Stanford's president resigns, a star VC leaves Sequoia Capital, and Satya Nadella's total windfall reportedly passes $1B

Apple is quietly working on AI tools that could challenge those of OpenAI, Alphabet’s Google and others, but the company has yet to devise a clear strategy for releasing the technology to consumers, Bloomberg reported earlier today. More here.

A handful of U.S. venture firms are being investigated by a congressional committee over their funding of Chinese tech companies as part of a push in Washington to scrutinize and potentially ban such deals. The House’s select committee on the China threat this week notified GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, Walden International and Qualcomm Ventures that it's examining many of their investments in Chinese companies involved in semiconductors, AI and quantum computing. More in the WSJ.

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Michael Moritz, the journalist-turned-VC who has long been one of the most prominent and respected investors at Sequoia Capital, has left the firm after 38 years to “deepen his advisory relationship” with Sequoia Heritage, the wealth management unit he spun up in 2010 with colleague Doug Leone and on whose board he has sat for years.

The move is effective immediately. In a note to LPs that we obtained earlier, Sequoia’s global managing partner, Roelof Botha, said Moritz will continue to represent Sequoia Capital at a handful of companies but that those seats will be “transitioned” to other partners over time.

A source familiar with the firm said the development was not socialized within the partnership far in advance of its announcement to Sequoia’s investors because Moritz long ago relinquished his day-to-day responsibilities. Indeed, he stepped down from an active management role in 2012, telling investors then that he’d been diagnosed with a “rare medical condition which can be managed but is incurable” and explaining that he’d been told that “in the next five to ten years, the quality of my life is quite likely to decline.”

Despite the adjustment, Moritz has continued to be involved at Sequoia, with some of his nine board seats newer than others. For example, he sits on the board of Getir, the Turkey-based instant delivery company that Moritz’s family office backed in 2020 before Sequoia wrote the company a check. Others of his board seats include Instacart, the U.S.-based delivery outfit; Strava, the social network for athletes; Klarna, the Stockholm-based payment outfit that last year accepted new funding at a starkly lower valuation than the previous year; and San Francisco-based Stripe, which may prove one of Sequoia’s biggest outcomes to date.

In contrast, when Leone stepped down last year from his role as “Senior Steward” of Sequoia to be replaced by Botha, who was previously managing partner of Sequoia’s U.S. and Europe operations, the move was roughly two years in the making given the many hats the role requires.

At Sequoia, stepping away is often an attenuated process. Leone continues to be part of both Sequoia’s seed and growth teams. So does another past manager at Sequoia, Jim Goetz, who oversaw Sequoia’s U.S. business with Botha until 2017 and who continues to make new investments for the firm from his perch in Miami, Fl. (Firm founder Don Valentine famously attended partner meetings for 10 years after handing the reins to Moritz and Leone.)

Moritz, however, will not be making new investments, and perhaps inevitably, that has raised eyebrows in some corners.

More here.

Farizon, a Hangzhou, China-based maker of hybrid and electric trucks that's owned by China’s Geely, has closed a $600 million Series A round co-led by the private equity firm Boyu Capital and state-owned Yuexiu Industrial Fund. Other participants included United Clean Energy, Linjiang Industry Group and previous investors Hidden Hill Capital and Industry Foundation fo Xiangtan. TechCrunch has more here.

Hammerspace, a five-year-old startup based in San Mateo, Ca., that helps clients such as Blue Origin, the National Science Foundation, and Royal Caribbean Group manage large amounts of unstructured data, raised a $56.7 million round led by Prosperity7 Ventures, with Pier 88 Ventures and ARK Invest also chipping in. TechCrunch has more here.

Musinsa, a 22-year-old Seoul company that operates an online fashion marketplace, raised a $190 million Series C round at a $2.8 billion valuation. KKR led the transaction, while Wellington Management also participated. The company has raised a total of $330 million. TechCrunch has more here.

o9 Solutions, a 14-year-old Dallas company that provides AI -based planning software to help businesses manage their supply chains, raised a $116 million round at a $3.7 billion valuation, an increase of $1 billion since the company's last round in 2022. General Atlantic's BeyondNetZero was the deal lead, while KKR and Generation Investment Management also anted up. The company has raised a total of $533 million. More here.

Preply, an 11-year-old company based in Brookline, Ma., that provides language instruction via human tutors, raised $70 million in debt and equity, increasing the total size of its Series C round to $120 million. Horizon Capital was the deal lead; Reach Capital, Hoxton Ventures, and Owl Capital also joined in. The company has raised a total of $192.6 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Skims, the shapewear and clothing brand cofounded by Kim Kardashian, has raised $270 million in a new funding round that values it at $4 billion, up from the $3.2 billion valuation investors gave the company last year. Wellington Management led the latest round. Other participating firms include Greenoaks Capital Partners and the existing backers D1 Capital Partners and Imaginary Ventures. The New York Times has more here.

Aviwell, a two-year-old startup based in Toulouse, France, that aims to develop natural and sustainable animal feed at a fraction of the cost of existing products, raised a $10.1 million seed round. Elaia Partners and MFS Impact Investment Development of Boston were the co-leads. The company has raised a total of $14.6 million. Tech.eu has more here.

Botinkit, a two-year-old, Shenzhen-based maker of cooking robots, has raised $13 million in a Series A round that will partly be used for its expansion in the Middle East and Europe next year. Forebright led the round, joined by 5Y Capital and Brizan Venture. The startup has now amassed nearly $20 million in funding thus far. TechCrunch has more here.

