Elon Musk thinks digital banking could transform Twitter into a company worth more than $250 billion

The Federal Trade Commission today rejected Illumina’s $7 billion deal for cancer-test developer Grail, a fresh sign the commission wants to take a more aggressive stance toward deal-making, notes the WSJ. More here.

Paris just voted to ban e-scooter companies, meaning 15,000 e-scooters have to be yanked from the city by September 1. The ban marks the first time that any major city globally that had offered contracts for e-scooter rentals in the center of town has made a complete U-turn on its policy, the companies say. More here.

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Companies at the forefront of AI would naturally like to stay at the forefront, so it’s no surprise they want to stay close to smaller startups that are putting some of their newest advancements to work.

Last month, for example, Neo, a startup accelerator founded by Silicon Valley investor Ali Partovi, announced that OpenAI and Microsoft have offered to provide free software and advice to companies in a new track focused on artificial intelligence.

Now, another Bay Area outfit — House Fund, which invests in startups with ties to UC Berkeley — says it is launching an AI accelerator and that similarly, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Databricks are offering participating startups free and early access to tech from their companies. The outfits are also offering mentorship, as is Google’s Gradient Ventures.

We talked with House Fund founder Jeremy Fiance over the weekend to get a bit more color about the program, which will replace a broader-based accelerator program that House Fund has run and whose alums include an additive manufacturing software company, Dyndrite, and the managed app development platform Crowdbotics, whose most recent round in January brought the company’s total funding to more than $60 million.

More here.

Cybereason, an 11-year-old Boston company whose software protects enterprises against cyberattacks, raised a $100 million round from SoftBank at a valuation believed to be in the neighborhood of $3 billion. The company has raised over $850 million. Calcalist has more here.

Fourthline, a six-year-old Amsterdam startup whose AI-based tools help businesses comply with anti-money laundering rules, raised a $54.5 million round. Finch Capital was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $74.6 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Quantexa, a London-based "decision-intelligence platform" that connects internal and external data sets to provide its banking and other financial services customers with a single view about relationships between people, places and organizations, has raised $129 million in Series E funding. GIC led the round, joined by earlier backers Warburg Pincus, Dawn Capital, British Patient Capital, Evolution Equity Partners, HSBC, BNY Mellon, ABN AMRO Ventures, and AlbionVC. TechCrunch has more here.

DataDome, an eight-year-old New York startup that provides bot protection software to detect and prevent online fraud, raised a $42 million Series C round led by InfraVia Growth, with Elephant and ISAI also taking part. The company has raised a total of $82 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Li.Fi, a two-year-old Berlin startup that aims to bring more users to web3 by enabling tokens and orders to trade across any chain in a seamless way, raised a $17.5 million Series A round co-led by CoinFund and Superscrypt, with Bloccelerate, L1 Digital, Circle, Factor, Perridon, Theta Capital, Three Point Capital, and Abra also piling on. The company has raised a total of $23 million. CoinDesk has more here.

Push Security, a three-year-old London startup that pushes suggestions to employees when it spots them using apps in potentially risky ways, raised a $15 million Series A led by GV, with Decibel also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $19 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Wellth, a nine-year-old Los Angeles startup whose app rewards patients for completing health behaviors like taking medications or monitoring blood pressure, raised a $20 million Series B round led by SignalFire and including previous investors The Social Entrepreneurs’ Fund, CD Venture, Yabeo, and Partnership Fund for NYC. The company has raised a total of $39.1 million. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Zamp Finance, a one-year-old Indian startup that offers a treasury management platform enabling businesses worldwide to invest surplus cash in U.S. Treasury bills and notes, disclosed to TechCrunch that it raised a $21.7 million seed round last year led by Sequoia India and Southeast Asia and including participation from Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and former SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure. TechCrunch has more here.

Alchemy, a Singapore startup that provides a way for crypto companies to access the fiat payment system, raised a $10 million round from DWF Labs at a $400 million valuation. CoinDesk has more here.

