Top News

A federal judge has once again ruled that Google is a monopolist. "In addition to depriving rivals of the ability to compete, this exclusionary conduct substantially harmed Google’s publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web," she said. The New York Times has more here. 

Defense Tech Theseus Landed Y Combinator, the US Special Forces and $4.3M from a Tweet

By Charles Rollet

On February 18, 2024, Ian Laffey posted on X that he and two others he’d just met built a cheap drone at a hackathon that calculated its coordinates simply by using its camera and Google Maps. He and his colleagues, Sacha Lévy and Carl Schoeller, were all engineers under the age of 25.

The tech had clear potential to combat rampant GPS jamming of drones in Ukraine. Instead of GPS, drone operators there have to use high-tech goggles to guide their drones by sight. But that leads to lots of problems, especially under poor conditions like thick fog or at night.

At the end of the hackathon, Schoeller wished his two teammates well and parted, hoping their paths might cross again. But the tweet went viral and changed their lives. A day later, the three decided to apply to Y Combinator, successfully getting into its Spring 2024 cohort.

Now, their San Francisco-based company, Theseus, has just raised $4.3 million in seed funding in a round led by First Round Capital, with additional backing from Y Combinator and Lux Capital, it exclusively told TechCrunch.

More here.

Massive Fundings

Auradine, a three-year-old startup based in Santa Clara, CA, that makes custom chips and full systems designed to power Bitcoin mining and AI data center operations more efficiently, raised a $153 million Series C round. StepStone Group led the investment, with Maverick Silicon, Premji Invest, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Qualcomm Ventures, Mayfield, MARA Holdings, and GSBackers also taking part. The company has raised a total of $300+ million. CoinDesk has more here.

Exaforce, a two-year-old startup based in San Jose, CA, that makes AI-powered software that helps security teams investigate cyber threats quickly by analyzing large volumes of data and filtering out false positives, raised a $75 million Series A round. Khosla Ventures and Mayfield co-led the deal, with Thomvest Ventures also participating. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

Goodfire, a startup that provides direct access to an AI model's internal representations, enabling users to interpret, steer, and improve AI behavior without retraining, raised a $50 million Series A led by Menlo Ventures and including Lightspeed, Anthropic, Wing Venture Capital, and B Capital. The Information has more here. 

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Capsule, a five-year-old startup that has built an AI-powered video editing platform that enables marketing and content teams to create branded videos quickly without prior editing experience, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Innovation Endeavors, with Hubspot Ventures also investing. The company has raised a total of $19.75 million. TechCrunch has more here.

PolicyMe, a seven-year-old Toronto startup that aims to simplify the insurance process by providing direct-to-consumer policies and partnering with other organizations to offer white-labeled digital insurance products to customers in Canada, raised a $21.7 million round from an investment syndicate that included Blue Cross Life and Securian Canada. The company has raised a total of $36.8 million. BetaKit has more here.

Revel, a one-year-old Los Angeles startup that develops software that helps engineers control complex hardware systems such as those in aerospace, energy, and manufacturing via a user-friendly interface, a programming language tailored for hardware control, and a high-performance runtime environment to streamline development and reduce errors, raised a $23.1 million Series A round. Thrive Capital was the deal lead. The company has raised a total of $30 million. Fortune has more here.

Scout AI, a startup based in Sunnyvale, CA, whose mission is to develop AI software that enables military robots to operate autonomously across land, air, sea, and space, raised a $15 million seed round. Align Ventures and Booz Allen Ventures were the co-leads, with Draper Associates, Decisive Point Ventures, Perot Jain, Sigmas Group, Evolution VC, BVVC, Habitat Partners, Piedmont Capital Investments, FJ Labs, Revelry Venture Partners, Monte Carlo Capital, Expansion VC, and Gaingels also piling on. More here.

Skin Analytics, a thirteen-year-old London company that sells an AI-powered tool that helps detect skin cancer by analyzing images of skin lesions, raised a $19.9 million Series B round. Intrepid Partners was the deal lead. EU-Startups has more here.

Toku, a five-year-old San Francisco and Chilean startup whose payment and billing software helps subscription-based businesses in Latin America collect recurring payments more easily, raised a $48 million Series A round led by Oak HC/FT, with additional participation from previous investors Gradient Ventures, F-Prime, Clocktower, Y Combinator, and Honey Island by 4UM. The company has raised a total of $55 million. Forbes has more here.

Smaller Fundings

BeSirius, a two-year-old Amsterdam startup that is building an AI-powered platform to help metals, mining, and heavy industry companies manage and respond to environmental, social, and governance data requests more efficiently, raised a $3.4 million seed round. NAP was the deal lead, with Fund F, Techstars, Blackwood, WEPA Ventures, and Golden Egg Check also opting in. EU-Startups has more here.

Catchfree, a one-year-old Swiss startup that produces plant-based seafood alternatives such as shrimp, fish burgers, and fish bites, using ingredients like rice, soy protein, and algae, raised a $1.5 million round. FortyOne Group and Stiftung Startfeld were the co-leads. Vegconomist has more here.

Cosmic Robotics, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that builds robots that assist with installing large solar panels, raised a $4 million round led by Giant Ventures, with MaC Venture Capital and HCVC also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here.

Finch Legal, a one-year-old New York startup whose software helps personal injury law firms automate administrative tasks like client intake, insurance claims, and medical record retrieval, raised a $3.75 million seed round led by Sequoia Capital, with Roar Ventures and Liquid 2 Ventures also anteing up. More here.

