Google announces its I/O plans, Facebook tests an audio Q&A feature and Patreon triples its valuation. This is your Daily Crunch for April 7, 2021.

The big story: Google I/O will return virtually next month

Google canceled its giant developer conference last year during the pandemic. This year, the show will return in virtual form, from May 18 to May 20. It will be free and open to all.

Google is following the lead of companies like Apple (which is holding a virtual WWDC in June) and Microsoft (which will hold a virtual Build from May 25 to 27).

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The tech giants

Facebook tests Hotline, a Q&A product that’s a mashup of Clubhouse and Instagram Live — Unlike Clubhouse, creators can opt to turn their cameras on for the event, instead of being audio-only.

Twitch expands its rules against hate and abuse to include behavior off the platform — The news comes as Twitch continues to grapple with reports of abusive behavior and sexual harassment, both on the platform and within the company itself.

E-bikes and earbuds among the first third-party hardware to support Apple’s Find My tracking — VanMoof’s S3 and X3 e-bikes will sport tracking functionality, along with a “Locate with Apple Find My” logo located on the bottom side of the crossbar.

Startups, funding and venture capital

Patreon triples valuation to $4 billion in new raise — This was in a $155 million funding round led by Tiger Global.

Plaid raises $425M Series D from Altimeter as it charts a post-Visa future — After its $5.3 billion sale to Visa fell through this January, it became clear that Plaid would chart its own future.

Authentic Artists is building virtual, AI-powered musicians — These musicians will perform their own concerts, initially in Twitch, and can respond to audience requests.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

How to kick the 10 worst startup habits with Fuel Capital’s Leah Solivan — Solivan has ample experience on both sides of the fence, as she founded TaskRabbit and led it to exit through an acquisition by Ikea in 2017.

The do’s and don’ts of bug bounty programs with Katie Moussouris — In the rush to launch, cybersecurity doesn’t always get the attention it deserves, and yet it’s one of the first things that can go wrong for startups.

Building and leading an early-stage sales team with Zoom CRO Ryan Azus — Before his role at Zoom, Azus built RingCentral’s North American sales organization from the ground up.

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

Everything else

Saying hello to TechCrunch’s newest podcast: Found — The Equity team sits down with the hosts of TechCrunch’s new podcast Found.

And a correction: Yesterday’s newsletter sponsor feature from Linode included a link to the wrong page. Click here to get a better understanding of virtualization, containers and Kubernetes, and learn the difference between these big topics and the role of each in a multi-cloud future.

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