Haun Ventures makes a splash, Sunny Balwani's defense begins, and the dangers of smoking toad

In the fourth week of the war, 6.5 million people have been displaced within Ukraine and another 3.5 million people have fled for neighboring countries, according to latest data from the United Nations. NPR has more here.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian tech startups are pivoting from software codes to rescue plans.

When you need to act quickly on an opportunity, don’t start from scratch. Instead, use Tegus for a head start. With Tegus, investors and M&A teams are just a search away from dozens of independent customers’ perspectives on a startup’s value proposition, stickiness, and competitive landscape. Start a free trial of Tegus, and see for yourself how you can get up the learning curve faster.

Quantum tech may be having its moment at long last.

Consider that earlier this month, one of the few “pure play” quantum tech companies in the world, Rigetti Computing, went public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company or SPAC. It only narrowly missed becoming the first publicly traded company to expressly focus on commercializing quantum tech when another outfit, IonQ, went public through a SPAC merger in October. Meanwhile, another rival in the space, D-Wave, says it is also now planning to go public via SPAC.

While movement toward the public markets is one indicator that quantum tech is progressing beyond the realm of the theoretical, an even stronger signal that it’s getting ready for its close-up ties to Alphabet, which said this morning that it’s spinning out its six-year-old quantum tech group, Sandbox AQ, into a standalone company.

Jack Hidary, who was formerly the director of AI and quantum at Sandbox and is a longtime X Prize board member, will continue to lead the 55-person, Mountain View, Ca., outfit, which describes itself as an enterprise SaaS company that’s developing commercial products for telecom, financial services, healthcare, government, computer security and other sectors.

Sandbox has also assembled an enviable cast of advisers, including former Alphabet Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt; Blythe Masters, the former JPMorgan Chase exec who helped create credit default swaps; and John Seely Brown, the former chief scientist of Xerox PARC.

Notably, too, Sandbox is rolling out with an undisclosed amount of “nine-figure” funding. Among its new outside investors is Breyer Capital, whose founder, Jim Breyer, has also joined Sandbox’s board of advisers. Section 32, Guggenheim Investments, TIME Investments and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates are also in the investor mix.

Seemingly, burgeoning market demand partly explains Alphabet’s decision to spin out Sandbox. According to Gartner, by next year, 20% of global organizations are expected to budget for quantum-computing projects, up from less than 1% in 2018.

Among the customers already paying Sandbox for its computing power are Vodafone Business, SoftBank Mobile and the Mount Sinai Health System.

But judging by a recent chat with Breyer, perhaps an even bigger driver of growing interest in quantum tech is the realization is that, while true, fault-tolerant quantum computing -- meaning the ability to harness quantum physics to zip through numerous possibilities and determine a probable outcome --  could be five or more years away, other related tech, like so-called quantum-sensing technologies, is fast becoming a reality.

More here.

Bionic, a three-year-old, Israeli cybersecurity company focused on application-layer protection, says it has raised $65 million in Series B funding. Insight Partners led the round, joined by earlier backers Cyberstarts and Battery Ventures. Calcalist has more here.

Capitolis, a nearly six-year-old, New York-based SaaS for helping banks pool trading resources, just raised $110 million in Series D funding co-led by Canapi Ventures, 9Yards Capital and SVB Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Me+Em, a 16-year-old, London-based luxury fashion brand, has raised $72 million in funding led by Highland Europe. WWD has more here.

Hex, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based data science collaboration platform, has raised $52 million in Series B funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Snowflake, Databricks and earlier investors Redpoint and Amplify Partners. The outfit has now raised $73 million altogether. TechCrunch has more here.

Jeeves, a two-year-old, Stanford, Ca.-based corporate card and expense management platform for startups, has raised $180 million in Series C funding. Tencent led the round, joined by GIC, Stanford University, Andreessen Horowitz, CRV, SVB, and numerous other backers. TechCrunch has more here. 

Omnipresent, a three-year-old, London-based HR and onboarding startup that says it can bring job candidates on board in a manner that’s fully compliant with local standards and regulations, raised $120 million in Series B funding led by Kinnevik, with participation from Tencent. SiliconAngle has more here.

Rokid, an eight-year-old, Redwood City, Ca.-based outfit that makes augmented reality glasses meant for enterprises, says it has raised $160 million in Series C funding, lifting its total capital raised to $378 million. The company declined to name the investors in the round, saying only that they are “related ecosystem players." TechCrunch has more here.

Terra Drone, a six-year-old, Japan-based startup that develops drone software, hardware, and unmanned aircraft system traffic management solutions, has raised $70 million in Series B funding led by Mitsui Corporation, a round that brings its total funding to date to $83 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Worldcoin, the cryptocurrency startup co-founded by former Y Combinator president Sam Altman, is raising $100 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, a previous backer, and Khosla Ventures through the sale of its Worldcoin tokens, according to The Information. The new investment values the total supply of the company’s tokens at $3 billion, according to the outlet's sources. Just five months ago, the startup, which offers free tokens to individuals who get their irises scanned with a custom-made device, raised $25 million at a $1 billion valuation. More here.

