Daily Crunch: US law enforcement charges SBF with fraud as he awaits extradition after Bahamas arrest

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Hello there, Crunchianistas.

Haje is decorating the house with a candle to celebrate Saint Lucia. He is visiting his parents and there is a power cut. It is a cold, frozen European in December. Christine is like a villain in warm weather. We would be looking at a lot of pain if that was in Celsius.

Alright, that's all about the weather. The wind is blowing in the world of tech.

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Trading suits for stripes: After much fodder all over the place of why Sam Bankman-Fried was not behind bars sooner for his involvement in the collapse of FTX, Darrell reports that SBF was arrested in the Bahamas amid fraud charges brought by several U.S. government entities. We’re sure this is just the beginning.
• Don’t let them get away: If it’s not easy, customers are going to move on. That’s why TheyDo wants companies to own their customers’ journeys and helps large companies get organized with the customer in mind, Mike reports.
• Blue and gray and gold, oh my!: You’ve probably noticed that Twitter has gotten more colorful lately. That’s on purpose. We can’t keep up with it either, so thankfully we have Ivan to break down what all those check marks and badges mean. More check mark news in the Big Tech section.

Startups and VC

The company raised $50 million in a Series A round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Shreve tells Kyle that the fresh capital will be used to improve the core product offering.

According to Paul, the trillion-dollar construction industry isn't known for its efficiency and is accused of failing to move with the times. There is a lot of evidence that the construction industry is being modernized. Foundamental, a German VC firm, today unveiled its second fund, targeting $85 million at early-stage construction tech startups globally and building on the success it has seen from its first fund, which closed back in 2019.

We have more for you.

3 methods for valuing pre-revenue novel AI startups

The Berkus method, scorecard valuation and venture capital are the most commonly used frameworks for costing pre-revenue startups.

When an artificial intelligence product scales to millions of users, it may not work at the minimum viable product stage.

In an article that identifies regulatory issues and shares tactics designed tominimize the number of uncertain variables, Long identifies some of the limitations of using traditional means to value pre money.

3 methods for valuing pre-revenue novel AI startups

Three more from the team.

The membership program helps startup teams get ahead of the game. This is where you can sign up. You can get a 15% discount on an annual subscription.

Big Tech Inc.

The iPadOS 16.2 and macOS Ventura 13.1 are also available for all users. He has a look at all of the new features of the update, including improved data security, Live Activities on the home screen, a feature for Apple Music, and a new collaborative whiteboard app called Freeform.

Apple confirmed that an update it released two weeks ago fixed a zero-day security vulnerability that it now says was actively exploited, according to a piece written by the author.

We have more for you.

• Bye bye, check mark: Christine just got the coveted blue Twitter check last year after trying for 10 years, and now it’s going away. Rebecca writes that Twitter will remove all legacy verifications “in a few months.” Christine took a photo of her profile for posterity, just to show she was at one time notable.
• Bye bye, virtual reality world: “Westworld” fans need to set up a binge watch party soon because the show, along with others, may soon be removed from HBO Max, writes Lauren.
• Hello, new valuation: It’s hard to know what private companies are worth, so it can be a treat when one company tells us. And while a big valuation was the goal for 2021, companies were being more realistic in 2022. In this case, Romain writes about why Checkout‏‎.com lowered its internal valuation.
• Hello to compensation: Uber’s food delivery business settled with over 4,000 dismissed couriers in Spain and agreed to pay severance to those let go ahead of the country’s labor reform law, Natasha L reports.
• Bye bye and hello: Paul writes that Microsoft will sunset the Soundscape 3D audio app, but it will release the code in an open source format for developers.