el producto #284 🚀
YouTube Shorts growth, Klarna funding, Coinbase layoffs (and Binance hiring), Snapchat paid plan, eBay livestream shopping, Climate tech investment & more
Hey team,
Happy Saturday & welcome to a new edition of el producto
🎰 The week in figures
1.5B: Google disclosed that YouTube Shorts has 1.5B MAUs; third-party analyst estimates put Chinese-run competitor TikTok at 1.6B MAUs; TikTok owner Bytedance last disclosed the company had 1B MAUs in September 2021
$500M: Swedish buy now, pay later (BNPL) Klarna has held talks to raise at least $500M at a $15B valuation; Klarna raised $639M at a $45.6B valuation in June 2021
$500M: EcoVadis, a French ESG and sustainability rating assessment company, raised $500M Series C at a +$1B valuation, making it the sector's first unicorn; the company intends to use the proceeds to fuel international expansion across North America and Asia, advance its AI / ML functionality, and back strategic acquisitions; EcoVadis' platform is leveraged by over 95k companies in over 175 nations to measure and improve their sustainability impact
$231M: Grocery delivery service Rohlik raised a €220M Series D; the company claims it had €500M of revenue and 1M customers in 2021; the Czech startup differentiates itself by vertical integration, producing many of the goods it sells
$225M: Indian standardized online test and course platform Upgrad raised $225M at a reported $2.25B valuation; Upgrad partners with global universities and has served over 2M learners
$225M: Market intelligence platform AlphaSense raised a $225M Series D at a $1.7B valuation; AlphaSense has 3500 customers with $100M in ARR; customers use the platform to search thousands of premium business data sources
$200M: Berlin-based digital coaching platform CoachHub has raised $200MSeries C; CoachHub matches customers with the perfect fit amongst a network of over 3,500 certified business and well-being coaches in 90 countries across 6 continents in 60 different languages; as workplaces continue adapting to the new normal of hybrid and remote models, leaders need individual support and solutions to boost employee performance, engagement, and motivation, while keeping wellbeing at the forefront
$169M: Sales configuration software provider Zoovu raised $169M; customers including Microsoft, Nespresso and DirecTV use Zoovu to create custom bundles that work across search tools, recommendation agents and other self-serve sales channels
$161M: AI video streaming and analytics provider Pixellot raised a $161M Series D; the company claims it has helped broadcast over 2M events; Pixellot’s tooling simplifies broadcasts by providing automated features like player tracking and highlight creation
$116M: Belgium-based Odoo, which sells an open-source suite of business apps, has raised ~$116M at a ~$3.3B valuation; Odoo has ~7M users and is profitable
-18%: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced the company was reducing headcount by ~18%; he cited unmanageable employee costs in an uncertain market and Coinbase’s inability to integrate new hires productively
📰 What’s going on
Snapchat is testing Snapchat+, a paid tier allowing pinning conversations, custom icons and more; the subscription reportedly will cost $4.82 per month or $48.32 per year
A Facebook internal memo shows plans to introduce posts from unconnected sources across Instagram and Facebook into the Facebook feed, making it more like TikTok; there are also plans to re-combine Messenger into the app
Meta is experimenting with photorealistic avatars; the avatars are created in just over 3 minutes; the program would scan the user's face using her smartphone camera's front-facing depth sensor; keeping her face neutral, the program would generate an avatar capable of depicting ~65 facial expressions
Meta, Google, TikTok and Microsoft have signed the EU’s Code of Practice on Disinformation; these companies pledge to demonetize disinformation, provide more transparency on political ads and more; Apple, Amazon and Telegram did not sign
PayPal introduced another BNPL product to follow the 2020 launch of its “Pay in 4″ installment program; instead of having to pay off purchases over a 6-week period as before, “Pay Monthly” users can break down the total cost into monthly payments over a 6 to 24-month period; consumers can also use the product to make larger purchases
eBay has launched a beta version of its livestream shopping platform eBay Live; eBay's first event will be held on June 22, where users will be able to purchase rare trading cards; last month, Pinterest launched its Pinterest TV Studio app, which makes it easier for content creators to host livestreams
Apple closed a 10-year deal with Major League Soccer for digital streaming rights; Apple will show more than 1,000 soccer games; some games will be free for everyone on the Apple TV app and others will be Apple TV+ subscriber exclusives
Zoom announced an alliance with Microsoft Teams to enable users to receive cross-platform calls and share meeting data between the services without requiring extra licenses or third-party assistance; the update includes consideration towards AI, and VR features to enhance video conferencing on both platforms
Microsoft is testing casual games within Teams that allow users to play against each other during video calls; the internal testing includes games like Solitaire, Connect 4, and Wordament
Spotify acquired AI voice tech platform Sonantic for new text-to-speech capabilities; the music streamer plans to incorporate Sonantic's voice technology to create new experiences, such as providing context to its users about upcoming recommendations when they're not looking at their screens
Samsung launched Samsung Wallet, which combines Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass into one wallet; Samsung Wallet will let users store their payment cards, boarding passes, and vaccination records in one centralized location
