Daily Crunch - Visa calls off Plaid acquisition

Regulatory action prompts Visa to back off a fintech acquisition, Uber and Moderna partner and Checkout.com is valued at $15 billion. This is your Daily Crunch for January 12, 2021.

The big story: Visa calls off Plaid acquisition

The deal, valued at $5.3 billion, was first announced just over a year ago. However, the Department of Justice filed suit to block the acquisition in November, arguing that it would “eliminate a nascent competitive threat.”

In today’s announcement, Visa said it could still have made things work, but the threat of “protracted and complex litigation” ultimately prompted it to call things off.

What remains to be seen, however, is whether this might cool financial giants’ interest in acquiring fintech startups and unicorns.

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The tech giants

Uber and Moderna partner on COVID-19 vaccine access and information — The only confirmed component involves providing users with credible, factual information about COVID-19 vaccine safety through Uber’s consumer app.

Facebook revamps ‘Access Your Information’ tool to better break down, explain data usage — The new version of the tool has been visually redesigned, and now further breaks down the viewable information across eight categories instead of just two.

GM targets delivery companies with new EV business unit BrightDrop — GM has launched a new business unit to offer commercial customers an ecosystem of electric and connected products.

Startups, funding and venture capital

Checkout.com raises $450M and reaches $15B valuation — Checkout.com wants to build a one-stop shop for all things related to payments.

Cockroach Labs scores $160M Series E on $2B valuation — Co-founder and CEO Spencer Kimball says the company’s revenue more than doubled in 2020 in spite of COVID.

Weber acquires smart cooking startup June — June will continue to operate as its own brand.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

These five VCs have high hopes for cannabis in 2021 — Despite remaining headwinds, the future is looking up for most cannabis businesses.

Is there still room in the cloud-security market? — While the initial shock of the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided for businesses, one of its main legacies is how it ushered in a tidal wave of accelerated digital transformation.

2021: A SPAC odyssey — A closer look at blank-check offerings for Bakkt and SoFi.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

Rollables are the new foldables — On day one of CES, both LG and TCL have offered their take on yet another form factor designed to offer more screen real estate.

Nielsen says ‘The Office’ was the most popular streaming series of 2020 — Netflix and Disney+ dominated the rankings.

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