Strictly VC - "All gas no brakes in AI"

Meta Platforms is asking many of its managers and directors to transition to individual contributor jobs or leave the company as it tries to become more efficient, according to a new Bloomberg report. It says the process is known internally as a "flattening" as individual contributors aren’t in charge of others and instead focus on tasks like coding, designing and research. (We're guessing employees have an alternative word for this process.)

Today, Microsoft and partner OpenAI unveiled a new internet search engine and web browser that is "based on a widely rumored OpenAI creation called GPT-4, the successor to what the San Francisco [based OpenAI] released two months ago," posits the New York Times. At a crowded room in Redmond, Wa., where the two companies played host to roughly 100 reporters and photographers, an executive who oversees the applications that Microsoft builds for businesses said Microsoft plans to release features with generative AI on average every week. “This technology will reshape pretty much every software category that we know,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Nadella added that “a race starts today in terms of what you can expect.” That's no exaggeration. Meta is reportedly fast-tracking its efforts to put AI-driven products into customers’ hands. Meanwhile, Google, which unveiled its own experimental conversational AI service ("Bard") yesterday, is stepping back into the spotlight tomorrow to divulge more big search and AI news at an event in Paris. (Here is how to watch it.)

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Atmosphere, a four-year-old Austin startup that says its free ad-supported streaming TV platform provides short-form, audio-optional programming to more than 60 million viewers per month across nearly 50,000 restaurants, bars, gyms, doctor offices, and other business establishments, raised a $65 million Series D round at a $1 billion valuation. Investors included Sageview Capital, Valor Equity Partners, and S3 Ventures. The company has raised a total of $213.7 million. More here.

Fabric8Labs, a nearly eight-year-old, San Diego, Ca.-based machinery company that specializes in metal 3D printing, just announced $50 million in Series B funding led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from earlier investors, including Intel Capital, imec.XPAND, SE Ventures, TDK Ventures, and Lam Capital. More here.

Jobber, a 12-year-old Canadian startup whose platform enables home services professionals to book customers and manage their job workflow, raised a $100 million Series D round led by General Atlantic, with previous investors Summit Partners, Version One Ventures, and Tech Pioneers Fund also taking part. The company has raised a total of $183.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Vox Media, the 12-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based digital media company whose brands include New York Magazine and The Verge, has raised $100 million from Penske Media, which will own about 20% of Vox as a result of that investment, reports the New York Times. Vox's implied valuation of $500 million is roughly half what it was in 2015, when NBCUniversal invested $200 million in the company at a valuation of about $1 billion. Vox has now raised roughly $400 million altogether. More here.

Zeitview, a nine-year-old Los Angeles startup that uses drones to spot defects on infrastructure such as wind turbines and solar panels (it was formerly known as DroneBase), raised a $55 million round led by Valor Equity Partners, with additional participation from USV, Upfront Ventures, Euclidean Capital, Energy Transition Ventures, and Hearst Ventures. The company has raised a total of $114 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Car IQ, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup that offers commercial fleets an easier way to pay for fuel, tolls, and parking by leveraging vehicle data to automate the payment process, raised a $15 million Series B extension led by Forte Ventures and including State Farm Ventures, TELUS Ventures, Avanta Ventures, Visa, Bridgestone, Navistar, and Circle K. The company has raised a total of $42 million. More here.

Conquest Planning, a five-year-old Winnipeg startup that provides an AI-powered financial planning platform for consumers ranging from retail investors to high-net-worth families, raised a $17.9 million Series A round led by previous investor Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, with returning backer Portage as well as new investors BNY Mellon and Royal Bank of Canada also participating. BetaKit has more here.

Evonetix, an eight-year-old UK startup that uses a silicon chip to manage the synthesis of DNA, raised a $24 million Series B extension round, increasing the total size of the round to $54 million. Foresite Capital was the deal lead, with Molten Ventures, Morningside, DCVC, Cambridge Consultants, Civilization Ventures, and Providence also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $68 million. Silicon Canals has more here.

Flox, a five-year-old New York startup that aims to make it easier for developers to use the open source platform Nix, raised a $16.5 million Series A round led by NEA, with additional capital provided by Addition and Hetz Ventures. The company has raised a total of $23.9 million. TechCrunch has more here.

MindsDB, a six-year-old startup based in Berkeley, Ca., that helps developers build AI applications even if they lack AI expertise, raised a $16.5 million Series A round from Benchmark. The company has raised a total of $24.3 million. Forbes has more here.

