Everything new that Apple unveiled today (plus other stuff!)

From TechCrunch, here's everything new that Apple unveiled today during its "Far Out" event in Cupertino, Ca.

A Delaware court has denied Elon Musk’s request to delay the trial over his attempt to abandon a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter. But Musk will be allowed to add claims from Twitter whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko (who has said Twitter underplayed its spam issues) to his countersuit, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick ruled. CNBC has more here.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says he has no plan to force workers to return to the office. CNBC has more here.

Most major research teams like Goldman Sachs are forecasting equity returns of 3-4% over the next decade – not even breaking inflation at its current levels. In other words, investors could be facing negative real returns for years. But one often-overlooked market has actually appreciated by 33% on average during periods of inflation and sluggish economic growth. With Masterworks, this formerly-exclusive asset class has now been opened to all investors. Just follow today’s special link to skip the waitlist. See important Regulation A disclosures.

Michael Mignano has joined the consumer practice of the sprawling venture firm Lightspeed Venture Partners, after previously co-founding the podcasting platform Anchor and then leading Spotify’s talk audio business after the streaming giant acquired Anchor in 2019 for more than $150 million.

Interestingly, Mignano joins a firm that did not invest in Anchor, though he says in a new Medium post that he first met Lightspeed when he was out fundraising for his then-nascent startup. (Founded in 2015, Anchor went on to raise $14.4 million from Homebrew, GV, Accel, Betaworks and Eniac Ventures among others, before it sold.)

More here.

Battle Motors, a 76-year-old outfit based in New Philadelphia, Oh, that makes heavy-duty, custom-built specialty vehicles and now aims to lead the electrification of the vocational fleet truck industry, raised a $150 million Series B round from an undisclosed investor. More on the company,  formerly known as Crane Carrier Company, here in Waste Today.

Boopos, a two-year-old Miami startup whose platform helps to underwrite small businesses interested in business acquisitions and growth, raised a $58 million Series A and debt round led by Bonsai Partners, with Fasanara, Actyus, and K Fund. The company has raised a total of $90 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Carbyne, an eight-year-old New York startup that designs systems used by emergency services to handle calls for medical, public safety, transportation and other urgent needs, raised a $56 million Series C round at a $400 million valuation. The co-leads were Cox Enterprises and Hanaco Growth Fund, with Valor Equity also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $126.3 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Morse Micro, a six-year-old startup based in Surry Hills, Australia, that specializes in designing chips that use Wi-Fi HaLow technology, raised a $140 million Series B round led by MegaChips Corporation. Other backers in the round included Blackbird Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Skip Capital, Uniseed, SpringCapital, and Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull. Electronics Weekly has more here.

Muck Rack, a 12-year-old, Miami-based journalist database, raised $180 million in Series A funding from Susquehanna Growth Equity. The idea is to build out a CRM-type platform for public relations professionals, says Axios. More here.

Tesseract, a nine-month-old, London-based energy company founded by Alan Chang, the former CFO of Revout, has raised $78 million in funding led by Balderton Capital and Lakestar, with participation from Accel, Creandum, Lowercarbon Capital, Ribbit and BoxGroup, along with individual investors. The idea, says the startup, is to "fix the broken energy sector" by owning renewable generator assets and selling directly to consumers. Silicon Canals has more here.

TruKKer, a seven-year-old digital freight platform in Abu Dhabi, has raised $100 million from Mubadala and Investcorp in a round that brings the company's total funding to $370.4 million. Reuters has more here.

Arpeggio Biosciences, a five-year-old startup based in Boulder, Co., that is focused on helping drug developers design therapies around cellular networks rather than a single target, raised a $17 million Series A round led by Builders VC. MedCity News has more here.

Billogram, a 12-year-old Stockholm startup that has developed a billing platform for businesses that rely on recurring payments, raised a $15 million round led by Swisscom Ventures, with additional participation from previous investors Partech, CNI Nordic, and Inbox Capital. EU-Startups has more here.

Bond Pet Foods, a seven-year-old startup based in Boulder, Co., that makes plant-based pet treats, raised a $17.5 million Series A round. Investors included ADM Ventures, Cavallo Ventures, Genoa Ventures, Lever VC, Thia Ventures, iSelect Fund, Stage 1 Fund, Lifely VC, and Satori Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

CertifyOS, a one-year-old New York startup that helps payors, providers, health systems and digital health companies manage credentialing, licensing, enrollment, and network monitoring, raised a $14.5 million Series A round led by General Catalyst, with additional investment from Upfront Ventures, Max Venturesb Arkitekt Ventures. The company has raised a total of $19.1 million. More here.

Credix Finance, a one-year-old startup based in Antwerp, Belgium, whose platform connects institutional investors such as banks and hedge funds with credit fintechs and non-bank lenders in emerging markets, raised a $11.25 million round. Motive Partners and Parafi Capital co-led the deal. The company has raised a total of $13.8 million. CoinDesk has more here.

Edupia, a four-year-old online learning platform focused on teaching English to residents of smaller cities and rural areas of Vietnam (with plans to expand into other Southeast Asian markets), has raised $14 million in Series A funding led by Jungle Ventures. Other participants included eWTP Capital and ThinkZone Ventures. The outfit has now raised $16 million to date. TechCrunch has more here.

