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This founder has spent a decade building a multi-million-dollar spice company that is almost profitable. She still doesn’t want your venture capital dollars—at least not for now

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I reached out to founder Sana Javeri Kadri earlier this week, because I needed some answers. 

It’s summertime here in Arkansas, I just bought a new grill, and I have been putting Diaspora Co. spices on every piece of meat and vegetable that I can get my hands on. Diaspora’s Byadgi chilli, Jodhana cumin, and peni miris cinnamon have quickly become staples in my spice drawer. My boyfriend has requested I bring my black pepper (yes, black pepper!) to his house when we cook together, because nothing you can buy at the grocery store tastes anything like it. 

How is it that these spices are so much more vibrant than anything I’ve tasted before—and how did Kadri build a multi-million business getting them from farmers in South Asia into the hands of people like me? This is what I had to know, and yesterday, Kadri thankfully gave me some answers.

The majority of spices grown around the world are indigenous to South Asia. Seeds can be extracted and transported elsewhere—and have been since Europeans took over the spice trade—but the different soil, temperatures, and weather dramatically change the flavor. If you want the warm, earthy, slightly bitter taste of turmeric in its original form, you need to get it from India. Nutmeg grown in India is fruity, floral, and almost light. In Indonesia, it is more intense, and has almost a tobacco flavor, Kadri tells me.

Where you grow spices—and the way you grow them—are critical to the flavors that end up in your spice drawer. It all starts with the farms and, of course, the farmers. Kadri has built her business around that—how much money farmers need to grow things the absolute best way, and how much money she will accept from investors to make sure it stays that way.

We read so much about $300 million compensation packages these days that I hope this serves as a good reminder that entrepreneurialism and startup funding can come in all shapes and forms, and, you might say, flavors. Read more about the Kadri, Diaspora Company, and turmeric and garlic farms in my full piece here.

The next Term Sheet will be in your inbox on Monday. Happy Fourth of July!

Jessica Mathews
X: @jessicakmathews
Email: jessica.mathews@fortune.com
Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.

Nina Ajemian curated the deals section of today’s newsletter. Subscribe here.

VENTURE DEALS

– Savvy Wealth, a New York City-based financial advisory platform, raised $72 million in Series B funding. Industry Ventures led the round and was joined by Vestigo Ventures, Euclidean Capital, existing investors Canvas Ventures, Thrive Capital, The House Fund, Brewer Lane Ventures, and others.

– HIVED, a London-based AI-powered parcel delivery solution, raised $42 million in Series B funding. NordicNinja led the round and was joined by Wex Venture Capital, Marunouchi Innovation Partners, Elemental Impact, existing investor Planet A, and others.

– Wonderful, a Tel Aviv-based agentic AI enterprise platform, raised $34 million in seed funding. Index Ventures led the round and was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners and Vine Ventures. 

 – AssetCool, a Leeds, England-based power lines robotics and coatings developer, raised £10 million ($13.6 million) in Series A funding. Energy Impact Partners led the round and was joined by Extantia Capital, Taronga Group, and existing investor Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.

– Yaspa, a London-based payment and identity services provider, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Discerning Capital led the round and was joined by existing investor TechStar Ventures.

– AI Hay, a Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam-based AI-powered knowledge discovery platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Argor Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors Square Peg, Northstar Ventures, AppWorks, and Phoenix Holding.

– MediShout, a London-based hospitals and medical suppliers connection solution, raised $9 million in Series A funding. Heal Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors Nickleby Capital and Meridian Health Ventures.

– Argon AI, a New York City-based AI-native workspace for life sciences, raised $5.5 million in seed funding. Crosslink Capital and Wireframe Ventures led the round and were joined by Y Combinator and Pioneer Fund.

PRIVATE EQUITY

– Oakley Capital acquired a majority stake in Smythson, a London-based leather goods company; a majority stake in Fornasetti, a Milan-based home design company; and a minority stake in Fabbrica Pelletterie Milano, a Milan-based luggage maker. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

– PrimeSource Brands, backed by Clearlake Capital Group, acquired Fortress Railing Products, a Garland, Texas-based railing system designer and distributor. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

– symplr, backed by Clearlake Capital Group and Charlesbank Capital Partners, acquired the Smart Square scheduling software of AMN Healthcare, a Dallas-based healthcare talent solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EXITS

– SGS agreed to acquire Applied Technical Services, a Marietta, Ga.-based testing, inspection, calibration, and forensic consulting solutions provider, from Odyssey Investment Partners for $1.3 billion

– LumApps, backed by Bridgepoint, agreed to acquire Beekeeper, a Zurich-based communications platform for frontline employees, to create a combined company valued at $1 billion. Beekeeper previously raised approximately $170.7 million in venture funding from investors including Energize, Thayer, SwissCanto, and others.

– Bain Capital agreed to acquire Sizzling Platter, a Salt Lake City-based restaurant franchise growth platform, from CapitalSpring. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

OTHER

– Xerox acquired Lexmark, a Lextington, Ky.-based printer company, from Ninestar Corporation, PAG Asia Capital and Shanghai Shouda Investment Centre, for $1.5 billion.

