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By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps

Friday, April 22, 2022

It’s Earth Day, also known as April 22, 2022, and we are beyond grateful that the sun sets on another week.

We love our TechCrunch Live events, but we realize we don’t always fit into everyone’s calendars. Good news: They’re now available as a podcast, too, so you can listen along at your leisure.

May your weekend be as energetic as you desire, and full of all the right types of surprises. Oh, and ice cream. – Christine and Haje

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Image Credits: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3

  • Zenly doesn’t want you to miss another event: Remember the big map that used to sit in the passenger side back pocket of your parents’ car? I loved plotting different routes and checking out the graphic at the top that showed how many miles were between cities. Oh, that was just me? Well, anyway, as Romain put it today, Zenly is “making social maps cool again.” The kind where you figure out what is going on nearby and which of your friends are going to be there. The Snap-owned app is undergoing its biggest redesign, adopting a sleeker look with a black background and features to make the app easier to navigate.
  • Amazon has its sights set on social: At least that’s what we think with its latest move to acquire India-based social commerce company GlowRoad. The deal comes as other big retail names, like Walmart and YouTube, invest in the social commerce space. Amazon also announced the first five startups that are part of its $1 billion industrial innovation fund focused on logistics, the supply chain and customer fulfillment, all things facing a bottleneck right now.
  • Unicorns can check out anytime they like, but they can never leave: That seems to be the sentiment behind global companies reaching $1 billion in value but not going public. However, over in Asia, Anna found that was not a problem — nine of the 10 biggest IPOs in the first quarter came from the region — and with nearly 100 deals made during that time, dare we say it is becoming “a haven for public exits”?

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Startups and VC

One of the things often described as the advantage of web3 startups is also its downfall, Connie suggests: Yes, it’s neat that everything is decentralized, but when something goes sideways, there’s no safety net.

What the heck, check out the rest of the startup tech on deck*:

* Don’t worry, my sick rhymes will remain confined to these newsletters; there’s no risk of me being invited to throw down lyrics over breakbeats on stage. A propos stage: Did you get your tickets for our climate tech event in June? You can still save $200 on early-bird tickets.

4 questions every CISO should be asking about the metaverse

The metaverse is still taking shape, but it’s already creating headaches for cybersecurity professionals.

Technology that places users inside virtual, immersive environments where they can transact could unlock untold benefits, but it will definitely create a threat attack surface of titanic proportions. To prepare, CSO/CISO David Fairman says organizations must be able to answer these questions:

  • Can we protect PII (and other sensitive data) in the metaverse?
  • How can I authenticate users?
  • Can we protect users from bullying, harassment and exploitation?
  • Can we manage this kind of fast-growing attack surface?

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

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4 questions every CISO should be asking about the metaverse image

Image Credits: Adrian+Los/EyeEm / Getty Images

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