AI chip maker Nvidia is rapidly approaching a trillion(!) dollar valuation after blowing away analyst estimates

As if we needed any more confirmation that artificial intelligence is eating the world, AI chip maker Nvidia is rapidly approaching a trillion(!) dollar valuation, as the company's stock hit a new all-time high today.

Elon Musk now has permission from the FDA to implant a chip in your brain.

New report: The State of Venture Capital in 2023. While the slowdown began in 2022, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in early March shook the venture industry and shined a brighter-than-ever light on the space. To go beyond the headlines, Juniper Square surveyed nearly 100 venture capital investors about their concerns, plans, and focus areas for the rest of the year. See what they had to say about the state of the industry. Download The State of Venture Capital: 2023 Benchmark Survey now.

BenchSci, an eight-year-old, Toronto-based startup that says it's increasing the speed and quality of research by empowering scientists with advanced biomedical AI, ha raised $95 million (U.S. $70 million) in Series D funding round led by Generation Investment Management, with participation from existing investors Inovia Capital, TCV, Golden Ventures and F-Prime Capital. The most recent funding brings BenchSci’s total funding to $218 million (U.S. $170 million). More here.

ElevateBio, a six-year-old startup based in Waltham, Ma., that is developing gene therapies for the treatment of genetic diseases, raised a $401 million Series D round led by AyurMaya Capital Management Fund, with Woodline, Lee Family Office, Novo Nordisk, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and F2 Ventures also participating. The company has raised approximately $1.25 billion. FierceBiotech has more here.

Nymbus, an eight-year-old startup based in Jacksonville, Fl., that partners with banks to migrate their legacy stacks to digital banking offerings that can attract new customers, raised a $70 million Series D round led by Insight Partners, with ConnectOne Bank, PeoplesBank, The Banc Funds Company, and Mendon Venture Partners also contributing. The company has raised a total of $199.4 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Ayar Labs, a startup based in Santa Clara, Ca., that says it is developing silicon photonics technology that will use light instead of electricity to transfer data between chips or servers, raised a $25 million Series C1 round led by Capital TEN, with VentureTech Alliance, Boardman Bay Capital Management, IAG Capital Partners, NVIDIA, and Tyche Partners also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $219.7 million. Reuters has more here.

Checkmate, a Los Angeles startup whose iPhone shopping app automatically pulls discount codes for shoppers, raised a $15 million Series A round led by GV, with Mantis VC, Common Metal, BDuck Capital, Black Angels Group, Wischoff Ventures, Fuel Capital, Blackbird Ventures, F7 Ventures, Night Capital, Scribble Ventures, and Paris Hilton piling on. The company has raised a total of $20 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Elementl, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that is building a data platform based on the Dagster orchestrator (a software tool that helps data engineers and scientists build, deploy, and manage data pipelines), raised a $33 million Series B round led by Georgian Partners, with additional participation from 8vc, Human Capital, Hanover and insiders Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, Amplify Partners, and Slow Ventures. The company has raised a total of $48.8 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Heartseed, an eight-year-old Tokyo startup that is using induced pluripotent stem cells to create new therapies for heart disease, raised a $14.3 round from from Japan Co-Invest IV Limited Partnership, Arcus South East Asia, Atsushi Sakano, Koei Tecmo Capital, Nikon-SBI Innovation Fund, SMBC Venture Capital, Private Equity Co-Invest II Limited Partnership, UTokyo Innovation Platform, Medical Incubator Japan, and Keio Innovation Initiative. The company has raised a total of $86.4 million. More here.

Hopscotch, an eight-year-old Mumbai startup that has built an Indian brand offering fashion wear for kids, raised a $20 million Series E round led by Amazon and including IIFL Seed Venture Fund, RPG Ventures, Lionrock, Techpro Ventures, and B Capital co-founder Eduardo Saverin. The company has raised a total of $72.8 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Kapital, a three-year-old Mexico City startup that helps Latin American SMBs manage their money, raised a $20 million Series A round and $45 million in debt. Niya Partners and Tribe Capital co-led the deal. The company has raised over $30 million in equity and $145 million in debt. TechCrunch has more here.

