Daily Crunch - Facebook brings news sharing back to Australia

TechCrunch Newsletter

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 • By Anthony Ha

The Facebook-Australia news battle seems to have reached an end, Android gets an update and Lucid Motors is going public via SPAC. This is your Daily Crunch for February 23, 2021.

The big story: Facebook brings news sharing back to Australia Last week, Facebook responded to the Australian government’s proposed law requiring internet platforms to strike revenue-sharing agreements with news publishers by blocking news sharing and viewing for users in the country. But with the government amending the law, Facebook said it will restore news sharing in the “coming days.” Among other things, the amendments call for a two-month mediation period before Facebook is forced into arbitration with publishers, and it also says the government will consider commercial agreements that the platforms have made with local publishers before deciding whether the law applies to them. William Easton, Facebook’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand, said in a statement that the amendments address “core concerns about allowing commercial deals that recognize the value our platform provides to publishers relative to the value we receive from them.” Read more Image Credits: Robert Cianflone / Getty Images

7 subscription metrics your business needs to track in 2021 Sponsored by GoCardless Get the complete picture on the health of your subscription business, and learn how to effectively track and improve these 7 metrics. Start measuring them today. Read more

The tech giants Android's latest update will let you schedule texts, secure your passwords and more — This update will integrate a feature called Password Checkup to alert you to passwords you're using that have been previously exposed. Twitter relaunches test that asks users to revise harmful replies — Twitter is running a new test that will ask users to pause and think before they tweet. Area 120 is beginning to use Google's massive reach to scale HTML5 GameSnacks platform — GameSnacks is an HTML5 gaming platform where titles are bite-sized and load much faster. Image Credits: Google

Startups, funding and venture capital Lucid Motors strikes SPAC deal to go public with $24B valuation — This will be the largest deal yet between a blank-check company and an electric vehicle startup. Shippo raises $45M more at $495M valuation as e-commerce booms — The startup provides shipping-related services to e-commerce companies. Reddit ups Series E round by another $116M — Reddit had already announced a $250 million Series E earlier this month. Image Credits: Lucid Motors

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch How to overcome the challenges of switching to usage-based pricing — The usage-based pricing model almost feels like a cheat code, according to OpenView’s Kyle Poyar. Oscar Health's initial IPO price is so high, it makes me want to swear — Alex Wilhelm doesn’t mince words: “Public investors have lost their damn minds.” RIBS: The messaging framework for every company and product — The test is designed to tell you if your story is memorable, so you can turn it into a compelling message. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.) Image Credits: jayk7 / Getty Images

Everything else Announcing the complete agenda for TC Sessions: Justice — Our second-ever dedicated event to diversity, equity, inclusion and labor in tech is coming up on March 3. Six Miami-based investors share their views on the region's startup scene — Investors see a huge opportunity for the region to become a major startup hub by utilizing its diverse workforce and wonderful quality of life. SolarWinds hackers targeted NASA, Federal Aviation Administration networks — Hackers are said to have broken into the networks of U.S. space agency NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration as part of a wider espionage campaign.

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Technical Program/Product Managers at D. E. Shaw Research (New York, New York, USA) VP of Engineering at Way2B1 (San Francisco, CA, USA) Information Systems Manager at Consolidated Cooperative (Delaware, OH, USA) Product Marketing Manager (Demand Generation) at IncentFit (Philadelphia, PA, USA) Banner Developer at Horry Georgetown Technical College (Conway, SC, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

View this email online in your browser Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe © 2021 Verizon Media. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Daily Crunch - Spotify announces a high-end subscription

TechCrunch Newsletter

Monday, February 22, 2021 • By Anthony Ha

Spotify makes a bunch of announcements, Netflix introduces an intriguing new feature and Clubhouse faces security concerns. This is your Daily Crunch for February 22, 2021.

The big story: Spotify announces a high-end subscription Spotify listeners will get the chance to pay for higher-quality audio when the streaming service launches a new tier that it says will offer “CD-quality, lossless audio.” The pricing and launch date have yet to be announced, but Spotify HiFi will, unsurprisingly, cost more than Spotify Premium and be marketed as a Premium add-on. That was probably the biggest news that Spotify made at today’s “Stream On” event, where it also announced an audience development tool for artists, an audio ad marketplace, continued international expansion, a podcast co-hosted by Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen and a test of paid podcast subscriptions. Read more Image Credits: TechCrunch

How can you unlock long-term value through technology? Sponsored by Ernst & Young LLP Discover the six actions you can take today to deliver tech infrastructure that creates reliability, flexibility and security to strategically move your business forward. Read what EY is advising tech leaders in these high pressure times. Read more

The tech giants Netflix launches 'Downloads for You,' a new feature that automatically downloads content you'll like — After turning on the feature for the first time, you'll be able to select the amount of storage space you want to dedicate for these recommended downloads. Twitter explored buying India's ShareChat and turning Moj into a global TikTok rival — According to sources, Twitter offered to buy the five-year-old Indian startup for $1.1 billion. Image Credits: Sam Wasson / Getty Images

Startups, funding and venture capital EquityBee raises $20M to help startup employees actually afford their stock options — EquityBee CEO Oren Barzilai says his company's mission is to help educate startup employees on the meaning of their stock options, as well as provide them with funds to be able to purchase those options. Splice gets $55M for its software bringing beats from bedrooms to bandstands — Splice gained a following for its ability to help electronic dance music creators save, share, collaborate and remix music. A race to reverse-engineer Clubhouse raises security concerns — The fact that it takes programmers little effort to reverse-engineer and fork Clubhouse is sounding an alarm about the app's security. Image Credits: Ammentorp Photography / Shutterstock (Image has been modified)

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch If Coinbase is worth $100B, what's a fair valuation for Stripe? — We dig into Coinbase's 2019 and 2020 financial performance. Bain's Matt Harris and Justworks' Isaac Oates to talk through the Series B deal that brought them together — All the way back in 2016, Bain Capital Ventures caught a whiff of Justworks' potential for success. Winning enterprise sales teams know how to persuade the Chief Objection Officer — Many enterprise software startups have at some point faced the invisible wall. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.) Image Credits: Nigel Sussman

Everything else Watch Perseverance's harrowing descent to the surface of Mars — NASA has released video taken by the Perseverance landing module and rover showing the famous "seven minutes of terror.” Calling Oslo VCs: Be featured in The Great TechCrunch Survey of European VC — TechCrunch is embarking on a major project to survey the venture capital investors of Europe, and their cities. Original Content podcast: Apple's 'Ted Lasso' is all about relentless optimism — This will be our last episode on TechCrunch, as Original Content goes independent! Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Technical Program/Product Managers at D. E. Shaw Research (New York, New York, USA) VP of Engineering at Way2B1 (San Francisco, CA, USA) Information Systems Manager at Consolidated Cooperative (Delaware, OH, USA) Product Marketing Manager (Demand Generation) at IncentFit (Philadelphia, PA, USA) Banner Developer at Horry Georgetown Technical College (Conway, SC, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

View this email online in your browser Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe © 2021 Verizon Media. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Daily Crunch - