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9 suitcase-friendly gifts for frequent flyers | Brian Heater | 2,022 | 11 | 30 | Once upon a time, I used to write . It was a fun story to piece together, and I was more than happy to do the honors — and play around with some fun gadgets in the process. We hit the big red pause button on the roundup during the 2020 holiday season, for what ought to be obvious reasons. Instead, I pivoted to a . Last year was more of the same. Like many of you, however, I (somewhat cautiously) began traveling again in 2022. After two-plus years spent away from the road, this holiday season offers a great opportunity to dust off some of the old cobwebs and refresh the old carry on. Finding the right gear for the road is a delicate balancing act. Thin and light are at the top of the list, as are battery life and comfort. With those qualifiers in mind, here are some of the products TechCrunch plans to take on its own holiday travels. Brian Heater There’s no such thing as a perfect laptop, of course. But after years of questionable design choices, Apple began to again embrace consumer feedback. That, coupled with the debut of blazingly fast first-party silicon and terrific battery life, and you’re beginning to brush up against thin and light notebook perfection. over the summer, and the product hasn’t left my side since. It’s the perfect plane companion and easily carried around on layovers without doing a number on your lower back. It’s great for just about everything from simple word processing to light creative work (those editing in 8K should ) and does away with unnecessary additions like the Touch Bar. The one big complaint I’ve got is that, while the webcam has been improved, it still leaves a lot to be desired. If you’ve got an iPhone and the proper mount, however, can make teleconferences look a lot better. Starting at $1,199, this is easily the priciest entrant on the list, but it could be a downright transformative addition to life on the road. Brian Heater I test a lot of headphones for my job. Many of them are very good. Often times I’ll recommend people pick up a pair from the same company that made their phone. It just makes things easier. But at the end of the day, I’m rocking a pair of . Whether it’s the terrific-sounding or the wildly comfortable , I’m not leaving my apartment overnight without packing one (or both). For the person who spends a lot of time on planes, I’m recommending the former for battery life (stated 24 hours with ANC on), noise canceling, comfort and the ability to hardwire — a must-have for the seatback entertainment system. The LinkBuds S, meanwhile, are half the price (certainly something worth taking into consideration when gift giving) and more versatile for day to day life. The music lover or podcast fanatic in your life wouldn’t turn their nose up at either of these excellent additions. WH-1000XM5, | Linkbuds S, Brian Heater is not perfect. The screen resolution isn’t great. The battery kind of stinks. I played mine so much recovering from a long illness that I busted the left joystick. Like, it just straight doesn’t work anymore. I purchased a repair kit and intend to open it up over the weekend. I’ll let you know how that goes. All of that said, I love the damn thing. Nintendo pared down its wildly popular convertible console into something purely portable. There isn’t much in the way of bells and whistles on the aptly-named Switch Lite — but then, that’s not the point. Nintendo’s always been about the games, and the platform is home to some of the best titles — and most beloved franchises — around. There’s no better way to take Mario and Link with you on a long flight. Anker Hear me out. Plugs. No, wait. Plugs. Batteries and plugs. If you’re looking for a genuinely useful gift for a frequent traveler that doesn’t break the bank, you could do much worse than nabbing something from one of these categories. They’re arguably the least exciting entry on the list, but they can be real life savers — so to speak. Anker generally makes good and clever accessories at a nice price, making them a perfect option for affordable gifts. My picks this time out are the . The first is a super compact plug that should even work with those terrible under-seat outlets on planes. The second is a nice small battery pack that snaps on the back of an iPhone via MagSafe. As for the third, well, no one should leave home without a power strip. Maybe you’ll get lucky and book a hotel room with a bunch of USB ports. But even then, are we talking USB-A or USB-C? What about travel adapters for outside the U.S.? Pack a power strip, and you’ll just need the singe adapter for the trip. Anker 727 Charging Station, | Anker 715 Charger, | Anker 622 Magnetic Battery, Endel You can’t buy peace of mind. But for a monthly fee, perhaps you can rent it. In previous years, I’ve recommended meditation services like Calm and Headspace. This year, however, I’m all about the . After a long time away, I’m finally at a place where I’m back on a daily meditation schedule, and this algorithmically generated soundscape app has been a big piece of the puzzle. As gifts go, it’s a lot cheaper and less presumptuous than buying someone a couple of therapy sensations. When work and life get to be a bit much, will help you get out of your own head for a moment. And with offline functionality, it will also do the trick during particularly stressful flights. 12 months for $60 Google A home security camera? In a “frequent traveler” roundup? A little counterintuitive, but if you’re anything like me, your home can be a frequent source of anxiety when you’re on the road. Indeed, $130 seems like a small price to pay for the ability to make sure everything is safe and sound on the home front, so you can focus on whatever it is you’re traveling for in the first place. That may be the greatest gift you can give a frequent traveler. is a straightforward solution to keeping tabs on your place both inside and out. James D. Morgan / Contributor / Getty Images I suspect these are going to be showing up in a lot of gift guides this year. I own precisely one , but it’s doing double duty. I’ve got it on my house keys, which I throw into my backpack. Suddenly you’ve got instant tracking for both. Before the end of the year, I’ll probably pick one up for my suitcase, just for a little more peace of mind. Passengers at Gatwick airport waiting for their flights following the delays and cancellations brought on by drone sightings near the airfield. (Photo by Isabel Infantes/PA Images via Getty Images) Let them know you really care by helping them side-step one of the most annoying elements of travel. For $89 for six months, you can make sure the frequent traveler in your life gets through annoying TSA checks a heck of a lot faster — and spends less time stressing on the way to the airport. Here’s my low-tech pick. I became a true believer in the importance of a good sleep mask when TechCrunch started sending me to Asia. Your sleep schedule is going to get extremely out of sync with a 12-hour time difference. That’s unavoidable, but those of us who find it next to impossible to sleep on even the longest flight will take all of the help we can get. Away’s take on the category is effectively one big band with an elastic backing for different head sizes. There are a pair of contoured curves in the front so as to avoid smashing your eyes, and a pocket to stash some earplugs. Best of all, it folds up nicely for quick packing. |
Proptech in Review: 3 investors explain why they’re bullish on tech that makes buildings greener | Tim De Chant | 2,022 | 11 | 30 | is responsible for nearly 40% of carbon emissions worldwide, to the International Energy Agency. While a portion of that is from the energy and materials required to construct buildings, the lion’s share — nearly 90% on an annual basis — comes from their use. Decarbonizing the grid could go a long way to address that, but oftentimes it’s easier, and more profitable, to simply reduce emissions. That’s where proptech can step in. By cutting carbon emissions on the operations side, it can save building owners and managers money while also enhancing the experience for occupants. We asked three venture capital firms investing at the intersection of proptech and climate tech about how a focus on reducing emissions can trim a building’s carbon footprint and offer new opportunities for returns. Challenging market conditions, though, mean that returns are anything but assured. But for category leaders, there’s potential for significant upside. “This economic environment will continue to test a lot of companies,” said Jake Fingert, managing partner, and Lionel Foster, investor, at Camber Creek. “Those that survive will have an opportunity to expand market share.” And the potential market is enormous. Spending on getting the world’s real estate to net zero will require between now and 2050, according to McKinsey. “This is the single largest capex supercycle any industry has ever seen,” said Othmane Zrikem, chief data officer of A/O Proptech. We spoke with: We hear people make this distinction between proptech and construction tech all the time. However, we see a lot of overlap between the two categories and think it is beneficial to be deep in both areas. For example, we self-identify as a proptech company and co-led the Series B round for Bridgit, which identifies as a construction tech company. The built world is massive and hugely consequential to everyone’s quality of life. Technology that improves how much we can utilize and enjoy these spaces at any stage of a building’s lifespan is relevant and valuable. That’s what matters. In fact, we would argue you need more ideas that stretch across a building’s life cycle, which lasts decades. Our approach has always been to invest in and support the growth of companies that are true category leaders or well on their way there. This economic environment will continue to test a lot of companies. Those that survive will have an opportunity to expand market share. So we expect to see more opportunities to invest in the best companies at prices that are more closely tied to current performance and reasonable growth prospects. Also, when transactions slow down, real estate groups tend to focus more on internal operations. This usually involves technology, and we expect some companies that are helping real estate groups drive margin to have a strong run in the coming period. Many of our portfolio companies offering sustainability solutions also save customers money and improve operational efficiency. That value proposition is irresistible. It’s just a matter of getting that information in front of the right decision-maker. When you combine that with companies who increasingly want to lead on sustainability and are being encouraged to do so by their stakeholders, we don’t expect to see a slowdown in the rate of adoption of these technologies. Approximately 50% of the CO emissions from a building’s life cycle are created during the construction phase, so the more we do to lengthen the useful life of a building, the less carbon associated with that site. This dovetails with investor and tenant interest in spaces that can accommodate multiple uses, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes over time. There will be increased activity around retrofits, renovation and data-driven site selection that helps people discover non-obvious spaces that can meet their needs. We are also spending significant time in areas like IoT and sensors, where innovations can have a potentially big impact on the climate. The Inflation Reduction Act is arguably the most consequential piece of climate legislation in U.S. history. There are the incentives for retrofits, which you mentioned, but experts like those at our portfolio company Arcadia also anticipate a “solar rush” — a big uptick in clean energy production, connectivity of clean energy supply to a more resilient electrical grid and development of clean energy assets in low- and moderate-income communities. We have had many conversations with companies working on sustainable building and renewable energy solutions, but we expect to see even more activity in this space and a broader range of creative solutions. |
T-minus 72 hours left to save on passes to TC Sessions: Space | Lauren Simonds | 2,022 | 11 | 30 | We’re getting ready to launch a price hike, but you still have time — 72 hours to be precise — to attend on December 6 in Los Angeles for $199. Will you be in the room? Space tech may come with a jaw-dropping price tag, but this space conference doesn’t. Buy your pass before — prices go up to $495 at midnight. Why pay more if you don’t have to? Let’s take a gander at just some programming we have lined up for the day. for specifics on all the speakers, topics and times. You can improve your own pitch by watching how the VC judges react and by the questions they ask. It’s a window into what might make them decide to schedule a meeting with you. We’ll announce the competitors soon, and they’ll have to deliver their very best to impress our panel of expert judges: (Playground Global), (Seraphim Space), (Bessemer Ventures) and (Root Ventures). As chief technologist of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Carolyn Mercer has her finger on the pulse across countless projects to explore and understand our planet and solar system. As priorities and methods shift in the Artemis era, Mercer can speak to how tech helps us move forward and how NASA’s unique insights and well of talent can put it to use. Commercial space stations are all the rage these days, especially with the mission end in sight for the existing ISS. Blue Origin has announced Orbital Reef, a “mixed-use business park” in low Earth orbit. We’ll talk with Shahir Gerges — director of business strategy at Orbital Reef, Blue Origin — about the orbital economy and what we can expect from privately operated successors to the ISS. Of course you’ll have plenty of time during the day for networking. The event app makes it easy to find and connect with the people who can drive your mission forward. Use it to schedule meetings in advance, on the fly — or you can roll old-school, like, you know, strike up a conversation in the exhibition area or between sessions. You never know what opportunities a brief meeting or casual conversation might present. takes place on December 6 in Los Angeles, but you have only three days left until that $199 deal leaves orbit. by . The price increases to $495 at midnight. Don’t space out on serious savings!
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Frequent conflict is a new requirement for startup leaders | Natasha Mascarenhas | 2,022 | 11 | 30 | problem. Karla Monterroso — a longtime leadership coach, racial equity advocate and the founder of Brava Leaders — to talk about how that issue was complicated by a bull cycle that saw power in visionary pitches — something now tested by a bear market in which talent is constantly turning over and founders have to make critical decisions with second- and third-order effects. argued that a diverse workforce needs more than well-intentioned leaders to function properly. The skillset of a founder in 2022 comes with emotional intelligence on how to handle conflict, a mature understanding of power and the ability to offer context around decisions in a way that empowers their staff. To me, the takeaway from this episode is just how big the startup founder’s job is today, regardless of stage or scale. My entire conversation with Monterroso lives now wherever you find podcasts, . Below, we extracted a few key takeaways from the interview, from tech’s allergy to conflict to the consequences of widespread layoffs. |
GM’s Cruise pursuing permit to test its custom-built ‘Origin’ robotaxi in San Francisco | Kirsten Korosec | 2,022 | 11 | 30 | Cruise, GM’s self-driving technology subsidiary, has started the long and winding regulatory process to test its next-generation “Origin” robotaxi on public roads in San Francisco. The company has applied for a permit with the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test its custom-built driverless vehicle on public roads. The news was first reported by and confirmed to TechCrunch by Cruise. Cruise is already for rides in its autonomous Chevy Bolt EVs in certain parts of San Francisco after receiving all the required permits from the California DMW and the California Public Utilities Commission. But the Origin is a different automotive animal. The driverless Origin, the product of a multiyear collaboration with parent company GM and investor Honda that is designed for a ridesharing service, was The shuttle-like vehicle — branded with Cruise’s trademark orange and black colors — has no steering wheel or pedals and is designed to travel at highway speeds. To test the Origin on public roads in California, Cruise will need permits from the California DMV, the primary agency regulating autonomous vehicle technology in the state. Cruise will also need permits from the CPUC to charge for a robotaxi service using the Origin vehicles. Unlike its autonomous Chevy Bolt vehicles, the Origin will also need an exemption by the federal government to be used in a commercial ride-hailing service — once that day arrives. The , which was signed into law by President Obama in December 2015, allows manufacturers like GM to test and evaluate vehicles that might not otherwise meet federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS). However, if Cruise wants to launch a commercial service — meaning charging for rides or delivery — with the Origin, it will need special exemptions from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. The Origin doesn’t meet a handful of federal motor vehicle safety standards (known as FMVSS) because it lacks certain parts like a steering wheel that are currently required in human-driven vehicles. In February 2021, GM sent a request to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration for a from six FMVSS for its Origin vehicle. The exemptions are for several parts required in vehicles manufactured and sold in the United States. For instance, all vehicles must have windshield wiping and washing systems so human drivers can see the road clearly. Vehicles also must have a transmission shifter that follows a specific sequence for parking, reverse and drive. Since the Origin is designed without a human driver in mind, there is no physical transmission shifter. A public comment period for the exemptions wrapped up in August 2022. NHTSA did not return a request for comment on when it is expected to issue its decision on the exemption. Cruise has previously said it expects to begin production of the Origin in 2023, a date that gives some guidance on when the automaker expects to have an exemption and other permits that would allow it to ramp from testing to commercial operations. |
Apple’s iOS 16.1.2 update just dropped with security fixes and crash detection improvements | Amanda Silberling | 2,022 | 11 | 30 | Apple rolled out iOS 16.1.2 on Wednesday, citing updates involving user security. Apple hasn’t yet detailed the nature of the , as the company doesn’t disclose security issues until after they’ve been investigated or patched. The update also includes improved compatibility with wireless carriers, as well as crash detection optimizations for models. , which was announced at Apple’s , is a new feature that triggers Emergency SOS if it suspects you’ve been in a crash. While this feature could be life-saving in certain situations, users have reported issues in which crash detection is falsely triggered while . Apple doesn’t outright name the roller coaster issue in its patch notes, but it’s a bug that’s been on adrenaline-seeking customers’ minds. To update to the latest version of iOS, navigate to your iPhone’s settings. Then, click “general.” At the top of your screen, you should see a tab called “software updates” that will allow you to check for new versions of iOS. |
Californians vote ‘No’ on Lyft-backed Prop 30, a plan to tax the rich and fund EVs | Rebecca Bellan | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | Californians have voted against a proposal on the midterm election ballot that would have taxed the wealthiest Californians to help pay for electric vehicle tax incentives and EV charging infrastructure in the state. Proposition 30 lost 59.1% to 40.9%, according to . California is already a leader in promoting a shift to electric cars and was the first state to . Proposition 30, as the ballot proposal is called, promised to accelerate that shift by adding an additional 1.75% tax on incomes above $2 million. Aside from helping Californians, particularly low-income residents, shift to EVs, 20% of the funds would have been used to pay for wildfire prevention and firefighter training. Ride-hailing company contributing 95% of the campaign’s total funding, or . Lyft aims to have 100% of the vehicles on its platform be electric by 2030, so making EV incentives more available to low-income drivers would massively benefit the company. Lyft, which recently , didn’t hit revenue and active rider targets in its , causing its stock to fall and investors to fear the ride-hailing company is ceding too much ground to competitor Uber. Opponents of the ballot measure, including California’s Governor Gavin Newsom, claimed Lyft just wanted to benefit itself at the expense of the rich. They argued it requires taxpayers to pay for EV subsidies that Lyft, as well as Uber, would have to pay on their own come 2030, when California law stipulates rideshare companies need EVs to account for 90% of their vehicle miles traveled. Curiously, Uber has stayed quiet on the matter. “Prop. 30 is being advertised as a climate initiative,” Newsom says in an slating the proposal. “But in reality, it was devised by a single corporation to funnel state income taxes to benefit their company. Put simply, Prop. 30 is a Trojan Horse that puts corporate welfare above the fiscal welfare of our entire state.” The California Democratic Party, of which Newsom is a member, endorsed the ballot proposal. Newsom has teamed up with the Chamber of Commerce and other billionaires to oppose a proposal that they think will cause wealthy Californians to leave the state. Labor groups and environmentalists defended the measure. |
Bumble rolls out ‘Compliments,’ a new message-before-match feature | Lauren Forristal | 2,022 | 11 | 30 | Bumble has experimented with many ways to help its users engage with each other beyond tapping and swiping on miscellaneous profiles. Today, Bumble launched a message-before-match feature, “Compliments,” allowing users to send a note before they decide to connect. Users can send one Compliment per day, and there’s a 150-character limit per Compliment, a spokesperson told TechCrunch. Compliments can be seen on the user’s main Encounters page as well as their Beeline, which is a perk for Premium members. Users will also get notifications for unread Compliment messages upon opening the app. The purpose of the new feature is for users to stand out and “be even more intentional about starting the conversation in a positive way,” Bumble wrote in its announcement. In a growing pool of online daters, sending a compliment to a potential match could be a nice bonus for users. “Compliments answer the what and why of dating. What is it about a person that you find fascinating? Why do you want to get to know someone better? With that in mind, there truly is no better way to start a connection,” Bumble’s Sex & Relationships Expert Shan Boodram said in a statement. “Giving a compliment can be as easy as sending a kind message on a shared interest or hobby that you see on someone’s profile.” Compliments join Bumble’s various other recently launched features like , which lets users share a Bumble profile with their friends, and blind-dating feature “ ,” a weekly experience where users connect with a potential match via chat without seeing what they look like. Rival Tinder also has a message-before-match function. has a “ ” feature that gives users a few seconds to chat with someone before matching. Plus, its “ ” feature lets users attach a note with their like, and the potential match can read it before they choose to swipe yes or no. |
Here’s everything AWS announced in its re:Invent data keynote | Frederic Lardinois | 2,022 | 11 | 30 | today announced a lot of feature updates — and little else — during its and machine learning-focused keynote (though there wasn’t a lot of machine learning there). Nothing here rose to the level where we felt we should write a full story, so in the interest of time, here’s everything the company announced today in easily digestible screenshots.
All images: copyright AWS. |
null | Sarah Perez | 2,022 | 11 | 30 | null |
Instagram is updating its web interface to take advantage of large screens | Ivan Mehta | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | If you have used Instagram on your desktop system, you know that it looks like a badly made copy of its mobile website. The company is now introducing a refreshed design that takes advantage of large screens. Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri made this announcement through a post on Tuesday along with . “We know a lot of people use the web to multitask and we wanted to make sure Instagram was as great an experience as possible online,” he said. He added this new design is cleaner, faster and easier to use. 🎉 New Features 🎉 Some “finally features” that I think you’re going to be excited about… – Schedule Posts (coming soon) – IG Web Updates — Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) The new design moves the menus and icons like home, search, messages and notifications to a side pane. What’s more, the explore/search page shows a full grid spanning across the monitor. The new sidebar expands and collapses based on the screen you are on. In the older design for web, when you opened a profile, options like Posts, Guides, Reels and Tagged were hosted on top of the grid. So if you wanted to switch to another tab, you had to scroll to the top from wherever you were. The new design solves this problem by moving these options to the side. This redesign — rolling out slowly to users — will make it easier to use Instagram on large monitors while switching between different tabs. Sadly, if you were waiting for an Instagram app for iPad, that’s not coming anytime soon. Earlier this year, Mosseri that the iPad app is “not big enough” to make it a priority for development. Earlier this month, Instagram said it will soon allow . |
Kuda takes digital banking play to the UK with its remittance product | Tage Kene-Okafor | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | From an administrative point of view, Kuda’s U.K. move is straightforward. The startup, founded by Babs Ogundeyi and Musty Mustapha, is a U.K.-based fintech that offers financial services to Africans (starting with Nigerians) within and outside Africa. As such, s Babs Ogundeyi (Kuda CEO). Kuda |
Tiger Global taps TCV partner Rohit Iragavarapu | Manish Singh | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | Tiger Global is adding Rohit Iragavarapu — the partner at TCV Capital involved in deals such as GitLab, Attentive, Toast, LegalZoom and Avetta — to its investment team, two sources familiar with the matter said. Before joining TCV in 2019, Iragavarapu worked at TPG Global and Morgan Stanley, according to his Linkedin profile. He starts his investor role at Tiger Global in the coming weeks, sources said. Tiger Global declined to comment Tuesday. Iragavarapu did not respond to a LinkedIn message. Iragavarapu’s arrival comes as the New York-headquartered hedge fund navigates one of its most challenging periods in two decades of its existence. Tiger Global’s hedge fund unit has lost more than half of its value this year. , who oversaw many of the SaaS deals at the firm, left last month. |
Beekeeper, which helps companies engage with their ‘deskless’ frontline workforce, raises $50M | Paul Sawers | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | , a platform for businesses to engage with frontline workers, has raised $50 million in a Series C round of funding. Founded out of Switzerland in 2011, Beekeeper targets the estimated of the global “deskless” workforce who don’t work from a fixed office-based location, spanning hospitality, retail, manufacturing, logistics and healthcare, among other industries. Beekeeper’s platform constitutes tools to support messaging, surveys, video and voice chats, FAQ chatbots, workflow automation (e.g. for onboarding new hires), shift scheduling, documents, forms and more. Beekeeper platform. On top of that, Beekeeper also packs analytics to serve managers with metrics around engagement. Beekeeper analytics. Other notable players in the space include Connecteam, which recently , while , and Skedulo of VC cash . Collectively, they’re all setting out to solve a similar problem, how best to connect with the millions of workers not tethered to a desk, and who may only sporadically be able to check-in online. “Beekeeper helps companies reach and connect with frontline employees who do not work at a desk, speak dozens of languages, work with their hands, and usually don’t have company email accounts,” CEO Cris Grossmann told TechCrunch. “Our software allows organizations to streamline virtually every aspect of the frontline employee experience — from automating paper-based processes to distributing shift schedules to digitizing important resources like employee handbooks.” Beekeeper has amassed some big-name customers over its 10-plus years, including hotel giant Hilton and food corporation Cargill. And as with just about every other technology that promises to benefit either remote or “essential” frontline workers, Beekeeper has benefited from the pandemic’s impact on the global workforce in terms of spurring companies to modernize how they liaise with their workforce. “As the public became more aware of the crucial role our frontline workforce plays in every aspect of human life, they began dominating news coverage and national conversations,” Grossmann continued. “Companies quickly discovered that they couldn’t communicate instantly or convey rapid updates to their frontline teams. The standard top-down, word-of-mouth communication channels, classical or social intranets, and bulletin boards they relied on for decades failed. Many had to implement new technologies to connect and empower their frontline workers — and they needed to do it fast.” At its core, connecting and engaging is really all about retaining — countering the so-called “ ” and the . Reducing friction and frustrations, and ensuring that concerns are addressed are pivotal to keeping frontline workers happy. “Organizations that rely on frontline labor to make, sell and distribute their products are being forced to address long-standing pain points around pay, working conditions and the employee experience for their frontline teams,” Grossmann said. “Forward-thinking organizations are taking action to address frontline disconnect and high turnover in a holistic way that solves it once and for all.” Prior to now, $81 million in financing, and with another $50 million in the bank, the Zurich-based company said that it plans to double down on product development and build on its recent growth, which it said has seen its revenue rise by 100% since the start of the pandemic. Beekeeper’s Series C round included investments from EGSB, Kreos Capital, Energize, Thayer, SwissCanto, Keen Ventures, Alpana and Verve Capital. |
Crypto giant Binance agrees to buy rival FTX amid ‘liquidity crunch’ | Manish Singh | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | Binance said Tuesday it has signed a letter of intent to acquire its most formidable rival FTX, delivering a surprising twist to days-long between the world’s two largest crypto exchanges that contributed to several digital tokens taking a tumble Tuesday. The deal follows Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s months-long clash on social media, which escalated earlier this week. Zhao (pictured above) said Binance reached the decision after the three-year-old exchange FTX asked the crypto behemoth for help. “To protect users, we signed a non-binding LOI, intending to fully acquire FTX and help cover the liquidity crunch. We will be conducting a full DD in the coming days,” he said in a tweet. “Binance has the discretion to pull out from the deal at any time,” Zhao, more popularly known as CZ, cautioned. But “the important thing is that customers are protected,” said Bankman-Fried, or as many call him, SBF. Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is the first investor that backed FTX, but as the younger firm grew in popularity, the relationship between the two started to wither. The firms haven’t disclosed the financial terms of the deal, but it is likely for investors of FTX, which was valued at $32 billion in a financing round earlier this year. The closure of the deal may attract regulatory scrutiny. The two billionaires have been hurling snarky remarks at each other for several months, but the relationship hit an all-time low earlier this week after Zhao said that Binance was selling its holdings of FTT, the native token of FTX exchange, that it had received as part of an exit from the firm last year. Zhao said the firm was liquidating its FTT holdings as a “post-exit risk management,” giving some credence to a widely circulated rumor about Alameda Research’s concerning financial health. Alameda and Bankman-Fried had earlier refuted such concerns. Bankman-Fried also founded the prop trading and market making firm Alameda, which at least has exposure to the FTT tokens. FTT token slid to as low as $14.32 from $25.47 earlier on Tuesday as investors lost faith, according to Binance’s trading view. (Hours after the news broke, the token dropped to as low as $2.51 before slight recovery.) In a note to clients earlier Tuesday, research firm Bernstein suggested that FTX should consider shutting down Alameda due to the perceived risks. So just to be clear… Binance's CEO raises doubts over the financial health of Alameda/FTX, thus causing investor panic around FTX leading a ton of investors to move their funds out, only to then… buy the company outright?? — Ryan Browne (@Ryan_Browne_) “Binance is the immediate trigger, but FTX should resolve its relationship with Alameda. FTX cannot carry on its existing ownership structure with Alameda. FTX needs to completely ring-fence itself and potentially shut down the Alameda prop trading business. If Alameda’s trading operations impact FTX’s customer confidence (perception of Alameda trading against users on FTX and Alameda’s state of finances), then there is more downside to running Alameda than otherwise,” a Bernstein analyst wrote in the note. Bankman-Fried offered a “huge thanks” to Zhao and Binance on Tuesday, adding that the deal was “a user-centric development that benefits the entire industry.” “CZ has done, and will continue to do, an incredible job of building out the global crypto ecosystem, and creating a freer economic world,” Bankman-Fried said in a tweet. FTX is working on clearing the withdrawal backlog, he said. “This will clear out liquidity crunches; all assets will be covered 1:1. This is one of the main reasons we’ve asked Binance to come in. It may take a bit to settle etc. — we apologize for that,” he said. Binance is the world’s most valuable crypto exchange, estimated to be worth over $300 billion. FTX was valued at $32 billion in its most recent funding round (a Series C) in January this year. The firm counts Sequoia, BlackRock, Tiger Global, Paradigm, Thoma Bravo, SoftBank, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Altimeter Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Sino Global, Bond and Iconiq Growth among its long list of backers. FTX and its FTX US business raised over $2.2 billion across several funding rounds, , a crypto dealbook. Tuesday’s announcement shocked the business world and even the crypto community, which has grown accustomed to topsy-turvy developments this year. Bankman-Fried was hailed as a crypto savior earlier this year after he bought a series of firms. FTX Ventures, the ventures arm of the crypto exchange, is also a major investor in a large number of crypto startups including Aptos Labs, Messari, Sky Mavis, LayerZero, YugaLabs and 1inch Network, according to Web3 Signal. Bankman-Fried attempted to raise additional capital from investors before approaching Binance, according to a source familiar with the matter. Axios that many existing investors are surprised by the move. Scores of companies are suffering from this week’s event. Shares of Bankman-Fried-backed Robinhood dropped nearly 20%, whereas crypto exchange Coinbase was down about 10% to the day at the time of publication. In a statement after the Binance-FTX deal — and the subsequent crypto prices tumble — Coinbase assured investors that it has no exposure to the FTT tokens and “very little” exposure to FTX. “Currently we have $15 million worth of deposits on FTX to facilitate business operations and client trades,” Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas wrote in a blog post. “We have no exposure to Alameda Research, and we have no loans to FTX. Second, as a publicly traded company in the US, we’ve also built our business in a way that allows us to be transparent about our track record, balance sheet strength, and effectively and prudently manage risk for our customers and ourselves.” |
