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Fridayyyyy.
If you follow the ups and downs of the crypto industry, you won’t want to miss this Twitter space on Monday at 12:00 PM PDT/3:00 PM EDT. Senior Crypto Reporter Anita will talk to Sam Rosenbloom and Breck Stodhill about where they see the most exciting opportunities among early-stage web3 companies.
Have a great weekend, you party people. Personally, we’re more dozing cats than partying cats right now, but at least we can all be animals in our own way! — Christine and Hadje
TechCrunch’s Top 3
- Drop shipping: When one door opens for DoorDash, another door closes. Earlier this week we reported this DoorDash and Facebook became fast friends while piloting a program to pick up and deliver Facebook Marketplace items to customers. now, Aisha reports that DoorDash may end its relationship with Walmart in September. Walmart may not be too upset about the split, however, as it works on its own delivery efforts.
- Falling facebook: The social media giant is “losing its grip” because Sarah to younger users who prefer newer apps like TikTok and BeReal. The evidence? Facebook just can’t stay in the Top 10 of the Apple App Store. While this phenomenon isn’t new to them, Sarah has more on whether it’s time for Facebook to worry.
- Using love: Former Bolt (this one) CEO Ryan Breslow may still be in hot water on Twitter for his comments about competitor hurdles, but he says Horses that he “doesn’t regret” anything he said. Instead, he’s jumping headfirst into some new startups, including a human-powered pharmaceutical startup called Love.
Startups and VCs
“IPOs are an extremely rare outcome for robotics companies, even in the (now gone) golden age of SPACs. Given the state of the overall market, some planned SPACs have been put on hold temporarily, hoping to ride more favorable trends.” Brian writes while debating three real results from a robotic launch in his excellent Actuator newsletter. It’s all about robotics and you can subscribe to it and all our other newsletters. We’re not sure if the form will ask you if you’re a robot to subscribe to our robotics newsletter, but that would be especially funny.
Meanwhile, there was much activity in the field of automatic transcription and note-taking, such as Rita reports that Otter.ai challenger Airgram raises $10 million. Probably not in response to this, but IvanThe report of is remarkable – Otter.ai is scaling back its free plan to a maximum of 300 minutes per month, but opening up its recording bot to everyone.
Five more that caught our eyes and ears:
- Scrap card: Uni, India’s pay-later card startup, plans to is temporarily suspending its card services in the South Asian market following local central bank guidelines on digital lending, Manish reports.
- Developing Recruitment: Mary Ann reports that something is changing in the fintech world, as Fintech executives on a16z say ‘Silicon Valley is coming apart’.
- Locker for your keys: If hackers get their hands on secret codes and drain the wallets, users have no way to recover their funds. Safeheron is providing $7 million to make these switches more securereports Rita.
- More money for African startups: Microtraction, an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in African startups at the pre-seed stage, announces that it has reached its first close of $15 million from his second fund, Tage reports.
- Say what?: Becca reports that FDA’s decision to allow over-the-counter technologies for hearing loss will attach a rocket booster to innovation in the sector.
5 Investors Explain Why Longevity Tech Is a Long-Term Play
In the United States, life expectancy has fallen for two consecutive years. In 2019, it was 78.86 years, but by 2020, this figure has decreased by 2 years and 3 months.
The decline is due to COVID-19, but reporter Anna Heim interviews five investors who are backing startups developing technology that could allow us to live longer and healthier lives.
Longevity is a nascent vertical today, but “the space is just getting started and will permeate all aspects of our lives over the next five to 10 years,” said one respondent.
(TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can register here.)
Big Tech Inc.
If you always feel like someone is watching you, it could be TikTok. Natasha L reports on some independent research that has emerged related to TikTok’s in-app browser injects code — a term called keylogging — that can cause it to track keystrokes and taps that happen on third-party websites on TikTok. Developer Felix Krause, who conducted the research, said that just because TikTok can do this doesn’t mean it’s malicious.
How much exactly are you willing to pay to drive an electric vehicle? Lucid is betting at least $249,000. This is the price of your new Sapphire EV, Kirsten write. Now, to be fair, it has a glass roof, three motors and a cute color.
- Clean out your closet: Online home goods retailer Wayfair saw its shares fall sharply today after news that it would laid off nearly 900or about 5% of the workforce. Andrew wrote that the move was “a way to prioritize investment needs and meet the current needs of the company.”
- Tip your hat: W4 Games, a new company from the creators of the Godot game engine, is touch of wisdom of commercial open source software giant Red Hat to take Godot to the next level. gender there’s more on how W4 plans to do this.
- Clean your plate: European food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway is selling its stake in Prosus’ Brazil-based iFood for up to $1.8 billion in a bid to gain some liquidity “amid troubling times,” gender write.
- Fold your phone: Brian had fun smashing two of Samsung’s foldable phones and showing them to friends to see their reactions. Here he reviews the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4.
- Know the history of your vehicle: Lincoln’s idea of electric vehicle concept car it’s a little weird. Jacqueline wrote that the Lincoln Model L 100 concept “pays homage to the brand’s first luxury vehicle, 1922 model L.” You’ll have to see it for yourself.