Category: TECHNOLOGY
Virgin Galactic Strikes Deals to Expand Fleet
The company has agreed to open a spaceship assembly in Arizona and signed a deal with a Boeing unit for two new planes. …read more
Elon Musk pushes for the Twitter trial to start next year
With Twitter pressing for a quick trial, Elon Musk’s lawyers are making a case to slow things down.
In the lawsuit Twitter filed against its would-be owner, the company argued that it would only need four days to prove that the court should require Musk to follow through with his agreement to buy it for $44 billion. Twitter took the SpaceX and Tesla CEO to task in the lawsuit, not just for trying to back out of the deal but for dragging the social network through the mud in the process.
Twitter, likely tired of being in limbo as the drama drags on, requested that the trial be expedited with a start date as soon as September.
Musk’s legal team pushed back on Friday, claiming that the case will require “forensic review and analysis” of a deep pool of data, referring to his argument that Twitter undercounts its number of spam and otherwise fake accounts. Bloomberg reported the new filing from Musk’s legal team.
Team Musk is aiming for a February 13, 2023, trial date, which Bloomberg describes as “an extremely rapid schedule for a case of this enormous magnitude.”
“Twitter’s sudden request for warp speed after two months of foot-dragging and obfuscation is its latest tactic to shroud the truth about spam accounts long enough to railroad defendants into closing,” Musk’s legal team wrote. The filing argues that an analysis of Twitter’s bot population will be time-intensive but that the process is “fundamental” to determining how much Twitter is worth.
We’ll know more about the timeline of the trial on July 19, when a judge will evaluate if the case should be expedited.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/15/elon-musk-twitter-lawsuit-timeline-february/
Daily Crunch: After developers complain, Microsoft clarifies new policy on open source monetization
Every founder is searching for ways to conserve cash at the moment, but a laser focus on saving money instead of creating efficiencies will only delay the inevitable.
In July 2022, investors will not back companies that can’t demonstrate proficiency in five basic KPIs, according to Kraig Swensrud, founder and CEO of Qualified.
“We’re not going back to the sugar high of the past decade anytime soon, but with integrity, strong leadership and operational efficiency, we can not only survive, but thrive.”
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Time to do the Friday dance! We’ve mentioned our virtual TC Sessions: Robotics event a few times, but we’ve got some good news for events fans. Hang on to your blockchains and sharpen those crypto wallets — we’re doing a TechCrunch Sessions: Crypto in November as well! Happy weekend! See y’all on Monday. — Christine and Haje
The TechCrunch Top 3
- Words mean everything: Microsoft came under fire recently by developers due to the way it worded a new policy banning profiting off of open source software, and while the company clawed back that policy, Paul provides a look at what all this will mean.
- No snakes and frozen statues hereChristine writes about Medusa’s $8 million seed round to take on Shopify with its open source e-commerce tool for small businesses to grow their business beyond the basic API implementations provided by marketplaces.
- B-O-A-R-D: No, it’s not today’s Wordle answer — we checked — but fans of the game will be delighted to know that the popular guess-the-word computer game is being turned into a board game, Ivan writes.
Startups and VC
“We have entered an unprecedented combination of crypto winter and broad macroeconomic instability, and we need to prepare the company for the possibility of a prolonged downturn,” OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer said, as Lucas reports.
The question bouncing around Alex’s mind this morning is why venture investments are slowing when so much capital has been raised by VCs to invest? (Read about it on TC+, our subscription product.)
NGL and Sendit’s apps are problematic, Sarah writes, because they’ve been using misleading tactics to trick their young users into thinking they were receiving engagement from friends when they were not.
Kick off the weekend by bopping along to this wildly dark and weirdly threatening EDM track from Rüfüs Du Sol, as you skim the best of the rest:
- Hi, is that Nothing? Brian just posted his review of the Nothing Phone (1), sharing that it’s “a refreshing change of pace in a smartphone market that has lost much of its sense of fun.”
- Hi, WYD: The race is on, with a number of startups racing to build a crypto-native, consumer-friendly messaging platforms for web3, reports Connie.
- Shields up: With her new startup, Granitt, Runa Sandvik aims to help at-risk people, like journalists and activists but also politicians, lawyers, refugees and human rights defenders, from threats they face doing their work, Zack reports.
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You get a credit card, you get a credit card: Stori offers credit cards to underserved populations …read more
https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/15/microsoft-clarifies-new-policy-on-open-source-monetization/
Cryptominers defend gigawatt-scale energy usage called out by Congress
Citing “disturbing” levels of power used by cryptocurrency miners, a group of Democrats led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren is urging the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy to crack down on the controversial industry.
The letter, signed by four senators and two representatives, calls on regulators to compel cryptominers to disclose their carbon emissions and energy use. Environmentalists have long raised concerns about Bitcoin and other power-hungry, proof-of-stake tokens — and globally, cryptocurrencies are estimated to consume more energy than entire countries, such as Venezuela and Finland.
