el producto #237 đ
Revolut Stays, Laws of UX, Salesforce completes Slack acquisition, Big tech Q2 results, Twitter upvotes, Youtube livestream shopping, Uber groceries & more
đ° The week in figures
$35B: Robinhood sets IPO price range at $38-42 / share, indicating a top-end raise of $2.3B and a $35B valuation; the company generated $522M in revenue during Q1 and expects $546-574M for Q2; plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol "HOOD"
$27.7B: Salesforce completes its $27.7B acquisition of Slack; Slack will continue to operate under its brand and leadership for the time being; Salesforce announced an Aug 17 event where the company will reveal how Slack will integrate with Salesforce's existing offerings, including Customer 360
$14.7B: Zoom ($106.7B market cap) to acquire Five9, which offers cloud-based software for call centers, for $14.7B; Five9 processes ~7B minutes of calls per year for 2k clients, including Citrix and Under Armour; Five9 will become an operating unit of Zoom
$2.2B: Paytm files for IPO, plans to raise up to $2.2B; the Indian company, which claims ~330M users, operates an e-commerce marketplace, an investment platform, a bill payments service, merchant tools, more
$1.27B: Tencent to acquire UK-based game studio Sumo for $1.27B, a 43% premium on Sumo's market cap; the company is known for developing "Sackboy: A Big Adventure" for PlayStation; Tencent reportedly already held 8.75% of Sumo
$1.2B: Enterprise video solutions firm Kaltura closes at $12 per share in its Nasdaq debut, up 20%; the offering valued Kaltura at $1.2B; the New York City-based firm powers video meetings, messaging, town halls, events, more
$1B: on-demand delivery firm Gopuff files to raise $1B at a $14B pre-money valuation; in March, the company closed a $1.15B Series G at an $8.9B valuation; investors valued Gopuff at $3.8B in October
$1B: NC-based insightsoftware, which provides enterprise management and financial reporting software, raises $1B at a $4B valuation; insightsoftware claims 500k+ users
$963M: Visa ($520B market cap) acquires Currencycloud, which facilitates B2B international payments, in a $963M deal; the London-based firm makes APIs for remittance and currency exchange; investors last valued Currencycloud at $500M
$900M: Crypto exchange FTX raises $900M at an $18B valuation; the platform supports popular cryptocurrencies, altcoins, and in some markets, stock derivatives; FTX processes $10B in trades per day
$625M: Bill.com, which automates bill payments and invoicing, acquires Invoice2go, which provides invoice and estimate software for SMBs and freelancers, for $625M; Bill.com said the buy would improve its existing accounts receivable offering; in May, Bill.com acquired expense management and corporate card firm Divvy for $2.5B
$600M: Equity management firm Carta is raising $500-600M at a ~$7.4B post-valuation; the company helps investors and companies manage investments, cap tables, employee compensation, more; Carta has raised $628M to date
$500M: Indian ed-tech firm Byju's acquires CA-based e-book and learning platform Epic for $500M; Epic targets kids 12 and under and claims a presence at 90% of US elementary schools, serving 2M teachers and 50M students
$500M: Colombia-based on-demand delivery firm Rappi raises $500M-plus Series F at a $5.25B valuation; in addition to same-day and rapid delivery, Rappi offers "favor" services, enabling customers to hire riders for errands, gift selection and delivery, more; raised ~$2.2B to date
$485M: Duolingo sets its initial IPO price range at $85-95 / share, indicating a top-end raise of $485M and a $3.4B valuation; the company expects to trade on the Nasdaq under symbol "DUOL"
$450M: Indian on-demand food delivery company Swiggy raises $450M Series J for a $5.5B post-valuation; the company said it would use the funds to expand into the delivery of non-food items; raised $2.9B to date
$426M: HR and payroll software company Paycor closes up 13% in its Nasdaq Global Select Market debut; the company raised $426M with the offeringÂ
$333M: One-click checkout company Bolt is raising $333M Series D for a $4B post-valuation; Bolt's product replaces existing checkout solutions and integrates with e-commerce platforms, plugins for tax and shipping, more; once a user signs up for Bolt through a client's checkout, they never have to re-enter their information for a Bolt network shop
$280M: Capchase, which provides cash to companies with recurring revenue, raises $280M; currently live in the US, the UK, and Spain, plans European expansion this year; the company also announced Expense Financing, a new loan product with quarterly terms enabling customers to cover the costs of legal services, cloud hosting, more
$235M: Tilting Point, which helps free-to-play mobile games acquire users, raises $235M; the company accesses its line of credit to pay for advertising campaigns and more; Tilting Point shares in proceeds and invests in publishers with the strongest growth
$200M: Couchbase closed up 26.7% in its Thursday Nasdaq debut; the NoSQL cloud database firm priced shares at $24 apiece, and trading closed at $30.40, leaving the company with a $1.25B market cap; Couchbase raised $200M with the offering
$100M: SmartRecruiters, an end-to-end recruitment platform for enterprise, raises $110M Series E at a $1.5B valuation; offers tools for job advertising, AI/chatbot/text recruiting, applicant tracking, and more; customers include LinkedIn, McDonald's, and Visa
$100M: NFT marketplace OpenSea raises $100M Series B at a $1.5B valuation; previously limited to Ethereum transactions, the company now supports Polygon transactions; OpenSea also announced it is eliminating Ethereum gas fees