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

– AN Venture Partners, a Tokyo and San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $200 million for its first fund focused on Japanese biotech. 

PEOPLE

– AIX Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, added Christopher Manning as a general partner. Previously, he was at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.  

– Group 11, a Beverly Hills-based venture capital firm, promoted Hadas Sparfeld to partner. 



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Netflix cofounder started his career selling vacuums door-to-door before college—now, his $440 billion streaming giant is buying Warner Bros. and HBO

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December 5, 2025

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Reed Hastings may soon pull off one of the biggest deals in entertainment history. On Thursday, Netflix announced plans to acquire Warner Bros.—home to franchises like Dune, Harry Potter, and DC Universe, along with streamer HBO Max—in a total enterprise value deal of $83 billion. The move is set to cement Netflix as a media juggernaut that now rivals the legacy Hollywood giants it once disrupted.

It’s a remarkable trajectory for Netflix’s cofounder, Hastings—a self-made billionaire who found a love for business starting as a teenage door-to-door salesperson.

“I took a year off between high school and college and sold Rainbow vacuum cleaners door to door,” Hastings recalled to The New York Timesin 2006. “I started it as a summer job and found I liked it. As a sales pitch, I cleaned the carpet with the vacuum the customer had and then cleaned it with the Rainbow.”

That scrappy sales job was the first exposure to how to properly read customers—an instinct that would later shape Netflix’s user-obsessed culture. After graduating from Bowdoin College in 1983, Hastings considered joining the Marine Corps but ultimately joined the Peace Corps, teaching math in Eswatini for two years. When he returned to the U.S., he obtained a master’s in computer science from Stanford and began his career in tech.

The idea for Netflix reportedly came a few years later in the late 1990s. After misplacing a VHS copy of Apollo 13 and getting hit with a $40 late fee at Blockbuster, Hastings began exploring a mail-order rental service. While it’s an origin story that has since been debated, it marked the start of a company that would reshape global entertainment.

Hastings stepped back as CEO in 2023 and now serves as Netflix’s chairman of the board. He has amassed a net worth of about $5.6 billion. He’d be even richer if he didn’t keep offloading his shares in the company and making record-breaking charitable donations.

Netflix’s secret for success: finding the right people

Hastings has long said that one of the biggest drivers of Netflix’s success is its focus on hiring and keeping exceptional talent.

“If you’re going to win the championship, you got to have incredible talent in every position. And that’s how we think about it,” he told CNBC in 2020. “We encourage people to focus on who of your employees would you fight hard to keep if they were going to another company? And those are the ones we want to hold onto.”

To secure top performers, Hastings said he was more than willing to pay for above-market rates. 

“With a fixed amount of money for salaries and a project I needed to complete, I had a choice: Hire 10 to 25 average engineers, or hire one ‘rock-star’ and pay significantly more than what I’d pay the others, if necessary,” Hastings wrote. “Over the years, I’ve come to see that the best programmer doesn’t add 10 times the value. He or she adds more like a 100 times.”

That mindset also guided Netflix’s leadership transition. When Hastings stepped back from the C-suite, the company didn’t pick a single successor—it picked two. Greg Peters joined Ted Sarandos as co-CEO in 2023.

“It’s a high-performance technique,” Hastings said, speaking about the co-CEO model. “It’s not for most situations and most companies. But if you’ve got two people that work really well together and complement and extend and trust each other, then it’s worth doing.”

Netflix’s stock has soared more than 80,000% since its IPO in 2002, adjusting for stock splits.

Netflix brought unlimited PTO into the mainstream

Netflix’s flexible workplace culture has also played a key role in its success, with Hastings often known for prioritizing time off to recharge. 

“I take a lot of vacation, and I’m hoping that certainly sets an example,” the former CEO said in 2015. “It is helpful. You often do your best thinking when you’re off hiking in some mountain or something. You get a different perspective on things.”

The company was one of the first to introduce unlimited PTO, a policy that many firms have since adopted. About 57% of retail investors have said it could improve overall company performance, according to a survey by Bloomberg. Critics have argued that such policies can backfire when employees feel guilty taking time off, but Hastings has maintained that freedom is core to Netflix’s identity. 

“We are fundamentally dedicated to employee freedom because that makes us more flexible, and we’ve had to adapt so much back from DVD by mail to leading streaming today,” Hastings said. “If you give employees freedom you’ve got a better chance at that success.”

Netflix’s other cofounder, Marc Randolph, embraced a similar philosophy of valuing work-life balance.

“For over thirty years, I had a hard cut-off on Tuesdays. Rain or shine, I left at exactly 5 p.m. and spent the evening with my best friend. We would go to a movie, have dinner, or just go window-shopping downtown together,” Randolph wrote in a LinkedIn post.

“Those Tuesday nights kept me sane. And they put the rest of my work in perspective.”



