Fearless Fund preps for battle, a major decision in the world of self-driving, and Linda Yaccarino goes on the offensive

Fearless Fund came out fighting today. Gathering reporters from numerous outlets at a press conference in New York that was also streamed live via Zoom, two of the Atlanta firm's three founders -- along with members of their powerful new legal team -- talked about the lawsuit filed against them last week by conservative legal activist Edward Blum, who is accusing the outfit of unlawful racial discrimination because it explicitly supports Black women who own small businesses. Ayana Parsons and Arian Simone both said that activism is in the firm's DNA and that its team is "not scared." Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights lawyer and member of the defense team, suggested that more than race-based, the suit is nakedly misogynistic. "There are so many venture capitalists who have similar objectives" when it comes to funding underrepresented founders, Crump said. "Why do you think they picked the Fearless Fund to bring this lawsuit? This is just another frivolous attempt to prevent the progress of women." TechCrunch has more here.

Linda Yaccarino, who has been CEO of X for two months, talked enthusiastically with CNBC earlier today in her first interview since giving up her role as chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal. Most of what she said struck industry observers as so much nonsense, including that the company's disemboweled trust and safety team is “healthier” than it was when X (formerly Twitter) was publicly traded, and that "99.9% of all posted impressions are healthy." Even so, Yaccarino is clearly far smoother than Musk, which could well be calming for the advertisers that she (also today) insisted are returning to the platform. More here.

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Fizz, a burgeoning social network established by two Stanford dropouts, captured the attention and interest of Stanford University students early on with its approach to anonymity and engagement. Now the two-year-old platform is gaining traction well beyond the Stanford campus but, like any social media company, it faces its share of challenges, too.

Fizz operates on a distinct model that invites individuals with a Stanford email address to join its network, allowing them to contribute and comment anonymously within the community. Other users can then upvote or downvote these posts, contributing to the “karma” score of the content and elevating certain users’ “fizzfluence,” even while their identities remain concealed.

Sunny Xun Liu, Associate Director of Stanford’s Social Media Lab, highlights the platform’s appeal, pointing out that Fizz permits open discussions on a wide range of topics, from “sex to drinks to drugs to which classes to come to” on campus. She believes Fizz’s connection to physical campus activities enhances its allure, with its focus on anonymity allowing content to take precedence over authorship.

Despite its local roots, Fizz is expanding its reach. CEO Rakesh Mathur says the network is accessible at more than 80 campuses across the nation and that it aims to expand to 250 schools by year’s end. That success has been accompanied by a substantial boost in funding, with earlier investors Owl Ventures and NEA newly injecting $25 million in Series B funding into the platform at a valuation that Mathur declines to share. (Owl chipped in $10 million, with NEA providing between $12 million and $15 million, according to one source.)

At a time when revenue has become a focal point for VCs, the round is notable. Indeed, the business model is still a “work in progress,” acknowledges Danielle Lay, a partner at NEA and an observer on Fizz’s board.

More here.

Georgiamune, a nine-year-old startup based in Gaithersburg, Md., that is focused on reprogramming immune signaling pathways to redirect the immune system to fight diseases, raised a $75 million Series A round co-led by General Catalyst and Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, with Mubadala Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Catalio Capital Management, CJNV BioVenture, and Verition Fund Management also joining in. More here.

Hive AI, a 10-year-old, San Francisco-based software company that uses AI to moderate digital content, is seeking to raise $200 million, according to Bloomberg. The valuation is expected to be greater than the $2 billion the company was valued at in 2021 when it raised $85 million from investors. To date, its backers include Glynn Capital, General Catalyst, Tomales Bay Capital, Bain & Co., Founders Fund, Slow Ventures and Eniac Ventures. More here.

Atmosfy, a two-year-old San Francisco startup whose app helps consumers discover local businesses through short-form videos, raised a $12 million seed round led by Redpoint Ventures, with Kygo, Streamlined Ventures, Industry Ventures, Canaan Partners, Village Global, Progression Fund, and Convivialite Ventures also piling on. TechCrunch has more here.

Credgenics, a five-year-old Indian startup that has built a debt collections platform for banks, fintechs, and lenders, raised a $50 million Series B round at a $350 million valuation, a 3X increase over its 2021 Series A valuation. Investors in the deal included Westbridge Capital, Accel, Tanglin Ventures, and Beams Fintech Fund. The company has raised a total of $78.6 million. Nikkei Asia has more here.

General Fusion, a 21-one-year-old Canadian company that is developing a nuclear fusion machine, raised $25 million for the first close of its Series F round. BDC Capital and GIC were the co-leads. The company has raised a total of $347 million. BetaKit has more here.

Osano, a five-year-old Austin startup that claims to use AI to help companies implement their privacy policies, raised a $25 million Series B round led by Baird Capital, with Jump Capital, LiveOak Venture Partners, NextCoast Ventures, TDF Ventures, and First Ascent Ventures also taking part. TechCrunch has more here.

Rightfoot, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that surfaces customer data to help financial institutions prevent fraud and offer more personalized services, raised a $15 million Series A rounded by Blue Lion Global and Renegade Partners, with additional participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Box Group, and Kraken Ventures. More here.

Virtualitics, a seven-year-old startup based in Pasadena, Ca., that claims to use AI to help organizations visualize their data, raised a $37 million Series C round led by Smith Point Capital, with Citi also participating. The company has raised a total of $67.6 million. More here.

