Bird files for bankruptcy, hackers strike Sony once again, and a new generation of startup 'undertakers' gains traction

The FTC says Rite Aid is misusing facial recognition technology to tag shoppers as shoplifters. 

The FBI along with law enforcement agencies from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Spain, and Australia have seized several websites and ransomware tools used by ALPHV (also known as Black Cat, which compromised the networks of more than 1,000 victims globally and extorted hundreds of millions of dollars). TechCrunch has more here. 

Comcast is disclosing that hackers breached its Xfinity network and stole information from over 35 million customers. 

Hackers have struck Sony once again, releasing agreements, game files, HR correspondence, and more from Insomniac Games, a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment. 

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Harvey.ai, a one-year-old San Francisco startup whose mission is to help law firms by automating and streamlining various complex legal tasks and processes, raised an $80 million Series B round at a $715 million valuation. The deal leads were Elad Gil and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from the OpenAI Startup Fund and Sequoia. The company has raised a total of $100+ million. More here.

ShareChat, a Bengalaru startup that operates a social network in India, is in talks to raise a $50 million round at a sub-$1.5 billion valuation, reports TechCrunch, a steep drop from the $4.9 billion valuation it secured in a round early last year. Existing investors Temasek and Tencent are rumored to be involved in the financing. ShareChat has raised a total of  $1.4+ billion. TechCrunch has the scoop here. 

Halcyon, a three-year-old Austin startup that specializes in protecting businesses from ransomware attacks through a range of tools, including anti-tamper protections and anti-data exfiltration software, raised a $40 million Series B round. Bain Capital Ventures led the transaction. The company has raised a total of $84 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Hurr, a six-year-old London startup that operates a peer-to-peer clothing rental marketplace, raised a $12.7 million round. Praetura Ventures was the lead, while Octopus Ventures, Ascension, and D4 Ventures also contributed. The company has raised a total of $10 million. The Industry.Fashion has more here.

ImpriMed, a six-year-old startup based in Mountain View, Ca., that began by treating canine cancer and now aims to provide personalized cancer treatment for humans by predicting the effectiveness of drugs for individual patients, raised a $23 million Series A round. SBVA was the deal lead, with HRZ Han River Partners, SK Telecom, KDB Silicon Valley, Ignite Innovation Fund, Samyang Chemical Group, Murex Partners, and Byucksan also piling on. TechCrunch has more here.

SimSpace, an eight-year-old Boston startup that creates digital replicas of organizations’ tech and networking stacks for cybersecurity training, raised a $45 million round. L2 Point Management was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $70 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Sweetch Energy, a seven-year-old startup based in Rennes, France, that is creating clean electricity from an osmotic process related to the difference in salt concentration between seawater and river water, raised a $27.4 million Series A round. Révolution Environnementale et Solidaire was the lead investor, with Demeter Investment Managers, Go Capital, Positive Future Capital, and CNR also participating. EU-Startups has more here.

Unnatural Products, a six-year-old startup based in Santa Cruz, Ca., that combines artificial intelligence and chemistry to create new drugs, specifically focusing on synthetic molecules that imitate natural macrocycles for various medical treatments, raised a $32 million Series A round co-led by Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Artis Ventures, with additional participation from First Spark Ventures, The Venture Collective, Humain Ventures, LongeVC, and Not Boring Capital. More here.

Aether Fuels, a one-year-old Chicago and Singapore startup that specializes in creating liquid fuels for aviation and ocean shipping using waste carbon sources like captured CO2 and industrial waste gases, raised an $8.5 million pre-Series A round in convertible notes from JetBlue Ventures, TechEnergy Ventures, Doral Energy Tech Ventures, Foothill Ventures, and previous investor Xora Innovation. More here.

Annea, a four-year-old startup based in Hamburg and Lisbon that provides a digital twin platform to renewable energy companies interested in automating the maintenance of their infrastructure and optimizing performance, raised a $3 million seed round led by Voyager Ventures, with Innoport and Faber Ventures also anteing up. More here.

Breakr, a three-year-old Austin startup whose platform connects emerging musicians with social media influencers, facilitating marketing campaigns for music by leveraging influencer reach and engagement, raised a $1.9 million round at a $20 million valuation. Investors included Andreessen Horowitz, Precusor Ventures, Plexo Capital, WndrCo, Quiet Capital, and Marc Benioff. The company has raised a total of $8.7 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Liminal Space, a four-year-old Los Angeles startup that aims to create immersive 3D experiences without the need for headsets, raised a $2.5 million round. Investors included Avex USA, Hibino Corp., Luminus, and San'an Optoelectronics. Tech Funding News has more here.