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‘This species is recovering’: Jaguar spotted in Arizona, far from Central and South American core

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December 5, 2025

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The spots gave it away. Just like a human fingerprint, the rosette pattern on each jaguar is unique so researchers knew they had a new animal on their hands after reviewing images captured by a remote camera in southern Arizona.

The University of Arizona Wild Cat Research and Conservation Center says it’s the fifth big cat over the last 15 years to be spotted in the area after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The animal was captured by the camera as it visited a watering hole in November, its distinctive spots setting it apart from previous sightings.

“We’re very excited. It signifies this edge population of jaguars continues to come here because they’re finding what they need,” Susan Malusa, director of the center’s jaguar and ocelot project, said during an interview Thursday.

The team is now working to collect scat samples to conduct genetic analysis and determine the sex and other details about the new jaguar, including what it likes to eat. The menu can include everything from skunks and javelina to small deer.

As an indicator species, Malusa said the continued presence of big cats in the region suggests a healthy landscape but that climate change and border barriers can threaten migratory corridors. She explained that warming temperatures and significant drought increase the urgency to ensure connectivity for jaguars with their historic range in Arizona.

More than 99% of the jaguar’s range is found in Central and South America, and the few male jaguars that have been spotted in the U.S. are believed to have dispersed from core populations in Mexico, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Officials have said that jaguar breeding in the U.S. has not been documented in more than 100 years.

Federal biologists have listed primary threats to the endangered species as habitat loss and fragmentation along with the animals being targeted for trophies and illegal trade.

The Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final rule in 2024, revising the habitat set aside for jaguars in response to a legal challenge. The area was reduced to about 1,000 square miles (2,590 square kilometers) in Arizona’s Pima, Santa Cruz and Cochise counties.

Recent detection data supports findings that a jaguar appears every few years, Malusa said, with movement often tied to the availability of water. When food and water are plentiful, there’s less movement.

In the case of Jaguar #5, she said it was remarkable that the cat kept returning to the area over a 10-day period. Otherwise, she described the animals as quite elusive.

“That’s the message — that this species is recovering,” Malusa said. “We want people to know that and that we still do have a chance to get it right and keep these corridors open.”



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MacKenzie Scott tries to close the higher ed DEI gap, giving away $155 million this week alone

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December 5, 2025

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MacKenzie Scott has arguably been the biggest name in philanthropy this year—and has nonstop been making major gifts to organizations focused on education, DEI, disaster recovery, and many other causes.

This week alone, several higher education institutions announced major gifts from the billionaire philanthropist and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos—donations totaling well over $100 million. In true Scott fashion, many of these donations are the largest single donations these schools have ever received.

The donations announced this week include: 

  • $50 million to California State University-East Bay
  • $50 million to Lehman College (part of the City University of New York system)
  • $38 million to Texas A&M University-Kingsville
  • $17 million to Seminole State College

All four institutions are public, access-oriented colleges that enroll large shares of low‑income, first‑generation, and racially diverse students and function as minority‑serving institutions or similar engines of social mobility. They fit MacKenzie Scott’s broader pattern of directing large, unrestricted gifts to colleges that serve “chronically underserved” communities rather than already wealthy, highly selective universities.

Scott, who is worth about $40 billion and has donated over $20 billion in the past five years, has doubled down this year on causes that the Trump administration has cut deeply, such as education, DEI, and disaster recovery.

“As higher education, in general, works to find its way in an uncertain environment, this gift is a major source of encouragement that we are on the right path,” Lehman College President Fernando Delgado said in a statement. 

Scott also made one of the largest donations in HBCU Howard University’s 158-year history with an $80 million gift earlier this fall, and a $60 million donation to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy after Trump administration’s cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—an organization Americans rely on for help during and after hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, and floods.

“All sectors of society—public, private, and social—share responsibility for helping communities thrive after a disaster,” CDP president and CEO Patricia McIlreavy previously told Fortune. “Philanthropy plays a critical role in providing communities with resources to rebuild stronger, but it cannot—and should not—replace government and its essential responsibilities.”

Trust-based philanthropy

Scott accumulated the vast majority of her wealth from her 2019 divorce from Bezos, but is dedicated to giving away most of her fortune. She’s considered a unique philanthropist in today’s environment because her gifts are typically unrestricted, meaning the organizations can use the funding however they choose. 

“She practices trust-based philanthropy,” Anne Marie Dougherty, CEO of the Bob Woodruff Foundation previously told Fortune. Scott has donated $15 million to the veteran-focused nonprofit organization in 2022, and made a subsequent $20 million donation this fall.

Scott is also considered one of the most generous philanthropists, and credits acts of kindness for inspiring her to give back.

“It was the local dentist who offered me free dental work when he saw me securing a broken tooth with denture glue in college,” Scott wrote of her inspiration for philanthropy in an Oct. 15 essay published to her Yield Giving site. “It was the college roommate who found me crying, and acted on her urge to loan me a thousand dollars to keep me from having to drop out in my sophomore year.”



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