Seattle schools sue TikTok, Snap; Wonder ditches its food trucks; and Microsoft + OpenAI (the latest)

H! Apologies, realizing this one got stuck in the ether last night(!). We'll have another issue for you later today . . .

Semafor is reporting that Microsoft has been in talks to plug $10 billion into the owner of ChatGPT. The funding, which would also include other venture firms, would value OpenAI at $29 billion, it says, including the new investment. Microsoft previously invested $1 billion into OpenAI in 2019; now it's reportedly planning to use OpenAI's tech to improve it Bing search engine, as well as its Office products. More here.

A new lawsuit filed by Seattle Public Schools against TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Snap, Instagram, and their parent companies alleges that the social media giants have “successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth” for their own profit, using psychological tactics that have led to a mental health crisis in schools. The suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, seeks “the maximum statutory and civil penalties permitted by law,” making the case that the companies have violated Washington state’s public nuisance law. It appears to be the first public school district in the U.S. to file such a suit against the companies, observes GeekWire.

A top Chinese official tells state media that authorities have wrapped up investigations into the financial businesses of several internet companies, a strong signal that a two-year regulatory crackdown on China’s homegrown technology giants is winding down, notes the WSJ.

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Amolyt Pharma, a seven-year-old French startup that is developing therapeutic peptides for rare endocrine and related diseases, raised a $139.7 million Series C round co-led by Sofinnova Partners and Intermediate Capital Group, with additional participation from Tekla Capital Investment LLC, CTI Life Sciences, Andera Partners, Novo Holdings, Kurma Partners, EQT Life Sciences, Innobio 2, Sectoral Asset Management, Pontifax, Orbimed, Mass General Brigham Ventures, ATEM, Credit Agricole Creation, and Relyens Innovation Santé/Turenne Capital. The company has raised a total of $311.3 million. More here.

Caban Systems, a 4.5-year-old, Burlingame, Ca.-based energy storage developer, says it has raised $51 million in Series B funding led BCP Ventures. The Ontario Power Generation Pension Fund, Ember Infrastructure, Portfolia and Inspiration Ventures also joined the round. More here.

Superscript, a seven-year-old London startup that serves as an insurance broker and tech platform targeting SMEs and “high-growth” tech firms, raised a $65.9 million Series B round led by BHL UK, with The Hartford and Concentric also taking part. The company has raised a total of $79.1 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Array Behavioral Care, a 23-year-old company based in Mount Laurel, N.J., that has built a virtual psychiatry and therapy platform raised a $25 million round led by CVS Health, with additional capital provided by previous investors Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, Harbour Point Capital, Health Velocity Capital, OSF Healthcare, HLM Venture Partners, and OCA Ventures. The company has raised a total of $49 million. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Backpackr, an 11-year-old, South Korea-based outfit that operates a handmade marketplace called idus, has raised a $16 million (20 billion won) extension to its Series C round. The outfit has now raised $56.8 million altogether. Returning investor Altos Ventures led the extension round, joined by Stone Bridge and new investors Axiom Asia and Vanderbilt University. TechCrunch has more here.

Forj, a two-year-old Milwaukee startup that has built an e-learning platform for businesses, merged with another e-learning provider (Web Courseworks) and raised a $15 million Series A round led by Plymouth Growth; Forj Investors, Baird Capital, and GCI also participated. The company has raised a total of $16.5 million. Milwaukee Business Times has more here.

Oxford Ionics, a three-year-old startup based in Oxford, UK, that is developing quantum computing technology based on controlling trapped ions, raised a $36.25 million Series A round co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and Braavos Investment Advisers, with Lansdowne Partners, Prosus Ventures, 2xN, and Torch Partners also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $45.5 million. Forbes has more here.

World Enterprises, a four-year-old Dallas startup that has built what it calls an “industrial metaverse” platform where companies can build extremely accurate digital twins of their real-world factories, warehouses, and other facilities, raised a $21.2 million Series A1 round led by Moneta Ventures, with Align Capital, Green Park & Golf Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, Piva Capital, Perot Jain, and Capital Factory. The company has raised a total of $38 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Metaplane, a two-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based data observability startup, has raised $8.4 million in seed funding from backers like Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator and Flybridge Capital Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Qritive, a five-year-old Singapore startup that is using AI-backed imagery techniques to enhance the diagnosis of cancer, raised a $7.5 million round led by MassMutual Ventures, with SEEDS Capital and Exfinity Venture Partners also pitching in. Tech in Asia has more here.