Kira Learning, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that claims it is building an AI-powered platform that allows anyone to teach and learn computer science, raised a $15 million Series A round. NEA and the AI Fund co-led the deal. The company has raised a total of $22.5 million. More here.

Laced, a five-year-old, London-based online marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of in-demand and exclusive sneakers, has raised a $12 million Series A round led by Talis Capital. Other investors in the round include H&M Group Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Paydock, an 11-year-old London company whose payments orchestration platform helps businesses accept payments online, in-store, and over the phone, raised a $30.8 Series A round. Silverstripe Investment Management was the deal lead. The Evening Standard has more here.

Poolside, a San Francisco startup that is building a platform enabling developers to write code using AI, raised a $26 million seed round. Redpoint Ventures was the deal lead. (Co-founder and former GitHub CTO Jason Warner is a managing director at Redpoint.) Newcomer has more here.

Satellite Vu, a seven-year-old London startup that gathers high-definition thermal data from space for the benefit of businesses and governments, raised a $15.6 million Series A2 round led by Molten Ventures, with Seraphim Space, A/O Proptech, Lockheed Martin, Ridgeline Ventures, Earth Sciences Foundation, and Stellar Ventures also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $37.7 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Sastrify, a three-year-old, German SaaS platform for companies to buy and manage their SaaS tech stack, has raised a $32 million in Series B funding led by Endeit Capital. The round includes $22 million in equity and $10 million in debt. Sifted has more here.

Semafor, a one-year-old digital news startup based in New York, raised a $19 million round. Investors included Gallup, Henry Kravis, Jamal Daniel, Jerry Yang, Jorge Paulo Lemann, and Stand Together. Semafor is meanwhile returning the $10 million check of previous investor Samuel Bankman-Fried to FTX's creditors. Variety has more here.

BBy, a six-year-old New York startup that can condense breast milk into a powder, thereby maintaining crucial bioactive components, raised a $3 million seed round led by Pioneer Fund, with Y Combinator, 7G Bioventures, and Cathexis Ventures also joining in. The company has raised a total of $3.2 million. More here.

BebopBee, a six-year-old Menlo Park startup that has developed a mobile game franchise called Travel Crush, raised a $4 million round from BITKRAFT Ventures, Courtside Ventures, Andover, and GOAL Ventures. The company has raised a total of $8.7 million. GeekWire has more here.

Cognosys, a startup providing web-based AI agents that serve as “personal assistants” for accomplishing complex technical tasks "with ease," says it has raised $2 million in seed funding led by GV. More here.

HostGPO, a Los Angeles startup whose marketplace enables vacation rental hosts to procure furniture, supplies, and other services necessary to run their properties, raised a $6 million round co-led by Navitas Capital and OMNIA Partners, with 75&Sunny, serial entrepreneur Brian Lee (of LegalZoom, ShoeDazzle,The Honest Company, and Arena Club), and PAR Capital Ventures also contributing. More here.

InProTher, a five-year-old Copenhagen startup that is developing immunotherapies designed to target HERV cancer cells, raised a $6.5 million seed round from investors such as the European Innovation Council Fund. The company has raised a total of $9.4 million. More here.

Memcyco, a two-year-old Israeli startup that provides businesses with tools to guard against website impersonation, raised a $10 million seed round. Capri Ventures and Venture Guides co-led the deal. TechCrunch has more here.

Opus, a three-year-old New York startup that provides mobile training for deskless workers, raised a $6.8 million Series A round led by Stage 2 Capital, with Gutter Capital, NextView Ventures, and Bling Capital also writing checks. More here.

Signaloid, a four-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that analyzes how uncertainties in input data affect computation results, raised a $3.7 million round led by IQ Capital and including Type One and Creator Fund. More here.