Electric Era wants to put an EV charger in convenience store parking lot near you | Haje Jan Kamps | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | Before starting , Quincy Lee was one of the chief mechanical engineers at Space X. He got bored of doing space stuff when the climate crisis was happening down here on Earth and decided to do something about one of the biggest challenges with the adoption of electric vehicles: Distributed high-speed charging infrastructure. “I spent seven years at SpaceX cutting my teeth on rockets and satellites. While watching a rocket launch from SpaceX mission control in 2018, I saw the Earth recede in size as the rocket flew away into the void of space. WTF, I thought to myself,” says Lee, the company’s founder and CEO, in an interview with TechCrunch. “Why am I spending all my time sending tech away from Earth when humanity is about to burn to a crisp from climate change. That is dumb.” The company just raised $4 million (bringing its total raised to $8 million) to tackle this challenge, with fast-charging EV stations, especially aiming to install them at and near convenience stores. That makes them eligible for President Biden’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, enabling it to tap into . The business model makes sense: 7-Eleven claimed it’s and last year, by the end of 2025. The market may . Electric Era announced that it has secured its investment from Proeza Ventures, Blackhorn Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures and previous strategic investors including Remus Capital. The company also added another SpaceX veteran to its payroll — Sam Reineman, who served as Lead Mechanical Engineer at the Musk-powered company. He joins as Electric Era’s CTO to help accelerate the production and delivery of the PowerNode Platform to customers. “Blackhorn, Proeza and Joe Montana’s Liquid 2 ventures are outstanding. They are deeply technical and top tier climate investors. They are super intense about deep decarbonization, first principles thinking and outstanding business strategy, said Lee. “The PowerNode Platform is the most affordable EV fast-charging solution. We built it to avoid costly demand charges and grid upgrades, making it the ideal choice for convenience stores — particularly those looking to qualify for NEVI grants.” The idea is that the platform reduces grid requirements and demand charges by a third, while supporting fast-charging speeds. The upshot is that this enables convenience stores to replicate the gas station experience while optimizing revenue and minimizing the costs of fast-charging, keeping them in the game in a new round of competition with gas stations and charging infrastructure. “Our tech allows us to build Tesla SuperCharger-like stations at every gas station in America in weeks instead of years. We are laser focused on having 10,000 PowerNode charging stations installed by 2030,” claims Lee, painting a picture of aggressive market expansion in the future: “Electric Era was founded to make EV fast-charging ubiquitous and affordable. In 10 years you will be able to autonomously charge your Rivian or CyberTruck on every street corner in America at our charging stations.” Not a moment too soon; EV charging is desperate for a business model, , and inviting EV drivers into convenience stores and fast food establishments might be just the thing to tip the scales. The company is facing stiff competition, as a huge number of EV charging companies have raised money in the past year, all trying to take on different slices of the same market. , , and , just to list a few of the recent rounds. |
Elon Musk sells 19.5 million Tesla shares worth almost $4 billion | Rebecca Bellan | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | Tesla CEO Elon Musk is selling millions of Tesla shares again. The celebrity executive disposed of 19.5 million shares Tuesday, which is worth about $3.95 billion, according to three filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk did not take to Twitter to explain why he sold shares, but it’s possible the money will go toward his to buy the social media platform, which went through last month. In April, Musk also sold around , which at the time was worth $8.5 billion. Those shares were sold at around $885.42. Since then, Tesla has issued a , bringing the cost of each share down. Musk sold shares Tuesday at an average price of $202.56 each. Tesla is currently trading at $191.30 after hours. |
Why watch a movie when you can watch your corporate all-hands meeting? | Amanda Silberling | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | Movie theater attendance is , largely thanks to the pandemic, but chains like AMC still need to make money. If aren’t a reliable business plan, why not find another use for a giant room with a huge screen and lots of seats? In partnership with Zoom, AMC Theatres will launch a product called next year. Basically, you go to the movie theater to join a Zoom meeting with your company. Yes, you must commute to the movie theatre only to join a meeting with your colleagues across the country, who are also at an AMC movie theatre. If your company isn’t strapped for cash, you might even get some complimentary popcorn. These theatres, which range between 75 and 150 seats, will be available to book for three-hour blocks. “AMC has an abundance of attractive theatres at centrally located venues in city after city after city, each with ample seating capacity, especially so during daytime hours on weekdays when most meetings take place,” said AMC Theaters CEO Adam Aron. “Zoom Rooms at AMC broadens our scope, as we now can participate as well in the multi-billion [dollar] market for corporate and other meetings.” While the idea of one person sitting alone at a movie theater on a Zoom call is funny, that’s not what’s going on here. This technology is supposed to connect groups of people in different locations — so, for example, a New York-based team might meet at one theatre to catch up with a Los Angeles-based team at another theatre. But it remains unclear how you can actually tell who’s talking if you have dozens of people crowded into a theatre. Movie theatre popcorn aside, it seems like a technical nightmare to figure out how to actually conduct a meeting this way… and perhaps working from home and mailing your employees some nonperishable popcorn bags is a simpler alternative. “As hybrid work has become more commonplace throughout the United States, Zoom Rooms at AMC will enable companies and other entities with decentralized workforces and customer bases to bring people from different markets together at the same time for cohesive virtual and in-person events and meeting experiences,” a press release from AMC Theatres says. It feels like someone put a handful of publicly traded companies into a hat, picked out two randomly, and challenged them to create some kind of new collaboration. AMC floundered during the pandemic, since its core business was rendered moot by a once-in-a-lifetime catastrophe. But even as vaccines become more widespread, people aren’t returning to the movies like the company hoped. Even though AMC’s quarterly revenue increased, the company still reported a this week. Meanwhile, Zoom is trying to broaden its scope by as its unprecedented growth slows down. |
Twitter will add an ‘official’ badge to high-profile accounts in lieu of verification | Amanda Silberling | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | Twitter is turning the famous blue check mark into a symbol that denotes , rather than one that identifies public figures. But of course, if anyone with a spare $8 and a fragile ego can get verified, then the symbol is rendered meaningless, for trolls to go hard on impersonation gags. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO learned this himself , so Twitter is introducing an “official” badge, a separate form of user verification than the blue check. A lot of folks have asked about how you'll be able to distinguish between subscribers with blue checkmarks and accounts that are verified as official, which is why we’re introducing the “Official" label to select accounts when we launch. — Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) “Not all previously verified accounts will get the ‘Official’ label and the label is not available for purchase,” product manager Esther Crawford in a tweet. “Accounts that will receive it include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public figures.” The official badge seems like it will essentially represent what blue checks used to denote . . . which should not be confusing at all for over 200 million creatures of habit who log onto the bird app every day. “The new Twitter Blue does not include ID verification — it’s an opt-in, paid subscription that offers a blue checkmark and access to select features,” Crawford in a Twitter thread. “We’ll continue to experiment with ways to differentiate between account types.” App researcher Nima Owji this feature in development less than a week ago as of Twitter’s staff rush to meet fast deadlines. is working on another badge for the notable people. — Nima Owji (@nima_owji) Twitter initially planned to roll out its new system, in which anyone can buy themselves a blue check, on Monday. But the rollout was until after Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections in an attempt to curb abuse. The move was aimed at limiting the potential fallout of verified users impersonating political figures or news outlets claiming false results that may discourage others from voting. This “official” designation would attempt to safeguard this kind of deliberate misinformation from spreading, yet it’s a tall ask to educate over 200 million daily users about a new feature that will fundamentally change the way they identify and consume news on a platform that they may have been using for over a decade. Still, Twitter Head of Safety and Integrity Yoel Roth claimed that Twitter’s “core moderation capabilities remain in place” despite the company’s mass layoffs. |
Skyroot wants to kickstart private spaceflight in India with first rocket launch next week | Aria Alamalhodaei | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | Spaceflight startup wants to make history by launching India’s first privately developed rocket, and it’s aiming to do so as early as next week. The company said Tuesday that the first launch of the Vikram-S suborbital rocket could occur as early as November 12, with a launch window that extends until November 16. The launch will take place from the ’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The final date is dependent on weather conditions. Vikram-S is a suborbital, single-stage launch vehicle. For this demonstration mission, named Prarambh, or “the beginning” in Sanskrit, the rocket will carry three customer payloads. Details on the payloads were not announced. The Hyderabad-based Skyroot is developing a series of Vikram launch vehicles, so named after the founder of India’s space program, Vikram Sarabhai. Naga Bharath Daka, Skyroot COO and co-founder, said in a statement that the Vikram-S suborbital rocket will be used to test and validate the technologies used in the series. The launch could mark the beginning of a new era of private spaceflight in India, a country with a national space program but a relatively small private space sector. The country has already made moves to change that; in June 2020, the government passed major reforms to the space sector, including establishing the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) to facilitate private companies using ISRO infrastructure. The government also set up NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the ISRO’s commercial arm. (Most recently, NSIL facilitated the launch of 36 OneWeb satellites on an Indian rocket.) Last month, Skyroot announced it had raised $51 million in Series B financing led by Singapore-based investment firm GIC. It brings the startup’s total funding to $68 million to date, making it the most well-funded Indian space startup in operation. |
Daily Crunch: Binance says it will buy FTX after smaller rival stumbles through ‘liquidity crunch’ | Christine Hall | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | Today, we’ve been learning about what the hell a Mastodon even is, so the timing of ’s piece is all sorts of perfect. Give it a read, and come find us on Mastodon after. If you can — that’s another challenge. We have faith in your cyberstalking skills, but here’s a hint: Both of us are on Mastodon.Social. — and . Though finance technology startups are having a moment when it comes to decreased venture capital deals and layoffs, Quona Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in emerging markets that accelerate financial inclusion, has found the appetite is still there for fintechs, reports. The firm had its , which focuses on financial inclusion. Also from today (in addition to our resident Daily Crunch newsletter wrangler, she’s a post-writing machine!) is a piece about Doola, a company helping , even without a Social Security number. The company raised an $8 million round of funding, less than a year after it raised $3 million worth of seed funding. A handful more, because we love ya: / Getty Images Today we learned that the world’s largest crypto exchange is bailing out the world’s third-largest crypto exchange. But why? In a detailed explainer, Jacquelyn Melinek wrote about how a CoinDesk report last Thursday on crypto trading firm Alameda Research led Binance to liquidate a mountain of tokens that backed many of Alameda’s loans. Three more from the TC+ team: As promised from above, dives deeper into some of the things going on at FTX, including that the seemed to be sluggish. And that its potential new owner, Binance, was going to “slowly , FTT.” Oh, you two! And we have five more for you: |
Sweden’s EQT Ventures closes its third fund at €1.1B to double down on European and early-stage startups | Ingrid Lunden | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | Startups might be in a funding midwinter, but the ray of sun shining on some VCs speaks of a different trend. , the venture fund arm of Sweden’s investment giant EQT making early-stage bets on startups primarily in Europe, has closed its latest fund and filled its coffers with €1 billion (and $1.1 billion in total commitments). This brings the total raised by EQT to €2.3 billion since EQT Ventures launched in 2016. To date, the firm has backed some 100 companies, with 18 exits and nine “unicorns” (Wolt, Small Giant Games, Einride, Handshake, Netlify and Instabox/Instabee are in that group). This third fund was raised and closed relatively quickly, between February and June of this year (with final paperwork coming in since then), and there have been some 13 investments made out of it so far (Juni, Nothing, Knoetic and Candela among them). The larger EQT has emerged as one of the key deal makers in recent months as larger privately-held companies have been looking for funding and/or exit opportunities. These have included the recent purchase of and leading an investment round for . But it has also put money where its mouth is, so to speak. Earlier this year sister subsidiary EQT Growth announced a $2.4 billion fund largely aimed at scaling startups out of Europe. Growth has backed the likes of Vinted, Epidemic Sound and Mambu. The firm’s close of the fund speaks to what appears to be a bifurcation in the world of tech investing. While funds and firms that focus on much larger and later-stage companies might be seeing big losses in their portfolios, there remains confidence among those that back the funds, the limited partners, that investors focusing on earlier (and smaller) stages still have a lot of opportunity ahead. “The higher the valuation before the contraction, the bigger the fall,” he warned. nvestors think it’s a great idea to back VCs that are investing in early stage with a much longer holding period,” he said. On average, EQT expects exits to be made in 2031, “when the world will look different than today,” he added. “If you back the best founders, they will grow startups regardless of the current macro climate.” |
Gmail will no longer allow users to revert to its old design | Aisha Malik | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | Google today that it’s making the new Gmail interface the standard experience for users. The company first released the new interface earlier this year but allowed users to go back to the original view. Starting this month, users will no longer have the option to revert to the old interface. “The integrated view with Gmail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet on the left side of the window will also become standard for users who have turned on Chat,” the company said in a . “Through quick settings, you can customize this new interface to include the apps most important to you, whether it’s Gmail by itself or a combination of Gmail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet.” Google Google notes that the ability to customize the new interface makes it easier to stay on top of what’s important and reduces the need to switch between various applications, windows or tabs. It’s worth noting that with this new change, users will no longer have the option to configure Chat on the right side of Gmail. The company’s decision to make its new user interface the standard experience isn’t surprising, but it will likely be a frustrating change for users who preferred the old design. |
Humble keeps excess inventory out of the Philippines’ landfills | Catherine Shu | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | Excess inventory, including returned items, from e-commerce, logistics and retail companies often ends up being disposed. Manila-based is a circular economy startup that wants to keep it out of the Philippines’ landfills. Since its launch, it has processed more than 150,000 items like clothing, consumer electronics and household appliances that are either resold through Thrift, its Shopee storefront, or passed onto B2B recyclers and resellers. The company announced today it has raised $750,000 in an oversubscribed seed round led by Seedstars International Ventures, with participation from iSeed Ventures and angel investors including Ula co-founder Alan Wong, Sagar Achanta (who has held product leadership roles at Amazon), Booking.com and Disney+, and investors Paco Sandejas and Richard Eldridge. Humble will use the funding to expand its network of partners and buyers, and grow its team, including hiring department heads. The company also plans to bring its tech development fully in-house and start work on long-term initiatives like a carbon footprint tracker. Humble Sustainability founders Niña Opida and Josef Werker. Humble Sustainability Humble was founded in 2021 by CEO Josef Werker and COO Niña Opida. Werker told TechCrunch that the two met five years ago, after holding leadership positions at different startups, and wanted to see how tech innovation could be applied to the planet. The first version of Humble was a circular trading solution for children’s clothing, before it expanded into other items. “Neither of us are environmental scientists or sustainability experts at all,” Werker said. “We simply had a love for the earth and spotted an opportunity to apply our little experience of building businesses towards it.” Humble has worked with 20 companies so far. The process of getting items starts by receiving inventory for assessment, so Humble can see what condition they are in and figure out their value (as the company grows, it will automate parts of the quality control process). Then it decides whether to list items on Thrift, or sell them in bulk to its B2B network. Once their plans are approved, they sign an agreement with clients, who can monitor the status of their items and receive money from their sales. Humble plans to launch a live dashboard on its B2B platform so clients can track revenue, inventory and environmental impact in real time. Werker says without Humble, unwanted inventory would either go to a traditional liquidator (for higher-value items) or end up in a landfill. There are other solutions like internal employee sales, but those only account for a small percentage. “With Humble, it’s full consolidated,” he said. “We will take everything, ensuring that nothing ends up in a landfill. The good-quality items are on Thrift and high value is extracted, everything else is properly brought back into circularity through our B2B network and we will extract value that can be passed back to the client.” All of the investors in Humble’s seed round are actively involved in the business. For example, Seedstars introduced Humble to people its international network that the company has closed deals with, said Werker. Humble is also participating in Seedstars’ three-month growth track program. Wong and Achanta have worked together at different companies, including Amazon, Booking.com and Ula and are guiding Humble with advice on its tech development and long-term roadmap. In a statement, Seedstars partner Patricia Sosrodjojo said, “We are delighted to support Humble in the journey to reduce waste and promote circular living. Humble is a great fit to Seedstars’ thesis of supporting early-stage companies that can create meaningful impact with an attractive business model.” |
Salesforce confirms it has laid off hundreds of employees | Ron Miller | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | laid off hundreds of people this week as the onslaught of tech cutbacks continued unabated. The company would not share an exact number, but said it was less than a thousand, and the people involved were informed yesterday, according to a person close to the company. Protocol ( While it was not on the scale of , it still was yet another announcement in the continuing drum beat of tech layoffs we have been hearing about from companies large and small over the last several months, as companies aim for profitability after a long period of growth uber alles. The news comes on the heels of activist investor in the company last month. In our analysis of the Starboard news, we said that it appears to be looking for cost cutting, and this move would appear to be in line with that thinking. at the time: Regardless, Starboard claims that Salesforce’s growth and profitability (“CY2022E revenue growth + adjusted operating margin” in accountant-speak), is 13% or 14% under what it should be. How might Salesforce fix that gap? By improving its operating margin, Starboard reckons. How does it do that? By cutting costs. But it’s worth noting that Salesforce itself recognized that it needed to cut back on spending, even prior to Starboard’s involvement. Salesforce CFO Amy Weaver stated in last month that even as the company was shooting for $50 billion in revenue by FY 2026, it was also looking to get more profitable by aiming for a 25% operating margin in the same time period. The path to that goal is of course via cost cutting. Salesforce’s official statement on the layoffs: “Our sales performance process drives accountability. Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition.” You can take from that what you will, but it sounds like if they aren’t making the revenue they want to, then they have to cut back and that’s what they did this week. Salesforce had more than 73,000 employees prior to this action, so the layoff represented a fraction of the overall workforce, but that’s likely little comfort to the folks who lost their jobs this week. |
Laid off from your tech job? Day One wants to give you $100,000 to start a company | Natasha Mascarenhas | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | , a venture firm launched in 2018 with a pitch to combine venture capital acumen with marketing and communications support, has launched a program aimed explicitly at those impacted by this year. The program, titled “ ” will write $100,000 checks into 20 startup teams by the end of the year. Top businesses from the cohort will then get follow-up capital from Day One Ventures commitment to lead their pre-seed round with a $1 million check. In total, the firm is allocating at least $5 million (and at most $10 million) from to back founders spinning out of turbulent startups. Founder and GP who left in Russia as a politician and TV reporter to become a venture capitalist, spun up the program and over the past week. Her bet? At least 0.1% to 1% of the thousands of employees impacted by tech layoffs this year could become incredible founders. The program is essentially a formalized , aka people who left high-profile gigs at even higher-profile companies to start their own business. The added layer of complexity, however, is the downturn that has somewhat defined tech’s 2022. For example, if I was laid off from my job, I don’t know if my first thought would be to take a bet on myself and start a risky business most likely to fail. Per Bucher, however, that mindset is exactly what would weed me (and presumably a lot of laid-off tech employees) out from the entrepreneurship world anyway. “I think if you’re afraid of risk, you’re just not going to be a great founder,” Bucher said. “Don’t get me wrong, starting a company in this time when so many changes have happened over the last three years,” is hard, she added, saying that it definitely makes sense if people want to find a job or work with founders instead of become one. Other examples of programs spun up to help activate the next generation of entrepreneurs includes and She made sure to emphasize that the program is “not charity” and that folks from Stripe and Twitter would not get preferential treatment when pitching Day One Ventures (even though they were the inspiration for the program). Aspiring founders don’t need an incorporated company, or even a fully flushed out startup idea, to . The form asks for founders’ background, top ideas, metrics and the why behind their journey into entrepreneurship. In order to be qualified for the accelerator, at least one co-founder must have been recently laid off, they must go full time on the startup and be able to show three references. The deadline to apply is November 25, 2022 and final decisions will be made by December 20, 2022. “Compared to all other VCs who are taking time off until next year, we’re going to be working until December 31st — which is totally fine,” Bucher said. “I just feel like times like this are just a perfect opportunity for us to do a little more, to go the extra mile, to not take time off and just hopefully back some companies which in the future will be the size of Coinbase, Airbnb and Stripe.” |
Disney+ reaches 164.2M subscribers as it prepares for ad-supported tier launch | Lauren Forristal | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | Disney results for the final quarter of its 2022 fiscal year today, revealing a total of 164.2 million Disney+ global subscribers, an increase of 12 million subs from 152.1 million in . The flagship streaming service was only expected to gain 9.35 million subs. Across Disney’s streaming services, Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ had a combined total of 235.7 million subscribers, up from 221 million in the third quarter. The company beat expectations of 233.8 million. “2022 was a strong year for Disney, with some of our best storytelling yet… and outstanding subscriber growth at our direct-to-consumer services, which added nearly 57 million subscriptions this year for a total of more than 235 million,” said Bob Chapek, chief executive officer, The Walt Disney Company, in the letter to shareholders. The company overtook rival for a second time, despite Netflix reaching during its third quarter. Disney previously decreased its 2024 guidance for the global Disney+ subscriber total last quarter to between 215 million and 245 million. The prior target was between 230 million to 260 million. ESPN+ reported 24.3 million subscribers, a slight increase from 22.8 million. Hulu only gained 1 million subscribers, bringing the new total from 46.2 million to 47.2 million. However, the company fell short of expectations for total revenue, which was reported to be $20.15 billion. Wall Street estimated that Disney would report a 15% year-on-year jump in revenue to $21.3 billion. The direct-to-consumer division lost $1.5 billion. “We expect our DTC operating losses to narrow going forward and that Disney+ will still achieve profitability in fiscal 2024, assuming we do not see a meaningful shift in the economic climate,” Chapek added. As the company looks for more ways to earn revenue, for Disney+, , and plans. Disney+ is also set to launch a cheaper on December 8, over a month after Netflix its . Earlier this month, Disney+ announced it’s for subscribers, which could be another revenue stream for the company. The test allows select Disney+ subscribers in the U.S. to buy exclusive merchandise and gain early access to products from brands like Star Wars, Marvel, Disney Animation Studios and Pixar. Meanwhile, the company is exploring ways to engage Disney+ subscribers and reach new audiences. For instance, Disney+ recently became the exclusive international home for new episodes of “ ” in more than 150 markets, including the U.S. There are now 46.4 million domestic subscribers, according to today’s earnings release. The streamer also experimented with augmented reality in September, that connects directly to content on the Disney+ platform. “Remembering” stars “Captain Marvel” Brie Larson and features a companion AR app that iOS users can download to watch an extension of the short film on the small screen. We guess that the company will roll out more AR-enabled features in the future to set itself apart from competitors. |
Binance’s plan to acquire FTX is ‘real-life Game of Thrones’ as crypto winter winds blow | Jacquelyn Melinek | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | largest crypto exchange by volume, , FTX, making huge waves in the crypto community after the putative billionaire CEOs of the exchanges engaged in a multiday public dispute on Twitter. “It’s like real-life ‘Game of Thrones,’” Alex Taub, founder and CEO of DAO-focused platform Upstream, said to TechCrunch in a message. Today’s acquisition news was bigger than the HBO show’s dramatic Red Wedding massacre scene. FTX was quick to spin the potential sale of its business as a win. “A *huge* thank you to [Changpeng “CZ” Zhao], Binance, and all of our supporters,” FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said in a on Tuesday regarding the deal. “This is a user-centric development that benefits the entire industry. CZ has done, and will continue to do, an incredible job of building out the global crypto ecosystem and creating a freer economic world.” But it’s a slam-dunk outcome for Binance after a . Investors, founders and operators throughout the crypto community noted that the deal makes Binance appear strong amid a bear market for the sector while raising questions about FTX’s solvency and financial performance. “It’s crypto winter now, and it’s time when the market checks everyone for weakness,” Serhii Zhdanov, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange EXMO, said to TechCrunch. “Exchanges as main players bear the main damage because of low liquidity, while their main income is from trading fees. It’s enough to check the change [in] trading volumes for the last year to understand how tough the situation is. “Naturally, it’s time of mergers and acquisitions,” Zhdanov said. “We might see more such stories in the near future.” |
Elizabeth Holmes is denied new trial, will be sentenced on Nov. 18 | Amanda Silberling | 2,022 | 11 | 8 | The disgraced founder of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes will be sentenced on November 18 after she was found on four counts of defrauding investors in January. Once the youngest self-made female billionaire, Holmes could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the four counts of fraud. Holmes had delayed sentencing by trying to request a new trial, arguing that new evidence had come to light. In August, former Theranos lab director Adam Rosendorff at her home in an attempt to find closure. Rosendorff, who worked at Theranos between 2013 and 2014, testified for six days last year during Holmes’ four-month trial. With his highly technical knowledge of the inner workings of Theranos’ labs, Rosendorff’s testimony was key to the trial. In court, he that Holmes knew that Theranos’ technology produced inaccurate blood test results, yet she pushed for it to be used on patients anyway. After repeatedly raising his concerns about the faulty technology, he ultimately quit Theranos. Holmes’ lawyers alleged that when Rosendorff visited her home this summer, he expressed guilt that he made Theranos seem worse than it was in court. But Judge Edward Davila did not find merit to these allegations. Rosendorff affirmed once again that last year’s testimony was accurate. The former lab director clarified that he for Holmes’ child, who will grow up without a mother if she is sent to prison, but not for Holmes herself. After a trial, Holmes’ legal team is expected to file an appeal after next week’s sentencing, dragging out the legal process further. Holmes’ former boyfriend and Theranos COO, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani is expected to be . While Holmes was found guilty on four counts of fraud relating to investors, Balwani was found of defrauding and conspiring to defraud both patients and investors. |
One of Canada’s biggest climate tech backers pulls back | Harri Weber | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | A prolific investor in climate tech companies in Canada is back with a second fund for “low-carbon technologies” — only this time the firm plans to pump less money into the scene, over a longer period of time. The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) came out with a new, $400 million climate tech fund on Wednesday, which it called a “renewed commitment” to help build “world-class Canadian clean tech” companies. The BDC is owned by the state and was set up to drive economic development in Canada. Its recent venture deals include joining Samsung in a round for , which makes tiny, low-energy displays. Earlier this year, BDC chipped in with Toyota to fund , which builds zinc-air batteries that could help utilities store renewable energy for when the sun is not shining. Asked about the pullback, fund managing partner Susan Rohac told TechCrunch that the firm is “sizing the offer to a more robust market with many more partners that we can work with.” According to Rohac, BDC’s first fund was as large as it was because it was made to “address the lack of risk capital” for climate and clean tech startups in Canada. Since then, “for every $1 that [BDC] committed, $6 has been raised in additional funding from the private sector by our portfolio companies, concurrently or after we invested,” Rohac said. In other words, the firm argues its supersized first fund created “more private sector appetite,” which will apparently make up for the ‘s downsized second act. To date, BDC says it has funded 50 climate and clean tech companies via the fund, which puts it in the same camp as other busy investors in the scene, including and (which is also backed by the Canadian government). |
Blackbird’s latest $1B AUD fund signals maturation of Australian, New Zealand venture scene | Rebecca Bellan | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | The Australian and New Zealand startup community will see a boost in funding this year. based in the two south Pacific countries, on Wednesday closed a fund at over AUD $1 billion (about USD $640 million), which the firm says is Australia’s largest fund to date. This is Blackbird’s fifth fund, and it’s double the size of the VC’s last fund, which closed in August 2020. Several institutional investors participated, including superannuation funds like AustralianSuper, Hostplus, Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, New Zealand’s sovereign wealth funds and New Zealand Growth Capital Partners Elevate fund, which is a government-backed fund. A decade ago, most Australian and in particular New Zealand institutional investors didn’t want to put their money anywhere near tech startups. Their support today signals a maturation of the Australia/New Zealand venture capital space. “[Superannuation fund] capital can go anywhere. It can go into the best Silicon Valley VCs,” Sam Wong, a partner at Blackbird, told TechCrunch. “And so the fact that they are choosing to invest their money at this scale with an Aussie and Kiwi fund marks a moment for the ecosystem and shows that we have earned our right on the global stage to manage that capital.” According to Wong, it makes sense for superannuation funds to back the tech space because they have horizons in the decades and can afford to be patient. “What they really care about is high returns so people can retire in dignity,” she said. “And when you have that long-term horizon, you can seek higher return assets that don’t have liquidity profiles that, say, public markets do. And that’s exactly what we found in the Australian superannuation system — they love tech because it’s high growth, high return. It’s very long dated, and they don’t mind that it’s locked up for 10 years.” The fund is also supported by over 270 individual investors, many of whom are tech founders and operators that Blackbird backed through earlier funds, according to the firm. Those founders will support the fund both with their own capital, but also their expertise, knowledge and connections, said Wong. The total AUD $1 billion consists of three separate vehicles: an AUD $284 million (USD $182 million) core fund for pre-seed and seed stage Aussie companies, an AUD $668 million (USD $472 million) follow-on fund to support Blackbird portfolio companies anywhere from “Series A to the last round at Canva” and NZD $75 million (USD $44 million) dedicated to New Zealand fund, which is also largely for pre-seed and seed-stage companies. Blackbird prides itself on cutting the earliest checks, which could be anywhere from $25,000 for a small pre-seed to up to $5 million for a seed round, said Wong. The firm’s mandate is to invest in founders with an Aussie or Kiwi connection, which usually means they’re based in those countries, but often ends up extending to those who founded companies abroad. Around 40% of Blackbird’s portfolio companies are actually headquartered in the U.S., said Phoebe Harrop, a principal at Blackbird. The fund has already made 18 investments into startups in a broad range of industries from AI to manufacturing to e-commerce. Last month, Blackbird invested in Sonder, an employee and student well-being company, and Spice AI, a data and AI-driven infrastructure platform. Blackbird said it predicts tech companies will contribute 20% of Australia’s GDP by 2032, which would be up from 8.5% today, according to the . “We’re here to change the culture of Australia and New Zealand’s ecosystems, to make a difference at a country level,” said Niki Scevak, partner at Blackbird, in a statement. |