Wint, a 12-year-old Israeli company that says it uses AI to detect and stop leaks (it also says it counts Microsoft and Google as customers), raised a $35 million Series C round co-led by Insight Partners and Inven Capital, with Taronga Ventures also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $50 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Basys.ai, a 1.5-year-old, Cambridge, Ma.-based startup that helps health plans and health systems adopt value-based care, starting with what's called prior authorization, has raised $2.4 million in pre-seed funding. Nina Capital led the round, joined by Eli Lilly (Lilly Ventures), Mayo Clinic, Two Lanterns Venture Partners, Asset Management Ventures and Chaac Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Cube3.ai, a crypto startup that uses machine learning and pattern matching to give newly deployed smart contracts a risk score, raised an $8.2 million seed round led by Blockchange Ventures, with Dispersion Capital, Symbolic Capital, Hypersphere Ventures, Iclub, and TA Ventures also anteing up. CoinDesk has more here.

Endear Health, a two-year-old Miami startup that provides insurance companies with a white-labeled platform designed to increase engagement with seniors, raised an $8 million Series A round. Investors included Optum Ventures, Blue Cross of Idaho, and 8VC. The company has raised a total of $12 million. Refresh Miami has more here.

Grapevine, a New York startup that is building a collaborative giving platform, raised a $1.85 million seed round led by PJC with participation from Ulu Ventures, WTI, Social Good Fund, Focus Impact Partners, Notation, Ground Squirrel Ventures, Overton Venture Capital, and Gaingels. More here.

Kivera, a three-year-old Australian startup that aims to prevent misconfigurations in the public cloud, which it claims are the primary reason for cloud breaches, raised a $3.5 million seed round. Investors included General Advance and Round 13 Capital. The company has raised a total of $5.4 million. SecurityWeek has more here.

Middleware, a one-year-old San Francisco startup whose platform collects data from various sources and applies machine learning algorithms to detect patterns and anomalies that indicate performance issues and other problems, raised a $6.5 million seed round led by 8VC, with Fin Capital also contributing. VentureBeat has more here.

Nature Coatings, a seven-year-old Los Angeles startup that has developed a “carbon negative” black pigment dye, raised a $2.5 million seed round. Regeneration.vc and The 22 Fund co-led the deal. Business of Fashion has more here.

Nuclearn.ai, a two-year-old Phoenix startup that provides AI and machine learning technology for the nuclear industry, raised a $2.5 million seed round led by AZ-VC, with additional funds provided by Nucleation Capital. More here.

ShapesXR, a seven-year-old Palo Alto startup that enables up to 12 participants to share a spatial VR environment where they can work together, raised an $8.6 million seed round led by Supernode Global, with Triptyq VC, Boost VC, Hartmann Capital, and Geek Ventures also investing. Forbes has more here.

Spearbit, a two-year-old Miami startup that is building out an open marketplace for web3 security auditors, raised a $7 million round led by Framework Ventures, with Nascent, 1kx, Volt Capital, Breed VC, and Robot Ventures also stepping up. The company has raised a total of $8.3 million. TechCrunch has more here.

SphereX, a Tel Aviv startup that integrates its software into smart contracts as a security module in order to prevent hackers from exploiting vulnerabilities, raised an $8.2 million round from Aleph, Pillar VC, Fabric Ventures, and Mensch Capital Partners. CTech has more here.

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Commerce Ventures, a 10-year-old fund launched by Dan Rosen (previously a principal with Highland Capital Partners), has begun raising its fifth fund and it's targeting $150 million. The San Francisco-based outfit funds retail and financial services platforms, Alt Assets has more here.

Georgian, a 15-year-old Toronto-based fintech-focused venture capital firm, has raised $877 million for its sixth growth fund, per an SEC filing that states the outfit is targeting $1 billion in total. More here.

TPG, the global alternative asset management firm founded in San Francisco in 1992, says it's hoping to garner $4 billion in capital commitments  for its sixth growth equity fund. Per its own literature, the outfit currently has $137 billion of assets under management. Buyouts has more here. 

Rally Ventures today announced the addition of a new venture partner, Ben Fried. Fried was previously the CIO and head of the New York City office of Google from 2008-2022. More here.

Waymo and Cruise were approved to operate their robotaxi services 24/7 in San Francisco after a contentious six-hour public hearing in which residents voiced their support and opposition to the vehicles. The Verge notes that it's a big win for autonomous vehicle operators, who have spent tens of billions on the technology with very little return. The California Public Utilities Commission voted 3-to-1 in favor of allowing the two companies to operate their vehicles at any hour of the day throughout the city of San Francisco. Reportedly, one frustrated San Francisco resident said to the four commission members, “You guys aren’t stupid. Don’t be stupid.” More here.

Venture-backed Viz.ai has received a green light from the FDA for its AI-powered software that sifts through electrocardiograms to spot signs of a thickened or enlarged heart muscle. Known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the rare, hidden condition is one of the leading causes of sudden cardiac death for people under age 35, says Viz.

Google has been working with American Airlines and Bill Gates’s climate investment fund, Breakthrough Energy, to chart more sustainable flight routes.

OpenAI says it’s expanding custom instructions — a way to give users more control over how ChatGPT responds — to all users, including those on the free tier of the service.

Hip-hop style at 50.

Playbill bios for parenthood.

A wealthy teenager, a 5-star hotel and a bizarre defamation fight. “As far as crazy things we’ve seen, this rates a 2," said the superintendent of a nearby building.

The supersonic Concorde, Lego style. 

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