Glider, a one-year-old New York startup whose product enables individuals and developers to create customizable, non-custodial portfolios that automatically rebalance, lend assets, and execute trades across multiple blockchains, raised a $4 million round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with support from Coinbase Ventures, Uniswap Ventures, First Commit, Selini Capital, GSR, Generative Ventures, Pivot Global, and MoonPay Ventures. Fortune has more here.

Inephany, a one-year-old company whose AI-driven software optimizes the training and deployment of large-scale machine learning models, raised a $2.2 million round. The deal was led by Amadeus Capital Partners, with Sure Valley Ventures also participating. More here.

Pillar Security, a two-year-old Miami and Tel Aviv startup whose software helps companies secure their AI applications by identifying and mitigating risks throughout the development and deployment process, raised a $9 million seed round led by Shield Capital and including Golden Ventures and Ground Up Ventures. CTech has more here.

Resolv Labs, a two-year-old startup that offers a yield-generating stablecoin called USR designed to maintain a consistent $1 value by balancing long and short positions in cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, raised a $10 million seed round. Cyber.Fund and Maven11 co-led the deal, with Coinbase Ventures, SCB Limited, Arrington Capital, and Animoca Ventures also investing. CoinDesk has more here.

RISA Labs, a one-year-old Palo Alto startup that automates administrative tasks in cancer care such as prior authorizations in order to reduce treatment delays, raised a $3.5 million seed round led by Binny Bansal, with Oncology Ventures, General Catalyst, z21 Ventures, ODD BIRD VC, and Ashish Gupta also joining in. Forbes has more here.

SlashExperts, a one-year-old San Francisco startup whose chat tool enables potential buyers of B2B products to talk directly with current users of those products to gain confidence before making a purchase, raised a $2 million seed round led by Social Leverage, with Touring Capital and Veridical Ventures also joining in. More here.

Vizzy, a four-year-old London startup whose platform allows job seekers to create personalized digital profiles showcasing their skills, personality, and ambitions, raised a $4.8 million seed round. Adjuvo led the transaction. Tech.eu has more here.

Wasp, a five-year-old startup that simplifies building production-ready applications by integrating tools like React, Node.js, and Prisma into a unified framework, announced that it raised a $3.7 million round last year that was led by HV Capital, with Fifth Quarter Ventures, Big Bets, and Metis Ventures also chiming in. The company has raised a total of $5.2 million. TechCrunch has more here. 

New Funds

Safe Artificial Intelligence Fund, a new VC firm founded by former Y Combinator president Geoff Ralston, will invest $100,000 in startups that “enhance AI safety, security, and responsible deployment." Deals will be structured using a SAFE with a $10 million valuation cap. Ralston did not disclose the size of his fund or his backers. TechCrunch has more here. 

Exits

Strava, a 16-year-old San Francisco company whose mobile app and website that allows runners, cyclists, and other athletes to track andshare their workouts, has acquired Runna, a four-year-old London startup whose fitness app provides personalized running training plans, including coaching and workout guidance. Terms were not disclosed. The Verge has more here. 

Occidental Petroleum subsidiary Oxy Low Carbon Ventures has purchased Holocene, a three-year-old startup based in Knoxville, TN, that has developed a direct air capture system using amino acid-based chemistry to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Terms were not disclosed. TechCrunch has more here.

Smashing, an AI news aggregation app developed by the founder of Goodreads, has shut down. The one-year-old company raised a total of $3.4 million from True Ventures, Blockchange, Offline Ventures, Advancit Capital, Power of N Ventures. TechCrunch has more here.

Checkr, an 11-year-old, San Francisco-based HR platform that handles employee background checks for customers that include Instacart and OpenAI, has acquired Truework, an outfit that is similarly focused on income and employment verification. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. CEO Daniel Yanisse did tell us this morning that he believes companies with $20 million to $100 million in revenue still have a long road to scale, and that Checkr will continue to be active in M&A. Founded in 2017 and based in San Francisco, Truework had raised a little over $125 million from investors. Checkr has meanwhile raised $679 million to date and was valued at $5 billion during its last round in 2022, at the height of valuation frothiness. Axios also covered the story.

Going Public

While the IPO market continues to sputter, SPACs have raised $4.1 billion this year. One notable deal was Kodiak Robotics, an autonomous freight truck startup whose merger with blank check company Ares Acquisition Corporation will value will reportedly value Kodiak at $2.5 billion pre-money. Bloomberg has more here.  

People

From the It's Good to Have Friends in High Places Dept.: Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other White House officials shortly before the administration exempted Apple from import duties on electronic products that it produces in China. The Washington Post has more here. 

Data

According to PitchBook, in Q1, more than 70% of the dollar value of VC investments in U.S. and Canadian startups went to AI and machine learning startups. More here. 

Essential Reads

According to a report in the Financial Times, Stargate, a $500 billion project headed up by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank to build AI data centers and other AI infrastructure in the U.S., is still looking for money. TechCrunch has more here. 

The FDA has given the go-ahead to Neuralink competitor Precision Neuroscience to embed its implants in patients' brains. The company's electrodes sit on top of brain tissue and are considered less invasive than Neuralink's system, which sticks into brain tissue. Bloomberg has more here. 

Expense management startup Ramp is trying to land the U.S. government as a customer, and given its connections to Washington's new power center, it has reason for optimism. TechCrunch has more here.

There’s a somewhat concerning new trend going viral: People are using ChatGPT to figure out the location shown in pictures. It is astonishingly accurate. TechCrunch has the story.

Detours

Is the hit AppleTV+ show The Studio the real deal? A former studio exec weighs in. 

Retail Therapy

Seventies sunglasses that deliver the swagger.

A $41.9 million East Hampton compound overlooking the august Maidstone Club.