Strike Graph, a three-year-old Seattle startup that helps to streamline compliance processes for HIPAA, SOC 2, and other security programs, raised an $8.5 million round. BAMCAP led the investment, with Madrona, Information Venture Partners, and Rise of the Rest also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $20.4 million. GeekWire has more here.

TômTex, a three-year-old New York startup, raised a $2.25 million seed round. The syndicate was made up of Happiness Capital, SOSV, Parley for the Oceans, and MIH Capital. The company has raised a total of $4.15 million. JustStyle has more here.

Turngate, a startup founded this year based in Ellicott City, Md., that helps security analysts visualize complex log data, raised a $5 million seed round. The deal was led by Paladin Capital Group. More here.

The Techcrunch podcast network has an episode coming out every day to keep you up to date on the latest startup news, founder interviews, and the latest in crypto. Found, for example, is a show about founders and company-building that features the change makers and innovators who are actually doing the work. In the most recent episode, TechCrunch+ reporters and Found hosts Becca Szkutak and Dominic-Madori Davis talk with MasterClass CEO David Rogier about about leaving his job in VC with a $500,000 check to find a startup idea and launch it. Listen here.

The University of Michigan's endowment cut back its new investments in venture capital and private equity by more than 40% in the 12 months ending in June 2023, according to public documents reviewed by Fortune, but the endowment did make room for the fourth fund launched by Sam Altman's Hydrazine Capital, adds the outlet. The school is the fund's only outside investor, it tells Fortune. 

GREE LP Fund, a San Francisco-based fund-of-funds manager, recently closed on $52.75 million to back U.S.-based venture funds. The majority of GREE LP Fund’s capital comes from Tokyo-based publicly traded gaming and media company GREE. Other investors include Japanese corporations and a Chinese family office, says the outfit. Per the WSJ, GREE LP Fund has already invested in funds from Khosla Ventures, Upfront Ventures, NFX, Hustle Fund, Behind Genius Ventures and others since it began deploying its fund in 2021. More here.

Okta, which helps companies manage access to their systems, is buying Spera, a startup based in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv that analyzes and manages the security of user identities and access privileges, for an undisclosed sum, although CTech reports the price to be approximately $100 million -$130 million contingent on milestones. Spera raised a $10 million seed round in March that was led by YL Ventures. TechCrunch has more here. 

ServiceTitan, a Los Angeles-based startup that makes software to help contract workers manage their businesses, has revived preparations for an IPO in 2024, according to Reuters. The company was originally preparing to go public in 2022 before the market for IPOs soured. More here.

Bird Global, the company that poured electric scooters onto the sidewalks of major cities, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Southern Florida. The outfit -- founded in L.A. and now based in Miami -- listed assets and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million in a court filing that protects the company from creditors while it seeks court approval of a plan to try to repay them.

Stanford professor and Google Brain co-founder Andrew Ng makes the case for AI optimism. "I can’t prove that AI won’t kill us all,  which is akin to proving a negative, any more than I can prove that radio waves being emitted from Earth won’t allow aliens to find us and wipe us out. But I am not overly concerned about our radio waves leading to our extinction, and in a similar way I don’t see how AI could lead to human extinction."

Alibaba Group is creating a firm to oversee its investment assets around the world. Trudy Dai, one of an inner circle of partners present when Jack Ma founded the company in 1999, will reportedly help set up an entity to manage some of the company's vast portfolio of "non-core" assets around the world, which includes stakes in startups as well as businesses from entertainment to physical retail.

A secretive life extension startup into which Sam Altman has poured $180 million is finally opening its doors. His investment in the company was first reported back in March and described at the time as "among the largest ever by an individual into a startup pursuing human longevity."

Valuations for secondaries are still too high, investors tell TechCrunch. 

The latest flavor of startups are ones that help other startups shut down.

EV startups competing with Tesla are running out of money, (these seven went kaput just this year).

How to determine your "biological age."

NASA makes Taters the cat a star.

The Holiday takes on Love Actually for most contentious Christmas movie ever.

Waterproof puffer jackets from Denmark.

Cartainers.