Who stands to get rich from the new Bitcoin ETFs that the SEC just approved, and more!

To the surprise of almost no one, the SEC officially approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs today, one day after a hacked message announcing the move appeared on the agency's Twitter account. They will be a great home for your "lottery ticket money," one investment strategist says.

Speaking of the SEC, the agency is demanding that bankrupt Lordstown Motors fork over $45 million for violating federal securities laws. TechCrunch has more here. 

At a Senate hearing today, lawmakers made it clear that they want AI companies like OpenAI to pay up for training data.

Forbes takes a look at how the venture firm Target Global managed tens of millions of dollars for Roman Abramovich and helped the now-sanctioned oligarch build up stakes in some of Europe’s biggest startups.

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Ji Xing Pharmaceuticals, a five-year-old Shanghai startup that is focused on developing pharmaceutical treatments for serious cardiovascular and ophthalmic diseases that are often inadequately addressed by existing medications, raised a $162 million Series D round. RTW Investments and Bayer co-led the deal. More here.

Nalu Medical, a nine-year-old startup based in Carlsbad, Ca., that is creating devices that provide targeted nerve stimulation to treat certain conditions such as chronic pain, raised a $65 million round led by Novo Holdings, with previous investors Gilde Healthcare, MVM Partners, Endeavor Vision, Decheng Capital, Longitude Capital, Advent Life Sciences, Pura Vida, and Aperture Venture Partners also anteing up. Medical Device Network has more here.

Ask-AI, a two-year-old Tel Aviv startup that has developed an AI assistant to improve enterprise workflows, raised an $11 million Series A round led by Leaders Fund, with previous investors Vertex Ventures, State of Mind Ventures, and GTMFund also participating. The company has raised a total of $20 million. CTech has more here.

Burro, a six-year-old Philadelphia startup that builds robots designed for use in outdoor industries like agriculture, raised a $24 million Series B round co-led by Catalyst Investors and Translink Capital, with S2G Ventures, Toyota Ventures, F-Prime Capital, and Cibus Capital also taking part. The Packer has more here.

PursueCare, a four-year-old startup based in Middletown, Ct., that offers telehealth solutions for individuals struggling with substance use disorders and related mental health conditions, raised a $20 million Series B round co-led by T.Rx Capital and Yamaha Motor Ventures, with Seyen Capital and OCA Ventures also investing. Behavioral Health Business has more here.

Unbox, a Belgian startup that is designed to facilitate and manage the exchange of value, such as rewards or loyalty points, between businesses and their customers, raised a $13.2 million Series A round. HSBC Asset Management and SFPIM Relaunch co-led the deal. FinTech Global has more here.

Vita Health, a two-year-old startup based in New Haven, Ct., that has developed a suicide prevention telehealth platform, raised a $22.5 million Series A round from LFE Capital, CVS Health Ventures, Athyrium Capital Management, Flare Capital Partners, Connecticut Innovations, CU Healthcare Innovation Fund, and HopeLab. MobiHealthNews has more here.

Zilo, a three-year-old London startup that aims to streamline the management of assets and wealth, particularly for financial institutions and asset management professionals, raised a $31.8 million Series A round co-led by Fidelity International Strategic Ventures and Portage and including State Street and Citi. UKTN has more here.

AbbeyCross, a two-year-old London startup that has developed a platform for wholesale foreign exchange transactions, raised a $6.5 million seed round led by Valar Ventures, with additional participation from BNY Mellon, Third Prime, and Gaingels. FinTech Global has more here.

Bracket Labs, a one-year-old startup that is developing tools intended to assist traders in managing volatility in DeFi trading environments, raised a $2 million pre-seed round. Investors included Binance Labs, NGC Ventures, Cypher Capital, and 0x Capital. More here.

Diem, a four-year-old, New York startup that aims to become the go-to social search engine for women and nonbinary people, has raised $3.7 million in funding led by Stellation Capital. Other investors include Acrew Capital, Flybridge, Techstars and XFactor Ventures, along with angel investors, including Lindsay Kaplan, co-founder of Chief. TechCrunch has more here.