Twitter CMO is the latest to leave in a string of exec departures | Natasha Mascarenhas | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | Twitter CMO is the latest executive leaving the social network, just days into its Elon Musk era, and the report. Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg also writes that Jean-Philippe Maheu, the Vice President of Global Client Solutions, is leaving the company. Berland hasn’t said anything publicly about the job change yet, emoji. 💙 — Leslie Berland (@leslieberland) Despite the tweet’s brevity, it seems to have been signal enough to usher in a flood of responses, including other Twitter employees sending blue heart emojis right back. Berland’s tweet and added that “it’s not hyperbolic to say that no one had a bigger impact on Twitter the service — and Twitter the company. She always had your back, she always listened, she always did right, and she made Twitter ‘what’s happening.'” Berland’s LinkedIn and Twitter bios haven’t been updated to reflect any job change. TechCrunch reached out to Berland prior to publishing for comment but has not heard back. Berland’s reported departure comes over a decade after they first joined the company — and , including Chief Consumer Officer Sarah Personette and Chief People and Diversity Officer Dalana Brand. , the cohort of Twitter’s pre-Musk executives still at the company is getting smaller and smaller. Jay Sullivan, Twitter’s Head of Product, deleted the bio on his Twitter account, which previously denoted his role at the company. The previous Head of Product, Kayvon Beykpour, was let go by former CEO Parag Agrawal in May, but . Agrawal himself, along with CFO Ned Segal, General counsel Sean Edgett and Head of Legal Policy, Trust and Safety Vijaya Gadde were all . |
They’re not going to ban TikTok (but…) | Devin Coldewey | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | We’ve been hearing for years how TikTok hoovers up data globally and presents it to its parent company in China, and potentially thence to the powers that be. But despite renewed calls today from FCC commissioner Brendan Carr, the popular app is very unlikely to be outright banned. That doesn’t mean it will be allowed to carry on with impunity, though. Commissioner Carr’s opinion appeared in an , during which he stated that he doesn’t believe “anything other than a ban” would be sufficient to protect Americans’ data from collection by Chinese companies and authorities. (To be clear, this is him expressing his own position, not the FCC’s; I asked two others at the agency for comment and have not received any response.) This isn’t the first time Carr has voiced this idea. After BuzzFeed News implied by leaked internal communications, he calling the app an “unacceptable national security risk” and asking the companies to remove it from their app stores. They didn’t, and now it’s back to the question of federal action — first pondered by the Trump administration, which despite many actions restricting China’s reach in the U.S. never managed to get a lock on TikTok. The reason for that is pretty simple: It would be political self-sabotage. TikTok is not just a wildly popular app — it’s the life raft to which a generation that abandoned the noble ships Facebook, Instagram, and soon Twitter have clung for years. And the reason why is that American companies haven’t come close to replicating TikTok’s feat of algorithmic addiction. TikTok’s success in gluing Gen Z to their phones isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing — that’s a different discussion. Taking as a given its place in the zeitgeist, however, it makes a ban politically risky for multiple reasons. , it would be tremendously unpopular. The disaffected-youth vote is supremely important right now, and any president, senator, or representative who supports such a ban would be given extreme side-eye by the youth. Already out of touch with technology and the priorities of the younger generation, D.C. would now also be seen as the fun police. Whether that would drive voters to the other side or just cause them to not vote, there aren’t any good outcomes. Banning TikTok and that is fatal before you even start thinking about how to do it. (Not to mention it kind of looks like the government intervening to give flailing U.S. social media companies a boost.) , there isn’t a clear path to a ban. The FCC can’t do it (no jurisdiction). Despite the supposed national security threat, the Pentagon can’t do it (ditto). The feds can’t force Apple and Google to do it (First Amendment). Congress won’t do it (see above). An executive order won’t do it (too broad). No judge will do it (no plausible case). All paths to bans are impractical for one reason or another. , any effective ban would be a messy, drawn-out, contested thing with no guarantee of success. Imagine that somehow the government forced Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their stores and remotely wipe or disable it on phones. No one likes that look — the companies look too weak and too strong, letting the feds push them around and then showing off their power to reach out and touch “your” device. An IP-based ban would be easily circumvented but also set another unpleasant censorship precedent that ironically would make the U.S. look a lot more like China. And even should either or both of these be attempted, they’d be opposed in court by not just ByteDance but also by companies from around the world that don’t want the same thing to happen to them if they get a hit and the government doesn’t like it. For those reasons and more, an outright ban by law, decision or act of God is a very unlikely thing. But don’t worry: there are other tools in the toolbox. Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch The government may not be able to kick TikTok out of the country, but that doesn’t mean they have to be nice about letting them stay. In fact, it’s probable that they’ll do their best to make it downright . The company and service exists in something of a loophole, regulator-wise, like most social media companies. The addition of Chinese ownership is both a complicator and an opportunity. It’s more complicated because the U.S. can’t directly affect ByteDance’s policies. On the other hand, as a “foreign adversary,” China’s ascendancy over private industry is a legitimate national security concern and policy can be shaped around that. This involves various more independent agencies that are free to set rules within their remits — the FCC can’t, in this case, make a case. ? Homeland Security? The FTC? For that matter, what about states like California? Rule-making agencies have a free hand — and like tacit congressional backing — to extend their own fiefdoms to the edges of TikTok, with national security acting as a catchall reason. If Commerce adds “connected software applications” to supply chain security rules as it has proposed, suddenly the data coming and going through the app is arguably under its protection. (This would all be shown in various definitions and filings at the time of the rule-making.) What if TikTok’s source code, user data, and other important resources were subject to regular audits to make sure they complied with cross-border data supply chain rules? Well, it’s a pain in the neck for ByteDance because it needs to scour its code base to make sure it isn’t giving too much away. Having to prove that it handles data the way it says it does, to the satisfaction of U.S. authorities given free rein to be picky — is not pleasant at all. And that’s just from a relatively quick rule change — imagine the FTC getting new authority to audit algorithmic recommendations! More importantly, it gives the U.S. government a chain to yank should ByteDance not comply. It’s one thing to say, “We think this company is mishandling U.S. citizens’ data and we’re going to ban it.” It’s quite another to say, “An investigation by auditors found that ByteDance misrepresented its data-handling techniques, and if they are not fixed in 90 days, they will be in violation of law and removed from app stores.” Neither Apple nor Google wants to remove TikTok from their store, but again, it’s one thing to say, “The feds asked us,”
and another to say, “We must comply with the law. It’s out of our hands.” If TikTok has proven itself to be impervious to action by the highest levels of government, that just means the job gets passed to a small army of bureaucrats who’d love to be the ones who hog-tied this particular greased pig. That’s not a rodeo any company wants to find themselves a part of — American, Chinese, or otherwise. |
‘CZ’ Zhao on why Binance bet big on Twitter despite Musk’s machinations | Connie Loizos | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | It’s hard to imagine committing to invest $500 million in someone’s vision for a company only to watch that individual almost immediately try to distance himself from it. But Changpeng “CZ” Zhao told an audience tonight at Web Summit in Lisbon that he wasn’t bothered when, after committing to invest $500 million in Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, Musk then tried for months to torpedo the deal. First and foremost, suggested the founder and CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency platform, “When we invest in a deal, we’re very comfortable if the deal goes through. We’re very comfortable if the deal doesn’t go through. We always want to get to a point where we’re in that position.” In fact, while, Zhao admitted that he was “honestly” a “little bit surprised” when the deal finally went through — Musk is “pretty hard guy for me to predict,” Zhao said with a laugh on stage — he told interviewer Katie Prescott of The Times. He said, for example, that Binance wants to be “completely supportive of free speech” because Binance’s great ambition is to “increase the freedom of money” and free speech, he said, is inextricably tied to the freedom of money. Free speech is also paramount to Zhao as a founder who finds himself in the headlines and doesn’t always like what he reads. “Little guys like us have our followers” said Zhao, whose personal fortune is estimated in the tens of billions of dollars. “We can correct the news.” (Asked by Prescott if Zhao thought Twitter was constricted on this front previously, he said no.) Zhao also sees Twitter as an important business development tool, he suggested, calling himself an “active Twitter user” who uses the app more than he uses the Binance app. (“I don’t trade. I just store my crypto on Binance and then I use Twitter,” where the “crypto community” lives and “where politicians go.”) Naturally, however, the biggest driver is Musk himself, who Zhao said Binance “loves to support” for his “different ideas.” Despite forking over a massive check to Musk, Zhao insisted that he doesn’t receive much detail about what’s happening inside Twitter HQ right now, telling Prescott that he heard of Musk’s apparent plan to charge verified Twitter users $8 per month at the same time as the rest of the world. But he said that “we’re very supportive of anything that can reduce the bots on Twitter.” Zhao further suggested that what he appreciates most is that Musk doesn’t deliberate for long. “You can see the speed of change in Twitter is much faster now. Last year, I don’t know how many new features (the company rolled out); I didn’t see that many new ones. But I fully expect that with Elon now in charge, the speed of new features rolling out will be much much faster.” Not all of them will stick, Zhao added. “I would actually say probably the majority of them will not stick,” he said. “But that’s how you figure out the rest of the 10% of the features that will stick; by defining a lot of new features.” As for when Zhao expects a return on his money — Musk has said he plans to take Twitter in a few years — he demurred, unsurprisingly. “We’re very long-term investors so we anticipate to be involved in the next 10 to 50 to 100 years. We’re not bothered by short term; we don’t care about that. We care about long-term potential for the platform, and with Twitter plus Elon? Independently, they have a lot of potential, but combined, there is such high potential. Ten to 20 years from now, we’re very confident that this will be a much stronger platform than Twitter yesterday.” |
Daily Crunch: Amazon expands music catalog from 2M to 100M songs for Prime subscribers | Christine Hall | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | The discussion is in the newsroom as to whether folks are eager to pay between $8 and $20 per month for their blue checks on Twitter. Alex’s take was particularly sharp… “ ,” indeed. — and TouchBistro, an iPad-based restaurant management platform, from Francisco Partners to accelerate its growth, expand its product pipeline and make some strategic acquisitions, reports. How’s this for some dodgy rhymes: / Getty Images The U.S. federal government has made R&D tax credits available for decades, but a major change set to take place this year will impact startups across the board. Previously, R&D expenditures could be expensed up front, but now “those expenses will need to be amortized over 5 years in the case of domestic research, and 15 years for foreign research,” according to tax attorney Andrew Leahey. Because so many startups “incur the bulk of their R&D costs in their first year of operation,” many could wait “the equivalent of a lifetime” to recover those expenses. High inflation has stalled efforts to repeal the amortization requirement, so Leahey shares several tactics companies can use “to prepare for the possibility of the rule coming into effect.” Three more from the TC+ team: As always, we have all the Twitter news that’s fit to post. We promise to keep it to a minimum today because there is other fantastic news to share. However, we do want to point out that Elon Musk likes to work out his thought process in tweet form now, so news is changing as the wind blows. Here’s what you need to know today: Musk continues to talk up and (both by ), while reports on the company’s , who resigned today. The move is quite surprising, given that she tweeted positively about a conversation with Musk last week. Meanwhile, things are happening, writes. And we have five more for you: |
Lockheed Martin increases its bet on satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital with $100 million investment | Aria Alamalhodaei | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin is deepening its investment in satellite manufacturer with a $100 million investment and a cooperation agreement for the development and sale of smallsats through 2035. Terran also announced that it will now build its massive, $300 million space vehicle manufacturing facility in Irvine, California, not Florida . CEO Marc Bell that the company decided to move the facility to California, where Terran Orbital already has a substantial footprint, because it could move into the facilities faster than in Florida. It’s a big loss for Space Florida, the state’s economic development agency focused on aerospace, which was going to provide the conduit financing for the facility. Boca Raton, Florida-based Terran Orbital is a contract manufacturer, designing and building satellites for the U.S. government and commercial customers. Bell estimated to TechCrunch in an interview last year that around 95% of the company’s work is related to the Department of Defense and NASA. Lockheed Martin made its first investment in Terran back in 2017; the following year, it led a $36 million investment round. The new funds from Lockheed will go toward acquiring additional assembly space and increasing satellite module production, Terran said in a statement. The smallsat manufacturer also said it planned on expanding its offerings to include a synthetic aperture radar satellite product line and satellite components and subassemblies, like reaction wheels and star trackers. The company was originally planning to launch and operate its own SAR satellite constellation, called PredaSAR, but it decided to pivot from those plans and offer the technology as a product instead. Terran said the conflict in Ukraine showed the need for advanced satellite imagery. Terran Orbital is one of a handful of space ventures that have gone public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition vehicle, or SPAC. The company’s stock price saw a brief price jump with the news about the deal with Lockheed, closing on October 31 at $2.62 a share. Like other companies post-SPAC merger, Terran’s stock value has plummeted since its : it’s currently down around 72% year to date. |
Twitch opens Guest Star up so anyone can run their own talk show now | Taylor Hatmaker | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | With its biggest product launch in years, Twitch is betting on a near future of the platform that features more dynamic conversations, expanding its current focus beyond mostly solo streamers. Through a new tool called Guest Star, which launched in a , streamers can now easily pull other creators and fans into their streams for talk show-like experience. Guest Star makes it possible for anyone to pull up to five speakers into a stream at once. Creators can can host and manage guests from Twitch Studio and OBS, the streaming software of choice for many of the app’s more advanced creators. Guest Star can be enabled through the creator dashboard where it’s now available to everyone. Twitch With Guest Star, streamers can directly invite guests or tap members of chat to join. Viewers in chat can also ask to be featured on stream, providing another way for creators to incentivize and reward their supporters. Hopping into someone else’s stream just requires clicking a pop-up notification and guests can join with either video or just audio enabled, a setting that the host can determine and toggle on and off. Moderation tools give hosts a few ways to manage what guests do, including controlling their audio levels, disabling video like we mentioned and ultimately giving them the boot if they misbehave. Twitch’s suspicious user detection feature adds a layer of safety for hosts looking to choose members of chat to bring into a stream. As an additional safety layer, only phone-verified Twitch users can appear as guests and a digital “backstage” area makes it possible to lay out ground rules and coordinate before Twitch sees Guest Star as a natural evolution of the success it’s seen in the “Just Chatting” category, which has exploded since 2020. Comparing the first five months of 2022 to the first half of that year, hours watched in the category shot up 151% and Just Chatting creator revenue grew 169%. |
Unicorns face 5-1 odds as they wait for public markets to warm | Alex Wilhelm | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | Exchange changing investor sentiment regarding growth and profitability. A looking at cloud and software companies from Battery Ventures ran the math on how investors are rewarding faster growth from less unprofitable companies — dare we say, companies? — with the data indicating that, at least for now, growth is no longer enough to maximize corporate value. For startups busy stacking new revenue with minimal burn, the situation is good news. For companies that raised while money was cheap — and sitting on huge valuations predicated on yesteryear’s valuations — the news that profitability is in vogue again is far from welcome. Many unicorns are likely now trapped between changing investor preferences and a general compression of the value of software companies. Why? Because many a unicorn was minted during the 2020-2021 era on the back of quick revenue growth more than anything else. And, as revenue multiples stretched to the sky during that time period, a great number of startups reached the $1 billion valuation threshold — or a multiple thereof — on the back of small, if quickly expanding, top line. If revenue multiples have come down, that’s bad news for unicorns. If revenue multiples have come down growth is losing comparative luster to profits, high-burn unicorns that were once valued more for something are doubly bound by changing market conditions. Even worse, Battery points out a few difficult facts about just how many unicorns might be able to go public in the coming years compared to how many unicorns there are in the market today. There’s a lining of good news in the data for truly standout startups. But for the bog-standard unicorn, there’s more than just storm clouds on the horizon. In the last 10 years, Battery counts 200 software companies that went public. In contrast, the venture firm counts more than 1,000 new unicorns minted over the same time frame. That’s a 5-1 ratio of IPOs to new billion-dollar companies. |
Everything is stupid and bad right now; maybe this $200 portable turntable will fix it | Brian Heater | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | Yeah, yeah. I know. Buying a record player isn’t going to fix everything that’s broken. But it was a nice thought, however fleeting. Long before the iPod, this strange mutant existed. Too weird to live, too strange to die, as someone once famously put it. The — as it has affectionately come to be known — has also felt like a glimpse into some alternate timeline, where vinyl records didn’t have to go away entirely to make a resurgence. Obviously the size of a 12-inch LP immediately mitigates any pretension of portability, so in the era of the Walkman, a product like this was always destined to be an evolutionary dead end. That, of course, hasn’t stopped countless companies from producing countless knockoffs in the intervening decades. Nor, thankfully, has it precluded Audio-Technica from taking another spin with the delightful AT-SB2022. The newly announced take on the form factor is priced at $199 and is — understandably — a limited edition. The release was specifically timed to coincide with . Unlike its ancestor, which was built with wired headphones in mind (and shipped with a pair for that matter), this version has built-in connectivity, so you can pair it with a wireless headset or speakers. There’s also a built-in battery rechargeable via USB-C that can get up to 12 hours in a single go. So, it’s not going to make all the bad news go away, but it sure would be a lot of fun to bring along for an afternoon of crate digging. Audio Technica If your pockets are considerably deeper, there’s always this fully transparent limited edition AT-LP2022 available for a . The belt-drive-operated manual turntable sports a Shibata stylus and carbon-fiber tonearm, all for the price of six Sound Burgers. If that’s not enough, there’s always with a lab-grown diamond. Maybe that will help drown out the news for a bit. |
Facebook expands its professional mode profile setting to all creators globally | Aisha Malik | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | Meta has of its professional mode profile setting on Facebook to all creators. Professional mode is designed to be used by creators looking to monetize their followings on the social network. Facebook professional mode with select creators in December 2021 and is now offering it to anyone on its platform. Professional mode gives creators the ability to build a public presence and gain access to professional tools that were previously only available for Pages, using the same profile they already have on Facebook. In a Facebook said that it sees professional mode as a way to “build a public following, earn money from various monetization programs, and connect with your audience in more meaningful ways.” The profile setting gives creators access to monetization features and analytics tools, such as Facebook’s Reels Play bonus program, which allows you to earn money for the Reels you share. Professional mode also gives eligible creators access to Stars, which lets you earn money directly from followers on Reels, live and video on demand. In-stream ads will also be launching to eligible professional mode creators, which gives them the opportunity to earn money by enabling ads before, during or after longer videos on demand on Facebook. The company is also testing ads on Facebook Reels on professional mode with a select group of creators across the globe. The company says the ad format integrates into Reels by placing ads on Reels or in between looping Reels. Creators on professional mode also get access to subscriptions, which gives them the option to share subscriber-only content on the social network. Subscriptions haven’t fully rolled out yet and are still in the testing phase. “Professional mode allows you to build a global audience of followers, while still staying connected to friends and family from your personal Facebook profile,” the company said in the blog post. “As you post public content, you’ll have access to features designed to help you obtain and engage new followers that were previously only available on Pages.” The expansion comes at a time when Meta is investing in its creator user base, as it sees the potential in a new revenue stream that comes from things like creator subscriptions. As Meta continues to build the metaverse, it’ll need the support of creators, so it’s not surprising that it’s looking to broaden its offerings for creators. |
Bitcoin miners struggle as energy prices rise and hash prices fall | Jacquelyn Melinek | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | continued to hold near $20,000 this past week, but some miners are crumbling as spiking energy prices and historically low hash prices cut into profits. Even though bitcoin’s price has been down for a while and has fallen about 56% year to date, the dominoes just began to fall for . What’s driving the implosion? “There are a lot of different issues in motion. Obviously the global recession is looming, on top of inflation and rising prices of electricity,” Christopher Perceptions, founder of PerceptForm and CEO of NoCodeClarity (no-code web3 apps), told TechCrunch. “Miners are struggling for a multitude of reasons right now,” Nick Hansen, CEO of crypto-mining firm Luxor, said to TechCrunch. “We’re seeing historically low hash price, which means that miner revenues are at all-time lows.” Hash price is a metric to determine the market value for each unit of hashing power, which is set through changes in bitcoin (which is currently high) and the price of the cryptocurrency. : Hashrate Index The hash price is near a historical low, according to on Hashrate Index, Luxor’s bitcoin mining data analytics. The current hash price is about $70.72, down 80.5% from $361.82 on the year-ago date. Additionally, energy prices have increased across many markets, which means miners’ expenses are at all-time highs, Hansen said. At a high level, the higher the hash rate the greater the difficulty to — meaning that it takes more electricity to do so, Perceptions said. “If the electricity price is high, it’s harder to make a profit.” |
Ford, VW seeking buyer for Argo AI’s lidar unit | Kirsten Korosec | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | Ford and Volkswagen are trying to squeeze any remaining value out of Argo AI, the autonomous vehicle startup the two automakers invested billons in before last week. One of the primary items on the block: Argo Lidar, an 80-person team and the lidar tech they developed, according to sources familiar with the unwinding of the company. Argo AI was barely a year old when it acquired Princeton, New Jersey–based lidar startup Princeton Lightwave in October 2017. The acquisition, backed by Ford, was hailed years later as helping to provide a key piece of technology in Argo’s full self-driving system. Lidar, the light-detection and ranging radar that measures distance using laser light to generate a highly accurate 3D map of the world, is considered by most in the industry a critical sensor required to safely deploy autonomous vehicles at a commercial scale. The team, which is still based in Princeton, developed medium- and long-range lidar sensors. Argo has said the long-range lidar has the ability to see 400 meters away with high-resolution photorealistic quality and the ability to detect dark and distant objects with low reflectivity. Back in May 2021, Argo CEO and co-founder Bryan Salesky told TechCrunch that the lidar sensor was developed to be cost-effective and manufactured at scale, two factors that matter for any company trying to commercialize autonomous vehicle technology. Argo Lidar point cloud. Argo AI LG Innotek, a South Korean electronics components manufacturer, began manufacturing the lidar units for Argo this year. Sources say there has been interest from companies in other verticals — meaning outside of the AV world — in buying Argo Lidar’s sensors. Whether any of these interested parties will jump at buying the entire lidar team is unclear. Meanwhile, some of Argo’s 2,000 global workers are getting offers from Ford and VW. Combined, the two automakers invested $3.6 billion in Argo — $2 billion in cash and $1.6 billion in value when it took over VW’s Autonomous Intelligent Driving subsidiary. It became its own entity called Argo AI GmbH. VW plans to absorb the Munich-based Argo AI GmbH — an office with more than 200 people, many of whom previously were part of AID — back into the company. VW is also offering jobs to about 100 former Argo employees based in the United States, a move that suggests the automaker is keen to set up some operations stateside. “Several hundred” employees will be offered positions at Ford, according to sources. |
Samsara Eco raises $54M AUD for its ‘infinite plastic recycling’ tech | Catherine Shu | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | , an Australian startup that uses enzyme-based technology to break down plastic into its core molecules, announced today it has raised $54 million AUD (about $34.7 million USD) in Series A funding. The company is planning to build its first plastic recycling facility in Melbourne later this year, with the target of full-scale production by 2023. Investors in the round include Breakthrough Victoria, Temasek, Assembly Climate Capital, DCVC and INP Capital. Existing investors like deep-tech fund Main Sequence, Woolworths Group’s W23 and Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) also participated. Samsara launched last year in partnership with the Australian National University. TechCrunch . The company’s enzyme-based technology breaks down plastics into their molecular building blocks to produce new plastic products — which can in turn be broken down again, creating what Samsara refers to as infinite plastic recycling. Samsara’s new funding will be used for expansion, building its library of plastic-eating enzymes and funding its first commercial facility, which it says will be able to infinitely recycle 20,000 tons of plastic starting in 2024. It will also grow its engineering team and expand operations into Europe and North America. CEO and founder Paul Riley said that since March, when Samsara’s previous round of funding was announced, it’s been focused on expanding its enzyme library, which is now capable of depolymerizing several different types of plastic. Its also worked with partners to develop market solutions using Samsara’s plastic-recycling tech. Samsara’s tech is capable of breaking down plastic into its core molecules in minutes, regardless of color, type and state, said Riley. Its Melbourne facility will first recycle PET plastic and polyester, which Riley says accounts for about a fifth of plastic created annually. Its long-term mission is to recycle mixed bale plastics and advance its tech to the point where every kind of plastic can be infinitely recycled. “Given the scale of the plastics crisis, our vision was always to scale infinite plastic recycling as fast as possible,” he said. “For us, this capital raise was about partnering with those that bring industry expertise and commitment to addressing one of the world’s most prominent climate challenges — which is fossil-made plastic — and, in the process, reducing plastic pollution by closing the loop.” Samsara is also preparing for the launch of its first enzymatically recycled packaging, in partnership with Woolworths Group. The packaging will be on shelves in Woolworths’ supermarkets next year, moving the company toward its goal of recycling 1.5 million tons of plastic per year by 2030. Woolworths Group has committed to turning the first 5,000 tons of recycled Samsara plastic into packaging for its branded products, like vegetables and bakery trays. Riley said Samsara’s tech is highly tolerant of contamination and can recycle colored plastics, mixed plastics and multi-layered plastic, which means it has applications across a wide range of industries, including packaging, fashion, automative, medical, electronics and construction. The fashion industry accounts for . Australia is the second-highest consumer of textiles per person in the world, Riley said, which gives Samsara the opportunity to recycle discarded fast fashion pieces in the form of mixed fiber textiles, reducing the amount of clothing that ends up in landfills. “As we expand our library of plastic-eating enzymes, the opportunity for infinite plastic recycling will continue to grow across all these industries, meaning we’ll never have to produce plastic from fossil-fuels again,” Riley said. |
Elon Musk floats $8 Twitter subscription that includes verification, long-form video and audio posting and fewer ads | Ivan Mehta | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | After much uncertainty around Twitter Blue’s revamp, Elon Musk laid out the company’s approach. He said that the new paid plan will cost $8 per month — something that he mentioned in a reply to Stephen King’s tweet. Plus, the price will be adjusted according to purchasing power parity of the country, hinting toward a global launch of Twitter Blue. Musk’s tweet also says that the social network’s current verification system is akin to a “lords & peasants” system. His tweet about the new paid plan indicated offering verification to subscribers. Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) Musk also noted some of the features that will roll out with this new plan, including fewer ads, priority in replies (something which verified handles get through the “Verified” notification channel) mentions and search, and the ability to post longer videos than the current limit of 2 minutes 20 seconds You will also get: – Priority in replies, mentions & search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam – Ability to post long video & audio – Half as many ads — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) Musk has a tendency of changing his mind quickly, so we should take this announcement with a grain of salt. These might not be the final set of features when Twitter rolls out its new subscription plan. Earlier this week, reports noted that Musk and Twitter are revamping the verification process, and . However, the billionaire has seemed to settle on the $8 per month pricing for now. The reports also noted that the current set of verified users will lose their blue checkmark if they don’t pay for the new paid plan. Musk hasn’t mentioned any such measure in the new Twitter thread about the subscription plan. Earlier today, TechCrunch reported that Twitter is ending support for . The company sent an email to participating publisher partners about the program’s end. While Twitter is ending payments and partnerships with the current set of publishers, Musk said that it will create a new program for bypassing paywalls for publishers willing to work with the company. He also mentioned that the subscription revenue stream will help Twitter in rewarding content creators — but didn’t specify how. This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) A crucial detail missing from this thread is a timeline of the rollout for this new paid plan. A report by suggested the Tesla and SpaceX exec has set very aggressive deadlines for the Twitter Blue revamp, with some employees having to work 12-hour shifts. Currently, Twitter Blue is available in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Notably, data from analytics firm Sensor Tower suggests that Twitter’s app has generated only . Musk & co. will hope that this new subscription plan works better than that. |
Google puts an end to Google Hangouts once and for all | Lauren Forristal | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | Google Hangouts, a text, video and voice chat app built into Gmail, is finally being today. As earlier this year, Google is switching Hangouts users over to Google Chat, the company’s Slack-like instant messaging app for businesses. Starting today, November 1, the Google Hangouts web app is no longer available. This was the last Hangouts offering available to users. The Android and iOS apps died in July of this year. Hangouts had an arguably slow death, with Google allowing users to migrate over to Chat . The company announced in June 2022 that it would prompt Hangout users to move to Chat in Gmail or the app. While most of the messages and contacts will be automatically transferred over, all of the data won’t migrate to Google Chat. The company notes that users should use Google Takeout to download and save a copy of their data. Users have until January 2023 to keep their Hangouts data. started as a feature on before becoming a . The messaging service had on the Google Play Store. While Chat can never fully replace Hangouts, it provides additional features for group conversations as well as security and collaboration tools like and editing Docs, Slides or Sheets side-by-side with other users. Chat users can also send GIFs and use @mentions to notify someone in the group. Google has that Chat is a better way for users to connect with others. Back in June, Google Chat Product Manager Ravi Kanneganti , “As we take this final step to bring remaining Hangouts users to Chat, we hope users will appreciate our continued investment in making Chat a powerful place to create and collaborate.” |
Connect with Hedera, Wilson Sonsini and MetaJuice at TC Sessions: Crypto | Lauren Simonds | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | , Head of Business and Development, MetaJuice; , Strategic Partner Success Manager, ImmutableX; and , Director, Republic Crypto, will address these and other challenges to building an inclusive, secure and sustainable metaverse.
