The Department of Justice filed criminal charges against Charlie Javice, the former CEO and founder of financial aid startup Frank, leading to her arrest on Tuesday. She was released later the same day on a $2M bond. Javice is facing four charges, including conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud, and securities fraud, that could collectively bring the sentence to 100 years if convicted. More: - Javice allegedly inflated user numbers to sell her startup to JPMorgan Chase for $175M.
- She reportedly made $21M in equity sale payout from the transaction, with an additional $20M retention bonus.
- The bank claims that it was deceived into believing the startup had over four million clients when in fact, its estimations put that number at less than 300,000.
- JPMorgan discovered the discrepancy when 70% of emails from a batch bounced back.
- Reportedly, Javice paid an outside data scientist $18,000 to create fake accounts list.
- Javice filed a counterclaim to allegations labeled by JPMorgan.
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Digital assets platform Bakkt announced the completion of the acquisition of blockchain company Apex Crypto for $200M. The transaction comprised of $55M in cash, with the remainder in stock. More: - Bakkt expects the acquisition to aid its mission to return to profitability through product acceleration and revenue diversification.
- Bakkt went public via a SPAC merger in Oct. 2021 at a $2.1B valuation. The market capitalization now fluctuates between ~$409M and $451M.
- Apex Crypto claims to have brokered $12.5B in crypto trades since its launch.
- Bakkt began offering Bitcoin futures in 2018, expanding to payments and APIs.
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Saratoga, Calif.-based Mojo Vision held the first close of its "new" Series A round at $22.4M. The funding comes as the firm completes its strategic pivot from developing an augmented reality smart contact lens to micro-LEDs. Incoming funds will enable Mojo Vision to advance and commercialize its micro-LED technology. More: - Earlier this January, the firm announced its smart contact lens project was on hold due to unfavorable economic and technological factors.
- At the same time, it laid off 75% of its workforce.
- Former CEO of AR firm EyeWay Vision Nikhil Balram took over the CEO role from cofounder Drew Perkins after Mojo Vision's plans to make smart contact lenses failed to materialize.
- Existing investors NEA and Khosla Ventures participated in the current round, joined by new investors Dolby Family Ventures, Fusion Fund, Drew Perkins, Open Field Capital, and others.
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Walnut Creek, California-based Trustle, a startup that works on cloud access management, raised a $6M Seed round led by Glasswing Ventures. The product enables the management of multiple resources for users across connected systems, such as Google Workspace, Okta, and Azure. More: - The company plans to release new Trustle Pacs, which would enable the clustering of cloud permissions for services such as those on AWS and GitHub.
- Trustle plans to provide calculations of the macro and micro risk levels for individual accounts based on misconfigured settings or access.
- The round participation from Correlation Ventures, FUSE, and Capital Technology Ventures.
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Sepura Home, a startup that works on a Bluetooth-enabled composter, raised a $3.7M Seed round led by sink manufacturer Blanco. The company seeks to accelerate its production timeline, aiming at launching sales in July. More: - Sepura claims the system can automatically separate 99.9% of solid waste that goes down the drain.
- The product would also detect utensils and prevent water from entering the receptacle.
- Sepura won the KBIS Kickstarter earlier this year in Las Vegas.
- The company developed its first prototype in 2018.
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Amazon Web Services launched Generative AI Accelerator, a 10-week program developed to support 10 AI startups. Participants in the accelerator will receive up to $300,000 in AWS credits to build their products. Applications for the cohort are open until April 17. More: - AWS is looking for startups with early traction that are looking to raise seed rounds within the next 18 months.
- Ideally, it will select participants that have already developed a minimum viable product (MVP).
- Amazon will offer advice on business scaling, access to its AI models, strengthen machine learning stacks, and direct market strategies.
- The kick-off event for the program will occur at the end of May, with a demo day scheduled a month later.
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- British healthcare startup Phlo acquired the U.K. division of healthcare infrastructure provider Truepill for an undisclosed sum.
- Creator startup Pico announced it had rebranded to Hype. It also closed a $10M Series A round led by King River Capital.
- Saudi Arabia-based ride-hailing and food delivery startup ToYou roped in Moelis & Co. to help the firm in raising a fresh round of financing.
- Shippo, a startup developing shipping platform for e-commerce companies, is looking to acquire smaller companies to strengthen its core business.
- An internal review revealed that online alcohol recovery startup Monument and its subsidiary Tempest were sharing confidential user data with advertisers without their consent.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot.
Nicolas is a Sr. Analyst at Inside, covering startups and transportation trends. He is an avid map maker and data nerd. Nicolas has worked in the shared-scooter space, as well as advised e-bike and moped start-ups. | | | | Editor | Vibha Chapparike is a Freelance Writer & Editor at Inside.com. With her post-graduation in Management and Finance completed, Vibha is expanding her knowledge in venture capital, business, startups, and technology. She has had a career in public relations and communications. An ardent reader and writer currently residing in Singapore, you can follow Vibha on Twitter @VChapparike. | |
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