Latest and Hotest Technology Updates

Thanks to a twist of fate, two large cups of coffee and help from editor Annie Saunders, the Extra Crunch team is taking over today’s edition of Daily Crunch.

Don’t worry, we’ll hand it back as soon as Henry Pickavet returns or Alex Wilhelm is back from vacation, whichever occurs first.

Since I’ve been handed the mic: We’re trying to identify the most effective growth marketers who are helping startups build their businesses. With that in mind, Managing Editor Eric Eldon interviewed growth leader Susan Su, currently head of portfolio strategy at Sound Ventures, about the need for founders to develop a growth-centered mentality as the economy reopens.

“They don't need to memorize all the right buttons to push in an ads dashboard, but they need to be familiar and comfortable with the core work of gap-finding,” says Su.

“Founders will fail if they adopt a mentality that someone else can or should do it for them. The founder's job is to supply ambition and opinions, and then magnetize high-quality talent to come and pull the levers and bring their creative vision to life.”

If you’ve worked with a growth expert you recommend, please get in touch and let us know.

Thanks for reading!

Walter Thompson

Senior Editor, TechCrunch

@yourprotagonist

The TechCrunch Top 3

Apple doesn’t rank with top personal health brands like Procter & Gamble, Peloton or Fitbit, but perhaps it doesn’t need to. Cupertino’s health-related products and services are broad enough to touch each of these companies — and many others — in some way.

In an interview with Apple VP of Technology Kevin Lynch, Darrell Etherington tracked the evolution of the company’s user-guided approach to developing hardware, software and data management policies around personal health.

"It actually started from Apple Watch, where we were capturing heart rate data for calorimetry activity, and [Activity] ring closure, and we needed a place to put the heart rate data,” says Lynch. “So we created the Health app as a place to store the data."

Sarah Perez reported on today’s launch of Spotify Greenroom, a live audio app based on the code of Locker Room. In March, Spotify purchased Betty Labs, which developed Locker Room.

Best known for music streaming, Spotify has been branching out into a more robust media company in recent years. Greenroom will allow users to host and join audio chat rooms, “and optionally turn those conversations into podcasts,” says Sarah.

There’s a reason why advertising units are called “impressions.” CPG companies are eager to literally place their messages in our faces.

So it should come as no surprise that Facebook today announced its plans to start testing ads on its Oculus platform in a limited rollout. A company blog post indicates that "for now, this is a test with a few apps.”

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Startups and VC

Software testing platform BrowserStack announced today that it has raised $200 million in a Series B round. The round, which values the company at $4 billion, was led by BOND, with Insight Partners and Accel participating.

PandaDoc competitor Templafy has raised a Series D worth $60 million. Since launch, the business document creation platform based in Denmark has raised $125 million, including a $25 million Series C 14 months ago.

After securing a $100 million Series E round led by Accel partners, last-mile delivery platform Bringg is now valued at $1 billion, the company confirms. CEO Guy Bloch told TechCrunch the funds will be used to continue fueling growth, expanding operations and acquiring new customers. "Companies need our urgent help to do a job,” says Bloch.

Edtech investors are flocking to SaaS guidance counselors

The prevailing post-pandemic edtech narrative, which predicted higher ed would be DOA as soon as everyone got their vaccine and took off for a gap year, might not be quite true.

Natasha Mascarenhas explores a new crop of edtech SaaS startups that function like guidance counselors, helping students with everything from study-abroad opportunities to swiping right on a captivating college (really!).

“Startups that help students navigate institutional bureaucracy so they can get more value out of their educational experience may become a growing focus for investors as consumer demand for virtual personalized learning increases,” she writes.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

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Big Tech Inc.

Facebook rolls out new tools for Group admins: Facebook launched a new set of tools aimed at helping Facebook Group administrators get a better handle on their online communities and, potentially, help keep conversations from going off the rails. (May the odds be ever in your favor!) Among the more interesting new tools is a machine-learning-powered feature that alerts admins to potentially unhealthy conversations taking place in their group. Another lets the admin slow the pace of a heated conversation by limiting how often group members can post. As the adage goes, if you can't say anything nice, say it slower.

