el producto #283 đ
Apple's WWDC announcements, Designing Token economies, Amazon's virtual try-on, Calm growth story, Telegram subscription, Climatetech funding & more
đ° The week in figures
$13.7B: PitchBook data points to investment in climatetech remaining strong in the coming months as global awareness of the climate crisis increases; global climate tech startups have raised $13.7B in VC investment across 369 deals so far this year, putting them on pace to match or surpass last yearâs total. This week I also had the opportunity to talk to a group of MBA students about this very same topic (and a bit of fintech) - you can find my talk notes here
$2.35B: for 5 years, the worldâs largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance served as a conduit for the laundering of at least $2.35B in illicit funds, a Reuters investigation has found
$220M: Apprenticeship matching platform Multiverse raised $220M Series D at a $1.7B valuation; the startup raised a $130M Series C in September 2021; the company describes itself as an alternative to college and corporate training and has enterprise customers like Verizon, KPMG and Microsoft
$206M: Ecommerce and online marketing focused neobank Juni raised a $100M Series B, and $106M in debt; the company provides credit cards and financing to help companies accelerate advertising efforts
$120M: Financial customer data analysis startup Backbase raised âŹ120M at a âŹ2.5B valuation from Motive Partners; the company claims it helps 150 banking providers like Citizenâs Bank, NBB and WSECU to better engage banking customers
$100M: Small business financial data connector startup Codat raised a $100M Series C at an ~$825M valuation; Codatâs API helps businesses securely share financial data between applications and with partners; the London company is targeting $30M ARR by the end of 2022
$100M: Nfinite, a French SaaS platform that develops 3D images for e-commerce merchants, raised $100M at an undisclosed valuation; Nfinite says its virtual assets are "compatible" with Web2 and Web3 applications
$100M: Math and science education platform PhysicsWallah raised a $100M Series A at a $1.1B valuation; the company claims 6M+ students use the platform; the Indian company has ~14K lectures across available on the web and its Android app
$100M: Ecuadorian payments infrastructure company Kushki has raised $100M in an extension to its Series B round, more than doubling its valuation to $1.5B
-57%: Spotify disclosed their podcast business had âŹ200M in revenue in 2021 (up 300% y/y); the podcast business had negative gross margin of -57%, while music had a 28.3% gross margin; Spotify monetized 14% of podcast listening on the platform and believes it can achieve gross margins of 40-50% in the next 5 years
-15%: British online car retailer Cazoo will reduce its staff by~15%; the company will also delay investment and freeze hiring; the companyâs head count is ~3.5K
đ° Whatâs going on
Apple announced new features and products at its WWDC event; highlights:
a 20% smaller MacBook Air,
a Buy-Now-Pay-Later Apple Pay feature
an expansive CarPlay update
iOS16 including a new customizable lock screen interface, Live Activities to manage notifications, and the ability to edit and undo messages in the Messages app
four new watch faces and new health-tracking features like atrial fibrillation tracking added to WatchOS 9
updates to Home app and making its Fitness app available to all iPhone users not just Apple Watch users.
a new M2 chip, Apple's next-generation silicon, delivers an 18% faster CPU, 35% more powerful GPU, and 50% more memory bandwidth than the M1; it will be included in the new 13-inch MacBook Pro
MacOS 13 Ventura adds an improved multitasking tool Stage Manager, along with support for password replacement called Apple Passkeys in Safari; its Continuity Camera allows the iPhone to function as a webcam using a special clip
iPadOS 16Â will add the Weather app and new multitasking and collaboration features
Apple decided to manage all aspects of lending for its âbuy now, pay laterâ offering; its Apple Financing LLC division will oversee credit checks and make decisions on loans for its Apple Pay Later serviceÂ
Apple is killing the password; Appleâs iOS 16 and macOS Ventura will introduce passwordless login for apps and websites
Apple plans to release a giant iPad and larger Macbook Air laptop in 2023, according to trusted analysts; the company is reportedly building a 14.1-inch iPad Pro and a 15-inch MacBook Air, for possible releases early next year
Twitter launched Product Drops, a new feature that will notify users when a product they're interested in is set to be released; when users click the "remind me" button located below tweets, they'll receive a notification 15 minutes before and at the specified time the product is being released; Twitter has partnered with a limited number of retailers, including Dior and The Home Depot, to pilot the feature
Twitter has provided Elon Musk with access to its âfirehoseâ which contains all the tweets passing through the network; this action was in response to Elon Muskâs legal action concerning his disbelief of Twitterâs estimate that 5% of accounts are bots; Musk has made it clear that he sees inaccurate account data as a non-starter for $44B acquisition to progress
Uber and Waymo announced a long-term strategic partnership; this integration will allow Waymo Viaâs autonomous trucks to be used on Uber Freight brokerage; Waymo said it will reserve billions of miles of trucking capacity for Uber Freight
Link-in-bio startup Linktree launched a directory for users to add integrations with partners like Cameo, OpenSea, Typeform, PayPal and SoundCloud; the service, known as Linktree Marketplace, will continue to add integrations known as Link Apps; the Australian startup last raised a $110M round at a $1.3B valuation in March
