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It's a new week and I'm happy. Christine went on a well-deserved break, so you will have to deal with a double dose of my bad puns.
Oh, that's right. We will have a live Q&A session tomorrow at noon on social media about what a 409A valuation is and why you should care. Two of our own,Natasha Mascarenhas andAnita Ramaswamy, will be speaking with two other people. You can remind yourself here.
The TechCrunch Top 3
- Verticals exploration: “In a market like Egypt, retailers are not okay with the concept of paying for [buy now pay later] with interest at the end of the month. They prefer it to be a part of the product prices and to feel it embedded through the order cycle, making us a bit different,” Cartona’s CEO told Tage, as the company raises $12 million.
- Snap snaps in half: Snap took a beating after releasing its Q2 earnings and investors are having none of it. The stock plummeted 40% on Friday, with investors adjusting their expectations for the once-in-vogue social media platform, Lucas reports.
- Healthcare Prime? Amazon bought medical provider One Medical for almost $4 billion. If that left you scratching your noggin, Alex, Miranda and Walter have three takes on why and how that makes sense over on TechCrunch+.
Startups and VC
Over 30 emerging countries have been invested in by Seedstars. The firm wants to invest in 100 more startups with the launch of its second emerging market seed-stage fund.
According to Rita, BAI Capital has raised $700 million to back Chinese companies that are part of the country's structural reform and those expanding overseas.
The framework's modular laptop computer was reviewed by Devin. Framework isn't necessarily trying to get people already wild for do-it-yourself to go upscale, but this is about capturing people who would like a little more flexibility and reusability but can't find it in mainstream devices" Give it a read if that sounds familiar to you.
Have a few more.
- Not-so-secure messaging: Popular video calling and messaging app JusTalk claims to be both secure and encrypted. But a security lapse has proven the app to be neither secure nor encrypted after a huge cache of users’ unencrypted private messages was found online, Zack reports.
- Working remotely or not remotely working: 77% of managers said they’d consider firing employees or cutting their pay for refusing to return to the office. Allwhere launches out of stealth to help companies manage their remote workforces better, Kyle reports.
- Sir? Is this your lead balloon? Shares of Zomato dropped as much as 14% to a record low on Monday, the end of the lock-in period for investors who had stakes in the company prior to the initial public offering, Manish reports.
- Finding all the solutions all at once: World Fund, a newcomer in climate-VC land, is taking the lead in a $128 million round for IQM, with hopes the Finnish quantum computing company will one day deliver carbon cuts by the megatonne, Harri reports.
- You’ve got the power: Perfect for people wanting to charge multiple high-draw devices at once, Anker’s new GaNPrime charger lineup is cranking out up to 150w of power I reported today.
How e-commerce brands can outlast this market downturn
Consumer confidence is down and inflation is up, which is why e- commerce startup should expand their product offerings. Is that odd?
Bennett Carroccio says that the bigger your cart size, the more likely you are to get a customer back. He worked with hundreds of companies before co-founding Canal.
Two cost centers that are the easiest to control are identified in this post.
How e-commerce brands can outlast this market downturn
Techcrunch+ is a membership program that helps startup teams. You can join here.
Big Tech Inc.
A pact has been signed between big tech and New Zealand to regulate harmful content. Critics say it is a weak attempt to regulate.
There are a lot of self-driving cars testing on the roads of Shenzhen today, Rita reported. These vehicles have not been the future-proof vehicles that tech upstarts envision. As of August 1st, Shenzhen, China will be the first place in the world to legalise self-drive cars.
Cruise is making good on its promise to launch an autonomously driving service in the Middle East. Rebecca reports that just a few weeks after launching its commercial operations in San Francisco, Cruise sent two of its self-drive vehicles to the Middle East to start mapping the city.
Always more.
- Skating to where the puck is going: NFL Game Pass is no more. NFL+ streaming service launches in the US, as Lauren reports.
- Google for Work gets tablettier: Good news for folks using Drive, Dogs, Sheets and other Google services on their tablets – Google is adding optimizations to make your life better, Aisha reports.
- Money for nothing, and Stevie Nicks for free: Creators on Facebook can now earn money even if their content uses licensed music, reports Aisha.
- Sidestepping App Store fees: A major milestone in a long-running battle, Netflix’s iOS app now has a sign-up button. It lets you sign up to its service via its website, rather than through Apple’s subscription services, where the computer giant would be taking a cut of Netflix subscription fees, reports Ivan.
- When losing data costs real money: Telecom giant T-Mobile will pay out $350 million to customers as part of a data breach settlement, Devin reports.
There are a number of R-rated films on Disney+ in the US.
