el producto #226 đ
Q1 financials, Facebook's neighbour groups, Airbnb data ecosystem, TikTok Login, Research & experimentation at Booking, Removing features, Uber EVs & more
Welcome to a new edition of el producto!
đ° The week in figures
$48B: Over $48B was invested globally into startups during April, marking the second-highest month on record (after March, with $54B). April saw 39 new unicorns (28 in the US), which brings the total to about 800
$9B: "Fortnite" generated a total of $9B in revenue across 2018 and 2019, as revealed by documents in the Apple-Epic trial; CEO Tim Sweeney shared that the company brought in $5.1B in gross revenue last year, and now employs 3.2k
$6.5B: Okta ($33.6B market cap) completes its $6.5B acquisition of fellow identity management firm Auth0; Auth0 offers cloud-based ID verification tools; Okta has not divulged how Auth0 will integrate into its operations
$2.5B: B2B payments firm Bill.com acquires expense reporting service Divvy for $2.5B (cash and stock); Divvy provides enterprise tools for managing and tracking employee spending; raised $417.5M to date
$610M: Toronto-based fintech firm Wealthsimple raises ~$610M on a ~$4B post-money valuation; offers a suite of consumer financial products including stock trading, p2p money transfers, and more; has raised more than $920M to date
$550M: Kajabi, which helps instructors create and sell online classes and more, raises $550M at a $2B+ valuation; Kajabi offers tools for creating websites, newsletters, and podcasts, in addition to its course tools
$500M: Kahoot acquires fellow edtech firm Clever for up to $500M (based on performance goals); CA-based Clever offers educators a suite of learning tools for K through 12; Kahoot, which is headquartered in Norway, will continue to operate Clever as a standalone brand
$280M: Health-tech platform Collective Health raises $280M on a $1.5B valuation; Collective offers enterprise tools for building employee healthcare plans; has raised ~$720M to date
$277M: ReCharge, a subscription e-commerce company, closed on $277M in a growth investment; the Santa Monica-based company says it provides services today for 15k merchants and 20M subscribers worldwide
$227M: SaaS firm ReCharge raises $227M on a $2.1B valuation; ReCharge offers subscription management tools to enterprise customers; has raised $277M to date
$155M: HoneyBook, which provides business management tools for freelancers and SMBs, raises $155M Series D at a $1B+ valuation; supports contracts, invoicing, payments, client communications, more
$130M: Toronto-based chatbot firm Ada raises $130M on a $1.2B valuation; Ada offers AI-powered customer service bots to clients such as Facebook and Zoom; has raised ~$190M to date
120M: Amazon says its ad-supported programming reaches more than 120M monthly active users; the figure is up from 20M in Jan 2020; includes content from Twitch, IMDb TV, Amazon News, and moreÂ
85M: Nintendo has sold ~85M Switch consoles since launch in March 2017; the firm shipped ~29M units over the last fiscal year; Nintendo anticipates it will sell 26.5M Switch devices in the current year, which ends in March 2022
$70M: Headway, which operates a marketplace for mental health therapy services, raises $70M Series B at a $750M valuation led by A16Z; the company also offers a backend system for therapists to assist them in supporting more insurance providers
$50M: Persona, which offers a no-code platform for customized identity verification solutions, raises $50M Series B; clients use an API to integrate selfie verification, AI-powered analysis of indicators such as device location, more
39.9M: Tablet makers shipped 39.9M units in Q1 up 55.2% YoY; the segment hadn't seen such growth since 2013; Apple remained in top position with 31.7% of the market, and Samsung followed with 20%
$21M: Nearby, which lets an online shopper purchase products from multiple local shops through a unified checkout, raises $21M Series A; CEOÂ April Underwood, who previously served as CPO at Slack, launched Nearby in September; the company doesn't charge merchants to join and covers logistics and shipping
