Daily Crunch - Tesla is closing its forums

Some Tesla fans aren’t ready to say goodbye to the company’s forums, Optimizely’s co-founder has a new company and an Indonesian logistics startup raises $170 million. This is your Daily Crunch for March 5, 2021.

The big story: Tesla is closing its forums

The electric car maker announced that starting on March 15, its existing forums will become read-only as it launches a new social website called the Tesla Engagement Platform. That platform functions a bit differently, since users are asked to comment on Tesla’s posts, rather than creating posts and threads of their own.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many commenters don’t seem pleased with the decision, with one writing, “Please do not get rid of the Forums. This is not a replacement. The forums (with exception of the trolls on it) brought about informed discussion to help fellow owners with issues.”

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Visa and ADP Unveil Flexible Digital Payment Options to Serve U.S. Workforce

Sponsored by Visa

Visa and ADP have announced a new partnership that will offer ADP’s clients, large and small, with a digitally-enabled, convenient and cost-effective solution for off-cycle payments to employees.

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The tech giants

Virgin Galactic Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya sells off remaining personal stake in the space company — The man who arguably ushered in the current SPAC rush with the merger of Virgin Galactic with his Social Capital Hedosophia holding company has divested the remainder of his personal holdings in the space tourism company.

Startups, funding and venture capital

Eco raises $26M in a16z-led round to scale its digital cryptocurrency platform — Eco’s platform is designed to be used as a payment tool around the world for daily-use transactions.

Dan Siroker’s new startup Scribe automates Zoom note-taking — Siroker stepped down from the CEO role at Optimizely in 2017.

Indonesian logistics startup SiCepat raises $170M Series B — Founded in 2014 to provide last-mile deliveries for small merchants, the company has since expanded to serve large e-commerce platforms, too.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

How and when to hire your first product manager — We spoke to startup founders and operators to get their thoughts.

Address cybersecurity challenges before rolling out robotic process automation — While robotic process automation is making a major impact across every industry, many don’t know how common the technology really is.

Understanding how investors value growth in 2021 — The folks over at Battery Ventures have compiled a lengthy dive into the 2020 software market that’s probably worth your time.

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

Everything else

California bill would require all self-driving vehicles to be zero emission by 2025 — California might be the first state to give self-driving cars a deadline to electrify.

How the Biden administration is approaching crypto regulations — Given the chaos created by the Trump administration, bitcoin fans are anxiously optimistic about how regulators will approach the cryptocurrency space during President Joe Biden’s administration.

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