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January 18, 2022, is the day of Daily Crunch! Thanks to Microsoft and another public company, today started with a bang. Will all deals be completed? We will see. We have a lot of startup news items for you to enjoy. Alex said, "Let's go!"
The top 3 tech companies.
After months of internal turbulence, including sexual harassment scandals and ongoing executive turmoil, Microsoft is buying the publisher of Call of Duty for a huge premium. Microsoft has purchased other gaming studios in the past. We have to wonder if the transaction will catch the eye of regulators, given a generally more active antitrust vibe around the world today. Let's see.
In the final quarter of the year, Apple overtook SAMSUNG as the leading global manufacturer of the category. The two companies have traded the top spot over time, but it's not surprising because of the chips crisis, global pandemic and larger supply chain snarls. It is good news for Apple fans.
The country's own digital currency is picking up market share in the wake of China's ban on cryptocurrencies. The Chinese currency is known as the digital yuan in English, and has been installed by about a fifth of the country's population.
The companies are startups/VC.
Anna Heim has a fascinating interview on the site about what impact a changing workplace will have on the startup market, and it's not only communications software and HR tech that are going to see a changed world. Give it a read.
Wayve, a British startup, has just landed nine figures of capital to keep working on their work on self-driving vehicles. I was completely unfamiliar with Wayve when I read this round, but it caught my eye because of its scale. Even mega-rounds can be found in the startup market.
Roll bets that private photos are the future of creator-fan relationships. The startup wants to give fans access to their favorite creators camera rolls. It doesn't give access to camera rolls as that would be, but the idea is that unpublished photos from creator to fan, for a recurring fee. Let's see how it performs.
After securing $1.7 million in 2020, Mustard went back to the capital well to raise $3.75 million more. The startup is using a sensor-free approach to data capture. The app picked up funds from athletes as part of the round, which could help it secure a larger audience.
The idea behind vertical farming is that we should grow food up, instead of wide in urban environments. Why? Lower carbon footprints for our eats could be possible. Upward, a startup in the vertical farming space, is going to build a 250,000- square-foot facility in Pennsylvania next year. We would like a tour.
Meeting culture is hell on productivity, and despite everyone claiming that their company doesn't index on meetings, most do. The solution to the problem was solved by Clockwise. The startup uses artificial intelligence to help teams free up their workdays and avoid the challenges associated with remote and hybrid workplace. It sounds neat if it works.
Appcues raises $32.1M for no-code user onboarding, which is a big business. The new funding round hints at the fact that Appcues is finding traction. It is worth noting that no-code has gone from a fad to a standard business practice for startup companies. Why? I think it's a result of a general developer shortage around the world, and people just got tired of waiting for eng teams to get to their ticket.
That is just the beginning. The startup game is full of news this January. There was a lot of news on the site today, including Castiron, Pinwheel raising $50 million in a Series B, and a column from Owen Williams about the open-source world.
Will quantum computing be the domain of the specialist VC?
The industry is still very much in its early days, with potential applications including machine learning and computer-aided drug design.
There were 90 quantum investments in the year. A significant jump from $700 million the year before, but not even a drop in the bucket.
IonQ reached a $2 billion valuation after its SPAC, and Rigetti plans to do the same this year as it develops its quantum computer.
The top companies in the quantum computing industry were sorted by Maria Lepskaya, a senior associate at Runa Capital.
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Big Tech is a company.
In the wake of an external investigation into the deaths of people who bought drugs on the social service that were spiked with the drugfentanil, snap claims that it is making progress in finding and removing sales-related content.
As traditional car companies push into the electric car game, they need help at times. GM is using an external company to help equip its dealerships with charging points. The experience that Blink has in setting up 30,000 EV charging stations across 13 countries is likely to be what it needs to tackle GM's physical footprint.
It sounds like a good idea to expand the misinformation reporting feature to more international markets.
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