Tag: Daily Crunch

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Thursday is here — how in the world did that happen? Those days, they just keep on coming. If you’re still on the fence about whether you want to come along to Disrupt, we’ve got you covered: There’s a Disrupt pass for every role and budget.

It also seems like Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes isn’t headed to jail today after all. She was scheduled to start her 11-year sentence, but then Things Happened. Connie has the full story.

— Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

• More layoffs: Dropbox CEO Drew Houston broke the news today that the company will be laying off 500 employees, or 16% of its staff. Ingrid reports Houston said the cuts are due to slowing growth and “the era of AI.”
• Get the popcorn ready: Warner Bros. is partnering with Viacom18 to bring “Succession” and other HBO content to India. Manish has more.
• Legacy learns to embrace AI: Jagmeet takes a deep dive into how legacy financial software giant Intuit decided to put out the welcome mat for artificial intelligence instead of closing the door and turning the deadbolt.

Startups and VC

Posh is an event management and ticketing platform for all users to host events large or small, regardless of whether you’re an event organizer, promoter, or just want to charge your friends a cover for drinking all the expensive alcohol at your birthday party. Lauren reports that Posh announced its public launch today after being in beta since October 2020. Alongside the launch, the company also announced its $5 million seed round.

The concept of SaaS as a business model changed the game in tech by moving users away from buying software outright and toward paying for service availability based on time-based subscriptions, typically with per-month or annual pricing, Ingrid reports. Today, a startup out of London called M3ter that is building tools to take the next step in that evolution — more granular usage-based pricing — is announcing funding on the back of strong demand. The company has raised $14 million.

More? Okay, fine, here’s another handful for you:

• Not having steak is a mis-steak: Christine writes how Chunk Foods is close to opening a factory to produce “millions” of plant-based steaks.
• That’s code for “help me out over here”: Kyle reports that Replit, the web-based IDE developing a GitHub Copilot competitor, raised $100 million.
• Swimming upstream: Sturgeon Capital launches $35 million fund aimed at emerging startups in Central Asia, Mike reports.
• Batten the hatches: Bastion is an all-in-one cybersecurity solution for small businesses, Romain writes.
• On yer bike: Rebecca reports how Grubhub and Joco team up to give NYC delivery workers access to e-bikes.

Capital efficiency is the new VC filter for startups

For some B2B SaaS startups, focusing solely on the LTV:CAC ratio is a great way to obscure weak customer metrics. Dividing Customer Lifetime Value by Customer Acquisition Cost can offer useful insights, but only if you have accurate retention data — and a lot of it.

“Today, investors zoom in on other efficiency metrics that paint a more reliable and comprehensive picture of the startup’s capital efficiency, and so should you,” says Igor Shaverskyi, a partner at VC firm Waveup.

In this TC+ column, he offers a formula and benchmarks for calculating CAC payback, which reveals to founders (and potential investors) “how long it will take for your customer acquisition costs to pay off.”

Three more from the TC+ team:

• Your school means nothing: Brian writes that sometimes you need to cut your startup’s school ties.
• Web2+1: Jacquelyn explores how OpenSea’s next journey is to help Web 2.0 brands get into web3.
• Neobanks hit stormy waters: Alex and Anna explore how Revolut’s valuation troubles signal a stormy horizon for less-profitable neobanks.

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

Let’s talk about Meta today, shall we? Yesterday, the company reported that its earnings beat revenue expectations, as covered by Amanda. But that’s not all: Our colleagues grabbed on to a few tidbits, including that the company said 10% of its global ad revenue was at risk from European Union data flows order. Natasha L has more on that. Also, time spent on Instagram grew 24%, thanks to TikTok-style AI Reel recommendations, reports Darrell.

Meanwhile, Meta also had a win in court, with an appeal court ruling in the tech giant’s favor regarding an antitrust case brought by state attorneys general. Sarah writes that “the States alleged Meta had illegally maintained monopoly power in the social networking market through its acquisitions of photo-sharing app Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, and that it gained further power through data policies that harmed app developers.”

Now here’s five more for you:

• Ruffled feathers: NBCUniversal let go of its CEO and then reported higher Peacock losses. Lauren has more.
• More to Lyft’s layoffs: Last week, Kirsten reported that ride-hailing giant Lyft was going to lay off employees as part of a restructuring move. Today, she writes that those layoffs will affect 26% of its workforce.
• A conscious coupling: Morgan reports that senators from both sides of the aisle came together to introduce a bill today that would ban social media algorithms for minors.
• Truth time: Elon Musk may testify about his Autopilot statements, reports Rebecca.
• Get out the flashlight: Zack and Carly write about a ransomware attack that is leaving CommScope employees in the dark.