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Upstart lays off 7% staff amid weakening demand for loans | Jagmeet Singh | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | has laid off about 140 employees — or 7% of its total workforce — who help process loan applications, sources told TechCrunch. The cloud-based AI lending platform notified its affected employees about the layoff on Tuesday. Upstart had about 2,000 employees, according to the company, which confirmed the layoffs. “Given the challenging economy, we are making this difficult decision for the long-term health of the company. We do not expect any further layoffs, and continue to hire for roles that are strategic to our business,” Upstart spokesperson Mike Nelson said in a statement. Upstart said in its latest with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the decision was due to ongoing economic challenges and the “reduction in the volume of loans” on its platform. However, the company would not confirm the exact drop in its loan volumes. In its last in August, the California-based company reported a 72% annual increase in loan volumes on its platform from 456,610 in the first half of 2021 to a total of 786,675 in the same period a year later. The earnings for the third quarter are due on November 8. Upstart is facing difficulties owing to weakening demand for loans in the U.S. due to significant hikes in interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve to cope with the global rise in inflation. The company’s share price dropped by 84% this year. Upstart was trading at $22.88 in afternoon trading on Tuesday. The market cap of Upstart rose to nearly $32 billion at one point after its in November 2020. Since, the company’s total stock value dipped to less than $2 billion earlier on Tuesday. Unfavorable economic conditions have not only impacted the lending industry but also many technology companies around the globe. Telehealth unicorn , online real estate marketplace and SurveyMonkey parent have all laid off employees in recent weeks. Companies including , and also made similar decisions. Indian startups such as and have also sacked their employees amid the dip in funding and investments. |
TechCrunch+ roundup: 2022 R&D tax prep, social media for founders, managing remote teams | Walter Thompson | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | As director of Techstars’ startup pipeline, Saba Karim spends much of his time touting the ways entrepreneurs can benefit by joining an accelerator. But is it the right choice for every founder? After he posted a thread on Twitter offering several rationales explaining why some should definitely avoid them, I invited him to adapt it for . “Keep in mind that funding will solve your money problems, but it won’t solve everything else,” he writes. “You’ll still need to figure out how to acquire customers, find the best talent, build an incredible product, assemble a great advisory board and get to product-market fit.” His article confirms a suspicion I’ve long harbored: Many entrepreneurs pursue accelerators so they can gain access to investors, score free publicity or receive positive reinforcement for their idea. But none of those are determining factors for success. “If you’re not living and breathing your startup, you’re going to struggle anyway,” says Karim. If you have information, knowledge or experience to share that could help early-stage startup founders, investors and workers make better decisions, and . Thanks very much for reading, Walter Thompson
Editorial Manager, TechCrunch+
(L-R) Connie Loizos, Silicon Valley editor, TechCrunch, Nik Milanović, founder, This Week in Fintech; general partner, The Fintech Fund, Joshua Ogundu, CEO, Campfire and Gefen Skolnick, founder, Couplet Coffee. Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images for TechCrunch Is there a correlation between being extremely online and a founder’s ability to fundraise? According to three entrepreneurs Connie Loizos spoke with at TechCrunch Disrupt, a social media presence that blends aspects of your business and personal lives can “make it easier to connect with investors and customers.” Nik Milanović (founder, This Week in Fintech), Gefen Skolnick (founder, Couplet Coffee) and Josh Ogundu (CEO, Campfire) talked about the benefits and downsides of using TikTok, Twitter and other platforms to build authentic personal and business brands. “I even tweeted yesterday that it was kind of not a good day as a founder, and it was really nice and people engaged with that,” said Skolnick. “I don’t believe in constantly showing that things are good. Some days things are just not good.” Anna Fedorenko / Getty Images “There are a lot of studies about crisis management on the web, but none of them tell us how to manage a company during times of war,” according to Alex Fedorov, CEO and founder of Ukrainian startup OBRIO. Prior to Russia’s invasion, “our company had never seen a real crisis,” he writes in a post that presents the six methods his company used to maintain continuity while protecting workers. “Training to manage stress, anxiety and personal finances will help your employees build the needed knowledge and respond to tough situations.” Kelly Sullivan / Getty Images Founders who have raised funds for early-stage startups in the last year have generally had an easier time than people seeking Series A money (or later). Then again, “easy” is such a relative term. At TechCrunch Disrupt, Rebecca Szkutak spoke to three entrepreneurs to learn more about how they adjusted their expectations and tactics as they approach investors during a downturn: / Getty Images The U.S. federal government has made R&D tax credits available for decades, but a major change set to take place this year will impact startups across the board. Previously, R&D expenditures could be expensed upfront, but now, “those expenses will need to be amortized over five years in the case of domestic research, and 15 years for foreign research,” according to tax attorney Andrew Leahey. Because so many startups “incur the bulk of their R&D costs in their first year of operation,” many could wait “the equivalent of a lifetime” to recover those expenses. High inflation has stalled efforts to repeal the amortization requirement, so Leahey shares several tactics companies can use “to prepare for the possibility of the rule coming into effect.” Kelly Sullivan / Getty Images Before the pandemic, most startup workers had the same experience on their first day: set up a new laptop, fill out some onboarding paperwork, then start gathering intel on the best places to grab lunch near the office. Now that so many teams are hybrid or fully remote, companies are learning the importance of fostering company culture and community from day one, a topic Rebecca Bellan delved into at TechCrunch Disrupt with three experienced managers: “The biggest learning for us over the last three years was that it’s very difficult to really build expertise in a domain or a subject through Zoom,” said Paknad. / Getty Images So far this year, about 45,000 tech workers have been laid off. If that’s hard to visualize, imagine a sold-out Mets game at Citi Field in New York City. Cutting staff is standard operating procedure during a downturn, but Sachin Gupta, who leads sales, marketing and general operations for HackerEarth, says his company has weathered two recessions without resorting to mass firings. “At any given time, our staff portfolio operates at about 90% of what we consider ideal,” he says. “Think of this like the distance you have to maintain between you and the car in front of you when you’re driving on the highway.” “If we staff our teams to fit 100% of our needs (following too closely), then there is a domino effect when the market changes rapidly, causing internal ‘accidents.'” |
Metrist raises $5.5M to provide better cloud service outage data | Frederic Lardinois | 2,022 | 11 | 1 | , a startup that helps IT teams stay on top of outages among the many cloud services they use to run their own applications, today announced that it has raised a $5.5 million seed round from the likes of , and PagerDuty co-founder Alex Solomon and StatusPage co-founders Scott and Steve Klein. The overall idea behind Metrist is pretty straightforward, but there are surprisingly few companies doing this. While products like Twitter or (which is now ) allow companies to easily communicate issues with their services to their users, they don’t always reflect every problem and service degradation — something that then comes into play when it’s time to review an SLA agreement or a contract comes up for renewal and the two parties have vastly different perceptions of a product’s reliability. And while application performance monitoring and observability tools like or can give you some of this data, it’s not their core use case, as these services tend to be inward facing. Metrist “Apps are built on top of other apps today,” Metrist co-founder and CEO told me. “That means if one of them goes down or gets degraded or has some kind of an issue, your app and your business can potentially have the same fate. But current observability tools don’t do anything special for those external dependencies — they still continue to focus inward. You can find out things about your external dependencies — it’s not that you can’t know — but the challenge really becomes verifying so you can take action, but then also hold your vendors accountable.” More than anything else, Metrist wants to become the trusted neutral player that buyers and vendors can refer to when they discuss outages. The service will be a success, Martens said, when Metrist is written into a contract as the third-party independent validator of an SLA. “Too many of the incidents posted to StatusPage simply reference upstream or third-party providers,” said StatusPage co-founder Steve Klein. “It’s exciting that Metrist is going after the root of the problem, creating visibility where before there was none.” Metrist team. Metrist On the technical side, Metrist uses either an agent or eBPF to gather data about the services a company runs, but it also constantly checks for downtime and service degradations from 21 different cloud regions across AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. Out of the box, Metrist covers more than 100 services, but customers can also host their own tests or use in-app tests. The team noted that these tests also go well beyond simply checking for a correct HTTP response code. “It’s not just like pinging an API and saying, ‘does this URL return to 200 or 202?’ Say you’re hitting an endpoint and it’s supposed to create a thing in that platform — we actually will call the retrieval API later to see how long it took to create that thing,” Metrist co-founder and CTO Ryan Duffield explained. Customers also get a lot of flexibility when and how they get alerted of an issue. For some, a 2% increase in latency may be unacceptable, while for others, that’s no issue, for example. Alerts can go to Slack, email Datadog or PagerDuty (and users can create their own alerting systems using webhooks, too). Metrist While Metrist is only announcing its funding today, it’s worth noting that the team actually raised this amount over two different raises, including a pre-seed before the product even existed. Both happened proactively, Martens explained, without the team actually going out to raise. This happened just before the economy and the funding environment changed. “Modern applications depend on an ever-increasing number of cloud products managed by external vendors, but the overall approach to observability hasn’t changed. You wouldn’t dream of operating your internal services blindly and you need to manage your cloud dependencies with the same care,” Heavybit general partner Joseph Ruscio explained. “Metrist enables teams to proactively know when an external service is down, with the goal of avoiding or mitigating incidents stemming from dependencies. Metrist’s approach to third-party observability ensures teams know authoritatively when SLAs are not met.” Metrist offers a that allows you to monitor up to three services with one day of data retention. Paid plans start at $99/month for seven services and seven days of data retention. |
Amazon introduces a $7.3 annual Prime Video subscription tier in India | Manish Singh | 2,022 | 11 | 6 | Amazon has introduced a new price tier for Prime Video in India, making the on-demand video streaming service even more affordable as it races to court customers in the South Asian market where it competes with giants including Disney’s Hotstar, Netflix and Times Internet-backed MX Player. The e-commerce group is offering the yearly subscription to Prime Video Mobile Edition, an affordable tier it , at 599 Indian rupees, or $7.30. At this price, it’s the cheapest way to subscribe to Amazon’s on-demand video streaming service in the country. The company said Prime Video Mobile Edition, which limits viewing to mobile devices and caps the video resolution at standard definition, has seen “an incredible response” from the Indian consumers and is an example of a “worldwide-first innovation.” It did not share how many individuals had subscribed to the mobile edition, however. The mobile edition, now available from Amazon Prime Video app and website, was previously sold through a partnership with a telecom operator. Monday’s move further illustrates how streaming giants — all of whom have of their in the U.S., Europe, the U.K. and other developed markets in recent quarters — are employing a different strategy in India, the world’s second largest internet market. Netflix , cutting each monthly subscription tier’s cost by at least 18% and up to 60.1%. The price of its cheapest plan, Netflix Basic, which permits streaming on any device but caps the resolution at 480p, was revised to 199 Indian rupees ($2.4), down from 499 Indian rupees earlier. Disney+Hotstar, which has amassed about 50 million subscribers in India and Southeast Asia, offers a yearly plan at 899 Indian rupees, or $11 in the South Asian market. Hotstar has amassed over 161 million users in India who consume its mobile apps each month, compared to MX Player’s 78 million, Prime Video’s 28.1 million and Netflix’s 15.5 million, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. With over 520 million monthly active users in India, YouTube remains the most consumed on-demand streaming service in the country. (An industry executive shared the data with TechCrunch.) Amazon introduced Prime Video Mobile Edition in India early last year. The subscription service is also available in the country for $1.10 a month. Amazon “India is one of our fastest growing and most engaged locales worldwide. Our success in the country can be attributed to innovations that are focused on creating an exceptional entertainment experience for customers,” said Kelly Day, VP of International at Prime Video, in a statement. “In fact, India is turning into an innovation hub for Prime Video. An initiative like Prime Video Mobile Edition, that had its genesis in India, is now being rolled out across multiple countries in Latin America and South East Asia. We are confident that the new Prime Video Mobile Edition annual plan will further help accelerate the growth of our India business and give an even larger customer base access to the high-quality content on the service. With this launch we look forward to entertaining every Indian with our popular on-demand entertainment content and live sports.” |
Apple warns of lower iPhone 14 Pro models shipment due to COVID-19 restrictions | Manish Singh | 2,022 | 11 | 6 | Apple warned investors and customers on Sunday that it expects to ship fewer iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max units as the world’s most valuable tech firm grapples with the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown in China. The company said it continues to see strong demand for the , but the lockdown restriction has prompted it to slash its earlier shipment estimates. The warning comes at a crucial time for Apple as the company, like many others, prepares for the holiday shopping season. “The facility [located in Zhengzhou, China] is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity. As we have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we are prioritizing the health and safety of the workers in our supply chain,” the company said in a . China ordered a seven-day lockdown of the area surrounding Foxconn’s flagship plant in Zhengzhou earlier this month, doubling down on a similar restriction placed on the region last month. The assembly line, known as iPhone city, is the largest manufacturing site for Apple’s smartphones and home to about 200,000 workers. The Foxconn-owned plant produces four out of five of the current-generation iPhone handsets, according to analysts at research firm Counterpoint. In a separate announcement, Foxconn said on Sunday that it would “revise down” its own outlook for the fourth quarter and that it was working with the authorities to “resume production to its full capacity as quickly as possible.” Like many firms, Apple has been navigating ways to sustain its products shipments amid a global supply chain disruption for over two years. The disclosure surrounding the shipments on Sunday is rare for Apple, which has largely chosen to make such disclosures at its quarterly earnings calls. The update, however, doesn’t come as a surprise. Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in the recent earnings call last month that supply for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max have been “constrained” since launch. “We continue to be constrained today and so we’re working very hard to fulfil the demand,” he said on the call. The company said Sunday that it was “working closely with our supplier to return to normal production levels while ensuring the health and safety of every worker.” |
Twitter to delay verification check mark rollout until after US midterm elections | Manish Singh | 2,022 | 11 | 6 | Twitter is reportedly delaying the rollout of verification check marks to subscribers as the social network attempts to steer clear of possible impact to Tuesday’s midterm elections. The Elon Musk-owned social media company had planned to roll out the service, Twitter Blue, on Monday. The firm started , according to an app update note. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The reported move to delay the rollout of verification badges comes just days before the U.S. midterm elections, with polls closing on November 8. reports that the move was aimed at limiting the potential fallout of verified users impersonating political or other government figures, such as President Biden, or news outlets claiming false results that may discourage others from voting. Jen Easterly, director of CISA, the U.S. government agency and protecting voting infrastructure, said that the agency had found “no information credible or specific about efforts to disrupt or compromise,” but warned of the ongoing risks posed by disinformation campaigns sown by foreign actors aimed at undermining confidence in the elections system. Security experts like Chris Krebs, the who was fired by President Trump for refuting false claims of election fraud, that Twitter’s new verification rules would be a “major risk” ahead of the midterm elections. At the time of writing, several verified users were impersonating Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, despite the risk of having their accounts suspended for impersonation. The revamped Twitter Blue, which will cost $7.99 a month in the U.S., includes a range of new features including the coveted blue check mark to anyone who subscribes as well as cuts down the number of ads served to them on the platform. Musk is betting on turning the subscription service into a major revenue source for Twitter, which he . Musk financed $13 billion for the purchase from banks and needs to pay more than $1 billion a year in interest payments. The company began cutting costs earlier this week, , or about 3,700 jobs. In a series of tweets earlier this weekend, Musk claimed the company’s revamped Twitter Blue “can beat” the ad-revenue YouTube offers to creators, and that he was also working on fixing the search functionality on Twitter. Twitter will also soon allow users to attach long-form texts to tweets, he said. Twitter plans to roll out the revamped Twitter Blue to subscribers in many markets in the coming months. In response to a tweet, Musk said he was hopeful that Twitter Blue “in less than a month.” |
How ButcherBox bootstrapped to $600M in revenue | Haje Jan Kamps | 2,022 | 11 | 6 | best companies only come about because they found a problem worth solving. For Mike Salguero, CEO and co-founder at , the problem and opportunity in the extraordinarily broken space of meat production and distribution simply could not be ignored. Armed with an idea for how to do things differently, the company ran back in 2015, which drew the attention of its first thousand customers. From there, the company has continued to grow. At the recent Creative Technologist conference organized by venture capital fund , ButcherBox isn’t Salguero’s first rodeo. His first company was CustomMade.com, which raised $30 million in venture capital from First Round Capital, Google and Atlas Ventures in . But in spite of all the money it raised, the company wasn’t successful. “My experience was really bad. We lost everyone’s money, which I felt a lot of shame about,” Salguero recalls. “At the very end, I had diluted myself so much, I owned just 5.5% of the company. T After that, Salguero decided to walk a very different path with his next company, which he started after being confronted with a very personal problem. His wife has a thyroid condition, and in the process of doing an elimination diet to figure out what foods she might be intolerant to, they learned about grass-fed beef. However, this kind of meat was hard to find in the supermarkets in Boston. “W “I was meeting meat farmers in parking lots, buying a couple of trash bags full of meat — I’m sure that didn’t seem sketchy at all,” he said. “But it was too much meat for my freezer, so I ended up selling the excess meat to friends or people I was working for.” Some of his buyers repeatedly told him that it would be much better if the meat was delivered to their houses, and thus, the basic idea for ButcherBox was born. “I got obsessed with the idea and started researching how you ship meat in the mail. I had no idea how to do it. But I’m a big believer in finding people who have done something before and then asking them for help. It skips a lot of the hard work,” Salguero explains. “I found the former head of operations of Omaha Steaks, which at the time was the big behemoth of meat in the mail. And he just said ‘Oh, yeah, my non-compete just ended. I’ll be glad to help you.’ He put all the pieces together at the beginning.” Then everything started happening all at once. Salguero was fired from CustomMade and even though he had aspirations of taking a 100 days off, going on a silent meditation retreat and recharging, he threw himself into building ButcherBox less than a week later. He hired an intern and launched a Kickstarter campaign in September of 2015, a decision made out of a desperation to never raise money again. Fundraising wouldn’t be necessary, he thought, as he wanted to do this as a hobby rather than as a big business. “ Mike Salguero, CEO at ButcherBox speaks at the Baukunst Creative Technologists conference. Haje Kamps / TechCrunch The company had a goal of $25,000 for the crowdfunding campaign, but it ended up raising eight times that amount in preorders. It soon converted a lot of the preorder customers into subscribers, and the rest is history. The company went from revenue of $275,000 in 2015 to $5 million in 2016, then $31 million in 2017 and kept growing. When COVID-19 hit, the meat-packing industry didn’t fare well, but ButcherBox’s revenue just kept growing as people started subscribing to home delivery services like there was no tomorrow. In 2019, the company had revenues of $225 million, but the pandemic tailwinds nearly doubled its top line to $440 million. “This whole time, I’ve just been on a rocket ship,” Salguero says. Beyond the numbers, the company has continued to stay true to its original mission of trying to make a difference. ButcherBox , joining the ranks of other heart-forward companies such as Allbirds, Ben & Jerry’s, King Arthur Flour and Patagonia, and further fortifying its aspirations as a company that takes a stand. Figuring out how you build and grow a company without external investment is an exercise in scrappiness, but Salguero’s team had a few tricks up its sleeve, starting with the Kickstarter campaign and a number of communities who cared deeply about how and what they eat. The company figured out how to growth-hack its way to success by tapping bloggers and nutritionists. “You said eat grass-fed beef,” the company would tell them and created an affiliate model to help incentivize them to promote its products. “W A lot has changed since the early days. Today, the company is paying a lot more up front to get access to customers. “T The company essentially stumbled into influencer and affiliate marketing, staying lean in the process. |
Netflix is bringing back Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales with new gameplay | Ivan Mehta | 2,022 | 11 | 6 | Netflix is bringing to its platform with new gameplay based on the content from Season 4 of the show. Users will be able to play as new characters features in Season 4 in this no-ads game as the company continues its push toward gaming. Users have to solve puzzles in this game to beat enemies like Demogorgons and other supernatural monsters. In the process, they can collect up to 50 versions of characters from the show. The company describes the game’s graphics as “nostalgic 1980s Saturday morning cartoon art style.” Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales was first released in 2021 and it was after Netflix acquired . At that time, the streaming service announced that it is working on revamping the game and moving it to Netflix exclusively. Users can download the updated game starting today . This release of the title joins other Stranger Things games like Stranger Things: 1984 and Stranger Things 3: The Game. The game also builds on Netflix’s efforts to let fans engage with the show in various ways. Earlier this year, the streaming company partnered with and teamed up with . At TechCrunch Disrupt, the company’s VP for gaming Mike Verdu said that . He added that the streaming giant is also opening its second gaming studio in California after establishing its . The company also launched game handles . While the company is putting a lot of effort into making gaming a success, it hasn’t seen stellar results. According to a report from Apptopia published in August, Netflix games 1.7 million daily users. During its Q3 2022 earnings, the company announced that it now has . |
Cloudflare reaches $1B run rate, promises $5B in 5 years. Investors? Not impressed | Alex Wilhelm | 2,022 | 11 | 6 | infrastructure and security company, reported earnings on Thursday, reaching a significant milestone. With almost $254 million in revenue, the company is on a run rate of over $1 billion for the first time. Revenue, which was up 47% over the previous year, also beat the street’s estimate of $250.6 million. That win was offset by a third-quarter loss of $42.5 million, or 13 cents a share. Still, Cloudflare posted a much smaller loss than in the year-ago quarter when it reported losses of $107.3 million, or 34 cents a share, . After earnings, Cloudflare co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince announced that the company set a lofty goal to reach $5 billion in revenue organically within five years. “Even as we achieve $1 billion, we have penetrated less than 1% of our identified market for products we already have available today.” “That’s why we’re confident we’re on the path to organically achieve $5 billion in annualized revenue over the next five years,” Prince told analysts in the earnings call. Prince also pointed out how rare it is for a company to reach $1 billion in revenue. “Only 6% of public software companies achieved this milestone, so we’re proud to have crossed it, but nowhere close to finished,” Prince said. Per usual, the markets treated this news with a kick in the teeth, with the company’s stock down as much as 13% overnight Thursday and down over 18.5% by the close on Friday. But how realistic is the $5 billion goal, given its current situation and predicted revenue for 2023? |
The fintech layoffs just keep on coming | Mary Ann Azevedo | 2,022 | 11 | 6 | Wow, I take off one week and come back to all hell breaking loose in the fintech world. Sadly, it felt like we got news of layoff after layoff. I’ll attempt to round up as many of them as I can here: I wrote this newsletter on November 3 because I’m leaving on a trip to celebrate my 20th wedding anniversary, so it’s possible that more layoffs took place between then and now. :( , but when well-funded companies such as Chime, Stripe and Pleo are cutting staff, it is no doubt sobering for all the players — small or large — in the space. Special thanks to TC senior reporter and very nice guy for helping me draft the Weekly News and Fundings and M&A sections below so I could get offline and pack for my trip! , the fintech startup that raised $180 million at a $2.1 billion valuation, told TechCrunch via email that it has launched a service called Jeeves Pay that it’s billing as a “credit-backed business payments solution” for enterprise customers. At a high level, Jeeves Pay lets customers use their existing credit line to send wires or pay vendors, ostensibly solving the problem of having to rely on cash or revenues to fund local and cross-border business and vendor payments. Jeeves Pay is available now to all Jeeves customers “where permitted by applicable local laws and regulations,” the company says. sees startups as one of the key avenues to growth in the corporate card and spend management market. To that end, the company on Wednesday a partnership with Techstars to extend Brex services to companies within the accelerator, following similar tie-ups with Y Combinator and AngelList. For the duration of the accelerator, Techstars participants will get a Brex platform support team, access to exclusive Brex events and free use of Brex’s Pry financial forecasting platform. In an interview with TechCrunch, Brex CEO and co-founder Henrique Dubugras described the move as a customer acquisition play. At Disrupt, TechCrunch interviewed Dubugras onstage about the company’s recent change in strategy, which involves a stronger emphasis on software and the enterprise. A for TC+ breaks out the juicy highlights from the conversation, including why Brex decided to stop serving businesses funded outside the venture capital structure and the implications of the company’s layoffs earlier this year. Also at Disrupt, CEO Eric Glyman, Airbase CEO Thejo Kote, and Anthemis partner Ruth Foxe Blader participated in a roundtable about competing in the increasingly crowded spend management space — a space, it’s worth noting, that’s to be worth tens of billions of dollars. Glyman and Kote shared how they’re working to preserve capital, while Blader offered up some of the advice she’s giving to her portfolio companies. Our TC+ recap has the . How can finance-focused proptech startups survive the downturn? In an exclusive for TC+, . One of the major takeaways: The chances of survival are higher for proptech startups that let consumers fractionally invest in properties and increase access for those seeking a rent-to-own approach. Another: Companies that help others navigate tough times seem to be in special demand. Are landlords and tenants finally ready to ditch paper checks? is betting that they are. The bank this week a pilot platform for property owners and managers that automates the invoicing and receipt of online rent payments. The market is enormous — JPMorgan estimates that more than 100 million Americans pay a combined $500 billion annually in rent to 12 million property owners — but convincing landlords to move from checks and money orders won’t be an easy feat. Only 22% of rent payments are made digitally today, according to JPMorgan. . so that its customers can pay global employees in more than 175 countries and 80 currencies. , a real estate tech company that announced earlier this year it was shutting down after . . That’s it from me for this week. Thanks once again for reading!! See you next time, hopefully with more uplifting news. xoxo Mary Ann |
Twitter Blue subscription with verification may launch in India in ‘less than a month’ | Manish Singh | 2,022 | 11 | 6 | Twitter may extend its subscription service to India in “ ,” its owner and chief executive Elon Musk said, offering a glimpse at just how aggressively he plans to roll out Twitter Blue to the larger world. Twitter in four markets — the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand — last year. The Elon Musk-owned firm plans to launch a revamped version of the subscription service in those four markets . Musk has , promising a verified checkmark to anyone who subscribes, among other features, including long-form video content and having to sift through fewer ads. Those who already have the verified checkmark will need to subscribe to Twitter Blue over the coming months to retain it, Musk said in another tweet. He has previously said that Twitter Blue, which is priced at $7.99 a month in the U.S., will be more affordable in some countries to account for local purchase parity. “Power to the people,” Twitter’s iOS app update note said in anticipation of Monday rollout. “Your account will get a blue checkmark, just like the celebrities, companies, and politicians you already follow.” Musk is betting on turning the subscription service into a major revenue driver for Twitter, which he — $13 billion of which he borrowed from banks. Musk needs to pay more than $1 billion a year in interest payments. The company this week laid off roughly , or about 3,700 jobs. In a series of tweets over the weekend, Musk offered a few more updates on Twitter Blue. He claimed the company “can beat” YouTube’s ad-revenue split to creators, and that fixing the search functionality on Twitter “is a high priority” for the firm. Twitter will soon allow users to attach long-form texts to tweets, he said. Many users who have wished to post longer texts have over the years posted screenshots of texts written on a note app. Musk said the new revamp will end such “absurdity.” |
Musk says Twitter will offer ‘amnesty’ to suspended accounts | Rebecca Bellan | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | Elon Musk said Thursday Twitter will grant “a general amnesty” to accounts that had been suspended from the platform beginning next week. The CEO posted a the day earlier over whether the platform should restore affected accounts. The news comes within a week of from the platform after running a similar poll. after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, but he doesn’t intend to return to the platform. Musk’s poll to users included a caveat that suspended account holders could rejoin the platform “provided they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.” Around 3.2 million users responded to the poll, which voted 72.4% in favor of amnesty. “The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk using a Latin phrase that means “The voice of the people is the voice of god.” Historically, Twitter has banned accounts that glorify hate and harassment, have the potential to incite violence or rampantly spread misinformation that can lead to harm. Some high-profile individuals who were banned include MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell after he made a series of claims that Trump actually won the 2020 presidential election; former Trump adviser and former executive chairman of Breitbart Steve Bannon after he said Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray should be beheaded; and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes for violating the site’s policy of prohibiting violent extremist groups. "Trans people deserve to die" is a legal statement and any account suspended for saying that could be brought back under the "general amnesty." This is like opening the gates to hell in terms of hate speech. — Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) It’s unclear from Musk’s brief tweet how Twitter will deal with content moderation in the future, now that more potentially problematic voices will be returning to the platform. These concerns have only been exacerbated by and the general exodus of employees who’d Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, proposed a specific scenario in relation to hate speech against trans people. “‘Trans people deserve to die'” is a legal statement and any account suspended for saying that could be brought back under the ‘general amnesty,'” Caraballo wrote. “This is like opening the gates to hell in terms of hate speech.” Musk responded that this case would be considered an incitement to violence, which would continue to result in account suspension. “Currently suspended accounts will be enabled slowly next week after manual review to determine whether they have potentially broken the law or engaged in spam,” Musk tweeted. “Twitter will be a forum for the peaceful exchange of views.” Musk has stated several times that he hopes Twitter will be a forum for a peaceful exchange of views and . His own on the platform, however, does not always seem to support this hope. Musk has called Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren “Senator Karen” and has responded to a tweet from Bernie Sanders saying, “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive.” |
