A "false" narrative takes hold, the rise of "nimcels," and California prepares to kiss gas-powered cars goodbye 💋

California is expected to put into effect tomorrow a plan to prohibit the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. The move that could have major effects on the effort to fight climate change and accelerate a global transition toward electric vehicles. The New York Times has more here.

Amazon is closing a three-year-old, telehealth service it built in-house for employees and businesses as it looks to retool its healthcare offerings. The juggernaut last month agreed to pay $3.9 billion to acquire One Medical, a line of more than 180 primary care clinics across roughly two dozen U.S. markets. The WSJ has more here.

Executives at Twitter today pushed back against what they say is a “false” narrative being created around a former executive’s allegations about the company’s security practices. Meanwhile, in a hearing today, lawyers for Elon Musk mentioned the whistleblower complaint and asked a judge to require Twitter to hand over more information about its bots and spam. More here.

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Anyscale, a three-year-old San Francisco AI startup that helps businesses streamline the process of developing software to predict customer demand, target online ads, make product recommendations, or run fraud-detection systems, just doubled the size of a previously announced Series C round, telling the WSJ it has tacked $99 million on to a $100 million Series C round that was announced back in December and co-led by Addition and Andreessen Horowitz at a valuation of more than $1 billion. The new extension was co-led by previous investors Addition, Intel Capital, and Foundation Capital. The company has now raised a total of $259 million. More here.

Carbon Direct, a three-year-old New York startup that helps clients manage their carbon use, raised a $60 million round. Decarbonization Partners and Quantum Energy Partners co-led the deal. TechCrunch has more here.

Happy Health, a three-year-old, Austin-based tech startup that makes a "smart" mood ring that tracks stress (it was cofounded by Tinder cofounder Sean Rad), has $60 million in Series A funding led by ARCH Venture Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Nitra, a one-year-old startup based in New York that is launching its first product, a Visa Business card customized for the healthcare industry that allows physicians to earn unlimited rewards on common practice expenditures (e.g. medical and surgical supplies), raised a seed round of $62 million in debt and equity. Investors included Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, Pantera Capital, KB Financial Group, AME Cloud Ventures (Jerry Yang), and Dreamers VC (Will Smith). PYMNTS.com has more here.

Servify, a seven-year-old Mumbai startup that offers white-labeled services like damage protection, extended warranties, trade-ins, upgrades, and financing programs to smartphone makers such as Apple and Samsung, has raised $65 million in Series D funding. The deal lead was Singularity Growth Opportunity Fund, with AmTrust, Pidilite, and previous investors Iron Pillar, Beenext, Blume Ventures, and DMI Sparkle Fund also contributing. The company has raised a total of $114.4 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Zilliz, a five-year-old Chinese startup that builds cloud-native software to process data for AI applications and which created Milvus, a popular open source vector database for similarity searches, raised a $60 million round led by Prosperity7 Ventures. Other participants in the round include Pavilion Capital, Hillhouse Capital, 5Y Capital, and Yunqi Capital. The company has raised a total of $113 million. TechCrunch has more here.

ArabyAds, an eight-year-old digital advertising startup based in Dubai, raised a $30 million pre-Series B round from AfricInvest. The company has raised a total of $36.5 million. The National has more here.

Arine, a five-year-old San Francisco platform that say it helps its health plan clients to devise appropriate, just-in-time interventions to optimize medication therapy for patients, raised a $29 million Series B round (debt and equity) led by 111° West Capital, with additional capital provided by MBX Capital, New Leaf Ventures, and Katalyst Ventures. The company has raised a total of $40 million. More here.

FOMO Pay, a seven-year-old Singapore startup that helps institutional clients connect to e-wallets, credit cards, and cryptocurrencies, raised a $13 million Series A round led by Jump Crypto, with additional participation from HashKey Capital, Antalpha Ventures, Ab Initio Capital, and Republic Capital. TechNode has more here.

Highline Technologies, a two-year-old Dallas startup whose platform lets consumers automate bill payments directly from their paychecks, has raised a $13 million Series A. Investors included Jump Capital, Costanoa Ventures, and Foundation Capital. The company has raised a total of $17.5 million. PYMNTS.com has more here.

Kasisto, a nine-year-old New York startup that powers digital assistants for financial websites, raised a $15.5 million Series C extension. Fidelity and Westpac co-led the deal, with BankSouth also piling on. The company has raised a total of $81.5 million. More here.

Lily AI, a seven-year-old, Bay Area-based startup whose app aims to help retailers match their customers with products they'll love, has raised $25 million in Series B funding. The round saw the participation of new and returning investors, including Canaan Partners, Conductive Ventures, Sorenson Ventures and New Enterprise Associates. TechCrunch has more here.

