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Hadje and I switch places for the next two days while he gets some much needed rest. While he’s gone, please enjoy his latest Glambook’s Pitch Deck Teardown. Meanwhile, TechCrunch Disrupt is approaching: Meet the last five winners of the Disrupt Audience Choice Roundtableand if you are a student, enter our video competition for a chance to win a free pass.
And don’t forget, applications close tomorrow for the Startup Battlefield 200! Apply today to join the Startup Battlefield 200 for the chance to pitch your startup for free at TechCrunch Disrupt this October and win the $100,000 equity-free prize. Applications close on August 5. Don’t forget to get your applications in by tomorrow! Apply today.
I’ll see you tomorrow! — Christine
TechCrunch’s Top 3
- Tools around: Two years ago, two former Palantir engineers launched Kurtosis, a crypto-focused developer tools system, and now they’ve raised $20 million in new funding to hire a team to launch a new product next year. Jacqueline reports.
- I’m raising some capital: Argentinian fintech Geopagos abandons early life as it takes $35 million in new capital to help the business launch its own financial services products, Mary Ann write.
- Set-off for share repurchases: Snap and Airbnb take stock buybacks amid slower growth Alex raising his eyebrows and looking under the hood to see what was going on.
Startups and VCs
There’s a lot of launch news again today, so let’s dig in. First, Natasha M brings us some additional layoff news from On Deck, which is cuts another third of its staff after cutting a quarter a few months ago. For those of you who can add fractions, that’s a lot, right?
We enjoyed reading Beccainvestor survey history where she interviewed six first-time fund managers about their approach to dealing with the downturn.
Also, buy now, pay later is still more prevalent in the consumer world (cf Anitathe funding history of Halliday), but businesses also want to have fun. Here’s where Kontempo comes with $30 million and its approach to enable sales teams to approve credit, Kyle reports.
- An app a day keeps ads away: Nobody likes pop-up adsand a new app, Banish, feels you Sarah write.
- Connecting content to people: The clutch is suspended for some early-stage funding match creators with businesses who need content, Dominique-Madori reports.
- Very good: Rill, a business dashboard tool, speak for the first time for New Circle and its product that embeds a database and instant user experience, Ron write.
- An offer they couldn’t refuse: MiroBio, a startup developing treatments for autoimmune patients, accepted an offer to be part of Gilead Sciences for $405 million, gender reports.
From NDA to LOI: What Really Happens When Your Startup Gets Acquired?
Last week, Dell Technologies Capital Vice President and Managing Director Yair Snir shared an article explaining why founders should plan an acquisitionespecially since the chances of them going public are so high.
In a follow-up, he takes readers through the post-acquisition integration period/process:
- The shopping sprint
- The road to LOI
- Attracting bankers
- Diving in due care
- Defining “Day One”
- You are acquired!
“While IPOs may get more headlines, a timely and well-planned acquisition can mean even greater opportunities for you, your team, and the technology you’ve built,” says Snir.
(TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can register here.)
Big Tech Inc.
When it comes to cryptocurrency, BlackRock is now saying, “Why beat them when you can join them?” Anita writes about the asset management giant is joining forces with Coinbase to give its customers access to crypto, initially Bitcoin. And speaking of Coinbase, Jacqueline and Alex write for TechCrunch+ why this partnership and others that Coinbase has pleasing investors.
In the realm of social media, we loved it Amandathe story of where she spoke with Patreon CEO Jack Conte why Instagram and Facebook are on his list, and not in a good way. And Aisha tells us what happens to some new Clubhouse features.
- Car conversation: Volkswagen is preparing to launch a a cheaper version of its 2023 ID.4 later this year, Kirsten write. Meanwhile, Rebecca brings us stories UFODrivea European electric vehicle rental startup debuting in San Francisco, and what’s going on with Lyft employees after some layoff news.
- Wally World Abbreviations: Inflation has caused even the largest companies to review their budgets and in this case, Ivan reports that Walmart lays off 200 corporate employees.
- Samsung in tone G: Ivan also writes about Samsung brings games to Amazon Luna to their smart TVs and monitors while Brian accents what extras Samsung might announce at next week’s Unpacked event.
- Streamers away: In today’s streaming news, Tage reports on Amazon Prime Video starting a local service in Nigeria while Lauren writes about SoundCloud announcing some layoffs and Paramount+ with a good quarter in terms of subscriber numbers.
- They give back, just not in the way they want: Manish reports that State Bank of Pakistan orders fintech startup Tag to refund all funds to customers, “citing a regulatory breach and ‘other concerns’, raising existential questions about the startup’s future.”