WeWork China’s former tech head introduces on-demand work pods for mental health | Rita Liao | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | At a time when China’s zero-COVID policy continues to interrupt offline work and face-to-face interactions, Dominic Penaloza, the former head of innovation and technology at WeWork China, is introducing a bold idea — on-demand work booths placed in public locations — and has managed to quickly raise capital for the business. Penaloza named his new venture Peace in the hope of boosting mental health for those using the company’s quiet, privacy-first space to avoid crowded offices and noisy cafes. Peace announced this week that it has raised a seven-figure funding round from a group of business partners and entrepreneurs. Peace is the latest iteration of Penaloza’s continuous experiment with flexible work. In 2019, the executive spearheaded an internal project to offer at WeWork China. A year later, he moved on to found his own proptech-focused startup studio, which incubated a similar on-demand workspace service but . Seven-month-old Peace launched its first batch of portable pods last week at three high-end malls and two office buildings in the heart of Shanghai. It aims to deploy 1,000 of them across the metropolis in the coming year, Penaloza said on a video call from one of the pods in the mall. “We are selling privacy on demand,” the founder said when I asked if the booths would be equipped with security cameras, an infrastructure that has become ubiquitous across China and often raises privacy concerns. “We don’t plan to put cameras in … I think it’s more important to make our users feel that it’s really 100% of private space. No one can hear what they’re saying. And of course, no one can see their screen or them.” Each Peace pod is 3,5 square meters big with a meeting table that fits four people. The portable box comes with an app-enabled lock, electric sockets, WiFi, soundproof walls, and ventilation fans. Peace is also exploring collaboration with , a startup using the novel far UVC method to inactivate viruses and bacteria, which allegedly can battle COVID-19. Each of Peace’s work pods fits four people. Peace The long list of equipment explains the steep cost of the pods — in the mid tens of thousands of yuan (1 USD = 7.16 yuan as of writing) to manufacture one. Penaloza believes his team has figured out a sustainable revenue model. Each pod costs 11.25 yuan per 15 minutes, but this is a reference price, the founder said, and in the future, the cost can vary based on location and real-time supply and demand. It isn’t cheap — an Americano costs about 25 yuan at an average cafe in China’s top-tier cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen, but if four people were to split the cost of 45 yuan, plus the upsides that a pod brings — privacy and stable internet — and if Peace reaches a meaningful density, it could be a viable business. Peace also found a sweet spot in its relationship with landlords, including retail spaces, office building lobbies, urban renewable spaces, transportation hubs, exhibition centers and residential developments. “Our formula for working with real estate companies is one of our most secret sauces because this hardware, in the landlord language, is actually an asset enhancement,” explained Penaloza. “It should be part of the renovation budget that they have from year to year to make the building better and keep the building competitive, so Peace pods would attract white-collar people to spend more time in a building.” “Even when we put it in an office lobby, even though everyone has an office upstairs, people still use it, especially in China where hybrid work is not popular yet, because small meeting rooms in offices are frequently fully utilized, and everyone needs peace and quiet from time to time,” the founder added. Working with landlords also helps Peace save on maintenance costs. Since the COVID outbreak, the Chinese government has started asking operators of enclosed spaces to clean their facilities after use. Peace’s tech platform automatically alerts the property manager at the end of every booking, and a cleaner will be sent to the pod, a process that can be as quick as spraying surfaces with disinfectant and wiping them. Investors in Peace consist mostly of entrepreneurs, including Joachim Poylo and Francois Ammand from Aden Group, Chris Brooke from Brooke Husband, Pablo Fernandez from CleanAir Spaces, Patrick Berbon from CM Venture, Hei Ming Cheng from Kailong, Wei Cao from Lumenlabs, Penaloza himself, and Panda Eagle Group. |
Twitter layoffs trigger oversight risk warning from Brussels | Natasha Lomas | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | In another move that’s being frowned upon by European Union regulators, Elon Musk-owned Twitter has closed its Brussels office per a report in the — citing sources with knowledge of the departures. Staffers in the office were focused on European Union digital policy, working in close proximity to the seat of power of EU’s executive, the European Commission — an entity with an ongoing role in EU lawmaking. The Commission will also soon take on a major new oversight role for the bloc’s updated digital rulebook, the Digital Services Act (DSA). Given the obviously strategic function of the Brussels office, its termination could be interpreted as either a major strategic blunder by Musk, if he’s failed to understand the importance of having a policy presence at the heart of the EU to influence lawmakers and law enforcers — or a very obvious (and intentional) snub to the bloc and its regulations that signals bad news ahead for Twitter’s compliance with regional laws. Either way, the Commission does not appear to be taking the development lying down. In fresh remarks today, following the latest Twitter layoff revelations — and following a visit by an EU commissioner to Twitter’s Dublin office (which does, for now, still exist) — the EU’s executive has given the clearest indication yet that it could appoint itself as overseer of the bird site’s compliance with the incoming DSA. If that happens, Musk’s regulatory risk in Europe will really take flight. So the stand-off is real. According to the FT, the last two remaining Twitter public policy staffers, Julia Mozer and Dario La Nasa — who its reporting says were in charge of the company’s digital policy in Europe — departed Twitter last week, resulting in the Brussels office being entirely disbanded. Since Musk took over the social media firm, Twitter’s comms team has not responded to press requests seeking comment so it was not possible to obtain an official confirmation of the closure of the office. We were also unable to reach either Mozer or La Nasa at the time of writing to confirm the FT’s reporting. Neither appear to have tweeted about leaving the company — nor updated their LinkedIn profiles to announce a change of job as yet. The newspaper reports that other Twitter policy staffers left the small Brussels office at the start of the month — as part of an earlier global headcount cull by Musk, who reportedly moved to slash 50% of jobs . Further smaller layoffs have followed. Last week, reported that another Brussels-based Twitter staffer, Stephen Turner — who, per his LinkedIn profile, had worked at the company for over six years, most recently as Twitter’s EU public policy director — was among the employees laid off by Musk. Turner tweeted Monday week that he had “officially retired from Twitter.” “From starting the office in Brussels to building an awesome team it has been an amazing ride,” he added, describing himself as “privileged and honoured” to have worked with “the best colleagues” and “great partners.” After 6 years I am officially retired from Twitter✌️ From starting the office in Brussels to building an awesome team it has been an amazing ride. Privileged & honoured to have the best colleagues in the world ❤️great partners, and never a dull moment Onto the next adventure 🍻 — stephen turner (@sturner) Turner could not confirm any more recent departures from his former office but he was able to tell us there had been a total of six staff working in Brussels prior to Musk’s Twitter takeover — only two of whom were left when he departed last week (which aligns with the FT’s reporting of no Brussels office left following the departures of the last remaining employees). So, er, the big question now is WTF happens next for Twitter’s ability to engage with EU rules? The Brussels-based European Commission will shortly begin overseeing regulation of large internet platforms under the incoming DSA — a major update to the bloc’s digital rulebook that will definitely apply to Twitter. Although the company could — and perhaps, on paper, should — avoid centralized enforcement by the Commission itself which is supposed to take on that role only for so-called very large online platforms (aka VLOPs), with more than 45 million users in the region. (Otherwise the job falls to authorities within EU member states — or to a lead authority in the case of a business having a main establishment in the EU.) But large-scale layoffs at Twitter have led to rising concern at the Commission and among other EU regulators that it will be unable to comply with major EU laws — covering areas like illegal content removals (as the DSA does) or data protection (under the General Data Protection Regulation; GDPR). Which is driving Brussels to adopt a more aggressive tone toward Twitter. , Twitter’s lead data protection regulator in the EU — Ireland’s Data Protection Commission — also sought a meeting with the company after a trio of senior compliance staff resigned. But, for now, EU data protection authorities appear to be keeping their powder dry and opting to monitor developments. There’s more, though. Twitter is signed up to two voluntary EU codes, established by the Commission — starting back in 2016 — one to combat the spread of online hate speech and a separate code focused on fighting online disinformation. Under Musk, Twitter’s compliance with commitments its prior leadership made under the latter disinformation code already look like a joke, as we’ve . While, today, the Commission of the seventh evaluation of the Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech online — which it said shows a general slow-down of progress across almost all signatories compared to the last two annual reviews. Including at Twitter. Twitter’s performance was among those that declined vs reviews in 2021 and 2020, with the evaluation finding the company removed 45.4% and 49.8% of illegal content reported to it (so a drop of 4.4 percentage points in takedowns) — although it’s worth noting that this assessment took place between 28 March and 13 May 2022, which was prior to Musk’s takeover (which closed at the end of October). So it remains to be seen whether Musk’s approach will boost Twitter’s performance on hate speech takedowns or accelerate this slide. Coincidentally (or not), he yesterday to claim a big reduction in hate speech impressions — which he suggested are “down by a third” vs. the levels seen during a recent surge immediately after he took over the platform. So it’s a rather qualified brag tbh. Hate speech impressions down by 1/3 from pre-spike levels. Congrats to Twitter team! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) It will certainly be interesting to see whether independent evaluations stand up or knock down Musk’s hype about his own impact on purging hate speech. The next Commission review of the EU’s hate speech Code isn’t officially scheduled to take place for another year — although the EU said today that it plans to talk with signatories (or at least those who will meet with it) to encourage “implementations” that support compliance with the incoming DSA which it also noted might lead to a revision of the Code of Conduct in the course of 2023. So Musk’s actions (or inaction) will very likely be shaping outcomes here. It’s clear that disruptions at a number of major tech platforms are causing growing concern in Brussels that its regulators are in for a bumpy ride. “I am concerned about the news of firing such a vast amount of staff of Twitter in Europe,” Věra Jourová, the EU’s vice-president in charge of compliance with the code on disinformation, told the FT. “If you want to effectively detect and take action against disinformation and propaganda, this requires resources. Especially in the context of Russian disinformation warfare, I expect Twitter to fully respect the EU law and honour its commitments. Twitter has been a very useful partner in the fight against disinformation and illegal hate speech and this must not change.” Earlier this week, the also reported that the EU’s justice commissioner, Didier Reynders, would be meeting with Twitter and Meta officials in Dublin following major layoff announcement at both companies. And he briefed the newspaper that tech firms risk big fines if they fail to comply with the bloc’s rules. Tweeting today, following his meeting with Twitter, Reynders reiterated that its recent layoffs are “a source of concern” for the EU. He also said he had used the meeting to “underline” the Commission’s expectation that Twitter will comply with both its voluntary commitments (under the aforementioned codes) and with legal requirements attached to EU laws like the GDPR and the DSA. The recent layoffs and today’s results of the Code of Conduct against are a source of concern. In my meeting at Twitter’s 🇪🇺 HQ, I underlined that we expect Twitter to deliver on their voluntary commitments and comply with EU rules, including & . — Didier Reynders (@dreynders) Following Reynders meeting with Twitter today, the Commission issued further remarks — and dialled up its rhetoric. In what looks like a direct shot across Twitter’s bows, vis-a-vis its DSA risk — and the clearest signal yet that the Commission will designate Twitter a very large online platform (aka VLOP) and oversee its compliance — it said: “For those platforms that the Commission will designate as very large online platforms, the risk management obligations also include a strong component on the appropriateness of the resources allocated to managing societal risks in the Union. Among other matters, the Commission will scrutinise the appropriateness of the expertise and resources allocated, as well as the way they organise their compliance function.” For “appropriateness of the expertise and resources allocated” read: ‘Shuttering local offices and canning EU staff will be frowned upon — .’ “All companies who offer their services in the Union will have to comply with the rules in the DSA,” the Commission also reiterated. “We believe that ensuring sufficient staff is necessary for a platform to respond effectively to the challenges of content moderation, which are particularly complex in the field of hate speech. We expect platforms to ensure the appropriate resources to deliver on their commitments,” it added, pointing to the latest assessment of platforms’ actions under the hate speech code and the “slowdown in progress for most of the participating companies, including Twitter” as a “worrying trend.” One remaining regional Twitter policy staffer tweeted a thank you to Reynders after his visit. Dublin-based Karen White, whose lists her as “head of public policy for EMEA,” also wrote: “We appreciate the opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to the DSA and tackling hate speech, as well as continuing our engagement with long-time EU partners.” Thank you Commissioner for visiting Twitter today. We appreciated the opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to the DSA and tackling hate speech, as well as continuing our engagement with long-time EU partners. — Karen White (@karenwhite) On any standard business logic playbook, Twitter choosing this moment to shutter its Brussels policy office looks baffling — as it means the firm won’t have a local presence to lobby for its interests as lawmakers-cum-regulators take major decisions that will affect its business and could result in expensive outcomes like big fines coming down the pipe. What Twitter does next with its Dublin office will be one to watch — so whether staff there will face further layoffs. Or — on the flip side — whether Dublin will become Musk’s chosen hub for responding to all EU regulatory matters in an attempt (likely futile) to sideline the Commission. Musk cannot necessarily pick his preferred EU regulatory hub, either. Earlier this month, a well-placed source Twitter is already in breach of “main establishment” requirements under the GDPR’s one-stop-shop mechanism — which (currently) enables it to streamline oversight by dealing with a single privacy regulator in Ireland — rather than facing a regulatory free-for-all with any data protection authority across the EU competent to raise concerns affecting local users and pursue enforcement in its own market. (Which could lead to multiple fines being fired at it from privacy regulators around the EU.) At the meeting with its lead privacy regulator , Twitter told the Irish DPC it had appointment a replacement data protection officer — a role that’s a requirement under the GDPR — naming an existing privacy staffer who’s attached to its Dublin office — as its new “acting” DPO. Other Ireland-based employees remain critical to the company’s claim to have main establishment in Ireland — and thereby to its ability to simplify its GDPR compliance burden. So were Musk to shut down its Dublin operation entirely it would be impossible for Twitter to present even a veneer of ‘compliance as usual’ as regards data protection — again leading to an immediate amping up its regulatory risk. So there’s now a looming prospect for Musk of double regulatory trouble in Europe — under both the GDPR and DSA. And no clear path to him avoiding a painful regulatory reckoning as he charts a collision course with EU law. If the Commission elects to designate Twitter a VLOP under the DSA the business will face an accelerated compliance timetable with oversight kicking in in February — rather than in February 2024 — with a tougher set of requirements to assess and mitigate risks on its platform. All that compliance requirement — with far fewer staff … is … just obviously going to be a total car crash 😬. Fines under the DSA scale up to 6% of global annual turnover. While, under the GDPR the regime already allows for fines up to 4% for major breaches. So if Twitter isn’t bankrupt yet is may just be a matter of time before its owner’s recklessness toward legal risk finishes the job. What happens next is anyone’s guess but one former Twitter employee with knowledge of how the company managed compliance issues prior to the Musk takeover suggests the philosophy he’s applying amounts to an attitude of “we’re above the law” — or “we think the laws are stupid so we’re not going to comply.” If that analysis is correct, the EU’s shiny new digital rulebook really is facing the ultimate ‘move fast and break things’ test — and it’s coming very, very fast. |
Stellantis to restructure European dealer network in July 2023 | Rebecca Bellan | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | Stellantis, the parent company to brands like Jeep, Dodge, Fiat, Maserati and Peugeot, said Thursday it would reorganize its European dealer networks in July 2023 in an effort to cut costs and support its investment into electrification. Starting next summer, Stellantis said it would end all current sales and services contracts with dealers in Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, with the rest of Europe to follow, for all 14 of its brands. Stellantis will move toward an agency model that gives carmakers more control of sales transactions, prices and contracts with customers, and dealers will exist to help with deliveries and servicing. This would lead to an “increased assumption of costs by Stellantis and the reduction of exposure to the risks of our distributors,” according to a released by the company. “Stellantis’s vision is to promote a sustainable Distribution model and all involved stakeholders will benefit from these changes with the customer experience at the core,” said Uwe Hochgeschurtz, Stellantis chief operating officer in Europe, in a statement. “Customers will be able to take advantage of a multi-brand and multi-channel approach with a wider range of services. Dealers will have a new and efficient business model aimed at benefitting from Stellantis’ 14-brand portfolio, creating synergies, optimizing distribution costs and offering additional sustainable mobility solutions. Our partners play an important role by being the representatives of our brands in the field.” Light commercial vehicles under the Stellantis umbrella are expected to enter the new distribution structure from January 1, 2024, a spokesperson told . The move is part of Stellantis’s strategic plan, which aims to reach carbon net zero emissions by 2038. Included in the plan is a goal to achieve 100% passenger car battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales mix in Europe by the end of 2030. By 2025, Stellantis aims to launch only BEVs in the luxury and premium segments before electrifying its entire portfolio. In Europe, all launched will be BEVs from 2026 and beyond, the company said. Stellantis also recently launched a strategy for its business unit dedicated to , which involves reaching sustainability and profitability through the tried and true method of remanufacture, repair, reuse and recycle. Dealerships will still come in handy for Stellantis’s brand of circular economics — for example, any car parts that the company remanufactures can be distributed and sold across dealership networks. |
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Bessemer, Playground, Root and Seraphim VCs will judge the TC Sessions: Space Pitch-off | Lauren Simonds | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | Watching outstanding early-stage founders square off in a pitch competition is not only an essential part of TechCrunch conferences, but it’s also an attendee favorite. Seriously, who doesn’t love a pitch-off? And the Space Pitch-off is just one more compelling reason to go to on December 6 in Los Angeles. Let’s take a look at the judges our intrepid startups will need to impress. But first, if you have not yet done the deed, . When the clock strikes midnight, the prices increase. eLet’s get back to the pitch-off. Be in the room when three of the brightest early-stage space startups take the stage in front of a live audience — for glory, media exposure, investor interest and, drumroll please, an automatic spot in the at Disrupt 2023. TechCrunch handpicks a cohort of 200 early-stage startups to receive a VIP experience that includes, for starters, exhibiting all three days of the show — for free — and a shot at $100,000. Without further delay, here are the investors the pitch-off contenders need to impress: , general partner at Playground Global; , co-founder and CEO of Seraphim Space; , partner at Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP); and , principal at Root Ventures. sourced some of Playground Global’s earliest investments, including Nervana Systems (acquired by Intel). His first three investments at the firm are now unicorns and one, Velo3D, went public last year. Bell leads the firm’s investment efforts in deep tech areas, including advanced manufacturing, aerospace, computational therapeutics, energy, genomics, materials, next-gen computing, and quantum and synthetic biology. His investment portfolio includes Mangata Networks, Relativity Space and Strand Therapeutics, to name a few. , a pioneer in space tech investment, co-founded the Seraphim Space Fund and invested in a portfolio that includes three companies that have achieved billion-dollar valuations. Previously, Boggett served as director at YFM Equity Partners, the firm behind the high-profile British Smaller Companies VCT 1 and 2. Boggett also worked at Brewin Dolphin and Williams de Broë. He completed his undergraduate degree in accounting and finance, and he received a master’s in economics and finance from the University of Leeds. , a BVP partner based in Silicon Valley, fosters entrepreneurship in frontier technology, specifically the commercialization of space, drones, autonomous vehicles and agriculture and food technology. She currently serves as a board director for DroneDeploy, Iris Automation, Phantom Auto, and Spire Global, and as a board observer for Black Sheep Foods, Forever Oceans, Rocket Lab and Velo3D. Hatch was included in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Venture Capital. She speaks and is published regularly on Bloomberg, TechCrunch and other publications on space and frontier technology. Earlier in her career, she worked for Boeing and then SpaceX, where she worked with the government on integrating its payloads with the Falcon 9 rocket. Hatch earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics engineering from Stanford. is a principal at Root Ventures, a firm focused on investing in three areas: tools and infrastructure, low-cost robotics, and hardware and data science. Prior to joining Root, she worked as a propulsion engineer and designed flight hardware for the SpaceX Falcon and supervised vehicle build for schedule-critical missions. Henriksson also worked on the Model 3 battery module team at Tesla. She holds MS and BS degrees in mechanical engineering from Stanford and an MBA from Harvard Business School. takes place on December 6 in Los Angeles. , and then join us to see and learn about the latest space tech and trends, meet rising-star founders and network for opportunities to build a stronger startup.
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Can FTX’s bankruptcy bring order to its chaos? | Jacquelyn Melinek | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | Welcome back to Last week on the podcast, we talked about the , which is still ongoing. This week, we’re taking a break from our news episode for Thanksgiving, but we had on the TechCrunch website, including some from our crypto event in Miami last week. Before we get into the nitty gritty, Anita wanted to share a personal note: Hi everyone! It feels bittersweet to share that my time at TechCrunch has come to a close, and with it, my involvement with the Chain Reaction newsletter and podcast. I have learned so much about the wild world of crypto alongside you all each week. I’m sad to say goodbye, but I know you’ll be in great hands with Jacquelyn and the rest of the TechCrunch team. As for me, please feel free to connect on , where I’m sharing more about my professional next steps. Thanks for reading and listening every week. I appreciate you all so much! If someone forwarded you this message, you can subscribe on Hearings that will determine the fate of FTX, once one of the largest crypto exchanges globally, began Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. “We are here on an unprecedented matter and I don’t say those words lightly,” James Bromley, a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and co-head of the firm’s global restructuring practice, said during the hearing. “This is a first-day hearing well over a week after they were filed; that in itself is uncommon. But what we have here [ … ] is a different sort of animal.” NFT marketplace Magic Eden is integrating with the Ethereum scaling layer-2 blockchain to dive deeper into the blockchain gaming and NFT ecosystems, the companies announced on Tuesday. The expansion aims to provide Magic Eden the ability to support Polygon’s ecosystem of game developers and creators. The Polygon network hosts some of the biggest web3 gaming projects and publishers like Ubisoft, Atari, , Decentraland, Sandbox, among others. On November 14, Nestcoin, one of the startups leading crypto and web3 efforts in Africa, announced that it was . At least 30 employees across various departments were let go, while those who were left at the company had their salaries slashed by as much as 40%, according to people familiar with the matter. The news is, in part, connected to the downfall of crypto exchange FTX, according to chief executive officer Yele Bademosi. Genesis, a digital assets financial services firm, may be in hot water as it looks to raise fresh capital for its lending unit or potentially face bankruptcy if it can’t, according to a by Bloomberg. “We have no plans to file bankruptcy imminently,” a Genesis spokesperson said in an emailed statement to TechCrunch on Monday. “Our goal is to resolve the current situation consensually without the need for any bankruptcy filing. Genesis continues to have constructive conversations with creditors.” Binance co-founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, commented on the collapse of FTX at . He played down his personal role in the series of events that ultimately led to . “I still don’t think I have that much influence. I think we were the last straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s not a straw that is really strong,” he told TechCrunch’s Anita Ramaswamy. “There’s a whole bunch of stuff that built up to it. I just may have happened to be the last thing that pushed it.” This week, we skipped the news episode thanks to good ol’ Thanksgiving as we mentioned above. But, in Chain Reaction’s we’re playing a super timely recording from Anita’s panel on stage last week with Binance founder and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. CZ sent a number of shocks through the crypto ecosystem in recent weeks so Anita dived into: Subscribe to on or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the latest episodes, and please leave us a review if you like what you hear! |
3 views: How wrong were our 2022 startup predictions? | Natasha Mascarenhas | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | this year has been. While prediction pieces always come with a large asterisk because no one knows literally anything about what may play out in the future — such as — our perspectives about 2022 have aged … interestingly. Last year, Natasha Mascarenhas, Alex Wilhelm and Anna Heim spotlighted Now, we’re fact-checking how accurate those predictions were, plus what we’d change about our perspectives. We know. Humble. For a light holiday riff, we’re talking about what happened with the M&A space, open source and usage-based pricing. Let’s have some fun! Last year, I predicted that M&A would evolve to include a riskier type of ambition. I cited Twitter’s and . I even reminded founders that startups need to “stay disciplined even amid a cash-rich environment” instead of “spinning up lukewarm climate and web3 strategies because that’s what they think their cap table wants to hear.” (That culture and technology are hard to integrate at the same time). |
Automating the income gap | Brian Heater | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | to be another one of those “let’s ask ourselves some difficult questions” newsletter introductions, so if you’re in the U.S., I certainly won’t blame you for not giving Actuator your full attention until after the holiday. I generally approach these conversations through the same basic lens: a majority of technologies are neither inherently good nor bad. At the end of the day, it’s up to us as the arbiters of such trends to influence the resulting impact they have on this planet and its inhabitants. Nor do I believe that most of the people who develop such technologies hope or expect them to have a net negative impact on the lives around them. I do, however, accept that — more often than not — the implementation of such technologies are beholden to broader macro trends and long-standing power structures. Given the number of years I’ve been doing this, I suspect that many technologists are sick to death of that old talking point: the robots are coming for our jobs. And certainly, the economic trends of the last few years have afforded them a simple counterargument: There’s no one to fill the jobs they’re replacing. As we barrel headlong into a holiday shopping season full of long hours and busy days, something to consider is what manner of impact automation has thus far had on the workforce. Some food for thought arrives in the form of coauthored by MIT’s Daron Acemoglu and Boston University’s Pascual Restrepo. Acemoglu says, “These are controversial findings in the sense that they imply a much bigger effect for automation than anyone else has thought.” We’re starting with a very clear premise here: in 21st-century America, the wealth gap is . The paper, “Tasks, Automation, and the Rise in U.S. Wage Inequality,” attempts to explore the correlation between the growing income gap and automation. The results are stark. Ultimately, Acemoglu and Restrepo conclude that the effects have been profound. Since 1980, for instance, they estimate that automation has reduced the wages of men without a high school degree by 8.8 percent and women without a high school degree by 2.3 percent, adjusted for inflation. xPACIFICA / Getty Images I tend to agree with the premise that in the short-term, automation will displace jobs, and in the long-term it has the potential to create more, better jobs. As I’ve expressed on these pages numerous times, I feel strongly that it’s the role of government and corporations alike to accelerate the latter and make sure the existing workforce is able to make that transition. For those people who can’t make the jump to more technical roles for any number of reasons, these institutions need to ensure that human beings don’t simply fall through the cracks in the name of progress. But I also have a fairly cynical view when it comes to the ultimate ends for these conversations. Ask yourself: What is the end game here? The simple answer is: Profit. If the best thing for a corporation’s bottom line is the automation of all blue-collar roles, do we have faith that companies won’t automate all workers out of a job out of the goodness of their heart? Precedent is important to an extent. As someone pointed out to me once, the only job that has been fully automated out of existence since 1950 is the elevator operator. Can we continue to project that trend going forward, as technology grows exponentially more advanced? In my experience, such precedent can only take us so far, and if I’m being pragmatic to a fault about this future vision, it’s not entirely impossible to imagine a future where all manual labor is automated away. Is that a good fate or a bad one? Your results will vary, depending on factors like your existing station in life and skill set. It also may come down to whether you’re capable of envisioning the transition from late-capitalism to post-scarcity. If automation leads to an abundance of product, is there a future in which such abundance doesn’t result in further wealth disparity? I’d certainly like to think so. A little food for thought as you wait to come down from the tryptophan highs for long enough to take advantage of some early Black Friday deals. Another reason so much of this is top of mind for me is the unavoidable reality of mass layoffs. Sorry to be such a downer during a holiday week (don’t say I didn’t warn you), but it seems doubtful we’ve seen the last of this. There’s no easy time to lose a job, but there’s something extra devastating about losing it in the lead-up to the holiday season — already a profoundly difficult time for many. Thousands of people are facing that exact reality right now. I recently reported that followed cuts at Meta, Salesforce and more. The Amazon reports of up to 10,000 job cuts followed our own reporting of within the company’s robotics wing. Amazon An interesting side note in all of that is an internal letter from Ken Washington, the head of Amazon’s consumer robotics division (entirely separate from the industrial wing, mind) . The former Ford executive notes: We are committed to the future of consumer robots and, as Dave said, we will further prioritize what matters most to our customers and the business. Our vision remains intact that customers will want at least one robot in their home or business because they are invaluable home assistants, endearing companions, and trusted helpers that make every day better. The “Dave” here is Dave Limp, who heads the consumer devices category, which includes products like Echo, Fire tablets and Kindle. That division is said to make up a considerable portion of the 10,000 or so jobs Amazon is reportedly cutting. The division also now houses the consumer robotics effort that includes Astro and (theoretically) iRobot, assuming newly emboldened federal regulators don’t end up shooting that deal down. The initial report categorizes Washington’s letter as uncharacteristically straightforward with regards to job security (the company has yet to comment on the note). It’s understandable, though. After all, the company has trimmed some efforts requiring long runways in its Robotics division, so if I were on the Astro team under the broader devices umbrella, I’d likely be a bit wary myself. Amazon has, of course, been extremely bullish about both home robots generally and its position as a leader in that category. Nuro Meanwhile, earlier this week, autonomous delivery company that it’s laying off 300 people — or roughly 20% of its workforce. This follows job cuts for robotics companies Iron Ox and Berkshire Grey. In all of these cases, we’re talking about very well-funded startups. That makes these sorts of things extremely hard to square from the outside. In Nuro’s case, the company’s leadership takes responsibility for its own overhiring when things were looking brighter. The company noted in a letter to its staff: Each and every one of you have made important contributions to this company, and saying goodbye to talented Nurons is not a decision we have taken lightly. For those of you leaving Nuro, we are very sorry for this outcome — this is not the experience we wanted to create for you. We made this call and take full responsibility for today’s circumstances. Here’s something I can tell you having been through the layoff wringer a couple of times myself (don’t go into publishing, kids): Everyone can tell you it’s not your fault. You can know deep in your bones that it’s not your fault. But it’s still extremely difficult not to blame yourself — not to second-guess and think about the one or two things you could have done to keep your job. But here’s the fact: The economy sucks. If the macroenvironment is having this kind of impact on well-established corporations, newer and less established firms are far from safe. As I noted in my Boston writeup last week, even well-funded firms are being extremely cautious about hiring right now. Those who are nearing the end of their existing runway, meanwhile, are going to have to ask some extremely difficult questions. It’s just not a good time to be raising money, full stop. For those reasons, it’s probably safe to say that we will see even more promising startups fall apart at the seams before this is all over. If you were counting on a raise to survive and no funding is forthcoming, your options are suddenly extremely limited. And as we’re all well aware here, hardware iteration in particular generally requires long runways. All of those VCs who promised to stick it out with their deep tech investments through thick and thin, this is when you put your money where your mouth is. Soft Robotics That’s not to say the well has completely dried up, of course. I’m hearing about some big rounds over the horizon. Meanwhile, established companies are continuing to raise. Things seem to be slightly easier for those firms that have already proven themselves in the world. Soft Robotics, who we’ve covered quite a bit over the years, , fittingly led by Tyson Foods’ investment wing, Tyson Ventures. “At Tyson, we are continually exploring new areas in automation that can enhance safety and increase the productivity of our team members,” Tyson Ventures’ Rahul Ray said in a release. “Soft Robotics’ revolutionary robotic technology, computer vision and AI platform have the potential to transform the food industry and will play a key role in any company’s automation journey.” Why massage robots? Maybe the better question is massage robots? Wikipedia tells me that the electric massage chair has been kicking around Japan since before World War II (a site called Massage Chair Planet appears to back up this claim) — one could certainly make the argument that this life blood of Sharper Image and Brookstone are massage robots in their own right. And certainly the push to make massages more readily available without the potential for human exploitation is a solid enough goal. I will hold off on any evaluation of Aescape’s efficacy (I’m not entirely convinced this isn’t a gimmick, if I’m being honest) until I have the opportunity to use one (I think I may have just volunteered myself), but Valor Siren Ventures and Valor Equity Partners appear convinced. The firms co-led a for the New York–based firm. A number of others participated, including 5x NBA All-Star and Beach Boy nephew, Kevin Love. Here’s founder and CEO Eric Litman: Our team at Aescape is working to bring beautifully-designed, fully-automated, therapeutic massage and wellness experiences to market with a solution that combines innovative research, revolutionary technology, and a holistic approach to physical wellness and recovery. This funding means that our partners are not only investing in our shared vision and world-class team, but also in the future of the wellness industry overall. We’re grateful to our investors for believing in our dream, and we look forward to launching The Aescape Experience in 2023.” MIT A couple of cool research projects that deserve some attention this week. The first one comes from MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms. The team is developing self-assembling robots that utilize small units called “voxels.” These modular pieces carry power and data and are capable of moving across a grid and connecting with themselves to form larger structures. The team notes, in : Our approach challenges the convention that larger constructions need larger machines to build them, and could be applied in areas that today either require substantial capital investments for fixed infrastructure or are altogether unfeasible. A lot of folks — including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — can’t wait to get their hands on this sort of technology. A fully autonomous version is currently still “years away,” per the team. North Carolina State University As to the issue of slow swimming soft robots, a team at North Carolina State University has capable of moving up to 3.74 body lengths per second. That marks a sizable increase over other systems that have difficulty moving one body length in that time. “To date, swimming soft robots have not been able to swim faster than one body length per second, but marine animals — such as manta rays — are able to swim much faster, and much more efficiently,” the paper’s co-author, Jie Yin, says in a release. “We wanted to draw on the biomechanics of these animals to see if we could develop faster, more energy-efficient soft robots. The prototypes we’ve developed work exceptionally well.” A drawing from Boston Dynamics’ suit. Boston Dynamics And this week, a small update to the war between Boston Dynamics and Ghost Robotics. The latter has more than enough salt for an entire Thanksgiving dinner in its response to a patent lawsuit. A Ghost Robotics Ghost Robotics’ success has not gone unnoticed by Boston Dynamics. Rather than compete on a level playing field, the company chose to file an obstructive and baseless lawsuit on November 11th in an attempt to halt the newcomer’s progress. Boston Dynamics is drawing on their considerably larger resources to litigate instead of innovate. To get Actuator in your inbox, . Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch |
