Hertz backs away from EVs, Circle closes in on an IPO, and BlackRock gives Byju's a buzzcut

For a few hours today, Microsoft unseated Apple as the world's most valuable public company, but Apple ended the day once again on top. Microsoft's stock surge has been driven in no small part by its investment in OpenAI.

After generating a lot of publicity two years ago by announcing plans to buy 100,000 Teslas by the end of 2022, Hertz is now selling off a third of its EV fleet and replacing them with gas cars.

The Department of Justice has charged eBay with stalking, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice for harassing a Massachusetts couple whose ecommerce newsletter was critical of eBay's behavior.

Investors ran up more than $4 billion worth of Bitcoin ETF transactions the day after the SEC approved eleven new spot Bitcoin ETFs.

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1X Technologies, a ten-year-old Norwegian company backed by OpenAI that makes AI-enabled industrial robots, raised a $100 million Series B round led by EQT Ventures, with participation from Samsung NEXT and NISTAD as well as previous investors Sandwater and Skagerak Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

D-Orbit, a 12-year-old Milan company that provides logistics services for companies operating satellites and other services in space, raised a $109.5 million Series C round led by Marubeni Corp., with Avantgarde, CDP VC, Seraphim Space Investment Trust, United Ventures, Indaco Venture Partners, Neva SGR, and Primo Ventures also piling on. TechCrunch has more here.

Finn, a four-year-old Munich startup that offers consumers a subscription service as an alternative to buying or leasing a new car, raised a $109.5 million Series C round at a $659 million post-money valuation. Planet First Partners was the deal lead, while previous investors HV Capital, Korelya Capital, UVC Partners, White Star Capital, and Picus Capital also took part. TechCrunch has more here.

Harbor Health, an Austin, Tex.-based primary and specialty clinic group, raised $95.5 million in funding led by General Catalyst. Other investors include Alta Partners, 8VC, Health 2047 Capital Partners, Lemhi Ventures, and Martin Ventures. The outfit has now raised $128 million altogether. MobiHealth News has more here.

Hyperexponential, a seven-year-old London startup whose software helps insurance companies analyze risk and make more informed pricing and reserving decisions, raised a $73 million Series B round led by Battery Ventures, with Andreessen Horowitz and previous investor Highland Europe also participating. TechCrunch has more here.

120Water, a seven-year-old startup based in Zionsville, In., that provides software and kits that enable government agencies, public water systems, facilities, and schools to ensure that their water supply meets regulatory standards, raised a $43 million round led by Edison Partners, with additional participation from Allos Ventures. More here.

Artisight, a six-year-old Chicago startup that uses AI, computer vision, and sensors to provide virtual nursing care, raised a $42 million Series B round. Nvidia was one of the investors in the deal. More here.

Cactos, a two-year-old Helsinki startup that develops battery storage systems, raised a $28.5 million round. OP Finland Infrastructure and the Finnish Climate Fund were the co-leads. EU-Startups has more here.

Finoa, a six-year-old Berlin startup that provides institutional clients with a secure and regulated environment for managing their crypto holdings, raised a $15 million round at a flat valuation of $100 million, according to The Block. The deal was co-led by Balderton Capital and Maven 11 Capital, with Blue Bay Ventures, Signature Ventures, Coparion, and Venture Stars also contributing. More here.

Neocis, a 14-year-old Miami company that develops robotic systems to assist in dental surgeries, particularly dental implant procedures, raised a $20 million round. Investors included Mirae Asset Capital and NVentures (Nvidia's venture arm). More here.

Rune Labs, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup whose platform integrates and analyzes data from sources like wearables, imaging, and electronic medical records to help in the management of Parkinson's disease, raised a $12 million Series A extension round. Nexus NeuroTech Ventures was the deal lead, with participation from previous investors Eclipse, DigiTx Partners, Moment Ventures, and TruVenturo GmbH. More here.

Sqim, a nine-year-old Italian startup that specializes in materials bio-produced using mycelium (sourced from mushroom roots), raised a $12 million round co-led by CDP Venture Capital and including European Circular Bioeconomy Fund, Kering Ventures, and Progress Tech Transfer. Silicon Canals has more here.

