Fierce rivals Apple and Google are teaming up to fight a stalking problem the tech industry created

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 350 points today as traders sought safety in government bonds, worried that the Federal Reserve’s looming interest-rate decision is arriving at a precarious moment for the economy. So notes the WSJ.

Apple and Google are teaming up to fight a stalking problem the tech industry created: people using AirTags and other Bluetooth devices to track people without their consent. In a rare moment of cooperation, Apple and Google said they have developed a specification that will help alert people to the fact they’re traveling with one of these devices, regardless of whether they use an iPhone or Android phone. It could also work with a range of different tracking devices; Apple, Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Security, and Pebblebee have all expressed support, according to the Washington Post. More here.

Uber said today that its revenue grew 29% in its most recent quarter as the company benefited from a series of investments in new services, as well as the continued return of drivers to its ride-hailing business. The New York Times has more here.

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Foresight Diagnostics, a nearly three-year-old, Aurora, Co.-based outfit that's developing ultra-sensitive cancer detection tests, says it has closed a $58.75 million Series B round of funding led by Foresite Capital, with participation by Civilization Ventures, Bluebird Ventures, Pear Ventures, Agent Capital, Stanford University, and The University of Colorado Healthcare Innovation Fund. More here.

Mavenir, a Richardson, Tex.-based outfit that touts its ability to provide telcos with cloud-native applications that include IMS, converged packet core and open RAN, has collected $100 million in a fresh funding round anchored by Siris Capital Group, a private equity firm that is already its majority owner (Koch Investments Group is a minority stakeholder).  TechCrunch has more here.

Simpplr, a nine-year-old startup based in Redwood City, Ca., whose platform is a cross between an employee directory and an internal social network, raised a $70 million Series D round led by Sapphire Ventures, with additional participation from Norwest Ventures, Tola Capital, and Salesforce Ventures. The company has raised a total of $131.1 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Campus, an accredited college based in New York that offers live online and in-person associate degrees and certificate programs, raised a $29 million round from Bloomberg Beta, Founders Fund, Precursor Ventures, Reach Capital, and Rethink Education Foundation, as well as Discord founder Jason Citron, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Figma founder Dylan Field. CityBiz has more here.

Kinnos, a nine-year-old Brooklyn startup that colorizes bleach sprays or wipes so workers can see what they have disinfected, raised a $15 million from Pioneer Healthcare Partners, Kapor Center, and Partnership Fund for NYC. (We interviewed its CEO during the pandemic, when its offerings started to really resonate.) More here.

Nomba, a seven-year-old Lagos, Nigeria-based startup that seeks to provide affordable and accessible payment software to businesses and consumers in Africa, raised a $30 million "pre-Series B" round at a more than $150 million valuation. Base10 Partners was the deal lead, while Helios Digital Ventures, Shopify, and previous investors Khosla Ventures, and Partech also participated. The company has raised a total of $35 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Pattern Bioscience, a seven-year-old Austin startup that is developing rapid phenotypic test platform for infectious diseases such as pneumonia and bacteremia, raised a $28.7 million Series C round co-led by Illumina Ventures and Omnimed Capital, with Antimicrobial Resistance Action Fund and Daleshaw also contributing. The company has raised a total of $68 million. More here.

Frontline Wildfire Defense, a six-year-old San Francisco company that combines wildfire tracking software, satellite connectivity, and onsite sprinkler hardware in order to protect buildings from wildfires, raised a $6.4 million seed round led by Echelon. More here.

Genemod, a five-year-old Seattle startup that aims to be the "Salesforce of biotech," raised a $4.5 million seed round. Defy.vc and LDV Partners were the co-leads. The company has raised a total of $6.2 million. Axios has more here.

Marble, a three-year-old New York startup that describes itself as a one-hub, digital wallet that allows members to shop, compare, an earn rewards based on their insurance, raised a $4.2 million led by Distributed Ventures, with Blue Collective, Goodwater Capital, and CE Innovation Capital as well as existing investors IA Capital Group, MS&AD Ventures, and Reciprocal Ventures also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $6.7 million. Insurance Innovation Reporter has more here.

NinjaTech AI, a one-year-old Palo Alto startup that is developing AI agents to help working professionals perform day-to-day administrative tasks, raised a $5 million seed round from SRI Ventures, Candou Ventures, and DCVC. More here.

Origin by Ocean, a four-year-old startup based in Espoo, Finland, that aims to develop algae-based products for cosmetics, detergents, food, and textiles, thereby reducing the need for harmful chemicals and materials, raised an $8.25 million seed round. Investors included Voima Ventures, Lifeline Ventures, Batofin, and Security Trading. The company has raised a total of $10.5 million. ArcticStartup has more here.

Sourse, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that sells chocolate supplements in Sephora, Whole Foods, and other retail locations, raised a $2.4 million seed round from New Theory Ventures, H Ventures, JAWS Ventures, Satori Capital, Short List Capital, Harlo Capital, and LDR Ventures. Glossy has more here.

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Longtime Kleiner Perkins partner Wen Hsieh is leaving the Silicon Valley venture firm to start a fund with backing from the firm and Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC, reports Reuters. Hsieh is in advanced talks to raise $200 million from limited partners, including Kleiner Perkins and TSMC, for the new fund, called Matter Venture Partners. More here.

Mozilla announced today that it has acquired Fakespot, a nearly seven-year-old, New York-based startup that offers a website and browser extension that helps users identify fake or unreliable reviews. The financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Fakespot’s offerings can be used to spot fake reviews listed on various online marketplaces including Amazon, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. It uses an AI and machine learning system to detect patterns and similarities between reviews in order to flag those that are most likely to be deceptive. TechCrunch has more here.

Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group said in a shareholder letter that its chief financial officer, Michael Kraines, has stepped down. The Information has more here.

Unity Software is conducting its third and largest round of layoffs in the past year, according to the WSJ. The San Francisco-based outfit is slashing roughly 600 jobs, about 8% of its workforce, per the outlet's sources.

Canaan, the early-stage venture firm, is looking to hire an analyst to focus on enterprise startups. The job is in San Francisco and Menlo Park, Ca. 

Current headcount for full-time employees at Twitter is around 1,000 people, Business Insider reports. When Elon Musk took over the company last October, it employed 7,500 people. Business Insider has more here.

Consumer demand for the Jack Dorsey-backed Twitter alternative Bluesky is outstripping access, according to the latest App Store data and figures published today by the company. In a new FAQ on Bluesky’s website, the company shares that its community has topped 50,000 users. Meanwhile, estimates provided to TechCrunch by app intelligence company data.ai indicate the decentralized Twitter clone has seen over 375,000 worldwide installs on iOS as of April 26 and has been ranking highly on Apple and Google’s app stores’ top charts by downloads. TechCrunch has the story here.

Users of ChatGPT in Europe can now use web forms or other means provided by OpenAI to request deletion of their personal data in order to stop the chatbot from processing and producing information about them. They can also request to opt-out of having their data used to train its large language models. TechCrunch has more here.

Elon Musk has threatened to reassign NPR's Twitter account to "another company" in a series of emails sent to an NPR reporter. "It's really an extraordinary threat to make," observes Emily Bell, a professor at Columbia Journalism School who studies social media. More here.

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