NASA allocates $45M for early-stage space projects / Leadership changes at Nori, Alkeus, Latch / Apple acquires AR headset startup Mira

Plus, Data platform Mosaic raises $26M

Inside Startups For June 07, 2023

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1 NASA allocated $45M across 249 startups and 39 research institutions under the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. Among the selected companies is Starfish Space, which is working on an in-space docking and capture mechanism. More: Also among the selectees is Argo Space Corporation, which develops a small reusable spacecraft transfer vehicle. Nou Systems, which monitors the microbial environment in spacecraft, and HyBird Space Systems, a developer of a propulsion system to deorbit space junk, were also selected for the grants. "Through these early-stage small business awards, we are inviting more innovators into this growing arena and helping them mature their technologies for not only NASA's use, but for commercial impact," said the director of early-stage innovation and partnerships at NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, Jenn Gustetic.

2 Carbon removal startup Nori, which raised $6.25M in fresh funding today, announced Matt Trudeau as its new CEO. Trudeau will succeed former CEO and co-founder Paul Gambill, who will transition into the chief product officer role. In addition to Nori, Alkeus, Latch, and Affini-T also announced leadership changes.  Hires: Alkeus Pharmaceuticals roped in Vertex Pharmaceuticals executive and founder Josh Boger as its executive chairman. Earlier today, the Boston, Mass.-based biopharmaceutical company secured $150M in Series B funding led by Bain Capital Life Sciences.  Jamie Siminoff, the founder of residential security company Ring, is set to step into the CEO role at keyless smart lock startup Latch later this year. The news comes as Latch acquired Siminoff's newest startup Honest Day's Work, for an undisclosed sum.  Washington STEM appointed Lynne K. Varner as its new CEO. Varner will step into the role vacated by former CEO Milton Lang, who left on Jun. 22 after four months in the role.  Precision immunotherapy startup Affini-T Therapeutics appointed Thaminda Ramanayake as chief business officer. Green Check Verified acquired cannabis compliance startup Komplyd in a primarily stock deal. Komplyd's CEO and founder Rose Elliott joined Green Check as senior vice president of engineering.

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3 Apple acquired Los Angeles, Calif.-based augmented reality (AR) headset startup Mira for an undisclosed sum. News of the acquisition comes just a day after Apple unveiled its mixed-reality headset dubbed the Vision Pro. Mira's technology is primarily aimed at military operators, making it unclear how Apple will incorporate the startup's technology into its products.  More: Mira has a $702,351 contract with the Navy and another small contract to supply its Prism Pro headset to the U.S. Air Force.  The company had raised $17M from investors.  The firm is backed by Sequoia Capital, Happiness Ventures, and Blue Bear Capital, per Crunchbase.  Apple has roped in at least 11 employees from Mira as part of the acquisition.

4 Mosaic, a platform that centralizes data across teams, raised a $26M Series C, bringing its total funding to $73M. The round included participation from the Founders Fund and General Catalyst, among others. More: The company claims its business has grown 3x since 2019. Its clients include Drata, Emerge, and Sourcegraph. The startup was founded by former Palantir finance team members Bijan Moallemi, Joe Garafalo, and Brian Campbell. "Realizing that the role of the CFO had grown in scope, but our toolkit had not, we set out to build a platform that would address the technical challenges modern-day finance and business teams face,"  Moallemi told TechCrunch.

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5 Solar-panel component startup CubicPV is tapping into the subsidies and government loans under the Inflation Reduction Act to build a 10-gigawatt silicon wafer manufacturing facility in the U.S. The factory will cost an estimated $1.4B to build, with production expected to start in 2025. CubicPV's factory is one of 50 solar manufacturing projects that are set to collectively rake in a $5B investment from the government.  More: Before this, CubicPV failed to establish its factory in three different countries, including the U.S.  In addition to subsidies from the IRA, the firm has tapped investors, including Bill Gates's Breakthrough Energy Ventures and First Solar.  The firm has raised around $200M under its previous guise, 1366 Technologies.  1366 merged with Hunt Energy in 2021 to form CubicPV.  Zoom out: China produces 97% of the total silicon wafers. Meanwhile, the U.S. does not have any silicon wafer manufacturing.  130 U.S. solar startups failed between 2010 and 2018, the most notable of which was solar-panel maker Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy in 2011.

6 CUREator, Australia's national biotech incubator, allocated AUD$12M ($7.9M) to 19 startups, tackling diseases such as motor neuron disease, IBD, and lupus. The incubator's LPs include the Australian government's Medical Research Future Fund, which invested AUD $40M via the program's facilitator, Brandon BioCatalyst.  More: CUREator is also funded through $3M from CSIRO. Thus far, the incubator has had a total of 40 projects.  The program divided AUD $6M across six early-stage startups, including GILZRx, a company tackling inflammatory diseases.  Another selectee, Cyteph, works on novel T-cell therapy for the treatment of brain cancer. "This support will assist us as we progress in our phase 1 study testing the safety and efficacy of our novel therapy for the treatment of recurrent Glioblastoma Multiforme, a severe form of brain cancer," said Cyteph co-founder Prof. Rajiv Khanna.

7 Quick Hits: Want to invest in one of the Top 5 Fastest Growing Industries in the U.S.? Join R3 Printing as they take on the $18B 3D printing industry.* The average time taken by Series A startups to raise subsequent Series B rounds increased to 31 months, the highest time on record over the past 12 years.  Palo Alto, Calif.-based biotech startup Bitterroot Bio emerged from stealth with a $145M Series A funding backed by ARCH Venture Partners, GV, and others.  AI large language model startup Contextual AI emerged from stealth, armed with a $20M seed funding led by Bain Capital Ventures.  Coterie Insurance's co-founder Kevin Mackey launched a new B2B transactions services startup dubbed 1000Zebras.  New York-based fertility planning startup Bunnii is closing down after failing to secure additional investors to back its $1M round. The firm had secured a lead investor who was willing to provide $750,000 contingent upon the firm finding other investors to contribute the remaining $250,000.  Automate tedious project management work with Notion Projects.* *This is sponsored content.