Daily Crunch: Citing slow growth and desire to be ‘at the forefront of the AI era,’ Dropbox CEO lays off 500 by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

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Hi, folks! It’s Wednesday, and we’re running around like crazy, so let’s get to it! Wooooo!

— Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Can you see it?: Enterprise security company Lookout is selling its consumer cybersecurity business to F-Secure in a $223 million deal that Paul writes will “now evolve [Lookout] into a pure-play enterprise company” that will focus on mobile endpoint security and cloud security.
• Hello?: Christmas comes early for iPhone and Windows users — iMessage finally comes to Windows 11 with the global rollout of Phone Link for iOS, reports Sarah.
• You’ll definitely notice this car go by: China’s MG Motor debuted what looks like a green highlighter on wheels in India. But seriously, it is a cute compact hatchback electric vehicle meant to navigate the country’s tight mobility needs. Jagmeet has more.

Startups and VC

Greycroft, the self-styled “seed-to-growth” venture capital firm, today announced the closing of over $1 billion in capital commitments across new funds, Kyle reports. The firm’s two flagship vehicles, Greycroft Partners VII and Greycroft Growth IV, closed on more than $980 million, according to co-founder and managing partner Dana Settle — cash that’ll be put toward investing in both early- and growth-stage enterprise and consumer businesses.

In light of the micromobility industry’s growing popularity, the Japanese government has been proactive in loosening e-scooter regulations to further stimulate this sector, Kate reports. Starting this July, amendments to the country’s Road Traffic Act will permit e-scooter users to ride without driver licenses or helmets, as long as they maintain a maximum speed of 20 kilometers per hour. Luup has now amassed a total of $68 million in equity, debt and asset financing to date, at what sources said valued the firm at more than $100 million.

Let’s take a look at the best of the rest:

• Say again?: U.K.’s TympaHealth sounds out $23 million to expand its hearing diagnostics startup, Ingrid reports.
• To da moon: Rocket engine startup Ursa Major quietly closed $100 million in new funding, reports Aria.
• All in this together: Harri reports how big-time VCs link arms for climate coalition.
• Wheeeee: Bobsled raises $17 million Series A to make cross-cloud data sharing easier, Frederic reports.
• Who are ya?: Smile Identity expands African footprint with acquisition of Appruve to strengthen ID verification services, Tage reports.
• Moar Vietnamese EV powder: VinFast’s EV ambitions just got a $2.5 billion boost, reports Kirsten.

Ask Sophie: My STEM OPT expires in 30 days, what are my options?

Dear Sophie,

My STEM OPT expires in a month, and my company did not register me in this year’s H-1B lottery.

I’m not sure what options I have now. Help!

— Sleepless in Silicon Valley

Three more from the TC+ team:

• We got this: Workers are wary — but also optimistic — about AI, writes Kyle.
• Let’s lean on the accelerator: Ron reminds you that you don’t have to do it all by yourself: Incubators and accelerators help build lifelong relationships.
• A ghost chain: Jacquelyn wonders what happens to your crypto when you die.

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

There must be a large number of cat fans among our readership who also need help finding their cats around the house, because this story really went viral today. Tile launches a new cat tracking tag with three-year battery life, Ivan reports. Or maybe you are just impressed by a long battery life. No judgment.

Speaking of fans, there must also be a lot of “Black Mirror” fans excited for the new sixth season that will premiere in June. For those of you who have not seen this show yet, Lauren reports that “each episode of the satirical anthology series comments on society in some shape or form, such as the issues centered around webcam hackers, identity theft, weird robotic dogs and the toxicity of social media.”

And we have five more for you:

• You can’t eat just one: Bosch will acquire TSI Semiconductors for $1.5 billion to boost its U.S. chip production, reports Rebecca.
• Blocked: The United Kingdom’s competition authority says Microsoft’s planned Activision bid would “substantially weaken competition.” Paul has more.
• Get out your digital wallet: China’s central bank digital currency use on WeChat’s platform has been expanded, writes Rita.
• Guess who’s back? Back again: Brian delights us with his account of getting his hands on an early preview of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
• Are you still there?: Snap reveals that its bot won’t notice instantly when you’ve stopped sharing your location, Ivan reports.

Daily Crunch: Lookout sells consumer security segment for $223M to become ‘pure-play enterprise company’  by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here.

Oh heeeeeey. We’re back with another crunchy edition of our Tues-daily Crunch.

With Early Stage behind us, we’re setting our sights on our Disrupt event that’s coming up — and Alex just shared the agenda for the Builders Stage. Come check it out — and get your tickets for Disrupt sooner rather than later!

Our favorite story this morning was Rebecca admitting she actually had fun at Fatboy Slim’s metaverse rave, and now we’re regretting that we missed it.

— Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

• This is only a test: Yesterday, Elon Musk tweeted a photo of his Twitter account, which seemed to show Musk also logged into another account that looked like @ErmnMusk with the name “Elon Test.” Is this a burner account? We don’t know. Amanda has more.
• Another car bites the dust: When other carmakers are saying “the more the merrier” when it comes to building electric vehicles, General Motors is “bolt”ing for the door on a few of its models. Kirsten reports that GM is killing off both the Chevy Bolt and Bolt EUV in favor of other EVs.
• Fly me to the moon: Aria and Devin have been monitoring ispace, a Japanese company that attempted to land on the moon for the first time. Unfortunately, ispace lost contact with its lunar lander just moments before it was supposed to make the landing.

Startups and VC

Data is becoming as precious as water in precision agriculture, and Hydrosat aims to help provide both with a new set of Earth-observation satellites, Stefanie reports. The company has raised a $20 million Series A round, including $5 million in non-dilutive funding, which should put the first two thermal infrared satellites into orbit.

Survey a lot of industrial warehouses and you’ll see a lot of cages. It’s a safety thing — effectively a way of ensuring that robots don’t accidentally hurt people. They’re big, fast and made of metal. We’re small, squishy and don’t always look where we should, Brian explains. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s the best we’ve had for a long time — until robotics safety firm Veo raised $29 million, with help from Amazon, that is.

Heavy on the AI news today. Here’s a fistful of tasty snacks for ya:

• Hard on the brakes: Mary Ann reports that RapidAPI, valued at $1 billion last year, cuts staff by 50%.
• In summary…: News app Artifact can now summarize stories using AI, including in fun styles such as “explain it like I’m five,” or just in emoji, Sarah reports.
• Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom. Well, who am I to keep you down?: AI app Petey uses ChatGPT to make Apple Music playlists for you, Sarah reports.
• AI takes to the big blue sea: Catherine reports that Greywing’s new SeaGPT solves email overwhelm for maritime crew managers.
• I bet that’ll pay off: Yahoo acquires social sports betting app Wagr, reports Paul.

How to pitch me: 5 investors discuss what they’re looking for in April 2023

Walter Thompson asked five investors to share some frank advice for first-timers and found that most aspiring founders are probably not yet ready to pitch an investor.

If you haven’t spoken to scores of customers, or created a contact spreadsheet for at least 25 investors who’ve backed companies like yours, for example, it’s too soon.

And if your team added “AI” to the pitch deck to make it more appealing, here’s some more bad news: FOMO is passé, and due diligence is the new black.

Here’s who participated in this month’s investor Q&A:

• Rudina Seseri, founder and managing partner, Glasswing Ventures
• Patrick Salyer, partner, Mayfield Fund
• Josh Constine, venture partner, SignalFire
• Alexa von Tobel, managing partner, Inspired Capital
• Oren Yunger, partner, GGV Capital

Three more from the TC+ team:

• Erm, where are the exits?: Alex observes that for the VC/startup ecosystem to work, we need exits, and big ones. He argues that it’s beyond time we started worrying about unicorn exits.
• You’re making a mess of it…: Tim asks, “How much does your company pollute?” and explores how CarbonChain’s $10 million Series A is here to help answer that very question.
• The dominoes, they wobble: First Republic’s results are proof that the SVB meltdown was brutal for smaller banks, writes Alex.

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

Mark Zuckerberg announced that WhatsApp is rolling out multi-device support, and users can log into the same WhatsApp account on up to four phones, Ivan reports. Meta has been testing this feature since 2021.

Meanwhile, Kyle writes that in pursuit of “safer” text-generating models, Nvidia released a toolkit called NeMo Guardrails to make AI-powered apps more “accurate, appropriate, on topic and secure.”

And we have five more for you:

• We’re not gonna take it: That’s what crypto exchange Coinbase is saying. Coinbase sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission so that the SEC would respond to a months-old petition asking whether the securities regulator would allow the industry to be regulated using existing SEC frameworks. Manish has more.
• Join or else: India is promoting the adoption of its open e-commerce network and wants e-commerce giants to join in. It won’t take no for an answer and is prepared to put the “full force of the government” behind the efforts, Manish writes.
• Report or else: Nineteen platforms must report algorithmic risks under Europe’s Digital Services Act. Natasha L has more.
• Free fallin’: In Spotify news, Paul reports that the streaming music giant now has more than 500 million users, but the number of paid subscribers is shrinking. Then Sarah takes a deeper dive into the company’s first-quarter earnings. She writes that Spotify’s CEO said AI progress is both “really cool and scary,” and may pose a risk to the creative industry.
• Chat GPT everything, everywhere, all at once: Kyle wrote two stories about ChatGPT, including how OpenAI previews its business plan for ChatGPT, while Hugging Face releases its own version of ChatGPT. Meanwhile, Connie reports that so many entities want to bank off the term “GPT” that it may be trademarked soon if OpenAI has its way.

