Snap Settles First-of-Its-Kind Case Alleging Its Platform Harms Teens

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Snap has agreed to settle a social media addiction lawsuit days before a first-of-its-kind trial that could open new personal injury liability for platforms over teen mental health harms tied to infinite scroll, autoplay, and algorithmic feeds. Meta, YouTube, and TIkTok are still defendants in the case. The New York Times has more here.

The FTC is taking another shot at Meta, appealing a 2024 court decision that rejected the agency's argument that buying Instagram and WhatsApp created an illegal monopoly. Reuters has more here.

The Trump administration disclosed in court filings that two members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency may have accessed and shared Social Security numbers with a political advocacy group seeking to overturn 2024 election results. TechCrunch has more here.

Anthropic’s CEO Stuns Davos with Nvidia Criticism

Image Credits: Benjamin Girette / Bloomberg / Getty Images

By Connie Loizos

Last week, after reversing an earlier ban, the U.S. administration officially approved the sale of Nvidia’s H200 chips, along with a chip line by AMD, to approved Chinese customers. Maybe they aren’t these chipmakers’ shiniest, most advanced chips, but they’re high-performance processors used for AI, making the export controversial. And at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei unloaded on both the administration and the chip companies over the decision.

The criticism was particularly notable because one of those chipmakers, Nvidia, is a major partner and $10 billion investor in Anthropic.

“The CEOs of these companies say, ‘It’s the embargo on chips that’s holding us back,’” Amodei said, incredulous, in response to a question about the new rules. The decision is going to come back to bite the U.S., he warned.

“We are many years ahead of China in terms of our ability to make chips,” he told Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief, who was interviewing him. “So I think it would be a big mistake to ship these chips.” Amodei then painted an alarming picture of what’s at stake. He talked about the “incredible national security implications” of AI models that represent “essentially cognition, that are essentially intelligence.” He likened future AI to a “country of geniuses in a data center,” saying to imagine “100 million people smarter than any Nobel Prize winner,” all under the control of one country or another.

The image underscored why he thinks chip exports matter so much. But then came the biggest blow. “I think this is crazy,” Amodei said of the administration’s latest move. “It’s a bit like selling nuclear weapons to North Korea and [bragging that] Boeing made the casings.”

That sound you hear? The team at Nvidia, screaming into their phones.

Massive Fundings

Baseten, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup that helps businesses deploy and run large AI models in production for applications such as code generation, search, and automation, raised a $300 million Series D at a $5 billion valuation. The deal was co-led by IVP and CapitalG, with Nvidia as well as previous investors Bond, Greylock, and Spark Capital also taking stakes. The company has raised a total of $585 million. The Wall Street Journal has more here.

DealHub.io, an 11-year-old Austin company that helps companies manage pricing, contracts, billing, and revenue workflows, raised a $100 million round. Riverwood Capital was the deal lead. More here.

Emergent, a two-year-old San Francisco startup that builds software that helps people design, build, test, and deploy web and mobile apps using AI, raised a $70 million Series B round at a $300 million post-money valuation, triple the valuation it received less than four months ago. The deal was co-led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Khosla Ventures, with additional participation from Prosus, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Together, and Y Combinator. The company has raised a total of $100 million. TechCrunch has more here.

Ethernovia, an eight-year-old startup based in San Jose, CA, that builds Ethernet-based packet processors for real-time sensor, AI, and control data in autonomous vehicles and robots, raised a $90+ million Series B led by Maverick Silicon, with participation from Socratic Partners, Conduit Capital, and CDIB-TEN Capital as well as previous investors Porsche SE, Qualcomm Ventures, and Fall Line Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

Exciva, an 11-year-old company based in Heidelberg, Germany, that develops treatments for agitation and other neuropsychiatric symptoms linked to Alzheimer’s disease, raised a $59.8 million Series B. The deal was co-led by EQT Life Sciences and Gimv, with Fountain Healthcare Partners, LifeArc, Carma Fund, Modi Ventures, Andera Partners, and LBBW also investing. Tech Funding News has more here.

