AI companies commit to guardrails, Spotify finally hikes prices, and the impossible mission to find Tom Cruise

Fridays. ❤️

For those of you looking for a weekend listen, we have a new podcast interview with Andy McLoughlin of Uncork Capital, the early-stage San Francisco-based venture firm that today invests 70% of its capital into B2B deals (though it also funds consumer startups, with Poshmark and Fitbit among its better-known bets). 

The outfit quietly announced $400 million across two new funds late last month, and we talked with McLoughlin about where it's looking to invest that money, as well as about what else he's seeing out there. The word "bloodbath" came up at least once; we also talked -- of course! -- about generative AI.

Hope you enjoy the conversation; massive thanks to Tegus, which aims to be the go-to research destination for top firms, for sponsoring this week's episode. Note that for a limited time, StrictlyVC readers can trial Tegus for free.

Seven leading AI companies in the U.S. --  Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI --  today agreed to voluntary safeguards on the tech’s development, the White House announced today. In a meeting with President Biden, the seven formally made their commitment to new standards for safety, security and trust, including agreeing to internal and external security testing of AI systems before they are released to the public. The step was better than nothing, but it may not mean a whole lot, either. As noted by the New York Times, "The promises will not restrain the plans of the A.I. companies nor hinder the development of their technologies. And as voluntary commitments, they will not be enforced by government regulators." More here.

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Aeroseal, a 30-year-old Miamisburg, Ohio-based company that says its formula formula effectively seals all the holes in a building's air ducts and vent, raised $67 million in Series B funding co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Climate Investment. More here.

Aurora Innovation, the self-driving technology company that aims to launch an autonomous trucking business next year, has completed a capital raise of $820 million from a public and concurrent private offering of its stock. The stock sale will help fund Aurora through commercial launch at the end of next year and “well into 2025,” according to the company. TechCrunch has more here.

Lilium, which is developing an electric vertical take-off and landing jet, has closed a capital raise of $192 million. It includes $42 million of venture capital from German tech investors Earlybird Venture Capital, BIT Capital, UVC Partners, and Frank Thelen, as well as multiple institutional investors led by B. Riley Securities, e-mobility investor E-vestment B.V., and several Lilium board members and senior executives. Skift has more here.

Cleanlab, a San Francisco-based startup that has developed an open-source product that identifies, understands and cleans incorrect labels in large language models (LLMs), raised $5 million in seed funding led by Bain Capital Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.

Eyeball Games, a Singapore-based startup whose modernized pool game incorporates web3 elements to enhance the user experience, including full ownership of assets, raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding. White Star Capital led the round and was joined by Polygon Ventures, Immutable, Ocular, and Great South Gate Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.

Frigade, a San Francisco-based product onboarding and adoption solution for React, says it has raised $3 million in seed funding co-led by Craft Ventures and La Famiglia, with participation from Y Combinator, Defy.vc, and Magic.fund, as well as individual investors. More here.

Gushwork.ai, a Bengaluru, India-based operational workflow outsourcing platform, raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding. Lightspeed led the round and was joined by B Capital, Sparrow Capital, Seaborne Capital, and Beenext. TechCrunch has more here.

Radiant Capital, a remote-based lending and borrowing protocol, raised $10 million in funding from Binance Labs. Decrypt has more here.

Turbi, a six-year-old, Brazil-based car-rental startup that allows users to book vehicles online, with doorstep delivery and pick-up service, has reportedly raised $16.4 million in funding led by EXT Capital, with participation from Solis Investimentos, Jive Asset Management, Banco Daycoval, TMF, and Oliveira Trust. Tekios has more here.

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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is harassing a key witness against him at his upcoming trial by giving a newspaper personal things she wrote while she was the chief executive of his cryptocurrency hedge fund trading firm, prosecutors say. In a letter to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, prosecutors said Bankman-Fried gave some of Caroline Ellison’s personal correspondence to The New York Times. They said that had the effect of harassing her and seemed designed to deter other potential trial witnesses from testifying. The Associated Press has more here.

Bolt cofounder Ryan Breslow is attracting unwanted attention. The SEC is reportedly investigating whether federal securities laws were violated in connection with statements made when his payments company was raising money in 2021. And that may be the tip of the iceberg. More here.

The billionaire co-founder of tech giant Atlassian, Mike Cannon-Brookes, is splitting up with his wife, the Australian Financial Review reported. The couple was wed in 2010; Cannon-Brookes now has a net worth of $11 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, making him one of the top 200 richest people in the world. Bloomberg has more here.

The Information profiles Stripe's now 32-year-old cofounder John Collison. (“You have to imagine a 21-year-old…who was extremely fascinated by Larry Ellison,” his longtime friend Aaron Levie tells the outlet. “Not normal 21-year-old interests.”) 

Dave Wilner, who has served as the head of trust and safety at OpenAI for the last 17 months, announced today on LinkedIn that he is leaving the company to focus on his young family. Wilner -- who wrote that OpenAI's "high-intensity phase" was beginning to overwhelm the rest of his life --  previously logged time at the AI transcription startup Otter and spent nearly six years focused on community policy at Airbnb, among other roles. More here.

Stability AI cofounder Cyrus Hodes alleges in a lawsuit filed earlier this month that CEO Emad Mostaque deceived him into selling his 15% stake for $100—three months before the startup reached a $1 billion valuation. His stake would be worth over $500 million now. Hodes serves as the AI program director at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He was previously an adviser to the United Arab Emirates. The complaint states that Mostaque, even as he persuaded Hodes that his stake was worthless, worked on the company's AI tool, Stable Diffusion, and held talks with VC firms that he never revealed. Hodes wants punitive damages for the alleged fraud and his 15% stake restored. Fortune takes a quick look here.

Spotify plans to raise its monthly subscription price in the U.S. by $1, an expected change by the audio giant as it pushes to become consistently profitable. The WSJ has more here.

Engagement if falling fast on Threads. Still, it's too soon to count out Instagram’s new Twitter rival.

Amazon is getting ready to launch a lot of broadband satellites.

The germiest spots in your hotel room.

How college towns are decimating the GOP.

My impossible mission to find Tom Cruise.

RIP, Tony Bennett.

Little Cat Lodge.

An Aston Martin from one of the only James Bond films to star Timothy Dalton is coming up for auction. (This one was reportedly driven into a snow bank at the end of a chase scene.)

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