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The Chinese spy balloon shot down by the U.S. military over the Atlantic Ocean was capable of collecting some forms of electronic communications and was part of a fleet of surveillance balloons directed by
the Chinese military that had flown over more than 40 countries across five continents, the State Department said today.
Ford Motor Company has sold a majority of its Rivian shares, according to regulatory filings. Ford’s stake in the electric vehicle maker, which has been dropping steadily since May 2022, notes TechCrunch, is now at 1.15%, or 10.5 million shares. Its latest moves come a week after Ford reported a $7.3 billion write-down on its Rivian investment last year. Since February 2022, Rivian’s stock has plummeted almost 70%. (Ouch.)
In today's Platformer: "Employees showed [Elon] Musk internal data regarding engagement with his account, along with a Google Trends chart. Last April, they told him, Musk was at 'peak' popularity in search rankings, indicated by a score of '100.' Today, he’s at a score of nine. Engineers had previously investigated whether Musk’s reach had somehow been artificially restricted, but found no evidence that the algorithm was biased against him. Musk did not take the news well. 'You’re fired, you’re fired,' Musk
told the engineer.
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Redwood Materials, the nearly six-year-old, Carson City, Nev.-based battery materials and recycling startup founded by former Tesla CTO and cofounder JB Straubel, has secured a conditional commitment for a $2 billion loan from the Department of Energy as part of the Biden administration’s bid to build up a supply chain for EVs in the United States. The conditional commitment from DOE’s loan program office is part of the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program. TechCrunch has more
here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Arrcus, a seven-year-old startup based in San Jose, Ca., that is developing a software-based alternative to network router equipment, raised a $50 million Series D round. Prosperity7, the investment arm of Aramco, was the deal lead; other investors included Clear Ventures, General Catalyst, Liberty Global, Lightspeed, and SVB. The company has raised a total of $123.4 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Canoe, a 10-year-old New York startup that leverages AI and machine learning to automatically collect and categorize documents from investor portals and email inboxes, raised a $25 million Series B round. F-Prime Capital was the deal lead, while Eight Roads Ventures also contributed. More here.
Carbonplace, a three-year-old London startup that uses blockchain technology to facilitate carbon offsets, raised a $45 million seed round from nine banks - BBVA, BNP Paribas, CIBC, Itaú Unibanco, National Australia Bank, NatWest, Standard Chartered, SMBC, and UBS. Carbon Herald has more here.
Clearsense, a 10-year-old startup based in Jacksonville Beach, Fl., that helps health providers unite and analyze disparate data sources, raised a $50 million Series D round led by HealthQuest Capital, with Health Catalyst Capital and UPMC Enterprises also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $100.5 million. MobiHealthNews has more here.
Coincover, a five-year-old startup based in Cardiff, Wales, that aims to help prevent the theft or loss of digital assets, raised a $30 million round led by Foundation Capital. The company has raised a total of $41.6 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Faro Health, a four-year-old startup based in La Jolla, Ca., whose software helps teams to design and author complex clinical trials, raised a $20 million round led by General Catalyst, with participation from Section 32, Polaris Partners, Zetta Ventures, and Northpond Ventures. The company has raised a total of $35 million. More here.
Marker Learning, a two-year-old New York startup that develops software to remotely diagnose and evaluate young people with learning and attention disability disorders such as dyslexia, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz and including Virgin Group as well as previous investors Primary Ventures, Difference Partners, Operator Partners, and Night Ventures. The company has raised a total of $19 million. More here.
Stratus, a seven-year-old Pittsburgh startup that aims to develop and manufacture next-generation cathode active materials for lithium-ion batteries, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with DNS Capital also chipping in. More here.
Turno, a one-year-old, Bangalore, India-based platform for commercial electric vehicle (EV) distribution and financing, has raised a $13.8 million Series A. The round was co-led by Quona Capital and B Capital, with participation from existing investors Stellaris Venture Partners and Avaana Capital and new investors Alteria Capital and InnoVen Capital. Forbes has more here.
Zypp Electric, a six-year-old Indian startup that rents electric bikes and scooters to ride-sharing companies and e-commerce, food, grocery, and pharma delivery companies, raised a $25 million led by Gogoro. The company has raised a total of $45.9 million. TechCrunch has more here.
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CUB3, a Los Angeles startup whose protocol and platform automates web3 rewards based on people’s real-world activities, raised a $6.5 million Series A round. Bitkraft Ventures and Fabric Ventures co-led the deal. Metaverse Post has more here.
Fable Food, a four-year-old Sydney startup that makes plant-based meat out of mushrooms, raised an $8.5 million Series A round. K3 was the deal lead; previous investors Blackbird, AgFunder, and Aera VC also participated. The company has raised a total of $12.2 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Habitto, a Tokyo startup whose mobile app connects consumers with savings, investment, and life insurance products supported by digitally enabled financial advisors. raised a $3.9 million pre-Series A round co-led by Saison Capital and Cherubic Ventures, with DG Daiwa Ventures, GMO Ventures, Kyokuto Securities, and Epic Angels also piling on. Tokyo Fintech has more here.