FuriosaAI, a nine-year-old Seoul startup that designs chips for running artificial intelligence models in data centers, is reportedly in talks to raise a $300 million to $500 million Series D, according to Bloomberg. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Humans&, a newly founded San Francisco startup that builds software to help people work together using AI, raised a $480 million seed round at a $4.48 billion post-money valuation. The deal's investors include Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, SV Angel, GV, and Emerson Collective. TechCrunch has more here.

Ivo, a five-year-old San Francisco startup that builds software to help businesses review and analyze contracts, raised a $55 million Series B at a $355 million post-money valuation. The deal was led by previous investor Blackbird, with Costanoa Ventures, Uncork Capital, Fika Ventures, GD1, and Icehouse Ventures also stepping up. Reuters has more here.

Pennylane, a six-year-old Paris startup that builds accounting and financial management software for small and midsize businesses and their accountants, raised a $205 million round led by TCV, with Blackstone as well as previous investors Sequoia Capital, DST Global, CapitalG, and Meritech Capital also digging in. EU-Startups has more here.

Pomelo, a five-year-old Buenos Aires startup that builds card-issuing and payment-processing systems for banks and fintechs, raised a $55 million Series C co-led by Kaszek and Insight Partners, with Index Ventures, Adams Street Partners, S32, Endeavor Catalyst, Monashees, and TQ Ventures also engaging. The company has raised a total of $160 million. Bloomberg has more here.

Terralayr, a three-year-old startup based in Zug, Switzerland, that develops and operates grid-scale battery energy storage systems and runs a digital marketplace for trading flexible power capacity, raised a $225.1 million round led by Eurazeo, with RIVE Private Investment also opting in. Renewables Now has more here.

Zipline, a 12-year-old South San Francisco company that operates autonomous drones that deliver medical supplies, groceries, and other essential goods quickly to hospitals, clinics, and homes, raised a $600+ million round at a $7.6 billion post-money valuation. Investors included Valor Equity Partners, Tiger Global, Fidelity, and Baillie Gifford. Reuters has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Ditto, a six-year-old San Francisco startup whose platform helps teams write, review, update, and publish product text in one place and then push the final wording directly into their apps and websites, raised a $12.2 million Series A round. Craft Ventures led the transaction, with previous investor Y Combinator also taking part. More here.

Dominion Dynamics, a one-year-old Ottawa startup that builds interoperable autonomous systems for Arctic and allied defense operations, raised a $15.2 million seed round led by Georgian, with Bessemer Venture Partners and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation also contributing. The company has raised a total of $18.8 million. More here.

Fracttal, an 11-year-old Madrid company that builds maintenance management software for physical assets and equipment, raised a $35 million round led by Riverwood Capital, with Seaya Ventures, Kayyak, GoHub, and Amador also investing. More here.

one.five, a six-year-old Hamburg startup that builds software to help packaging manufacturers design and test new products before launch, raised a $16.4 million Series A led by Dr. Hans Riegel Holding, with 212 NexT, Symbia VC, Btomorrow Ventures, KIMPA Impact, Zubi Capital, Speedinvest, Planet A, Green Generation Fund, Climentum Capital, Revent, and WEPA also piling on. EU-Startups has more here.

TitanX, a five-year-old startup based in Knoxville, TN, that predicts which sales prospects are most likely to answer cold calls before reps dial, raised a $27 million Series A. Updata Partners was the deal lead. More here.

XBuild, a four-year-old San Francisco startup that is building AI-powered estimating and proposal software for residential construction contractors, raised a $19 million Series A led by N47, with Rackhouse Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz also anteing up. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Smaller Fundings

Another, a two-year-old New York startup that helps retailers manage excess inventory across warehouses and decide when and where to sell it off-channel, raised a $2.5 million seed round co-led by Anthemis FIL and Westbound. TechCrunch has more here.

Anzen Industries, a two-year-old London startup that develops cell-free biomanufacturing systems to produce high-value chemicals using reusable enzyme reactors, raised a $2.2 million pre-seed round co-led by LocalGlobe and Creator Fund. Tech.eu has more here.