Thursday, March 31, 2022

Intel will reportedly buy cloud-optimization startup Granulate for $650M

TechCrunch Newsletter
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By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for Thursday, March 31, 2022!

It's a beautiful day in our neck of the woods, and we have a great lineup of news for you today, so let's goooooo.

Grab your calendar and add these two: We're doing a Data and Culture Transformation event on April 26 for the big data aficionados, and now is your last chance to buy discounted tickets for our in-person TC Sessions: Mobility event on May 18 and 19, as well as the virtual event on the 20th.

Don't worry, it's Thursday. The weekend is almost here. You can do it; we believe in you. – Christine and Haje

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Image Credits: Monika Sakowska / EyeEm / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3

  • SEC looks at another EV SPAC: In today's abbreviation news, several Faraday Future executives find themselves subpoenaed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission amid the agency's look at electric vehicle companies that went public via special purpose acquisitions companies. The SPAC itself is not under the microscope, but instead alleged inaccurate statements the company made to investors. It's OK, I’m sure Faraday Future did its best — everyone makes a miSPAC now and then.
  • Klarna, Klarna, Klarna, Klarna, Klarna chameleon: Buy now, pay later company Klarna is showing us just how versatile it can be and that it won't be left out of a good opportunity. Its new open banking application programming interface, Klarna Kosma, helps companies plug into bank accounts and seems to be an answer to Visa announcing it will acquire Tink.
  • Are startup layoffs looming?: It's a question Alex Wilhelm had us pondering today. Valuations are high, but traction is not a-matchin' for some companies that he called "paper unicorns" (spectacular phrase by the way). Could all this mean we may see layoffs from companies that were able to rake in large amounts of dough, but not able to make the doughnuts? Stay tuned.

27% of banks plan to launch their digital transformation strategy in 2022

Sponsored by Plaid

In the wake of the pandemic, 40% of banks have planned or launched their digital transformation strategy this year. But where to start? Here are 7 steps for financial institutions to begin or accelerate digital transformation.

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Startups and VC

We get a teensy bit excited whenever Y Combinator does a set of demo days. I recommend that you read all our coverage this week, obvz, but if you want a quick summary, read part 1 and part 2 of our "everything you need to know" posts, make yourself a cup of coffee, and follow that up with our favorite startups part 1 and part 2, then pour yourself an adult beverage and wrap it all up with Devin's irreverently irresistible (and irrationally ironic) review of his favorite YC logos.

'Tis the season for new venture funds, apparently. Freestyle closed its sixth fund, adding $130 million of dry powder to invest, while Gumi Cryptos Capital (gCC) has a $110 million block of cash in the form of its second to deploy into the crypto universe.

Docker was on the ropes for a little while, there, but hooo boy did it make a comeback. The company just announced a whale of a round, raising $105 million of fresh capital on a $2 billion valuation.

🦸 More stories of up, up, and away:

5 things first-time founders must remember when working with VCs

Nothing beats experience like experience, which is why we were happy to run a column written by Zach DeWitt, winner of the 2013 TechCrunch Meetup and Pitch-off.

DeWitt, who became a VC after selling Drop, Inc. to Snapchat in 2016, shares five essential lessons for first-time founders wandering in the wilderness in search of an investor who’ll be “a true partner.”

There’s an inherent power imbalance when asking a stranger for money, but “VCs should work to earn your trust,” writes DeWitt.

“In many ways, it's like finding the right spouse.”

(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

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5 things first-time founders must remember when working with VCs image

Image Credits: Carol Yepes / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc.

  • Microsoft goes deeper into process mining: What is process mining? Don't worry, reporter Kyle Wiggers (who is rounding out his first week with us) tells you all about what that is. He also says Microsoft's latest acquisition of process mining company Minit "comes at a time when the broader business process automation industry, which remains flush with cash, heads toward general consolidation."
  • Intel also gets in on the M&A: We noted last year, when Israel-based Granulate received funding, that it seemed like the network management space was seeing some consolidation. Well, that was confirmed earlier today when Intel said it acquired Granulate "to continue extending both its operations in Israel and the tools that Intel provides to customers to better manage traffic on Intel-powered kit."
  • New research sheds light on Viasat hack: The cyberattack that took down the U.S.-based satellite communications provider's service in Europe was deemed "likely the result of destructive wiper malware" that originated in Russia, we report. The identity of the hackers is still unknown.
  • The strike that turned into a potential lawsuit: Meta and its subcontractor, Sama, are in the hot seat in Kenya, facing some legal action that alleges poor working conditions. Reporter Annie Njanja describes allegations against the companies by former Sama contractor Daniel Motaung, who claims that contractors like him weren't told what their jobs would be, but that it ended up being content moderation where they looked at some pretty graphic content for a long time, but were not often granted time to compose themselves or offered support when it became too much. Sama is denying any wrongdoing.