Mercor, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that uses AI to identify and screen potential hires, raised a $3.6 million seed round led by General Catalyst, with participation from NEA partner Scott Sandell as well as Soma Capital, Link Ventures, and 2 | Twelve Angels. More here.

NumberEight, a five-year-old London startup that has developed an AI tool to detect the behavior of device users for advertisers without requiring the use of cookies, raised a $2.7 million pre-Series A round led by ACF Investors and joined by Nauta Capital and Ascension Ventures. UKTN has more here.

OneAdvisory, a two-year-old Miami startup whose platform is designed to help advisors consolidate and manage client data, streamline workflows, and enhance client engagement, raised an $8 million seed round led by F-Prime Capital, with Cofound Partners, Ritholtz Wealth Management, Mariner Wealth Advisors, and Valor Equity as well as previous investors Fika Ventures, Great Oaks and Twelve Below also pitching in. The company has raised a total of $10.6 million. WealthManagement.com has more here.

tibo energy, a two-year-old Dutch startup whose software enables commercial and industrial customers to manage their electrical grids, raised a $3.3 million seed round led by SET Ventures, with Speedinvest also investing. Tech.eu has more here.

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Venrock has closed on $650 million in capital commitments for its newest fund. Fortune has more here.

Circle, the Boston-based startup behind the USDC stablecoin, has confidentially filed to go public. USDC is the second biggrest stablecoin after Tether. 

SEC head Gary Gensler was clearly not happy about his agency's decision to approve Bitcoin ETFs, as he made clear in a statement yesterday.

Australian software engineer Oliver Mulherin and OpenAI cofounder and CEO Sam Altman were married recently in a seaside ceremony. CNBC has more here. 

As part of the more than 1,000 employees that Google is cutting on its AR, Google Assistant, Pixel, Nest, and Fitbit teams, the founders of Fitbit -- James Park and Eric Friedman -- are leaving. (Google acquired Fitbit for $2.1 billion in 2019.)

Work-Bench promoted Kelley Mak to general partner, and Priyanka Somrah and Daniel Chesley to principals. More here.

Michael Schuster, who cofounded SpeedInvest, has joined Cathay Innovation as a venture partner.

And GV announced three new promotions today: Karthik Ardhanareeswaran, Sherry Chao, and KJ Sidberry are its newest investing partnersm. Ardhanareeswaran and Chao focus on life sciences and therapeutics investments, and Sidberry specializes in early-stage consumer investing.

BlackRock has yet again cut the value of its holding in Byju’s, slashing the implied valuation of the Indian startup to $1 billion(!) from $22 billion(!) in early 2022, according to disclosures made by the asset manager. TechCrunch has more here.

Disney-owned animation studio Pixar is poised to undergo layoffs this year, TechCrunch reports. Its sources say the layoffs will be significant and as high as 20% — or reductions that would see Pixar’s team of 1,300 dropped to less than 1,000 over the coming months, a number that Pixar characterized as high in conversation with the outlet. According to TC, the Pixar layoffs include headcount that was hired for Disney+ — hires Disney pushed on Pixar to produce for its streaming division, which hasn’t yet turned a profit.

Discord is laying off 150 people or 17% of its workforce. “We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020,” CEO Jason Citron said in a memo. TechCrunch has more here. 

Amazon's Audible is parting ways with 5% of its staff, according to a  memo obtained by Business Insider. The memo cites an "increasingly challenging landscape." 

Duolingo is saying "non" to contract workers and translators, who say the company is sacking them and replacing them with AI. The Washington Post has more here. 

Bloomberg digs into how AI quickly replaced the metaverse as Mark Zuckerberg's top priority, leading Meta's founder to ruthlessly cut jobs and redirect resources in order to roll out new AI products. 

Speaking of Bloomberg, the pub takes a deep dive into Menlo Ventures' "aggressive" decision to lead a $750 million investment into Anthropic at an $18.4 billion valuation via an SPV. 

Platformer, an prominent technology newsletter authored by Casey Newton, is leaving Substack, a popular blog platform that recently announced that it would not ban Nazis or extremist speech. "We’ve seen this movie before, and we won’t stick around to watch it play out," Newton wrote.

An ultrarunner finds it tough to keep up with Taylor Swift's training regimen. 

Your AI boss is back from vacation and full of new ideas.

The science of snowflakes.

Secret speaker.

Fried chicken as haute cuisine.

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