NOCD, a five-year-old Chicago startup that provides obsessive compulsive-disorder treatment for children and adults, raised a $34 million round co-led by Cigna Ventures and 7wireVentures; Kaiser Permanente Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Eight Roads Capital, Health Enterprise Partners, and Longitude Capital also took part. The company has raised a total of $84 million. Business Insider has more here.

Rembrand, a four-month-old, Los Altos, Ca.-based programmatic product placement platform that embeds photo-realistic products into digital videos, has raised $8 million in seed funding, including from Greycroft and UTA.VC. Founder Omar Tawakol previously founded two companies that were acquired (by Oracle and Cisco, respectively). More here.

Riot, a New York startup that is focused on combating phishing attacks, as well as educating employees about security risks, raised a $12 million round led by Base10, with previous investors Y Combinator, Funders Club, and Founders Future also joining in. The company has raised a total of $14.2 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Therma, a 3.5-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that says its platform dynamically lowers energy demand from cooling assets like refrigerators and HVAC systems (it uses IoT devices to make "dumb" equipment "smart"), has raised $19 million in Series A funding. Zero Infinity Partners led the round, joined by Deciens Capital, CityRock Venture Partners, Homecoming Capital, Ananta Capital, Kindergarten Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and Govtech Fund. Business Insider has more here.

Ushur, a nine-year-old startup based in Santa Clara, Ca., whose software allows businesses to automate business processes and customer-facing tasks, raised a $50 million Series C round led by Third Point Ventures; additional investors included Iron Pillar, 8VC, Aflac Ventures, and Pentland Ventures. The company has raised a total of $92 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Opscura, a months-old, San Sebastian, Spain-headquartered startup focused on industrial control system cybersecurity, has raised $9.4 million in Series A funding led by Anzu Partners, with participation from Dreamit and Mundi Ventures. More here.

The Ugly Company, a four-year-old, Farmersville, Ca.-based producer of dried snacks made of fruit that has been passed over for being "ugly", has raised $9 million in Series A funding led by Sun Valley Packing and Value Creation Strategies. More here.

Aiir Innovations, a seven-year-old Amsterdam startup that says it uses AI to support the airline engine inspection process, raised a $2.25 million round led by Borski Fund, with HearstLab Europe and previous investor Mainport Innovation Fund also chipping in. Tech.eu has more here.

Cellvie, a five-year-old Zurich and Houston startup that employs proprietary preparation and delivery techniques to transplant mitochondria directly into compromised cells, raised a $5.5 million round led by Taiho Ventures, with participation from earlier investors Kizoo Technology Capital GmbH. The company has raised a total of $10.5 million. More here.

Cenoa, a one-year-old Singapore startup that provides a wallet enabling users to buy digital dollars as a means of protecting assets and building wealth, raised a $7 million seed round led by Quiet Capital, with Human Capital, Ulu Ventures, Acrew Capital, and Collective Spark also contributing. More here.

Disclo, a four-year-old Atlanta startup that helps employers accommodate employees with disabilities in a HIPAA- and SOC 2–compliant manner, raised a $5 million seed round. General Catalyst was the deal lead, with Y Combinator, Bain Capital Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau also writing checks. The company has raised a total of $6.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Elementus, a five-year-old New York crypto startup that helps organizations investigate on-chain activities and identify risk, raised a $10 million Series A-2 round at a $160 million valuation. ParaFi Capital was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $27 million. More here.

FireCompass, a four-year-old Boston startup that claims to use AI tools to scan the deep, dark, and surface webs for evidence of data breaches, raised a $7 million round co-led by Cervin and Athera Venture Partners, with Bharat Innovation Fund also pitching in. Entrackr has more here.

Frond, a three-year-old startup that offers a tool for building communities online centered around posts, raised a $3.3 million led by Cherry Ventures, with Figma founder Dylan Field, Dropbox founder Arash Ferdowsi, and Lattice founder Jack Altman also anteing up. TechCrunch has more here.

Lineaje, a two-year-old startup based in Saratoga, Ca., that helps organizations secure their software supply chains, raised a $7 million seed round led by Tenable Ventures, with additional participation from Dreamit Ventures and Veear Capital. SecurityWeek has more here.

Moonhub, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup that claims to use AI to look beyond typical search parameters to find competent candidates that might otherwise be missed, raised a $4.4 million round co-led by Khosla Ventures and GV, with AIX Ventures and Day One Ventures also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

Simple HealthKit, a six-year-old startup based in Fremont, Ca., that provides at-home testing kits for conditions such as diabetes, STDs, and RSV with quick test turnaround times, raised an $8 million Series A round led by Initialized Capital, with Kleiner Perkins, Kapor Capital, and Quest Venture Partners also joining in. TechCrunch has more here.

