gm. Just had our first "wow, it's already May" moment of the year.

Time flies when you're sending newsletters. 

FRESH POWDER

Looking at three funds that recently topped up their coffers. 

PRIVACY 

Data privacy takes center stage after leaked Supreme Court ruling

After the unprecedented leak of a draft opinion suggesting the Supreme Court is preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade, attention has turned to the role location data may play in the enforcement of new regulations. 

• Driving the news: On Monday, the gay-dating app Grindr was outed for tracking the precise movements of its millions of users then selling that data to a digital ad network. Then, in a separate story, Vice reported that location data firm SafeGraph has already started selling information on patients who visit clinics that provide abortions. 

How data selling works: App developers often install software development kits (SDKs) into their apps that sends user data to companies like SafeGraph in exchange for payment. And even though most people are aware that this sort of data collection is happening, where their data ends up after passing through data brokers is still a black box. As the Vice investigation found out, it’s all too easy to buy data sets from companies like SafeGraph. 

• SafeGraph classifies "Planned Parenthood" as a brand that can be tracked and buying a week’s worth of location data only costs $160.  

• This is not a new phenomenon either—a NYT investigation from 2018 titled “Our Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret" revealed how easy it was to dox someone using the supposedly anonymous data collected by companies. 

Bottom line: Accelerated by the pandemic, technology's role in public health is only growing larger. Just yesterday, newly released documents showed that the CDC tracked millions of phones to see if people were following Covid lockdown orders. The Roe v. Wade ruling has only intensified the discourse around right to privacy in the technological age.

INDIA 

The land of 100 unicorns

India has officially hit the 100 unicorn mark after the neobank, Open, announced a new round that pushed it over the $1 billion mark on Monday. India is now home to 10% of all unicorns globally with a whopping 58 popping up in the last 16 months alone.

VC firms are taking note: a16z, which made its first investment in India just last year, has earmarked $500 million for investment in Indian startups according to a TechCrunch report. But that’s chump change compared to one of its chief rivals. 

• Sequoia Capital already has assets worth $5.4 billion under management spread across seven funds invested in Indian startups. It is by far the most active fund in the region. 

Zoom out: With the broader pullback in both capital deployed and valuations seen across the US and China, India doesn’t seem to be having the same problem. The country saw a record $11.8 billion raised by startups in Q1.

QUICK HITS

Seed round

Stat: Sunday, the day of Yuga Labs' Otherdeeds mint, was the highest volume day in the history of OpenSea. Around $476 million in ETH changed hands over the 24 hour period.

Story we're watching: Apple has hired a longtime Ford exec signaling that its mysterious car project is still alive. The iPhone maker has been trying to develop a fully electric autonomous car in secret for the past few years, but has been beset by delays. Codenamed Project Titan, rumors have swirled that an Apple car could be unveiled in the next two years. (More here)

Rabbit hole: How Yuga Labs’ Otherdeeds smart contract failed to optimize for Ethereum gas fees (Twitter).

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

• ApeCoin is integrating with Polygon after backlash from the gas fees users incurred during the Otherside mint. 

• California’s four-day workweek bill that would’ve made employers pay hourly workers overtime for anything over 32 hours has been shelved.

• Rivian received a $1.5 billion incentive package to build an EV plant in Georgia.

• Facebook is shutting down its podcast platform after less than a year.

THREE LIES AND A HEADLINE

Three of these headlines are made up by The Onion, but one actually happened. Can you spot the real one amidst the fakes? 

A. "Washington Commanders let Make-A-Wish kid announce pick, become new team president, take fall for financial irregularities"

B. "Disney World fortifies borders with armed characters as park announces plan to secede from Florida."

C. "Americans bring ‘souvenir’ artillery shell to Israel airport"

D. "Domino’s under fire for sharing pizza topping data with police."

FOUNDERS CORNER

The best resources we came across that will help you become a better founder, builder, or investor.

⚒️ A manager’s toolkit to prevent burnout in your teams

📝 An essay on the importance of being comfortable being uncomfortable in software development

💵 10 copywriting tips from Nike, Apple, and Coca-Cola

THREE HEADLINES ANSWER

A couple of American's really did bring an artillery shell to the airport, but they did not make it through security because they still had some water left in their water bottles.