Apple's bad day, Woz in space, and Intuit jumps on Mailchimp

Apple today released security updates for a newly discovered zero-day vulnerability that affects every iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Citizen Lab, which discovered the vulnerability, is urging users to immediately update their devices. TechCrunch explains here.

House Democrats spelled out their proposed tax increases today, pushing higher rates on corporations, investors and high-income business owners as they try to piece together enough votes for legislation to expand the social safety net and combat climate change. The plan would increase the top corporate tax rate to 26.5% from 21%, impose a 3-percentage-point surtax on people making over $5 million and raise capital-gains taxes—but without the changes to taxation at death sought by the Biden administration. The WSJ has more here.

Apple is expected to launch new iPhones, a new Apple Watch and new AirPods tomorrow. Here's what to expect. 

Pry Financials just raised $4.2 million to make startup finances more approachable. Founders use Pry to review their finances, monitor cash runway, and build their fundraising plan. See why over 100 YC founders and 200 companies use Pry instead of spreadsheets for their 3-year forecast.

Whether or not Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom survives Tuesday's recall election may depend to some degree on a small but vocal group of Silicon Valley power players who've thrown their weight behind the effort to oust him, including some who previously supported mostly Democratic politicians.

To better understand what happened, we talked recently with political economist and Stanford business school professor Neil Malhotra about research he conducted in 2017 about the political attitudes of the tech elite -- and why some seemed so quick to turn on Newsom this year. Our conversation has been edited lightly for length.

How did you get into this line of work?

It was motivated from a historical perspective. When you look at a lot of major changes in American politics and parties, a lot of them have been driven by major business interests and sources of wealth. A good example is the robber barons, including Leland Stanford at the turn of the century. And it looks like we're going through a similar period right now.

Based on your research, how do attitudes of Silicon Valley folks differ from the California population, as well as the national population in general?

Just to be clear, I use Silicon Valley as a metaphor. A lot of these people are located in other areas of the country as well, like Boston, Austin, Research Triangle, Los Angeles, etc. But just generally, I think the attitudes of this group of technology elites is unique and something you don't see in any other part of the population. I've called them liberal-terian. To distinguish them from libertarians, they tend to be very liberal on social issues and issues related to globalization, like immigration and free trade. And they support redistribution, so they have very high support for universal health care. But they're very against government regulation. So this distinguishing between redistribution and regulation is what makes this population very unique, even among very rich people in the United States.

Meaning regulation around labor? Is this about limiting the number of skilled educated immigrants who can come to the U.S. or about gig workers or . . .?

They are very, very supportive of immigration, and also very, very supportive of gig workers, and against the ability to restrict the labor market in any way.

They're also very, very anti union.

More here.

ADARx Pharma, a two-year-old, San Diego-based developer of RNA-targeting therapeutics, has raised $75 million in Series B funding. OrbiMed Advisors led the round, joined by Lilly Asia Ventures SR One and Sirona Capital. FierceBiotech has more here.

BitSight, a 10-year-old, Boston-based startup that assesses the likelihood that an organization will be breached, has received a $250 million investment from credit rating giant Moody’s, and acquired Israeli cyber risk assessment startup VisibleRisk for an undisclosed sum. The deal will enable the company to create a cybersecurity risk platform, while the credit ratings giant said it plans to make use of BitSight’s cyber risk data and research across its integrated risk assessment product offerings. The deal values BitSight, which had previously raised $155 million from investors, at $2.4 billion. TechCrunch has more here.

Commercetools, a 15-year-old, Munich, Germany-based developer of e-commerce APIs that larger retailers can use to build customized payment, check-out, social commerce, marketplace and other services, has raised $140 million in Series C funding. Accel led the round, joined by earlier investors Insight Partners and REWE Group. TechCrunch has more here.