Google updates online safety curriculum for kids: Perhaps we can teach the next generation to just be nice on the internet instead of using machine learning to prevent them from rapidly disseminating vaccine disinformation? Google updated and expanded its digital safety and citizenship curriculum, Be Internet Awesome, which has lessons for parents and educators about online gaming, cyberbullying and online empathy. Fingers crossed!

Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving arm, raises $2.5B: In its second outside funding round, Waymo raised $2.5 billion to grow Waymo Driver, its autonomous driving platform, and its team. At the moment, Waymo One, a commercial ride-hailing service, operates in the Phoenix, Arizona area, and Waymo announced plans earlier this month to enter a "test run" of its trucking and cargo transportation service with J.B. Hunt.

• Software Engineer at Plumerai (London, UK)
• Software Engineer at Plumerai (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
• Director/Faculty Position Health Informatics at Pace University College of Health Professions (New York, NY, USA)
• Chief C# / .Net Developer - Remote (US Residents Only) at ZappySys (United States)
• User Support Manager at Irvine Ranch Water District (Irvine, CA, USA)

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Welcome back to the Daily Crunch for June 15, 2021. Henry here while your regular scribe is enjoying some hard-earned R&R.

We just secured Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto to speak at our City Spotlight: Pittsburgh event. As Brian Heater said today, Pittsburgh currently has one of the world's most vibrant robotic startup ecosystems, is at the center of much of the world's autonomous vehicle research, and birthed successful companies like Duolingo.

Peduto will discuss the challenges and successes in building and nurturing this ecosystem with Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian at this great (and virtual) event. Register to attend here.

Now onto the show.

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The TechCrunch Top 3

• Solid Power is going public: The solid-state battery developer backed by Ford and BMW said Tuesday it would head to the Nasdaq via a merger with special purpose acquisition company Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corp III at a post-deal implied market valuation of $1.2 billion.
• Andreessen Horowitz has launched its own media apparatus called Futre: The publication, funded by a16z funds, looks to provide content that doesn't currently exist in the market and that can be created from the "unique, interesting perch" that the firm has, says Margit Wennmachers, the firm's operating partner of marketing and Future. Good luck, a16z, and welcome to the jungle.
• We have a new FTC commissioner: The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Big Tech critic and prominent antitrust scholar Lina Khan as a commissioner to the Federal Trade Commission, signaling a new era of scrutiny for the tech industry. Khan was confirmed in a 69-28 vote, with Republicans joining Democrats in a rare show of bipartisan support for Khan's ideas on reining in tech's most powerful companies.

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Startups and VC

• Solar funding: Heliogen raised $108 million in funding to test its 1,000-degree solar furnace at a few participating mines and refineries.
• In no one we trust: Elisity, a platform that looks to help organizations transition from legacy access approaches to zero trust — a security model based on maintaining strict access controls and not trusting anyone — raised $26 million for its efforts.
• From the mouths of authors: BookClub, which gives authors a chance to hold book groups, share exclusive video-based interviews and answer questions from readers, raised $20 million in a Series A round. If only Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Henry Miller and George Eliot were still alive.
• The unicorn social: IRL, a social calendar app that could have crashed during COVID, instead capitalized on finding virtual events for users to attend and leveraged that success into a fresh round of $170 million in funding and unicorn status, now valued at $1.17 billion.
• Home fires: Thumbtack, your favorite place to turn to when you don't want to break anything in your house, raised $275 million at a $3.2 billion valuation.
• Life-saving raise: Carbyne raised $20 million to help coordinate calls to emergency response teams, ambulances, hospitals and other actors who need to work together to save a life.
• A sustainable fund: G2 Venture Partners raised $500 million to support entrepreneurs who aim to make existing industries more efficient, environmentally friendly and socially responsible.

