Daily Crunch: After 16 months on the job, Better.com CTO Diane Yu steps down

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On Friday, April 8, 2022. Christine was talking and writing all day while Haje read the most recent report from the IPCC.

We can always burn it to cinders if it turns out that saving the planet is the wrong thing to do. Can we just agree to help out, collectively?

Christine and Haje, may your weekend contain the right amount of surprises.

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Executive parts ways with Better.com: CTO Diane Yu is among employees agreeing to take part in the voluntary separation plan that the digital mortgage lender offered earlier this week, though we report she will stay on as an adviser. Yu joined the company in January 2021 after leaving a similar role at Comcast. The news follows yesterday’s story that discussed what happened at Better.com’s December meeting where it laid off 900 employees.
• Late-stage slowdown in aisle 5!: Earlier this week, Alex Wilhelm and Anna Heim took a look at global venture capital, finding that later-stage investments are declining. Alex is back again, this time diving into what happened with late-stage deals — and what kind of slowdown we’re talking about here. Like leaving the gallon of milk in the chip aisle to grab the last bag of Doritos, he opines there will be some hard decisions to make going forward.
• Didi puts South Africa in its rearview mirror: Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chixung is sticking out its thumb and grabbing a ride out of South Africa today. The company didn’t give a specific reason for its departure, but it seems its year-long ride in the country hit some speed bumps early on.

Startups and VC

The company cannot be accused of making EV financially accessible. A new generation of affordable electric vehicles is promised by Vinfast, along with offerings from GM,Hyundai and Kia, in a move that is great news for EV lovers. I can't wait until gas-guzzlers are a thing of the past.

I've lived on four different continents, and I'm angry that sending money internationally is still an industry. SwooshTransfer raised a multimillion-dollar angel round to solve this problem once and for all.

Take a quick lap to see what else you missed.

Does your startup have enough runway? 5 factors to consider

If you don't have enough cash on hand to last until the fall of 2023, you might have a problem.

Seed-stage and Series A-stage companies should have at least 12 to 18 months of runway according to Marjorie.

She shared her burn rate calculator and five tips for managing cash in her last column.

She says that projections are useful, but you can't account for unexpected problems or opportunities.

Techcrunch+ helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.

Does your startup have enough runway? 5 factors to consider

Big Tech Inc.

The Microsoft column has a tally. Microsoft announced this week that it had seized the domain names of the group that was used to target institutions in Ukraine.

Today, we get some TikTok vibes. There is a new discovery feature that is being tested by the streaming service. We report that this time it is a personalized feed on the app's home screen, which introduces users to new music through a feed of canvas loops.

It's on the internet, it's on the internet, it's on the internet, it's on the internet, it's on the internet, it's on the internet, it's on the internet, it's on the internet, it' Jan would be rolling her eyes if she heard about the social media giant again this week, but there is too much going on to not mention it. You can now untag yourself from the social media site, and it has added new additions to its alt text feature.

There are other stories you can read today.

• Apple’s study of app tracking transparency yields competition concerns: Natasha Lomas broke down some of the study results, which show Apple’s requirement that developers ask permission to track app users caused tracking to actually be more difficult. And that many apps still collected tracking data despite the user having asked them not to do that.
• Google Pixel users, rejoice!: Google is teaming with iFixit to offer some tools for self-repair of Pixel handsets. The kits will launch later this year and include all the fixings for common repairs like replacing batteries, displays and camera modules. Next on the list, Chromebooks.