el producto #231 đ
Facebook smartwatch, Apple WWDC announcements, Twitter Super Follow subscriptions, Klarna funding, Coaching PMs & more
đ° The week in figures
$45.5B: Klarna raised $639M in funding, led by SoftBankâs Vision Fund 2, bringing the companyâs post-money valuation to $45.5B
$30B: Brazilian fintech startup Nubank raised $750M at a $30B valuation. Nubank offers a variety of services, including digital bank accounts and peer-to-peer payment. Nubank has 40 million customers, the most of any digital bank in the world
$6.8B: Monday.com closed up 15% in Nasdaq debut; the Israel-based software firm priced shares at $155 apiece to raise $574M at a ~$6.8B valuation; trading closed at $178 per share; Monday's Work OS enables clients to create custom tools and processes for managing their businesses; claims 127k paid customers and had 799 employees at the end of March
$3B: Walmart-controlled Flipkart in talks to raise $3B at a ~$40B valuation from SoftBank and multiple wealth funds; Flipkart had planned to go public this year but reportedly now plans to debut in the US next year
$1.3B: Sinch, which provides communication tools for customer engagement, acquires mobile messaging company MessageMedia for $1.3B; Sinch provides API-accessible SMS, voice, and video; MessageMedia enables clients to build and operate communication services
$1.2B: Marqueta raised $1.2B during its IPO. The payments processing company ended the day up 13%.
$912M: Beijing-based Kanzhun, which operates job recruitment platform Boss Zhipin, files to raise up to $912M with US IPO; Boss Zhipin claimed 24.9M MAU in Q1, up from 14.5M in the year-earlier period
$900M: Bain Capital and Crosspoint Capital to acquire Seattle-based ExtraHop, a cloud-native cybersecurity company offering network detection and response; ExtraHop uses machine learning to detect threats in realtime; the deal is valued at $900M
$394M: Identity verification firm Trulioo raises $394M Series D at a $1.75B valuation; the company serves enterprises, comparing user data against information from credit bureaus, mobile carriers, and government databases; also offers document verification
$260M: Faire, a wholesale marketplace connecting small brands with small retailers, raises $260M Series F for a $7B valuation led by Sequoia; the company aims to help SMBs compete with giant retailers like Walmart and offers a product filter to find items not available on Amazon; the firm expanded to Europe three months ago
$250M: Clip, a payments fintech in Mexico targeting small and midsize companies, raised $250MÂ at $2B valuation. Softbank led the investment round
$220M: Eightfold, which uses AI to help clients find, recruit, and retain employees, raises $220M Series E at a $2.1B valuation; on the job seeker side, the platform analyzes a submitted resume and suggests the most relevant available jobs
$157M: Verbit, an AI-driven transcription technology company, raised a $157M Series D round at an over $1B valuation. The startup is weighing going public in 2022. Among its 1,500 customers are CNBC, CNN, FOX, Harvard University, Stanford University, and Kaltura
$150M: Amplitude, which uses analytics to help clients optimize products and improve outcomes, raises $150M Series F at a $4B valuation; customers including Burger King and Ford use Amplitude to glean data from engineering, product, and other teams
$90M: Whatfix, which helps enterprises to update their apps with contextual support tools, raises $90M Series D; the company plans to use the funding to develop industry-specific solutions and to integrate AI and machine learning for behavioral analytics; Whatfix will use the data to suggest next steps for end-users and friction reduction options for clients
$60M: Spend management platform Airbase raises $60M Series B at a $600M valuation; automates bill payments with automated amortization, more; customers include Docker, Gusto, and Segment
$57.5M: Contentstack, a cloud-based content management system, raises $57.5M Series B; the startup serves enterprise customers including Chase, McDonald's, and Shell; offers APIs, SDKs, and micro-services for custom integrations
$50M: NY-based meat alternatives startup Simulate raises $50M Series B; the company launched as Nuggs in 2019 and began online D2C sales of its chicken nugget alternative, also called Nuggs; Simulate now offers Nuggs through 5k retail locations, including Walmart, Target, and Whole Foods
$30M: Terraformation, which is working to address climate change through reforestation, raises $30M Series A; the startup has conducted pilots to identify barriers to large-scale reforestation and ultimately hopes to facilitate the restoration of 3B acres of forest ecosystems around the world; Terraformation has developed an off-grid lab and seed bank for reforestation projects
$15M: PostHog (YC W20), which helps business clients to identify product problems and reduce customer churn, raises $15M Series B from the Y Combinator Continuity Fund and GV; the open-source platform offers user session replays, "feature flags" for testing new features with small groups of users, more; the company also announced a free, self-hosted plan
$5M: Square commits $5M to build a solar-powered bitcoin mining facility in partnership with blockchain tech firm Blockstream; the project will serve as a proof-of-concept for mining with 100% renewable energy at scale; the companies will establish a facility at one of Blockstream's US sites
đ° Whatâs going on
YouTube is rolling out its TikTok-like Shorts product to the UK, Canada, and Latin America and expects to complete the process by the end of the month; the company previously launched Shorts in India and the US; Shorts creators can now use licensed music from 250 labels and publishers