Releaf, a five-year-old startup based in Lagos, Nigeria, that supplies ingredients such as oil palm to consumer goods manufacturers, raised a $3.3 million round led by previous investor Samurai Incubate Africa. The company has raised a total of $10.6 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Supermom, a nine-year-old, Singapore-based parenting platform that says it has 20 million users in six Southeast Asian countries who use it to compare prices, find community and attempt to earn money by completing surveys, has $8 million in Series A funding led by Qualgro, with participation from AC Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

XetHub, a Seattle-based new data storage platform for developers building machine learning and AI applications, has raised a $7.5 million seed round led by Madrona. GeekWire has more here.

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Khosla Ventures is raising nearly $3 billion for new funds, according to regulatory filings first flagged by Axios. The nearly 20-year-old firm plans to plans to raise $1.5 billion for its eighth flagship fund, $1 billion for its second opportunities fund and $400 million for its latest seed fund. It's a lot of money in this market; we'd guess a stake in buzzy OpenAI is helping it pitch its LPs. More here.

In December, reports suggested that Microsoft had acquired Fungible, a startup fabricating a type of data center hardware known as a data processing unit (DPU), for around $190 million. Today, Microsoft confirmed the acquisition but not the purchase price, saying that it plans to use Fungible’s tech and team to deliver “multiple DPU solutions, network innovation and hardware systems advancements. TechCrunch has more here.

Pfizer is stepping back from early-stage rare disease R&D. After reviewing its portfolio, the Big Pharma has begun “exploring externalization opportunities for a number of highly innovative, niche programs” as part of a rethink of its approach to orphan indications. FierceBiotech has more here.

Vista Equity Partners, the private equity giant with a taste for software company, just agreed to pay about $2.6 billion in cash for insurance technology provider Duck Creek Technologies. As Bloomberg notes, Duck Creek is "among a wave of insurance-focused technology firms, or insurtech providers, that went public in recent years that analysts and investors have pegged as takeover candidates because of a deep selloff in their shares." More here.

Wonder, a food delivery startup known for building van-based kitchens where food can be prepared and driven to customers’ doors (it's also known for its founder, serial entrepreneur Marc Lore), is abandoning the idea of food trucks altogether and turning into more of a ghost-kitchen startup, reports Bloomberg. The move involves cutting an undisclosed number of employees and selling off Wonder's fleet of several hundred Mercedes Sprinter utility vans. Wonder, founded in 2018, has raised $900 million to date from investors. More here.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has reportedly revived efforts to secure London a role in the planned IPO of UK tech group Arm, after months of political turmoil in Westminster derailed an attempt last year. SoftBank, which acquired the chip designer in 2016 for $32 billion, has previously indicated it wants to list the company in New York. The FT has the story here.

WeDoctor, a 12-year-old, China-based online healthcare platform that's backed by Tencent and Sequoia Capital China, among others, plans to file for an IPO by the end of April, the "latest sign of increased capital activity from China’s internet companies as regulators soften their stance," observes Bloomberg. Its sources say the outfit is preparing to list in either the U.S. or Hong Kong. More here.

A federal judge ruled today that Wylie Aronow and Greg Solano, co-founders of Yuga Labs — the $4 billion firm behind dominant NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club — must face deposition in the company’s ongoing trademark infringement lawsuit against Ryder Ripps, the conceptual artist and internet provocateur. Decrypt explains what's happening here.

Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell, former federal prosecutors who are now defending FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried against one of the biggest white-collar prosecutions in decades, are veterans of high-profile cases, including ones involving drug lord “El Chapo” and disgraced socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. More here.

Elon Musk is seeking to have a coming securities-fraud trial involving his conduct running Tesla moved out of San Francisco, arguing that negative publicity surrounding his use and recent management of Twitter has biased local jurors against him, reports the WSJ. The trial, scheduled to begin this month, centers on a shareholder lawsuit relating to Musk's 2018 tweets suggesting he had funding to take Tesla private.

Morgan Stanley chief operating officer Jonathan Pruzan, a leading contender to become the bank’s next CEO, has decided to leave at the end of this month, he announced in a staff memo to employees today. The 28-year veteran of the company says he is leaving "in order to pursue other opportunities." The FT has more here.

Peter Stern, the Apple exec who oversees the business side of its TV+, iCloud and Apple One bundles, as well as News+, is leaving the company, according to Bloomberg, noting that the move adds to a wave of senior executives leaving the iPhone maker in recent months. More here.

Checkout.com’s crypto bet: how Europe’s most valuable start-up lost its crown. 

Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX doled out millions in charitable donations. Now, new management is asking for it back, along with donations Bankman-Fried and other executives made to politicians and political groups.

Anthropic’s Claude improves on ChatGPT but still suffers from limitations.

AI turns its artistry to creating new human proteins.

UPS and the package wars.

Ask A Boyfriend Who Just Might Dig Himself Out Of Trouble If He Plays This Perfectly.

"Psycho" mirrors.

Logo-free handbags.

A log cabin on Washington’s San Juan Islands

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