The price of using X, reviews of a tech manifesto, and possible new clues for aging humans

New users of X in New Zealand and the Phllippines will soon be asked to pay $1 per year to tweet, reply, quote, repost, like, bookmark, and create lists, reports Fortune.

The Commerce Department announced today that the U.S. is tightening export controls on AI chip exports to China. One immediate victim is Nvidia, which will no longer be able to sell China its A-800 AI chip.

Hamas is using the social media accounts of its victims to livestream attacks and issue death threats.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is leveraging AI to make robocalls in languages he doesn't speak, raising the hackles of ethics and privacy advocates alike.

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Nirvana Insurance, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that is using AI to design insurance products for commercial fleets, raised a $57 million Series B round at a $350+ million post-money valuation. The deal was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with additional participation from General Catalyst and Valor Equity Partners. TechCrunch has more here.

Nucleus RadioPharma, a one-year-old startup based in Rochester, Mn., that plans to develop, manufacture, and distribute radiopharmaceuticals, raised a $56 million Series A round co-led by Eclipse and GE HealthCare, with Echo Global, Fox Chase Cancer Center, and Granger Management also participating. Fierce Pharma has more here.

Procurify, a 12-year-old Vancouver company whose platform offers modules to manage purchasing, accounts payable, and data analytics, raised a $50 million Series C round led by Ten Coves Capital and including Export Development Canada. The company has raised a total of $70 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Evident Vascular, a California company creating AI-enabled intravascular ultrasound technology, announced its launch today with $35 million in Series A financing led by Vensana Capital. MobiHealth News has more here.

Nova Credit, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup that helps immigrants build credit history in the U.S. by using their international credit history, raised a $45 million Series C round led by Canapi Ventures, with Geodesic Capital, Harmonic Capital, Radiate Capital, and Socium Ventures as well as previous investors General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Y Combinator, and Avid Ventures also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here.

Prove Identity, a 15-year-old New York company whose smartphone-based identity verification platform uses tools like facial recognition and phone data to authenticate users, raised a $40 million round at a $1+ billion valuation. The deal was co-led by MassMutual Ventures and Capital One Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Reality Defender, a two-year-old New York startup that is developing tools to detect deepfakes and other AI-generated content, raised a $15 million Series A round led by DCVC, with Comcast Ventures, Ex/ante, Parameter Ventures, and AI Grant also taking part. TechCrunch has more here.

Auriga Space, a one-year-old Los Angeles startup that is developing a new electromagnetic launch system to reduce the cost of space launches, raised a $5 million round. Investors included Trucks VC, Seraphim Space, Possible Ventures, Unlock Ventures, DNX Ventures, Monte Carlo Capital, Vermillion Ventures, Heuristic Capital, and Syndicate 708. Payload has more here.

Carbon Equity, a two-year-old Amsterdam startup that has created a platform for investing in VC and private equity funds focused on climate tech, raised a $6.3 million Series A round led by BlackFin Capital Partners, with 4Impact also contributing. The company has raised a total of $9.6 million. Tech.eu has more here.

Creative Force, a four-year-old Denmark startup that uses AI to help retailers and brands create content for marketing campaigns and online merchandising, raised an $8.9 million Series A round at a $56 million valuation. Export and Investment Fund of Denmark and Hearst Ventures co-led the deal. The company has raised a total of $17.9 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Hiive, a two-year-old Vancouver startup that is creating an online marketplace for private company shares, raised a $4.2 million round at a $77 million post-money valuation. Uncorrelated Ventures was the deal lead, while Splash Capital, Harmony Venture Partners, Hack VC, Agmen Capital, and Lending Club co-founder Renaud Laplanche also invested. GeekWire has more here. 

Jiraaf, a two-year-old Bengaluru startup that offers fixed income investment opportunities such as treasury bills, corporate bonds, asset leasing, and venture debt, raised an $8.7 million Series B round. Accel and Harmony Partners were the co-leads. Entrackr has more here.

QuoteMachine, a five-year-old Montreal startup whose software enables retailers to provide customized quoting, ordering, invoicing, and payment services, raised a $3.7 million seed round led by Manresa Ventures, with Clocktower Technology Ventures and Precursor Ventures also chipping in. More here.

Riffusion, a San Francisco startup whose AI-powered app can create original music from text, raised a $4 million seed round led by Greycroft, with South Park Commons and Sky9 also kicking in. TechCrunch has more here.

SwiftConnect, a three-year-old New York startup that uses NFC to allow employees and tenants to use their smartphones or smartwatches to access commercial real estate buildings, raised a $10 million round led by Quadri Ventures. The company has raised a total of $40 million. Commercial Observer has more here.