Petfolk, a two-year-old, Charlotte, N.C.-based Petfolk, "modern vet practice" that emphasizes its tech, from scheduling on-site visits to the virtual consultations it provides, has raised $40 million in Series A funding led by White Star Capital and Michael Wystrach, the founder of Freshly. Triple Point Capital and others also joined the round. Axios has more here.

Psych Hub,  a four-year-old, Nashville startup founded by former U.S. Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy that bills itself the Angie's List of mental health — raised $16 million in Series A funds. HC9 and Frist Cressey Ventures (former Sen. Bill Frist's VC shop) co-led the round, joined by earlier backers Emerson Collective and HealthStream. Axios has more here.

Qloo, a ten-year-old New York startup whose AI platform helps brands analyze customer preference data and provide consumers with recommendations for entertainment and physical goods, raised a $15 million Series B from Eldridge and AXA Venture Partners. The company has raised a total of $29 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Spectral, a two-year-old crypto startup based in Tel Aviv that has built an on-chain equivalent to a traditional FICO score that allows users to check their on-chain scores through its platform, raised a $23 million round co-led by General Catalyst and Social Capital. Other backers in the round included Samsung, Gradient Ventures, Section 32, Franklin Templeton, Circle Ventures, and Jump Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Tridge, a seven-year-old South Korean agriculture and food trading platform, has raised $37 million in Series D funding exclusively from DS Asset Management. The startup's earlier backers include SoftBank Ventures and Forest Partners. Bloomberg has more here.

TRIP, a four-year-old London startup that sells CBD drinks, oils, and gummies, raised an $11.8 million Series A funding from former Depop CEO Maria Raga and Apeiron Investment Group’s Christian Angermeyer, among others. The company has raised a total of $22 million. More here.

Ubie, a five-year-old, Tokyo-based startup that uses AI to streamline the initial diagnosis and interview process for medical institutions, raised a $26 million Series C round. Investors included Norinchukin Capital, NVenture Capital, and Dai-ichi Life Insurance. The company has raised a total of $58.7 million. More here.

Zitara, a three-year-old startup based in Oakland, Ca., that builds cloud and embedded software to optimize battery management, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Energy Impact Partners, with NextView Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and Trucks VC also participating. The company has raised a total of $26.5 million. More here.

9count, a Los Angeles-based company planning to produce a multitude of consumer apps that connect people (it was cofounded by Alex Hofmann, former president of musical.ly, now known as TikTok), has raised $6 million in fresh funding from investors. Among them is GGV Capital, Redpoint, Signia, Greycroft, Progression, Crosscut, I2BF, and Waverley Capital. The startup has now raised $27.5 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

CurbWaste, a four-year-old New York startup whose platform helps trash haulers manage their routes and operations, raised a $6 million seed round led by B Capital Group, with Mucker Capital also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $7.2 million. dot.LA has more here.

Deposits, a one-year-old Dallas startup that offers a cloud-based, plug-and-play feature to simplify the implementation of digital banking tools for companies like credit unions, community banks, insurers, retailers and brands, raised a $5 million seed round led by ATX Venture Partners, with additional investment from Lightspeed Ventures and Cabal Fund. TechCrunch has more here.

Freedom Biosciences, a 15-month-old San Francisco startup that is developing ketamine and psychedelic therapeutics, raised a $10.5 million seed round led by MBX Capital, with PsyMed Ventures, Village Global, and The Yale Startup also partaking. More here.

Mural, a New York startup that is developing financial applications for DAOs such as helping brands deploy DAO treasury funds ranging from $50 to $100 million in size, raised a $5.6 million seed round. The syndicate included Galaxy Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Firstminute Capital, and 186 Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Nanopath, a three-year-old startup based in Cambridge, Ma., that uses ultrasensitive optical detection to identify DNAs and RNAs without the need for nucleic acid amplification, raised a $10 million Series A funding co-led by Norwest Venture Partners and the Medtech Convergence Fund, with Gingerbread Capital and Green D Ventures also contributing. MassDevice has more here.

Pace, a two-year-old Singapore startup that helps companies use their CRM platforms to focus on the customers that matter most, raised a $5 million seed round led by Work-Bench, with AlleyCorp also chipping in. More here.

Quivr, a Los Angeles startup that will validate and authenticate a user’s personal interests/online footprint through a mobile app that is connected directly to other social platforms (i.e., Twitter, Spotify, LinkedIn, etc.) and mint a verification “badge" as an NFT accessible via the blockchain, raised $3.55 million. The seed round was led by Infinity Ventures Crypto, with Tencent co-founder Jason Zeng, C2 Ventures, Sfermion, and FBG Capital also pitching in. CoinJournal has more here.

