Daily Crunch: Truth Social says federal grand jury probe could block its planned SPAC merger

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Greetings, friends. For the past week, I was OOTO. I have a hot mess in my inbox, but the beach was very relaxing, and I am still thinking of those watermelon margaritas. My partner in crime, Haje, is still enjoying his adventures, but we have a full day of news to dive into, so shall we start?

If you bring a friend, they'll be able to attend the event for free. We have a two-for-one flash sale on July 4.

Fourth of July flash sale: Two-for-one passes to TechCrunch Disrupt

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Truth Social SPAC hits a snag: A New York–based federal grand jury sent subpoenas to members of Digital World’s board, Ivan reported. That’s the special purpose acquisition company getting ready to acquire Donald Trump’s media group responsible for Truth Social. According to an SEC filing, the subpoenas are an effort to gather more information about “Digital World’s S-1 filings, communications with or about multiple individuals, and information regarding Rocket One Capital.” We’re sure there is more to the story, so stay tuned.
• Today’s car infatuation is brought to you by the letters ID.AERO: Volkswagen has us drooling over its new concept car that, Jaclyn writes, will be the basis for the car maker’s first electric vehicle. If you can’t get enough of cars, we suggest subscribing to Kirsten’s The Station newsletter.
• Plastic packaging be gone: Over in the UK, Magical Mushroom Company is conjuring up a replacement for plastic packages using mycelium, also known as the root structure of a mushroom, mixed with agricultural waste, Mike reports. The company raised £3 million to build a production facility that will churn out packaging that will biodegrade in 45 days. For those of you not keen on mycelium being used to make healthier meat products, you might like this use a bit better.

Startups and VC

Stardust is the first thing we should start with. The Supreme Court overturned the case. We still don't know what all of this means, even though some states have triggered laws that went into effect. That includes what to do with data from period- tracking apps, should that become an avenue for prosecution in states that ban abortion. The story looks at how they are going to keep that promise.

Eloho Omame was named partner at the firm. TIDE Africa Fund II is looking for $150 million in capital commitments. Tage writes that this is a move by the company to focus on pre-seed startup. FirstCheck Africa is an early-stage firm that invests in pre-seed and seed-stage companies with at least one female founder or co- founder.

True Wealth Venture, led by Sara Brand and Kerry Rupp, closed on $35 million in new capital for their second fund. True Wealth's investments are still operational, which is no small feat for a group of early-stage startups that have had to weather a global pandemic.

There's more ahead.

• Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A: Israel-based Incredibuild is getting its game on with $35 million in new Series B funding, Ingrid writes.
• Someone threw water on the hot fintech sector: What’s a fintech worth these days? Glad you asked. Alex has that answer for you over in TechCrunch+ land, and some of it isn’t good. In fact, Mary Ann wrote about another fintech unicorn, Amount, which said today it had to lay off about 18% of its workforce.
• Solving a last-mile problem: AI Squared raised $6 million to help companies adopt artificial intelligence in a low-code way, Dominic-Madori reports.

Right-size your tech stack to withstand the downturn

The image is called Aguus and it opens in a new window.

A closer look at your tech stack is a good place to start looking for savings.

Companies growing at scale are left paying for unused software licenses or automatically renewing contracts because early-stage startup don't have a formal purchasing process.

David Campbell says the question is not whether there is waste or inefficiency, but how much. Campbell shows how to assess startup software spending.

Right-size your tech stack to withstand the downturn

Techcrunch+ is a membership program that helps startup teams. You can join here.

Big Tech Inc.

You will want to keep this one pinned. The judge in California ruled that the lawsuit could proceed. According to Ivan, a marketer claimed to be friends with one of the company's co- founders and that she was asked to help out with a failed shopping app. She didn't have a formal agreement with the social media company, but she was expecting compensation for the rescue effort and some of its features. That is a #pinterest fail.

The metal is being sent to the moon by Rocket Lab in order to establish a lunar space station. The launch of the CAPSTONE will take place on June 28.

The decision to sell to a group of private equity firms was made last week. The company turned down a previous offer and one of its investors was not happy about it. Ron writes that some industry analysts are not surprised by the new move and that it could bring some relief to the company.

It is time to move the hangout over to the chat. If you used Hangouts on your mobile device, you may have seen a notification that says you need to use the chat app or email service. It was easier for consumers to use the chat feature. It was more of a feature for businesses before. Before Hangouts hangs up on you, it's better to transfer your data.