go live to the public. Our three goals for this newsletter are to:

1. Deliver the most important news of the day as concisely as possible

2. Turn it into a major distribution channel for launch house members

3. Make you laugh while we do it

From Twitter drama to term sheets, we'll get you up to speed in 5 minutes or less every morning. 

Note: This is the beta period of the newsletter so hit us up with anything you love, hate, or want to change about the product. You won't hurt our feelings. 

The Regretaverse

When Facebook shocked the world last October by rebranding as Meta we'd venture to guess that setting the record for the single biggest one-day drop in market cap probably wasn't on the product roadmap. So after taking a $237 billion haircut, yesterday, questions are being floated about the company's decision to go all in on the metaverse.

On Wednesday's earnings call, Zuck reminded analysts that certain aspects of the metaverse—like digital avatars—are indeed available, but the fully realized AR/VR vision that most people imagine when they hear the word "is still a ways off. " 

• One thing is certain, Meta is lighting cash on fire to bring its vision of the metaverse to life: Reality Labs, the division within Meta responsible for developing AR/VR tech, reported an operating loss of $3.3 billion in Q4 and burned through more than $10 billion total last year.

But you don't set stock market records just for burning too much cash trying to squish boomers into VR headsets. Meta is also facing a number of core challenges to its business:

• Global DAUs shrank for the first time in company's history.

• The IG team hasn't quite perfected how to monetize Reels which has allowed TikTok to slurp up ad dollars at a concerning pace.

• Apple's privacy changes have also severely impacted Facebook's ability to deliver those personalized ads that make you think your phone has ears.

As Meta struggles to bring its metaverse life, other companies are souring on their metaverse efforts as well. Yesterday, Mozilla announced it is shutting down its Firefox Reality browser—the browser built specifically for use in a VR environment that it had been working on for four years.

Zoom out: It's not all doom and gloom. A new report shows metaverse real estate sales topped $500 million in 2021, while 552 mobile apps jumped on the digital bandwagon and added the term “metaverse” in their titles or descriptions over the past year.

NFTs 🤝 VCs

Two of the biggest and most successful NFT projects, Bored Ape Yacht Club and Pixel Vault, just became bigger and more successful. If reports hold true, they both have gobs of VC money coming their way.

• Pixel Vault: Building the so-called “Disney for NFTs,” using NFT characters like CryptoPunks and Bored Apes, Pixel Vault closed a hefty $100 million round from Adam Bain and Dick Costolo’s 01 Advisors and Velvet Sea Ventures on Wednesday.

• BAYC: Speaking of BAYC, a16z is in advanced talks to lead a large funding round for Yuga Labs, the company behind BAYC, according to Axios. The round reportedly values the startup at as much as $5 billion.

Zoom out: Securing the bag from tier 1 VCs is another stamp of validation for the NFT community, but looking closer, it’s also a major win for communities that leverage IP in creative ways. Both BAYC and Pixel Vault have leaned heavily into storytelling and partnerships, with characters appearing in music videos, comic books, and, eventually, TV screens. It’s a peek into a future in which NFT collectors have a more dynamic HODLing experience than, well, just HODLing, and VCs want a piece. 

Seed Round

Stat: "Headwind" was mentioned 36 times on Meta's earnings call, followed by "metaverse" (16 times), "Apple" (16 times), and "TikTok "(6 times). Sadly, "Nikita Bier's app" never came up. 

Startup: Cloud Paper makes toilet paper and paper towels out of a sustainable, bamboo-based alternative. It just raised $5 million from big name investors including Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff, and Ashton Kutcher. Weird. Thought Mila and Ashton weren't too hot on the whole cleaning themselves thing. 

Rabbit hole: The $11.7 million gold cube that appeared in Central Park

News from the House

We're having an identity crisis. We need your help to decide what to call this dang newsletter. 

• We have some options for you to choose from here. 

Your feedback is greatly appreciated. If all else fails, we can just call it Morning Coffee. Feels pretty original and unique. 

What else is happenin’

• GameStop is partnering with an Australian blockchain startup to develop an NFT platform, because of course it is.

• The Switch is officially Nintendo's best selling console of all time.

• Snap finally turned a profit.

• Amazon is increasing the price of Prime in the US. Sigh.

• Tiger Global Management raised more than $11 billion for its latest venture capital fund.

Trivia

What industry does this chart represent?

Hint: It's not web3 related.

Trivia answer: EV Battery