el producto #282 🚀
Meta cloud gaming, iOS 16 preview, Klarna cards, Startup investment trends, Web3 UX, Launching new products, Layoffs and tech industry slowdown & more
🎰 The week in figures
$725M: Acrisure closes $725M equity funding, valued at $23B; Acrisure provides customers with intelligence-driven financial services solutions for insurance and reinsurance, real estate services, cyber services, and asset and wealth management; the company has grown revenue from $38M to more than $3.5B in over eight years with locations throughout the world
$500M: Binance announced that it raised $500M to invest in Web3; the company stated that it is looking for projects "with the potential to drive the growth of the Web3 ecosystem; such projects may include infrastructure, NFTs, and DAOs; Binance estimates there are currently around 300,000 to 500,000 active Web3 developers, a number it hopes to grow substantially
$300M: Mohalla Tech raised ~$300M at ~$5B valuation from Google, Times Group, and Temasek; Mohalla Tech is the parent of the short video app ShareChat; ShareChat has 180M MAUs and had accelerated growth after India banned TikTok
$268M: German digital banking and stock and crypto trading fintech firm Trade Republic secured $268M (€250M) in a Series C extension funding round; Trade Republic’s USP lies in offering an entry point into EFT and stock trading to individuals, with many trading and settlement fees waived off
$175M: Guild raises $175M at a $4.4B valuation; Guild provides an online education platform with a focus on upskilling frontline employees
$142M: DevOps performance tracking startup Coralogix raised a $142M Series D; total funding is $238M; customers of the Israel-based startup including Capgemini, Monday and Masterclass use the platform to manage logs, metrics, and security data
$100M: Devo, a cybersecurity platform that uses AI to scan for malicious activity, announced a $100M funding round that values the startup at $2B; the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm developed a platform for businesses that collects data about their technology assets and uses machine learning to scan for breach attempts
+53%: GoTo Group reported Q1 earnings: gross revenue was ~$357M (up 53% y/y); adjusted loss was ~$370M (loss increased 185% y/y); the Indonesian company raised $1.1B when went public earlier this year, its cash balance as of March 31 is ~$1.85B
+24%: Salesforce released its Q1 earnings, beating analysts’ expectations across the board; the company reported total revenue of $7.41B, up 24% YoY; subscription and support revenues came in at $6.86B, up 24% YoY; Professional services and other revenues were $0.56B, up 30% YoY; Net income was $28M or 3 cents a share, down from $469M reported last year
-32%: Rideshare startup Swvl plans to cut 32% of staff (about 400 people); the platform is focused on the Middle East North Africa region; Swvl’s market cap is down ~50% from when went public via SPAC earlier this year; management has set a target of positive cash-flow by next year
-10%: in an email to Tesla executives, Elon Musk said to pause all hiring, citing his bad feeling about the economy; Musk also said headcount would need to be reduced 10%; on Tuesday, Musk told all employees they were expected to be in-office for +40 hours a week: “anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean minimum) of 40 hours per week”
📰 What’s going on
Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg is stepping down after 14 years at the company; she will be succeeded by Javier Olivan; Olivan was instrumental in Facebook’s Internet.org initiative and the company’s WhatsApp acquisition
Meta is testing an internal cloud gaming service for its Quest 2 headset; the first-party system would allow users to access PC VR games without third-party extensions or a VR-compatible computer; Meta does not currently allow cloud gaming on its Quest 2 HMD
Meta announced a series of updates and new features for its Reels products across both Facebook and Instagram, including a Sound Sync feature on Facebook Reels and support for longer Instagram Reels of up to 90 seconds, instead of 60 seconds; it also rolled out more creative tools, including bringing Instagram’s Story stickers to Reels
Apple's iOS 16 said to include a revamped lockscreen with widgets, updated Messages and Health apps; according to leaks, iOS users may expect to see new features like an upgraded lockscreen as well as updated first-party apps, including Messages and Health, updates to notifications, iPad multitasking features and more
Using an anonymizing shell corporation, Apple allegedly filed a trademark for an XR operating system; "Realityo Systems LLC" has filed a trademark in Deleware for "RealityOS;" the operating system would likely run the company's rumored MR headset; this would not be the first time Apple filed for a trademark under a pseudonym: Apple opened "Yosemite Research LLC" to trademark the 2014 Yosemite release of its MacOS
