🏈 The odds couple

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done with a PlayStation 5 controller, and why isn’t it bringing human life into the world?

For many aspiring parents, in vitro fertilization (IVF) is prohibitively expensive.

• A single cycle can cost $15k-$30k; insurance coverage varies.
• Many patients undergo multiple cycles before conceiving, and it’s never a guarantee.

Spanish IVF startup Overture Life, which has raised ~$37m from backers including Google Ventures and 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki, has an idea: automation.

And recently, it announced the first babies born via its fertilization bot, per MIT Technology Review.

How it works

Typically, highly trained embryologists handle sperm and egg cells with thin, hollow needles under a microscope.

But Overture implanted a sperm cell into an egg using a robotic needle, which an engineer piloted using a Sony PS5 controller.

• This process was repeated 12+ times, resulting in two baby girls.

CIO and geneticist Santiago Munné told MIT that he ultimately envisions a mini-IVF lab — “a box where sperm and eggs go in, and an embryo comes out five days later.” Any GYN could use the tech, thus, making it much cheaper than seeing a specialist.

Overture isn’t the only company…

… in the IVF space, a market expected to be worth $36.2B by 2026.

Fairtility’s Cultivating Human Life through Optimal Embryos (CHLOE) is an AI-powered tool to help clinicians select healthy embryos.

Fertilis makes 3D-printed cradles to hold eggs and embryos, reducing human handling.

But?

These developments are full of potential that once felt like sci-fi (e.g., artificial wombs), but full automation is still a long way off.

Overture’s process still requires humans, and some doctors MIT spoke with believe robots aren’t quite capable of outperforming humans… at least not yet.

BTW: Yes, we did find a game in which you are a sperm cell attempting to fertilize an egg — no PS5 required.

You may have missed Saturday’s XFL semifinal between the Arlington Renegades and Houston Roughnecks. You may be surprised to learn that such teams even exist.

What shouldn’t surprise you: a lot of money changed hands with the Renegades’ upset win.

After all, this decade has seen win after win for the sports-betting industry.

• Online sports gambling is now legal in 33 US states, with more expected to follow.

Sportsbooks generated $5.8B+ in revenue last year, escalating a bookie arms race — and enticing others to get in the game.

In one corner: DraftKings

Nearly half of bettors use DraftKings, per Variety, and the company hopes to widen its lead on the field.

• DraftKings’ latest move is launching its own streaming service.
• This follows partnerships with iHeartMedia and SB Nation, and a spending spree on prominent hosts for its podcast network.

In the other: FanDuel

DraftKings’ moves follow a media blitz from FanDuel, the second-largest sportsbook.

• Last year, FanDuel rebranded cable network TVG — previously dedicated to horse racing — as FanDuel TV.
• This month, it inked another media partner, The Ringer, to expand its original programming.

Hoping to get into the ring

Third-place bookie BetMGM recently expanded its Buffalo Wild Wings partnership.

And as the industry waits for the biggest media chip to fall — ESPN, which hasn’t solidified its betting strategy — another player has emerged.

• Sports merchandise titan Fanatics now wants in, investing $1B to build its own betting division. Fanatics already has 95m customers in place.

The jockeying will only intensify, with sports betting projected to generate $182B by 2030 — a number calculated before every Hustle reader became a rabid, put-their-savings-on-the-line-for-each-game Renegades fan.

1) Since it wasn’t already cool enough that Ikea sells 1B+ meatballs a year, the company is now working magic with cost cuts. In one instance, new designs for the Billy bookcase — which sells 6.3m units a year, or one every five seconds — reduced its price 29%. Another redesign, for the Flintan chair, enables Ikea to fit 6.9k units into one shipping container, up from 2.75k.

2) Listen up, kids. The next time an adult asks you what you want to be when you grow up, tell them you want to open a brick-and-mortar confectionery operation that leverages the latest algorithmic recommendation tech. In other words, you want to open a candy store — of which there are 3.3k in the US — and market your goods on TikTok. One shop, Candy Me Up, has 1.1m+ followers, and a single video can stir up 10k orders.

3) Look, we get it. Bamboo looks nice. And it’s sustainable. But you can’t just freely use it in your marketing for products made of semisynthetic rayon, which appears to be a popular new trend among retailers. Well, you could, but you may end up like Kohl’s and Walmart, who the FTC fined $2.5m and $3m, respectively, last year for trying to, uh, bamboozle customers with their so-called “bamboo” sheets, towels, and rugs.

4) This AI stuff is really making a case for itself: Legal AI startup Harvey recently raised $21m in funding to help lawyers make their billable hours a byte more efficient. The company reportedly already has 15k+ law firms on its waitlist, and will be used by thousands of lawyers at prestigious firms like Allen & Overy and PwC.