The article also highlights the most interesting fundraises of the week, including Foundry Group's decision to stop raising more funds after 18 years, Finom's $54 million Series B funding, Hippo Harvest's $21 million Series B funding, and SocialCrowd's $1.6 million pre-seed funding. The hardware sector is also discussed, with a focus on the decline in industrial robotics orders and Apple's rumored foldable phones. Other stories include Airbnb's shift towards transparent pricing, Notion's acquisition of Skiff, layoffs at Mozilla, and a Waymo robotaxi being set on fire in San Francisco.
Key takeaways:
- A new dating app called Score has been launched, which matches people based on their credit scores. The app is temporary and those who don't make the cut are sent to financial literacy boot camp.
- The Dawn Project, a safety advocacy group, has come under fire for using the National Transportation Safety Board's seal in a Super Bowl ad without permission.
- Foundry Group, a venture capital firm known for backing Fitbit and Zynga, has decided not to raise more funds after 18 years and nearly $3.5 billion under management.
- The industrial robotics sector saw a significant downturn in 2023, with orders dropping by nearly one-third, according to the Association for Advancing Automation.