Otolith Labs, a seven-year-old startup based in Washington, DC, that is developing noninvasive wearable medical devices for the treatment of vestibular disorders such as chronic vertigo, raised a $20 million Series A round. Morningside Ventures was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $25.7 million. MobiHealth News has more here.

Regal, a two-year-old Seattle startup that's building a platform for personalized and branded calls and texts, raised a $38.5 million Series A round led by Emergence Capital Partners. Additional investors included Founder Collective, Homebrew, Flex Capital, Inspired Capital, and Operator Collective. TechCrunch has more here.

ZineOne, an eight-year-old startup based in Milpitas, Ca., that has developed an in-session marketing platform (a form of inbound marketing that analyzes micro-behaviors of a visitor currently on an e-commerce site or app), has raised $27.4 million in Series C round from SignalFire, Norwest Venture Partners, and others. The company has now raised $43 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Beehive Industries, an 11-year-old startup based in Lincoln, Ne., that makes asset management software, raised a $2.1 million round, per Axios. Investors included Advantage Capital and the Community Development VC Alliance. More here.

BioBetter, a two-year-old startup based in Kiryat Shemona, Israel, that has developed a protein manufacturing platform for producing growth factors using tobacco plants as natural, self-sustaining, animal-free bioreactors, raised a $10 million Series A led by Jerusalem Venture Partners, with Milk and Honey Investments and the Israeli Innovation Authority also contributing to the round. FoodBev Media has more here.

Chargezoom, a three-year-old startup based in Irvine, Ca., that integrates with common accounting applications like QuickBooks, FreshBooks and Xero, and provides tools that allow businesses to collect payments faster with full GAAP compliance, raised a $10 million Series A round co-led by Panoramic Ventures and Softbank Opportunity Fund, with additional participation from SaaS Venture Capital, Stout Street Capital, and Okapi Venture Capital. The company has raised a total of $12 million. PYMNTS.com has more here.

​​CorePower Magnetics, a two-year-old Pittsburgh startup that manufactures inductors and transformers that operate with increased temperature stability in smaller, lighter packages, raised a $2.5 million pre-seed round led by Volta Energy Technologies, with Evergreen Climate Innovations and Innovation Works also contributing, per Fortune. The company has raised a total of $4.9 million. More here.

CuriMeta, a two-year-old startup based in St Louis, Mo., that aims to improve precision medicine and accelerate medical research of complex diseases by sorting and analyzing dense clinical data, raised a $6 million round. Investors included BJC HealthCare and Washington University School of Medicine. Fierce Healthcare has more here.

Daalchini, a five-year-old startup based in New Delhi that offers smart vending machines to hundreds of brands in India, raised a $4 million round led by Unicorn India Ventures, with additional participation from previous investors Artha Venture Fund and VSS Investco. The company has raised a total of $5.7 million. TechCrunch has more here.

D’Amelio Brands, a Los Angeles startup (launched by the TikTok-famous family) that aims to create products across a variety of industries, from fashion and beauty to CPG and lifestyle, raised a $6 million seed round. Investors included angels such as Autograph co-chairman Richard Rosenblatt, Apple SVP of services Eddy Cue, and Lions Gate Entertainment CEO Jon Feltheimer. TechCrunch has more here.

Flair, an eight-year-old startup based in Berkeley, Ca., that sells smart vents and thermostats that can balance heating and cooling across a home, potentially slashing energy use, raised a $7.6 million Series A round co-led by Active Impact Investments and Lowercarbon Capital. Others to chip in included SOSV, Skyview, Resilience Capital Partners, Shell Ventures, Susquehanna Foundation, and 3 Million Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Hilma, a new Boston-based direct-to-consumer running shoe brand using mass personalization and new fit technology created specifically for women, has raised $3 million in seed funding led by Brand Foundry Ventures. Other participants in the round include the former president of Nike, Jeanne Jackson, Rothy's cofounder Roth Martin and various other notable individual investors. More here.

Passionflix, a six-year-old, Los Angeles-based romance-focused streaming service founded by Tosca Musk (Elon's sister), raised $9.4 million. AMC Networks led the round, joined by First Look Media and romance novelist Bella Andre. The company has raised a total of $21.6 million. Deadline has more here.

Remento, a two-year-old, Los Angeles-based storytelling app that aims to preserve family stories through conversation prompts and other tools, has raised $3 million in seed round led by Upfront Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Smoothie, a 15-month-old, L.A.-based discover-to-earn awards platform to help founders launch web3 projects, has raised $1.2 million from investor Balaji Srinivasan, Toubi Capital and LongHash Ventures. More here.

Tozero, a three-month-old, Munich-based battery recycling startup, raised €3.5 million from Atlantic Labs, Verve Ventures and Possible Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Upfront Healthcare, a seven-year-old patient engagement platform based in Chicago, just raised $10.5 million in Series C round co-led by Baird Capital, Echo Health Ventures and First Trust Capital Partners. The company has now raised $30.5 million altogether. More here.

