Daily Crunch: 2 weeks after extended system failure, Alibaba CEO takes over company’s cloud division

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We're almost there. Today is the last Thursday of the year, and we have some news out of India, as well as some news out of China. We give you something from our premium membership program. We will be back tomorrow to show you the final moments of the year.

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Alibaba’s cloud move: Alibaba Cloud has a new president, Rita reports. The third-largest public cloud infrastructure provider in the world only after AWS and Microsoft has appointed Daniel Zhang, the company’s CEO, as acting president.
• Ring it in with Spotify: Aisha writes that the platform wants to help you welcome 2023 in style with what it thinks you might enjoy. Such playlists as “Party Hits,” “Floor Fillers,” “Pop Party” and “Rock Party” will usher you up to and past midnight. The hub also gives you some DJ mixes from the likes of TT the Artist, Carlita, AMÉMÉ, Coco & Breezy, &ME and Austin Millz. Get down!
• Indian crypto regulation: Under its G20 presidency, India has said it will look to prioritize the development of a framework for the global regulation of unbacked crypto assets, stablecoins and decentralized finance, writes Manish.

Startups and VC

• Recall this: Catherine writes that Recall.ai raised $2.7 million in a seed funding round to help with a unified API that works with Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams to help customers build apps for a number of use cases.
• Down rounds: Mary Ann spoke with GGV’s Hans Tung and Robin Li about the firm’s position in a challenging venture environment. (Requires TC+ subscription.)

Redefining ‘founder-friendly’ capital in the post-FTX era

The FTX debacle could have been avoided if investors had been more interested in the company.

Blair Silverberg wrote that it was time for the startup community to redefine what "founder-friendly" capital means and balance both the source and cost of that capital.

He weighed the relative benefits of active versus passive investors, broke down the basics of debt startup financing, and shared advice for founders seeking a better balance of capital and external expertise for their businesses.

Redefining ‘founder-friendly’ capital in the post-FTX era

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Looking back and looking ahead

The best of our coverage came from the roller coaster year. Is not enough enough? We got a couple more in order to squeeze more out of the juice.

Ron looked at the private equity deals that dominated the top deals. There were more than $150 billion of deals. It's necessary to have a subscription.

After what she said was a "tumultuous" year, Rebecca has some ideas about what's in store for the micro mobility market.