Touchscreens on Macs, JPMorgan's bad deal, and more on the tech tie-up that has tongues wagging

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Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX says it has located more than $5 billion in cash and other liquid assets and is hoping to sell hundreds of additional holdings with a book value of more than $4.6 billion. The WSJ has more here.

Apple is reportedly working on adding touch screens to its Mac computers, a "move that would defy long-held company orthodoxy and embrace an approach that co-founder Steve Jobs once called 'ergonomically terrible,'" notes Bloomberg. It adds that Apple engineers are "actively engaged in the project," even while its sources say a launch hasn't been finalized and that plans could change.

JPMorgan is suing the leaders of Frank, a financial-aid business it bought for $175 million in 2021, alleging they duped the bank by making up millions of fake student accounts to show it had a growing business. According to the bank's lawsuit, co-founder Charlie Javice approached JPMorgan in summer 2021 about a potential acquisition, claiming Frank had 4.25 million users; in reality, says the suit, the startup had fewer than 300,000 real users. The WSJ has more here.

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Asimov, a five-year-old, Boston-based synthetic biology outfit, is revealing $200 million in new funding between a $25 million Series A led by Horizons Ventures and a $175 million Series B round led by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Other participants in the latter round include Fidelity Management & Research Company, KDT, Casdin Capital, Pillar, and Andreessen Horowitz, which led Asimov’s seed round. Forbes has more here.

Capella Space, a six-year-old San Francisco startup that provides Earth observation data on demand through sensors deployed across its fleet of custom-built satellites, raised an additional $60 million Series C round. The U.S. Innovative Technology Fund was the lead investor. The company has raised a total of $239 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

DeepL, a 13-year-old AI-based company based in Cologne, Germany, that provides instant translation-as-a-service both to businesses and to individuals, has raised more than $100 million at a $1 billion valuation. IVP was the deal lead; Bessemer Venture Partners, Atomico, and WiL also participated. TechCrunch has more here.

Hack the Box, a five-year-old UK startup that runs some 450 ethical “hacking labs” in order to train students in fighting cyberattacks, raised a $55 million led by Carlyle, with Paladin Capital Group, Osage University Partners, Marathon Venture Capital, Brighteye Ventures, and Endeavor Catalyst Fund also participating. The company has raised a total of $69.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

40Seas, a Tel Aviv startup founded this year that has built a a fintech platform for cross-border trade financing, raised an $11 million seed round led by Team8, with ZIM Integrated Shipping Services also pitching in. Calcalist has more here.

Inbenta, a 17-year-old Dallas company that provides a conversational AI platform designed to optimize customer experience, raised a $40 million round. Tritium Partners was the deal lead. More here.

Inflow, a two-year-old London startup that has developed a self-help app designed to help people manage their ADHD through daily exercises and challenges around habit development, ADHD-focused mindfulness techniques, community support, and more, raised an $11 million Series A round led by Octopus Ventures, with Hoxton Ventures and Route66 Ventures also taking part. TechCrunch has more here.

Baton, a seven-year-old New York startup that says its marketplace allows small business buyers and sellers to connect and negotiate around a valuation calculated by an objective third party, raised a $2.8 million pre-seed round. Giant Ventures was the lead investor, while Bloomberg Beta also participated. BuiltinNYC has more here.

Blaze, a Los Angeles startup founded this year that has built a platform that allows non-coders to build apps, raised a $3.5 million pre-seed round. Flybridge Capital and MaC Venture Capital co-led the deal. TechCrunch has more here.

Howdy, a four-year-old Austin startup that helps enterprises to find and recruit software professionals in Latin America, raised a $5 million Series A extension round, increasing the total size of the round to $18 million. Obvious Ventures was the deal lead, with Greycroft also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $18 million. BuiltinAustin has more here.

Nest Genomics, a New York startup founded this year whose platform is designed to help health systems, clinics, pharmaceutical companies, and payors launch and scale longitudinal genomic programs, raised an $8.5 million seed round led by B Capital, with participation from Y Combinator, Casdin Capital, DCVC, Samsung Next, Maven Ventures, iAngels, Arkin Digital Health, LionBird, Anne Wojcicki, and former United Health executive Deneen Vojta. MedCity News has more here.

Playstream, a two-year-old Israeli startup that is developing an interactive challenge layer for online games, raised a $2 million seed round led by General Catalyst. Fortune has more here.

Porter, an eight-year-old Bangalore startup that helps patients and caregivers coordinate care, raised a $5.4 million seed round. Investors in the deal included Grit Capital Partners, Old Line Capital, and JLC Family Office. Refresh Miami has more here.

Project Eaden, a Berlin startup founded this year that is producing plant-based meat alternatives using a proprietary fiber spinning technology, raised a $2.3 million seed round. Creandum, Magnetic, and Atlantic Food Labs led thte deal. TechCrunch has more here.

