A new AI open letter, Humane reveals some more details, and the man who broke bowling ("He's exactly like Tiger Woods")

Hopefully you caught the news earlier this week, but if not, we are unplugging this thing for two weeks beginning Monday (we take a break every summer while some of you are taking your own). We'll be back in full force on Monday, July 17. In the meantime, happy July 4th. 🇺🇸 ❤️

The Supreme Court today threw out the Biden administration’s plan to forgive student loans held by 40 million Americans.

Apple saw its market cap climb past $3 trillion today -- making it the first company to hit that jaw-dropping milestone. 

U.S. counterintelligence officials are amping up warnings to American executives about fresh dangers to doing business in China under an amended Chinese law to combat espionage. A bulletin issued today by the National Counterintelligence and Security Center and viewed by the WSJ warns that the revised law is vague about what constitutes espionage and gives the Chinese government greater access to and control over companies’ data. More here.

Regulators can't win when it comes to the right amount of AI regulation. The newest case in point: Major tech founders, CEOs, VCs and industry giants across Europe have signed an open letter to the EU Commission, warning that Europe could miss out on the generative AI revolution if the EU passes laws stifling innovation.

Research: 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.

BeeKeeperAI, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based startup whose platform aims to facilitate the development and deployment of healthcare AI models, has raised $12.1 million in Series A funding led by Santé Ventures. The startup was spun out of UCSF last year. MedCity News has more here.

Everytable, a seven-year-old, Los Angeles-based meal service company that says it's focused on making nutritional food more accessible via subscriptions and a growing number of retail stores, has raised $25 million in extended Series C funding led by the Dohmen Company Foundation. Earlier backers Creadev, Gullspang, Re:foods and Kaiser Permanente Ventures are also participating. Restaurant Dive has more here.

GeologicAI, a 10-year-old, Calgary, Alberta-based company that makes rock analytics software and hardware for the mining industry, has raised $20 million in Series A funding from Breakthrough Energy Ventures. More here.

Unit21, a five-year-old San Francisco-based fraud detection startup, raised $45 million in Series C funding co-led by Tiger Global and South Park Commons. Axios has more here.

1Fort, a two-year-old, New York-based automation platform that makes it simple for businesses to comply with the security requirements for cyber insurance, has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding from Village Global, 8-Bit Capital, Operator Partners, Character, Company Ventures, BrokerTech Ventures, along with other venture firms and angel investors. Cyber Magazine has more here.

BidSight, a year-old, New York-based software startup aiming to make it easier for commercial real estate development teams to manage and collaborate on complex pre-construction workflows, raised $2 million in pre-seed funding. Outsiders Fund led the round, joined by Y Combinator and angel investors. More here.

Memphis.dev, a year-old, Palo Alto- and Tel Aviv-based open source event streaming platform, raised $5.5 million in seed funding co-led by Angular Ventures and boldstart ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Nokod Security, a Tel Aviv-based security development company for low- and no-code custom applications and robotic process automation, has raised $8 million in seed funding from Acrew Capital, Meron Capital, and Flint Capital. SiliconAngle has more here.

Revcast, a year-old, Raleigh, N.C.-based revenue management and optimization platform, has raised $3 million in seed funding led by CRV. Other backers in the round include Coughdrop Capital, Firsthand Alliance, IDEA Fund Partners, Lorimer Ventures, and Tiferes Ventures. Axios has more here.

Voice.ai, a voice technology startup that lets users change (and disguise) their voices in real time, has raised $6 million in funding co-led by Mucker Capital and M13. TechCrunch has more here.

"The quality of deal flow is the single most important indicator of a fund's performance and our process to build our top of funnel remains remarkably consistent." – Samantha Santaniello, Head of Business Development & Partnerships, MassMutual Ventures. In this recent webinar, she spoke to Affinity about how the team builds deal flow. Watch now for tips and insights.