India’s AIIMS hit by outages after cyberattack | Jagmeet Singh | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | India’s leading public medical institute, All India Institute of Medical Services, or AIIMS, is experiencing outages following a cyberattack. The outages are affecting hundreds of patients and doctors accessing primary healthcare services, including patient admission, discharge and billing systems. Established in 1956, AIIMS holds thousands of medical undergraduate and postgraduate students. It is also one of the biggest state-owned hospitals, with a . The cyberattack, reported on Wednesday evening in New Delhi, appears to be consistent with a ransomware attack as the attackers modified the extensions of infected files, hospital authorities said. AIIMS officials told TechCrunch that patient care services have been badly impacted since early Wednesday. The medical institute moved to manual operations, including writing patient notes by hand, as the server recording patient data stopped working. The outages have resulted in long queues and errors in handling emergency cases. After the initial few hours of disruption, the hospital authorities the cyberattack in a statement. Outages continued through Thursday. “We are not able to send many blood investigations, request imaging studies and are not able to view previous reports or images. Many such operations are being done manually, which takes more time and is prone to errors,” a resident doctor, who asked not to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the press, told TechCrunch. The hospital authorities later on Thursday doctors to continue to use hand-written notes, including signing birth and death certificates by hand while the systems remain inactive. A team with the National Informatics Centre is working closely with the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team to help with the organization’s recovery. An effort to restore the data from backups is under way, according to a person with direct knowledge of the incident. Meanwhile, several law enforcement agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations of Delhi Police, are investigating the incident and the people behind the attack. The police department has also a formal complaint on the matter. Details of whether the attackers could access any patient data have yet to be publicly announced. |
Netflix is working on ‘brand-new AAA PC game,’ according to job listings | Romain Dillet | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | Netflix has put up more than on its website for Netflix Games Studio’s Los Angeles office, as spotted by . These listings give us a few hints about the company’s plans for the new studio. In particular, Netflix is hiring a game director to work on “a brand-new AAA PC game.” at TechCrunch Disrupt, Netflix VP of Gaming Mike Verdu originally announced that his company was opening a new studio in Southern California. Verdu also said that Chacko Sonny would be leading the studio. Sonny is the former executive producer on Overwatch. Sonny , the company behind Overwatch, while the company was dealing with a California lawsuit for sexual harassment and discrimination as well as an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He was also in charge of the development of Overwatch 2. Now it seems like Netflix wants to put together the core team for the initial project of Netflix Games Studio in Los Angeles. The will be in charge of a AAA PC game. That would be the company’s first PC game as Netflix currently only offers games for smartphones and tablets. In the video game industry, AAA projects are major games with very large budgets and development teams. The game director will be in charge of developing the “world/characters/narrative that are worthy of a Netflix film/TV series.” The job listing also mentions experience with Unreal Engine as well as first-person and/or third-person shooter games. It seems like there aren’t that many people working for the studio just yet as Netflix is also looking for an art director and a technical director. There are also job listings for lead artists and lead engineers. Netflix considers gaming as a long-term project. At TechCrunch Disrupt, Mike Verdu said that Netflix was still in the very early stages of its gaming initiative. The company currently . There are spin-off games based on popular Netflix shows like “Stranger Things,” classic mobile games like runner and racing games, card games and original titles. Netflix acquired three existing game studios — , (Oxenfree) and Finland’s . It has also started a with a former Zynga GM at the head. Right now, Netflix’s business model for games is quite simple. If you are a Netflix subscriber, you can download and play all games in the Netflix game library. If you stop your Netflix subscription, you can’t access those games anymore. There are no in-app purchases, season passes or add-on subscriptions in those games. Of course, Netflix could change its gaming revenue strategy with its new AAA game. But it’s clear that Netflix is in investment mode for now. |
Surveillance powers in UK’s Online Safety Bill are risk to E2EE, warns legal expert | Natasha Lomas | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | Independent legal analysis of a controversial U.K. government proposal to regulate online speech under a safety-focused framework — aka the — says the draft bill contains some of the broadest mass surveillance powers over citizens ever proposed in a Western democracy, which it also warns pose a risk to the integrity of end-to-end encryption (E2EE). The opinion, written by the barrister Matthew Ryder KC of Matrix Chambers, was commissioned by Index on Censorship, a group that campaigns for freedom of expression. Ryder was asked to consider whether provisions in the bill are compatible with human rights law. His conclusion is that — – the bill lacks essential safeguards on surveillance powers that mean, without further amendment, it will likely breach the European Convention on Human Rights ( ). Index on Censorship has now published Ryder’s opinion, and its executive summary of concerns, in full — . The Online Safety Bill’s progress through parliament was — and — following political turbulence in the governing Conservative Party. After the arrival of a new digital minister, and two changes of prime minister, the government has indicated it intends to make amendments to the draft — however these are focused on provisions related to so-called ‘legal but harmful’ speech, rather than the gaping human rights hole identified by Ryder. We reached out to the Home Office for a response to the issues raised by his legal opinion. A government spokesperson replied with an emailed statement, attributed to minister for security Tom Tugendhat, which dismisses any concerns: The Online Safety Bill has privacy at the heart of its proposals and ensures we’re able to protect ourselves from online crimes including child sexual exploitation. It‘s not a ban on any type of technology or service design. Where a company fails to tackle child sexual abuse on its platforms, it is right that Ofcom as the independent regulator has the power, as a last resort, to require these companies to take action. Strong encryption protects our privacy and our online economy but end-to-end encryption can be implemented in a way which is consistent with public safety. The Bill ensures that tech companies do not provide a safe space for the most dangerous predators online. Ryder’s analysis finds key legal checks are lacking in the bill which grants the state sweeping powers to compel digital providers to surveil users’ online communications “on a generalised and widespread basis” — yet fails to include Existing very broad surveillance powers granted to U.K. security services, under the (also highly controversial) (IPA), do contain legal checks and balances for authorizing the most intrusive powers — involving the judiciary in signing off intercept warrants. But the Online Safety Bill leaves it up to the designated internet regulator to make decisions to issue the most intrusive content scanning orders — a public body that Ryder argues is not adequately independent for this function. “The statutory scheme does not make provision for independent authorisation for 104 Notices even though it may require private bodies – at He also points out that given existing broad surveillance powers under the IPA, the “mass surveillance” of online comms proposed in the Online Safety Bill may not meet another key human rights test — of being “necessary in a democratic society.” While bulk surveillance powers under the IPA must be linked to a Commenting on Ryder’s legal opinion in a statement, Index on Censorship’s chief executive, Ruth Smeeth, denounced the bill’s overreach — writing: This legal opinion makes clear the myriad issues surrounding the Online Safety Bill. The vague drafting of this legislation will necessitate Ofcom, a media regulator, unilaterally deciding how to deploy massive powers of surveillance across almost every aspect of digital day-to-day life in Britain. Surveillance by regulator is perhaps the most egregious instance of overreach in a Bill that is simply unfit for purpose. While much of the controversy attached to the Online Safety Bill — which was published in draft last year but has continued being amended and in scope by government — has focused on risks to freedom of expression, there are a range of other notable concerns. Including how content scanning provisions in the legislation could impact E2EE, with critics like the warning the law will essentially strong-arm service providers into breaking strong encryption. Concerns have stepped up since the bill was introduced after a government amendment this — which proposed new powers for Ofcom to force messaging platforms to implement content-scanning technologies even if comms are strongly encrypted on their service. The amendment stipulated that a regulated service could be required to use “best endeavours” to develop or source technology for detecting and removing CSEA in private comms — and private comms puts it on a collision course with E2EE. E2EE remains the ‘gold standard’ for encryption and online security — and is found on mainstream messaging platforms like WhatsApp, iMessage and Signal, to name a few — providing essential security and privacy for users’ online comms. So any laws that use of this standard — or open up new vulnerabilities for E2EE — could have a massive impact on web users’ security globally. In the legal opinion, Ryder focuses most of his attention on the Online Safety Bill’s content scanning provisions — which are creating this existential risk for E2EE. The bulk of his legal analysis centers on Clause 104 of the bill — which grants the designated internet watchdog (existing media and comms regulator, Ofcom) a new power to issue notices to in-scope service providers requiring them to identify and take down terrorism content that’s communicated “publicly” by means of their services or Child Sex Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA) content being communicated “publicly or privately.” And, again, the inclusion of “private” comms is where things look really sticky for E2EE. “ He also points to published by “ CSS refers to controversial scanning technology in which the content of encrypted communications is scanned with the goal of identifying objectionable content. The process entails a message being converted to a cryptographic digital fingerprint prior to it being encrypted and sent, with this fingerprint then compared with a database of fingerprints to check for any matches with known objectionable content (such as CSEA). The comparison of these cryptographic fingerprints can take place either on the user’s own device — or on a remote service. Wherever the comparison takes place, privacy and security experts argue that CSS breaks the E2E trust model since it fundamentally defeats the ‘zero knowledge’ purpose of end-to-end encryption and generates new risks by opening up novel attack and/or censorship vectors. For example they point to the prospect of embedded content-scanning infrastructure enabling ‘censorship creep’ as a state could mandate comms providers scan for an increasingly broad range of ‘objectionable’ content (from copyrighted material all the way up to expressions of political dissent that are displeasing to an autocratic regime, since tools developed within a democratic system aren’t likely to be applied in only one place in the world). An attempt by Apple to deploy CSS on iOS users’ devices — when it announced it would begin scanning iCloud Photo uploads for known child abuse imagery — led to a huge backlash from privacy and security experts. Apple first paused — and then in December, so it appears to have abandoned the idea. However governments could revive such moves by mandating deployment of CSS via laws like the U.K.’s Online Safety Bill which relies on the same claimed child safety justification to embed and enforce content scanning on platforms. Notably, the U.K. Home Office has been actively supporting development of content-scanning technologies which could be applied to E2EE services — announcing a “Tech Safety Challenge Fund” to splash taxpayer cash on the development of what it billed at the time as “innovative technology to keep children safe in environments such as online messaging platforms with end-to-end encryption.” Last , five winning projects were announced as part of that challenge. It’s not clear how ‘developed’ — and/or accurate — these prototypes are. But the government is moving ahead with Online Safety legislation that this legal expert suggests will, de facto, require E2EE platforms to carry out content scanning and drive uptake of CSS — regardless of the state of development of such tech. Discussing the government’s proposed amendment to Clause 104 — which envisages Ofcom being able to require comms service providers to ‘use best endeavours’ to develop or source their own content-scanning technology to achieve the same purposes as accredited technology which the bill also envisages the regulator signing off — Ryder predicts: “[I]f 104 Notices were issued across all eligible platforms, this would mean that the content of an almost all internet-based Failure to comply with the Online Safety Bill will put service providers at risk of a range of severe penalties — so very large sticks are being assembled and put in place alongside sweeping surveillance powers to force compliance. The draft legislation allowing for fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover (or £18 million, whichever is higher). The bill would also enable Ofcom to be able to apply to court for “business disruption measures” — including blocking non-compliant services within the U,K, market. While senior execs at providers who fail to cooperate with the regulator could risk criminal prosecution. For its part, the U.K. government has — so far — been dismissive of concerns about the impact of the legislation on E2EE. In a section on “private messaging platforms,” a government claims content-scanning technology would only be mandated by Ofcom “as a last resort.” The same text also suggests these scanning technologies will be “highly accurate” — without providing any evidence in support of the assertion. And it writes that “use of this power will be subject to strict safeguards to protect users’ privacy,” adding: “ The notion that novel AI will be “highly accurate” for a wide-ranging content-scanning purpose at scale is obviously questionable — and demands robust evidence to back it up. You only need consider how blunt a tool AI has proven to be for content moderation on mainstream platforms, hence the thousands of human contractors still employed reviewing automated reports. So it seems highly fanciful that the Home Office has or will be able to foster development of a far more effective AI filter than tech giants like Google and Facebook have managed to devise over the past decades. As for limits on use of content-scanning notices, Ryder’s opinion touches on safeguards contained in Clause 105 of the bill — but he questions whether these are sufficient to address the full sweep of human rights concerns attached to such a potent power. “Other safeguards exist in Clause 105 of the OLSB but whether those additional safeguards will be sufficient will depend on how they are applied in practice,” he suggests. “There is currently no indication as to how Ofcom will apply those safeguards and limit the scope of 104 Notices. “For example, Clause 105(h) alludes to Article 10 of the ECHR, by requiring appropriate consideration to be given to interference with the right to freedom of expression. But there is no specific provision ensuring the adequate protection of journalistic sources, which will need to be provided in order to prevent a breach of Article 10.” In further remarks responding to Ryder’s opinion, the Home Office emphasized that Section 104 Notice powers will only be used where there is no alternative, less intrusive measures capable of achieving the necessary reduction in illegal CSEA (and/or terrorism content) appearing on the service — adding that it will be up to the regulator to assess whether issuing a notice is necessary and proportionate, taking into account matters set out in the legislation including the risk of harm occurring on a service, as well as the prevalence of harm. |
Tesla extends FSD access to ‘anyone in North America who requests it’ | Rebecca Bellan | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | Tesla is extending its “full self-driving” (FSD) beta software “to anyone in North America who requests it from the car screen,” according to CEO Elon Musk who out the news late Wednesday evening. The rollout of FSD across the continent comes as Tesla is potentially facing a from the U.S. Department of Justice over false claims relating to the company’s advanced driver assistance system Autopilot. Autopilot comes standard on Tesla vehicles and performs automated driving functions such as steering, accelerating and automatic braking. FSD, which , is an extension of Autopilot that includes features like assisted steering on highways and city streets, smart vehicle summoning, automatic parking and recognizing and reacting to traffic lights and stop signs. Autopilot, and by extension FSD, have come under regulator scrutiny in recent years following a , . The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened special investigations into 36 Tesla crashes involving Autopilot since 2016, five of which happened this year. Tesla has also come under fire from California’s Department of Motor Vehicles and the self-driving capabilities of Autopilot and FSD. Some Tesla owners and enthusiasts the company might allow FSD into all cars after Tesla appears to have dropped the requirement for 100 Autopilot miles and a safety score of at least 80 to receive the FSD update. This is a concerning lack of scrutiny considering fears that drivers using ADAS are less likely to watch the road and be alert in case the system malfunctions. Tesla’s website does encourage drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. Safety score doesn’t matter. I had a 68 and got beta 😂. I’ll be safe on beta tho. — Adnan Shaikh (@sh98538914) Despite concerns, any driver who has already paid the steep price for Tesla’s FSD will be able to access the software in North America. Tesla had to 160,000 owners in the U.S. and Canada in September, and today’s widespread rollout makes good on previous promises from Musk to get FSD in every Tesla by the end of 2022. Musk has claimed that Tesla could by the end of the year, but during the company’s third quarter earnings that FSD wouldn’t gain regulatory approval to be driven without someone behind the wheel in 2022. The move to expand the number of users and possibly give Tesla’s supercomputer Dojo more data to work with might be one of the reasons Tesla has chosen now to expand. It might also be a move to ease and accrue some more revenue. Tesla’s stock is at a two-year low and its market cap slashed from $1.2 trillion last November to $574 billion today following Musk’s buyout of Twitter and the . The FSD scaling also follows news from Tesla engineers Romi Phadte and Gabe Gheorghian who this week and shared that Tesla has increased the number of FSD simulations per week from around 250,000 in 2020 to 2 million today. |
LinkedIn now lets you schedule posts for later | Paul Sawers | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | LinkedIn is rolling out a new feature that allows users to schedule posts to send at a later time. The social network has seemingly been testing the new feature internally for several months already, according back in August from web developer and app researcher Nima Owji, but it seems that LinkedIn is now readying things for prime time, according to a growing number of reports across social media. , a social media consultant and renowned tipster, that he was now seeing the post-scheduling feature inside the Android app and on the LinkedIn website itself. Internally at TechCrunch, it’s a bit of a mixed bag with some of us seeing the feature and others not, and we have managed to independently confirm the feature on the web. Those that do have the feature will see a little clock icon beside the “post” button within the message compose box. LinkedIn’s new message-scheduling feature. Romain Dillet/TechCrunch When the user clicks on the clock icon, they’re presented with an option to choose a specific date and half-hourly slot that they want to schedule their post for. LinkedIn’s new message-scheduling feature: Choose your time. Romain Dillet/TechCrunch Since this article was originally published, a LinkedIn spokesperson has divulged a few more of the details of this launch, confirming that it is limited to the web and Android for now, with iOS coming “soon.” Also, scheduling will initially work with text posts, videos and images up to three months in advance, with plans to extend support to LinkedIn Groups, Pages and other kinds of content. LinkedIn post-scheduling in action. LinkedIn While millions of marketers, influencers and “thought leaders” the world over will no doubt rejoice at this new feature, it is worth noting that similar functionality has been available for a while already through third-party platforms and . However, not everyone is happy giving third-party platforms access to their LinkedIn accounts for data-privacy reasons — plus, native functionality is nearly always more convenient, particularly for those who only want to share a specific piece of content to their LinkedIn followers. In truth, native post-scheduling has always been a fairly notable absence from such a widely used social network as LinkedIn that some 875 million members globally. The likes of Twitter ( TweetDeck) and Facebook for a while already, not to mention that allow you to send messages while you’re fast asleep. * . |
Anne Hathaway backs Pact, an all-women led VC for mission-driven startups, from West to East | Mike Butcher | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | How many VC funds can you name where the three partners all had babies whilst raising the fund, have deep connections in Asia as well as Europe and the U.S. and include actress Anne Hathaway as an LP? Not many I’d hazard. But that’s the profile of , a new seed VC fund launched with a £30 million ($36 million) pot of cash to back early-stage startups across Europe. Pact will aim at “mission-driven” startups in what it calls the “ABC” categories: Access (economic inclusion), Betterment (personal and professional well-being) and Climate. (That’s a much more interesting way of addressing “doing good” areas, instead of just trotting out the UN SDGs, IMHO). Pact’s investment tickets will range from around £1 million to £1.5 million. As well as Anne Hathaway (she’s not “just” an Oscar Award Winning Actor, but also a UN Woman Goodwill Ambassador), other LPs include Jeff Dean, the head of AI at Google, and Keith Teare, a founding (and former) shareholder of TechCrunch and former tech entrepreneur in the U.K. and U.S. They are joined by Anchor investor Campden Hill Capital; Yeming Wang, the former head of EMEA of Alibaba; Fahd Beg, the COO of Naspers; Todd Ruppert, the retired CEO of T. Rowe Price Global and venture partner at Greenspring Associates, and Tilo Bonow, CEO of PIABO. The three female partners — , and — were former VCs in other funds. Gu was an investor at (of which Teare was formerly a part) and built a data analytics startup in Shanghai which she exited. Wyndham was also an investor for ADV and a former founder. Pham was part of the founding team of the early-stage fund Fuel Ventures and launched several social enterprises in Africa and India. Speaking to Reem Mobassaleh Wyndham, she told me they’d been raising the fund for a little over a year (during their pregnancies and first children) but the idea had been “in the works” for about five or six years: “We both joined ADV the same week. And we met Monik around the same time. What we observed within the early-stage landscape in the U.K. was a few key things that were missing. There are very few early-stage fund managers that have both operational experience and deep operational experience abroad in emerging markets. And that’s something that the three of us, in a very complementary way, bring to the table.” “We believe that capitalism should and can be inclusive while still producing huge results,” she added. “And we really want it to be able to back companies at the early stage that are really positively shaping the future. We’ve all built our careers with that north star as a guide for us. It’s a value that we’ve always espoused, but it’s only now at this point that the market is really coming around to it. There shouldn’t be a trade-off between socially sustainable, environmentally sustainable and commercially sustainable outcomes. You have to think about both. And that’s a value that all three of us came together on,” she said. Tong Gu told me: “I grew up in China, and I witnessed how entrepreneurship and technology have enabled a large population of people who used to be under the poverty line to become wealthier and make their lives better. I started a tech company enabling independent small brand owners to compete with the larger ones. And for me, that was the experience of really driving economic inclusion, but in sort of a tech-enabled way.” Wyndham admitted “it’s not a huge fund.” However, she said the £30 million should get them enough companies to get the “healthy diversification” needed for fund returns: “We could do 18 to 20 companies, either leading or co-leading. We’ve been very thoughtful about how we have curated our LP base. So the LPs that have come in are strategic and they provide domain expertise, and market access, but they also provide capital continuity. The vast majority are looking for access to deal flow. So in that sense, this is actually scaling our firepower beyond the £30 million.” Anne Hathaway. : Wikipedia On having a Hollywood movie star among their LPs, Wyndham added: “She’s actually a friend of mine and mentor of about 12 years and since then we’ve become friends and have shared values. One of her big causes is childcare, and lack thereof, as the final frontier for gender parity. And that’s something that we’ve experienced firsthand as three female GPs who all had our first children while raising this fund. We had to figure out how to overcome the structural headwinds to be able to do both. That’s very much one of the lessons that we hope to share with the ecosystem, and that’s sort of where Anne comes in.” Pact’s first investment has been made into , a London-based company that launches sustainable food brands based on data insights. Past investments for the team members of Pact include Clause . Onto, an electric vehicle subscription service; Perlego, an online learning platform; and Yoco, an African fintech company. |
US authorities seize iSpoof, a call spoofing site that stole millions | Carly Page | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | An international police operation has dismantled an online spoofing service that allowed cybercriminals to impersonate trusted corporations to steal more than $120 million from victims. iSpoof, which now stating that it has been seized by the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, offered “spoofing” services that enabled paying users to mask their phone numbers with one belonging to a trusted organization, such as banks and tax offices, to carry out attacks. “The services of the website allowed those who sign up and pay for the service to anonymously make spoofed calls, send recorded messages and intercept one-time passwords,” Europol on Thursday. “The users were able to impersonate an infinite number of entities for financial gain and substantial losses to victims.” London’s Metropolitan Police, which began investigating iSpoof in June 2021 along with international law enforcement agencies, in the U.S., the Netherlands and Ukraine, said , named as Teejai Fletcher, 34, charged with fraud and offenses related to organized crime. Fletcher was remanded to custody and will appear at Southwark Crown Court in London on December 6. iSpoof had around 59,000 users, which caused £48 million of losses to 200,000 identified victims in the U.K., according to the Met Police. One victim was scammed out of £3 million, while the average amount stolen was £10,000. Europol says the service’s operators raked in estimated profits of $3.8 million in the last 16 months alone. The Metropolitan Police said it also used bitcoin payment records found on the site’s server to identify and arrest a further 100 U.K.-based users of the iSpoof service. The site’s infrastructure, which was hosted in the Netherlands but moved to Kyiv earlier in 2022, was seized and taken offline in a joint Ukrainian-U.S. operation earlier this month. Police have a list of phone numbers targeted by iSpoof fraudsters and will contact potential victims via text on Thursday and Friday. The text message will ask victims to visit the Met’s website to help it build more cases. Helen Rance of the Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit said: “Instead of just taking down the website and arresting the administrator, we have gone after the users of iSpoof. Our message to criminals who have used this website is: We have your details and are working hard to locate you, regardless of where you are.” |
Pivo powers up Nigerian freight carriers with a bespoke digital bank, gets $2M seed funding | Tage Kene-Okafor | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | Most small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in supply chains across different sectors in Africa execute orders in days but receive invoices after several weeks and sometimes months. It’s such an inefficient way of doing business that ultimately leads to cash-flow problems — and on top of that are fragmented payment collection and tracking processes. Recently, startups have taken a top-down approach by singling out a particular sector and delivering solutions to SMEs within it. One such startup is , which helps freight carriers get paid faster by providing a bank account, a debit card and digital invoicing tools that track payments. The startup, founded by and in July 2021, is announcing today that it has closed a $2 million seed round. Pivo, in a statement, said it intends to use the financing to upgrade existing products, build new ones, hire talent and expand outside of Lagos, its first market and other African countries, particularly in East Africa. Pivo provides financial services — credit, payments and expense management — to SME vendors within large manufacturing supply chains, an industry Amadi-Emina, the chief executive officer, plied her trade before starting the one-year-old startup, which has raised $2.55 million since launch. In 2017, Amadi-Emina launched an on-demand delivery platform targeted at e-commerce brands in North and Central Africa, which subsequently got acquired by , one of Africa’s most prominent e-logistics players. It was during her time at Kobo360 — first as an enterprise account manager and up until she left as head of port operations — that she witnessed the glaring liquidity problems that existed at both ends of the logistics supply chain. Truckers need cash advances from logistics companies such as Kobo360, and to move cargo; meanwhile, these companies also require manufacturers to pay on time for distributing cargo to truckers. “In most cases, we found out that managing cash flow was the primary issue for these businesses — it was either nonexistent or just paper-based,” Amadi-Emina told TechCrunch in an interview. “A lot of the payments made were made with cash and we thought to build a digital bank that provides financial services geared towards solving these various problems for SME vendors that operate within large manufacturing supply chains, starting first and foremost with the logistics providers, and then gradually moving to the supplier pockets and at the tail end of things.” Pivo leverages manufacturing supply chain relationships and deploys financial services to the SMEs within them, mostly truckers in this instance. The credit play of its platform, Pivo Capital, serves as an early payment alternative for truckers and allows logistics companies to deal with any upfront costs — such as diesel and driver’s allowance — typically incurred during operations. Pivo Business, its payments reconciliation arm, helps these small businesses to facilitate payments via peer-to-peer transfers and track payments with debit cards with spend controls. Amadi-Emina explained that all these features will drive Pivo to capture a sizable portion of a $4 billion addressable market opportunity. It’s a huge market where Pivo has the first-mover advantage. And though it doesn’t seem to have any noteworthy challengers in the freight sector, startups such as Duplo, another YC alum, whose customers are SMEs in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) space, pose serious competition in the long run when the platforms seek out other sectors to replicate growth. That said, within its sector, there’s also some concern that e-logistics companies can construct a similar platform in-house (case in point, ). “As a plug-and-play and embedded solution, we’ve always been more complimentary than competitive,” the chief executive told TechCrunch when questioned about Pivo’s chances if e-logistics firms launch a competing product. “If you look at e-logistics firms, the goal for them is to move towards a platform approach and if at any point in time they want to unlock financial services, we tell them to come to PIVO for that instead of going to the traditional banks.” The Pivo team. Pivo The freight carrier–focused digital bank currently serves about 500 SMEs as direct customers and makes revenue by charging interest on capital and fees on payments processed. Amadi-Emina said Pivo Capital has disbursed over $3 million to SMEs and currently records a 98% repayment rate while transaction volume on Pivo Business grew over 400% between April and September this year. The startup has registered a total volume of $4.7 million from July to date. What’s next for the female-led startup? More growth, according to its CEO. The company is working on Pivo+, a package of value-added services that will turn Pivo into a full-fledged financial services platform. Daniel Block, an investment principal at Mercy Corps, one of the investors in this round, thinks Pivo is designed to become such a platform because the startup’s “commitment to unattended supply chain SMEs would enable it to rapidly carve out a deep moat in the competitive fintech lending space.” Other investors in the seed round include Precursor Ventures, Vested World, FoundersX, and Y Combinator, where Amadi-Emina and Ijeoma Akwiwu have accomplished an impressive feat of being the first all-female founded team the famed accelerator has backed in Nigeria — and the second in Africa after the defunct Ghanaian startup Tress. “It is a great thing that we were able to break that barrier as a female-led start-up. Getting into YC gave us validation as founders and cemented the fact that women can be at the helm of affairs in the tech space,” said chief operating officer Akwiwu of the achievement. “Tech is a male-dominated space and all these man-made barriers exist that serve to keep women out. Getting into YC, with the news amplified not just locally but internationally means more people get to see strong female representation coming from Nigeria. We’re glad that a female founder somewhere looks at us and gains an awareness that it is possible that if you keep putting in the hard work, applying yourself and have the numbers to back it all up, you can achieve what you set out to.” |
