Thiel-backed conservative video platform Rumble is up 37% after going public via SPAC merger at a $2.1B valuation, raising $400M (Lizette Chapman/Bloomberg)

Danny Hakim / New York Times:
Russia’s RT, banned by major platforms in March 2022, has found an audience on Thiel-backed Rumble, often pushing Russian propaganda about the Ukraine invasion  —  An interview of captive Americans done “under duress” appears on a web platform backed by J.D. Vance and Peter Thiel.

Niket Nishant / Reuters:
Malaysian payments technology company Super Apps Holdings plans to go public in the US via a SPAC merger at a ~$1.1B valuation, listed on the Nasdaq under TETE  —  Super Apps Holdings will go public in the United States through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company in a deal …

Alex Harring / CNBC:
LGBTQ dating app Grindr closed up 213.84% at $36.50 per share in its NYSE debut under the new ticker GRND following its SPAC merger  —  – Grindr surged in trading Friday in its first day under a new ticker following its merger with blank-check company Tiga.

MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
Source: Publicly-traded US bitcoin miner Core Scientific is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday, as its valuation fell from $4.3B in July 2021 to $78M  —  – Core Scientific, one of the largest publicly traded crypto mining companies in the U.S., is filing for bankruptcy.

Wall Street Journal:
Chinese protestors are holding up blank pieces of paper as a protest against censorship, leading platforms and censors to quickly remove the images  —  Protesters are using few or no words in public and online demonstrations to speak out against Beijing’s zero-Covid policies

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Bright Machines, which automates manufacturing tasks with AI and robotics, raised a $100M Series B and $32M in debt after pulling its SPAC deal in December 2021  —  In May of last year, Bright Machines announced plans to embrace the SPAC craze with a merger deal that valued the Bay Area-based manufacturing firm at $1.6 billion.