Urban Sky, a four-year-old Denver startup that provides Earth imaging services using reusable stratospheric balloons, raised a $9.75 million Series A round co-led by New Legacy Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, and Lavrock Ventures, with Catapult Ventures, Union Labs VC, DA Ventures, and TenOneTen Ventures also piling on. TechCrunch has more here.

Ventricle Health, a startup based in Greensboro, NC, that provides virtual cardiac care, raised an $8 million seed round led by RA Capital Management, with Waterline Ventures also joining in. More here.

Volteras, a London startup whose API aims to provide developers with a platform to deliver new analytics and software for electric vehicles, chargers, and home batteries, raised a $2.9 million round. Investors included Exor, Long Journey Ventures, and Scott Banister. TechCrunch has more here.

A good coach goes a long way. Especially when it comes to money. That’s where Cleo comes in. She’s the world’s first AI assistant dedicated to personal finance. Cleo's advice is personalized and guides you toward making smarter decisions with your hard-earned cash and avoiding your overdraft. Recently named a Forbes 2023 Next Billion-Dollar startup with 100% YoY growth and $72m ARR, learn more about Cleo and why 71% of users feel more optimistic about their financial future.

LeapFrog Investments, a 16-year-old, London-based private equity firm that's keen on the financial and healthcare sectors, plans to raise $1 billion for a new fund targeting businesses in “global growth markets,” including Africa. The Emerging Consumer Fund IV is set to hold a final close in February, having already secured the backing of several institutional investors, including the European Investment Bank and World Bank’s IFC, which have committed $60 million and $50 million, respectively. Others of its limited partners include Prudential Financial and the Hong Kong-based insurer AIA Group, which have made multi-fund investments of $500 million and $200 million, respectively. TechCrunch has more here.

Shield Capital, a three-year-old San Francisco-based venture firm, closed its inaugural fund with $186 million in capital commitments. Cofounder Philip Bilden previously cofounded the PE and VC investment manager HarbourVest Partners; his founding partner, Raj Shah, was previously a senior director of cybersecurity at Palo Alto Networks, among other roles. More there.

Saudi Arabia’s $700 billion Public Investment Fund has disclosed that Swedish venture capital fund Northzone has taken investment from its venture investment arm Sanabil — the only European VC firm known to have done so, reports Forbes. The disclosure was part of Sanabil’s decision earlier this year to name the venture, growth and buyout funds it has backed in a move toward transparency that exposes Saudi Arabia’s growing influence in the tech industry/ That list of investment funds includes some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley like Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund and Andreessen Horowitz.

CVC Capital Partners is preparing to kick off its IPO, Bloomberg reports. It says that "undaunted by the recent equity market jitters," the European PE firm is discussing plans to unveil its intention to float in Amsterdam as soon as the coming days, per its sources.

Nordic private equity fund manager EQT Group is reportedly drawing up plans to hold private stock sales for its portfolio companies because public markets have proven unreliable to exit investments. EQT chief executive Christian Sinding tells the FT that private auctions among its 1,100 limited partners could provide a novel way for its backers to monetize their illiquid holdings.

The reviews are in for the technology manifesto that Marc Andreessen published yesterday, and they are not good. 

At WSJ Tech Live 2023, Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures told attendees that AI had entered an AI hype cycle. “Most investments in AI today—venture investments—will lose money,” he said.

Another speaker at the conference, Arm CEO Rene Haas, believes the U.S. will have a tough time keeping chips out of the hands of the Chinese. “This is a hard problem to solve by just coming up with a list of components that are deemed critical and then applying some kind of guidance against it,” he observed.

WeWork has sent a cease and desist letter to rival Codi in response to the startup’s recent marketing campaign, dubbed “WeWont.” TechCrunch has the story here.

Wildfires are costing the U.S. $900 billion a year.

Israel is in discussions with SpaceX to roll out Starlink internet services, especially for communities near the conflict zone, an Israeli official said today. Starlink currently isn’t available in Israel, so this would be the first time the service is introduced in any capacity.

Anthropic asked 1,000 Americans to come up with a set of principles to govern the use of AI.

A new study suggests that AI chatbots can guess your personal information from seemingly innocuous chats. 

"Undeniably groundbreaking" work shows that declining egg quality in older mice can be reversed with a dietary supplement.

Group text overload is driving people batty.

Paris is up in arms about the spread of bedbugs, and the rest of Europe is on tenterhooks. "No one is safe," the deputy mayor of Paris warned.

Has Denmark's heir to the throne found his Cinderella?

After capturing the intrigue of Britain's royal family in The Crown, Netflix is taking on another dynasty - the Kennedys.

New luxury hot spot: Easter Island.