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TikTok's user base continues to shrink amid government workers. In the latest development, New York City is banning TikTok from city-owned devices and requiring agencies to remove the app within the next 30 days. According to The Verge, the directive comes after a review by the NYC Cyber Command, which found the service “posed a security threat to the city’s technical networks.” The move is part of a growing pushback against TikTok. The White House told federal agencies back in February that they had 30 days to delete the app from government devices. Other countries and government bodies have also banned the platform, citing spying concerns, including India, Britain and its Parliament, Australia, Canada, the executive arm of the European Union, France and New Zealand’s Parliament.
Tesla failed to fix limitations in its Autopilot system following a gruesome Florida crash that killed a driver in 2016, company engineers said in a family’s lawsuit over a very similar 2019 fatal collision that’s headed to a jury trial. The electric-car maker didn’t make any changes to its driver-assistance technology to account for crossing traffic in the nearly three years between two high-profile accidents, according to the engineers' testimony. Bloomberg has the story here.
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BitGo, a 10-year-old Palo Alto, Ca.-based digital asset trust company that secures crypto assets by protecting private keys, sometimes in physical vaults, tells Bloomberg that it has raised $100 million at a $1.75 billion valuation from entirely new investors in the U.S. and Asia. BitGo’s previous investors include Goldman Sachs Group, DRW Holdings and Galaxy Digital Ventures. More here.
Mitra Chem, a Mountain View, Ca.-based developer of iron-based cathodes for electric vehicle batteries, is raising $60 million in Series B funding led by General Motors. CNBC has more here.
TechMet, a six-year-old Dublin startup that is securing key metals for EVs and renewable energy, raised a $200 million round from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Mercuria Energy, Lansdowne Partners, and S2G Ventures. The company has raised a total of $321.5 million. Tech.eu has more here.
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| Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings |
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Aether, a six-year-old startup based in Menlo Park, Ca., that claims it is using robotics, machine learning, and synthetic biology to develop technology to extract lithium in a faster, cheaper, and more sustainable way, raised a $49 million Series A round led by Natural Capital and Unless. Fast Company has more here.
Caden, a 2.5-year-old, New York-based next-gen data startup that claims to put users firmly in the middle of a marketplace so they can control their data and make money from it, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding. Nava Ventures led the financing, joined by AME Cloud Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, Montage Ventures, Industry Ventures, 1707 Capital and AAF Management. TechCrunch has more here.
Doc2Doc Lending, a five-year-old Atlanta startup that provides loans to physicians, raised a $35 million debt and equity round from a group of investors that included Professional Solutions. The company has raised a total of $60 million. More here.
DynamoFL, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that helps clients manage the use of sensitive data in LLMs, raised a $15.1 million Series A round co-led by Canapi Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners, with Formus Capital and Soma Capital also investing. The company has raised a total of $19.3 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Figur8, a seven-year-old Boston startup that is developing motion capture technology for elite athletes as well as general wellness and rehabilitation, raised a $25 million Series A-1 round led by First Spark Ventures, with DigiTx Partners and Phoenix Venture Partners also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $41.5 million. Sports Business Journal has more here.
Lindus Health, a two-year-old London startup that aims to make it faster and easier to run clinical trials, raised an $18 million Series A round. Participants in the round included Creandum and Peter Thiel as well as previous investors firstminute, Seedcamp, Hambro Perks, and Amino Collective. The company has raised a total of $24.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.
Native Pet, a six-year-old startup based in St. Louis, Mo., that makes supplements for pets, raised an $11 million Series B round. CAVU Consumer Partners led the investment. The company has raised a total of $17.9 million. More here.
Phasecraft, a four-year-old London startup that is focused on developing quantum algorithms for real-world applications, raised a $16.6 million Series A round led by Playground Global, with AlbionVC and previous investors Episode1, Parkwalk Advisors, LCIF, and UCL Technology Fund also contributing. The company has raised a total of $27.3 million. EU-Startups has more here.
Phospholutions, a seven-year-old startup based in State College, Pa., that has developed a phosphorus fertilizer that it claims can prevent the misapplication and overuse of phosphorous, raised a $10.2 million round led by Advantage Capital, with Conti Ventures, Tekfen Ventures, Maumee Ventures, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, and Keytrade also anteing up. The company has raised a total of $32.5 million. AFN has more here.
ZetaChain, a San Francisco crypto startup that has developed a protocol designed to provide standardized interoperability between networks, allowing non-smart contract chains to interact with the broader decentralized finance ecosystem, raised a $27 million round. Investors included Blockchain.com, Human Capital, VY Capital, Sky9 Capital, Jane Street Capital, VistaLabs, CMT Digital, Foundation Capital, Lingfeng Capital, GSR, Kudasai, and Krust. Cointelegraph has more here.