Square will begin testing Apple's Tap to Pay this summer; currently, iPhone users can pay in stores or on the go by tapping their iPhones to dedicated NFC-reading hardware made by companies like Square; the forthcoming Tap to Pay feature will allow sellers to collect payments directly through an app on their phone that makes use of newly activated hardware included in iPhones, eliminating the need for separate hardware
Stripe merchants will be able to use Affirm's buy now, pay later services as part of a new partnership between the two fintech firms; Stripe merchants will be able to split purchases ranging from $50-$30,000 into installments; the partnership will enable Affirm to offer its BNPL services to Stripe's 3.1M customers
Twitter is said to be restructuring to focus on user growth and personalization, which is impacting staffing for other features like Spaces, newsletters and Communities
Google is reportedly working on adding cough and snore detection to Android and/or Pixel mobiles; the new capability could become a bedside monitoring feature on Android devices
Amazon will roll out an invite-based system on high-demand products such as the Playstation 5 (PS5) and X Box Series X and S consoles; certain items will have an "available by invitation" label on their product detail page; consumers will have to ask for an invitation, which will be sent to their email alongside instructions to complete their purchase
Klarna launched a physical card for its U.S. customers; consumers will be able to use the card at all stores that accept Visa; they will be able to split their purchases into four installments, which must be paid every two weeks; Klarna says the card will be free for the first year, after which it will come with a $3.99 monthly fee; over 1M consumers joined its waitlist after it was opened in February; the card gained more than 300,000 users in the U.K. in its first month following its launch in January
Coinbase is extending its hiring freeze and rescinding some offers; in a memo, the Chief People Officer cited crypto market volatility that may test the company; all impacted workers were notified on Thursday
Pinterest bought The Yes, a startup that uses AI to develop a personalized shopping feed for consumers based on their preferences, for an undisclosed price
GM’s Cruise autonomous driving unit has received approval for charging fares for driverless rides in San Francisco; the cars can operate only on certain streets, will be limited to 30 miles per hour and will operate between 10 PM and 6 AM
The New York State Senate approved a State Assembly-authored bill banning carbon-powered proof-of-work mining operations; if approved by the governor, the ban would last for two years while the state conducts an environmental study on the impacts of crypto mining
📚 Good reads
Web3 has a user experience problem. We can’t change the world if nobody understands what we’re talking about
Launching and measuring success for new product bets. Tanguy Crusson shares why it’s tempting to build your business by following the steps of the AARRR funnel, but it’s best to approach your customer journey slightly differently
What the hell is happening in the Tech Industry? Massive layoffs, all time low venture capital investment, debate whether it is a crash or not… why is it happening and what’s the endgame?
🔮 Emerging trends
Crunchbase News rounded up the top sectors in which seed-stage startups received funding in 2022. Over 1,000 seed and pre-seed funding rounds in U.S.-based companies were analyzed. The top sectors identified include Metaverse, NFTs, Neurotech, Alternative proteins, and Fitness. Key funding per sector:
Metaverse :
Metaverse fashion developer Space Runners secured $10M in a seed funding round in March
Digital collection showroom developer Cyber raised $6.7M
Virtual worlds producer Mirror World secured $4M
NFTs:
Yuga Labs, the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, nabbed $450M in funding
NFT collectibles data aggregator CryptoSlam roped in $9M
Sports prediction game platform Stakes received $5.3M
Neurotech:
Depression treatment brain-computer interface developer Inner Cosmos raised $10M in March
BrainLuxury, a brain performance optimization supplement manufacturer, raised $8.1M
Sleep health monitoring wearable startup Earable raked in $6.6M in January
Alternative proteins:
Change Foods, a company producing cheese using microbes and precision fermentation, received $12M
Ultra-high chickpea protein producer NuCier raised $4.5M
Fitness:
AI-powered personal fitness training platform Altis nabbed $10M across two seed rounds
Zygo, a startup developing audio headsets for swimmers, raked in $4.5M
Have a great week!
Angel
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