$10M: Swimply, an Airbnb-like marketplace for renting out swimming pools, raises $10M Series A; the startup eliminated in-person host-customer contact due to the pandemic and saw revenue grow 4k percent last year; now serves 125 US markets and plans to support home studios, tennis courts, more
9.6M: Clubhouse's monthly downloads decreased from 9.6M in February to 2.7M in March and to 922k in April; data indicates the company's user retention is strong; Clubhouse recently closed a round at a reported $4B valuation
7M: Facebookâs enterprise platform Workplace claims 7M paying subscribers, up from 5M in May 2020; comes as the company announces new features including integration with Microsoft 365 and Google Calendar
500k: SpaceX claims 500k+ pre-orders for Starlink's satellite broadband service
1/3: an all-hands meeting at Basecamp reportedly led to more than a third of employees quitting the company; Ryan Singer, who served as head of strategy, openly questioned whether white supremacy was an issue at the firm, a point that other staff challenged him on; Singer was subsequently suspended, only to then quit
đ¸ Q1 financials
Dropbox ($9.9BÂ market cap) Q1 beats: $511.6M revenue, up 12% YoY; $0.35 EPS; 15.8M paid users, up 8.5% YoY; $132.5 average revenue per paying user, up 4.9% YoY
Lyft ($18.5BÂ market cap) Q1 beats: $609M revenue, down 36% YoY but up 7% quarter-over-quarter ($558.7M expected) -$0.35 EPS (-$0.53 expected); 13.49M active riders (12.8M expected); $45.13 revenue per rider ($44.5 expected)Â
PayPal ($290BÂ market cap) Q1 beats: $6.03B revenue, up 30% YoY ($5.91B expected); $1.22 EPS, up 84% (adjusted, $1.01 expected);Â $285B total payments volume, a quarterly record; 14.5M net new active accounts; 4.4B transactions
Peloton ($24.7B market cap) Q3 beats: ~$1.3B revenue, up 141% YoY ($1.1B expected); $0.03 loss per share ($0.12 expected); Peloton says it anticipates a ~$165M charge in Q4 following the recall of its treadmill products. Peloton is delaying the US release of its lower-cost Tread device (not to be confused with Tread+), which was set to launch on May 27; Tread was released in Canada, and the UK, but is included in the recall
Roku ($37.6BÂ market cap) Q1 beats: $574.2M revenue, up 79% YoY ($490.6M expected); $0.54 EPS ($0.13 expected, through Roku had projected a loss); 2.4M new active users, bringing the total to 53.6M, up 35% from the year-earlier periodÂ
Square ($102BÂ market cap) Q1 beats: $5.06B revenue, up 266% YoY ($3.37B expected); $3.51B revenue from Bitcoin sales, up ~11x YoY ($74M gross profit); $33.14B gross payment volume, up 20%; $39M net income
Twilio ($57.5BÂ market cap) Q1 beats: $590M revenue, up 62% YoY ($533 expected); $0.05 EPS (adjusted, -$0.10 expected); the firm claimed 235k active customer accounts at the end of March, up from 190k at the end of March 2020
Uber ($95.6BÂ market cap) Q1 misses: $2.9B revenue ($3.29B expected); -$0.06 EPS ($0.54 expected); $1.7B Delivery revenue, $853M Mobility revenue; $12.46B gross Delivery bookings, up 166% YoY; $6.77B gross Mobility bookings, down 38%; 1.45B trips, down 13%
Find more Q1 financials in last weekâs edition
đ° Whatâs going on
Uber partners with UK-based EV firm Arrival to develop an all-electric vehicle aimed at ride-hailing drivers; financial terms undisclosed; Arrival says it intends to release a design for the car by the end of this year with plans to launch the EV in 2023
Twitter introduces Tip Jar, a feature enabling users to send funds to creators via multiple payment options, including Cash App, PayPal, and Venmo
Twitter expands live audio product Spaces to all users with at least 600 followers; the company also revealed planned updates, including scheduling and ticketing features, the ability to co-host talks, improved accessibility, more; users can now find and join spaces by tapping on a profile picture with a purple frame
Twitter acquires Scroll, which charges $5/month to disable ads at participating sites (terms undisclosed); Twitter plans a new subscription service that includes Scroll, newsletter service Revue, and more; Scroll-owned Nuzzel, which sends daily email summaries of top stories in the user's Twitter feed, will shut down
