Latest and Hotest Technology Updates

Platforms and infrastructure providers dump Parler, Microsoft unveils a new Surface and a Chinese fitness app raises $360 million. This is your Daily Crunch for January 11, 2021.

The big story: Parler sues Amazon after going offline

President Donald Trump has found himself banned from most of the major social media and internet platforms, with companies pointing to his role in inciting the violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol last week, as well as his continuing statements expressing support for the rioters.

Right-wing social network Parler might seem like an obvious beneficiary of those bans, but the app itself has come under scrutiny — Apple and Google removed it from their respective app stores for failing to moderate comments calling for violent or criminal behavior, and Amazon Web Services followed suit, resulting in the social network going offline.

In response, Parler sued Amazon over alleged antitrust issues. Meanwhile, alternative social media and messenger apps have suddenly become much more popular.

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The tech giants

Microsoft's latest business-focused Surface is focused on remote work — Pricing for the Surface Pro 7+ starts at $899 for the Wi-Fi version and $1,149 for LTE.

Snap acquires location data startup StreetCred — Four StreetCred team members are joining Snap, where they'll be working on map and location-related products.

Samsung's upcycling program is designed to give new life to old tech — Samsung says the program “reimagines the lifecycle of an older Galaxy phone and offers consumers options on how they might be able to repurpose their device to create a variety of convenient IoT tools.”

Startups, funding and venture capital

Vision Fund backs Chinese fitness app Keep in $360M round — The latest fundraise values the six-year-old startup at about $2 billion post-money.

Revolut applies for UK banking license — It's hard to believe that fintech startup Revolut doesn't already have a proper banking license in its home country.

Orange spins out Orange Ventures with $430M allocation — With this new corporate structure, Orange Ventures could attract third-party investors.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

Affirm boosts its IPO price target, more than doubling its latest private valuation — Who is mispricing whom?

Flexible VC: A new model for startups targeting profitability — A new category of investors has emerged offering a hybrid between VC and revenue-based investment.

Get live feedback on your pitch deck from big-name VCs on Extra Crunch Live — As a part of Extra Crunch Live, we'll be offering EC members the chance to get live feedback on their pitch decks from our guests.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

Hulu discounts its on-demand service to $1.99 per month for students — This represents a more than 65% discount off Hulu's ad-supported subscription.

Original Content podcast: Despite some odd choices, 'The Undoing' lays out a satisfying mystery — Your podcast hosts caught up on their mystery viewing over the holidays.

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