Hatica, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that aims to make developers become more productive by helping them understand how they are spending their time, raised a $3.7 million round. Sequoia India and Surge co-led the deal. The company has raised a total of $6.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Ionblox, a six-year-old startup based in Fremont, Ca., that is developing high-energy lithium-ion batteries, raised $8 million, increasing the size of its Series B round to $32 million. The round was led by Lilium and Applied Ventures with participation from Temasek and Catalus Capital. The company has raised a total of $36.8 million. More here.
Kelpi, a three-year-old startup based in Bristol, UK, that is developing sustainable packaging made out of seaweed for the food, beverage, and cosmetics sectors, raised a $3.6 million seed round. Science Creates Ventures and Green Angel Syndicate were the co-leads, with additional funding from One Planet Capital and previous investor the Bristol Private Equity Club. The company has raised a total of $5 million. techSPARK has more here.
Levels, a four-year-old New York startup whose app aims to provide real-time feedback on how food affects one's health, raised a $7 million Series A extension round. TriplePoint Capital and previous investors Andreessen Horowitz, Trust Ventures, and Shrug Capital all anted up. The company has raised a total of $57 million. More here.
Reshape Bio, a five-year-old Copenhagen startup that says its hardware and software platform digitizes microbiology experiments and enables teams to collaborate virtually, raised an $8.1 million round led by ACME Capital, with additional funds provided by FundersClub and Y Combinator. More here.
Tuned, a three-year-old New York startup whose platform connects patients to qualified audiologists, raised a $3.5 million round led by Distributed Ventures, with Idealab NY and Elements Health Ventures also taking part. More here.
VAULT, a startup founded by two co-founders of FanDuel that is developing an NFT-like standard for music fans, raised a $4 million Series A round led by Placeholder VC; additional investors included AlleyCorp, Bullpen Capital, and Everblue Management. The company has raised a total of $13 million. CoinDesk has more here.
Wyndly, a three-year-old Colorado startup that offers consumers personalized allergy treatment plans from licensed doctors, raised a $2 million round from Y Combinator, Goodwater Capital, Civilization Ventures, and Sweater Ventures. More here.
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Discover how top investors combine data with relationships to make better decisions faster. In Affinity’s latest webinar, you’ll hear actionable insights from Bessemer Ventures, Alpha Partners, and SOSV’s IndieBio. Check it out here.
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Planet A Ventures, a Berlin-based venture capital firm, says it has closed its debut fund with €160 million in capital commitments; the outfit is focused on European green-tech startups. TechCrunch has more here.
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The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority last year expressed concerns about Microsoft’s plans to acquire Activision Blizzard. Now, the CMA has published provisional findings in its investigation into the deal, saying it “could result in higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation for UK gamers.” The CMA has offered up possible remedies that include Microsoft being forced to sell off Activision Blizzard’s business associated with Call of Duty. The Verge has more
here.
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The 12-year-old crypto exchange Kraken has settled charges with the SEC and is shutting down its on-chain staking program. The exchange will pay $30 million in charges for “disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties.” In response to the settlement, Kraken has agreed to end its on-chain staking services for U.S. clients, a spokesperson for the exchange told TechCrunch.
Yesterday, as mentioned in the newsletter, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted that he has heard rumors that the SEC would like to get rid of crypto staking for U.S.-based customers, adding: “I hope that’s not the case as I believe it would be a terrible path for the U.S. if that was allowed to happen."
TC notes that "while this settlement inhibits Kraken’s staking operations, it doesn’t fully answer the question of whether the SEC will block all crypto staking going forward." (The crypto-friendly SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce issued a statement afterward, letting it be known she considers shutting down Kraken's staking program a “paternalistic and lazy" move by the agency.)
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Stewart Butterfield and Jen Rubio are developing a reputation outside of Silicon Valley circles -- as collectors of trophy homes.
In just a decade, AI may be able to think and act like humans, former Meta executive John Carmack predicted in an interview with Dallas Innovates. He said he thinks that artificial general intelligence or AGI -- AI's "big brass ring" -- will become a trillion-dollar industry by the 2030s. Carmack, a game developer who co-founded Id Software and served as Oculus’s CTO, is now running Keen Technologies, an AI startup that announced $20 million in funding back in August. Carmack has called his time at Meta (which acquired Oculus back in 2014) "challenging." Business Insider has more here and here.
A16z Crypto, the crypto investment arm of a16z, has promoted Eddy Lazzarin to CTO. Lazzarin joined the firm in 2019 as a data scientist after spending several years at Netflix and Facebook as a data engineer. More here.
Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital suggests he has had it with those governing San Francisco. "It’s a strange city that bans plastic straws but permits plastic needles." More in the FT.
PayPal's stock fell today after the company announced during its fourth-quarter earnings announcement that longtime CEO Dan Schulman plans to retire at the end of the year. Schulman, 65, will continue to serve on the board in 2024 and will help find a successor to lead the company, the company said in press release. American Banker has more here.
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Yahoo plans to lay off more than 20% of its total workforce as part of a major restructuring of its ad tech unit, executives told employees during a call this morning. The cuts will impact more than 50% of Yahoo's ad tech employees — more than 1,600 people. Axios has more here.
GitLab also announced a round of layoffs; the developer operations (DevOps) giant revealed today that it’s reducing its headcount by 7%. TechCrunch has more here.
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