Daily Crunch: Did Elon Musk unwittingly expose his alt Twitter account, or are we being trolled again? by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

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As Twitter continues its absolutely farcical march toward its own demise, we are grabbing the popcorn to watch the fire blaze. In other news: Happy Monday, folks! — Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Well blue check you out: Twitter users with over 1 million followers got their blue check marks back, even if they didn’t pay for Twitter Blue, Ivan reports. It’s interesting to note that many of the account holders were quick to separate themselves from being subscribers. Maybe it also has something to do with Twitter giving a gold check mark to a fake Disney account. Ivan has more on that.
• No th-AI-nks: That’s what Snapchat users are saying about its “My AI” feature, which launched last week. Sarah writes that the social media giant is seeing a spike in one-star reviews, which include calling for its removal.
• To be Near you: At a time when there is a wave of doubt about cryptocurrency, Cosmose, a company that uses AI analytics to track in-store foot traffic and engage with shoppers online, is going all in on the digital currency. Rita reports that Cosmose, which recently closed on an undisclosed round of funding to value it at $500 million, is now working with Near’s crypto solution. Even dropping Stripe to do so. It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for ’em.

Startups and VC

Super.com, formerly Snapcommerce, launched its cash-back card SuperCash last October so that card users could build credit, amassing 5 million customers worldwide who have collectively saved over $150 million to date, according to CEO Hussein Fazal. Now it has its sights set on helping “everyday Americans” find deals and savings across multiple categories, including travel and shopping, via its super app, Christine reports.

Silicon Valley’s quest to automate everything is unceasing, which explains its latest obsession: Auto-GPT. In essence, Auto-GPT uses the versatility of OpenAI’s latest AI models to interact with software and services online, allowing it to “autonomously” perform tasks like X and Y. But as we are learning with large language models, this capability seems to be as wide as an ocean but as deep as a puddle, Kyle reports.

Go on, another handful for ya:

• They just want to stay involvo: Frederic reports that Volvo Cars Tech Fund invests in driver monitoring startup CorrActions.
• I’ll give you a ring in a bit: Brian reports on a big partnership win for Oura, as Best Buy brings the smart ring to 850 stores across the U.S.
• You build it, you get paid: More construction projects are being started, but payments to contractors and their subcontractors continue to cause a bottleneck in the normal course of completing a project. Constrafor raises new capital to make that better, Christine reports.
• Stiff competition: Woodoo is creating decarbonized wood-based materials, reports Romain.
• Last impressions matter: Over on TC+, Haje argues that for your pitch deck, last impressions count almost as much as first impressions.
• Making IP an asset: Also for TC+, Haje took a closer look at Aventurine, which helps early-stage founders make money off their IP portfolios, in what the accelerator hopes will be a perpetual fund, powered by intellectual property licensing.

10 years of fintech failure: 3 more ideas that failed to live up to the initial hype

Do you remember P2P lending and on-demand insurance? If not, there’s a good reason: Despite a lot of hype, they’re just two of several fintech innovations that fizzled over the last decade.

For his latest TC+ column, fintech consultant Grant Easterbrook examined three more ideas “that initially seemed promising, but largely failed to change the financial services industry.”

According to Easterbrook, these misfires offer valuable lessons to today’s founders and investors: “Fintech entrepreneurs must remember the essential principle that the average consumer doesn’t like thinking about money and often wants someone else to take care of it.”

Three more from the TC+ team:

• Well that’s looking pretty skinny there: Alex wonders what happens when the revenue multiples keep shrinking.
• Precision fermentation is more like cultivated meat than we think: Blake Byrn calls BS on precision fermentation’s capacity craze.
• How the humble DVD unlocked a multibillion-dollar business: Haje explores how technology unlocks business models in the story of Netflix.

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

Merchants have a lot of things to deal with when it comes to running their businesses, but Shopify wants to take one thing off their plate. Shopify is working with B2B payments provider Melio to add direct bill payments so that they can consolidate invoices and pay their bills in a more automated way via Shopify’s platform. Mary Ann writes that this is the e-commerce platform’s “bid to be a single-stop fintech for merchants.”

Ring, ring…guess who’s calling? It’s PhonePe, and the company is out to challenge Google’s dominance in India with an app store of its own. The Walmart-backed company is offering a “premiere experience for millions of users with high-quality advertisements and custom targeting, support for 12 languages and 24×7 live chat,” Manish reports.

