Apple's big rollout, X's new plan to charge users, and the end of WeWork? ☠️

Ours has been a busy one as head into Disrupt, where more than 12,000 people are going to be circulating throughout the Moscone Center over the next three days. This event truly blows us away every year, and after a night of networking with some of the founders who will be there (they're working on new gov tech, better sunscreen, sustainable jet fuel!), we're really excited as things get underway. (Relatedly, we had dinner twice tonight, which we feel gross about, but it's always nice to see the restaurants in San Francisco at full capacity.)

Apple could be about to make the biggest change to the iPhone in 11 years.

Elon Musk says X will charge users a "small monthly payment" to use its service.

A lawsuit from real estate landlord Divco could drive WeWork all the way into bankruptcy.

Microsoft accidently exposed tens of terabytes of sensitive information on a GitHub repository.

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Dragos, a seven-year-old startup based in Hanover, Md., that creates software to secure the control systems for manufacturing and industrial equipment, raised a $74 million Series D extension round at a $1.7 billion valuation. WestCap was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $440 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Mapbox, a San Francisco-based location-mapping company whose software sits behind the in-car navigation systems of Toyota, BMW, General Motors and others, is reportedly raising $280 million in funding led by SoftBank. The investment is part of a push into AI that fulfills SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son’s promise to go on the “counteroffensive,” notes the Financial Times. More here.

Writer, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that uses LLMs trained on extensive online text datasets to improve corporate content creation, raised a $100 million Series B round at a $500+ million valuation. The deal was led by Iconiq, with additional participation from WndrCo, Balderton Capital, Insight Partners, Aspect Ventures, Accenture, and Vanguard Group. TechCrunch has more here.

Animoca Brands raised $20 million in a funding round led by CMCC Global, with other investors including Kingsway Capital, Liberty City Ventures and GameFi Ventures. It says funding will go toward Mocaverse, the company’s NFT collection. More here.

Bastion, co-founded by two former executives with Andreessen’s crypto division, came out of stealth mode today with a seed fund round worth $25 million led by a16z crypto. Investors also include Nomura Group’s Laser Digital Ventures, Robot Ventures and crypto influencer Packy McCormick’s Not Boring Capital, among others. Bloomberg has more here.

Boxbot, a six-year-old Oakland startup that has developed warehouse technology that reduces the space and manpower required to move boxes, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Playground Global, with Maersk Growth, Toyota Ventures, Pear Ventures, and Artiman Ventures also joining in. The company has raised a total of $29.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Betterleap, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that says it uses generative AI to help recruiters comb through its database of job candidates, raised a $13 million seed round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Peakstate Ventures, with additional contributions from Streamlined Ventures, Active Capital, Air Angels, and Stipple Capital. VentureBeat has more here. 

Broken String Biosciences, a three-year-old startup based in Cambridge, UK, that is developing a platform to accelerate the development of safer cell and gene therapies, raised a $15 million Series A round co-led by Illumina Ventures and Mérieux Equity Partners, with HERAN Partners and previous investors Tencent and Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures also anteing up. Tech.eu has more here.

Fipto, a one-year-old Paris startup that enables companies to manage their corporate treasury and make international payments in fiat and digital currencies using blockchain technology, raised a $15.9 million seed round led by Serena Capital, with Motier Ventures also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $16.1 million. EU-Startups has more here.

Levelpath, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that has developed "mobile-first" procurement software for large enterprises such as Ace Hardware, Qualtrics, and Innovacare, raised a $30 million Series A round led by Redpoint Ventures, with additional funds provided by Menlo Ventures. The company also revealed an earlier $14.5 million round led by Benchmark, with participation from NewView Capital and World Innovation Lab. Levelpath has raised a total of $44.5 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Metaloop, a seven-year-old Graz, Austria-based company that connects scrap metal sellers with buyers, which today announced it has raised €16 million ($17 million) in a Series A round of funding. FirstMark Capital led the round, joined by FJ Labs, Statkraft Ventures, and Silence VC. TechCrunch has more here.