Sixfold, a New York startup whose generative AI algorithms can analyze insurance company data and provide recommendations to underwriters as they review new applications, raised a $6.5 million seed round. Bessemer Venture Partners led the transaction, while Crystal Venture Partners also pitched in. Insurtech Insights has more here.

Skorlife, a one-year-old Jakarta startup app that gives users personalized advice on how to improve their credit scores and protect themselves from identity theft, raised a $4 million seed round led by Hummingbird Ventures, with QED Investors and previous investors AC Ventures and Saison Capital also taking part. The company has raised a total of $6.2 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Spellbook, a Toronto startup that is using OpenAI’s GPT-4 technology to help legal practitioners draft and review contracts, raised a $10.9 million round led by Moxxie Ventures, with Thomson Reuters Ventures, Inovia Capital, The LegalTech Fund, Bling Capital, N49P, Concrete Ventures, Good News Ventures, and Venture Newfoundland & Labrador also writing checks. BetaKit has more here.

Stepful, a two-year-old Sacramento startup that has developed an online learning platform for healthcare workers, raised a $7.5 million seed round led by Reach Capital, with Y Combinator, EO Ventures, and Company Ventures also taking part. More here.

Thrive Health Tech, a Nashville startup that is developing wireless services for Medicaid patients and other underserved populations, raised a $7 million pre-seed round. Investors included Frist Cressey Ventures, CVS Health Ventures, 25m Health, Shields Health Innovations, and Winter Street Ventures. More here.

WireMock, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that has designed open source software to help developers test their software on mock APIs, raised a $6.5 million seed round led by Ridge Ventures, with First Rays Venture Partners, and Scribble Ventures also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

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Ola Electric, India’s largest electric scooter company, is planning to raise between $800 million and $1 billion through an IP0 and the company is looking at a valuation of $10 billion, reports the Economic Times.

Digital World Acquisition Corp., the blank-check firm seeking to merge with former President Donald Trump’s media venture that owns the Truth Social app, has received a delisting notice from the Nasdaq. CNN has more here.

Telco billionaire Robert Hale today gave $1,000 each to 2,500 Boston college graduates and encouraged them to donate half of it, calling it a "gift of giving."

Reid Hoffman's campaign to sell the world on AI.

Sam Altman European goodwill tour devolved into a war of words with EU regulators after he said OpenAI could pull out of the bloc over its proposed AI Act.

Microsoft President Brad Smith today joined calls for the U.S. government to create a new agency to license major artificial-intelligence systems. "I don’t think at the end of the day, we’re best served solely by a system that says, ‘Take the word of a large companym’” he told the WSJ.

Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a "scrappier" future at Meta after more layoffs.

TechCrunch is searching for 200 early-stage companies for Startup Battlefield at its Disrupt event this September. You can win $100,000 in equity-free $$ and a whole lot of attention. (We've seen many a startup swarmed by VCs at these things.) Past contestants and winners include Dropbox, Cloudflare, Getaround, Vurb, and Forethought.ai. Apply by May 31: techcrunch.com/apply

A math coach says the only way we can survive AI is to be more human.

TikTok is testing its own AI chatbot called Tako.

OpenAI says it’s launching a program to award ten $100,000 grants to fund experiments in setting up a democratic process for deciding what rules AI systems should follow — “within the bounds defined by the law.” (We'd written about one such idea in February.)

Academic researchers have until the end of this month to delete data they obtained under historic contracts to study Twitter, unless they pay a new $42,000-a-month contract – a demand one called “the big data equivalent of book burning." More here.

The venture firm Paradigm is focused on "crypto only" no more.

A couple is paying $240,000 to remove a Banksy from their property. "It has become extremely stressful."

Why you might soon be charging your Tesla next to a Ford F-150 Lightning.

Where people have moved since the start of the pandemic.

Dogs getting blowouts is now a thing.

A home fit for a Bugatti.

A helmet made for e-bike speeds.

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