In the U.S., just seven firms have built more than 1.045 gigawatts of capacity for cryptomining purposes, the report states. “This is enough capacity to power all the residences in Houston, Texas.” The mining farms highlighted in the report are run by Stronghold, Greenidge, Bit Digital, Bitfury, Bitdeer, Marathon and Riot.
Though the crypto winter of 2022 might incentivize some miners to scale back operations, the lawmakers argue the industry at large is poised to grow rapidly and “is likely to be problematic for energy and emissions.” Still, they caution that “little is known about the full scope of cryptomining activity.” Hence their call for more data.
In response to the lawmakers, the companies downplayed the industry as a source of planet-cooking emissions. Nevertheless, they highlighted their individual efforts to curtail emissions and tap into renewable sources.
Marathon pointed to its work “with energy companies to build clean, green, renewable energy resources (e.g., solar and wind) that might not otherwise be built.” However, most of the energy tapped by Marathon currently comes from a coal-burning plant in Hardin, Montana.
Along similar lines, Riot argued that “Bitcoin mining drives more demand for renewable energy than the typical U.S. energy consumer” and spotlighted its use of hydroelectricity in upstate New York. Riot’s operations in Rockdale, Texas, however, feature nearly seven times the capacity and draw power from the state grid. Texas generated most of its energy from nonrenewable sources last year (51% from natural gas and 13.4% from coal).
Speaking of coal, Stronghold told lawmakers that it is “actively working to remediate coal refuse piles and converting coal refuse into energy.” Coal mining waste is an environmental nightmare, and cleaning it up is a good idea. Burning coal waste, on the other hand, still yields harmful emissions, though scrubbers can lessen the worst effects.
Blockfusion and Bitdeer, meanwhile, pointed to their use of software to minimize strain on energy grids.
Though the letter casts a critical eye on crypto, the majority of near-term emissions cuts in the U.S. need to come from the power and transportation sectors in order for the U.S. to reach its 2030 net emissions goal, according to researchers at the Electric Power Research Institute. In …read more
Sony officially owns Bungie now
The ink is dry on Sony’s acquisition of Bungie, the gaming company that created sci-fi hits Halo and Destiny.
Both companies announced the news on Twitter Friday, confirming that the $3.6 billion deal had gone through without any surprises.
While that’s a large sum for a relatively small company, the merger was modest enough to evade the antitrust scrutiny that Sony rival Microsoft triggered with its planned parallel acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion.
Bungie may not be a sprawling entity like Activision Blizzard — which publishes everything from Overwatch and World of Warcraft to the Call of Duty mega-franchise — but it’s nonetheless poised to have a huge impact on Sony’s roadmap for near-future games.
At Sony, Bungie will remain a standalone game studio but its expertise will be woven into the company’s strategy for PlayStation Studios, the division of Sony Interactive Entertainment dedicated to making tentpole games that showcase the company’s technological prowess. Sony has big plans to leverage Bungie’s fine-tuned model for a whole slate of live service games — online multiplayer games that sell virtual goods and evolve over time, often charging players set monthly fees for access or special perks.
In an investor presentation this May, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan outlined the company’s intention to steer 49% of its PlayStation Studios development budget toward live service games by the end of 2022. Within three years, Sony plans to launch and maintain 12 of its own in-house live service games.
“The strategic significance of this acquisition lies not only in obtaining the highly successful Destiny franchise, as well as major new IP Bungie is currently developing but also incorporating into the Sony group the expertise and technologies Bungie has developed in the live game services space,” Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki said shortly after news of the Bungie acquisition was made public.
Though the company didn’t specify which titles would get the live service treatment, it’s likely that core PlayStation properties like Horizon Forbidden West, God of War and The Last of Us will be imbued with Bungie’s secret sauce, bringing in ongoing revenue well beyond launch day if Sony plays its cards right.
Today’s your last chance to vote for roundtable topics at TC Disrupt
Two weeks ago, we announced Audience Choice and asked you to cast your votes for the roundtable topics you most want to see this year at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18-20 in San Francisco. And holy smokes, you answered the call. There’s been a whole lot of voting going on.
For the uninitiated, roundtable discussions are the most popular sessions at Disrupt. They’re 30-minute, expert-led discussions with up to 20 attendees. This format encourages interactive, in-depth conversations where Disrupt attendees can learn, contribute and network with other folks interested in the same topic.
But listen up — the Audience Choice poll closes tonight, Friday July 15 at 11:59 pm (PT). Today is the last day you can make your voices heard and your votes count.
Here’s how Audience Choice works. Head to the Audience Choice voting site, where you’ll find a sizable list of potential sessions. You can filter and search by more than 20 categories, like Financial Services/Blockchain, Founder Lessons, Gaming, Investor Insights, Operations/Strategy, SaaS/Enterprise and many more.
You can vote for as many sessions you like, and the votes you cast today could keep — or put — your favorite roundtables in the running. So start stuffing the ballot boxes and feel free to share your thoughts or offer feedback in the comment box.