ReelData AI, a three-year-old Halifax startup that is developing technology to improve the efficiency of land-based aquaculture farmers, raised an $8 million Series A round led by Buoyant Ventures, with S2G Ventures and The Nest Family Office also contributing. More here.

Relio, a two-year-old Zurich startup that has developed a digital payment account for business customers that automates a number of compliance processes, raised a $3.2 million round led by TX Ventures and including SIX Fintech Ventures, High-Tech Gründerfonds, F10, Elsa Invest, daFUND, and QBIT Capital. Tech.eu has more here.

Seek AI, a one-year-old New York startup that has developed a natural language interface allowing non-technical team members to create their own data queries, raised a $6 million seed round co-led by Conviction Partners and Battery Ventures, with former Snowflake CEO Bob Muglia also joing in. TechCrunch has more here.

Vaxess, an 11-year-old company based in Cambridge, Ma., that is developing sustained release patch technology for vaccines and therapeutics, raised $10 million in extended Series B funding led by RA Capital, The Engine, and Mission BioCapital. The round originally closed in November with $27 million; the company has raised a total of $91.2 million. More here.

Wisdo Health, a five-year-old New York startup that has built a peer support platform focused on ending social isolation, raised a $5 million Series A extension round. The deal was led by Israeli serial entrepreneur Marius Nacht, Alive Israel Healthtech Fund, and Bridge Builders Collaborative, with participation from Anne Wojcicki and Intel Capital cofounder Avram Miller. The company has raised a total of $15.1 million. More here.

Wunderite, a four-year-old Boston startup whose software enables independent insurance agents to gather underwriting data from their clients, raised a $7.2 million Series A round. Previous investor Spark Capital was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $10.3 million. Axios has more here.

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Cartograph Ventures, an Austin-based, seed-stage, consumer-oriented venture firm led by former Juul exec Alexander Cantwell, is raising its debut fund, per an SEC filing first flagged by Axios. The landing page (without much on it) is here.

Impact Science Ventures, a 1.5-year-old, San Francisco-based venture capital investor in "breakthrough scientific startups with global impact potential," says it has raised $25 million in capital commitments for its debut early-stage fund. The firm is focused on finding and funding energy, material, biotech, manufacturing, semiconductor and agricultural startups. It was founded by Alain Harrus, a long-time VC and executive; Michelle Kiang, a serial deep tech entrepreneur, and Robert Ethier, who was most recently the VP of investments at Activate, a deep tech fellowship program. More here.

Tamarind Hill, a nearly six-year-old, Dublin, Oh.-based early-stage venture firm that's focused on digital healthcare and supply chain software startups, says it has closed its second fund with $50 million in capital commitments. Columbus Inno has more here.

TSG Consumer Partners, a 36-year-old, Larkspur, Ca.-based PE firm that invests exclusively in consumer companies (and sometimes shows up in venture-stage deals), has closed its ninth fund with $6 billion in capital commitments. The outfit had closed its previous fund in February 2019 with $4 billion. Pensions & Investments has more here.

Venom Foundation, a layer-1 blockchain licensed and regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Market, and investment manager Iceberg Capital, have partnered to launch a $1 billion venture fund, the two firms announced yesterday. The vehicle, Venom Ventures Fund describes itself as a blockchain-agnostic fund that will invest in pre-seed to Series A rounds for web3 protocols and decentralized applications (dApps) that focus on trends like payments, asset management, DeFi, banking services and GameFi. TechCrunch has more here.

Carta, the equity management platform that was last privately valued at $7.4 billion and is now suing its former CTO, has cut 10% of its staff, confirming earlier rumors that a workforce reduction was going to happen. Judging by LinkedIn data, the layoff could have impacted around 200 employees, notes TechCrunch. More here.

Verily Life Sciences, a healthcare unit of Alphabet, is laying off more than 200 employees as part of a broader reorganization, the first major staff reductions to hit Google’s parent following a wave of layoffs at other technology companies. The cuts will affect about 15% of roles at Verily, says the WSJ.

The popular tech site CNET has used an AI to write financial explainers nearly 75 times since November. 

"According to one study, children living in a household with gas stoves have a 42% increased likelihood of already having asthma and a 24% increased risk of developing asthma at some point in their lifetime." The Washington Post has the story.

Microsoft + OpenAI: inside tech’s hottest romance.

After working for years to catch up on U.S. technology, China has developed a chip that can rival Nvidia’s powerful A100. The WSJ unpacks the processors’ design and capability as the two superpowers race for dominance in AI. (Video.)

Twitter’s ad business is not recovering. Clients of WPP-owned GroupM, the world’s largest ad-buying firm, have cut their spending on Twitter by between 40% and 50% since Elon Musk took control of the company in late October, according to The Information. 

Twitter is also closing or getting kicked out of many international offices as Musk skips rent and dramatically shrinks operations. More in Business Insider.

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