The Crunchbase News Briefing: Fri., Sept. 4

Here’s what you need to know today in startup and venture news, updated by the Crunchbase News staff throughout the day to keep you in the know.

Yandex and Uber spin off self-driving venture

Yandex and Uber are spinning off a self-driving joint venture into a standalone company.

Under terms of the deal, the Russian tech giant is increasing its stake by investing an additional $150 million.

The two companies combined their ride-hailing operations in Russia and areas of Eastern Europe about three years ago. With the autonomous driving unit as a separate company, Yandex will have a 73 percent stake, Uber will have 19 percent, and the balance will be owned by Yandex managers and employees.

Funding Rounds

• Nreal raises $40M for mixed reality: Nreal, a China-based mixed reality startup working on portable augmented headsets, just secured $40 million in a Series B round led by Kuaishou. The latest round brings 3-year-old Nreal’s total raise to more than $70 million.

Other News

• Feds close to launching Google antitrust action: The U.S. Justice Department plans to bring an antitrust case against Google as soon as this month, according to a report in The New York Times.  The plans for a filing in the near future reportedly come after Attorney General William Barr overruled career lawyers who said they needed more time to build the case.

Illustration: Dom Guzman