el producto #274 🚀
Uber super app, Google Maps updates, Customer interview questions, Decision-making frameworks, Tesla robots, Meta 3D ads and virtual currency & more
🎰 The week in figures
$2.55B: Health and sleep tracking startup Oura has raised an undisclosed amount of funding at a $2.55B valuation; the company claims it has sold over 1M Oura Rings, it's monitoring device that now costs $300 with a $5.99 a month subscription
$1.5B: One-click checkout company Bolt Financial announced it acquired crypto company Wyre Payments for a reported $1.5B; Bolt was founded in 2014 and last raised at an $11B valuation; Wyre provides APIs for developers to create crypto to fiat currency transactions
$1B: Shein, the fast fashion e-commerce company, is aiming to raise $1B at a $100B valuation; in 2021 Shein was the second most downloaded shopping app in the US following Amazon; installs grew 68% y/y; the company saw rapid growth despite facing scrutiny for its lack of supply chain transparency and potential damage to the environment
$805M: Indian startup VerSe Innovation raised $805M in Series J at ~$5B valuation; VerSe Innovation has developed three apps that have gained popularity in smaller Indian cities; Dailyhunt aggregates news across 15 languages, catering to over 350 million users, Short video app Josh has over 150M users on its platform with 50M content creators; the platform averages 80B video views on its app each month
$650M: Climeworks AG has raised $650M, the largest round ever raised by a carbon removal company; the funding will be used to build a 40K ton capture plant over the next three years to support its goal of capturing more than a million tons of CO₂ a year by 2030; currently, their plant in Iceland can only capture ~4K tons each year
$350M: Blockchain developer Near Protocol raised a $350M; Near Protocol’s market cap exceeded $10B, the protocol’s last raise was a $150M round in January; Near Protocol is a sharded, proof-of-stake, layer-one blockchain designed for high speed and low fee transactions
$330M: Berlin-based Grover secured $330M Series C at over $1B valuation; the startup rents smartphones and other popular gadgets, and lists over 3,000 products, including smartphones from Apple and Xbox gaming systems
$240M: Grafana Labs, known for its Grafana open-source visualization tools, raised $240M Series D; the company did not disclose a new valuation, but at the time of its previous $220 Series C round, it was pegged at $3B; beyond Grafana’s visualization tools and dashboards, the company also offers tools like Loki for logging, Tempo for tracing, and Mimir for metrics
$240M: Retail rewards startup Fetch Rewards raised $240M at a $2.5B valuation; Fetch has raised $578M total; according to the company, partners include Burger King, Unilever, Safeway, and over 600 others; users can earn rewards by submitting receipts to the digital loyalty and marketing platform
$200M: Crypto exchange Binance.US closed an inaugural $200M round at a $4.5B pre-money valuation; this is an affiliate of the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance; global exchanges like FTX and Binance have both launched separate U.S. divisions to focus on meeting U.S. regulations; Binance.US currently offers crypto spot trading services for retail and institutional clients
$152M: Jüsto, a Mexico City-based online grocer, raised $152M Series B to pursue the $600B online grocery market in Latin America; the 2019-founded company has now raised over $250M to date; its business model was tailor-made for the pandemic, and revenues grew 16x throughout 2020; it recently expanded to Peru and São Paulo, Brazil; between all of its markets, it claims 100,000 users, a figure it expects to grow to over a million by year’s end
$150M: Blockchain gaming startup Improbable raised $150M token sale, valuing the company at $1B; this deal is marked down from a previously reported $2B valuation; the company was founded in 2012 and claims to have built technology to allow 10,000 users to play simultaneously
$150M: Healthcare data analytics company Clarify Health raised a $150M Series D at a $1.4B valuation; Clarify’s database includes information about more than 300M patients and has been used to help a claimed 65M patients; Clarify customers include payers, providers, and life sciences companies
$88M: Blockchain security company CertiK raised $88M at a $2B valuation; the company has raised $230M to date; CertiK provides security audits, KYC, penetration testing and a monitoring service for crypto projects
3,236: Amazon’s satellite internet division, Project Kuiper, announced it has booked 83 rocket flights over the next five years to launch 3,236 satellites; Amazon is partnering with Arianespace, ULA, and Blue Origin for the launches; incumbent competitor SpaceX Starlink has already launched more than 2,000 satellites
11.4%: Berkshire Hathaway has acquired approximately 11.4% stake in HP for about $2B; this is Buffett’s third major purchase in the last 40 days; HP recently acquired remote conferencing company Poly for $3.3B
📰 What’s going on
Uber is planning on piloting long-distance travel bookings on its UK app in 2022, integrating trains, coaches and flights; Uber is trying to turn its ride-hailing service into a travel “Super App” that could eventually include hotel bookings; pre-COVID, ~15% of Uber rides were to airports
Twitter is adding an edit button for Twitter Blue paid subscribers over the next few months; the edit button will allow users to fix typos and change tweets without sacrificing engagement; former CEO Jack Dorsey was against an edit button
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced Elon Musk has been appointed to Twitter’s Board; Parag praised Elon as both a passionate believer and intense critic of Twitter; Elon wrote that he is looking forward making significant improvements in the coming months
Spotify began testing a new “Featured Creators” feature that promotes popular user-created playlists in the app alongside its own; it also began testing a TikTok-like feed for music discovery
Google updated its Google Maps app with a number of new features, including the ability to get directions from Maps directly on the Apple Watch; other updates included a new pinned trip widget and toll prices
