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Emails link Peter Thiel's Palantir and Eric Schmidt's daughter to Facebook's Cambridge Analytica fiasco

• Emails indicate that Eric Schmidt's daughter Sophie once suggested that Cambridge Analytica's parent company work with Palantir.
• Cambridge Analytica later developed a relationship with a Palantir staffer that produced the idea to use an app to harvest Facebook user data.
• Both Cambridge Analytica and Palantir are owned by conservative billionaires who funded Donald Trump's election campaign. [ Business Insider ]

Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop raises $50M at $250M valuation

Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle website, has raised a $50 million Series C at an estimated valuation of $250 million, PitchBook has learned. Goop has not yet replied to PitchBook's request for comment. Lightspeed Venture Partners has likely led the fundraise. Nicole Quinn, an investor at Lightspeed, announced Wednesday that she is joining the company's board.  [ PitchBook ]

Energy-saving Bitcoin rival Chia raises from A16Z, plans mini-IPO

 Chia has just raised a $3.395 million seed round led by AngelList’s Naval Ravikant and joined by Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock and more. The money will help the startup build out its Chia coin and blockchain powered by proofs of space and timeinstead of Bitcoin’s energy-sucking proofs of work, which it plans to launch in Q1 2019. [ Tech Crunch ]

This young lending startup just secured $70 million to lend $2 at a time

You don’t hear of many $2 loans in the United States, where $2 won’t buy you more than a chocolate bar. But in cities like Lagos, Nigeria, and Nairobi, Kenya, $2 has the buying power of roughly $40, making such “micro” loans useful when you’re running a small business. And borrowing $2 from a startup called Branch is a way onto a platform that promises much bigger loans, based on your credit worthiness. [ Tech Crunch ]

Solomon Hykes leaves Docker, the company he founded

Docker  founder Solomon Hykes today announced that he is leaving the company he started.

Docker, the open source project and eponymous company that kickstarted today’s container hype, was founded by Hykes in 2010 (at the time, it was called dotCloud). Hykes quickly hired a CEO and for the longest time, he remained the company’s CTO.
[ Tech Crunch ]

Meet First Round’s Angel Track Class—Spring 2018

Last month, we announced an open application for First Round Angel Track — a masterclass and community for angel investors who are just getting started. We were blown away by the response. Over just a couple weeks, we received 500+ applications and spoke with dozens of the highest-caliber operators in tech. [ Medium ]

Bumble is suing Match Group for $400 million in damages for stealing trade secrets

Bumble, the popular dating app, and Match Group, which owns another popular dating app, Tinder, are in the midst of a messy, public divorce — and the two sides never even got married to begin with. 

The latest: Bumble filed a lawsuit late Wednesday claiming Match Group, which tried to buy Bumble late last year, interfered with its business operations, and is asking for $400 million in damages. Bumble alleges Match Group stole trade secrets through “fraudulent” behavior and hurt Bumble’s chances of selling an equity investment, or the company altogether, by filing its own patent infringement lawsuit against Bumble earlier this month. Bumble’s suit described Match’s legal action as “chilling the market for an investment in Bumble.” [ Re/Code ]

Elon Musk's brain implant start-up reportedly planned to test on animals

• In seeking regulatory approval for its planned use of office space in San Francisco, a Neuralink employee said the company was looking to house rodents and conduct operations "for in vivo testing." 
• Elon Musk has said Neuralink will initially focus on providing brain implants to people with disabilities. But he has not talked about testing on animals. [ CNBC ]

26 WOMEN OF COLOR DIVERSIFYING ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SILICON VALLEY, MEDIA, AND BEYOND

Warner Music Group Acquires Data Analytics Startup Sodatone

[PODCAST] Startup Meet Corporate – Episode 13: Credit Union Australia

The Extreme Geographic Inequality of High-Tech Venture Capital

Intersect 2018 | Morning Session

Credit Karma and Silver Lake Announce $500 Million Strategic Secondary Investment

SoftBank Group and Saudi Arabia plan to spend $200 billion building the world’s biggest solar power plant

How This Startup Hopes to Take a Bite Out of the Horror Industry by Becoming the "Marvel for Monsters"

Intersect 2018 | Afternoon Session

Google To Acquire Startup Tenor As Mobile GIF-Sharing Explodes

When the startup grind gets tough, here's how 3 tech companies address burnout

Some Marine Layer Stores Are Getting Second Jobs as Airbnbs 

Canadian startups are attracting more international workers thanks to Trump’s immigration policies​

Uber has agreed to settle a class action discrimination suit for $10 million