And we have five more for you:

• App-solutely: Apple’s having a good day. Sarah reports that Apple wins its antitrust court battle with Epic Games that involved App Store policies. Then, Jagmeet writes that Apple captured nearly half of the global refurbished smartphone market.
• Get your logins in sync: If you’re a fan of Google Authenticator, the service now has a new feature to sync two-factor authentication codes to the cloud, Kyle reports.
• As seen on TV: Avid users of YouTube TV say the streaming “Force” isn’t always so strong with that one, but the company is now experimenting with picture quality enhancements, Lauren reports.
• Now you can Bonus BeReal across the pond: Bonus BeReal comes to the U.K., enabling users to post more than once a day, writes Amanda.
• ICYMI: On Friday, a California court ruled that Tesla was not at fault for an Autopilot crash that took place in 2019. Kirsten has more.

Daily Crunch: App Store reviews and social media depict user backlash against Snapchat’s new AI chatbot by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

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Hey, TechCrunchers, happy Friday. I hope this is your favorite time of day because Haje and I really enjoy bringing you the news of the day written by the fabulous people we are honored to call colleagues. If you were at TechCrunch Early Stage in Boston, we trust you had a good time. Haje is coming back from there, so it’s just me again today. Let’s dig in. — Christine

The TechCrunch Top 3

• This is what happens when the blue check marks go away: Have we got some Twitter news for you today. Twitter seemingly now requires all advertisers to have a verified checkmark, Paul reports. You might recall from yesterday that Twitter removed the legacy blue check marks, and Taylor wrote about the chaos that reigned afterward. Another change that happened was that Twitter removed the “government-funded” news labels after NPR and others fought back, Amanda reports.
• The Bard has new skills: In response to user demand, Google’s Bard AI chatbot can now help software developers with programming, including the ability to generate and debug code. Kirsten has more.
• Put some energy into it: Helping European homeowners heat old homes in a more energy-efficient way has given startups a way to show off their skills. Investors were so attracted to what startup Enter was doing with home energy assessments that they injected €19.4 million of Series A capital into the company so it could expand in Germany and elsewhere, Mike reports.

Startups and VC

• Imitating the real data: Singapore-based Betterdata took in $1.55 million to take a different approach to traditional data sharing methods by using synthetic data to keep real data safe, Catherine reports.
• Driving toward something new: Autotech Ventures is venturing into new territory with a $230 million mobility fund that will add fintech and the circular economy to its investment strategy, writes Kirsten.
• Taking the plunge: Founders Pledge, a charitable initiative in London, launched a venture capital arm called Pledge Ventures in what Mike writes is to “create a new ‘flywheel’ in philanthropy.”
• Listen to this: Brian shares all the feels about first learning of headphone startup Nura, which he reports got acqui-hired by Masimo, the parent company of electrics company Denon.

Pitch Deck Teardown: Honeycomb’s $50M Series D deck

Startups that raise Series D rounds might have hundreds of employees, tens of millions in ARR and other proof points that demonstrate they’ve reduced risk, but they still need pitch decks.

Honeycomb, which describes itself as a “debugger for live production systems,” shared its winning $50 million Series D pitch deck with TechCrunch:

1. Cover slide
2. Data summary snapshot slide
3. Problem slide
4. Solution slide
5. Competitive landscape slide
6. Product category overview slide
7. Customer landscape slide part 1 (mostly redacted)
8. Customer landscape slide part 2 (mostly redacted)
9. Market positioning slide
10.   Value proposition slide
11.   History/product timeline slide
12.   Go-to-market interstitial slide
13.   GTM: Land-and-expand approach slide
14.   GTM: Gaming vertical slide
15.   Going Forward interstitial slide
16.   Team slide
17.   The Ask slide
18.   Closing slide

Two more from the TC+ team:

• Cloudy skies ahead: Even after the billions of dollars spent by companies to put their data in the cloud, they have to shell out even more when there is cloud downtime. That’s why Anna tells you everything you need to know about cloud outage insurance.
• Chip off the old block: Kyle ponders if there is a future in light-powered AI chips.

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

• Lyft layoffs: Ride-hailing company Lyft confirmed it is cutting its workforce by 1,200 as part of a restructuring effort meant to “better meet the needs of riders and drivers,” Kirsten reports. The layoffs will affect corporate employees, of which there are about 4,000, because Lyft doesn’t employ its drivers.
• We learn something new every day: The Linux Foundation launched a new organization to maintain TLA+, Kyle writes. If you’re doing one of those “learn one new term a day,” here’s your education for the day: TLA+ is a formal “spec” language, developed by computer scientist and mathematician Leslie Lamport, for designing, modeling, documenting and verifying software programs.
• Strike that: Sarah reports that in an effort to find a faster resolution to its antitrust legal battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games, Match Group and state attorneys general, Google is asking the court to dismiss multiple claims, five to be exact, that “would seemingly be pivotal to the plaintiffs’ ability to prove anticompetitive behavior.”
• Four corners of the globe, literally: The Internal Revenue Service is sending four investigators across the world to fight cybercrime, Lorenzo reports. Before you go, “Just four?” I’ll throw in there that the IRS previously only had one.
• Denied: Meta was trying to have its content moderator case dismissed in Kenya, but now has to muddle through it. A court ruled that Meta can be sued over alleged unlawful sacking and blacklisting of moderators. Annie has more.