Prithvi Ventures, a three-year-old, Boston-based climate tech-focused venture firm, is hoping to raise up to $50 million for its second fund, says Axios. More here.

Eli Lilly is expanding its diabetes prospects by acquiring cell therapy developer Sigilon Therapeutics. The two companies are already partners in the development of a type 1 diabetes cell therapy currently in preclinical development (and Eli Lilly was there at the company's A round back in 2018). As MedCity News explains it, Sigilon develops cell therapies that don’t require the use of immunosuppressive therapies to prevent the body from attacking transplanted cells. Its technology, which is licensed from MIT, encapsulates a cell therapy in a biocompatible sphere that protects its contents from the immune system. According to deal terms announced yesterday, Lilly will pay $14.92 cash for each share of Sigilon, which is a 281% premium to Wednesday’s closing price, which amounts to just $34.6 million total. However, a big payoff could come in the form of contingent value rights that are tied to clinical and regulatory progress, says MedCity News. More here.

Haus, a four-year-old, venture-backed aperitif company that tried to find a buyer last year after investor funding dried up, now has one. The Naked Market, founded by Harrison Fugman and Alex Kost, has acquired certain assets of the low-ABV (alcohol by volume) beverage company and is now relaunching a few of Haus’s customer favorites, including Citrus Flower, Pomegranate Rosemary and Grapefruit Jalapeño. TechCrunch has more here.

MediaMath, a demand-side ad platform that has raised $600 million since 2007 and had a peak valuation of more than $1 billion in 2018, will file for bankruptcy. According to AdExchanger, emails went out to MediaMath staffers and partners on Friday morning to say the company will shut down operations in the coming months. Access to MediaMath’s platform will no longer be available as of June 30. More here.

Thomson Reuters earlier this week entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Casetext, a 10-year-old Y Combinator–backed legal tech startup. The deal, valued at $650 million in cash, is expected to close in the second half of this year, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. TechCrunch has more here.

Less than a year after Palantir cofounder and VC Joe Lonsdale’s move to Austin during the pandemic, he pitched the city's then-mayor on a one-mile underground tunnel system built by the Boring Company that would connect Lonsdale's friends’ land around town. He said that the initial mile-long tunnel could spark interest from leadership for a citywide tunnel system that the Boring Company (in which Lonsdale is an investor) could ultimately build in partnership with the city. Fortune has the story here.

Fontinalis Partners has promoted Gabe Cunningham and Dan Ratliff to partners. More here.

Jason Mok, who spent two years with Andreessen Horowitz and the 16 years before that with the now-fallen SVB, has joined Brex as its head of startups. TechCrunch has more here.

Fidelity has further slashed the estimated worth of its holding in the social platform Reddit and the chat app Discord as well as SaaS startup Gupshup. TechCrunch takes a look here.

Pantera Capital, the crypto-focused investment firm, is looking to hire an investment associate. The hybrid role requires some time in the company's San Francisco office.

The FTC today proposed a new rule to stop marketers from using illicit review and endorsement practices such as using fake reviews, suppressing honest negative reviews, and paying for positive reviews, which deceive consumers looking for real feedback on a product or service and undercut honest businesses. More here.

Humane, the startup launched by ex-Apple design and engineering duo Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, today revealed details about its first product: The Humane Ai Pin. More here.

The enduring attraction of TV game shows.

The man who broke bowling.

AI-generated shoes based on Broadway musicals.

Expect No Mercy! (More here.)

Sweden is building the world's largest wooden city.

Luxury comes to laundry detergents with Laundry Sauce.

Bart Nagel has been photographing Silicon Valley legends and up-and-comers since before the dot-com boom—and through crypto. From high-flying adventurers Larry Ellison and Richard Branson, then-n00bs Larry and Sergey, and the PayPal gang, to newer unicorns like Discord and Oculus, he’s the guy who CMOs trust to photograph their VIPs. Have your people contact his… er, him at bart@bartnagel.com.