You're reading The BostInno Beat - View more newsletters

Lucy: So the DraftKings–FanDuel merger is no longer a thing. The two daily fantasy sports sites decided to call it off after realizing they didn’t want to go through another lengthy and costly legal battle, this time with the FTC, according to sources that spoke to Fortune.

Dylan: In an interview with Axios, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said the biggest reason the company terminated the merger was that “we liked where we’re at in our business and what we think we can accomplish as a standalone.” He seemed happy to tout the fact that while both companies were the same size when they first signed the deal, they’re “substantially bigger than FanDuel now.” While their defeat was obviously a major disappointment for both companies, it sounds like Robins is already getting into the competitive spirit again.

“At the time we were experiencing all sorts of new and challenging regulatory pushback, but now the threats feel a lot less dire and just a part of doing business in what’s become a regulated industry,” he added. “Our lobbying bills are a lot lower than they were at the time, and we’re very well capitalized with revenue back up to 30% to 40% and climbing with much lower burn.”

It’s also important to note that DraftKings raised a $100M round earlier this year while FanDuel opted to hold off on new fundraising.

Let the battle begin. Again.

Dylan: We’re still keeping an eye on the sexism in VC issue, and there’s clearly more reporting to be done (our emails are below, and I can provide more secure methods of communication if needed). In Dan Primack’s Pro Rata newsletter today, he said “the next likely shoe to drop in all of this is related to VC misbehavior in Boston.” We only know what people are willing to tell us (a lot of this stuff seems to avoid the court system), so if there’s anything you think the Boston tech scene should be aware of, hit us up. The fact that Justin Caldbeck, who resigned from Binary Capital, allegedly harassed at least one female founder back when he was at Bain Capital Ventures in Boston, several years before his misbehavior came to light, underlines the importance of speaking up. This is how people can look out for each other.

Lucy: Remember adopets? The online platform that streamlines the application process to adopt pets just launched nationally. “We have animals available for adoption in any and every state of America as of right now,” founder Artur Sousa told me. “Including a few different areas of Canada and a few different areas of Mexico as well.” Currently a mentorship manager at MassChallenge, Sousa pointed out that he and the other members of the team all have full-time jobs besides adopets. “By doing that way, we didn’t have the desperation for funding.” The company is planning to raise its first round in the next six months. Read more: Local Startup Adopets Is Launching Nationally  

Dylan: Earlier this week I said that it looked like former Techstars Boston leaders Semyon Dukach and Eveline Buchatskiy were gearing up to launch a new VC firm dedicated to backing immigrant founders. I was lucky enough to talk to Semyon yesterday about why he and Eveline are starting One Way Ventures. The firm will focus on seed and Series A investments for first- and second-generation immigrants building tech startups, both in the consumer and enterprise space. No details yet on the first fund. Read more: Former Techstars Leaders Launch VC Firm to Back Immigrant Founders

Dylan: After selling Vela Systems to Autodesk in 2012, Cambridge entrepreneur Josh Kanner is accepting money from the computer-aided design giant once again. Except this time, Autodesk is using its cash to invest in Kanner’s new startup. Autodesk is among several investors in a new $7M Series A round for Smartvid.io, whose photo and video management software is used to help improve the management of construction sites and other industrial settings. Read more: Autodesk Invests in Smartvid.io to Make Construction Sites Safer & Smarter

Lucy: VoltDB appears to have raised a new $8M round, according to a Form D filing. We’ll let you know when we learn more.

Lucy: Several moves to report today:

— Athenahealth CFO Karl Stubelis plans to resign after Q2 results are reported. Board member Jack Kane will take over on an interim basis until a permanent successor is hired.

— Clearsurance announced the appointment of Chuck Wallace as an independent director. Previously, Wallace held executive roles at Esurance, which he co-founded, and Automatic Labs.

— Carl Bass has joined Somerville 3D printing startup Formlabs as an independent director. Bass has held a series of executive positions during his 24-year tenure at Autodesk, including 11 years as CEO.

— Agtech startup Indigo announced the appointment of Dr. Mehmood Khan, vice chairman and chief scientific officer of PepsiCo, to its board of directors.

CoreSite: Systems fail. Mistakes happen. It’s how you plan ahead and recover that matters. The shift to XaaS and mobile applications means that 100 percent uptime is literally mission-critical. Fortunately, foundational cloud technologies are maturing, and that includes business continuity/disaster recovery (BC/DR) strategies. Read more: Avoid Downtown – 3 Types of Cloud and Colocation Models to Know