Waymo hits the brakes, the startup that made influencers sick, and more controversial new SEC rules for cos to hate

Companies hit by cyberattacks face a four-day deadline for publicly disclosing significant impact under controversial new rules approved today by the SEC. Companies could delay disclosure if revealing information about a hack would pose a significant risk to national security or public safety, as determined by the US attorney general, adds Bloomberg.

Mark Zuckerberg thinks Threads could be Meta’s next social network with 1 billion users.

The state of venture capital: A look back at Q2 2023. In Q1 2023, venture funds only raised $11.7B, substantially lower than the 2022 quarterly average. Q2, however, saw some promising signs of life—VC managers managed to raise $21.6B, marking an impressive 85% increase from Q1. Does this uptick mean venture is finally on the rebound? Read the trends to track now.

Competitive Socialising, a nine-year-old London startup that operates a chain of adult entertainment venues under the brand Swingers Crazy Golf, raised a $52 million Series C round. Cain International led the financing. Forbes has more here.

Low Carbon, a 12-year-old London company that is financing 450 megawatts of solar projects in Britain and the Netherlands, raised a $513 million round. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $655.2 million. EQ International has more here.

AutogenAI, a London-based startup that says its tool, based on generative AI, can help its customers write stronger business proposals, has raised $22.3 million from Blossom Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Collaborative Robotics, a one-year-old startup based in Santa Clara, Ca., that aims to build robots that can collaborate with humans (so-called "cobots"), raised a $30 million Series A round. Sequoia Capital was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $40 million. TechCrunch has more here.

️Dioxycle, a two-year-old startup based in Bordeaux, France, that is working on a new process to produce ethylene at scale using recycled carbon emissions, raised a $17 million round. Breakthrough Energy Ventures co-led the deal with Lowercarbon Capital, while Gigascale Capital also took part. TechCrunch has more here.

FarmWorks, a Kenyan agtech that aims to build clusters of mid-sized farms that it then links to local and global markets, has raised $4.1 million in a pre-Series A round led by Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund, an existing investor. Livelihood Impact Fund, Vested World, a number of family offices, and angel investors also joined the round, which brings the company's total funding to $5.6 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Kincell Bio, a startup based in Gainesville, Fl., whose goal is to design and grow a network of production hubs for cell-based medicines, raised a $36 million Series A round. Kineticos Ventures was the deal lead. BioPharma Dive has more here.

Vital Biosciences, a four-year-old Toronto startup that's reportedly on the cusp of unveiling new tech that it says can use a few drops of blood for 50 lab-grade tests in 20 minutes, has raised $48 million from some prominent names. Among them, says Bloomberg, is Sam Altman, 8VC, and Labcorp. Bloomberg has more here.

️Ampcontrol, a five-year-old New York startup whose software helps fleet operators using EVs maintain charger uptime, plan routes, coordinate with energy tariffs, and monitor their vehicles and chargers with live data, raised a $10 million Series A round. The deal was led by the Westly Group; AngelPad and Lorimer Ventures also chipped in. The company has raised a total of $14.1 million. More here.

HumanFirst, a Montréal startup that has built a no-code platform for creating new enterprise applications and processes based on records of conversations between customers and support staff, raised a $3.8 million seed round led by Panache Ventures and including Invoia, Real Ventures, and BoxOne Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.

Materials Nexus, a three-year-old London startup in the renewable energy generation and energy storage space that claims to use AI and quantum mechanics to discover materials that can later be patented, raised a $2.8 million seed round. Ada Ventures led the transaction, while MD One Ventures and the University of Cambridge also invested. The company has raised a total of $2.9 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Aembit, a two-year-old startup based in Silver Spring, Md., whose platform helps enterprises manage access to different applications across the enterprise, raised an undisclosed seed extension from Okta Ventures. FinTech Global has more here.

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Altari Ventures, an early-stage, fintech-focused venture firm focused on enterprise tech and fintech, says it has garnered $5.25 million in capital commitments for its first fund. Founder Anna Garcia previously spent 17 years in institutional finance at Merrill Lynch, Jeffries & Co., and JPMorgan. More here.

Indian venture capital firm Together Fund announced a $150 million early-stage fund to back AI companies, aiming to capitalize on use of the technology in the software-as-a-service market. The fund is Together’s second and will support seed and Series A companies with as much as $5 million in capital apiece. Its first fund — with $85 million initially in 2021 — has backed 20 software-as-a-service companies. Bloomberg has more here.

Valhalla Ventures, a Los Angeles-based early-stage venture firm focused on deeptech and gaming, raised $66 million for its first fund and tells VentureBeat that it has already written checks to 15 startups with the capital. More here. 

Tencent, the billion-dollar Chinese holding company that owns either wholly or in part game studios like Riot Games, Epic Games, and many others, is in the process of adding another studio to its long list of subsidiaries — Techland, a Polish studio known for its zombie survival games. The Verge has the story.

Roy Luo has been promoted to general partner at ICONIQ Capital, the San Francisco-based investment firm. Luo works within the firm's growth investing practice. More here.

Elon Musk and Grimes were both seen in the popular seaside destination of Portofino this week. The Daily Mail says it is "understood" they were gathered to attend the wedding of VC Chamath Palihapitiya and his longtime girlfriend, Nathalie Dompé. (We have not verified this.) More here.

SVB Financial Group has asked for bankruptcy court permission to implement a program that would award up to $12.6 million in bonuses to nine executives involved with its venture capital and credit investment arm. The nine executives became employees of First-Citizens Bank & Trust Co. when it acquired the subsidiary bank in March. However, they are key to managing assets under the SVB Capital business, which remain property of SVB Financial, according to the motion.

Meta’s Reality Labs -- which develops the company's AR and VR technologies -- has now lost more than $21 billion since the beginning of last year.

Tesla owners have soured on Elon Musk but still love their Model 3s.

Screech: Waymo pumps the brakes on its self-driving trucks program.

Influencers built up the wellness startup Daily Harvest, backed by celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow, until they started getting sick. ("Little balls of plant protein called French Lentil + Leek Crumbles . . .made some people so ill, more than 130 ended up in the hospital, and some 40 of them had to have their gallbladders removed," reports Bloomberg.)

Alex Spiro keeps the rich and famous above the law.

This season's "it" bag is . . .two bags?

Why the Hollywood strike has left influencers sidelined and confused.

RIP, Sinead O'Connor. 😔

Seven ritzy air travel outfits that serve Michelin-level food.

Splendido, Portofino.

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