Apple abandons its electric car ambitions, OpenAI slaps back at the New York Times, and Wall Street's newest pitch

Apple is scuttling its secretive, long-running effort to build an autonomous electric car, executives announced in a short meeting with the team this morning. The company is likely cutting hundreds of employees from the team and all work on the project has stopped, TechCrunch reported earlier. Some remaining employees will be shifted to Apple’s generative AI projects, according to Bloomberg; others will have 90 days to find a reassignment to other roles inside the company, or they will be let go. (Bloomberg separately reported that Tesla and Detroit automakers were likely breathing a sigh of relief, but considering the progress Apple had made, it's doubtful they were all that concerned.)

OpenAI today moved to dismiss a lawsuit from the New York Times, alleging the media outlet paid someone to hack OpenAI’s products to support the lawsuit. OpenAI said in its filing that it doesn't have actual knowledge of the specific acts of alleged infringements of which the Times has said OpenAI is guilty. It also said the Times made “tens of thousands of attempts” to generate responses from ChatGPT that exactly match Times content. A Times lawyer tells the WSJ the “hacking” is just the company using OpenAI’s tools to look for evidence of stealing and reproducing copyright material.

Cox Enterprises is buying 12-year-old, venture-backed OpenGov in a deal that values the maker of software for cities and state agencies at a whopping $1.8 billion. Cox, a big family-owned provider of communications and automotive services that already held a big minority stake in OpenGov, is buying the rest, say the companies. According to Crunchbase, OpenGov had raised (at least?) $178 million over the years, including from a wider pool of investors that includes Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, and Sway Ventures. 

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Exodigo, a three-year-old Tel Aviv startup that uses ground-penetrating radar and other sensors to create detailed underground maps for construction companies, utility companies, and city planners, raised a $105 million Series A round co-led by Greenfield Partners and Zeev Ventures, with additional participation from previous investors SquarePeg, 10D VC, JIBE, and National Grid Partners. Bloomberg has more here.

Intenseye, a six-year-old New York startup that focuses on preventing accidents and ensuring safety in the workplace through automated alerts and monitoring, raised a $64 million Series B round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with previous investors Insight Partners, Point Nine, and Air Street Capital also contributing. The company has raised a total of $90+ million. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Shadowfax, a nine-year-old Bengaluru startup that provides businesses with e-commerce logistics, hyperlocal and quick commerce, and personal courier services, raised a $100 million Series E round led by TPG NewQuest, with previous investors Flipkart, Mirae Asset Venture Investments, IFC, Nokia Growth Partners, Qualcomm, Eight Roads Ventures, and Trifecta Capital also taking part. TechCrunch has more here.

B.well, a nine-year-old Baltimore startup that brings together health information from different sources such as fitness trackers and medical records in order to make it easier for patients to see their health data and for doctors to give better care, raised a $40 million Series C round. Leavitt Equity Partners was the deal lead. PYMNTS has more here.

Baseimmune, a five-year-old London startup that is using AI to design advanced vaccines aimed at preventing infectious diseases, raised an $11.3 million Series A round co-led by MSD Global Health Innovation Fund and IQ Capital and including Hoxton Ventures, Creator Fund, Beast Ventures, and Maki.vc. Silicon Canals has more here.

Embat, a three-year-old Madrid startup that offers software designed to manage and automate corporate treasury functions, raised a $16 million round led by Creandum, with previous investors Samaipata, 4Founders, and Venture Friends also joining in. TechCrunch has more here.

Helcim, a four-year-old Calgary startup that provides a platform for businesses to handle payments both online and in person, raised a $20 million Series B round led by Headline, with Clocktower Ventures, Vesey Ventures, and SilverCircle as well as previous investors Information Venture Partners, and Aquiline Technology Growth also chipping in. More here.

Lapse, a seven-year-old London startup whose photo-sharing app attempts to mimic the delayed gratification of an old-fashioned disposable camera, raised a $30 million Series A round co-led by Greylock and DST Global Partners, with previous investors GV, Octopus Ventures, and SpeedInvest also pitching in. TechCrunch has more here.

Matter Neuroscience, a startup whose app is designed to help people remember and reflect on positive life experiences as well as collect data that can be used for its clinical studies, raised a $26 million. Investors included Polaris Partners, Arch Venture Partners, Exor Ventures, and Collaborative Fund. CityBiz has more here.

Chiral, a one-year-old Zürich startup that uses robotic machines to integrate nanomaterials into devices and place nanometer-sized materials onto chips, raised a $3.8 million pre-seed round co-led by Founderful and HCVC, with ETH Zurich and Venture Kick also partaking. NewElectronics has more here.

