Crypto heist empties $625 mln; Scientists build ML model to reduce soil poisoning; Citymall, Classplus, Lambdatest, Cloaked raise funding

Roughly $625 million worth of cryptocurrency has been stolen from Ronin, the blockchain underlying the popular crypto game Axie Infinity, The Verge reports. A research team at Korea University has developed a software program that uses machine learning to determine the best way to treat soil with biochar, or thermally decomposed biowaste, to trap heavy metals. Plus, a raft of funding news. Notes: Roughly $625 million worth of cryptocurrency has been stolen from Ronin, the blockchain underlying the popular crypto game Axie Infinity, The Verge reports. Ronin and Axie Infinity operator Sky Mavis revealed the breach on Tuesday and froze transactions on the Ronin bridge, which allows depositing and withdrawing funds from the company’s blockchain. A research team at Korea University has developed a software program that uses machine learning to determine the best way to treat soil with biochar, or thermally decomposed biowaste, to contain heavy metals and prevent them from moving up the food chain. This work is significant because it can help improve the effectiveness of soil treatment with biochar to reduce or contain land pollution. The machine-learning-based method has been developed by a team led by Yong Sik Ok and Kumuduni N. Palansooriya from Korea University. Their findings were recently published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. Citymall, a local community-based ecommerce platform provider, has raised $75 million in Series C funding led by Norwest Venture Partners, Economic Times reported. The round values Citymall at around $350 million, according to ET. Citymall will use the money to add categories and locations and strengthen its back-end technology. Classplus, a B2B ed-tech startup that helps educators and content creators launch and scale their online coaching businesses, has raised $70 million in a Series D round co-led by Alpha Wave Global and Tiger Global, the Noida company said in a press release. This new round follows a $65 million Series C investment in June 2021. The latest investment values Classplus — founded in 2018 by Mukul Rustagi and Bhaswat Agarwal — at nearly $600 million. LambdaTest, a cloud-based test orchestration platform provider, has closed a $45 million venture round, led by Premji Invest with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Telstra Ventures, Blume Ventures, and Leo Capital, the Silicon Valley and Noida company said in a press release. LambdaTest expects to mostly use this money for new product innovation. It is also looking to add multiple roles and in multiple locations. Cloaked, a Boston startup that allows users to generate unique email addresses and phone numbers when creating online accounts has secured $25 million in Series A funding, TechCrunch reports. Founded in 2020 by brothers Arjun and Abhijay Bhatnagar, Cloaked allows privacy-conscious individuals to create unique identifiers. The service, available as an app and a browser extension, creates “cloaked” identities — such as emails, phone numbers, passwords and credit card numbers — that can be unique to any given online service, according to TechCrunch. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds