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If you read my story from Monday, you'll see I found the alleged "Deel Spy" (easy using the filing + LinkedIn). I didn't disclose his name + Rippling wouldn't confirm it. Then curiously it came out yesterday, blowing his life apart. So much fishy business here on both sides IMO.

Much of the new wave of security/defense/'resilience' tech coming out has industrial, gov't or military use cases. Here is one example of a startup founded on the same ethos but building for you and me (and privacy). Super interested to see what traction it gets.

Scoop from last night.

AI’s coming to the classroom: Brisk raises $15M after a quick start in school tcrn.ch/4c2cKQd

Krea, which helps creators generate AI content using the best available models, raised a $47M Series B and a $33M Series A; sources: Krea is valued at $500M (Ingrid / TechCrunch) techcrunch.com/2025/04/07/kre… techmeme.com/250407/p21#a25… x.com/Techmeme/statu…

Blackbird Labs, which makes a blockchain-based payment loyalty app for restaurants, raised $50M led by Spark Capital, taking its total funding to $85M (Ingrid / TechCrunch) techcrunch.com/2025/04/08/bla… techmeme.com/250408/p19#a25… x.com/Techmeme/statu…

How many are too many mini eggs?

Madrid-based Jobandtalent, which connects gig workers with companies, raised a $103M Series F at a $1.5B valuation, down from its $500M Series E at $2.35B (Ingrid / TechCrunch) techcrunch.com/2025/04/10/job… techmeme.com/250411/p7#a250… x.com/Techmeme/statu…

Impressive growth for a tricky business, led by unique (and also very under-represented) founders. tip Techmeme

Phantom Neuro grabs $19M to help amputees gain control of their phantom limbs tcrn.ch/4jCRmUy

Manychat, which offers social messaging tools for brands, raised a $140M Series B led by Summit, after an $18M Series A in 2019, and says it has ~1.5M customers (Ingrid / TechCrunch) techcrunch.com/2025/04/22/man… techmeme.com/250422/p7#a250… x.com/Techmeme/statu…

London and Tel Aviv-based Cynomi, which offers a "virtual CISO" for SMBs, raised a $37M Series B, sources say at a $140M+ post-money valuation (Ingrid / TechCrunch) techcrunch.com/2025/04/23/cyn… techmeme.com/250423/p23#a25… x.com/Techmeme/statu…

A former champion runner, fittingly, founded a startup that’s winning business by being faster than its competitors at debugging.

If XR gear has bad product market fit due to having 'too much' tech for everyday users, this is a bet on the opposite: just a slice of what can be done to target a much wider base: billions of ppl w/poor vision. Plus Bezos has his eye on it. Ambitious, smart. tip Techmeme

Big round for one of the middleman enablers in the very busy world of AI. Cast is one of those smart ideas, built by people who know how to build successful tech startups, that you just know will do well (and it has). tip Techmeme

Miami-based Cast, which optimizes AI and other workloads via automation, raised a $108M Series C led by G2 and Vision Fund 2, sources say at a $900M valuation (Ingrid / TechCrunch) techcrunch.com/2025/04/30/cas… techmeme.com/250430/p20#a25… x.com/Techmeme/statu…

Tel Aviv-based Sett, which builds AI agents to create and run mobile game marketing content, emerges from stealth and raised $27M, including a $15M Series A (Ingrid / TechCrunch) techcrunch.com/2025/05/07/gam… techmeme.com/250507/p27#a25… x.com/Techmeme/statu…

🎺personal news 🎺Last Wednesday was my last day at TechCrunch. Last story published two days ago (having been filed before my access was cut off). You can read more (and connect with me) on LinkedIn. linkedin.com/posts/ingridlu…

Speaking truth to pomace. ft.com/content/b18048…

Hello there! I'm writing a little again in a new place. Come check it out. More to come. resiliencemedia.co/p/with-its-sec… tip Techmeme