Corset hoodies, the science of lying, and another regional bank finds itself on the ropes

The Federal Reserve today raised interest rates for the 10th time in just over a year. It backed away from previous statements that suggested future increases, but it also made clear no final decisions have been made. The Washington Post has more here.

Courtesy of the FT, PacWest says it has been approached by potential partners and investors and is reviewing strategic options as it becomes the latest midsized U.S. bank to seek a financial lifeline. The Beverly Hills, Ca.-based bank said in a statement today that it is looking at “all options to maximize shareholder value” after its shares plummeted 50% in after-hours trading. PacWest has drawn negative attention because of its similarities to Silicon Valley Bank, including ties to the tech community, large amounts of uninsured deposits and paper losses on its securities portfolio, notes the outlet. More here.

The Federal Trade Commission just escalated its fight with Facebook's parent company, moving to impose what it calls a “blanket prohibition” on the collection of young people’s personal data by Meta Platforms. The commission wants to significantly expand a record $5 billion consent order with the company from 2020 and says Meta has failed to fully meet the legal commitments it made to overhaul its privacy practices to better protect its users. It's the third time the agency has taken action against the social media giant over privacy issues, writes the New York Times.

FTC Commissioner Lina Khan just called for AI regulation in an op-ed in the New York Times, writing, "As companies race to deploy and monetize A.I., the Federal Trade Commission is taking a close look at how we can best achieve our dual mandate to promote fair competition and to protect Americans from unfair or deceptive practices." More here.

Finding it difficult to identify promising investment opportunities? Synaptic’s alternative data and intelligence platform lets you surface high-growth opportunities that were invisible earlier. Easily filter companies by your choice of industry, funding stage, geography and 100+ company performance metrics like user traffic, employee data, product reviews, and more! Our AI/Ml-based insights and automated alerts let you stay on top of your portfolio. Sign-up for a free trial to unveil a new experience in data-driven investing!

Cohere, a four-year-old Toronto startup that builds technology that other businesses can use to deploy chatbots, search engines, and other AI-driven products, raised a $250 million round at a $2 billion valuation. Investors included Salesforce, Nvidia, Inovia Capital, and Index Ventures. The New York Times has more here.

Joby Aviation, a 14-year-old, Santa Cruz, Ca.-based company that's developing all-electric aircraft, has sold 44 million newly issued shares -- worth $180 million -- to earlier backer Baillie Gifford to further fund its work. Joby went public in 2021 through a special purpose acquisition company run by LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman and Zynga founder Mark Pincus. TechCrunch has more here.

Magenta Medical, an 11-year-old Israeli company that is developing what it claims to be the world’s smallest heart pump, raised a $55 million round led by OrbiMed, with New Enterprise Associates, Pitango VC, and ALIVE - Israel HealthTech Fund also taking part. The company has raised a total of $74 million. Calcalist has more here.

Foretellix, a five-year-old Tel Aviv startup whose platform helps automakers and suppliers verify the safety of advanced driver assistance systems, raised a $43 million Series C round led by 83North, with Atrofin VC, NVIDIA, Woven Capital, MoreTech, Nationwide, Volvo, and Jump Capital also piling on. The company has raised a total of $90.5 million. Calcalist has more here.

Hackajob, a nine-year-old London startup that operates a two-sided marketplace that brings together technical candidates and companies looking for help, raised a $25 million Series B round led by Volition Capital, with participation from Axa Venture Partners, Foresight, and Future Fund. The company has raised a total of $33 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Healthy.io, a 10-year-old Tel Aviv company that offers urinalysis tests that use a smartphone to analyze results, raised a $50 million Series D round led by Schusterman Family Investments, with participation from Aleph. At the same time, it also laid off about a third of its workforce. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Intrinsic, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that acquires, builds, and grows women's health brands, raised a $15 million round consisting of equity and debt. The co-leads were FCA Venture Partners and MAP Investco, while previous investors Define Ventures, Link Ventures, and Redesign Health also anted up. Axios has more here.

Kindbody, a five-year-old New York startup that owns and operates fertility clinics, providing both in-person and virtual care, raised a $25 million round from JP Morgan Chase's Morgan Health. The company has raised a total of $306.3 million. Femtech Insider has more here.

LMS365, a 20-year-old Danish outfit that has built an online learning management system for use inside Microsoft products, raised a $20 million Series A round led by Blue Cloud Ventures and including Kamet Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

MayMaan Research, an 11-year-old company based in Hollywood, Fl., that claims to have devised a system to efficiently run a traditional piston engine using a mixture of 70% water and 30% ethanol, with no gasoline or diesel required, raised a $30 million Series A round. WAVE Equity Partners was the deal lead. Refresh Miami has more here.

Pando, a six-year-old, Bangalore-based startup developing fulfillment management technologies, says it has raised $30 million in a Series B round, bringing its total raised to $45 million. Iron Pillar and Uncorrelated Ventures led the round, with participation from earlier investors Nexus Venture Partners, Chiratae Ventures and Next47. TechCrunch has more here.

Pietra, a four-year-old New York startup that helps creators build out back ends for launching and scaling product lines, raised a $16 million Series A extension round led by M13, with Founders Fund, TQ Ventures, and Abstract Ventures also taking part. The company has raised a total of $36.1 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Polymateria, a seven-year-old London startup that has developed a "self-destructing plastic" that breaks down in one year without any microplastic or toxic residue, raised a $25.1 million Series B round co-led by ABC Impact and Indorama Ventures, with Milltrust Ventures also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $44.1 million. Silicon Republic has more here.

Range, a two-year-old startup based in Washington, D.C., that provides wealth management services via its platform and a team of licensed financial advisors, raised a $12 million Series A round. Gradient Ventures was the deal lead, with Expa, Red Sea Ventures, and 8-bit Capital also pitching in. More here.