Atoa helps UK merchants cut down on card processing fees | Catherine Shu | 2,022 | 11 | 24 | Visa and Mastercard payments are convenient for customers but can cost merchants high processing fees. wants to provide a cheaper alternative that is still easy for customers to use. The London-based fintech announced today that it has raised $2.2 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Leo Capital and Passion Capital, with participation from angel investors like GoCardless and Nested co-founder Matt Robinson, Moon Capital Ventures and MarketFinance co-founder Anil Stocker. Atoa co-founder Sid Narayanan told TechCrunch that he and co-founders Cian O’Dowd and Arun Rajkumar developed the idea for Atoa after selling their previous startup, expense management platform KlearCard, to . Their barber, who initially accepted card payments, started asking for cash payments or bank transfers because he wanted to reduce his card processing fees, which were around 1.6%. Narayanan and O’Dowd were used to card alternative payments after living in Singapore and saw an opportunity to use the U.K.’s open banking payments stack to build a Visa and Mastercard alternative, Narayanan told TechCrunch. Mastercard and Visa payment rails can cost small merchants and their customers net margins of 51%, with card machine fees of about 1.75%, Narayanan said. Atoa, on the other hand, charges a fixed percentage fee billable to merchant each month that is up to 70% lower than debit cards. It also does not have hardware rentals, service fees or PCI attestation of compliance charges. To use Atoa, merchants download an app that connects to their bank accounts. Customers don’t need to download Atoa’s app to use the service. Instead, they can use Atoa as long as they have a U.K. mobile banking app. According to Narayanan, the majority of adults, or about 80% in the U.K., already have a mobile banking app on their phone, removing the main source of friction. Merchants send a link for payment by SMS, PayBay or offer a QR code to scan. To incentivize more customers to use Atoa, the startup also plans to add rewards and loyalty benefits, like digital scratch cards that can let them get cash rewards into their existing U.K. bank accounts. Once customers pay with Atoa, merchants receive payment instantly through Instant Bank Pay. They also get funds in their bank account right away, instead of waiting for up to one to two business days. Atoa says since it went live in June, it’s gotten more than 100% month-on-month total payment volume (TPV) growth and merchant customers. Its most direct competitors include card machine providers like SumUp, Zettle, Square and Barclaycard, Narayanan said. Atoa differentiates by offering lower fees and enabling merchants to receive funds more quickly than the three days typically required by card machine providers. It also charges lower fees than players that are intermediated by Visa and Mastercard. In a statement about its investment, Passion Capital partner Robert Dighero said, “Atoa has come to the UK market at the right time to leverage open banking and bring to small and medium sized merchants a truly viable alternative to payment cards and card machines that can be deployed in-store within minutes. We’re delighted to work with the Atoa team after their first fintech success and look forward to partnering with them as they achieve even greater heights with Atoa.” |
Female Invest acquires sustainability-focused investment platform Gaia Investments | Rebecca Szkutak | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | When launched in 2019, it did so with the goal of creating a community where women who wanted to invest in the stock market, but weren’t sure where to start, could gain the knowledge and confidence to take the plunge. Now, its users will be able to do so all within the Female Invest platform. The Copenhagen-based startup announced the acquisition of fellow Danish fintech Gaia Investments this week with plans to integrate the trading platform, which focuses on investing in companies with sustainability goals, into its app. The purchase price of Gaia was undisclosed, but the startup raised at a $3 million valuation, three months prior to the transaction, Female Invest told TechCrunch. For Female Invest co-founder and partner Camilla Falkenberg, adding the ability to invest directly through Female Invest is a great next step for the subscription edtech platform. “Since day one, we have always been very focused on building the features and products that were requested by our community,” Falkenberg said. “And we get requests every day for the possibility to trade directly through us.” She added that she thinks the platform gets that request so often because its users trust it. A recent survey of customers found that 96% of them would trust Female Invest with their money more than their bank. Female Invest has spent the last year building up the company in a way to more easily integrate trading, too. Falkenberg said since they raised their $4.5 million seed round last November, they’ve built out an app, expanded their tech team and raised an additional $3 million in funding. But when they came across Gaia Investments in July, they realized it might make more sense, and save time, for Female Invest to partner with an existing trading platform as opposed to building their own. “Gaia has a strong brand here in the Nordics and such a strong focus on ethics and sustainable investing, something we are also very interested in,” she said. “As the talks progressed, it became more and more clear it was a great move for us.” The team at Gaia felt the same way, Mads Sverre Willumsen, a co-founder and CTO told TechCrunch. “We knew Female Invest and saw the journey they had been on in the past three years,” he said. “After we talked and saw we had alignment, the decision was not that difficult.” The two companies also shared similar founding stories — both looked to create an investing product that they felt was needed and didn’t exist. For Female Invest, it was in 2019 when the founders realized there wasn’t a good resource that taught women how to start investing. For Gaia, it was when co-founder and CEO David Bentzon-Ehlers’s mother asked him in 2020 if there was a safe place to invest in sustainable companies, and his realization that the platform she was looking for didn’t yet exist. While it isn’t super common for startups to get acquired so early in life — Gaia had just completed a TechStars accelerator program a few months earlier — Sverre Willumsen said the transaction made sense for Gaia because they were more interested in expanding the reach of their product than being startup founders. “I didn’t become a founder in the first place to be a founder,” he said. “I did it because it was an opportunity to make a lot of innovation and a difference for people quite quickly.” The current Gaia users will be offloaded — with their money returned in full — in the near future as the platform starts to integrate into Female Invest. Falkenberg said from there they don’t have a specific launch date yet for Female Invest users, but that the ability to trade will launch first in the European Union and in the U.K. after that. Consolidation of early-stage startups has been a rising trend this year, and as the fintech sector has struggled in 2022’s uncertainty, it seems wise that some of these smaller companies will combine to avoid getting left behind. I’m sure we will start to see more of this heading into next year. For Female Invest though, the long-term plan, regardless of market conditions, is all falling into place. “Our vision is to create an extremely user-friendly, and easy to navigate, platform with a focus on sustainability to invest in the values that matter to them,” Falkenberg said. “We have a very loyal user base who is just waiting for us to launch the next product which is a great starting point.” |
Consumer finance app Djamo eyes Francophone Africa expansion, backed by new $14M round | Tage Kene-Okafor | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | Last February, announced that it got , the first from Ivory Coast. Months later, the two-year-old fintech has raised $14 million in funding from the famed accelerator, as well as from three lead investors — Enza Capital, Oikocredit and Partech Africa — and other participating investors, including Janngo Capital, P1 Ventures, Axian and Launch Africa. As with most fintechs across Africa, Djamo, launched by and last year, provides financial services for the underbanked and unbanked population. Its focus is on French-speaking markets where fewer than 25% of adults have bank accounts. One reason why this is so is that banks concentrate on affluent customers and those they deem profitable for business. But as banks slacked, mobile money from the region’s telcos filled in the gap, and in the last 10 years, their wallets have reached more than 60% of the population — proof of how many millions of French-speaking natives were hungry for financial services. Today, this mobile money infrastructure and reach allows startups like Djamo to build upon their existing payment infrastructure to democratize financial access across banking and mobile money spheres. Djamo’s app allows for interoperability between banks and mobile money, meaning that its customers in Ivory Coast can send money from their bank accounts to mobile money wallets, and back; it has leveraged this characteristic to build a full suite of financial services. Djamo’s first product is a Visa-powered debit card that lets users make online purchases on sites such as Amazon, Alibaba, or Netflix. Other products include virtual accounts for peer-to-peer transactions, a product to receive salaries, and an autosaving product that offers guidance into customers’ financial goals. , , , and are a few examples of comparable products across Africa. “Before Djamo, it was a real challenge for an average customer to receive salaries digitally because they weren’t integrated into the banking system,” CEO Bourgi told TechCrunch over a call. “We found the right partner to launch that product and any company can pay salary to employees with a Djamo account. When you look at Djamo, alongside other products, we want customers to be able to better manage their money and help them plan for their future. We’re not necessarily trying to digitize cash like mobile wallets. We are here to work on the personal finance side.” Customers see so much value in the different use cases Djamo has assembled so far that the fintech still relies on word of mouth to scale across Ivory Coast, according to Bamba, the company’s chief product officer. The platform currently has registered over 500,000 customers, a more than 5x increase from the 90,000 customers Djamo had onboarded as of February 2021. “In our region, users pay amongst the highest fees in the world but do not always receive adequate service in return and that can be extremely frustrating. The one thing that we want to achieve is to offer a product where customers get real value for their money,” said the CPO. “The app has been growing organically like crazy and to get such numbers in a market like this within a short period, is proof that we’re nailing the overall user experience and building something very relevant for users.” While they didn’t provide an update to the 50,000 monthly transactions recorded during the , the founders say the fintech platform has processed over $400 million since inception. Djamo is also experiencing a revenue growth of 20% to 25% month-on-month, spurred by an amendment to its pricing plan that includes a free option and two premium options with varying services: $2/month and $3.5/month. They say these options are 80% cheaper than other bank accounts offered by financial institutions — including microfinance banks that Djamo views as direct competition due to their adoption of digital channels to provide financial services — in Ivory Coast. Djamo Bourgi said 60% of Djamo customers have never used a Visa debit card before joining the platform. It’s a feat the chief executive is proud of and deems crucial in Djamo’s bid to make financial services accessible to the masses, including those outside the Ivory Coast. The $14 million in funding capital, which it claims to be the largest-ever equity round for a startup in Ivory Coast, will help the startup advance into two other countries across Francophone Africa before the end of next year and expand product offerings to include investments and lending. Tidjane Deme, the general partner at Partech Africa, speaking on the investment, said, “Francophone Africa offers a large integrated market, with [a] fast-growing demand for frictionless services from a new cohort of digital-native young adults. We are excited to join forces with high-caliber local investors who bring sector and regional expertise to enable Djamo to unlock this opportunity.” |
Amazon to shut down its online learning platform in India | Manish Singh | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | Amazon will be shutting down Amazon Academy, an online learning platform it launched in India for high school students last year, the company said Thursday. The retailer says it will wind down the edtech service in the country in a phased manner starting August 2023. Those who signed up for the current academic batch will receive a full refund, it said. Amazon officially launched Academy, previously called JEE Ready, , but had been testing the platform . Academy sought to help students prepare for entry into the nation’s prestigious engineering colleges. The service offered curated learning material, live lectures, mock tests and comprehensive assessments to help students learn and practice math, physics and chemistry and prepare for the Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE), a government-backed engineering entrance assessment conducted in India for admission to various engineering colleges in the country. The comprehensive offering from the firm had prompted some to believe that Amazon might be making a major foray into the education market and may pose a threat to upstarts such as Byju’s, Unacademy and Vedantu. The homepage of Amazon Academy website. Amazon More than 260 million children go to school in India and much of the population sees education as a key to economic progress and a better life. Facebook also , a Bangalore-based startup that offers online learning classes. Google, which Cuemath, to train more than 1 million teachers in India and offer a range of free tools such as G Suite for Education, Google Classroom and YouTube to help digitize the education experience in the nation. “At Amazon, we think big, experiment and invest in new ideas to delight customers. We also continually evaluate the progress and potential of our products and services to deliver customer value, and we regularly make adjustments based on those assessments,” an Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Following an assessment we have made the decision to discontinue Amazon Academy. We are winding down this program in a phased manner to take care of current customers.” The company did not share why it’s winding down Academy, but ET Prime (paywalled), which first , said the move was part of the its ongoing cost-cutting measures. Amazon is planning to , according to media reports, and began eliminating roles in some divisions including earlier this month. Amazon also shut down teams that make AWS tutorials and other online courses, Business Insider . In a memo, which Amazon has since made public, chief executive Andy Jassy said more layoffs will come next year. |
Amazon is working on a TV series about FTX drama with Russo Brothers | Ivan Mehta | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | The FTX drama is not over yet — and Amazon wants a piece of it. The company is partnering with the Russo Brothers, best known for Marvel movies, to make a show on the spectacular collapse of the giant cryptocurrency empire. Amazon has partnered with the duo’s production house AGBO to make the show, which will go into production in Spring 2023, first reported. Amazon is also trying to rope in the brothers to direct the show, the report added. The company confirmed the news in a statement and said “Hunters” creator David Weil will write the pilot. “We are excited to be able to continue our great working relationship with David, Joe, Anthony and the AGBO team with this fascinating event series. I can’t think of better partners to bring this multifaceted story to our global Prime Video audience,” Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said. The Russos are also working with Amazon to create “This is one of the most brazen frauds ever committed. It crosses many sectors — celebrity, politics, academia, tech, criminality, sex, drugs and the future of modern finance,” the Russos said of the upcoming show surrounding FTX in a statement. “At the center of it all sits an extremely mysterious figure with complex and potentially dangerous motivations. We want to understand why.” FTX and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have been at the center of media coverage across the world after the celebrated cryptocurrency exchange imploded earlier this month. reported earlier about the concerning finances of Alameda Research, the trading firm founded by Bankman-Fried and intertwined closely with the exchange. The report triggered a set of events, culminating in Binance chief executive Changpeng “CZ” Zhao that it had received as part of an investment exit from the firm. The move shook the confidence of retail investors and prompted a bank run on FTX and unraveled fraudulent misuse of FTX customers’ data. Bankman-Fried, who along with his firm have attracted regulatory scrutiny in recent weeks, attempted to salvage FTX by signing a deal to be acquired by Binance, its chief rival then. Binance pulled out of the deal after finding FTX had dug too deep of a hole in its balance sheet. Within days, FTX filed for bankruptcy with . In the aftermath of this chaos, Bankman-Fried gave in which he and walked back much of the mythos he had built up about himself. Reports have since also found that FTX used Bankman-Fried is scheduled to speak at the Dealbook summit next week, so we may hear more about what is going on with FTX soon. I’ll be speaking with at the summit next Wednesday (11/30). — SBF (@SBF_FTX) All of this makes for a good TV, for sure. It also helps that startup founders doing things has become a sleeper hit of a genre in recent years as evidenced by hits like “WeCrashed” (Apple TV+) on the WeWork and the Adam Neumann fiasco, “Dropout” (Hulu) on the Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes saga and “Super Pumped” (Showtime) on Uber led by Travel Kalanick. So Amazon is keen to get a hit show centering on a controversial tech founder on its catalog. But we could see more adoption of the FTX story. Earlier this week, reported that buyers — including Apple — are chasing to sign celebrated author Michael Lewis’ yet-to-be-published book. Lewis — who has previously written hits that were later adapted into movies such as “The Big Short,” “Moneyball” and “The Blind Side” — had been closely following Bankman-Fried for over six months before the recent implosion. Amazon’s show will be based on “insider reporting” from various journalists who have covered the issue extensively, according to Variety. |
Google Cloud partners with Indian startup SuperGaming to offer gaming engine to developers | Jagmeet Singh | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | Google Cloud has partnered with to offer the Indian gaming startup’s proprietary gaming engine, SuperPlatform, to developers worldwide, the latest in a series of recent steps from the Android-maker to expand focus into the gaming industry. The cloud arm of the search giant said Thursday that as part of its partnership, it will offer the Pune-headquartered startup’s gaming engine to help developers worldwide to help them manage their live ops, matchmaking, player progression and data, analytics, server scaling and merchandising. These tools are designed to help firms maintain, optimize and scale their games. The upstart SuperGaming, which uses its gaming engine in its own titles as well as the official PAC-MAN game for mobile devices, has garnered millions of downloads to its mobile titles such as MaskGun, Silly Royale and Tower Conquest. SuperGaming initially developed SuperPlatform to power its own games and started to license the service to other developers in 2019. SuperGaming The two firms aren’t strangers to one another. SuperGaming originally relied on AWS for its cloud needs, but moved to Google Cloud a couple of years ago after seeing advantages including “a significant amount of savings,” SuperGaming co-founder and chief executive Roby John told TechCrunch in an interview. That move put wheels in motion to make the platform available via Google Cloud as an independent software vendor for developers, said John. “I’m very excited to bring our platform to Google Cloud, which powers 70% of our top customers already,” he added. Developers will continue to have the choice to use SuperPlatform on AWS as well as Azure, though Google Cloud will be SuperGaming’s preference as a result of the partnership, he said. Prior to talks about a potential partnership, John said SuperGaming had been working closely with Google Cloud engineers to use the cloud platform for the upcoming battle royale game Indus. The teams on both sides exchanged insights that helped bring the partnership very organically, he said. “The partnership is beyond just saying, OK, here’s computers and infrastructure and all the rest. It’s about saying, how can we come collectively together and with the business objective of succeeding,” said Bikram Singh Bedi, managing director, Google Cloud India, in the joint conversation. The two did not disclose financial terms of the deal. Google Cloud’s competitors AWS and Azure do offer native LiveOps solutions for game developers to let them run their games as a service and get real-time telemetrics. Google Cloud, however, seems to utilize SuperGaming’s expertise — alongside its platform — to bring some distinctions. “It’s always about developers, or it’s about players. And this partnership allows us to influence both,” said Bedi. SuperGaming, which counts Texas-based Skycatcher, Tokyo’s Akatsuki Entertainment Technology Fund, Kirkland-based 1UpVentures and Ant Group-backed BAce Capital among its investors, has so far raised $6.8 million, with infused through a Series A round last year. The startup also launched TowerConquest: Metaverse Edition as its free-to-earn web3 game, which it said will also run on Google Cloud — alongside the existing titles and upcoming Indus. |
What it would mean for Tesla to buy back shares | Rebecca Bellan | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | Tesla investors are begging CEO Elon Musk and the board of Tesla to consider buying back shares as the company’s stock price slumps to a two-year low. Tesla stock was trading at $183.20 after hours on Wednesday, and its market capitalization has plunged by almost $700 billion since its peak a year ago. Musk said during Tesla’s Q3 earnings call that the company is likely to do a “meaningful buyback” next year, possibly between $5 billion and $10 billion. Last week, he it would be “up to the Tesla board” to decide. Buying back shares from the marketplace would reduce the number of outstanding shares available, which increases the ownership stake of current shareholders. That’s because reduced supply of shares often causes a price increase. Tesla bull and influencer Alexandra Merz recently put up a to advocate for a swift buyback before the end of the year. Merz said this would allow Tesla to “benefit from a currently very unvalued stock price” and avoid the 1% excuse tax that any buybacks exceeding $1 million will be subject to by January 1, 2023. Merz and other investors have also argued a stock buyback would be a show of confidence in Tesla’s future results and would return wealth to shareholders. “I’m a huge Tesla fan and past stock holder but in order to preserve my capital I’ve been forced to go to the dark side,” commented one petitioner, of which there are currently 5,807. “I’ve recently began to short the stock and have earned back roughly half my loses. I believe in Tesla’s long term growth but I need to see some action from the board before going long again. A nice buy back would show confidence from the board that Tesla is still a good investment.” Tesla’s stock has taken a hit lately for a variety of reasons, including decreasing investor confidence in Musk to run the company effectively. Many have complained that Musk is, at best, distracted by his , a social media platform on which the executive has lately been airing his politics even more than usual. Musk and certain members of Tesla’s board are currently in court over the after a Tesla shareholder accused Musk of being a “part-time CEO.” Drops in Tesla shares also followed by Musk who needed liquid cash to finance the $44 billion Twitter deal. Some analysts, like Adam Jones at Morgan Stanley, worry the Twitter fiasco and Musk’s rampant tweeting could hurt consumer demand for Tesla, as well as commercial deals and government relations. Musk’s involvement in Twitter isn’t the only reason for plunging shares. While Tesla still remains the market leader of electric vehicles in the U.S., the company is rapidly losing market share to other automakers as new models come online. In the third quarter, in EVs, which is down from 66% in Q2 and 75% in Q1. Ford, GM and Hyundai brands are quickly catching up as they scale production of popular EV models like the Mustang Mach-E, the Chevy Bolt and the Ioniq 5. Tesla is also losing ground to Chinese EV makers like BYD and Wuling Motors in China, where the automaker recently slashed prices to lure buyers, receiving . On top of that, Beijing is now on lockdown and more restrictions have been imposed in China as coronavirus cases surge. This might not only affect Tesla’s ability to run its gigafactory in Shanghai, but further restrictions will affect China’s weakened economy further and reduce demand for luxury products like Teslas. Then there are the that Tesla issued over the weekend — over 350,000 vehicles from U.S. customers with software glitches that disable taillights or activate air bags during minor collisions in some cars. That’s on top of the 17 other recalls this year. Finally, Tesla has gotten plenty of bad press this year around its advanced driver assistance systems Autopilot and “full self-driving,” or FSD, which have been in the worst case and in the best case have simply not performed as expected. In September, drivers filed suit against the company for the autonomous capabilities of its tech. All of the above, coupled with a down market, have resulted in Tesla’s market cap going from $1.2 trillion last November to $574 billion as of Wednesday’s close. Billionaire Leo Koguan, who says he’s the third-largest individual shareholder in Tesla, has been advocating for a buyback for months. Last week he that Musk should stop selling shares and should take advantage of the “right timing” to buy back shares “before Q4.” Musk responded to the tweet saying it was “up to the Tesla board.” In October, Koguan to buy back at least $5 billion worth of stock, and in the past has argued for up to , saying Tesla should use its free cashflow to fund the buyback. As of the Tesla has a free cash flow of $3.3 billion. Koguan Tesla can still invest in FSD, its and new gigafactories while also buying back “undervalued stocks.” |
Obrizum uses AI to build employee training modules out of existing content | Kyle Wiggers | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | The market for corporate training, which Allied Market Research is worth over $400 billion, has grown substantially in recent years as companies realize the cost savings in upskilling their workers. One PwC found that teaching employees additional skills can save a company between 43% and 66% of layoff costs alone, depending on the salary. But it remains challenging for organizations of a certain size to quickly build and analyze the impact of learning programs. In a 2019 , Harvard Business Review found that 75% of managers were dissatisfied with their employer’s learning and development (L&D) function and only 12% of employees applied new skills learned in L&D programs to do their jobs. Searching for an answer, a trio of Cambridge scientists — Chibeza Agley, Sarra Achouri and Juergen Fink — co-founded , a company that applies “adaptive learning” techniques to upskill and reskill staff. Leveraging an AI engine, the co-founders claim that Obrizum can tailor corporate learning experiences to individual staffers, identifying knowledge gaps and measuring things like learning efficiency. “It’s becoming increasingly apparent that businesses will need to continue to invest heavily in efficient, successful training and knowledge sharing regardless of their workplace setup,” Agley, Obrizum’s CEO, told TechCrunch in an interview. “We are solving the widespread industry issue of efficiency. Businesses have less time available than ever before to create programs of learning or assessment. Meanwhile, there is more and more information to be taught.” Obrizum So how does Obrizum purport to achieve this? By creating what Agley calls “knowledge spaces” rather than linear training courses. Obrizum works with a company’s existing training resources, analyzing and curating webcasts, PDFs, slide decks, infographics and even virtual reality content into white-label modules that adjust based on a learner’s performance on regular assessments. Obrizum’s algorithms can both reinforce concepts and emphasize weaker areas, Agley claims, by detecting guessing and “click-through cheating” (i.e., fast-forwarding through videos). “Obrizum makes it much easier to surface and make use of valuable information that might not traditionally be used to learning or training,” Agley said. “In Obrizum, the individual’s data is used to benefit the individual — which is how it should be. Then, at an organizational level, machine learning can be used to spot trends and patterns which can benefit the majority. . . . Managers can see real-time summary data including usage statistics and a breakdown of performance relative to core concepts for groups of learners. Management level users can also drill down into the performance and activity of individual users.” For employees uncomfortable with Obrizum’s analytics in an era of , fortunately they can anonymize themselves and — in compliance with the GDPR — request the deletion of their personal data via self-service tools, Agley says. As Obrizum looks toward the future, the company will invest in more comprehensive content automation and analytics technologies, integrations with third-party services and capabilities for collaboration and sharing, according to Agley. The pressure is on to stand out from rival platforms like , which lets set training happen automatically and track metrics like accreditation, as well as generate proof of credentials and certifications for management reviews and audits. Obrizum also competes with , a precision upskilling platform; software-as-a-service tool and to a lesser extent , which provides a collection of online learning materials and tools to businesses that tap content from multiple publishers and silos. The good news is, corporate learning software remains a lucrative space, with investors pouring more than $2.1 billion into an assortment of startups focused on “skilling” employees between February 2021 and February 2021, . Obrizum Agley claims that Obrizum is working with about 20 enterprise clients at present, including a growing cohort of government, aerospace and defense organizations. He demurred when asked about Obrizum’s revenue, revealing only that it has increased 17x since year-end 2020 — mostly due to client digital transformation efforts kicked off during the pandemic. “Obrizum is a sector-agnostic solution which is key to our ability to scale quickly and resiliently even in the challenging macroeconomic climate. . . . Even when it comes to learning experience platforms, Obrizum stands out on its own by way of the level of automation, the granularity of its adaptability and the diagnostic detail of the analytics it offers,” Agley said. “We are incredibly optimistic about the opportunities in our sector despite the broader economic outlook. Learning has, and always will be, required in the world of work and in a post-pandemic world the corporate learning market is expanding fast.” To date, Obrizum — which employs a staff of 38 — has raised $17 million in venture capital. That includes a $11.5 million Series A led by Guinness Ventures with participation from Beaubridge, Juno Capital Partners and Qatar Science & Tech Holdings and Celeres Ventures, which closed today. |
Dat Bike gets another $8M to put more e-bikes on Vietnam’s roads | Catherine Shu | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | is on a mission to put more electric bikes on Vietnam’s roads. The startup said today it has raised $8 million led by returning investor Singapore-based firm Jungle Ventures, just . GSR Ventures and Delivery Hero Ventures also participated in this round, along with Wavemaker Partners and Innoven Capital. The new round brings Dat Bike’s total raised to $16.5 million. It will use its new funding on tech and product development, hiring for its sales, support, R&D and product teams, and building more capacity in its factories. Dat Bike was founded in 2018 by Son Nguyen, who learned how to build bikes from scrap while working as a software engineer in Silicon Valley. The company says that over the past 12 months, its revenue has grown 10x. Its bikes are sold through three stores in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang, with more stores planned. It will expand to Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Nha Trang, Binh Duong and Can Tho over the next few months. Dat Bike is also available through online channels and stores, with plans to get a fast feedback loop to increase the speed of innovations and developments in each release of its products. Nguyen told TechCrunch that since Dat Bike’s last funding round, it has scaled its production capacity and go-to-market teams while continuing to invest in research and development. Dat Bike is also available in all three regions of Vietnam now. Dat Bike’s customer strategy is to first deliver an e-bike with good after-sales service, Nguyen said, and its goal is to convert gasoline bike users to electric. Dat Bike claims that its newest model, the Weaver 200, has a range of 200 kilometers compared to 50 kilometers for most other electric bikes, and a charging time of one hour for 100 km and three hours for a full 200 km charge, compared to six to eight hours for other e-bikes. The startup recently launched Dat Charge, a charging station for its bikes, which it says reduces charging time by a third. Dat Charge is currently available in the center Ho Chi Minh City, with plans to expand it nationwide over the next few years. In a statement about Jungle Ventures’ investment, vice president My Tran said, “This is our third investment in Dat Bike and we continue to be amazed by the incredible execution by the team. The growth is testament to the electric future that Son is building with Dat Bike.” |
