The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Thrive Capital is leading an investment round in OpenAI that would value the company at $100+ billion. Thrive will reportedly invest $1 billion, and Microsoft is also looking to participate.  

French authorities have thrown the proverbial book at Telegraph founder Pavel Durov, accusing him of complicity in crimes such as distributing child pornography, drug trafficking, and fraud. The New York Times has more here. 

The SEC has informed the NFT marketplace OpenSea that it is investigating OpenSea for illegally selling securities. TechCrunch has more here.

A U.S. appeals court has ruled that a lawsuit blaming TikTok for the death of a ten-year-old may proceed because Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 does not shield TikTok from recommendations made by its own algorithms. Reuters has more here. 

After years of complaints, Yelp is finally suing Google for tilting the search playing field against it. The New York Times has more here. 

🚀 Top 100 LP-GP Conferences to Attend in 2024-25. Check out our global calendar of top 100 events specifically for LPs & GPs to meet. Get event details, website, expected audience, dates, city, and more - all in one place!

By Rebecca Bellan

Fluid Truck, a startup that was founded to disrupt the commercial vehicle rental industry, has ousted its sibling co-founders — CEO James Eberhard and chief legal counsel Jenifer Snyder — according to sources familiar with the matter. The shakeup, which employees have described as a hostile takeover, was led by two minority investors on the board. Both Eberhard and Snyder have retained their own board seats.

The leadership restructuring, which hasn’t been reported previously, comes after the venture-backed Fluid Truck lost tens of millions of dollars as of June 31, leaving vendors and fleet owners unpaid, according to documents that TechCrunch has viewed and sources with direct knowledge.

It’s a hole that several rounds of layoffs and other cost-cutting measures taken in 2023 couldn’t fix for the company that’s been described as a Zipcar of commercial trucks.

The board’s decision to oust Eberhard and Snyder was driven by two minority shareholders, Bison Capital and Ingka Investments, which is Ikea’s venture arm. Sources familiar with the matter said the investors accused Eberhard of mismanaging the company’s funds and leading it into substantial operating losses.

More here

Comun, a three-year-old New York neobank designed to serve immigrants in the United States, particularly the Latino community, raised a $21.5 million Series A round led by Redpoint Ventures, with additional participation from Animo Ventures, Costanoa Ventures, FJ Labs, RTP Global, and South Park Commons. TechCrunch has more here.

OpusClip, a two-year-old startup based in Redwood City, CA, that has developed an AI-powered tool that helps content creators repurpose long videos into short, engaging clips for social media, raised a $30 million round led by Millennium New Horizons, with Samsung Next, GTMfund, and DCM Ventures also contributing. Fast Company has more here.

Solayer Labs, a one-year-old San Francisco startup that provides restaking services on the Solana network, raised a $12 million seed round led by Polychain Capital and including Big Brain Holdings, Hack VC, Nomad Capital, Race Capital, ABCDE, and Maelstrom. Decrypt has more here.

Swiss-Mile, a one-year-old Zurich startup that develops AI-powered industrial robots that combine wheels and legs for greater mobility and versatility, is raising a $20 million seed round at a $100 million valuation, according to Bloomberg. Investors include Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Bezos Expeditions, HongShan (formerly Sequoia Capital China),  Armada Investment, and previous investor Linear Capital. Bloomberg has more here. 

Aerflo, a four-year-old startup that has developed a portable carbonization device that transforms still water into sparkling water, raised a $5.3 million round co-led by Lerer Hippeau and Torch Capital, with Closed Loop Ventures Group, Good Friends, SWAT Equity Partners, WISE Ventures, Bluestein Ventures, RiverPark Ventures, and Palm Tree Crew also piling on. More here.

Inventive AI, a one-year-old startup based in Mountain View, CA, that uses AI to help businesses streamline their RFP and sales questionnaire processes, raised a $4 million seed round led by Sierra Ventures, with Y Combinator, SOMA Capital, and General Catalyst also participating. More here.

