Kate Park / TechCrunch: South Korea-based luxury goods resale platform Kream raised a ~$168M Series C led by Altos Ventures at a ~$742M valuation, up from ~$306M in October 2021  —  The startup funding environment is more challenging right now, but some companies and industries still draw investors’ attention and money. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Munich-based IntegrityNext, a service that helps companies audit supply chains for ESG compliance, raised €100M from EQT Growth, its first outside investment  —  The funding landscape remains very tough for technology startups, but there are still some pockets, and specific companies … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Cade Metz / New York Times: Chatbot startup Character.AI raised $150M led by a16z at a $1B valuation, after a $43M seed in December 2021, and plans to raise more from “strategic partners”  —  Founded by ex-Google employees, the Silicon Valley company is among the few start-ups poised to compete with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. Lees verder op Tech Meme

Patrick Temple-West / Financial Times: Intel, IBM, Nvidia, and other chip companies have joined industrial materials businesses to fight proposed clampdowns on “forever chemicals” across the US  —  Intel helped form lobbying group that has opposed state legislation on PFAS  —  Intel and other semiconductor companies … Lees verder op Tech Meme

Meta: WhatsApp announces an updated Windows app, which loads faster and enables group video calls with up to eight people and audio calls with up to 32 people  —  Takeaways  — We’re launching a new WhatsApp app for Windows desktop that loads faster and enables group video calls with up to eight people … Lees verder op Tech Meme