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Hello, and welcome to another early week. As stated last Friday, Hey leaving the scuba diving, leaving the rest of us to take part in Twitter and FTX. No problem, we’ve got you covered. Mary Ann started us off by reporting on SoftBank posting a nearly $100 million investment into FTX. And with that, let’s dive in! — Christine
TechCrunch’s Top 3
- This FTX business has a wide reach: Tage reported on what happened to a young company that held some assets in FTX and now can’t access them because, you know. In this situation, African web3 startup Nestcoin said it had to lay off workers due to not having that access.
- A true comparison: Now people in Europe can discover the joy and wonder that is Klarna’s price comparison tool, which Paul writes perhaps only “a credible alternative to Google and Amazon.”
- Ouch: Bird, a micro-mobility company, told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had included unpaid customer rides in its revenue, thereby overstating the amount for two years. Jaclyn have more.
Startups and VCs
At this point, we all expect our data to move pretty quickly, but there’s so much data that it’s still a headache. This is where Quix comes in, Mike write The real-time data startup grabbed $12.9 million in Series A funding, not to do this with ksqlDB, a Java-based solution, or any of those fancy schmancy SQL-based analytics solutions. Oh no, Quix is developing event-driven applications with Python.
And we have five more for you:
- The show must go on: Just because FTX is in trouble doesn’t mean other companies stay away from the association. Jacquelyn reports on Joepegs NFT marketplace, which raised $5 million in a round co-led by FTX and Avalanche.
- “Adult friendships are fickle beasts”: It is, but fear not, 222 will help you find the perfect friend who doesn’t care that you get more than them or who is “lazy,” if that’s what you’re after, Kyle write
- Singapore, prepare your exotic taste: Vow, an Australian-based cultured meat company, spent $49.2 million in Series A funding to get its first cell-based meat product into Singapore restaurants, Christine write
- Spring in action: Electric vehicle startup Faraday Future signs $350 million funding deal to hopefully get out of previous financial challenges and launch its first vehicle, Jaclyn report.
- “The sun is a buttah ball”: Butter, now in $9 million in funding, led by Gradient Ventures, helps smaller food distribution businesses comply with food safety regulations, Catherine write
Prepare for the second decade of fintech: 4 steps your firm must take now
Image Credit: Emilija Manevska (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
According to consultant Grant Easterbrook, fintech startups hoping to succeed in the next few years must be prepared to contend with:
- Major banks and financial service providers with loyalty programs and “super apps”.
- An emerging DeFi protocol “that can offer financial products involving real-world assets.”
- Banking, invoicing, lending, payments, accounting packaged as “embedded financial products.”
- Multiple countries are issuing their own Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
“Your firm needs a very strong value proposition to compete with all four types of competitors,” writes Easterbrook, who shares his ideas for navigating the next decade of fintech in a TC+ guest post.
Two more from the TC+ team:
- See, mom? Quits can teach us something: Big tech layoffs aren’t that great, but Natasha M writes that while we could see more, entrepreneur Nolan Church, who helped lead the 2020 Chart layoffs as its chief executive officer, has some perspective on Twitter’s recent layoffs.
- If VCs don’t invest in you, who do they invest in?: That’s the one Becca discusses in his latest piece that looks at all the dry powder in the VC world, and why it hasn’t been used yet.
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Big Tech Inc.
And just like that, the VLC download ban in India has been lifted, Manish report. Nine months ago, the country’s electronics and IT ministry initiated a ban on the popular media playback software, something VLC tried to reverse, stating that the ban was “implemented without any prior notice” and did not allow VLC a chance to rebut.
Natasha L has more about our favorite social media outlet, this time writing that “Twitter no longer fulfills the primary obligations required to claim Ireland as a “so-called primary organization under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.” Can’t wait to see where this goes .
And we have five more for you:
