This Twitter Space will be held on Monday at 12:00 p.m. PDT/3:00 p.m. EDT, and you won’t want to miss it if you follow the ups and downs of the cryptocurrency market. Sam Rosenblum and Breck Stodghill will discuss the most interesting potential they’re finding among early-stage web3 firms with senior crypto reporter Anita.
You party animals, have a great weekend. At least we can all be animals in our own unique ways! Personally, we are more sleeping cat animals than party animals right now. — Elizabeth and Haje
The TechCrunch Top 3
Delivery drop
When a DoorDash delivery door opens, a different door closes. A programme to pick up and deliver Facebook Marketplace products to clients was trialled by DoorDash and Facebook earlier this week, as we reported. According to Aisha’s most recent report, DoorDash and Walmart could part ways in September. Walmart, though, may not be too disappointed by the split given it has been focusing on its own delivery initiatives.
Falling Facebook
According to Sarah, the social media behemoth is “losing its grip” on younger users who choose more recent applications like TikTok and BeReal. The proof? Facebook simply can’t seem to maintain a Top 10 ranking in the Apple App Store. Although they are not unfamiliar with this phenomenon, Sarah has additional information about whether Facebook should be worried.
Leveraging Love
Ryan Breslow, the former CEO of Bolt (this one), may still be facing backlash on Twitter for his remarks on the difficulties of competing with rivals, but he tells Connie that he has “no regrets” about anything he said. Instead, he is diving deeply into a few fresh ventures, such as Love, a “people-powered pharma” company.
Startups and VC
Even during the (now-gone) heyday of SPACs, IPOing has been a remarkably uncommon result for robotics firms. In his fantastic Actuator email, Brian addresses the three actual robotic startup outcomes. “Given the status of the broader market, several planned SPACs were placed on hold in the meantime, in hopes of riding more favourable trends,” Brian says. You may sign up for it and all of our other newsletters. It is all about robots. To subscribe to our robotics newsletter, the form might inquire if you are a robot. If so, it would be hilarious.
According to Rita, there was a lot of activity in the automatic transcribing and note-taking space as Otter.ai rival Airgram raised $10 million. Probably not in reaction to that, but Ivan’s report is noteworthy – Otter.ai reduces the number of free minutes it offers to a maximum of 300 per month while opening up access to its recorder bot to everyone.
Five more that attracted our attention:
Culling card
Following the local central bank’s instructions on digital lending, Culling card Uni, India’s startup for pay-later cards, is to temporarily cease its card services in the South Asian market, according to Manish.
Taking the rollups apart
According to Mary Ann, something is changing in the financial industry as “Silicon Valley is getting unbundled,” according to a16z’s fintech leaders.
A place to keep your keys
Users won’t be able to get their money back if hackers steal secret codes and empty the wallets. Rita claims that Safeheron has obtained $7 million to make those keys more secure.
More funding for African seed-stage businesses
According to Tage, Microtraction, an early-stage venture capital firm that makes pre-seed investments in African entrepreneurs, has closed the first, $15 million closing of its second fund.
Whoa, what?
According to Becca, the FDA’s decision to permit over-the-counter hearing loss technology will give the industry’s innovation a huge boost.
5 investors explain why longevity tech is a long-term play
The average life expectancy in the US has decreased for the past two years. It was 78.86 years in 2019; however, by 2020, it had decreased by 2 years, 3 months.
Although COVID-19 was to blame for the fall, reporter Anna Heim spoke with five investors who are supporting firms that are working on technologies that might help us live longer, healthier lives.
Although longevity is still a young vertical, one responder predicted that during the next five to ten years, “the space would invade all facets of our lives.”
Big Tech Inc.
It can be TikTok if you always feel like someone is monitoring you. Natasha L writes on some independent research that has come to light regarding TikTok’s in-app browser injecting code that might have it tracking keyboard inputs and taps that are occurring on third-party websites inside TikTok. This practise is referred known as keylogging. Researcher and developer Felix Krause did note that just because TikTok could be doing this does not always mean it is doing it maliciously.
How much money would you be prepared to spend to drive an electric car? At least $249,000 is being staked by Lucid. According to Kirsten, that is the price it has set for the new Sapphire performance EV. To be fair, it does have three motors, a glass roof, and a pretty colour.
Organize your closet.
Following the announcement that it will let go of almost 900 employees, or around 5% of its staff, online retailer Wayfair suffered a sharp decline in its stock price today. It is “a technique to reprioritize investment demands and match the company’s current needs,” according to Andrew.
Bow your head
Godot’s founders, W4 Games, a new business, are leveraging Red Hat’s expertise as a leading provider of commercial open source software to advance Godot. Paul has further information about W4’s intentions for doing that.
Your plate, please
According to Paul, in order to obtain some cash “during tough circumstances,” the European food delivery operator Just Eat Takeaway is selling its interest in Brazil-based iFood to Prosus for up to $1.8 billion.
Put your phone away
Brian enjoys pulling out two Samsung foldable phones to demonstrate to friends and seeing their responses. He discusses the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 in this review.
The history of your vehicle
It’s a little crazy how Lincoln envisioned an electric vehicle concept automobile. The Lincoln Model L 100 idea, as described by Jaclyn, “pays tribute to the brand’s first luxury automobile, the 1922 Model L.” You must experience it firsthand.
