TechCrunch Master Template TechCrunch Newsletter
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| Goood [time of day] dear [name]. You know what weâre psyched about? The agenda for TC Disrupt just dropped, and itâs going to be an absolute corker of an event. Aaaah. Check out whatâs happening on our four (Count âem! Four!) stages, and check out the incredible lineup of speakers. Then get your tickets and book your flights â itâs gonna be awesome. See you there! â Christine and Haje |
| | Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch |
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The TechCrunch Top 3 Facetime: While Mark Zuckerberg is promising better metaverse avatars, Estonia-based Ready Player Me is delivering. Andreessen Horowitz led the companyâs recent $56 million raise into the company that is building dynamic, animated game avatars for virtual worlds, Ingrid writes. Driving away with secrets: Rita wrote a juicy one about a former Apple employee who left with more than just best wishes from his ex-colleagues. Xiaolang Zhang pleaded guilty this week to stealing confidential driving information from the tech giant and then going to work for an electric vehicle company. Light it up: Over at TechCrunch+, Tim reports on U.S. senator Joe Manchinâs ultimatum to car manufacturers that they either move more of their lithium-ion battery supply chain out of China or give up on some tax incentives that are part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Tim writes that this could backfire or that âthe United States, at long last, is set to become a key player in the battery industry.â |
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Startups and VC The world has gotten a lot more serious about privacy and data protection, but in many cases business models that rely on personalization of one kind or another have struggled to keep up. Today, a startup out of Paris called Ravel Technologies is emerging from stealth with an approach it believes could be the missing link between those two, Ingrid reports. Though itâs typically difficult for new consumer social apps to gain widespread adoption, 9countâs apps (friend-finder Wink and dating app Summer) have already seen some early traction â and investors have taken notice, investing an additional $28 million, writes Sarah. Five more we enjoyed today: DAO-ing to invest in you: Anita reports that while they set out to raise $10 million, this set of Y Combinator alums raised $80 million to back crypto startups. Itâs the cycle of life: Natasha L introduces you to 28: A femtech startup that raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by Thiel Capital to connect women to the hormonal phases of their menstrual cycle for physical and emotional gain. Let your robots talk to my robots, and weâll find a time: Scheduling job candidate interviews can be a logistical nightmare, but Kyle reports that ModernLoop aims to automate the process. The company raised $9 million. Hello, may I take your order? Coming soon to a drive-thru near you: voice-activated virtual assistance. ConverseNow expands its drive-thru ordering tech as it bags another $10 million, reports Christine. High-stakes checkout blazes the way: Weeks after Dutchie announced a payment platform, Dutchie Pay, the company launched a new cannabis point-of-sale platform with its own dual-screen register, reports Matt. |
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| If your home was damaged in an earthquake, would you feel embarrassed? Similarly, founders need not feel squeamish about accepting funding that lowers their valuation, advises Kate Johnson, VP of PR at BLASTmedia. âRather than pretending a lower valuation didnât happen, switch your mindset,â she writes. âYou have nothing to hide, and in terms of PR, no news is not good news. So, focus on adjusting your expectations.â (TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.) Read More |
| | Image Credits: Ysr Dora / Getty Images |
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Big Tech Inc. After reading about Appleâs ex-employee, we have more ex-employees who were in the news today, including Twitterâs former security chief, Peiter âMudgeâ Zatko, who blew the whistle on the social media giantâs alleged mismanagement of cybersecurity. That one was by Carly, but the team got to work on several different angles, and here were the fruits of their labor: Ingrid reported that Mudgeâs report, which says âthere are âmillionsâ of accounts that could be spam bots,” may help Elon Muskâs legal fight as he tries to end his proposed $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter. Sarah writes about Mudgeâs claims that the platform was unable to guard against insider threats on January 6. Aisha also reported on Mudge’s claims that Twitter has “deficient moderation” for Spaces. Meanwhile, in streaming land, Lauren writes about both âThor: Love and Thunder,â coming to Disney+ next month, and HBOâs âHouse of the Dragonâ series premiere, which snagged 10 million viewers. Also, look out for Netflixâs version of the popular âHeads Upâ game, Aisha reports. In a rich manâs world: Billionaire Gautam Adaniâs Adani Group wants to buy a majority stake in Indiaâs NDTV so badly that itâs essentially a hostile takeover, Manish writes. Copycat?: Instagram wants in on the fun that BeReal has started with its candid photos at random times of the day and is testing a feature called âIG Candid Challenges,â Ivan reports. Sold!: It looks like Russian search giant Yandex finalized the sale of its media assets to YK, writes Natasha L. |
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