Trending Stories from theinformation.com
Source: Whatnot, a livestreaming service for buying and selling collectibles, is raising new capital at a valuation of $1.5B, following its $50M Series B in May
Sources: Facebook is developing an ML chip for tasks such as recommending content to users and a data center chip to improve video transcoding
Sources: ByteDance plans to borrow up to $5B in a syndicated loan to refinance debt and pay for overseas expansion, as an IPO appears unlikely this year
CB Insights: investment in e-commerce software startups reached $12.4B in H1 2021, up 51% from all of 2020, with investment in online payments startups up 172%
Techmeme · 2 weeks ago
Sources: Apple's planned VR/AR headset will need a wireless connection to an Apple device for full functionality; Apple completed work on VR/AR chips last year
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao says Binance.US is set to close a large private fundraising round in the next two months, and could go public in the next three years
Sources: seeking greater control, the Chinese government took a stake and a board seat in ByteDance's Beijing entity in April
Sources: DoorDash recently held talks to buy Instacart for between $40B and $50B, but the talks fell apart due to potential antitrust scrutiny
Sources: FTC is reviewing Uber's partnership with delivery startup Gopuff on anti-competitive grounds, as well as its purchase of alcohol delivery firm Drizly
Facebook confirms it is building a team of AI researchers to study ways of analyzing encrypted data without decrypting it, potentially helping better target ads
Sources: Bolt, which offers a one-click checkout service, is raising a $333M Series D at a post-money valuation of $4B, nearly five times its December valuation
Substack to launch Substack Grow next month, a free six-session course over Zoom to help writers build a following and earn their first $1,000
In April, Amazon acquired over a dozen staff from Facebook to boost its own low earth orbit satellite internet efforts; Amazon paid Facebook to seal agreement
Techmeme · 2 months ago
Sources: FTC opens an in-depth investigation into Amazon's purchase of MGM
Techmeme · 2 months ago
Sources: Apple has had discussions with NFL execs to buy streaming rights for Sunday Ticket games, which currently air on DirecTV
Instacart hired at least 55 engineers, product managers, recruiters, designers, and data scientists from Facebook this year, based on analysis of LinkedIn data
Filing: Talkdesk, a developer of cloud-based customer service software, raises up to $210M Series D at a $10B valuation; it was last valued at $3B+ in July 2020
Sources: Mercury, which offers banking services to other startups, raises $100M+ Series B at a valuation of $1.6B; Mercury was last valued at $100M in 2019
Sources: US subscriber growth at Disney+ has slowed sharply, with 38M subs in North America in early July, compared to 37M at the start of February
Sources: Shopify is rolling out a service that will let BuzzFeed and other content publishers link to merchants in exchange for a cut of transaction revenue
Techmeme · 3 months ago
Sources: Google is developing a conversational AI product, known internally as Tivoli, which aims to teach foreign languages through Google Search
Around 150 of Mapbox's 222 US staff have signed CWA union cards; they assert maps are political, and workers should be able to refuse to work on some projects
Investigation found 100+ online ads for production line jobs at 30+ companies in Apple's supply chain that contained discriminatory language
Sources: Netflix is looking to hire an executive to oversee an expansion into video games, as it considers options including an Apple Arcade-like games bundle
Source: Amazon is in talks to acquire MGM, in what would be its biggest move to expand into entertainment
Techmeme · 4 months ago
Sources: Google's plans to match Apple's ATT changes have been delayed by concerns over diminishing mobile ads; source says small changes are expected at I/O
Sources: DOJ's criminal antitrust prosecutor Eyitayo St. Matthew-Daniel is expected to lead FTC's antitrust enforcement unit handling Facebook and Amazon cases
Techmeme · 4 months ago
Investigation: seven Apple component suppliers are linked to alleged forced labor involving Uyghurs and minorities in China; some received thousands of workers
Inside Zuckerberg's plan to repair Facebook's image, including whimsical jokes on his Page, more media appearances, and discussing product more than policy
PitchBook: the number of "inside rounds", where only previous investors participate, rose to over 1,000 in 2020 with $30B invested, up 15% from 2019
Source: Dapper Labs, maker of NFT-focused NBA Top Shot, is raising a new round at a $7.5B+ valuation, just a few weeks after raising $305M at a $2.6B valuation
Sources: group messaging app IRL is in talks to raise $50M+ at a $1B valuation; the company was last valued at $100M in September
Sources: Anduril Industries is raising a new round that could value the military drone and surveillance startup between $4B-$5B, over double its value in July
Gupta Media: Facebook ad prices, measured in cost per thousand impressions, rebounded from a $1 monthly average last spring to almost $5 in November
Sources: Snap plans to unveil new Spectacles aimed at AR developers and creators in May and has begun a years-long project to make a camera drone
Sources: Ramp, a Brex rival offering corporate cards and tools to manage staff expenses, is close to raising two rounds, one led by Stripe valuing it at $1.6B
Apple Hosts Apps Run by China Paramilitary Group Accused of Uyghur Genocide
Apple Forbids Facial Scanning of Employees—But Not Factory Workers
Pitchbook: the median pre-investment valuation for a Series A round in the US has increased sixfold to $37M since 2010
Sources: the DOJ is investigating if Apple's use of its "Sign in with Apple" button makes it more difficult for users to switch to a rival device maker
Source: ~40%, or 40M, of Disney+ subscribers are in the US, and Disney has said 30% are in India, so Europe and LatAm seem to make up less than a third of subs
Source: Aviatrix, a provider of multi-cloud native networking software, raises $75M Series D led by General Catalyst, valuing the startup at $700M+
Sources: LinkedIn is developing a new service called Marketplaces to let its 740M users find and book freelancers, with plans to launch as soon as September
Sources: Twitter has told employees that they will receive just 57% of their 2020 bonus target after the company missed internal revenue and profit goals
Sources: Facebook is building an Android-based smartwatch with health and fitness capabilities, which it aims to launch in 2022
Source: Amazon Connect, its cloud call center software, had $175M in sales during 2020, up ~150% YoY, and the company expects $1B annual sales by 2022
Techmeme · 7 months ago