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DeckMatch, a startup that is trying to put VC associates out of a job by screening out irrelevant pitch decks, raised a $1.1 million pre-seed round. Alliance VC was the lead, while Skyfall Ventures also participated. TechCrunch has more here.
Demex, a three-year-old Washington, DC, startup that has built a network of reinsurance partners to provide their insurance company clients with stop-loss protection against severe storm damage, raised a $5 million round. Blue Bear Capital was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $18.2 million. Insurance Journal has more here.
Fantasy Life, a three-year-old media startup founded by former ESPN analyst Matthew Berry that offers consumers a newsletter, a Sirius broadcast, fantasy sports tools, and sports betting, raised a $2 million seed round from a group including musician John Legend, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, and the family office of Lebron James. Gambling Industry News has more here.
Finofo, a Calgary startup that has built a free platform to help businesses manage their currency risk and reduce the fees involved in each FX transaction, raised $1.25 million round. Motivate VC led the transaction. TechCrunch has more here.
Highlight, a three-year-old New York startup that helps CPG brands automate the product testing process, raised an $8 million seed round co-led by Afore Capital and Craft Ventures, with Y Combinator, Neo, Day One Ventures, Worklife Ventures, and Fuel Capital also investing. TechCrunch has more here.
Marqo, an Australian startup that is developing an open source vector search engine for AI applications, raised a $4.4 million seed round led by Blackbird Ventures, with additional participation from Creator Fund and January Capital. TechCrunch has more here.
Sapphire Technologies, a three-year-old startup based in Cerritos, Ca., that develops and manufactures energy recovery systems that harness the work of gas expansion to produce reliable and clean electricity, raised a $10 million round led by Energy Capital Ventures and joined by Marathon Petroleum, Chevron Technology Ventures, Equinor Ventures, and Cooper and Company.
ShipCalm, a seven-year-old startup based in Carlsbad, Ca., that provides small e-commerce businesses with logistics and fulfillment support, raised a $2 million round. Montage Capital was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $6.4 million. More here.
Toothio, a two-year-old startup based in Scottsdale, Az., whose staffing platform provides dentists with on-demand access to hygienists and assistants, raised a $4 million seed round led by Craft Ventures, with Burst Capital, Moving Capital, Revere Partners, and Rho Capital Partners also joining in. The company has raised a total of $4.7 million. More here.
Whitebalance, a startup based in Washington, DC, that claims it uses AI to protect audio content producers from unintended copyright violations, raised a $1.5 million round led by Dundee Venture Capital, with additional funds provided by Bread and Butter Ventures and Techstars. Sports Business Journal has more here.
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Joule Ventures, a 13-year-old, New York-based seed-stage venture outfit that funds founding teams in Israel, has so far garnered $30 million in commitments for its fifth vehicle; the firm is targeting $100 million altogether, per an SEC filing. More here.
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OpenAI, the AI company behind the viral AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT, has acquired Global Illumination, a New York–based startup leveraging AI to build creative tools, infrastructure and digital experiences. It’s OpenAI’s first public acquisition in its roughly seven-year history. The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.
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Vietnamese EV maker VinFast’s debut yesterday on the Nasdaq public exchange was nothing short of remarkable. The automaker, which went public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company Black Spade Acquisition, saw shares catapult 68% to close at $37.06 — giving it a valuation of $86 billion, a figure far above Ford, GM and Stellantis. More shocking? Even after VinFast’s stock price plummeted 18.75% and closed at $30.11 today, the company was still holding onto a market cap that put it well ahead of other established automakers, observes TechCrunch. More here.
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The billionaire co-founder of Nu Holdings, the world’s biggest standalone digital bank, sold shares in the company for the first time since its 2021 IPO, raising about $191 million. David Velez said in an interview with Bloomberg that he sold 3% of his stake in the Sao Paulo-based company, or 25 million shares. More here.
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Startups and investors are taking extraordinary measures to obtain critical chips known as graphics processing units, or GPUs. The New York Times takes a look.
Venture capital firms are struggling to raise funds in China, reports The Information.
How investors are underpricing climate risks, in the Financial Times.
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TechRoastShow.
"Boyfriend."
Behind the making of "Alone," the most genuinely perilous show on television.
“It's outrageous how Hollywood accounting works, but the money is not in the Tuohys' pockets," says author Michael Lewis of NFL lineman Michael Oher's public spat with the wealthy family that took in Oher and became the subject of Lewis’s best-selling book, The Blind Side. They "showered him with resources and love," Lewis tells the Washington Post. "That he’s suspicious of them is breathtaking."
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