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CNN CEO is out / Dave & Buster's Q1 earnings / Crypto firms look abroad

Also, Boeing sued for allegedly stealing IP

Inside Business For June 07, 2023

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1 CNN CEO Chris Licht is out at the company as the cable news network looks to steady the ship amidst tumbling ratings. His tenure lasted a little over a year, and this comes just days after he apologized to CNN staffers for a profile in The Atlantic that was published last week.  More: The profile caused an insurrection at the company as both on-air talent and producers voiced frustration publicly about his tenure.  David Zaslav, CEO of CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, took responsibility for Licht's poor performance. The decision to remove Licht was made on Tuesday night after it was ruled he couldn't be an effective leader anymore, according to WSJ. Since Licht took over last May, CNN's ratings hit historic lows, and the programming moves he made to try to counterbalance the situation have not taken hold. CNN has tried a new morning show that has not gained ratings, and the network fired Don Lemon, a popular host, after comments he made about presidential hopeful Nikki Haley.  Zoom Out: The move comes a little over a year after Jeff Zucker resigned for failing to disclose an intimate relationship with a colleague and after Warner Bros. Discovery took control of CNN.

2 What the numbers say: Dave & Buster's earned its highest earnings per share (EPS) this year, building on the momentum it has experienced the past three years. Following a negative EPS in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the entertainment and dining center company has seen a sharp increase as people have come back to the stores.  Relevance: Dave & Buster's announced its Q1 2023 earnings yesterday and reported a profit of $70.1M or an EPS of $1.45. It beat the estimated EPS of $1.17 and saw its stock rise nearly 25% the morning after the earnings were announced. Executives said on the conference call that customer spending has held up, though the real test will be the summer. The company also announced that it purchased back 12% of its outstanding shares during the quarter. More historical data: It is the highest EPS that Dave & Buster's has reported in the past eight years, as it had never gone higher than $1.35. Share prices still have a long way to go to match 2018's high of $65.01, but the share price was above $40 per share on Wednesday for the first time since early February this year.

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3 Just days after the U.S. cracked down on some of the biggest crypto exchanges in the country, the firms are beginning to look elsewhere rather than deal with regulations. The Securities and Exchange Commission has sued Binance and Coinbase in recent days as the U.S. is becoming one of the strictest countries for regulating. More: Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., has opened a business in Bermuda.  Gemini, a rival firm to Coinbase that operates in New York City, is seeking a license in the United Arab Emirates. Bittrex, an exchange in Seattle, has ceased its operations in the U.S. The enforcement of regulations is seen as a turning point for the industry in the country, as cryptocurrencies were created to operate as a finance system beyond the reach of regulators. As the market surged in 2021, crypto companies aimed to lobby in Washington that they are compliant businesses. That failed, as Congress, regulators, and the public became skeptical of the industry.

4 Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer, is being sued for allegedly stealing intellectual property over the last two decades. The suit was filed by Wilson Aerospace, a family-run tools company based in Colorado, and claims that Boeing used tools that Wilson Aerospace made for it and stole the IP related to the devices. More: The lawsuit centers around custom-designed tools that Wilson Aerospace made for Boeing. Wilson claims that Boeing "rewarded Wilson's efforts by brazenly stealing" the IP related to them.  Boeing's actions, Wilson claims, have cost the company "hundreds of millions of dollars." Wilson said its tools helped Boeing win billions in contract awards and fees from the government. Wilson also claims that Boeing's counterfeit tools led to leaks on the International Space Station and Space Launch Systems moon rocket. Wilson brought 10 claims against Boeing, including copyright infringement, misappropriation and theft of trade secrets, and fraud.

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5 Qatar's Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani has made a final attempt to win the bid for soccer club Manchester United. The final offer is in hopes of avoiding a bidding war with British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe.  More: Jassim and his Doha-based Nine Two Foundation have submitted an offer that's been approved by the Premier League. The bid is said to be Jassim's last, and he "will no longer engage with the process" after Friday, said a source. The Glazer family said five months ago that they were willing to sell the club and have yet to confirm which bid they are taking after multiple rounds of bids from Ratcliffe and Jassim. The club's equity is valued at $3B, and the price of the most recent bid is unknown at this time.  Jassim's third-round bid valued the club at $5B, as reported by the Financial Times.

6 In an attempt to capitalize on American consumers' willingness to spend, global fashion retailers are aiming to expand to the country. Following in the footsteps of IKEA and Lego, companies like Uniqlo, Mango, and Zara are pursuing U.S. expansion. More: Executives at the companies say they are upbeat about the prospects of the growing positivity American shoppers show toward foreign fashion brands. Many of Europe's best-known brands have focused expansion in countries like Russia and China. The U.S. was always seen as a tough market to crack because there are so many American companies to battle against. In contrast to Russia and China, the U.S. is seen as a stable market at this point. Mango aims to open 40 stores in the U.S. by the end of this year. Zara wants to open 30 stores by 2025. Uniqlo wants to open 20 stores per year through 2026. "The market is eager to have newcomers, companies that can bring something different," said Daniel López, expansion director at Spanish fashion retailer Mango.

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Christopher Hachey Freelance Editor Christopher Hachey is a freelance writer and editor based in the New York City area. He has spent most of the past 15 years in newsrooms covering all kinds of topics like sports, tech, business, finance, and commerce. He's now returning to his broadcast journalism roots by diving into podcasting news. Reach out to him at chris@inside.com This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield

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