$100M: Life insurance company Ethos raises $100M for a $2.7B-plus post-money valuation; currently live in 49 states, Ethos uses ~300k data points to determine eligibility and offers term and whole life plans; the company is on track to issue $20B in coverage this year; Ethos plans expansion into critical illness insurance, more
$65M: Loop Returns, which automates much of the refund/exchange process for Shopify businesses, raises $65M Series B for a $340M post-money valuation; Loop asks customers questions focused on retaining business, creates return shipping labels, more
$50M: Visual collaboration company Mural raises $50M Series C at a $2B+ valuation; investors last valued the company at ~$500M for a $118M round in August; Mural offers a digital whiteboard supporting notes, images and GIFs, drawings, more
$50M: last-mile delivery company Fetch Package raises $50M Series C, plus $10B in debt; the company focuses on doorstep delivery at apartment buildings and complexes; shippers take packages to a central location, and managers use the Fetch app to coordinate door delivery with residents based on their schedules
$50M: Tailor Brands, which offers an online logo creation tool, marketing services, and more, raises $50M Series C; the company says 30M businesses are using its platform, and 700k new users sign up every month; raised $70.6MÂ to date
$50M: business education startup OpenSesame raises $50M Series D; the platform allows administrators to create customized education paths covering cybersecurity, warehouse safety, leadership development, more; raised $97M
đ¸ Q2 financials
Snap ($98.9BÂ market cap) Q2 beats: $982M revenue, up 116% YoY ($846M expected); $153M loss; $0.10 EPS (adjusted, -$0.01 expected); 293M DAU, up 23%; $3.35 average revenue per user; shares jumped 16% following the reportÂ
Twitter ($55.5BÂ market cap) Q2 beats: $1.19B revenue, up 74% YoY ($1.07B expected); $65.6M profit; $0.20 EPS (adjusted, $0.07 expected); 206M monetizable DAU; shares are up ~29% since the start of the year; Twitter launched its first premium subscription product, Blue, during the quarter, and saw its fastest revenue growth since 2014
Next weekâs preview:
Apple (Tuesday); Expected Q2 revenue: $73.4B, +23%
Alphabet (Tuesday); Expected Q2 revenue: $56.053B, +46%
Microsoft (Tuesday); Expected Q2 revenue: $44.3B, +16.5%
Facebook (Wednesday); Expected Q2 Revenue: $27.87B, +49%
Amazon (Thursday); Expected Q2 Revenue: $114.976B, +29%
Pinterest (Thursday); Expected Q2 Revenue: $561.94B, +106.6%
đ° Whatâs going on
Revolut launches Stays, enabling customers to book hotels and other accommodations; the feature marks the company's first foray outside of financial services; customers get 10% cashback on all bookingsÂ
Twitter is experimenting with an upvote/downvote system for tweet replies on iOS; the company said a small group of users would see the option; in some cases, a downvote button appears next to the like heart; in others, users will see upvote and downvote buttons featuring arrows or thumbs
Apple's coming iPhone lineup might feature an always-on display; sources reported a smaller display notch, longer battery life, improved video recording, and a faster A15 chip; in February
Youtube is piloting a new livestream shopping feature with select creators. Many of the platform's 2B monthly logged-in users already watch videos of unboxings, product demos, and reviews, making YouTube a common tool for product discovery
Intel-owned Mobileye expands its autonomous driving program to New York; the company is currently testing a camera-only system with safety drivers present; Mobileye plans to offer the camera-only system for consumer driver-assist features and to combine that system with its lidar-and-radar system for redundancy in self-driving taxis
Uber expanded its grocery delivery service in the US to 400+ cities; the expansion will more than double Uber's US coverage; the company has partnered with 1.2k Albertsons Companies locations, which include Safeway, Jewel-Osco, and others
CNN announces streaming service CNN+, promising live and on-demand content not available on cable; the company plans to offer 8-12h of new topical and lifestyle content per day; CNN does not plan an ad-supported tier at launch; pricing undisclosed, slated to launch during Q1 2022
Snap acquires 3D and AR commerce company Vertebrae; terms undisclosed; Vertebrae enables brands to create 3D models of their products so a customer can visualize a chair in a room, glasses on their face, etc; clients include Adidas and Toyota; previously raised $10M
Zoom to launch an app store with team-building games. Zoom is integrating third-party apps into its video conferences; will launch with 50 in-call apps. Zoom already has a marketplace that has 1,500 apps, but they need to be downloaded and added to meetings separately
Peloton has announced plans for an in-app video game in which users control a rolling wheel by pedaling instead of following instructors classes
Clubhouse is no longer invite only. There were 10M people on the waiting list
đ Good reads
Product Benchmarks 2021, by Product Collective
Beyond Silicon Valley - The 6 cities building the future of global tech
Laws of UX outside the screens. Mayan Sachan shares how UX principles can be applied in digital and real-world
Zuckerbergâs metaverse. Facebookâs CEO talks to The Verge on why the social network is becoming âa metaverse companyâ
Status, wealth, & power: Network Effects demand a new Social Contract. A brilliant reflection on how Network Effects are defining the future of labour, and how society should respond, by JamesâCurrier
The 30 best bits of advice from The Review podcast. First Round Review is a regular here in el producto. This time, they have put together a collection of their best, and the results go from big, thought-provoking ideas, to put-to-use-right-away tactics that wonât disappoint
Have a great weekend.
Angel
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