Darwin AI, a one-year-old Brazilian startup that develops conversational AI assistants for small businesses in Latin America to help them engage with customers and boost sales, raised a $2.1 million seed round led by Canary, with H20 Capital Innovation, Dalus Capital, FJ Labs, and Latitude Capital also taking part. TechCrunch has more here.

Elevated Signals, a seven-year-old Vancouver startup that develops manufacturing software for cannabis greenhouses, manufacturers, and processors, raised a $5.8 million round led by Yaletown Partners, with Third Kind Venture Capital, WGD Capital, Raiven Capital, and Pareto Holdings also anteing up. More here.

Enkrypt AI, a one-year-old Boston startup that is developing a "control layer" for the safe use of generative AI, raised a $2.4 million seed round led by Boldcap and including Berkeley SkyDeck, Kubera VC, Arka VC, Veredas Partners, and Builders Fund. VentureBeat has more here.

FamilyWell, a two-year-old Boston startup that provides telehealth services specifically designed to support families through pregnancy and early parenthood by connecting them with healthcare providers for guidance and care, raised a $4.3 million seed round led by 406 Ventures, with GreyMatter Capital and Mother Ventures also stepping up. CityBiz has more here.

Interview Kickstart, a ten-year-old San Francisco company that offers technical interview preparation courses designed specifically for various roles within the tech industry, raised a $10 million round. Blume Ventures was the lead investor. TechCrunch has more here.

MoneyHash, an Egyptian startup whose platform is designed to help businesses in Africa and the Middle East manage multiple payment methods, raised a $4.5 million seed round. COTU Ventures and Sukna Ventures were the co-leads, with participation from RZM Investment, Dubai Future District Fund, VentureFriends, and GitHub founder Tom Preston-Werner. TechCrunch has more here.

Myko, a four-year-old New York startup that sells an AI-powered tool designed to offer instant insights from sales data for teams that are using Salesforce, raised a $2.7 million seed round led by Khosla Ventures, with Zero Knowledge Ventures, DayDream Ventures, and the AngelList Early-Stage Quant Fund also joining in. FinTech Global has more here.

Oishii, an eight-year-old Jersey City startup that specializes in growing strawberries and tomatoes indoors through vertical farming methods and without pesticides, raised a $134 million Series B round led by NTT and joined by Bloom8, McWin Capital Partners, Mizuho Bank, Mitsubishi Shokuhin Co., the Japan Green Investment Corporation for Carbon Neutrality, and Yaskawa Electric Corporation. The company has raised a total of $189 million. More here.

Pimberly, a nine-year-old startup based in Manchester, England, that sells a cloud-based platform designed to help retailers, distributors, and manufacturers manage and distribute product information across multiple channels and regions, raised a $5.1 million round. Investors included NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance and Northern Venture Capital Trusts. More here.

Sonus Microsystems, a five-year-old Vancouver startup that sells an ultrasound technology platform that allows for remote diagnostic imaging without the need for visiting a clinic or hospital, raised a $2.1M pre-seed round led by LDV Capital. More here.

Superfluid, a four-year-old London startup that seeks to deliver real-time finance on the Ethereum blockchain by enabling users to stream tokens continuously over time, raised a $5.1 million round led by Fabric Ventures, with Multicoin Capital, Circle Ventures, Safe Foundation, The LAO, and Taavet+Sten also investing. NFTgators has more here.

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The Financial Times has launched a new venture arm to invest expressly in high-growth media and tech companies, executives told Axios, and FT Ventures' first investment is in Charter, a future-of-work media startup. It already owns a minority stake in Business of Fashion. More here.

Zacua Ventures, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based venture fund focused on early-stage tech for the construction industry, today announced the close of its inaugural fund with $56 million in capital commitments. In conjunction with the fund close, Zacua also announced that it recently led a $9-million seed round for data infrastructure startup Flexnode. TechCrunch has more here.

The London-based event tech startup Hopin — which shot to a $5.65 billion valuation in 2021 just a year after launching (and whose VCs allowed the company's founding CEO to take roughly £100 million off the table at the same time and still retain control of the company) — has entered liquidation, according to UK Companies House filings. Sifted has more here.

Wall Street's latest pitch? Private IPOs.

With an IPO in its sights, the buy-now-pay-later outfit Klarna said today in an announcement that a ChaptGPT-powered AI assistant “is doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents.” That statement, notes Fast Company, "may raise eyebrows for anyone who remembers the middle of 2022, when the company laid off roughly the same number of employees, then about 10% of its staff."

VCs are now betting on startups that help other startups shut down.

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