It’s time to talk about killer robots | Brian Heater | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | dinner table conversation that isn’t politics or professional sports? Okay, let’s talk about killer robots. It’s a concept that long ago leapt from the pages of science fiction to reality, depending on how loose a definition you use for “robot.” Military drones abandoned — “A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm” — decades ago. The topic has been simmering again of late due to the increasing prospect of killer robots in domestic law enforcement. One of the era’s best known robot makers, Boston Dynamics, raised some public policy red flags when it showcased footage of its Spot robot being deployed as part of Massachusetts State Police training exercises on our stage back in 2019. The robots were not armed and instead were part of an exercise designed to determine how they might help keep officers out of harm’s way during a hostage or terrorist situation. But the prospect of deploying robots in scenarios where people’s lives are at immediate risk was enough to prompt an inquiry from the ACLU, : We urgently need more transparency from government agencies, who should be upfront with the public about their plans to test and deploy new technologies. We also need statewide regulations to protect civil liberties, civil rights, and racial justice in the age of artificial intelligence. Last year, meanwhile, the with Boston Dynamics following a strong public backlash, after images surfaced of Spot being deployed in response to a home invasion in the Bronx. For its part, Boston Dynamics has been very vocal in its opposition to the weaponization of its robots. Last month, it signed , along with other leading firms Agility, ANYbotics, Clearpath Robotics and Open Robotics, condemning the action. It notes: We believe that adding weapons to robots that are remotely or autonomously operated, widely available to the public, and capable of navigating to previously inaccessible locations where people live and work, raises new risks of harm and serious ethical issues. Weaponized applications of these newly-capable robots will also harm public trust in the technology in ways that damage the tremendous benefits they will bring to society. The letter was believed to have been, in part, a response to Ghost Robotics’ work with the U.S. military. When images of one of its own robotic dogs showed on Twitter sporting an autonomous rifle, the Philadelphia firm told TechCrunch that it took an agnostic stance with regard to how the systems are employed by its military partners: We don’t make the payloads. Are we going to promote and advertise any of these weapon systems? Probably not. That’s a tough one to answer. Because we’re selling to the military, we don’t know what they do with them. We’re not going to dictate to our government customers how they use the robots. We do draw the line on where they’re sold. We only sell to U.S. and allied governments. We don’t even sell our robots to enterprise customers in adversarial markets. We get lots of inquiries about our robots in Russia and China. We don’t ship there, even for our enterprise customers. Boston Dynamics and Ghost Robotics are currently . This week, local police reporting site surfaced renewed concern around killer robots — this time in San Francisco. The site notes that a policy proposal being reviewed by the city’s Board of Supervisors next week includes language about killer robots. The begins with an inventory of robots currently in the San Francisco Police Department’s possession. There are 17 in all — 12 of which are functioning. They’re largely designed for bomb detection and disposal — which is to say that none are designed specifically for killing. “The robots listed in this section shall not be utilized outside of training and simulations, criminal apprehensions, critical incidents, exigent circumstances, executing a warrant or during suspicious device assessments,” the policy notes. It then adds, more troublingly, “Robots will only be used as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available to SFPD.” Effectively, according to the language, the robots can be used to kill in order to potentially save the lives of officers or the public. It seems innocuous enough in that context, perhaps. At the very least, it seems to fall within the legal definition of . But new concerns arise in what would appear to be a profound change to policy. For starters, the use of a bomb disposal robot to kill a suspect is not without precedent. In July 2016, Dallas police officers did just that for what was believed to be . “We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was,” police chief David Brown said at the time. Second, it is easy to see how new precedent could be used in a , if a robot is intentionally or accidentally used in this manner. Third, and perhaps most alarmingly, one could imagine the language applying to the acquisition of a future robotic system not purely designed for explosive discovery and disposal. Mission Local adds that SF’s Board of Supervisors Rules Committee chair Aaron Peskin attempted to insert the more Asimov-friendly line, “Robots shall not be used as a Use of Force against any person.” The SFPD apparently crossed out Peskin’s change and updated it to its current language. The renewed conversation around killer robots in California comes, in part, due to Assembly Bill 481. Signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September of last year, the law is designed to make police action more transparent. That includes an inventory of military equipment utilized by law enforcement. The 17 robots included in the San Francisco document are part of a longer list that also includes the , flash-bang grenades and 15 submachine guns. Last month, Oakland Police said it for armed remote robots. The department said in : The statement followed public backlash. The toothpaste is already out of the tube of Asimov’s first law. The killer robots are here. As for the — “A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law” — this is still mostly within our grasp. It’s up to society to determine how its robots behave. |
Daily Crunch: Vulnerable component in IoT devices poses ‘supply chain risk,’ Microsoft says | Christine Hall | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | / Getty Images Three more from the TC+ team: |
Here’s what NASA’s Orion spacecraft is doing over Thanksgiving weekend | Aria Alamalhodaei | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | Since taking off aboard the Space Launch System rocket , NASA’s Orion spacecraft has had a remarkably smooth journey. But it’s far from over. While millions of Americans prepare for a long weekend with family and friends, Orion will continue its 25-day mission, including conducting a crucial burn on Friday to enter a distant retrograde orbit around the moon. Orion is eight days into its 25-day journey around the moon. The capsule is a cornerstone of NASA’s Artemis program, which has the aim of returning humans to the moon by the end of the decade and, in the long-term, making our presence there permanent. Orion’s mission has been dubbed Artemis I, a reflection of both the start of the Artemis program and the capsule finally becoming operational. The journey hasn’t been without its hiccups, though these have been relatively minor. Perhaps the most substantial occurred very early this morning, when NASA unexpectedly lost the data connection to the spacecraft for 47 minutes. Engineers are still working to figure out why this happened, but data was restored with no impact to Orion. So what exactly does the rest of this week have in store for Orion? Well, quite a lot. Right now, the spacecraft is on its way toward distant retrograde orbit (DRO). The orbit is so named because of its altitude from the moon’s surface, and because the orbit travels in a direction opposite the moon’s orbit around the Earth. DRO is considered highly stable, and because of that, little fuel is required for a spacecraft to maintain its position in orbit. On Friday, Orion will conduct the DRO insertion burn using the European Service Module, the power and propulsion components of the spacecraft built by the European Space Agency. The following day, Orion is set to make a new record for the farthest distance traveled by a human-rated spacecraft, journeying 248,655 miles from Earth. The spacecraft will reach its maximum distance from Earth on Monday, at 268,552 miles. Orion will stay in DRO for about a week, during which time spacecraft systems will continue to be tested. Mike Sarafin, Artemis Mission Manager, described the mission back in April as a “true stress test” of the spacecraft in the deep space environment. “Without crew aboard the first mission, DRO allows Orion to spend more time in deep space for a rigorous mission to ensure spacecraft systems, like guidance, navigation, communication, power, thermal control and others are ready to keep astronauts safe on future crewed missions,” he said. Beyond this point, Orion will have to conduct two more crucial burns, the first to depart from DRO and the second to slingshot back around the moon and return the spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth. The grand finale will come when Orion returns to Earth. It’s anticipated that the capsule will experience temperatures of up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit upon atmospheric reentry, and NASA needs to see that the spacecraft is up for it before using it to fly astronauts later this decade. |
Bitcoin believers maintain view it could find institutional buy-in despite FTX chaos | Jacquelyn Melinek | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were flirting with all-time highs about a year ago. Today’s scenery is less exuberant; bitcoin’s price has below and maintained its current price range since mid-June. Going forward, crypto participants should ask now how they can better understand the market, James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares said during a on Wednesday. “This is very much an emerging asset class and bitcoin is an emerging store of value.” |
Early Light Ventures plots a second, $15M fund for software ‘underdogs’ | Harri Weber | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | With a stated mission to “back the underdogs that traditional VC has overlooked,” early-stage investor has secured at least $10.6 million toward its next fund, TechCrunch has learned. Based in Baltimore, Early Light is still somewhat new to VC land with about four years and four exits under its belt, per . It largely funds startups that sell software to other businesses, like concert ticketer , influencer marketing company and telemedicine startup . According to a , Early Light has set a target of $15 million for its second core fund, which would make it around the same size of the firm’s debut, fund. “We believe in a future of meritocratic entrepreneurship where anyone with the passion can become a founder,” Early Light’s reads. Crucially, this is not how the venture business works today. Venture-backed companies secured almost $43 billion in the third quarter of 2022, of which . In the U.S., venture funding secured by all-women founding teams this year , as of October. Other startups backed by Early Light include video advertising company and employee-training software-maker . The investor says on its site that it has around $37 million in assets under its management today, including syndicate deals. |
South Korean financial regulator confirms it is reviewing Apple Pay service for launch | Kate Park | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | Apple is poised to launch its Apple Pay service in South Korea, one of the fastest-growing countries in the world for cashless services, yet as of right now untapped by both Apple and the other major smartphone platform player, Google. South Korea’s financial regulator is currently reviewing the Apple Pay service launch clause submitted by local credit card company Hyundai Card, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) confirmed to TechCrunch. a financial unit of Hyundai Motors. Hyundai Card reportedly has a South Korea is one of the world’s most digitally switched-on markets, with high broadband and mobile penetration and usage patterns, and overall and mobile payments in particular. Even before the pandemic and the global boost that it gave e-commerce globally, |
NASA selects Rocket Lab to launch TROPICS satellites | Aria Alamalhodaei | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | NASA has found a new launch provider for its extreme weather observation satellites. The agency announced Wednesday that it has selected Rocket Lab to launch its Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) satellites across two launches in late spring of next year. The missions, which will take place no earlier than May 1, will carry two cubesats each. Given that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has licensed the launches, it’s safe to infer that they will take place in Virginia, Rocket Lab’s sole site for U.S.-based launches. Until now, the company has exclusively launched from Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, though it is hoping to change that with a maiden launch from Virginia on December 7. Just which launch company NASA would choose for the TROPICS missions has been an open question for the past two months, ever since the agency announced that its initial partner, Astra, would no longer conduct the launches. Astra’s contract, valued at $7.95 million, was for three launches on its Rocket 3.3 vehicle — a rocket that Astra later announced would be discontinued, in favor of a larger and more powerful Rocket 4. But Rocket 4 is still under development — and may not be ready to launch until 2024. NASA decided not to wait that long, and said in September that it would with Astra for “comparable scientific payloads” on the new rocket. Astra attempted just one of the three contracted TROPICS launches back in June, but after the rocket’s second stage encountered an issue and shut down prior to payload deployment. Rocket Lab is one of 13 companies part of NASA’s Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract, a new program designed for payloads that have a high risk tolerance. The companies in the VADR program range from veritable veterans of launch, like SpaceX, to startups that have yet to fly their first rocket, like ABL Space Systems and Relativity. |
Electric motorbike-maker Zapp Electric Vehicles to go public via SPAC | Rebecca Bellan | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | U.K.-based electric two-wheeler manufacturer is merging with a blank-check company to become publicly traded on the Nasdaq at a post-money valuation of $573 million. Zapp says it will use the proceeds from the merger to bring its long-awaited i300 high-performance, seated city scooter to market. The i300 was initially revealed back in 2018, with promises of deliveries beginning in . Then Zapp, like many other companies, ran up against a global pandemic that halted production and deliveries, giving the company time to reevaluate its approach to production. Zapp partnered up with a third-party manufacturing firm and says it now has the capacity to build up to 10,000 scooters next year and finally launch in European markets in 2023. The deal with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) CIIG Capital Partners II is estimated to bring the combined company $274 million in new cash to support its growth, assuming no redemptions by CIIG II public stockholders, as well as $5 million in existing cash. The trouble is, assuming no redemptions isn’t really a part of the SPAC market these days. In 2022, . CIIG II has about $294 million cash in trust, so if, in the worst-case scenario, around 80% of investors decide to redeem their shares, Zapp will be looking at just around $60 million in net proceeds from the deal, and even less once factoring in transaction and sponsor fees. There is also no public investment in private equity (PIPE) in this deal, which would be guaranteed capital at the time of transaction close. Zapp told TechCrunch the company expects existing shareholders to roll over 100% of their equity and that CIIG’s cash in trust account will be enough to support the company’s growth-capital needs, including production, marketing and sales efforts. “We cannot predict the market, of course, but we were intentional about a few things the market should like about our transaction. First, we have no minimum cash condition to close,” said . “And due to our low capital requirements, we are aiming to achieve near-term positive free cash flow.” To produce its vehicles quickly, cheaply and at scale, Zapp has partnered with Summit Group, a global automotive manufacturing firm that’s worked with major auto customers like Ford, Honda, Toyota and Volvo. Zapp said Summit has the capacity to produce 300,000 units per year and can also lend expertise in tooling and logistics. CIIG II comes from the same sponsor and management team as CIIG Merger Corp., which last year combined with . Since going public, Arrival has slashed its workforce to , and recently . Arrival also received a from the Nasdaq for trading too low. The company is trading at $0.35, which is down 95% since the start of the year. Gavin Cuneo, co-CEO of CIIG II, told TechCrunch Zapp would be different because “the business is entering a large and growing market that is transitioning rapidly to electric power.” The same could be said about Arrival, but we’ll let him finish his point. “Swin and the team have developed an innovative product with a design and architecture that addresses the ‘urban motorcycle’ category. The strategic partnerships that Zapp has put in place in manufacturing and financing reduce capital requirements and uniquely position the company to achieve near-term positive free cash flow.” Cuneo also noted that Zapp is ready today to start of production and their “asset-light” business model through partnership with Summit has dramatically reduced capital expenditure requirements. That and CIIG II has to close a merger by May 2023 or else risk needing to give money back to investors. [gallery ids="2447264,2447262,2447263"] Zapp’s merger with CIIG is expected to close in the first half of 2023, at which time the company will be able to ramp up production. The i300 is built with a British-designed electric motor, which Zapp says puts it on par with the acceleration of high-performance motorcycles, but with the comfort of a step-through architecture. The i300 can go from 0 to 30 miles per hour in just 2.3 seconds and has a top speed of 60 miles per hour in 5 seconds, according to Zapp. The lightweight alloy and composite bodywork mean the bike weighs around 240 pounds without the battery packs, which weigh about 13 pounds and are removable to be charged inside. Zapp says its packs can be charged from 20% to 80% with the company’s own fast charger in under 40 minutes, and via any standard home wall socket in 80 minutes. The 1.44 kWh capacity batteries give the scooter about 37 miles of range. Zapp has four versions of the i300 available to reserve for a down payment of €100 today — the Ocean, the Bio, the Carbon and the Carbon Launch Edition. The Ocean’s bodywork (€6,900) is made from ocean recycled plastics technology. The Bio (€7,900) claims to use sustainable tech to create a vegan composite bodywork. The Carbon (€8,900) is made with a carbon composite bodywork, and the Carbon Launch Edition (€9,490) is the same but it also comes with a red fender, a commemorative plaque, a Union Jack decal and diamond cut wheels. Zapp wants its customers to be able to purchase vehicles through multiple points of sale, including authorized resell partners, online resellers and directly from the website. Zapp is calling its DSDTC (drop-ship-direct-to-consumer) approach a way to eliminate the need for dealerships, which will give the company more control over user experience. “Once a customer places an order, their selected model will be processed and conveniently delivered directly to their home by ‘Zappers,’ who are independent service agents who perform deliveries in dedicated and purpose-designed plug-in hybrid service vans,” said These Zapper vans will also operate our after-sales care program.” |
Lyft, Redwood Materials partner to recycle shared e-bike and e-scooter batteries | Rebecca Bellan | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | Lyft is partnering with Redwood Materials, a battery recycling company founded by ex-Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, to ensure the batteries from its fleets of shared electric bikes and scooters don’t end up in a landfill at their end of life. The news, reported by , comes the same week that , citing the desire to pursue long-term contracts with a limited number of operators. Lyft also ended its scooter-share operations in San Diego earlier this year amid that focuses Lyft more firmly on ride-hail. While the exiting of those cities might suggest more are to come — and thus Lyft will need a responsible way of disposing of its vehicles, lest we have another — Lyft’s docked bike-share programs, particularly CitiBike in New York City, continue to thrive. Lyft started pedal assist e-bikes in NYC in 2019, and the company says its bikes have a five-year lifespan, so at least a portion of its electric fleet is nearing end-of-life. The partnership with Redwood is the recycling startup’s first formal foray into shared micromobility. Redwood is known for breaking down scrap from , as well as recycling batteries from , , Nissan, Specialized and others. The company has expanded from simply recycling to , and last week to do just that, supporting a domestic supply chain in North America for EVs. In its partnership with Redwood, Lyft will recover dead batteries through its operations team and ship them to Redwood’s facility in Nevada. Redwood will decide how much of the battery is reusable and then begin a chemical recycling process, which removes and refines nickel, cobalt and copper, which ideally can be used to make new batteries. Jackson Switzer, senior director of business development at Redwood, told The Verge that about 130 e-bike batteries can provide enough battery metals to make a new EV battery. All of Redwood’s recycling is done domestically, which is a step up from battery materials being sent abroad to be broken down and re-manufactured, only to be sent back to the U.S. in the end. |
#MyTechFrenemy | Dominic-Madori Davis | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | academy have always been a little suspicious of the program and its founder, Mary Awodele. Since its founding in 2020, a whisper network murmured that many of the materials taught by the academy were plagiarized from various other online programs, such as those from Google or Salesforce. Founded by Awodele in 2020, MyTechBestFriend (also My Tech Bestfriend or simply MTBF. The company rebranded to The Career Ingredient after the publication of this story) launched to public acclaim, especially within the Black tech community. For a minimum of $3,000, it offers to teach tech career skills, such as technical writing, and help people land tech jobs. A lot of the students who signed up for MTBF were new in tech. Some took out loans, quit their jobs or used their savings to participate in the program. Many didn’t know that ServiceNow, Google and Salesforce offered very similar — if not identical courses for free or at a much lower cost. Those who did know were afraid to speak out. Until now, that is. Last Monday afternoon, Awodele sat in a Zoom meeting with her camera off. The students attending her academy, MyTechBestFriend, were upset. Earlier that day, Awodele had suddenly removed a student from their Cohort 2 Discord chat who had asked a question, those familiar with the situation said. Others privy to goings on at MTBF say the Discord incident was not the first time Awodele had allegedly punished a student for speaking. “We all got really scared and nervous because we could ask a question, and depending on what kind of question it is and the way she takes it, that could be the end to your acceptance,” said Mandy, a former student, recalling to TechCrunch what the day-to-day at MTBF was like. (TechCrunch granted anonymity to former students so they could speak freely about their time at MTBF. We’re using a pseudonym here.) But after two years of what students alleged to be poor leadership and a culture of silence, they were set on making this incident the last time Awodele retaliated against a boot camp attendee. Those in the Cohort 2 Discord group recalled that after the ousting, a fellow student quickly came to the removed student’s defense. Then shortly after, another student, in frustration, shared in the Discord chat a video that Awodele had made only the day before. It was an Instagram video, seen by TechCrunch, in which Awodele said she would as a reference for students who didn’t tell her if they’ve obtained a job offer. Awodele, who is Black, said that people receiving job offers without telling her was worse than being called the N-word — and she used a hard “R.” The students were stunned. Chaos ensued in the Cohort 2 Discord. The chat, home to about 700 students, was deleted around 10:30 that morning. The Discord contained the materials students needed to get through the minimum three-month program. TechCrunch spoke to a dozen people, including an instructor and several students, who said Awodele was hostile and led harassment campaigns against those who spoke out against her. Many said Awodele carefully monitored students’ social media accounts. When reached for comment by TechCrunch, Awodele confirmed some allegations and denied others. At least three students said that they were not allowed to create external social groups with other students. Some said they were not allowed to speak online about Awodele or the boot camp without her permission. A scholarship contract seen by TechCrunch reveals that MTBF recipients had to put the hashtag #MTBFstudent in their social media bios; one person, whose sister is in the program, suggested it was so Awodele could find her students at all times. |
College social app Fizz is growing fast — maybe too fast | Amanda Silberling | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | Things are bleak in the tech sphere as we close out a year defined by , persistent and a for companies. Yet Stanford dropout Teddy Solomon’s story of co-founding is so reminiscent of Facebook that he was introduced to his investor and now-CEO Rakesh Mathur as “the next Mark Zuckerberg.” So, is it a good time to be building a buzzy new social app, or is it a complete mess? Venture capitalists at least seem to be eager to fund the future of social media. Fizz closed a $4.5 million seed round in June, and already, the social media app for college students raised its $12 million Series A. This fast growth from seed to Series A is almost unheard of in a bear market, but Fizz seems to be embracing the ethos to . Fizz is only available to college students, and users can only access the Fizz community for their own college. On the app, students can publish text posts, polls and photos without a username or identifying information attached. Like Reddit, classmates can upvote or downvote what they see in their feed. Users can DM each other, choosing to reveal their identity if they so desire. When TechCrunch covered in October, the app had launched on 13 campuses (each campus has its own individual community). In under two months, that number has doubled to 25 campuses. With the help of its Series A, led by NEA with participation from Lightspeed, Rocketship, Owl Ventures, Smash Ventures and New Horizon, Fizz’s goal is to reach 1,000 campuses by the end of 2023. “What we’ve found is that Fizz is impactful across a variety of campus cultures, from highly academic Ivy League schools to party schools and now HBCUs,” co-founder and COO Teddy Solomon told TechCrunch. “Fizz is all about providing students with a safer, private and engaging space to connect about their shared experience of living on the same college campus, whatever that experience and culture may be.” Fizz says it has reached 95% penetration among iPhone users (it doesn’t have an Android app yet) on campuses like Stanford, Dartmouth, Pepperdine and Bethune-Cookman — but the download numbers might be a bit inflated, since Fizz employs tactics like offering free donuts in exchange for downloads, which is standard among college-founded apps. Regardless, Fizz claims that over half of its users are engaging with the app every day, an impressive statistic in itself. Fizz’s ascension has not been without conflict, though. As earlier this month, Fizz had a serious security vulnerability in November 2021. Three Stanford students discovered that anyone could easily query the app’s Google Firestone-hosted database to identify the author of any post on the platform, where all posts are billed as anonymous. They also found users’ personal information like phone numbers and email addresses — plus, the database was editable, which made it possible to edit posts and give any user moderator status. “As soon as we became aware of the vulnerability, we worked with a security consultant who helped us to resolve that specific issue in 24 hours, which ended the risk for our users. Subsequently, we notified all of our users of the fix and published the changes on our website,” Ashton Cofer, Fizz’s co-founder and CTO, told TechCrunch. Fizz told users about the issues via . It is industry standard that when good-faith researchers find such glaring vulnerabilities, they report their findings to the company so that they can be mended before bad actors can exploit them. But these well-intentioned students that “Fizz’s lawyer threatened us with criminal, civil, and disciplinary charges unless we agreed to keep quiet about the vulnerabilities.” The student newspaper obtained a copy of the (note: Fizz was called Buzz at the time). Lawyers from the Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF) represented the three Stanford students in a response to Fizz’s legal threat. “Your legal threats against the students endanger security research, discourage vulnerability reporting, and will ultimately lead to less security,” the EFF lawyers to Fizz. TechCrunch asked Fizz why its team chose to pursue legal action at the time. Cofer said that he and Solomon had followed the recommendations of a cybersecurity consultant. “Following the letter, we sat down with the hackers and resolved the matter amicably, and no further legal action has been pursued,” he said. “As we were a small team at the time, we chose to follow the advice of our consultants and legal counsel and we’re glad we were able to close out the discussion with the researchers on good terms.” Cofer added that the security vulnerability also stemmed from the fact that the team was so small at the time — it was just Cofer and Solomon, who were then full-time college students. Now, Cofer says Fizz has a team of 25 employees, including engineers with decades of experience. “Our security practices have significantly evolved and we remain committed to the security and privacy of our users as Fizz grows. Following this incident, we have ensured that the personal identifiable information (PII) of our users is stored in a separate, secure database, which is only accessible by Fizz administrators. This means that at no point can Fizz users, moderators or launch teams see another user’s PII,” Cofer said. Fizz outlines its security practices in more depth on its . |
NASA’s Space Launch System makes inaugural journey in historic launch | Aria Alamalhodaei | 2,022 | 11 | 15 | After years of preparation and two false starts, NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System has finally taken off and entered orbit. It’s a big win for the space agency — even as it . Some pre-launch jitters threatened to scrub the launch, but a “red crew” went out to the hot pad to tighten something, and a bad Ethernet switch of all things later also needed to be replaced. But everything came together about 40 minutes after the original T-0, and the rocket had a clean (and impressive-looking) ascent with no hiccups to speak of. It reached orbit and as of 13 minutes after launch the various stages, separations and cut-offs were green across the board. The SLS is a key part of NASA’s Artemis program, intended to bring humanity back to the moon “to stay,” as they often emphasize. That means bringing a lot of gear up there, stuff that might take years of ferrying with smaller launch vehicles like the SpaceX Falcon 9 and Rocket Lab Electron. The SLS was built with this kind of heavy-duty mission in mind, but setbacks and delays have dogged the program, and now there is considerable speculation that commercial heavy-lift vehicles may soon offer more bang for the buck. But it is also clearly important to the U.S. government to have an option they own top to bottom. Now that the enormous “Mega Moon Rocket” has shown it can get to space, NASA can at least plan on putting the model to work, though that will mean building a fresh one every time — unlike some launch vehicles, this one isn’t reusable. You can watch the final countdown and takeoff here: We are going. For the first time, the rocket and fly together. I begins a new chapter in human lunar exploration. — NASA (@NASA) The main goal of the Artemis I mission is to test the Orion spacecraft and its critical components, like the heat shield upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere and the communications systems, before the capsule eventually carries humans later this decade. The capsule will spend around 10 weeks going from orbit to the moon and back before splashing back down to Earth in the Pacific Ocean, where it will be recovered by a U.S. Navy ship. NASA of course has a , and the diagram below shows it quite succinctly: NASA This was NASA’s third attempt to launch the Space Launch System rocket. The first, which took place in August, was called off due to with one of the rocket’s four core stage engines; the second attempt a few days later was scrubbed for the same reason. It seems the third time was the charm after all. This mission will have many more crucial and historic moments, so stay tuned for more as the Orion capsule makes its way moonward. |
Valar Ventures leads $20M round in online brokerage platform baraka | Tage Kene-Okafor | 2,022 | 11 | 15 | baraka |
FTX’s failure could be a stress test for corporate credit card startups | Natasha Mascarenhas | 2,022 | 11 | 23 | sent a message to crypto companies using its corporate card services saying that it is significantly lowering spending limits and mandating new requirements. Some users were temporarily suspended from spending altogether. “In light of recent unprecedented events in the cryptocurrency, blockchain, NFT and DeFi ecosystem, we are conducting a review of all businesses operating in this space, including yours, to determine whether we reverse or modify any of the changes listed above,” one memo said. While Ramp somewhat backtracked on the changes, its move offers a window into how corporate credit card companies could be stress-tested in the current environment. Brex, Ramp’s biggest competitor, said that there have been no changes to crypto users’ spending limits. In Ramp’s case, companies were asked to upload their current balance sheet, including versions reflecting at least the previous 12 months; its most recently completed income statement; and a list of any cryptocurrency, blockchain, NFT and/or DeFi exchange the company has held an account with in the previous 12 months. “We sincerely regret the potential disruption to your operations, and realize this may have implications for your business,” the email said. Less than 24 hours after that move, Ramp CEO and co-founder and other executives sent emails to users on Saturday providing further context on the changes. The company wrote that the initial note “may have caused unnecessary concern” and apologized for the confusion. |
Tiger Global-backed Algorithmiq to collaborate with IBM over drug discovery using Quantum | Mike Butcher | 2,022 | 11 | 15 | , a Helsinki-based quantum computing startup, has pulled in a deal with IBM to super-charge its exploration of quantum algorithms applied to the life sciences. The collaboration will attempt to dramatically cut the time and cost of drug discovery and development. The widely accepted maxim is that it takes around a decade and $1 billion for a new drug to get to market. The move plans to also contribute to , an open source SDK for quantum computers. Algorithmiq will therefore become part of the IBM Quantum Network. In February this year, Algorithmiq announced a $4 million seed round backed by investment from Tiger Global, K5 Global and various angel investors. Headed by co-founder, and Professor, , Algorithmiq also won the honour of being the “Hottest DeepTech Startup In Europe” award at the long-standing , which has been running for 14 years and is judged solely by investors, founders and journalists. |
Thailand’s Beam simplifies checkout for social commerce | Catherine Shu | 2,022 | 11 | 15 | The social commerce market in Southeast Asia, but the checkout process is filled with friction. Many sellers don’t have online storefronts and instead use social media and messaging apps, which means payment is made by switching to banking apps or wallets. This means low conversion rates, say the founders of . The Thailand-based startup created a one-click payment solution for social commerce sellers and has raised $2.5 million in seed funding led by Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia’s Surge, with participation from Partech Partners. Beam was founded in 2019 by Nattapat Chaimanowong, Mike Chinakrit Piamchon and Win Vareekasem. The trio were frustrated by the process of filling out information repeatedly for things like memberships, credit cards and visas and began working on a business idea to streamline form filling, which turned into Beam. Beam founders Nattapat Chaimanowong, Mike Chinakrit Piamchon and Win Vareekasem. Beam Vareekasem told TechCrunch that after building multiple MVPs, the team found that one of the largest groups dealing with the problem were retailers. “Form filling alone could not solve sales conversions, so payments had to be integrated too, ultimately realizing a much larger, burning problem we are going after.” Many social commerce sellers ask for peer-to-peer mobile banking apps, which means they accept payment by sharing account numbers. This can result in poor conversions because of limited payment options and a lot of work to manage payments. Beam says its checkout process takes just 20 seconds. It accepts all major payment service providers in each market, like BNPL leaders Atome and Pace, and claims sellers using their payment solution have increased checkout success by up to 30%. Sellers also save money by paying lower transaction fees, since they don’t have to pay the subscription and platform fees charged by e-commerce marketplaces. Beam monetizes by charging a flat percentage for each transaction based on the payment method. For example, it charges 2.95% for credit card transactions. Its typical client are medium-sized businesses that process a few hundred orders daily, and sell in the fashion, beauty, home and living and electronics sectors. Beam is currently focused on Thailand, with plans to expand into Southeast Asia. While there are other startups focused on removing friction from social commerce, like , Vareekasem said Beam differentiates by focusing on end-to-end user checkout experiences for both shoppers and merchants, making sure that the former can check out in just one click when they shop online. |
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