How to identify unicorn founders when they're still early-stage

What are investors looking for?

Founders often tie themselves in knots as they try to project qualities they hope investors are seeking. In reality, few entrepreneurs have the acting skills required to convince someone that they’re patient, dedicated or hard working.

Johan Brenner, general partner at Creandum, was an early backer of Klarna, Spotify and several other European startups. Over the last two decades, he’s identified five key traits shared by people who create billion-dollar companies.

“A true unicorn founder doesn't need to have all of those capabilities on day one,” says Brenner, “but they should already be thinking big while executing small and demonstrating that they understand how to scale a company.”

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

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Big Tech Inc.

• Apple Podcasts Subscriptions are live worldwide: The subscriptions will allow podcast enthusiasts to access additional benefits for their hot listens, including ad-free listening, early access to new episodes, bonus material, exclusives and anything else that creators think their fans will fork over money for. Subscriptions are now live in more than 170 countries.
• E-commerce platform Shopify said today that Shop Pay, its one-click checkout service, will become available to any U.S. merchant that sells on Facebook or Google, even if they don't use Shopify's software to power their online stores.
• Over in Europe, a group of 200 startup founders, investors, associations and government members are backing a manifesto and a set of recommendations in order to create the next wave of tech giants across the continent.

TechCrunch Experts: Growth Marketing

We're thrilled with the responses to our survey about top growth marketers. It's not too late to weigh in: Fill out the survey here.

If you're a growth marketer, pass on the survey to your clients — we'd love to hear from them!

To find out more details about this project and how we plan to use it to shape our editorial coverage, visit techcrunch.com/experts.

• Chief C# / .Net Developer - Remote (US Residents Only) at ZappySys (United States)
• User Support Manager at Irvine Ranch Water District (Irvine, CA, USA)
• Lead Software Engineer at Reaktor (New York, NY, USA)
• Technical Lead at Fair Trade USA (United States)
• Solutions Architect at Virginia Housing (Richmond, VA, USA)

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It's Daily Crunch time for Monday, June 14. I will be standing in for Alexander Wilhelm while he's off enjoying his time away from the news cycle — if I don't have to report for jury duty.

Big news today! We launched the Nubank EC-1, an extensive look into one of the biggest startups in the world. More on this down below.

And have you heard that TechCrunch recently launched a new podcast? On "Found," Darrell Etherington and Jordan Crook interview one early-stage startup founder each week about the ins and outs and ups and downs of founding a company. In the latest episode, the pair spoke to Cory Siskind, founder of Base Operations, which earlier this year raised $2.2 million in seed funding to capitalize on its recent launch of a street-level threat-mapping platform for use in supporting enterprise security operations. Subscribe to "Found" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or the your podcast app of choice.

— Henry

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Mental models and multitasking enhancements: TechCrunch boss Matthew Panzarino got some time with Apple executives last week post-WWDC to talk about the company's new iPadOS. Version 15 has a lot of expectations riding on it, not least of which is the new multitasking features.
• You get a Google Workspace and you get a Google Workspace! The company announced today that Workspace, which has heretofore been known as G Suite, is open to everyone. Look for updates to all of your favorite Google products (Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sheets, Slides, Meet, Chat, etc.) that might be jarring at first — until you forget what your Google life used to look like and welcome with open arms your new Google wrapping.
• Stripe ID: Stripe launched Stripe Identity today. Companies can use the self-serve tool to verify user identities, while Stripe manages the customer data in an encrypted format using computer vision and machine learning to "read" and match up government IDs with live selfies. Developers can request access here, and Discord, Peerspace and Shippo are already in on the action.