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

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Wednesday, March 30, 2022

'Strategic finance platform' Mosaic raises $25M Series B

TechCrunch Newsletter
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The Daily Crunch logo

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for Wednesday, March 30, 2022! It's day two of Y Combinator's Demo Day, which means that the TechCrunch team has been looking at more than 400 startups over two days.

If you'll forgive us, our brains are dripping out of our ears as we stare vacantly in the middle distance after some information overwhelms – but one thing's for sure: It's hella exciting times in startup land and across the ecosystem.

Dive in; the water is non-fungible, COVID-free, and will probably launch a corporate credit card before long. – Christine and Haje

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Image Credits: Co-founders left to right: Bijan Moallemi, Joe Garafalo and Brian Campbell / Mosaic

The TechCrunch Top 3

  • 'From tiny to mighty': Fintech reporter Mary Ann Azevedo hit it out of the park today with some financial news. First, she wrote about Cross River Bank, which secured a giant round of $620 million that put its valuation at over $3 billion. This is not shocking due to the amount of venture capital being pumped into the sector. However, Cross River was not only an early recipient of fintech funding, getting $30 million back in 2016, but has been profitable since 2010.
  • Helping CFOs manage high growth: Mary Ann's other story was about a couple of Palantir alums out to provide tools for CFOs of high-growth companies. Mosaic raised $25 million in Series B funding from Founders Fund to continue developing what the company calls a "strategic finance" category to get all departments within a company talking about finance. When you are growing, knowing your financial status is certainly important.
  • Dyson wants you to mask up: Reporter Brian Heater wins "headline of the day" for his story about, you guessed it, Dyson's new wearable air purifier.

Join us at Remote Connect on April 5-6

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We're bringing together an incredible line-up of speakers, including authors, business leaders and industry experts to share insights on what it will take to build a successful global company in 2022 and beyond. Register now. It's free!

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Startups and VC

It's day two of Y Combinator Demo Day, and the TechCrunch team is back on the case, sifting the sparkly from the meh for your reading pleasure. Lucas examined the crypto startups plotting out their plans for world domination, and we took a separate look at the fintech companies and AI companies that stuck their heads over the parapet as well.

If you have wild dreams of raising funding from Y Combinator yourself, pop along to our Early Stage conference in a couple of weeks, where Y Combinator's Dalton Caldwell is doing a "how to get into YC" presentation. If you really want to submerge yourself in demo days, check out today's excellent episode of our "Equity" podcast as well. I mean, with a title like "Demo days definitely amplify a brand, but not the one you think," how could you not?

In exciting hardware news, Boston Dynamics is starting sales of Stretch. It's not as cute as the dog-shaped robot, but probably more helpful for maneuvering around a warehouse.

🎵 Come with me, and you’ll be, in a world of pure imagination:

How to make a teaser trailer for your startup pitch

When you have an opportunity to sell an investor on your idea, it will likely be via a video call, not across a table or desk.

Considering how many pitch calls investors take on a daily basis, “this new pitching model presents a new problem for founders,” says Flint Capital partner Andrew Gershfeld, whose firm reviews approximately “1,500 online pitches per year.”

To cut through the noise, he recommends that founders create a “teaser trailer” to share with their network before they begin approaching angels and VCs.

According to Gershfeld, “since we're not getting the same in-person meeting opportunities, this is how founders can hook investors' attention.”

(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

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How to make a teaser trailer for your startup pitch image

Image Credits: Paolo Farinella / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc.

  • Get your groove on with friends: Spotify's latest update for its Blend playlist creation tool lets you see where your music tastes overlap with a friend and then provides you with a common playlist.
  • Google's been busy: If you haven't checked in with Google in, oh, about a day, we have some news for you. The first is that Google Workspace customers who are also Markdown fans got some good news in an update that Google Docs can now automatically convert Markdown formatting to rich text. Next, we go over to Chrome OS, which is launching a new version of its operating system — the 100th, to be exact. One of the changes you will notice is the launcher, which we report now leaves space for other windows. Lastly, Google rolled out improvements on its search safety and how it will handle "personal crisis" queries.
  • EU wants products to last longer so they don't end up in landfills: As the shift to a circular economy gains speed, the European Union is laying out some plans for ecodesign with a goal of products lasting longer so that they can be either reused or recycled.
  • WhatsApp gives a voice to 7B messages: Reporter Manish Singh admits to never having used WhatsApp to send a voice message — and found that he is in the minority. The communications giant said an average of 7 billion voice messages are transmitted through its app every day, and to celebrate, it's adding some new features, like pausing during a message and being able to listen to it before hitting "send."
  • Visa joins the NFT movement: The trend of NFTs has certainly hit the world of e-commerce, and credit card giant Visa wants in on the action. Its new NFT creator program aims to help small businesses get into the digital economy through a one-year immersion program.