Cognaize, a three-year-old New York startup that is building an LLM for the processing of unstructured data for financial AI applications, raised an $18 million Series A round led by Argonautic Ventures, Metaplanet also joining in. TechCrunch has more here.

Maka Motors, a two-year-old Indonesian electric vehicle maker, has raised a $37.6 million seed round, one of Southeast Asia’s biggest seed fundings, to mass produce its two-wheeled EVs. AV Ventures, Korea’s SV Investment and East Ventures co-led the financing. TechCrunch has more here.

Mynd, a seven-year-old startup based in Oakland, Ca., that has built a platform for residential and institutional real estate investing, raised a $30 million round, according to Axios. Invesco was the deal lead. More here.

Risc Zero, a one-year-old Seattle startup that helps crypto developers build zero-knowledge proof software, raised a $40 million Series A round. Blockchain Capital was the deal lead, with Bain Capital, Galaxy Digital, Fenbushi Capital, and Delphi Digital also investing. CoinDesk has more here.

Rocsys, a four-year-old Dutch startup that uses soft robotics, AI-based computer vision, and data-driven services to adapt EV chargers into autonomous systems that can plug in and out without manual intervention, raised a $36 million Series A round in debt and equity led by SEB Greentech Venture Capital, with participation from Graduate Entrepreneur, the European Investment Bank, and previous investor Forward.One. The company has raised a total of $42.6 million. More here.

SURGE Therapeutics, a seven-year-old startup based in Cambridge, Ma., that is working on a treatment that might help surgically-removed cancers from coming back, raised a $32 million Series B round led by Bioluminescence Ventures, with KdT Ventures, Piedmont Capital, 8VC, Alumni Ventures, Camford Capital, Cancer Research Institute, Intuitive Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Pitango HealthTech also piling on. The company has raised a total of $58 million. Forbes has more here.

Torch Dental, a six-year-old New York startup whose software helps dental practices streamline ordering processes, raised a $28 million Series B round led by Health Velocity Capital, with Bessemer Venture Partners, FJ Labs, Felicis Ventures, Tectonic Ventures, Raga Partners, and Town Hall Ventures also investing. The company has raised a total of $60 million. More here.

Unstructured, a two-year-old startup that provides a number of tools to help clean up and transform enterprise data for large language model (LLM) ingestion, has raised $25 million in Series A and (previously undisclosed) seed rounds. Madrona led the Series A, joined by Bain Capital Ventures, which led the seed. M12 Ventures, Mango Capital, MongoDB Ventures and Shield Capital have also helped fund the company. TechCrunch has more here.

Carbon13, a two-year-old London startup whose incubator programs seek to support European ventures that reduce the world's carbon emissions, raised a $2.2 million seed round from investors including True Ventures. More here.

GGWP, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that has built an AI-based platform for moderating community behavior in multiplayer games, raised a $10 million round from Samsung Ventures and SK Telecom Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.

Offsite, a three-year-old New York startup that provides a marketplace to help companies plan retreats, raised a $3 million round. Investors included Forum Ventures, Automattic, Right Side Capital, Integral, Splash Capital, and Genius Ventures. More here.

Teleskope, a one-year-old New York startup that is attempting to use AI to automate data security, privacy, and compliance practices, raised a $2.2 million pre-seed round. Lerer Hippeau was the deal lead. More here.

️Verse, a San Francisco startup that helps companies invest in clean energy assets in order to lower their overall carbon exposure, raised a $5.75 million seed round. Coatue was the deal lead, while Twine Ventures, MCJ Collective, firstminute capital, Collaborative Fund, Future Positive, and Incite.org also participating. Tech Funding News has more here.

Vibrant, a 17-year-old company based in Albuquerque, N.M., that specializes in technology for testing commercial aircraft parts, raised a $3.35 million round. Advantage Capital was the deal lead. More here.

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Oddity Tech, a beauty and wellness company that uses AI to develop cosmetics and has former Israeli defense officials on staff, debuted on the public markets with a 35% pop today. The direct-to-consumer platform behind the Il Makiage and Spoiled Child brands saw its stock close at $47.53 per share after pricing its IPO at $35 per share Tuesday night. That was above a previously set range of $32 to $34 per share. CNBC has more here.

Famed hacker Kevin Mitnick has passed away at age 59.

Microsoft's AI-driven rally has pushed its stock to new highs and nudged CEO Satya Nadella’s total windfall from the company past $1 billion, estimates Bloomberg.

Stanford University’s president, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, announced today that he will resign from his position and retract three decades-old research papers, after an independent review of his scientific work was prompted by coverage in the campus newspaper, The Stanford Daily. The New York Times (whose chief White House correspondent happens to be the father of the 18-year-old investigations editor of the Stanford Daily), has more here.

Google is reportedly testing a product that uses AI to produce news stories, pitching it to news organizations including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal’s owner, News Corp.; more here.

The FTC released a draft update outlining new rules today that officials say will make it easier to crack down on mergers and acquisitions that could substantially lessen competition in the U.S.

Juul has a new high-tech vape that it's hoping the FDA won't ban.

Something in space has been lighting up every 20 minutes since 1988.

The 87 best restaurants in California right now.

Airbnb reviews of Henry David Thoreau's cabin.

Inventory apps.

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