GrubMarket, a seven-year-old, San Francisco-based company whose software and services help link up and manage relationships between food suppliers and their customers (including wholesalers and other distributors, markets and supermarkets, delivery startups, restaurants, and consumers) has raised $120 million in Series E funding from a wide number of investors. Included in the mix is Liberty Street Funds, Walleye Capital, Japan Post Capital, Joseph Stone Capital, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Tech Pioneers Fund and earlier backers Celtic House Asia Partners, INP Capital, Reimagined Ventures, and Moringa Capital Management (among others). TechCrunch has more here.

JumpCloud, a nine-year-old, Louisville, Co.-based open directory platform that says it promises its customers secure, frictionless access from any device to any resource, anywhere, has raised $159 million in Series F funding at a post-money valuation of $2.56 billion. Sapphire Ventures led the round, joined by Owl Rock, Whale Rock Capital, Sands Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, and earlier investors General Atlantic, BlackRock and H.I.G. Growth Partners. The company has now raised almost $356 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Papaya Global, a five-year-old, Tel Aviv, and New York-based workforce management platform, has raised $250 million in Series D funding, bringing the company’s valuation to $3.7 billion and Papaya’s total funding to date to $440 million. Papaya’s valuation has increased tenfold since September 2020. The new round was led by Insight Partners, with participation from Tiger Global and earlier investors Greenoaks Capital, IVP, Scale Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Alkeon Capital, Workday Ventures, Access Industries and Group 11. NoCamels has more here.

SpotOn, a four-year-old, San Francisco-based company that sells software and payments tech to SMBs with an emphasis on restaurants and retail businesses, has raised $300 million in Series E funding at a $3.15 billion, up from the $1.875 billion valuation it as assigned in May when it raised its last round. Earlier backer Andreessen Horowitz, which also led that May Series D round, led the new financing. Other participants in the round including Wellington Management, Coatue Management and earlier backers DST Global, 01 Advisors, Dragoneer Investment Group, Franklin Templeton and Mubadala Investment Company. SpotOn has now raised $628 million altogether. Notably, it also just used some of that cash and some of its stock to acquire Appetize, a digital and mobile commerce payments platform for enterprises such as sports and entertainment venues, theme parks and zoos. SpotOn says it's shelling out $415 million in cash and stock for the L.A.-based company. TechCrunch has more here.

Babyscripts, an eight-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based obstetrics virtual care startup, has raised $12 million in Series B funding. MemorialCare Innovation Fund led the round, joined by Philips Ventures and the CU Healthcare Innovation Fund. The company has now raised $26 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Billogram, a 10-year-old, Stockholm, Sweden-based payments platform for recurring billing, has raised $45 million entirely from Partech. TechCrunch has more here.

Capiter, a one-year-old, Cairo, Egypt-based B2B e-commerce platform that provides manufacturers, brands, wholesalers and retailers with digital financial services, has raised $33 million in Series A funding. Quona Capital and MSA led the round, with participation from Savola, Shorooq Partners, Foundation Ventures, Accion Venture Lab and Derayah Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

LevaData, an eight-year-old, San Jose, Ca.-based maker of supply management software, has raised $47 million in Series C funding. Banneker Partners led the round, joined by earlier investor Tola Capital. More here.

MarginEdge, a six-year-old, Fairfax, Va.-based restaurant management app that helps with streamline inventory, cost-tracking, ordering and recipes, has raised $18 million in Series B funding led by Schooner Capital, with participation from IGC Hospitality, which operates restaurant properties and is a customer as well as an investor in MarginEdge. The company has now raised $25 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Numan, a three-year-old, London-based online clinic for men’s health (it's like a European Ro or Hims), raised $40 million in Series B funding. White Star Capital led the round, joined by Novator, Vostok New Global, Anthemis Exponential and Colle Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Pluang, a two-year-old, Jakarta Indonesia-based investment and savings app, has added $35 million in funding to a "pre-Series B" round of $20 million that closed in March. Square Peg led the newest tranche, joined by SIG, UOB Venture Management, Go-Ventures and Openspace Ventures. The Business Time has more here.