Moveo.ai, a four-year-old startup based in Greece, São Paulo, and New York that creates AI agents to handle customer interactions, raised a $2.6 million seed round led by Eleven Ventures, with Uni.Fund and Charge.vc also taking part. EU-Startups has more here.

Myco, a nine-year-old Dubai startup that operates a Web3 streaming platform that features live sports broadcasting and has secured rights for popular sports like cricket and the English Premier League, raised a $10 million Series A round at an $80 million post-money valuation. Investors included Daman Investments, Aptos Labs, B Digital, Mocha Ventures, Art3 Foundation, Ghaf Capital Partners, Mix Media Network, Factor6 Capital Partners, and Enjinstarter. Inc. Arabia has more here.

New School Foods, a four-year-old Toronto startup that develops plant-based seafood products such as whole-cut plant-based salmon, raised a $6 million round from from Inter IKEA Group, Good Startup, NewTree Capital, and Hatch. The company has raised a total of $18 million. AgFunderNews has more here.

Pryzm, a two-year-old Boston startup that provides tools and data to help businesses navigate government contracting more efficiently, raised a $2 million seed round led by XYZ Venture Capital, with Amplify LA s First In also joining in. More here.

Rep AI Technologies, a five-year-old New York and Tel Aviv startup that has developed an AI-powered sales chatbot that proactively engages with website visitors, offering personalized product recommendations, answering questions, and helping to prevent abandoned shopping carts, raised an $8.2 million round led by Osage Venture Partners, with Flashpoint Venture Capital and Oryzn Capital also investing. CTech has more here.

Tiimo, a nine-year-old Copenhagen startup that offers a customizable visual planning app designed specifically for neurodivergent individuals, including those with ADHD, autism, and dyslexia, raised a $1.6 million pre-Series A extension. Crowberry Capital and People Ventures were the co-leads, with Inner Foundations also chipping in. Tech Funding News has more here.

Is your firm building out the right AI capabilities? Tune in on September 5 to get that question answered with speakers from OpenAI, Earlybird Ventures, and Affinity. They’ll discuss: the reliability of AI for deal sourcing, how AI streamlines founder outreach and engagement, and why AI-driven due diligence is becoming a competitive edge. Save your spot today!

New Enterprise Associates is quietly reentering the secondaries game. The investing powerhouse has raised more than $468 million for NEA Secondary Opportunity Fund, according to an SEC filing spied by TechCrunch's Rebecca Szutak. The fundraise closed on July 3, according to TC, but hasn’t received much attention. The fund raised capital from more than 60 limited partners including the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System, which committed $20 million to the fund, according to meeting documents. More here.

The growing consensus among companies considering initial public offerings is to wait until next year, many bankers, lawyers and corporate executives tell the WSJ.

Given Pavel Durov's arrest, should Meta co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg cancel that upcoming trip to France? The New York Times has more here. 

The Information goes all-in on "superintelligent" AI investor Daniel Gross, a "low-key" version of Sam Altman, the outlet claims. 

Andrew Lee is moving from Entrepreneur in Residence to Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he runs Speedrun, an early-stage accelerator for "next-gen consumer and tech startups." More here.

Brave, the privacy-focused browser company, has laid off 27 employees, which TechCrunch estimates to be about 14% of the company. TC has more here. 

TechCrunch digs into OpenAI's accelerator program, which seems more akin to an intelligence operation than the typical PR exercise that many of these corporate incubators often become. 

Industry experts are saying that the new $100 million podcast deals that are being signed by folks like Travis and Jason Kelce are more "conservative." 

Bolt's plan to raise $200 million at a $14 billion valuation, wash out a bunch of investors, and reinstate former CEO Ryan Breslow is looking even more sketchy. It turns out that one of the deal leads - London Financial - may not have as many portfolio companies as it once claimed. Dan Primack at Axios has the scoop here. 

The U.S. Open has a new hero.

And speaking of the U.S. Open, have you heard about l'affaire Honey Deuce?

The Bear is coming back for a fourth season. Hopefully, with new writers. 

With bids starting at £450,000, winning the auction for this 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage will leave you shaken and stirred.

A coffin cooler from Yeti.