Pano AI, which uses AI and computer vision to offer active wildfire detection, raised a $20M Series A led by Initialized Capital at a $90M post-money valuation (Haje Jan Kamps/TechCrunch)

Justine Calma / The Verge:
Google expands its flood forecasting and wildfire tracking services, adding a Flood Hub globally and improved wildfire tracking in more countries  —  Google announced a big expansion of its flood forecasting and wildfire tracking services today.  It launched a tool called Flood Hub globally …

Haje Jan Kamps / TechCrunch:
Smartex, whose machine vision-based software spots defects in textile manufacturing, raised a $24.7M Series A led by Lightspeed, Tony Fadell’s Build Collective  —  A lot of things might spring to mind when you hear “fashion,” but taking care of the planet generally isn’t on that list.

Haje Jan Kamps / TechCrunch:
Apple Watch Ultra and Oceanic+ review by a scuba diver: better than other dive computers in user interface and screen but misses some high-end features  —  In short: dive computer makers should be worried  —  In September, Apple launched the Apple Watch Ultra, which is not only waterproof to 100 meters …

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
London-based V7, which offers an API for data annotation and labeling needed for AI training models, raised a $33M Series A led by Radical Ventures and Temasek  —  Artificial intelligence promises to help, and maybe even replace, humans to carry out everyday tasks and solve problems that humans …

Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE:
Fortanix, which offers enterprise encryption tools for data being processed, raised a $90M Series C led by Growth Equity, bringing its total funding to $122M  —  Cybersecurity startup and confidential computing pioneer Fortanix Inc. said today it has closed on a bumper $90 million round of funding …

Katie Notopoulos / BuzzFeed News:
Apple’s video montages for the new Watch and iPhone 14 safety features, like satellite emergency calling and car crash detection, are ominous and unsettling  —  The newly unveiled Watch and iPhone 14 features — car crash detection, satellite emergency calling, extreme weather — all seem a little ominous.