Yuga Labs, the year-old, Miami-based owner of three of the biggest NFT brands on the market, has raised $450 million in funding at a $4 billion valuation, the company announced today. The team behind Bored Ape Yacht Club plans to use the money to build a media empire around NFTs, starting with games and its own metaverse project. The funding round, one of the largest for an NFT company to date, was led by the firm Andreessen Horowitz. Also joining the funding round are the game studio Animoca Brands and crypto firms Coinbase and MoonPay, among others. The Verge has more here.

Breedr, a four-year-old, U.K.-based livestock data management platform, has raised £12 million in funding led by Investbridge Capital, with participation from earlier backers LocalGlobe and Forward Partners. AgFunder News has more here.

Decentriq, a three-year-old, Zurich, Switzerland-based clean data rooms platform, has raised $15 million in Series A funding. Eclipse Ventures led the round, joined by Atlantic Labs, btov Partners and Paladin Capital Group. VentureBeat has more here.

Eko, a nine-year-old, Oakland, Ca.-based maker of advanced stethoscopes, has raised $30 million in extended Series C funding, capital that brings the company’s total funding to $125 million. Investors in the company include Highland Capital Partners and Questa Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

ForAllSecure, a 10-year-old, Pittsburgh, Pa.-based app security testing company, has raised $21 million in Series B funding co-led by Koch Disruptive Technologies and NEA. SecurityWeek has more here.

The Routing Co., a nearly four-year-old, Seattle-based developer of on-demand routing tech for public transit agencies (its CEO, James Cox, was previously the head of global product at Uber), has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Galvanize Climate Solutions, a new firm from Tom Steyer and Katie Hall. Earlier investors also joined the round including The Engine, Systemiq.Earth, and Animal Capital. CNBC has more here.

Threads, a 12-year-old, London-based chat-based luxury shopping platform, has raised $12 million in funding co-led by Highland Europe and C Ventures, with participation from BVYP and TriplePoint Capital. Tech.eu has more here.

Upshot, a three-year-old, Boston-based protocol that pays experts for honest insights in an effort to provide real-time NFT appraisals, has raised $22 million in Series A2 funding round led by Polychain Capital. Coindesk has more here.

Applied XL, a two-year-old, New York-based real-time data-tracking platform, has raised $3.5 million in seed funding from Tuesday Capital and Correlation Ventures among others. VentureBeat has more here.

Ramped, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based jobs site that offers online training for job seekers, helping them earn credentials and experience to make them more attractive to top employers, has raised $3.1 million in seed funding from Hustle Fund, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, and Workplay Ventures among others. Bay Area Inno has more here.

After raising its Series B in 2021 from Revolution and others, Bright Cellars is investing more resources into its member experience and wine education. Founded by two MIT grads, Bright Cellars uses an algorithm to recommend personalized wine matches and deliver them straight to your door. Try it today - here's 50% off!

Katie Haun, who co-led Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm before announcing her departure in December, is ready to take the wraps off her new organization, which she’s calling Haun Ventures. The venture capital firm is devoted to backing crypto startups and is launching with $1.5 billion in capital across two funds — a $500 million early-stage fund and a $1 billion “acceleration” fund. “We believe the next generation of the internet deserves a new generation of investors,” Haun wrote in a blog post announcing the fund. 🔥 TechCrunch has more here.

Daniel Weinand, a Shopify co-founders who left the company in 2017, has cofounded a venture firm that is looking to raise up to $50 million to plug into national security companies in Canada. Rocky Mountain Outlook has more here.

Pharrell Williams has relaunched his incubator for Black entrepreneurs. More in Fast Company.

Dan Ammann, the New Zealand native who served as CEO of autonomous vehicle company Cruise since 2019, has moved on to ExxonMobil, where he will be leading a new business focused on commercializing low-emission business opportunities in carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and low-emission fuels, says ExxonMobil. Ammann had abruptly stepped down from Cruise in December. TechCrunch has more here.

Former Theranos president Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani began his defense today. More here.

GameStop chairman (and Chewy founder) Ryan Cohen bought another 100,000 shares of the video game retailer today, bringing his ownership to 11.9% as he tries to push the company into e-commerce. As the meme stock rose in after-hours trading, however, Boston Consulting Group filed a complaint, saying it spent "tens of thousands of hours" to overhaul GameStop's business beginning in 2019 and that it is owed about $30 million in fees.

Cristina Cordova has joined First Round Capital as a partner. Cordova previously spent seven years at Stripe. More here. 

Carl Icahn thinks we could be heading into a “recession or even worse,” he told CNBC today. “I really don’t know if they can engineer a soft landing,” Icahn said of the Federal Reserve, which last week approved the first interest rate hike in more than three years. “I think there is going to be a rough landing... Inflation is a terrible thing when it gets going.”

MacKenzie Scott has donated $436 million to Habitat for Humanity, the organization said today. It's one of the billionaire philanthropist’s largest publicly disclosed donations, notes the WSJ.

According to a newly released study, a brain implant allowed a fully paralyzed patient to communicate, letter by painstaking letter. The New York Times has more here.

Tokens like the new one from Bored Ape Yacht Club promise to decentralize the web. So why are insiders reaping most of the profits?

The Pied Piper of psychedelic toads.

Pro chefs debate widely accepted cooking tips and tricks.

First drafts of the greatest opening sentences in literature.

What the, how the.

Rupert Murdoch has listed two New York condos with endless views for $78 million.

Retreat on the inside, prison compound on the outside(?).