Google is making changes to Chrome and its open-source browser Chromium that will impact ad-blocker functionality; the change is coming via its new extension standard Manifest V3; this new rollout will remove the Web Request feature, which Google says creates security risks
Meta is shifting its plans to release consumer-facing AR glasses to tighten its purse strings; Meta no longer intends to sell its "Project Nazare" AR glasses as a consumer product (predicted to be Metaâs first AR glasses and scheduled to debut in 2024); the announcement highlights the company's efforts to scale back its hefty investment in AR/VR technologies
Meta is re-considering paying for news from publishers for its Facebook News section; the company currently pays out tens of millions combined to publishers including the Washington Post, the New York Times and the WSJ
iOS users in the U.S. or Canada can now try on shoes, shirts, and eyewear using Amazon's "Virtual Try-On" program; users can see how different shoe styles may look before purchasing by directing their iPhone camera toward their feet; customers can also use the program to virtually sample a selection of shirts and eyeglasses
ByteDanceâs VR unit Pico prepares US expansion; TikTokâs corporate parent, ByteDance, has started to assemble a team of Pico employees on the West Coast and has also been approaching VR content producers; Pico was one of a number of Chinese VR startups with a promising product but little if any chance to bring it to Western audiences before ByteDance acquired it in August
TikTok is adding a new screen time limit feature that lets users schedule their own reminders to take a break; the rollout also adds a new in-app dashboard with stats about the amount of time spent on the app, how often it's opened, and day and night time usage
PayPal users can now transfer their cryptocurrency from PayPal to and from other wallets and exchanges, making the payments giant one of a growing number of fintech companies adding crypto capabilities; the feature is being released to some U.S. users; PayPal customers could already buy and sell bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash and litecoin in the app, including using the crypto at checkout on some purchases
Microsoft is launching a new Xbox App to play games on smart TVs without a console; the games will be streamable through the cloud on 2022 Samsung monitors and smart TVs; the app launches on June 30 for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in 27 countries
Telegram is launching a subscription service later this month that will offer premium extra, like the ability to view âextra largeâ documents, media and stickers sent by Premium users, or add premium reactions if theyâve already been pinned to a message
Grab to be fully powered by its own mapping technology by Q3 2022; Grab launched GrabMaps as a new enterprise service, with GrabMaps already fully powering Grab services in 7 out of the 8 countries it operates in
The European Parliament ruled that the USB Type-C port will be standard for all EU mobile phones, tablets and cameras by Fall 2024; the charging speed will be harmonized and buyers will be able to choose to buy new devices without charging equipment
Salesforce's launching a pilot of NFT Cloud, a new platform for buying and selling these crypto assets; âSalesforce is seeing interest from CMOs and CDOs who are asking for help entering web3, and we are enthusiastic about bringing new innovations, products and offerings to our customers in a way that allows them to build and maintain meaningful relationships with their customers,â said Adam Caplan, SVP of Emerging Technology at Salesforce
Mastercard partnered with The Sandbox, Immutable X, Candy Digital, Mintable, Spring, Nifty Gateway, and MoonPay to allow the purchase of NFTs using debit/credit cards; the collaborative effort will help foster the adoption and growth of the NFT community, enabling customers to buy NFTs on the metaverse platforms
Bueno is a collection of no-code tools launched to help NFT creators quickly generate NFT collections and deploy smart contracts; the tools allow users to upload assets, control rarity, set rules, etc
đ Good reads
The $2B Calm rocketship: disassembling the growth engine that powered the world's first mental health unicorn to $150M+ in ARR and 4M+ paying users
[Podcast] Where it Happens podcast interviews Ryan Hoover, the founder of Product Hunt. They explore how the world's most disruptive innovations begin with just one small insight, share why successful founders need to embrace their niche, and why the best products & brands always seem obvious in hindsight. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify & Overcast
[Podcast] Lenny Rachitsky launched a new podcast. Lenny interviews world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover concrete, actionable, and tactical advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product. The first episodes feature Julie Zhuo, Shreyas Doshi and April Dunford, and are totally recommended
đź Emerging trends
Designing Token Economies. Should protocols behave more like companies or countries. What are the competitive and cooperative dynamics at play? How important is it to own the reserve currency of [web3, the metaverse, the Great Online Game]? A dense but insightful read on the importance of Token design. Recommended for anybody with interest in working on Web3 or Blockchain spaces
How Blockchain is disrupting the future for the consumer. Blockchain is no longer limited to bitcoin trading, and investors are aware of it. Blockchain is responsible for facilitating tasks in regular lives, investing protocols that can bring passive returns compared to the savings arenas and conventional banking. Blockchain also offers banking services, CO2 accounting, and countless other services for both businesses and consumers
Have a great week!
Angel
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