Parallel Learning, a three-year-old New York startup that has developed a teletherapy platform specifically designed for children with special needs, raised a $6.125 million Series A extension. Rethink Impact was the deal lead. TechCrunch has more here.

Peerlogic, a five-year-old startup based in Scottsdale, Az., that says it uses AI to help dental practices optimize various aspects of practice management, patient engagement, and clinical decision-making, raised a $5.65 million seed round led by AZ-VC, with In Revenue Capital, Cervin Ventures, Singularity Capital, and Revere Partners also pitching in. More here.

PierSight, a Indian startup founded this year that provides satellite surveillance technology for the maritime industry, raised a $6 million seed round. Alpha Wave Ventures and Elevation Capital co-led the deal. The Hindu Businessline has more here.

Shimmer, a three-year-old San Francisco startup that has built a telehealth platform for adults with ADHD, raised a $2.2 million seed round. Worklife Ventures and Seed to B were the co-leads. TechCrunch has more here.

Xaba, a one-year-old Toronto startup whose software is designed to streamline the process of setting up and operating robots in industrial settings, raised a $2 million seed extension led by BDC Capital, with Hitachi Ventures and previous backer Hazelview Ventures also investing. More here.

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Menlo Ventures is raising $500 million for a special purpose vehicle to lead a massive round in the OpenAI competitor Anthropic. VCJ spied the regulatory filing, which lists partners Shawn Carolan, Venky Ganesan and Matt Murphy; The Information reported last month that Menlo is leading a $750 million round in Anthropic that could value the company at upwards of $18 billion.

E-scooter rental firms Tier Mobility and Dott said today that they will merge to form the largest European operator, with their investors injecting an additional 60 million euros ($66 million) into the combined business. The merged entity, which will initially continue to operate the two brands, will operate e-scooter rental services in 20 countries with annual revenue of 250 million euros, it says. Reuters has more here.

Oh, to be one of Mark Zuckerberg's cows. The Meta co-founder and CEO shared on Instagram and Facebook yesterday that he is raising cattle on his Hawaii ranch and stuffing them with homegrown macadamia nuts and beer.

Former Braintree founder and CEO Bryan Johnson wants company in his old age. The ghoulish entrepreneur is offering to share the "basics" of his anti-aging secrets for just $333 per month. 

To rebut a WSJ article this weekend that suggested that Elon Musk was on drugs at a company meeting, SpaceX released a video of the meeting, though some think that it raises more questions than it answers. 

Textio, a ten-year-old company that uses AI and machine learning to help remove bias from workplace language, announced that its CEO and cofounder, Kieran Snyder, is stepping down and will be replaced by her fellow cofounder and husband, Jensen Harris. 

Amazon confirmed today that it is laying off 500 people from Twitch as well as well as hundreds from Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios.

Google is laying off hundreds of employees, and affected workers include those working on the voice-based Google Assistant and at the augmented reality hardware team. In conjunction with Amazon's layoffs, the cuts hint at another round of cuts in Silicon Valley. As for Google's decision specifically, Bloomberg points the finger at rival offerings from Microsoft and OpenAI.

Who stands to get rich from the new Bitcoin ETFs that the SEC just approved.

SpaceX now has a formidable rival.

OpenAI just launched a store for custom AI-powered chatbots.

Many companies are struggling with how to encourage employees to return to the office, but Internet Brands' CEO is not "asking or negotiating at this point. We’re informing.” Check out the company's bizarre video on the subject. "I've seen better acting by hostages in direct to DVD movies," one anonymous worker opined.

Could Queens unseat Brooklyn as New York City's trendiest borough?

Larry David reveals all about Curb Your Enthusiasm's final season. (Well, not really ...)

Seth Rogen's sake set. 

Earbuds priced at a cool $2K.

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