Sam Altman's Next Big Thing, a new EV startup from the founder of Lordstown Motors, and 401Ks hit the motherlode

Ah, Friday! 

We're so excited to be seeing a bunch of you next week at our sold-out San Francisco event.:)

Two quick items in the meantime. 

First, we have great news about our second StrictlyVC event of this year, coming up on February 29 in Hollywood. Trae Stephens of Founders Fund will now be joining us. Stephens is -- as anyone who has talked with him can attest -- a very smart dude. A graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, he spent time as a computational linguist within the U.S. intelligence community before joining Palantir as an early employee and later co-founding Anduril -- the increasingly powerful defense tech and weapons maker. Over a tall glass of cold beer, we'll talk with Stephens about VC, Anduril (where he is executive chairman), and the broader rise of govtech. You can still nab seats for the evening, which is being generously co-hosted by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with added support from the startup database outfit Harmonic. If you'd also like to partner with us, let us know. 

Second(!),TechCrunch is looking for the right someone to help us strengthen our already stellar Battlefield program. As readers may know, TC's Battlefield startup competition is the centerpiece of TC's signature Disrupt event every year. We had an outstanding colleague leading it for many years, but Anthropic AI smartly poached her recently (😡); now we're hiring for the program's exciting next chapter. Note that we've already received hundreds of applicants, but we insisted that recruiting re-open this link for two more days because we suspect we have some very strong candidates among all of you. If you have a nose for talent. a strong grasp of trends, experience in training or coaching startups, and you are ruthlessly organized, do apply (fast). 

It was a good day for 401Ks; the S&P 500 hit a record high, driven in large part by Big Tech.

In a sign of just how feverish the tech world is about all things AI, Bloomberg News is reporting that two scientists from Google DeepMind are talking with investors about raising €200 million for a new AI startup called Holistic.

Another scoop from Bloomberg: OpenAI cofounder and CEO Sam Altman is reportedly trying to raise billions from firms like Abu Dhabi's G42 and Softbank Group in order to build factories that can manufacture AI chips. 

Elon Musk has supposedly secured half of the $1 billion he is looking to raise for Grok, a potty-mouthed potential rival to ChatGPT, at a valuation in the neighborhood of $15 billion to $20 billion

There’s still time to register for Affinity's January 23 webinar 'Trending up? VC predictions with 3 top firms'. Don’t miss out on this chance to hear how VCs from Foxe Capital, SaaS Ventures, and Intel Ignite think 2024 will shape up—and what your firm can do to be ready for change. Save your spot now.

Flexport is raising $260 million from e-commerce software giant Shopify, one of its biggest shareholders, says The Information, which notes the moves gives the logistics startup more breathing room after it burned through cash last year. More here.

The Mediterranean Food Lab, a four-year-old Tel Aviv startup that sells natural flavor enhancers specifically designed for meat alternatives, raised a $17 million Series A round led by Gullspång Re:food, with PeakBridge, Arancia International, and FoodBridge also participating. Alt Meat has more here.

Alt Mobility, a three-year-old New Delhi startup whose platform helps businesses manage their commercial electric vehicle fleets, raised a $6 million round consisting of equity and debt. The deal was co-led by Shell Ventures, Eurazeo, EV2 Ventures, and Twynam, with UC Inclusive, Piper Serica, Pitchright, and LetsVenture also contributing. Entrackr has more here.

Element Zero, a two-year-old Perth startup that says it has developed a method to produce steel and other metals with zero carbon emissions, raised a $10 million seed round. Playground Global was the deal lead. ESG Today has more here.

Farm-ng, a three-year-old startup based in Watsonville, Ca., that has developed a robot that uses AI to help small- and mid-size farms with repetitive tasks like weeding, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Acre Venture Partners, with Xplorer Capital and HawkTower also taking part. The Robot Report has more here.

HutanBio, a four-year-old British startup that develops biodegradable plastic alternatives using agricultural waste, raised a $2.8 million round. The deal lead was Clean Growth Fund. More here.

PredictAP, a three-year-old Boston startup whose service assists small- to medium-size real estate developers in managing their financial needs, such as obtaining loans, raised an $8 million Series A round led by RET Ventures, with Wise Ventures also chipping in. FinTech Global has more here.

Talofa Games, a San Francisco startup that creates interactive fitness games that are designed to make physical activity fun and engaging, raised a $6.3 million seed round led by Chamaeleon, with Andreessen Horowitz, Basis Set Ventures, 1Up Partners, and Insight Partners also pitching in. VentureBeat has more here.

Tandem, a three-year-old Chicago startup whose app helps couples manage their finances together, raised a $3.7 million seed round. Corazon Capital led the transaction. TechCrunch has more here.

ZestMoney, an Indian fintech startup that was once valued at $450 million, has been sold in a fire sale to DMI Group, a financial services firm. The company raised a total of $130 million from Goldman Sachs, PayU, Quona, Zip, Omidyar Network, and Ribbit Capital. TechCrunch has more here. 

Kaspi.kz, a 16-year-old mobile app company from Kazakhstan, raised $1 billion on its first day of trading today, hitting a market cap of $17.51 billion.

Steve Burns, the ousted former founder of bankrupt EV maker Lordstown Motors, is launching a new EV company using pictures of Lordstown trucks. TechCrunch has more here. 

Elon Musk may be putting his finger on the scale in order to juice MrBeast's views on X.

Online retailer Wayfair is laying off 1,650 workers, or approximately 13% of its staff.

There are currently almost 21 Salesforce Towers worth of vacant office space in San Francisco.

A novelist who won one of Japan's most prestigious literary prizes revealed at the award ceremony this past Wednesday that about 5% of her book “quoted verbatim" sentences that were generated by ChatGPT.

Why X competitor Artifact failed. 

Can you identify faces created by AI? (We scored a pitiful 40%.)

How Silicon Valley learned to stop worrying and love Middle East money again.

A specific brood of cicadas is coming back this spring for the first time since Thomas Jefferson was president. 

The Sundance Film Festival just started, and folks are already talking about Ibelin.

RIP, magazines.

Mastering the mob wife aesthetic.

For your consideration: a 1967 Shelby GT350 Fastback.