Latest and Hotest Technology Updates

Scale AI, a data labeling outfit, is reportedly closing a round at a valuation that represents a whopping 80% premium to its last round. Right now, that makes it a rare exception in a sea of stumbling companies that were launched in the last 10 years or less, among them the rebooted electric carmaker Fisker; Stability AI, the image generating company; and BeReal, a social network that captured the world's attention, then saw the spotlight move on.

Each represents a very different industry, but all raised a significant amount of capital, and all are beginning to raise questions about even more established names that investors would sooner let die than continue funding through a choppy market.

For his part, Eric Liaw, a general partner with the growth-stage venture firm IVP, sees more rough road ahead, but he doesn't anticipate the full-blown bloodbath that others have predicted. "Just as people don’t know what they are capable of until their backs are against the wall," Liaw told me this week, "I think the same is actually proving true for companies. They may not have thought they could be as efficient with their engineering team or their sales team or their marketing dollars as they are proving they can be, because they realize there may not be the opportunity to raise more."

Liaw's best guess was that 15% of today's billion-dollar-plus outfits will eventually disappear and that some of these — sorry to say it — will not be missed. He pointed to Zume, a pizza-making robotics company that was founded in 2015 and raised $450 million before hanging up its apron last June. "I mean, the pizza robot one never made sense to me," he said.

In his view, it’s more likely that most of today’s so-called unicorns will “quietly get acquired for a lot less than their last-round valuation. Maybe [they'll sell for] somewhere [around their] total capital raised and their last round as they work through what cash is left on their balance sheet. As for complete Chapter 11?” Liaw continued. “I think it's going to be a relatively small percentage." — Connie Loizos

AT&T resets millions of customers' passcodes after TechCrunch alerts company to leaked data risk

AT&T announced yesterday that it had reset the passcodes of 7.6 million customers after it determined that compromised customer data was "released on the dark web." The U.S. telco giant initiated a mass reset after TechCrunch informed it that the leaked data contained encrypted passcodes that could be used to access its customer accounts. Zack Whittaker held the story for days to give the company time to reset these; more here.

MIT tool shows climate change could cost Texans a month and a half of outdoor time by 2080

Researchers at MIT have developed a tool that shows users how many "outdoor days" their region might be forsaking if carbon emissions growth remains unchecked in the coming decades. It’s not a pretty picture! Illinois could lose a month. Texas could lose up to six weeks. Other populations are poised to lose even more, writes Tim De Chant.

A TikTok ban could prematurely end the outfit's e-commerce dreams — and hit sellers seeking new channels

In recent months, merchants looking for an Amazon alternative have flocked to TikTok to peddle clothes, cosmetics, and a variety of other products. Now, with TikTok facing a possible ban in the U.S., many of them feel trapped, including in China. "The situation is not within our control," a China-based retailer of baby products tells Rita Liao. "It's just difficult to know how things will develop.”

Short-haul trucking captures VCs' attention

Companies looking to build autonomous construction vehicles or to fix last-mile freight have captured the attention (and moolah) of venture capitalists in recent years, but not a lot of mindshare has been devoted to short-haul trucking. Iron Sheepdog of Williamsburg, Virginia, may just change that, suggests Rebecca Szkutak.

What else we're reading

More private clubs are popping up in New York, and the offerings are almost comically varied. "We don't have a fully functioning restaurant here, we're not open until 6 p.m. during the weekdays — you can't use this as a co-working space,” boasts one club owner to the New York Times.

Colleges are facing an enrollment nightmare, reports the Atlantic, which highlights how a “botched effort to streamline the financial-aid process may prevent a huge number of students from going to college in the fall.”

Before you go

Check out this Tokyo cafe where the largest rodents in the world are treated like customers.

• HR Manager at Murmuration (United States)
• Government Relations Director at Center for AI Policy (Washington, D.C., USA)
• CFO/Investment Fund Raiser at Flipping Technologies Inc. (Riverside, CA, USA)
• Instructor at Oregon Institute of Technology (Wilsonville, OR, USA)
• Senior Big Data Engineer at GridX (Denver, CO, USA)

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