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Startups and VC

• The Pill Club raises: The birth control prescription and delivery service announced it raised a $41.9 million Series B extension led by Base 10. The startup, helmed by former Uber executive Liz Meyerdirk, who took over as chief in January, has hit record revenues, crossing $100 million in annual run rate for the first time in its four-year history. Other investors in the round include GV and Shasta Ventures, as well as new additions Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Honey's George Ruan.
• Solving SaaS tax: Taxes are hard. Anrok exists to make them ever-so-slightly less painful for the SaaS companies out there making their way in the world. Anorak raised $4.3 million to offer specialized help to modern companies that need to navigate the tax complexities to doing business.
• $6.8 million for fraud protection: Tel Aviv-based nSure AI raised the seed round to provide fraud detection for high-risk digital goods, such as electronic gift cards, airline tickets, software and games. The company's AI's risk engine leverages deep learning techniques to accurately identify fraudulent transactions.

How contrarian hires and a pitch deck started Nubank's $30 billion fintech empire

Founded in 2013 and based in São Paulo, Brazil, Nubank serves more than 34 million customers, making it Latin America’s largest neobank.

Reporter Marcella McCarthy spoke to CEO David Velez to learn about his efforts to connect with consumers and overcome entrenched opposition from established players who were friendly with regulators.

In the first of a series of stories, she interviewed Velez about his early fundraising efforts. For a balanced perspective, she also spoke to early Nubank investors at Sequoia and Kaszek Ventures, Latin America’s largest venture fund, to find out why they funded the startup while it was still pre-product.

"There are people you come across in life that within the first hour of meeting with them, you know you want to work with them," said Doug Leone, a global managing partner at Sequoia who’d recruited Velez after he graduated from grad school at Stanford.

Marcella also interviewed members of Nubank’s founding team to better understand why they decided to take a chance on a startup that faced such long odds of success.

"I left banking to make a fifth of my salary, and back then, about $5,000 in equity," said Vitor Olivier, Nubank’s VP of operations and platforms.

"Financially, it didn't really make sense, so I really had to believe that it was really going to work, and that it would be big."

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

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Big Tech Inc.

The Supreme Court has given LinkedIn another chance to stop a rival company from scraping personal information from users' public profiles, a practice LinkedIn says should be illegal but one that could have broad ramifications for internet researchers and archivists.

Battery recycling startup Redwood Materials, which was founded by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel, has purchased 100 acres of land near the Gigafactory that Panasonic operates with Tesla in Sparks, Nevada. The company is trying to create a circular supply chain by collecting the scrap from consumer electronics companies and battery cell manufacturers, processing these discarded goods by extracting materials like cobalt, nickel and lithium that are typically mined, and then supplying those back to Panasonic and other customers.

The first and last all-virtual E3 gaming soiree kicked off today, with announcements from Microsoft, Square Enix and Ubisoft.

And rounding out today, we've got a review for you. Beats Studio Buds are a compact, noise-canceling and somewhat affordable alternative to AirPods.

TechCrunch Experts: Growth Marketing

With the rollout of our Experts project, we're excited by the increase of guest columns we've received within the growth marketing category. Today, we have a guest column from Hunter Jensen, "The demise of browser cookies could create a Golden Age of digital marketing."

Have you recently worked with a growth marketer? We want to hear about your experience!

Fill out the survey here.

The answers to this survey will help shape our editorial coverage as we begin to dive into conversion optimization, social, paid ads and more! Find more details at techcrunch.com/experts.

TC Eventful

Are you looking for a platform to introduce your pre-Series A company to the world? If so, don't miss out on your chance to exhibit in Startup Alley at Disrupt 2021, TechCrunch's biggest virtual event happening September 21-23. If you're selected, you'll get a spot to do your elevator pitch along with a chance to be selected for Startup Battlefield or our brand-new Startup Alley+ program! We only have a few spots left, so make sure to get your application in ASAP before they're all gone!

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• Technical Lead at Fair Trade USA (United States)
• Solutions Architect at Virginia Housing (Richmond, VA, USA)
• Senior Project Manager at Virginia Housing (Richmond, VA, USA)
• Business Solutions Manager at Virginia Housing (Glen Allen, VA, USA)
• Cloud Engineer at Virginia Housing (Richmond, VA, USA)

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