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

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Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Child-friendly Amazon Glow video chat projector now available across the US

TechCrunch Newsletter
TechCrunch logo
The Daily Crunch logo

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for Tuesday, March 29, 2022! Haje and I are now flying solo with the newsletter. It will be all hands on deck today and tomorrow as we listen to startups pitch at the YC Demo Day, so look out for a deluge of stories over the next two days. Don't forget to join us Wednesday for the DeFi & The Future of Programmable Money online event, and then at TechCrunch Early Stage on April 14.

A very warm welcome to Jacquelyn Melinek, who is joining our crypto desk and comes careening out of the starting blocks with her coverage of the largest DeFi hack we've seen so far. Great story and welcome aboard! – Christine

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Image Credits: Glow

The TechCrunch Top 3

  • HackerRank will test your coding skills: The competition for talent is fierce out there, so how do you know that your potential new hire has what it takes? HackerRank raised $60 million to continue developing its recruiting tools to not only answer that question, but also enable developers to practice their coding and interview skills.
  • Electric buzzing after reaching unicorn status: If you are like most of us working from home, accessing the tools and equipment that would normally be waiting for us in the office — with an IT person at your beck and call — now involves a little more logistical effort. Electric secured $20 million to put it over the $1 billion valuation mark to manage much of that work for IT.
  • DAO for human behavior?: Jacquelyn was also busy writing about decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, thankfully describing what they are and where enthusiasts see them being used in the future — think pooling funds or decision-making.

Future of Equity Report: 480 startups share their funding plans

Sponsored by LTSE Equity

Some of the biggest shifts in startup equity strategy in years were uncovered in 2022's Future of Equity Report. Over 1 in 4 founders were found to regret one of their investors, and now founders are planning a new approach to funding and equity.

Download Here

Startups and VC

It's the most wonderful tiiiime of the yeaaaaaar – Y Combinator hasn't quite gotten to 1,000 companies per batch yet, but its Demo Day comprises 424 startups from 42 countries – so as you might imagine, it's still a pretty intense time at TechCrunch Towers. YC's Demo Day showed off 32 startups from India (the accelerator has funded almost 200 Indian startups to date), with heavy focus on fintech. Africa was represented as well, with more than 18 Nigerian startups and an additional six from the rest of the continent.

And some great news if you're a mere millionaire, rather than part of the exclusive Tres Comas club: Anita reports that Equi is willing to sneak you in the back door to your own personal little family office.

Other goings-on across the startup ecosystem:

2 reasons why demo days are dead

Demo days are a showcase for tech media, but does this performative Silicon Valley tradition still benefit founders and investors?

In a guest post for TC+, 22 Ventures co-founder and chair Michael Redd shares two factors that make demo days less relevant: Many startups sign funding deals before the big show, and founders are more interested in working with value-add investors.

“Simply getting rid of demo day won't help founders find, or let investors offer, that value,” Redd writes. “What we need is to better understand why demo day falls short and how to source deals on a much more intimate level.”

(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

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2 reasons why demo days are dead image

Image Credits: Martin Harvey / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc.

  • Sony unveils revamped PlayStation Plus: To keep up with competitors, Sony combined its PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now services into one subscription gaming product. The newest part of this is the addition of two more expensive tiers to join the lowest tier, and the three are priced in monthly, quarterly and yearly increments. Users in Asia will get first access before it is rolled out through the rest of the world.
  • Amazon Glow connects family members one story at a time: After six months of invite-only, Amazon is now opening up the purchase of its Amazon Glow remote calling/projector device to anyone. The company created the device as a way for children to connect with distant family members. Want to know what it's like to use it? Check out what Greg Kumparak had to say when he tested out the device back in December.
  • TikTok, GIPHY partner on video creation tool: TikTok has a new in-app creation tool called TikTok Library that will initially be populated by GIPHY content. As TechCrunch reports, there's a bit of irony here, with TikTok "leveraging the content from a company Facebook had once acquired for $400 million (and is now being asked to divest) to better the short-form video app that's since become one of the social giant's biggest threats." In addition, we point out that TikTok not going into much detail about possible future partners for the library suggests all of this is still pretty early.

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

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