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| Welcome to the Daily Crunch for Thursday, April 14, 2022! As we put this together, we are listening to TEDâs Chris Anderson interview with Elon Musk about his attempt to buy Twitter. There will be many viewpoints on this coming fast and furious. One example is Taylorâs hot take, which can be summarized as face-palming so hard that weâre a little worried she might need medical attention. For now, all we know is that Musk shared he is âunsureâ whether his takeover bid will succeed, and if it doesn’t, he has a âPlan B.â Looking for an excuse to wander away from Twitter? Found, the TechCrunch podcast where founders talk about the stories behind their startups, is nominated for a Webby for best technology podcast! We got our votes in, but weâd love your help, too. Cast your vote before April 21! – Christine and Haje |
| | Image Credits: Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch |
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The TechCrunch Top 3 âHow is Twitter doing?â: That was one of Alexâs questions today as he examined the social media giantâs performance and stock prices in light of Elon Muskâs unsolicited bid â can we keep calling it that even though it probably surprised no one? Anyway, the company is doing âpretty well,â Alex reports, but as to Muskâs bid of a â38% premium over the day before [his] investment was publicly announcedâ? Alex says that âwhat we should care about is not precisely the sheer premium between pre-Musk and post-Musk Twitter value; instead, we should consider the companyâs worth, and then stack that against the Musk figure.â What might explain some of that is something we also learned during the Musk interview: He âdoesnât care about the economicsâ of buying Twitter. However, Alex still thinks âthe offer doesnât seem quite large enough to be serious. Throw another $10 billion on it and then letâs talk.â WhatsApp throwing its weight into communities: Weâre sure a lot of people are already using WhatsApp to connect with a bigger community, but now the Meta-owned service is formalizing that a bit more with its new âCommunitiesâ feature that includes more support for sharing files, the ability to get on a group call with 31 others, admin tools and moderation controls. The beauty is that you can link an existing group instead of starting over. Zaraye inks small round from some big players: Itâs been an interesting couple of years for anyone needing raw materials, and no country is immune to the shortages, it seems. Pakistanâs Zaraye wants to change that with its platform that connects manufacturers directly with suppliers. Tiger Global (making its first pre-seed investment in a Pakistani startup, we report) and Zayn are hitching their wagons to this one, so we are eager to follow along. |
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Startups and VC Lots of movement in mobility (if there wasnât, would it be called immobility?) today. Electric vehicles are charging ahead at the World Car Awards. Meanwhile, Vinfast announced it wants to sell its cars but rent out the battery packs, leading Rebecca to wonder whether thatâs going to work. Finally, the Chrysler brand is starting its transition to EV-dom (as Kirsten reported earlier this year), showing off its rather snazzy Airflow crossover EV concept. From our moving-things-from-place-to-place desk, weâre passing a lot of parcels around. Backbone wants to make package delivery more like Wi-Fi mesh networks in what sounds to me like a recipe for utter chaos. It would be fantastically clever if they can get it to work, though! Also, whether you love or loathe Amazon, youâve got to give âem cred for having their supply chain tech sewn up tight. Shipium wants to give other e-commerce retailers access to comparable tools. Letâs do a proverbial cannonball into the startup pond: Software eats food distribution: Cerve raised $2 million for a wholesaler platform as post-COVID food distribution digitizes. More for your health, less for the tax man: In the U.S., a common employment benefit is a âhealth savings account,â where you take some pre-tax money off the table if you invest in your health. The systems are often clunky, but Sika wants to make it easier for folks to actually spend their dosh. Looking perky: A propos employment benefits, Compt just raised $13 million to make employee perks a bit more personalized. Doing good when doing well: Beam Impactâs clever platform helps everyday humans like you and me do more good in the world by directing our spending toward brands that partner with causes we care about. PenguinFaceplant.gif: Club Penguin was shut down in 2017, but fans rebooted it — without authorization from Disney. Yesterday, it all came crashing down when the City of London police pulled the plug on the site. Something is up in VC land, observes Hans Swildens, as VC distributions are down 90% in Q1 this year. His interview with Connie is fascinating and shows a great snapshot of whatâs happening on the other side of the table. |
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| Europe is all set to take on the U.S. as the worldâs biggest cannabis market as countries like the U.K. and Germany mull legalizing recreational use of the flower by adults. But the regulatory landscape is similar on both sides of the pond â much like the U.S., laws around cannabis use differ across EU member nations, leading companies to navigate a complex framework of laws. Investors see hope, however: Medical cannabis is gaining momentum, and because cannabis isnât illegal at a federal level across the EU, companies are free to sell their products across borders. For our latest survey, we talked with eight investors who are actively signing checks for cannabis tech companies. Beyond sharing their investment thesis, they also told us what theyâre looking for, how they measure success, and the best way startups can get their attention. We spoke with: Todd Harrison, founding partner and CIO, CB1 Capital Management Yoni Meyer, partner, Casa Verde Capital Viken Douzdjian, managing partner and co-founder, Argonautic Ventures David Bonnier, founding partner, Enexis AB Will Gibbs, principal, Octopus Ventures Oliver Lamb, co-founder and investment manager, Ãskare Capital Leah Fletcher, founder and director, Arbutus Innovation Centre will.i.am, investor, Sanity Group (TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.) Read More |
| | Image Credits: Bet_Noire / Getty Images |
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Big Tech Inc. Continuing along with what feels like a mobility theme today, Uber suspended its Tanzania operations, citing an unwelcoming regulatory environment. And, speaking of âcommunities, Tinder launched a new feature called âFestival Modeâ that enables users to connect with each other before a big concert or, you guessed it, a festival. The dating app is partnering with Live Nation and event producers AEG Presents and Superstruct Entertainment, which means this will cast a wide net. In the comments section, both Reddit and TikTok have some news: Reddit is rolling out the ability to search comments, making it so you donât have to click on several comments to find threads you are interested in. Meanwhile, TikTok is testing a feature that will allow users to essentially dislike an âirrelevant or inappropriateâ comment and make it become private without the commenter knowing what happened. Here are some others we think you might enjoy today: In China news, Rita writes that the countryâs banking association proposed restrictions on NFTs and that startups are rethinking their mainland strategies in light of stricter policies. U.S. government agencies are warning that state-backed hackers have developed custom malware that enables them to compromise and hijack commonly used industrial control system devices. Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny is calling on Google and Meta/Facebook to use their ad targeting tools to âhelp circumvent Putinâs grip on the media and get information out to ordinary Russians about whatâs actually going on in the war in Ukraine.â Natasha interviewed Lydia Hylton, who joined Bain Capital Crypto after its whole International Womenâs Day debacle, to give her perspective on whatâs really going on. |
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