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Okay, we haven’t done a newscast since Wednesday, and while the USA team came off as cold as the villains, the rest of the team worked hard, so here’s a TechCrunchy’s highlights from the past fortnight! — Christine and haje
Top 3 TechCrunch
- Talking to yourself has just become digital: Instead of letting that inner monologue stay in your head, you can now express all your thoughts to yourself in WhatsApp, Jagmeet write. Today, the messaging platform has started rolling out an easier way to talk to yourself after completing beta testing.
- “Great Wall erotic“: like that Rita and Catherine describes a proliferation of bots in China that are making it difficult to get any legitimate search results on Twitter when trying to learn something about Chinese cities. Why do you ask? Rita writes that “such an increase in bot content coincides with an unprecedented wave of protests (COVID) that swept through major Chinese cities and universities over the weekend.”
- Your calendar, just more productive: Get ready to let your calendar be more than just a place to record the things you have to do that day. salad writes about Amie, a startup that raised $7 million to link your unscheduled to-do list to your calendar. The application also allows users to communicate with colleagues.
Start-ups and VC
Dubai-based public transit and shared mobility service provider SWVL performed second wave of layoffs, affecting 50% the number of its remaining employees, card report. The news comes six months after SWVL laid off 32% (more than 400 employees) of its workforce in an effort to “portfolio optimization program” to achieve positive cash flow next year. .
There are also a few new funds in town! Harri report that Early Light Ventures plots $15 million second fund for ‘poor’ software while Mike write that BackingMinds raises new €50 million fund to fund often overlooked entrepreneurs. He also wrote about Pact, a women-led venture capitalist for mission-oriented startups, is backed by Anne Hathaway.
And we have five more for you:
Lessons to raise $10 million without giving up a board seat
Image credits: Ihor Reshetniak (Opens in a new window) / Beautiful pictures
Over the past two years, smart calendar platform Reclaim.ai has raised $10 million “using a more incremental approach,” writes co-founder Henry Shapiro.
“We did all of this without relinquishing a seat on the board, and Reclaim employees continue to own more than two-thirds of the company’s equity,” dismissing the conventional wisdom. It is often said that founders should “raise capital as quickly as possible. “
In a post on TC+, Shapiro looks at the process they used to identify their next investors, shares an email template used to advertise SAFETY, and explains why the “big cap board” More means the founder has more control.”
Three other pieces of information from the TC+ team:
TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can register here. Use code “DC” to get 15% off your annual subscription!
Big tech company
Amazon’s recent cost-cutting measures seems to be affecting more than just its delivery business. Manish write that the company is shutting down Its wholesale distribution business, known as Amazon Distribution, is in India. Amazon started this unit to help neighborhood stores secure inventory. The company did not say why it closed this particular business, but Manish noted that this is the third Amazon unit to be closed in India.
Meanwhile, Natasha LOL reported that Meta was in trouble again with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (aka the data protection regulator). Facebook’s parent company is suffering from fined $275 million for what the agency says is a data protection breach that resulted in the personal information of some 530 million users being leaked.
Now enjoy six more:
- Unblock: After weeks of reports claiming this would happen, BlockFi has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcyand that could be FTX’s fault. Jacquelyn writes that FTX will buy BlockFi, and then, well, you know what happened to them. Based on its bankruptcy filing, BlockFi owes its creditors a substantial amount of cash and, unfortunately, is now yet another high-value, heavily backed crypto company that cannot operate in this environment. this school.
- Into the sea, you and me: haje managed to convince Apple to grant him early access to Oceanic+ app and get Apple Watch Ultra into the deep blue sea to look exclusively at our world. He also has it all excited about the pricing model application use.
- I spy: The US government is ban telecommunications and video surveillance equipment from several Chinese brands, such as Huawei and ZTE, on the pretext of protecting the nation’s communications networks. Carly there are many more.
- Yahoola cooperates with this company?: Yahoo invests 25% stake in Taboolaan advertising network that, in a deal that will combine the two companies for the next 30 years, salad write.
- safety concerns: UK Government Expanding the Online Safety Bill criminalize those who use the internet to encourage self-harm, Natasha LOL report.
- One apple a day: For his latest trick, Musk is at war with Applereport Taylor.