Twitter to limit its coming Super Follows feature to creators over 18 with at least 10k followers; the Patreon-like program will allow creators to charge users monthly fees and provide access to exclusive content
Jack Dorsey announces that Square is considering a hardware Bitcoin wallet; speaking on Twitter, Dorsey said the company sought a solution that would allow users to rapidly access some funds via mobile while leaving the bulk of holdings less accessible and more secure; he also indicated that existing recovery solutions were inadequate, requiring users to maintain backups of passphrases, etc
Facebook plans to launch an LTE-connected smartwatch with detachable face next summer; the display reportedly will feature two cameras: a front-facing camera for video calls and a higher-resolution camera on the back for shooting photos while the face is detached; Facebook reportedly plans to make a future version of the watch function as in input device for Facebook AR glasses
Instagram CEOÂ Adam Mosseri says Facebook plans to facilitate transactions between brands and creators to eliminate app store fees for people generating revenue from Facebook's family of apps; he said the solution would help brands and creators to find and vet one another before entering sponsored content agreements
Attentive, a mobile messaging platform for brands, acquires Tone, which uses AI for text conversations and product recommendations; terms undisclosed, but the entire Tone team will join Attentive and Attentive will gain Tone's ~1k customers; Tone guarantees its clients a 5x ROI
Indian payments tech firm Paytm announces plan to file for a US IPO; the firm, India's most valuable startup, planned to raise ~$3B at a ~$30B valuation, up from its most recent valuation of $16B
China-based ride-hailing firm Didi files for a US IPO using a placeholder raise target; the company recorded a $1.7B loss on $21.6B in revenue last year, and investors most recently valued Didi at $62B; the company acquired Uber China in 2016, and Uber is Didi's second-largest outside shareholder with 12.8%
IBM partners with the UK government on a five-year AI and quantum computing research project; the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council and IBM Research will hire 60 scientists to explore the use of cutting-edge technology to advance materials development and environmental sustainability
Nvidia acquires DeepMap, which develops high-definition mapping tech for self-driving vehicles; Nvidia will integrate DeepMap's IP into the Drive suite of autonomous vehicle development platforms, and Drive will, in turn, help DeepMap to scale maps across fleets
Jeff Bezos and his brother will be on board for Blue Origin's first passenger flight, slated for July 20; the company is conducting an auction for another seat on the flight, and bidding stood at $2.8M before Jeff Bezos announced he would participate; Blue Origin has successfully completed more than a dozen uncrewed test flights with its New Shepard rocket
Apple WWDC announcements and updates:
Launch of Podcasts subscriptions and channels (grouped shows) on June 15; the premium service will allow podcast creators to charge users for early and exclusive access to episodes; the company had planned to launch the features last month but delayed to make software improvements
On-device processing for Siri requests, limited to Apple silicon products; in addition to improved security, the switch promises faster processing times
iOS 15, with modes (work mode hides personal apps, etc), batched notifications, an updated Wallet that can store drivers licenses and virtual door keys, an improved version of Maps with bike lanes (and more), a hearing aid feature for AirPods Pro, multiple privacy and security updates, more; the company plans to release the update in open beta in July and to launch this fall
iPadOS 15 with App Library, home screen widgets, improved multitasking controls, shared notes, a Swift Playgrounds app update that lets users create iPad apps, more; also includes the redesigned Safari
Lossless audio and Dolby Atmos spatial audio for Music; the latest versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS now support hi-res lossless audio, and Apple expects to offer lossless streaming for every album in its 75M-record catalog; lossless audio requires a wired connection (no support for AirPods Max)Â
Showcased macOS Monterey with Universal Control, which allows the user to move a cursor and files across Apple devices; for example, a Mac user can move the Mac cursor to an iPad display, then drag a file from the iPad into an app on the Mac; also features a redesigned Safari, the Shortcuts automation app (with support for Automator workflows), the ability to use a Mac as an AirPlay target, more
đ Good reads
Monetizing meditation, by The Atlantic. With more than 100 million users, Calm has become the most popular mindfulness app. How did the meditation startup manage to monetize the art of sitting and doing nothing?
Introduction to Product Metrics Frameworks, by ClĂĄudia Delgado
20/20 Product Vision â 20 learnings from building 20 digital Products. Bayley Harrod shares valuable lessons from his extensive experience building products
A brief history of Netflix personalization, by Gibson Biddle. From startup in 1998 to today, a detailed history of the strategy, metrics, and experiments Netflix executes to develop a personalized experience focused on delivering its members movies they love
Coaching PMs with heart, by Rich Mironov. Coaching/mentoring is a skill we need to develop as (product) leaders. Focusing on constructive criticism and controlling our egos helps us cultivate skill and delegate more. And eventually share some great talent with the world
Have a great weekend.
Angel
el producto is a free service, but if you enjoy reading it, you can support my work and buy me a coffee đ