Massachussets-based warehouse robotics startup Locus raised a $117M Series F at a “close to” $2B valuation, following a $150M Series E in February 2021 (Brian Heater/TechCrunch)

Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:
Q&A with outgoing Y Combinator President Geoff Ralston on his decision to leave the accelerator, its investing capital sources, the market slowdown, and more  —  Last week at Web Summit, we were asked to interview outgoing Y Combinator President Geoff Ralston about the past, present, and future of the popular accelerator program.

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.

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Pickle Robot Company, which makes robots for unloading trucks at warehouses, has raised a $26M Series A led by Ranpak, JS Capital, Soros Capital, and others  —  Fulfillment has arguably been the hottest robotics category over the past two years, as companies have looked to stay competitive with Amazon …

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Israel-based NeuReality, which is developing cost-effective AI inferencing chips and software, raised a $35M Series A led by Samsung Ventures and others  —  The growing demand for AI, particularly generative AI (i.e., AI that generates images, text and more), is supercharging the AI inferencing chip market.

Matt Day / Bloomberg:
The Amazon Labor Union withdraws its petition for an election at a southern California warehouse, after losing an election at a New York warehouse last week  —  Amazon.com Inc. workers seeking to join a union at a company warehouse in Southern California have backed away from their attempt …

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon increases its average starting pay for front-line US staff to $19+/hour, up from $18/hour; warehouse and delivery workers will earn $16/hour to $26/hour  —  – Amazon is bumping its average starting pay for warehouse and delivery workers to more than $19 an hour, up from $18 an hour, the company said Wednesday.