Redaptive, an eight-year-old Denver startup that funds and installs energy-saving and energy-generating equipment, raised a $50 million Series E extension led by Linse Capital, raising the total size of the round to $264 million. The company has raised a total of $441.5 million. More here.

Tarabut, a five-year-old Dubai startup that aims to provide a secure and compliant way for financial institutions to share customer data with third parties, raised a $32 million round led by Saudi-focused investment firm Pinnacle Capital, with participation from Aljazira Capital, Visa, and Tiger Global. The company has raised a total of $57 million. PYMNTS has more here.

Thesis, a New York startup that has a line of nootropics, raised an $8.4 million Series A round from Unilever Ventures, Redo Ventures, Alive VC, and Break Trail. CityBiz has more here.

Uwill, a three-year-old Boston startup that partners with colleges to offer students on-demand virtual access to licensed therapists and providers trained in crisis counseling, raised a $30 million Series A round. Education Growth Partners led the transaction. The company has raised a total of $38.5 million. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Aligned, a two-year-old Israeli startup that is building a platform for B2B deals, raised a $5.8 million seed round. Hetz Ventures and NFX were the deal co-leads. Calcalist has more here.

Lasso MD, a five-year-old San Diego startup that enables private healthcare practices to create custom content, advertise their business online, automate lead management, and verify marketing ROI, raised a $2 million round. Trestle Partners led the deal. The company has raised a total of $2.8 million. TFN has more here.

​​NetRise, a three-year-old Austin startup whose platform analyzes and continuously monitors the firmware of devices for security issues, raised an $8 million round led by Squadra Ventures, with Miramar Digital Ventures, Sorenson Ventures, and DNX Ventures also investing. The company has raised a total of $14.8 million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Pluto Biosciences, a three-year-old Denver startup whose platform allows life sciences organizations to manage their projects and share data securely with collaborators, raised a $3.7 round led by Silverton Partners. The company has raised a total of $4.7 million. More here.

Last year, top VCs grew their networks less than across the whole industry, but booked 15% more meetings and sent 11% more emails. This surprising finding comes from Affinity's latest research report, which considers the latest unicorn trends and provides an analysis of the firms that invest in them. See what else the research uncovered.

The 10-year-old, privately held data analytics platform Databricks today announced that it has acquired Okera, a seven-year-old data governance platform with a focus on AI. The two companies did not disclose the purchase price. According to Crunchbase, Okera previously raised just under $30 million. Investors include Felicis, Bessemer Venture Partners, Cyber Mentor Fund, ClearSky and Emergent Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Maxar Technologies, a Westminster, Co.-based satellite imaging and manufacturing company, has completed its $6.4 billion sale to PE firm Advent International and minority investor British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. The entities announced their merger agreement in December; the outfit will be delisted shortly from the Toronto Stock Exchange. TechCrunch has more here.

A bipartisan group of two dozen U.S. representatives is calling for the SEC to halt the IPO of Chinese-founded fast-fashion giant Shein until it verifies it does not use Uyghur forced labor, according to a letter seen by Reuters. A 2022 Bloomberg report found that its garments contained cotton linked to China's Xinjiang region. Rights groups and governments have accused China of forced labor and internment of Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority, in Xinjiang. More here.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has been posting prolifically on two new social networks, Nostr and Bluesky, which he also backed financially. He has been particularly active on Nostr, notes the New York Times, which says he has posted to the platform an average of 59 times a day — including messages that take aim at Twitter and its new owner, Elon Musk.

Carl Icahn has shaken up Wall Street as a corporate raider and activist shareholder, but yesterday, his publicly traded company, Icahn Enterprises, became a target of Hindenburg Research, the short seller firm that most recently accused the payments company Block of misrepresenting to investors the number of people using Cash App and the costs of acquiring them. Hindenburg accused Icahn Enterprises of being overvalued, the product of "using money taken in from new investors to pay out dividends to old investors." The New York Times has more here.

Davis Treybig has been promoted to partner at the Mountain View, Ca.-based venture firm Innovation Endeavors. Treybig joined the outfit as an associate in 2019 after logging roughly five years at Google in a variety of roles. More here.

Renegade, the San Francisco-based venture outfit focused on startups with early revenue, is hiring an associate. More here.

Car insurance rates are going up again (to offset the cost of repairs, say insurers). 

Banker pay is surging for those willing to work in Saudi Arabia; it's "like China two decades ago." 

The Boring Company, Elon Musk’s project to build underground highways to alleviate traffic congestion, received approval today to expand its “Vegas Loop,” an underground tunnel system beneath Las Vegas that shuttles passengers via Tesla vehicles. The expansion, approved by Clark County, Nevada commissioners, will expand the network by 25 miles, allowing for 18 new stations that extend the tunnel network out from the Las Vegas Strip corridor. TechCrunch has more here.

Andreessen Horowitz saw the future -- but did the future leave it behind? The Verge poses the question.

TikTok said today it is launching a new product that will make it possible for publishers to sell ads alongside their posts, a shift for the video-sharing app, which historically has focused on independent creators. The opportunity to sell ads in social media’s hottest app comes as many publishers are struggling to deal with tough economic conditions, resulting in cost-cutting and layoffs across the industry. For TikTok, the move creates another revenue opportunity for the platform, and it helps to build the site’s relationship with advertisers and publishers. The longer-term benefits for publishers is less clear. The WSJ has more here.

Skating the Guggenheim.

The science of lying.

Director Baz Luhrmann isn't afraid of AI. "It doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter what you do, you cannot ignore [it]."

Suck it up; corset hoodies are gaining momentum.

Custom earplugs.

Flip phones.