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Greetings to all of you. Haje and Christine told you last week that this week will be different because they are both taking some time off. During this typically slow news week, you will still get some tidbits from the tc. I will be sharing some of our favorite stories of the year from the two websites.
The TechCrunch Top 3
2023 will be the year electric vehicles really start to take shape: “Driven by policy initiatives from governments and billions of dollars in investment from automakers, we can safely say the EV industry has begun to take shape,” Rebecca writes.
No “Next Twitter,” he says: Devin writes that it’s perfectly okay for there not to be a replacement for the Twitter that some of us have come to know and struggle with: “The illusory choice of rushing to The Next Twitter must be rejected. Twitter was more than a product: it was a moment in time, an unrefined manifestation of digital capability that, like any such raw element, destroyed as often as it created. It was necessary and interesting, but these messy delights have messy ends. To recreate it now, with only superficial lessons learned, would be like rebuilding a fallen castle on the same shifting sands. Watch it sink!”
“It’s all in the (lack of) details”: Zack and Carly, our friendly neighborhood cybersecurity reporters, took a look back at the most badly handled data breaches of the year.
Startups and VC
In the wind turbine: Harri writes that robotics startup Aerones, which scrubs and inspects wind turbines, raised $39 million in funding from undisclosed investors.
Multifaceted fintech: Jakarta-based Akulaku raised $200 million. The fintech, which operates in the Philippines and Malaysia as well, offers a virtual credit card and installment shopping platform, as well as an investment platform and neobank, Catherine writes.
A view of money: Indian fintech Money View raised $75 million in a new round to scale its credit business and build more products, Manish writes.
High-growth startups should start de-risking their path to IPO now
It's cold, but late-stage startups need to think about going public.
While some companies delay their IPOs, others can play catch up and prepare for the time when the open market will invest again.
He looks at why sensible companies are de-risking their public path, which sectors are best positioned, and which benchmark indicates that an IPO is in their future.
High-growth startups should start de-risking their path to IPO now
There are two more and a look at the past.
Six climate tech trends: More investors are looking to get into the climate tech space, and we have some ideas about where they’ll put their money, Tim reports.
FOMO over due diligence: A few investors talk about how due diligence and investing practices suffered a bit this year and how we can learn from the biggest mistakes. Dominic-Madori and Ron have more.
Take a look back: Karan Bhasin covers what 10 investors thought about no-code/low-code startups in the first quarter of this year. We’ll be running a fresh no-code/low-code survey in Q1 2023, so if you’re an investor with an interest in the space and want to participate, reach out to us here.
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.
Struggling in India: Amazon and Uber were among a number of companies cited by research firm Fairwork India that create unfair working conditions for gig workers. Manish has more.
Balance out: If what you’re looking for is a report about how you interact with your computer, Balance has your back and might even help you work on some healthy computing habits if that’s what you’re after in the New Year, Ivan writes.
What’s coming for AI: Kyle also put on his prediction hat over the weekend to let us all know what we can expect on the AI front in 2023.
As generative AI like ChatGPT and DALL-E 2 attract investor attention, startup entrepreneurs are looking to cash in with new business models built around them. One of the more interesting ventures ...Two top Solana NFT projects, DeGods and y00ts, have announced they are leaving the blockchain in 2023, which is stirring up conflicting sentiments in the crypto community. Over the weekend, DeGods ...Aerones, a robotics startup that scrubs and inspects wind turbines so humans don’t have to, secured $38.9 million in fresh funding this month from dozens of undisclosed investors, TechCrunch ...In any region with extremely low productivity and slow economic growth, disruption will create long-term value.
With more investors looking to dip their toes in climate tech, here’s where they’re likely to put their money to work next year.
It’s time to take a look at where the digital commerce industry is headed, who the dominant players will be, what the challenges to adoption are and what brands will have to do to keep up.
The Equity crew is kicking off your week with a special episode from our sister podcast, Found, the stories behind the startups. Co-hosts Darrell Etherington and Becca Szkutak spoke with Alice Albr...2022 was the year that electric vehicles entered the mainstream. Not everyone has one, but buying an EV no longer makes you an outlier. Driven by policy initiatives from governments and billions of...Digital health startups should have clinical experts as part of its leadership to ensure care is always based on the patient’s medical needs.
Research firm Fairwork India blasted Ola, Uber, Dunzo, PharmEasy and Amazon Flex in a report Tuesday, saying the firms scored zero in its assessment of whether they created fair conditions for thei...There are plenty of time-tracking apps for Mac that automatically log the hours you’ve spent signed in. Some even offer granular data, telling you how much time you spent on a particular app....Baidu, the Chinese internet giant that became known for its search engines, is making some big strides in autonomous driving. Starting this week, the public can ride its robotaxis in Wuhan between ...Jakarta-based fintech Akulaku has raised $200 million from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), the largest bank in Japan. This is part of a strategic investment, with startup and MUFG planning t...As a rather commercially successful author once wrote, “the night is dark and full of terrors, the day bright and beautiful and full of hope.” It’s fitting imagery for AI, which l...Market downturns might not be the time to scale as usual, but they’re undeniably the ideal time to plan for an IPO.
Indian fintech Money View said on Monday it has raised $75 million in a new funding round, its second this year, despite the market slump, as it looks to scale its core credit business and build mo...