Rezilion, a three-year-old, Israel-based cloud security startup has raised $30 million in funding led by Guggenheim Investments, with participation from JVP, Kindred Capital and numerous individual investors. The company has now raised $38 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Vector.ai, a four-year-old, U.K.-based startup that says it helps freight forwarders improve productivity via its AI platform, has raised $15 million in Series A funding by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from earlier backers Dynamo Ventures and Episode 1. TechCrunch has more here.

BridgeLinx, a 9-month-old Lahore, India-based startup that operates a digital freight marketplace, has raised $10 million in funding co-led by 20 VC, Buckley Ventures and Indus Valley Capital. Other participants in the round include Wavemaker Partners, Quiet Capital, TrueSight Ventures, Soma Capital, Flexport, and Magnus Rausing’s UNTITLED, among others. TechCrunch has more here.

Clockwork Logistics Systems, a four-year-old, Elk Grove, Ca.-based logistics platform that digitizes proof-of-delivery for a range of complex deliveries across the global supply chain, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding. Newtown Partners led the round, joined by Newark Venture Partners, PSA UnboXed, Vineta Ventures, and Estes Final Mile, a wholly owned subsidiary of Estes Express Lines, in Richmond, Virginia. More here.

Courier Health, a year-old, New York-based developer of patient management software that aims to help biopharma companies support people with chronic diseases, has raised $4 million in seed finding Work-Bench, with participation from a number of tech and biopharma executives. More here.

Cresicor, a 4.5-year-old, San Francisco-based startup that provides small and midsize consumer packaged goods companies with an automated way to manage trade promotions, has raised $5.6 million in seed funding. Costanoa Ventures led the round, joined by Torch Capital and a group of angel investors. TechCrunch has more here.

Gr3n, a 10-year-old, Ticino, Switzerland-based plastic recycling tech company, has raised €6.3 million in Series B funding from backers like Chevron Technology Ventures and Standex International. More here.

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Jungle Ventures, a 10-year-old, Singapore-based Southeast Asia-focused venture firm, says it has closed its fourth fund with $225 million in capital commitments, including from Temasek and IFC. TechCrunch has more here.

TurboTax maker Intuit says it is acquiring the 20-year-old, Atlanta-based email-marketing company Mailchimp for $12 billion in cash-and-stock. It's Intuit’s largest deal ever and ostensibly positions the company to offer more services to small businesses like marketing and customer-relationship management. The WSJ has more here.

Tenable, a cyber risk management company based in Columbia, Md., today announced it has acquired infrastructure-as-code provider Accurics for $160 million in cash. Tenable says the acquisition will enable it to introduce a “complete lifecycle approach” for risk management, leveraging IaC to fix cloud environment problems before they expose businesses to risk. Accurics was founded just last year in San Francisco. VentureBeat has more here.

Freshworks is aiming for a nearly $9 billion valuation in a U.S. IPO according to a regulatory filing by the business and customer engagement software company today. The 11-year-old, San Mateo, Ca.-based company, which rivals Salesforce, said it would sell 28.5 million shares priced at between $28 and $32. Reuters as more here.

Toast is gearing up for an initial public offering next week that could value the restaurant-tech company at more than $16 billion. That’s about double its valuation from a secondary share sale last November. CNBC looks at the 10-year-old's uneven path to the NYSE.

Ford Motor has hired Mike Amend as its chief digital and information officer as the automaker seeks to expand into software, subscriptions and in-vehicle connectivity. Amend, who was president of Lowe’s Online for three years, will focus on Ford’s “use of data, software and technology” — all areas central to Ford’s new Ford+ strategy, the company said.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is launching a space company called Privateer.

Facebook says its rules apply to all. Company documents reveal a secret elite that’s exempt.

Pancreatic "organoids" could help researchers develop and test new treatments for pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest types of cancer.

Apple TV+ shows are product-placement paloozas.

The Met Gala in photos.

These replies are priceless. 

A statement-making waterproof hood.

A 17,000-square-foot house with not one but two nightclubs on St. Barts. The good news: the current owners have been renting it for $4 million annually, says the WSJ. The bad news: the asking price is $80 million.

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