Reposite, a four-year-old New York startup that has created a marketplace of suppliers (e.g. activities, restaurants, hotels, venues, transportation) for travel agents, raised a $7.5 million round co-led by Liberty City Ventures and Greycroft, with MATH Ventures and BDMI also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $13.5 million. Skift has more here.

RevSure, a startup based in Wilmington, De., that helps clients better understand their sales pipelines, raised a $3.5 million seed round led by Innovation Endeavors. The Economic Times has more here.

Sequel, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that enables companies to hold immersive virtual events on their own websites, raised an $8 million Series A round led by Javelin Venture Partners; Struck Capital, Social Leverage, Alumni Ventures, Growth Warrior Capital, Great Oaks, and V1VC also participated. Business Insider has more here.

Upkid, a one-year-old Salt Lake City startup whose two-sided online marketplace matches qualified child care workers with licensed facilities and preschools, raised a $1.7 million pre-seed round from Newfund Capital, Corazon Capital, and Beehive Venture Partners. More here.

Vestaboard, a seven-year-old startup based in Menlo Park, Ca., that makes a split-flap display board that people can use to create messages (like "CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM" or "WHO TOOK MY SANDWICH"), raised a $5 million seed extension round, including from Baroda Ventures. The company has raised a total of $9.1 million. More here.

Kodiak Robotics, a four-year-old, Mountain View, Ca., startup that's developing autonomous trucks, announced that Pilot Co., a truck stop operator backed by Berkshire Hathaway, is making an undisclosed strategic investment in the company. (The plan is to build service centers for autonomous trucks.) Kodiak had previously raised a total of $165 million. Forbes has more here.

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Root Ventures, a Bay Area-based early-stage fund that looks to invest in highly technical founders, says it has raised $150 million in capital commitments for its third fund. The nine-year-old outfit is now managing $325 million in assets altogether. More here.

The Swiss luxury group Richemont today announced a long-awaited deal to offload most of its online fashion retailer YOOX Net-A-Porter, clearing the way for its labels to sign up for technology run by luxury e-commerce specialist Farfetch. Reuters reports that the deal, removing from its books a loss-making business that had become a distraction for Richemont, was welcomed by analysts. More here.

Comma.ai founder George Hotz has news for the patent troll who is trying to sue his startup, which makes self-driving car kits. "What he didn’t take into account is that comma isn’t run by rational actors in suits sitting on a committee," writes Hotz.

Ted Leonsis’s Monumental Sports & Entertainment and Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein are weighing a bid for Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals. Bloomberg has more here.

Tony Liu has been promoted to partner at Costanoa Ventures. Liu joined the firm as a principal in 2019 from Databricks, where he'd been a product manager. More here. 

In 2007, the 100 largest private landowners owned a combined 27 million acres of property. Fourteen years later, they control 42.2 million acres, according to the Land Report, the publication of private land ownership — an increase of 56 percent. “When people strike it rich, they want a big parcel of land,” report editor Eric O’Keefe tells the Washington Post. More here.

According to survey data taken from April through October of last year by the National Institutes of Health, the amount of young adults who said in 2021 that they used marijuana in the past year (43%), the past month (29%) or daily (11%) were at the highest levels ever recorded. NPR has more here.

South Korea has once again shattered its own record for the world’s lowest fertility rate as it faces the prospect of its population of 51 million people more than halving by the end of this century. Korean women were estimated, based on 2021 data, to have an average of just 0.81 children over their lifetimes, down from 0.84 a year earlier, the statistics office said today. Bloomberg has the story here.

There are 1,068 "superyachts" in the 35- to 40-meter size range in the world. Wait, no, make that 1,067.

British researchers and a team from Google say they've found that  "inoculating" people against misinformation helps blunt its power.

Peloton has begun selling its fitness equipment and apparel on Amazon, a move intended to increase distribution as it struggles with weak demand and a sagging stock price. (The Information notes the deal could also provide Amazon with better information with which to make an acquisition offer at some point.)

Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, are increasingly sought by criminals looking to either steal them or use them to launder illicit gains, a new report from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said today. More than $100 million worth of NFTs were reported stolen in scams over the past year, with more than 4,600 NFTs stolen in July alone -- the most in any month since Elliptic began tracking the data in 2017. The WSJ has more here.

The medical benefits of psychedelic drugs have gone from Age of Aquarius punchline to solid science, but the startups racing to market might still be getting ahead of themselves, reports Bloomberg.

The rise of niche internet micro celebrities, or “nimcels."

The surprisingly dark history of the choker necklace.

Lewis Hamilton on the shocker that cost him a championship.

From 1972: "John and Yoko take Manhattan."

Fuggit house shoes.

Miu Miu ditches micro mini skirts for tiny wool shorts.

"Radiant Baby."

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