Daily Crunch: Starting today, Twitter says all advertisers must obtain verified accounts by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

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Hello, and Happy Thursday. Just one more day to go for the workweek. Haje is in Boston taking fabulous photos of the activities going on at TechCrunch Early Stage today, so I’m holding down the fort. And I’m also mourning my blue Twitter check mark, which left me today. Enough about that. Let’s get on with the news! — Christine

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Passwords are hard to remember: The company behind the encrypted email service Proton Mail has now unveiled the Proton Pass password manager so you don’t have to do any remembering. Romain has more.
• Don’t worry, this is a Primo tool: Also by Romain, French startup Primo raised $3.4 million to continue developing an IT tool for companies that are too small for an IT manager.
• Blue skies, smiling at me: Bluesky, the Jack Dorsey–backed Twitter alternative, is now available on Android, writes Sarah.

Startups and VC

Three former managing directors at Amex Ventures went out on their own to start Vesey Ventures, and now they have closed on their debut fund with $78 million in capital commitments to back early-stage fintech startups. Mary Ann has more on their journey.

Now over to CoreWeave, which landed a mega-round of $221 million in Series B investment, of which half came from lead investor Magnetar Capital. Kyle writes that this values the general-purpose cloud computing company at $2 billion pre-money.

Here’s SIX more for you:

• Game on: Rita peels back the layers of Bitkraft Ventures’ vision to invest in Asian gaming startups.
• A Robust view of robotics: Robust.AI raised $20 million to scale robot deliveries for pilot customers, reports Brian.
• From hospitality to fleet management: Two brothers in Senegal are putting their hospitality management skills to work helping trucking companies with their logistics. Their company, Chargel, has now raised $2.5 million in seed funding, Annie writes.
• Focus on mental health: Tage spoke with investors who say that if founder mental wellness is tied to innovation and success, then there needs to be a light shown on it, especially during this difficult capital crunch environment.
• It’s like Barbie’s Jeep, but in human size: French microcar startup Kate raised another $7.6 million in its quest to produce more tiny electric vehicles, like its K1, reports Romain.
• We assure you, they’re real: Singapore-based document verifier Accredify is now flush with $7 million to continue to tell you if your documents are real. Catherine has more.

4 problems venture capital can’t solve

Fundraising is a key aspect of every founder’s journey, but Techstars managing director Collin Wallace says it can also hasten a company’s demise.

For example, raising funds to scale up sales and marketing efforts might sound great, but what if the business itself has negative unit economics?

“Most of the time, what stands between a company and its ability to achieve scale is not a lack of money,” says Wallace.

“It’s better to ask: Do we have hustle problems? Product problems? Process problems? People problems? Is my business model fundamentally flawed?”

Two more from the TC+ team:

• Ooey gooey pitch deck goodness: In the latest installment of Pitch Deck Teardown, Haje looks at the pitch deck that got Honeycomb a $50 million Series D.
• Threading the needle: Dominic-Madori spoke with Lisa Lambert, the head of National Grid’s CVC National Grid Partners, who discussed that “environmental and social concerns should be top of mind right now for any smart investor.” 

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

SpaceX finally had liftoff of its Starship rocket, which went to orbit for the first time. Darrell writes that “all told, this should definitely be considered a success: SpaceX founder Elon Musk had said previously that there was essentially a significant chance Starship wouldn’t even make it off the pad on this first try.”

Tricks are for kids, but in Discord’s case, tricks are for its new chatbot. Lorenzo reports that some users performed a trick called “jailbreaking” on Discord’s Clyde chatbot, getting it to share napalm and meth instructions.

And now here’s five more for you:

• Explicit content ahead: Imgur will ban explicit images on its platform, Ivan reports.
• From the mind of…: Kyle writes about Google consolidating its AI research divisions into Google DeepMind.
• Getting a word in: It’s no secret that group chats tend to suck when there are more than about three people in one. A new app called Wavelength is trying to make group chats suck less. Ivan has more.
• We got ourselves a convoy: Kodiak Robotics has a new gig to haul freight autonomously for Tyson Foods, reports Rebecca.
• Respect my authoritah!: Lauren has details about Paramount allegedly owing Warner Bros. Discovery $52 million for “South Park” streaming rights.

