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I'm back again on the 16th of May, like a master. I'm over-caffeinated and at a standing desk, so for the occasion, it's a dancing desk. You try to sit still while listening to this thumpin' beat.
I'm going to San Mateo this week to get the full story on which cars will be driving themselves and which companies are driving into our hearts, or off the nearest cliff. We still have a few tickets left.
We enjoyed the Chain Reaction podcasts, where they looked at how VCs can rely on spending their way into loyalty.
I have re-read my contract with TechCrunch, which states no superfluous obscenities are allowed, so I assure you that this newsletter only contains necessary swearwords. Much love and sunbeams!
The TechCrunch Top 3
- Ack — moar layoffs: Natasha and Amanda break down the current constriction in startups with a roundup of layoffs over the past week, including an analysis of what happened at Section4, Carvana, Latch, DataRobot, and the hiring freezes at some of the tech stalwarts, including Meta, Twitter and Uber. They did a roundup last week, too, in case you missed that one. Meantime, Alex analyzes overall data from layoff tracker Layoffs.FYI.
- Trouble in Unicorn Town: Over on TC+, Alex considers how SaaS valuation multiples have taken a further dive, now clocking in at single digits. As he summarizes: “A startup that sold stock last year at a 50x ARR multiple would need to double and then double again before it would have a multiple that is similar to the current public-market standard.“
- Crypto? More like crypt-no: Anita reports how 30-year-old crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried takes a swipe at Bitcoin, saying it has no future as a payments network.
Startups and VC
Every now and again, a startup raises money for a mission that makes me worry about the future. Today's theme comes from the desk of Mr. Butcher, who covered the We Are8 campaign for a social media app where users are paid to watch apps. It makes sense to get some cash for your time, but also.
I loved the interview that she did with the startup. It became the fastest company in history to reach space in November, six years after its founding, and its CEO says it's aiming for daily launches sooner than later.
Developers, developers.
- He Rose to the occasion: Kevin Rose is a partner at the VC firm True Ventures, but his latest project is an NFT startup called Proof Collective, which recently launched a much-hyped 10,000 NFT collection of pixelated owls. Lucas’ interview with the startup veteran is fascinating.
- The five-horned grocery unicorn: German Flink buys French Cajoo for around $93 million in a landmark deal valuing the latter at $5 billion, a big hike on Flink’s most recent valuation of $2.85 billion.
- The era of the horny bus: Mass transit made a rebound with the return of city life post-COVID 19, and Optibus is building tech to help it run more smoothly. It raised a Series D at a $1.3 billion valuation. Wowzahs.
- Where the food flows freely: Twiga told Annie it has begun producing horticultural produce like onions, tomatoes and watermelons on its 650 hectares of land, with an estimated output of 150,000 tons of fresh produce annually.
- Indie brands, Made in China: 404 is the HTTP error code for “page not found,” so I can only surmise that Body404 is a platform for people who can’t quite find their bodies. In any case, Rita reports it’s celebrating the diversity of Chinese indie brands.
- Charge it forward: Paypal alum trio Jeremy Jonker, Jay Ganatra and Mario Ruiz raised a $158 million fund, already investing in 11 companies out of its fund, Mary Ann reports.
- Spendin’ through the downturn: While last week was without a doubt the worst week for crypto asset performance in a very long time, that doesn’t seem to be stopping eFounders. The software-as-a-service startup studio is launching a new sub-studio called 3founders, Romain reports.
5 lessons from ‘Star Wars’ that can transform startup managers’ strategies and tactics
Natalia_80 is an image.
Joseph Campbell, a writer and literary professor, conceived of the story of the hero in the Star Wars saga.
He calls for a hero who leaves ordinary life behind after hearing the call to adventure, which is a popular metaphor among tech investors.
Scott Lenet said that Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi gave five lessons to investors.
A recurring joke in the franchise is that nearly every major character utters the line at one point or another.
These are words to live by for corporate and startup leaders, because they are an emblem of awareness and proactivity.
Techcrunch+ helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.
5 lessons from ‘Star Wars’ that can transform startup managers’ strategies and tactics
Big Tech Inc.
When you hear of Hulu, you may not think of games, but Lauren reported that it just signed a new deal that gives U.S. subscribers three months of a PC Game Pass. I don't have time to play games, so maybe it's time to brush off my gaming rig. Too busy writing about coffee and mental health.
It looks like Apple might be about to introduce the Apple iPhone models with ausb-C port. As someone who has a lot of cables in my house, that would work great for me, but Apple has resisted the pressure, so we will see what happens. Darrell will keep us updated on the shape of the crevices.
- Excuse me, Robot, are you my Uber? Uber Eats is piloting autonomous deliveries with Serve and Motional. I just hope the robots also eat their vitamins, find love, and find some time for walks in the forest.
- I wrote this, I like this: Twitter is testing a new “Liked by Author” label that appears when the creator of a tweet likes your reply, Aisha reports.
- Da, da, da, say goodbye to your data: A new report from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties argues that a real-time bidding system is “the biggest data breach ever recorded.”
- All the things, all the places, all the time, on a street near you: Uber revealed a host of new platforms and features during its global product event. The new products span Uber’s ride-hail and delivery services and aim to increase ridership, open new lines of business, incentivize drivers to go electric and more, Rebecca reports.