Snab, a two-year-old Madrid startup whose payments and cash management platform helps SMBs automate the collection of invoices, raised a $1.2 million pre-seed round led by Y Combinator, with additional capital provided by 4Founders Capital and Glenfarne Group. Tech.eu has more here.

Uniify, a Copenhagen startup that automates financial customer onboarding, raised a $3.2 million round led by People Ventures, Forward VC, and Spring Capital. EU-Startups has more here.

WARP, a Los Angeles startup that is building a freight network consisting of trucks, and cargo vans, raised $5.7 million in additional seed funding. Investors included MaC Venture Capital, Bonfire Ventures, and Frontier Venture Capital. The company has raised a total of $8.1 million. More here.

Wisor AI, a three-year-old Tel Aviv startup that automates the manual process of aggregating pricing data as well as the optimization of shipping routes across the global freight ecosystem, raised an $8 million seed round led by Team8, with participation from Ocean Azul, Hico Investment Group, and previous investor Fresh Fund. Calcalist has more here.

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Goldman Sachs Group says it has raised $5.2 billion for a private equity fund that will buy early-stage companies that are typically small in size. Bloomberg has more here.

Partech, the global venture firm, has held a first close on €245 million for its Partech Africa II fund, which TechCrunch says is the largest Africa-focused fund yet. Partech, which focuses on early- and growth-stage startups across the continent, intended to raise about €230 million but has received overwhelming interest from LPs and is now seeking a final close of not more than €280 million (~$300 million), it says. More here.

Kargo, a 20-year-old, New York-based ad tech company focused primarily on the mobile ad market, has acquired the three-year-old, Denver-based video ad platform VideoByte for upwards of $100 million. The acquisition is Kargo's fourth, says Business Insider moves Kargo onto "television screens," as says its CEO. More here.

How Gautam Adani lost $36 billion in just days.

Marc Bhargava has joined General Catalyst as a managing director in Miami, where he will be helping lead early stage crypto and fintech investing, as well as helping with the firm's Creation Fund which incubates as well as purchases software companies (with the aim of transforming them). Bhargava spent the previous three years with Coinbase in Miami after it acquired a crypto startup he co-founded called Tagomi. More here.

Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary is in talks to invest in ChatGPT creator OpenAI, he tells Business Insider. Saying he's unable to share any details of the investment, such as the dollar amount, he notes that a deal is likely to close in the next 90 days. "I'm looking at the ChatGPT deal right now from an equity perspective, deciding what allocation I want to put into it," O'Leary says. "I'm very fortunate to be offered a piece of it."

Luna Schmid has joined Alphabet's venture arm, GV, in London as a general partner. Schmid has worked at Summit Partners, SoftBank, Warburg Pincus and Morgan Stanley previously. TechCrunch has more here.

Coatue has brought aboard Ben Schwerin as a general partner. Schwerin was most recently the SVP of content and partnerships at Snap; he will be based in Los Angeles, where Coatue is expanding with the opening of a new office this summer. More here.

Jack Sweeney, the 20-year-old college student known for tracking Elon Musk's private jet on social media, is launching his own jet-tracking website. Sweeney told Business Insider he decided to create the web-based public database after aviation data company JetNet announced last month that it had purchased ADS-B Exchange, a free website that tracks thousands of commercial aircraft around the world. Sweeney has used the ADS-B Exchange website to keep tabs on flights since he started tracking private-jet data back in 2020 and says he feared its new owners might yank information off the site.

Ebay today announced plans to cut 500 jobs, or about 4% of its workforce, according to a filing with the SEC. CNBC has more here.

Meanwhile, Zoom is laying off 1,300 of its employees, or 15%, of its staff, it announced today. CEO Eric Yuan said he is also reducing his salary and forgoing his bonus. More here.

The people online are fake; the disinformation is real.

How AI is de-aging stars on screen.

Crypto outfit Digital Currency Group has begun to sell shares in several of its most prized cryptocurrency funds at a steep discount, according to securities filings seen by the Financial Times. The move to sell down the assets underscores the financial difficulties at seven-year-old DCG as it tries to raise funds to support its collapsed lending units under crypto broker Genesis, observes the outlet. More here.

Roughly one year ago, a handful of crypto heavyweights made swaggering debuts, airing costly commercials during the Super Bowl. Now they're trying to convey a new message about trust and reliability. “Boring is not bad.”

The promise of a new Alzheimer's drug.

An apology from the author of "Jessie's Girl."

He did it! 

Grace Kelly’s honeymoon yacht.

A home theater in San Francisco.

Magic radio.

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