Daily Crunch: Proton releases end-to-end encrypted password manager for desktop and mobile by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

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Happy Monday Crunch!

Haje is wrapping up this newsletter before heading to TechCrunch Early Stage 2023 in Boston on April 20. It’s not too late to get your ticket! Meanwhile, on the Equity podcast today, the pod crew wonders, What’s an Angry Bird worth? It turns out, Sega thinks it’s $775 million for the whole bird farm.

— Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

Apple’s announcements were big for readers today, so here we go:

• Psst, wanna install an app?: Apple likes to keep things close to the vest, but Ivan writes that the consumer tech giant is reportedly considering allowing people to sideload apps to their iPhone in iOS 17.
• Apple makes things interest-ing: Last October, Apple unveiled a new financial product, and today, the company spilled a little more tea about its Apple Card savings accounts, featuring a 4.15% interest rate, reports Romain.
• Watch this: Apple Watch users have been waiting — can we say patiently? — for a new software update. Well, Sarah reports today the watch is likely to get its biggest software update since its 2015 debut.

Startups and VC

Back in January, a $810 million deal fell apart to buy Angry Birds makers Rovio, but the company suggested they were still in talks with other potential interested parties. Today, Paul reports that deal became official as Japanese gaming giant Sega has confirmed that it’s buying Finland’s Rovio in an all-cash deal worth $775 million.

As the economy has gotten tougher, plenty of companies have switched from buying to renting. There’s an acronym for this — XaaS, or “everything as a service,” also referred to as “servitization.” An example of this would be ServiceNow, which automates services for enterprise operations. A newish player in this space is Equipme, out of Germany, which secured $3.8 million in a seed investment round led by La Famiglia VC, Mike writes.

And we have five more for you:

• That’s a hell of a slingshot: Orbit Fab closes $28.5 million Series A for on-orbit refueling capabilities, Aria reports.
• 1 + 1 = 21M: Innovamat tallies up $21 million to reinvent math education, Ingrid reports.
• As fleeting as a laptop: Romain reports that device-as-a-service startup Fleet expands beyond laptop leasing.
• It sees right through you: Scan.com, which gives patients direct access to private medical imaging services, raises $12 million, writes Paul.
• Hydrate or die-drate: Hydration brand Cure mixes new funding into its growth plans, Christine reports.

No, you’re not raising money to increase your runway

Haje often hears founders say they are raising money to increase their runway by 18 to 24 months. In a sense, that is accurate, but only from the startup’s point of view.

That’s not what an investor is looking for. Your company surviving for another year and a half is not the goal of a fundraise; that’s a side effect at best. Ask yourself — what happens at the end of those 18 months?

Founders should communicate to investors what a round of funding unlocks. That’s expressed in milestones, not in time. The goal is to transform the company sufficiently that you can do something that you cannot do at this moment, and in this piece, Haje breaks down how.

Three more from the TC+ team:

• No more pixel peeping: Carly writes how the crackdown on pixel tracking in telehealth is a warning for every startup.
• When the restraint goes marching in: Is there really a march from the public cloud back on-prem? Our own corporate reporter Ron suggests there’s more at play.
• A non-prophet organization: Alex suggests that tech investors’ obsession over profit is already waning.

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

There was no “up, up and away” for SpaceX today, which was attempting to fly its Starship launch system for the first time. Aria reports that the flight test turned into a wet dress rehearsal due to a frozen pressure valve. Now SpaceX is looking at April 19 as the next possible date to try again.

Luxury car enthusiasts gather ’round. Mercedes debuts the Maybach EQS SUV, which includes features that Matt writes are “dripping with historic Maybach design elements: two-tone paint, imposing wheels, a proper hood ornament and, yes, a grill with filigree slats even though it’s electric and there isn’t a radiator to protect.”

Now here’s five more for you:

• Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery: Ivan takes a look at some of the AI-powered tools out there to help developers build AI-powered chatbot assistants.
• Don’t let this one fly away: Adobe’s generative AI tool Firefly is now a part of the Creative Cloud family, Frederic reports.
• That’s a fact, Jack: Some of the U.S.’s largest technology companies are voicing concern over India’s fact-checking rule. Manish has more on why.
• Cleopatra will now take your chat: Want to see what Beethoven and other historical and fictional characters might have to say about…anything? There’s an app for that. Superchat’s new AI chatbot lets you message these characters via ChatGPT, Sarah writes.
• A-I can’t believe it: An AI-generated song by Drake and The Weeknd went viral, and the response is what you might have imagined. Amanda has more.

Daily Crunch: Sideloaded apps coming soon to an iPhone near you in iOS 17 by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here.