Google removed dozens of apps from the Google Play Store for harvesting data; the apps included an SDK that AppCensus security researchers described as malware; the code in violation was developed by Panamanian company Measurement Systems, reportedly linked to a Virginia defense contractor providing cyber intelligence security for U.S. national security agencies
Google Maps is using AI and its Duplex conversational technology to update the hours of businesses that are out of date; Google says it's on track to update the hours for more than 20M businesses globally in six months; the automatic updates can help "keep up with the pace of change" since pandemic-related restrictions took hold
Google launched a US beta of Multisearch, a feature that lets users search using both images and text; for example, a user could take a photo of a dining set and add the words "coffee table" to search for a matching set; the feature is now available within the Google Lens part of the Google app on iOS and Android; the tool is currently experimental and aimed at shopping experiences
Alphabet’s Wing drone delivery division is launching service in Dallas-Fort Worth on April 7; this will be the first major U.S. city with a drone delivery operation; Wing aircraft will make home deliveries for partners including Walgreens
Apple's 33rd annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC 22) will take place June 6-10; it will be held virtually, and a few developers and students will get the chance to watch the keynote address on June 6 from Apple Park
Meta Platforms has partnered with VNTANA to launch 3D advertising on Facebook and Instagram; the key benefit of using augmented reality technology for advertising is that it brings products to life in 3D, enhancing the way consumers and businesses interact on social media platforms
LinkedIn engineers created an AI tool that recommends which accounts sales teams should target for renewals and upsells; the AI tool was combined with a second tool that explains why the system reached those conclusions; when combined, the two systems helped LinkedIn raise its subscription revenue by 8%
Tesla aims to start producing its Optimus humanoid robot "hopefully" in 2023, Elon Musk said. The company has yet to introduce a working prototype of the robot, which Musk claimed will "transform the world," more so than even Tesla's EVs
Tesla announced plans for a futuristic robotaxi and unveiled a Cybertruck prototype during the opening event of its new Giga Texas factory on Thursday; the company has opened its largest giga-factory in Austin, which is also its new corporate HQ after it re-located from Palo Alto in December
Dropbox Shop, which lets content creators launch their own e-commerce storefronts, entered the open beta phase;creators can sell various content, including digital art, fitness tutorials, and educational material
Snapchat launched a new Lens that teaches users American Sign Language via fingerspelling; the company partnered with SignAll and is using computer vision and machine learning to recognize users’ hand gestures
Pinterest updated its use policy to prohibit ads and posts that feature climate misinformation; in previous years, Pinterest has blocked anti-vaccination content, political ads, and weight loss ads; Pinterest monetizes exclusively with ads
Robinhood officially rolled out its cryptocurrency wallet to over 2M customers that have been on the waiting list for the digital product
Tata Group launched its new Tata Neu super app to help the Indian conglomerate compete against Amazon and Flipkart; Tata Neu will let consumers shop from all of Tata Group's brands, including online grocer BigBasket and electronics retailer Croma; the total consumer base among all the brands in Tata’s portfolio is 120M; it will launch a membership program where consumers can earn "NeuCoins," which are worth one Indian rupee
📚 Good reads
Why China's version of email marketing is so effective, by Connie Chan. Private traffic, a CRM strategy that emphasizes two-way conversations, could double as a crash course in how to bring community into the product experience
Decentralization for Web3 builders: principles, models, how- byMiles Jennings. Decentralizing the internet has been hard to do. When contrasted against the well-established efficiency and stability of centralized systems, decentralized systems have struggled to keep pace. Here are some specific models and principles of decentralization gleaned from the past several years of working closely with crypto founders, to guide web3 builders tackling what decentralization means in practice
A tactical guide to making better decisions when starting and scaling companies, by decision strategy consultant Annie Duke, for First Round. In this article Duke shares: a) 6 mental models to sharpen your personal skills as a founder, and level up decision hygiene company-wide, especially as you scale, b) frameworks for all the decisions founders face, from hiring and firing, to product strategy and customer discovery, c) advice for taking on the “bet the company” decisions, including navigating acquisition offers and making the painful choice to wind things down
What are the best customer interview questions? By Teresa Torres
🔮 Emerging trends
Meta’s financial arm, Meta Financial Technologies, is exploring the creation of a virtual currency for the metaverse. The currency, referred to as “Zuck Bucks” by Meta employees, is not expected to be a cryptocurrency based on the blockchain. Meta aims to introduce in-app tokens that the company would control, like those used in gaming apps like Roblox. Earlier this year, Meta abandoned its Diem cryptocurrency project following heavy regulatory scrutiny of the project. More:
The company is also considering introducing “social tokens” or “reputation tokens,” which could be issued as rewards for meaningful contributions to Facebook groups
Meta is also exploring creator coins for influencers on its Instagram platform
The company is also exploring traditional financial services focusing on offering small business loans at lower rates. Meta has held talks with potential lending partners
Meta has been seeking alternative revenue streams and exploring new features that would attract and retain users
In February, Meta shares dropped more than 25% after it reported that users were spending more time on other platforms like TikTok
The company has lost more than $220B in market value
Last month, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would be adding NFTs to its Instagram platform
Have a great week ahead!
Angel
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