Mottu, a three-year-old São Paulo startup that rents motorcycles and supplies delivery couriers for restaurants, retailers, and e-commerce businesses, raised a $50 million Series C round co-led by QED Investors and Bicycle Capital, with Endeavor Catalyst and Caravela also participating. The company has raised a total of $112 million. More here.

Plan A, a six-year-old, Berlin-based carbon accounting and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) reporting platform for corporations, has raised $27 million in a Series A round of funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Stoïk, a France-based startup that offers a cyber insurance product to small and medium companies, has raised a fresh $10.7 million (€10 million) in funding led by Munich Re Ventures, the corporate venture fund of the insurance giant. Opera Tech Ventures also joined the round, along with previous backers Andreessen Horowitz and Alven. TechCrunch has more here.

Tamnoon, a year-old cybersecurity startup based in Sammamish, Wa., that says it helps teams quickly and safely remediate their cloud risks, raised a $5.1 million seed round co-led by Merlin Ventures and Secret Chord Ventures, with Elron Ventures, Inner Loop Capital, and toDAy Ventures also investing. CTech has more here.

ZeroAvia, a six-year-old startup based in Hollister, Ca., that is developing hydrogen-electric propulsion systems for aircraft, raised an undisclosed round co-led by Airbus, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, and NEOM, with Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Alaska Airlines, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Summa Equity, AP Ventures, and Amazon Climate Pledge Fund also piling on. GeekWire has more here.

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Blockchain Capital, a Bay Area-based crypto-focused venture outfit, as raised two new crypto funds - one fund of $380 million that will target pre-seed and Series A rounds and a second $200 million fund zeroing in on late-stage opportunities. TechCrunch has more here.

Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital has raised over $550 million for a pair of new venture funds focused on climate tech startups, per a letter to limited partners that appeared this morning on the firm's website. Axios has more here.

FMR, the parent company of Fidelity Investments is backing a new venture fund whose initial investments span spices, vegan vitamins and skincare. Unfold Ventures began marketing itself today, launching with $300 million from FMR, which counts the billionaire Johnson family as its biggest shareholder. The fund reportedly spent about a year prior to the launch quietly investing in four startups in health, wellness and beauty. The majority of the fund’s assets have not yet been invested, reports Bloomberg. More here.

Instacart has priced its shares at $30, giving the grocery delivery company a $10 billion valuation, which is roughly one quarter of its peak private market valuation of $39 billion back in 2021. The company will make its public debut tomorrow on NASDAQ under the ticker "CART."

Jack Dorsey will soon be not only a Block Head but a Square Head, as well. 

Yoel Roth, the former head of trust and safety at Twitter, reflects on what it was like to have both Twitter and Elon Musk attack him.

Panos Panay, Microsoft's Chief Product Officer and a leading force behind its Surface devices, is leaving Microsoft to run Amazon’s division for its Alexa and Echo speakers.

Softbank Vision fund veteran Ervin Tu has been appointed the new interim CEO of Prosus and Naspers, which was an early investor in Tencent.

Probably Monsters, a seven-year-old game studio based in Bellevue, WA, has laid off an undisclosed number of employees. The company raised a $200 million Series A round in 2021.

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has sued founder Sam Bankman-Fried's parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, to "recover millions of dollars in fraudulently transferred and misappropriated funds," the company said in a court filing today.

OpenAI is reportedly hustling to beat Google to launch "multimodal" AI.

Clorox revealed today that it was the victim of a cyberattack last month and that it's still suffering from ongoing production disruptions because of it.

How to tell whether your favorite AI is "conscious."

Steel yourselves. A company in Oregon is getting ready to roll out 10,000 humanoid robots per year. 

TikTok's Tube Girl takes off. 

Our years-long kitchen renovation is back on track.

A college counseling service in New York is charging $750,000 to get your kid into Harvard. (It's not clear what the discount is for Yale.) 

Bob Ross' first on-air painting is for sale for $9.85 million.

A shoe fit for all of your urban adventures.

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