Happy Friday, our crunchiest of friends!

Over the last few days, we’ve been telling you about all the cool stuff that’s happening at Disrupt. Well, guess what — we’re getting a hardware stage as well! Hardware gets its turn in the spotlight at Disrupt 2023…Exciting times!

— Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

• You Heardle-d it here: Christine thinks Heardle, the Wordle-like music guessing game, was too hard, so she gave up on playing a while ago. However, it was a popular game with lots of people, peaking at 69 million monthly desktop and mobile web visits in March 2022. Now Sarah writes that less than a year after acquiring Heardle, Spotify is shutting down the game. You get six guesses as to why, but to the tune of tears being shed across the internet.
• Speaking of being shut down: Parler, the social media network that emerged when former president Donald Trump was banned from other sites, has a new owner. No, not Ye, but digital media company Starboard. Oh, and Starboard has plans to shut it down temporarily so that it can be revamped. Aisha has more.
• Zoom will see you now: To boost its asynchronous offerings, Zoom is acquiring Ireland-based employee communications platform Workvivo. Paul writes that Workvivo had the “remote-work revolution” on lock, which is probably what attracted Zoom to it.

Startups and VC

James Murdoch’s venture fund Bodhi Tree slashed its planned investment into Viacom18 to $528 million, down 70% from the committed $1.78 billion, the two said late Thursday as the weakening global economy hammers investors’ appetite, Manish reports. Viacom18, a joint venture between Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance and Paramount Global, did not say why Bodhi Tree slashed its pledged investment.

Meanwhile, PBS and a handful of other news organizations have joined NPR in stepping away from Twitter, the social media platform once synonymous with breaking news, Taylor reports. NPR announced that it would leave the platform altogether last week after Twitter misleadingly attached a label reserved for state-run media entities to its account.

And we have five more for you:

• Pssst. Wanna buy some art?: Creative platform EVEN raises a $2.3 million seed round to help artists sell directly to fans, Dominic-Madori reports.
• I can see the benefit here: Elevate lands $28 million to help employers better manage benefits, Kyle reports.
• Putting the global into 500 global: 500 Global spreads its wings across the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, via Tblisi, Mike reports.
• Werk, werk, werk: Kyle writes that Betaworks’ new “camp” aims to fund transformative early-stage AI startups.
• Flying high: Kepler Communications closes $92 million Series C to grow real-time satellite data relay network, Aria reports.

4 SaaS engagement metrics that attract investors

Past performance doesn’t always predict future results, but it’s the best place to find customer retention stats that have investor appeal.

According to Oleksandr Yaroshenko, head of investments and strategy at edtech startup Headway, engagement rates for existing customers are “the best predictors for resubscription.”

In this post, he explores gamification strategy and shares ideas for building a “golden cohort” that represents your target audience.

Three more from the TC+ team:

• Stick that in your pipe and smog it: What the new EPA tailpipe regulations mean for investors, Tim reports.
• Better tracking, better work: Alex Circei suggests you track the right metrics to improve your developers’ work experience.
• 97.9% of all funding goes to men: Dominic-Madori took a look at the VC investment landscape and discovered that at just 2.1% of all VC investment, funding for women remains “meh” in Q1 2023.

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

Do you want to read a 10,000-character tweet? We don’t either — oh wait, you said yes. Okay, well buckle up because Twitter now offers 10,000-character-long tweets for Blue subscribers, reports Ivan. If you’d like to see what a 10,000-character tweet looks like, we got you, boo. How about a 10,000-character TechCrunch article? We rustled up one for you from the archives.

Moving over to the state of Washington, where Uber and Lyft drivers won paid family and medical leave. Rebecca writes that the state’s senate passed a law that makes it the first in the nation to offer this kind of benefit for ride-hail drivers.

Now here’s five more for you:

• Adding an Apple to the French flag: Apple partnered with Canal+ in a move that brings Apple TV+ content to all subscribers in the country for no additional cost, reports Romain.
• Size doesn’t matter when it comes to this: Ron attended the Imagination in Action conference this week where Sam Altman said that the size of LLMs won’t matter as much moving forward. No need to look up LLMs — that stands for large language models.
• You won’t find lower prices…that is, until we lower them again: Tesla’s price cutting can now be felt in Europe, reports Kirsten.
• Didi’s back, baby: China ride-hailing giant Didi has been quiet as of late, but now has some big news: It will dispatch robotaxis 24/7 in 2025, and it announced a trucking service. Rita has more.
• Better check that content: Annie writes that Meta’s content review in Africa is in limbo amid injunctions from a Kenyan court.

Daily Crunch: Less than a year after buying Heardle, Spotify will shutter music game on May 5 by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch