A look at: Stanford's investment fund, the data center boom, and the Lone Star State's extremely vacant buildings

Friday the 13th! I don't consider myself a triskaidekaphobiac. However, I *did* wipe out on a mountain bike ride earlier this week, then tumble down a ravine like a hapless cartoon character, leading to what has since blossomed into a serious poison oak rash, so.

As I suffer (not quietly), we leave you with this week's StrictlyVC Download episode, featuring Pete Koomen, the newest Group Partner at Y Combinator. I talked last week with Koomen about his experience with YC as a startup founder (Optimizely) as well as about the comparatively sprawling shape of the organization today. If you're curious about the state of YC, we think you'll enjoy it.

Special thanks to this week's podcast sponsor, Juniper Square, a "modern administrator that brings together accounting experts and end-to-end investment lifecycle technology to streamline your fund accounting, treasury, and investor services." Learn more about them here.

Microsoft may have received approval from UK regulators to move forward with its acquisition of Activision, but the FTC said that it is still opposed to the deal. 

Minors and parents suing Meta’s Facebook and other tech giants for the kids’ social media platform addictions won an important ruling today in a California court. A state judge said she’ll allow the lawsuits to advance based on a claim that the companies knew that the design of their platforms would maximize minors’ use and prove harmful.

Stanford’s $40.9 billion investment fund returned 4.4% during the 12 months ending June 30, Bloomberg reported earlier today. The fund, which includes Stanford’s endowment of more than $36 billion, outpaced returns of less than 2% at Yale and the University of Pennsylvania during same period. MIT meanwhile "posted a loss due in part to declining values in venture-capital investments, a trend that also weighed on Stanford," observed the outlet.

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Capital Rx, a six-year-old New York startup whose pharmacy benefit manager and pharmacy benefit administrator platform services over 2.4 million of Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial plans, raised a $50 million round from Transformation Capital as well as more than 10 of the leading health systems in the nation, including including Atlantic Health System, Banner Health, and Hawai’i Pacific Health. HIT Consultant has more here.

Mojo Vision, an eight-year-old startup based in Saratoga, Ca., that produces micro-LED panels, raised a $43.5 million Series A round co-led by New Enterprise Associates, Khosla Ventures, and Vanedge Capital, with additional participation from Shanda Grab Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, Advantech Capital, Liberty Global Ventures, and Drew Perkins. TechCrunch has more here.

Perch Energy, a two-year-old Boston startup that helps consumers and businesses capitalize on clean energy discounts by matching them with nearby solar farms, raised a $30 million Series B round. Nuveen was the deal lead. Axios has more here.

Ripcord, a startup developing robots that can automatically digitize paper records, is hoping to raise $20 million to $25 million in a new funding round that would value the company at $110 million pre-money, according to TechCrunch. GV, Lux Capital and MUFG are reportedly in talks to participate in the round. GV and Lux previously invested in Ripcord; MUFG, a Japanese bank chain, appears to be a new backer. The round, if successful, would bring Ripcord’s total raised to around $150 million. Other previous investors include Kleiner Perkins, Silicon Valley Bank, Tyche Partners, Icon Ventures, Baidu, and Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak. More here.

Scope3, a one-year-old New York startup whose goal is to help marketers and publishers understand and reduce emissions associated with their digital ads, raised a $20 million Series B round led by GV, with Room40 Ventures and Venrock also pitching in. The WSJ has more here.

Stash, an eight-year-old New York startup whose app enables investors to buy fractional shares of stocks and funds, raised a $40 million convertible note from previous investor T. Rowe Price. The company has raised a total of $550 million in debt and equity. TechCrunch has more here. 

Aclid, a New York startup that helps biotech companies automate compliance with real-time screening and customer verification, raised a $3.3 million seed round. Investors included 2048 Ventures and IA Ventures. More here.

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Bill Gates told the FT yesterday that Breakthrough Energy Ventures is raising its third billion dollar fund and will continue to focus on climate tech deals like ElectricHydrogen, a green hydrogen electrolyser producer, and Arkea Bio, which is trying to reduce methane from livestock.

According to Bloomberg, China’s biggest ride-hailing company, Didi Global, aims to list shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange next year, plotting a comeback from an ill-fated IPO in New York in 2021. It could be good news for SoftBank, which reportedly owns 20% of the company.

Tradeshift, a late-stage fintech startup that has raised over $1 billion in venture and debt, has dismissed its co-founder Christian Lanng, citing “serious allegations of sexual assault and harassment” and “gross misconduct on multiple grounds,” according to a company statement. Lanng has vehemently denied the allegations. Tradeshift appointed former chief revenue officer James Stirk as interim chief executive.

The WSJ digs into Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's decade of deals. 

Tether has promoted its long-time chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino, to CEO.

Texas cities are booming, but their offices are the most vacant.

The Israel-Hamas war is having a big impact on Israel's startup economy.

The AI boom has led to huge investments in data centers, resulting in a sharply increased demand for water, energy, and land all across rural America. 

A study by Princeton University, Virginia Tech, and IBM Research suggests that LLMs start to go wrong the more they are fine-tuned.

A NASA probe is closing in on an asteroid filled with metals such as gold, nickel, and iron that could be worth as much as $10 quintillion. (Yes, you read that right - that's $10,000,000,000,000,000,000.)

What was Hamas thinking?

A second trailer for a new Willie Wonka movie begs the question: Hollywood, why?

The secret art of turning a concert into a film.

An electric scooter fit for George Jetson.