Babylon Micro-Farms, a six-year-old startup based in Richmond, Va., that makes a $15,000 "personal vertical farm" wall appliance designed to grow more than 50 different plant varieties for on-site harvest, raised an $8 million Series A led by Venture South and including Virginia Venture Partners, Hull Street Capital, and New Theory Ventures. The company has raised a total of $19.1 million. TechCrunch has more here.

DappBack, a San Francisco crypto startup that provides rewards to its users for checking out brands, raised a $2.5 million seed round. Greenfield and IOSG Ventures were the co-leads. Fortune has more here.

Narrato, a one-year-old startup that is building an AI content creation and collaboration platform, raised a $1 million pre-seed round led by AirTree Ventures, with additional funds provided by OfBusiness. TechCrunch has more here.

Redefine.dev, a one-year-old Tel Aviv startup that uses static code analysis and AI to identify relevant tests for each new code change and minimize feedback time for developers, raised an $8.5 million seed round led by Gillot Capital. Calcalist has more here.

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Kaszek Ventures, one of Latin America’s first venture firms, has raised $975 million across two funds. Specifically, the São Paulo-based firm has closed on Kaszek Ventures VI, a $540 million early-stage fund and Kaszek Ventures Opportunity-III, a $435 million vehicle for later stage investments. TechCrunch has more here.

Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment has agreed to merge with UFC to form a new publicly traded company controlled by Endeavor Group, the companies announced this morning. The deal would pair two of the biggest sports entertainment brands in the world, notes CNBC. More here.

Online retailer Boxed just became the latest company that's gone public via merging with a special purpose acquisition company to file for bankruptcy. At least nine such companies have now filed for bankruptcy, notes Axios. More here.

Marketing-automation platform Klaviyo plans to list its shares publicly, says the WSJ. Klaviyo, which was valued at $9.5 billion in a funding round in 2021, has tapped Goldman Sachs Group to be lead underwriter for the listing, which could take place as early as September, per the Journal's sources. Klaviyo has raised $675 million to date, including from Sands Capital, Owl Rock Capital, Morgan Stanley, Lone Pine Capital, Accel and Summit Partners. More here.

TCV Acquisition Corp., a $400 million SPAC formed by growth equity firm TCV, is winding down after failing to secure a merger partner. Bay Area Inno has more here.

a16z crypto has hired Jason Rosenthal as an operating partner. Rosenthal's ties to firm founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz date back decades. Horowitz trained him as a product manager at Netscape (which was, of course, cofounded by Andreessen in 1994). The two subsequently hired them at the first company they cofouded together: Loudcloud. Andreessen also brought Rosenthal aboard as CEO of an early social media company he cofounded called Ning. More here.

Stanford's AI Index report, 2023.

Andreessen Horowitz is now openly courting Saudi Arabia, despite U.S. strains. (First mentioned in Friday's newsletter, we wrote up more about this over the weekend.) The firm has already quietly raised money from the venture arm of Saudi Arabia, Sanabil, along with 39 other venture firms, including March Capital, Costanoa Ventures, Coatue, B Capital, Craft Ventures, Greenoaks Capital and General Atlantic. Numerous U.S. PE firms are also backed by Saudi Arabia, including Vista Equity Partners, Thoma Bravo, and Silver Lake. You can find the full list here, courtesy of Sanabil's website.

Elon Musk’s gamble to turn Twitter into a company worth more than $250 billion ties to an idea he has had since his days of working in payments decades ago. Says the WSJ, Musk is "painting a world where Twitter users can effortlessly send money to each other, earn interest on deposits and much more through an app. That digital ideal closely resembles his original vision for X.com before it merged with another similarly focused firm to eventually become PayPal. 'I think it’s possible to become the biggest financial institution in the world,' Mr. Musk said in March at a Morgan Stanley conference." More here.

Post, a Twitter alternative of sorts that’s rethinking how publishers should engage with social media — and how they should monetize their readership — has opened its doors to the public. TechCrunch has more here.

Paparazzi photos were the scourge of celebrities. Now, it's AI.

The "King Kong" of weight loss drugs is coming.

YouTube will livestream all six Coachella festival stages this year.

Would life be better if you worked less? 

Google searches, illustrated.

The New York karaoke bar where the Roys went in "Succession."

Interior windows.

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