Zeet, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based DevOps automation platform, has raised $4.3 million in seed funding led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Race Capital. The company has raised a total of $6.3 million. Forbes has more here.

SaaStr Annual 2022, the world's largest SaaS and Cloud community event is coming up fast, Sept 13-15! The three-day event will bring together 10,000 global SaaS founders, executives, and venture capitalists for a series of high-quality content sessions and networking opportunities, including founder and VC matchmaking. 300 SaaS leaders from top companies will take the stage to share actionable insights on scaling. Readers can grab 20% off tickets with code StrictlyVC (until tickets sell out).

Kapor Capital, the Oakland, Ca.-based venture firm focused on funding social impact ventures and founders of color, has closed its largest fund to date with $126 million in capital commitments. The new fund, which has been in the works as early as February 2021, was raised by managing partners Ulili Onovakpuri and Brian Dixon, who succeeded the firm’s co-founders Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein earlier this year. TechCrunch has more here.

Mighty Capital, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based early-stage venture firm, is raising $100 million for its third fund, per an SEC filing flagged by Axios. More here.

Kim Kardashian and a former partner at Carlyle Group are launching a new private-equity firm focused on investing in and building consumer and media businesses, the WSJ reported this morning. Kardashian is teaming up with Jay Sammons, who ran consumer investing at Carlyle, to launch SKKY Partners, which will make investments in sectors including consumer products, hospitality, luxury, digital commerce and media, as well as consumer-media and entertainment businesses.

Misfits Market, a seller of "ugly produce," has agreed to rival online grocer Imperfect Foods in an all-stock deal (more terms aren't being disclosed). Imperfect has raised around $229 million from such firms as Insight Partners, Norwest Venture Parters, Hamilton Lane, Blisce Group and Maveron. Misfits Market was last valued by $2 billion last fall when it closed its most recent round, led by SoftBank; Imperfect Foods was last valued reportedly at more than $700 million in early 2021. Axios has more here.

Yahoo has acquired The Factual, a company that uses algorithms to rate the credibility of news sources. Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed, but the idea is to provide Yahoo News's more than 200 million monthly visitors with ratings for the thousands of news sources that Yahoo aggregates on its site. Launched in 2019, The Factual raised more than $2 million in pre-seed funding, mostly from Defy Ventures. Axios has more here.

There’s more pain to come for the stock market, according to Michael Burry. The investor, played by Christian Bale in the “Big Short” movie, wrote on Twitter today that “we have not hit bottom yet.”

Max Brückner has been promoted to principal at the Berlin-based firm Cherry Ventures. Brückner joined the firm as an intern two years ago as he was finishing up his law degree. More here.

Sara Eadie has joined Tiger Global as an investor after spending a year as an investor with Accel in London and, before that, two years with Apax Digital in New York (where she is again based).

Alessio Fanelli joined the Cisco-backed venture firm Decibel as a partner. He was previously a principal with 645 Ventures, where he spent more than four years. More here.

Irini Kalamakis has joined OMERS Infrastructure -- the Toronto-based infrastructure investment advisory and management arm of the pension plan OMERS -- as a senior managing director. Kalamakis was previously with IFM Investors. Benefits Canada has more here.

“I don’t think movies ever return, in terms of moviegoing, to the level that they were at pre-pandemic,” veteran media executive Bob Iger said during a panel today at a Vox Media event. CNBC has more here.

Joe Lallouz, a serial entrepreneur who sold his company, Bison Trails, to Coinbase (we talked with him last year for the podcast), has bought a $18.3 million townhouse in Brooklyn, reports the WSJ. More here.

Chris Sacca of Lowercarbon Capital is being interviewed by yours truly at noon PST on October 25 as part of the upcoming SOSV Summit. 

The share of new vehicles sold by luxury brands, like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Tesla hit a record 17.3% of the overall U.S. car market in June, according to the data analytics outfit J.D. Power. That percentage is up from 14.1% in 2019. "The tilt toward luxury in the car business is yet another example of a broader split that has emerged in the U.S. economy, in which those with means have continued to splurge, while less well-heeled buyers have pulled back," observes the WSJ. More here.

The Apple Watch 14 ditches physical SIM cards for eSIM, a development that those hacked through their SIM cards will undoubtedly celebrate.

This is Snap's turnaround plan (it was leaked to The Verge).

Y Combinator batch stats, along with 11 of TC's favorite companies from day one of its newest Demo Day.

Gawker waits for Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen to call their next play.

Ian McEwan’s Lessons could be his last novel.

The great U.S. Open ball debate of 2022.

Steve Jobs Archive.

Geländewagen. (Price: $19,500.)

A musical about our First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald, is headed to Broadway. With libretto by Anna Deavere Smith (Notes From The Field & Twilight), Ella: An American Miracle stars the incomparable Dee Dee Bridgewater. Ella’s songbook included songs that still resonate today such as “Reach for Tomorrow,” “A House Is Not A Home,” and “I’m Beginning to See the Light.” (Ella’s songs had 1.9 billion downloads last year.) This is not an offer to invest. To learn more, please reach out to ella@evamere.com.