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A look at the debate over Spotify's Discovery Mode, whereby artists are prioritized for reduced royalties, a key way for Spotify to improve margins (Anna Nicolaou/Financial Times)
Apple removes Unjected, a social app for "unvaxxed friendly", citing COVID-19 misinfo; Unjected removed social feed from its Android app after a Google warning (Jackie Davalos/Bloomberg)
Analysis: since August 2020, 100+ warships from 16+ countries have had GPS-based location data faked to make it look like they crossed into disputed territory (Mark Harris/Wired)
Wisconsin-based Veda, which uses AI to automate data processing for healthcare payers and providers, raises $45M Series B led by Oak HC/FT (Teddy Nykiel/Milwaukee Business Journal)
Australia-based IntelligenceBank, a marketing software provider for brands, raises $37M from Five Elms Capital to help speed up its expansion in the US (Paul Smith/Australian Financial Review)
Metaverse, as Zuckerberg and others imagine, is an odd vision built from a compendium of juvenile fantasies, perceived market opportunities, and overt dystopias (Brian Merchant/VICE)
Riskified, an Israeli e-commerce fraud protection company, began trading on the NYSE on Thursday after raising $363M in its IPO, at a valuation of $3.3B (Shiri Habib-Valdhorn/Globes Online)
Digital bank Monzo reveals a loss of £130M on £66M revenue for the year ended Feb. and says UK FCA is investigating it over potential money laundering breaches (Nicholas Megaw/Financial Times)
B2B commerce and financing startup OfBusiness raises $160M led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a valuation of $1.5B, becoming the 18th Indian unicorn for the year (Digbijay Mishra/The Economic Times)
Vietnam-based VNLife, the parent company of VNPay, which helps banks provide mobile payment apps and other digital services, raises $250M at a valuation of $1B+ (Nikkei Asia)
Educational publisher Pearson says it is switching to a subscription model for all of its 1,500 titles, available for $14.99/month through its new Pearson+ app (Financial Times)
DOJ: 27 US Attorney offices had at least one staffer's Microsoft email account breached from May and Dec. 2020 by Russian hackers as part of the SolarWinds hack (Associated Press)
Wyze Labs, which makes devices like smart security cameras, robot vacuums, and smartwatches, raises $110M Series B led by Marcy Venture Partners (Kurt Schlosser/GeekWire)
Google contract workers in Pittsburgh have ratified a three-year deal with their employer HCL, for higher wages and more, nearly two years after unionizing (Brian Heater/TechCrunch)
A look at Intel's dismal 2020, which saw the delay of its 7nm architecture, Apple's switch to Arm-based chips, and the departure of Jim Keller and other execs (Chaim Gartenberg/The Verge)

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