This is your chance to influence the programming at the world’s most iconic startup conference. Voting ends tonight, Friday, July 15 at 11:59 pm (PT). Head on over to the Audience Choice site, cast your votes for the roundtable sessions you want to see, then register to join us at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco on October 18-20 (with an online day on October 21).
Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.
Despite creaky markets, European edtech is showing its resilience
These are turbulent times. Given the circumstances, it’s hardly surprising that public markets are creaking and only niche sectors remain either unaffected or in a marginally positive position. Edtech is no exception.
Today, Brighteye Ventures published its Half Year European Edtech Funding report, built around Dealroom’s data. The report primarily focuses on investment activity in Europe but is contextualized with what we are seeing in other markets.
Global VC funding into edtech startups totaled $6.5 billion in H1 2022 compared to a total of $20.1 billion raised in 2021. This pullback in global funding can partially be explained by fewer edtech mega-rounds (over $100 million) in H1 2022 compared to previous periods.
The first half of 2022 saw 16 so-called mega-rounds, compared to 24 in the second half of 2021 and 30 in the first half of 2021. At the same time, the number of early-stage rounds, categorized as deals under $15 million, has fallen fairly consistently since a peak in H1 2018.
We expect the European edtech market to maintain some positive signs of resilience, but naturally, the ecosystem cannot be immune to the headwinds it faces.
Note that this doesn’t necessarily reflect lower activity in the ecosystem — it simply means that more early deals are being done by angels and via involvement with incubators and accelerators, which are not comprehensively covered in the data.
We were pleased to see that the European edtech ecosystem has managed to maintain most of its momentum, at least for the time being. The fact that the sector has secured $1.4 billion thus far in 2022, 40% more than a year earlier, demonstrates its resilience to maintain growth even amid challenging conditions.
This isn’t surprising given the inverse correlation between worsening macro employment markets and appetite for education, particularly in the market for post-18 education.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/15/despite-creaky-markets-european-edtech-is-showing-its-resilience/
Robert Curl, Nobel-Winning Chemist, Helped Spur Nanotechnology Boom
The Rice University professor, who has died at age 88, was among scientists who discovered buckyballs in 1985. …read more
TechCrunch podcasts this week: Bowery Farms, web3 startup Yat and Stripe’s internal valuation
TechCrunch is more than just a site with words. We have a growing stable of podcasts focused on the most critical topics relating to the startup and venture capital worlds. Embedded below are the latest from The TechCrunch Podcast from Darrell, who talks to TC writers about their own stories of the week; Chain Reaction, our crypto-focused podcast hosted by Lucas and Anita; Found, a long-form bit of work that goes deep on the real saga of company formation from Jordan and Darrell; and Equity, our long-running, Webby-award-winning podcast focused on venture capital and the latest startup news, hosted by Natasha, Mary Ann and Alex. Be sure to subscribe where you listen to podcasts!
The TechCrunch Podcast
This week on The TechCrunch Podcast Managing Editor Darrell Etherington gives you a rundown of the biggest stories in tech this week and sits down with TC writers for a deep dive into a few of them. In this episode, he talks with Zack Whittaker about Apple’s latest security feature, Lockdown Mode, and Amanda Silberling about the end of former Theranos exec Sunny Balwani’s trial.
Please note, we recorded with episode before news of Elon’s attempt to terminate his deal to acquire Twitter broke. Read Taylor Hatmaker’s coverage here to stay up to date.
Articles from the episode:
- Apple says Lockdown Mode in iOS 16 will help block government spyware attacks
- Former Theranos exec Sunny Balwani is found guilty
Other news from the week:
- Elon Musk tells Twitter he is killing the deal
- Things get messy for Elon Musk with report about new twins he shares with Neuralink exec
- A huge data leak of 1 billion records exposes China’s vast surveillance state
- Hotel giant Marriott confirms yet another data breach
- Apple reportedly plans to launch an ‘extreme sports’ Apple Watch with a larger screen and metal casing
Chain Reaction
This week Lucas and Anita return to discuss the ultimate meme investing crossover episode with GameStop launching an NFT marketplace. We also break down this week’s latest drama with the liquidation of crypto hedge fund 3 Arrows Capital. It wasn’t all doom and gloom, as we discussed some of the new crypto funds injecting fresh capital into the space.
In their interview this week, Lucas and Anita chat with Naveen Jain. Naveen is the founder of web3 startup Yat, which lets people buy their own emoji URL. The marketplace saw some wildly expensive sales this year, but when can pricey emojis tell us about the future of identity?
Found
Bowery Farms founder and CEO Irving Fain wants you to taste the best strawberry you’ve ever had, grown only a few miles from your urban home. As the leading and largest vertical farming company in the U.S, their goal is to make agriculture possible in urban spaces while also making it possible to grow a wide array of crops from anywhere in the world. Darrell and Jordan talk to …read more
https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/15/bowery-farms-web3-startup-yat-and-stripes-internal-valuation/
A Frozen Document in China Unleashes a Furor Over Privacy
A 25-year-old writer had been working on her urban romance novel for months when she found she was locked out of it by the software program where it was stored, sparking an outpouring of frustration by Chinese internet users. …read more