Amazon-owned streaming service Twitch is expanding its ad incentive program for creators; the company is switching to a 55% ad revenue split from a flat-fee model; this brings Twitch’s split in-line with YouTube’s 55% split
Amazon will launch drone deliveries in Lockeford, CA sometime later in 2022 after receiving FAA approval; program will be called “Amazon Prime Air” and customers will need to be on-boarded in order to start receiving drone deliveries
Amazon will launch an online marketplace in five new markets — Belgium, South Africa, Chile, Nigeria, and Colombia — by April 2023; consumers in each country will be able to become Prime members, and merchants will be able to access Fulfillment by Amazon
Amazon's annual Prime Day will take place on July 12 and 13 and include deals on Bose, Sony, iRobot, and other tech products; early deals for Prime members kick off on June 21 and will include an "up to 55%" discount on Amazon's own devices
Google announced that it is making updates to the emails it sends out for calendar events, tweaking them to look more modern and to surface important information quickly; if an organizer updates an event, the new design will also show you the old information; Google will also tell you what’s changed about an event right up at the top, so you can immediately know what to look for
Elon Musk plans to integrate payments and crypto on Twitter to make the platform indispensable to people's lives; “I think it would make sense to integrate payments into Twitter so that it’s easy to send money back and forth. And if you have currency as well as crypto. Essentially, whenever somebody would find it useful;” Musk wants to focus on three key areas: news, entertainment, and payments on the micro-blogging site
Shared scooter company Lime announced plans to test out a fleet of custom electric motorbikes in Long Beach, California; called "Citra," the bike resembles both an e-bike and an e-scooter; it is designed for longer distances and has a top speed of 20 mph
Binance has partnered with Splyt, which will allow users to pay for taxi services and food deliveries using crypto; Binance users will have access to ride-hailing, bike-sharing services, scooters, airport transfers, public transport, and restaurant delivery in global markets
Binance is hiring and has 2,000 open positions as other crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Gemini, announce layoffs; the company is actively hiring engineers, product managers, and marketing and business development managers; FTX and Plygon are also hiring more talent
📚 Good reads
A conversation on Product-Led Growth and how to develop effective strategy to drive superior outcomes. By Oji Udezue, former VP of Product at a company that knows how to do PLG well: Calendly
What’s going on with tech layoffs? Late-stage startups hit hardest. In the brutal sweep of layoffs hitting U.S.-based tech companies this year, late-stage startups have fared the worst, according to a Crunchbase News analysis of aggregated layoff data
The median amount of funding raised for a private tech company that initiated layoffs is $203M
The median percentage of the workforce that was cut is 15%
Fintech was the sector that faced the most cuts, with companies including Klarna, TIFIN and Vise all laying off staff
But despite rampant reports of layoffs at top startups, job postings by tech companies are still strong; there are 1.6 tech jobs for every unemployed person in the sector; job postings for software developers in the U.S. are 120% higher than the 2020 pre-pandemic baseline
Mark Cuban predicts that cryptocurrency projects that do not have a valid business model will likely fail. "In stocks and crypto, you will see companies sustained by cheap, easy money — but didn't have valid business prospects - will disappear”. Cuban referenced Warren Buffet comment: "when the tide goes out, you get to see who is swimming naked"
The Cognitive Bias Codex. If you have been subscribed for a while, you know how much we love and value the importance of cognitive biases and heuristics here. In this infographic, we found the holy grail of biases. The list breaks the biases into four categories, their subcategories, and the individual biases name. Enjoy it!
🔮 Emerging trends
While venture funding across all sectors continues to drop, investment in the climate tech sector is expected to remain strong. Last year, the sector amassed $53.7B in funding, driven by huge investment in electric scooters and alternative protein startups. Few industry insiders, however, are apprehensive about the sector's prospects for this year, citing the sharp decline in cleantech funding that occurred after the 2008 recession. ESG equity funds also witnessed an investor pullback in May earlier this year. However, the times are different now, with investors optimistic about the sector's prospects in light of rising fuel prices
Co-founder of Voyager Ventures, which unveiled a $100M climate tech-focused fund in April this year, says her firm continues to invest in the sector despite the downturn
Investor Peter Gajdoš of Fifth Wall venture capital firm informed Bloomberg that although some limited partners have reduced their funding, many if not most still continue to allocate funds to climate tech ventures. He is confident that funding will remain strong, noting that “The oceans are warming up. The forests are burning. These problems are still there, and someone needs to solve them, which creates opportunities.”
The industry has remained resilient, with climate tech startups in roughly the past year pulling in $1.6B in funding. Funding in 2022 remains strong
That’s all for today! Let me know what you think by replying back to this email
Angel
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