Netflix is surveying some users about their interest in a possible new service featuring additional content related to its original shows and movies; dubbed N-Plus, the service could potentially offer behind-the-scenes clips, interviews, audience conversations, and more; Netflix notes some N-Plus content could be discovered via a web search, though itâs unclear whether access to the service would require a subscription
Facebook begins rolling out a Nextdoor-like feature; dubbed Neighborhoods, it aims to connect users with others in their local area, as well as nearby businesses and groups; Neighborhoods is initially launching in Canada, as well as Charlotte, NC, San Diego, CA, Baton Rouge, LA, and Newark, NJ
TikTok announces the Login Kit and Sound Kit SDKs; Login Kit enables third-party app developers to let their users log in with TikTok credentials; Sound Kit allows third-party apps to share audio via TikTok; TikTok already offered developer tools for sharing content to TikTok but Sound Kit offers tighter integrations
Clubhouse is funding 50 audio shows, providing hosts with equipment and support, as well as $5k per month for three months; following pilots, the company might sign longer-term deals with some creators; Clubhouse will not take any ownership of the shows
Google announces the Play Store will require apps to disclose information about data collection, security practices, more; each app listing will include a safety section similar to the App Store's privacy labels, which Apple launched in December
YouTube is rolling its TikTok-like Shorts product out to all US creators; the company is adding a dedicated tab in its mobile apps for iOS and Android and is launching new Shorts features, including an increased time limit (60 seconds, up from 15), automatic or manual captions, more
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts Apple will launch a flexible iPhone featuring an 8-inch display in 2023; Kuo says Samsung will supply the QHD+ screen; Kuo also anticipates Apple will ship 15M to 20M units in its first year
Snap announces the Creator Marketplace, which will help brands connect with video creators, Lens developers, and others for partnerships; will initially focus on pairing companies with AR creators for ads, but will expand to all Snapchat creators by year's end; Snap's Snapchat Storytellers program served a similar function but only supported video creators
Sendbird, which enables apps and websites to integrate communications features, updates its API with group video and voice calling; the firm focused on messaging until March of last year when it added voice and video calls; clients include Reddit and ServiceNow
đ Good reads
The art of removing features and products. In Product world, often, subtraction = addition. Reforge and Mixpanel share an article that offers perspectives on the ins and outs of cutting (or unshipping) products and features
[Podcast + transcript] Eric Ries talks to Brian Armstrong (Coinbase co-founder and CEO) about their recent IPO, cryptocurrency, being mission-oriented, and institution building
Resetting the App Store. Ben Evansâ essay on how regulatory intervention may affect Appleâs default (and forced) apps, and what the future of App Store could look like
A step-by-step guide to creating a better Product launch. While no 2 products are equal, there are some basics that we can follow to improve the effectivity of a launch. Tess shares a comprehensive practical guide to help you get the product out the door
Multiplication instead of division, by Molly Stevens and Lukas Vermeer. Research and experimentation are the âpeanut butter and jellyâ of customer insights at Booking.com â hereâs why
How Airbnb achieved metric consistency at scale: Introducing Minerva â Airbnbâs Metric Platform. Robert Chang, Amit Pahwa, Shao Xie share a great overview of Airbinbâs data ecosystem
The inside story of TikTokâs tumultuous rise. Forbes talks to more than a dozen current or former TikTok employees and gives an insider story of how they have experienced hypergrowth and challenges
Have a great weekend.
Angel
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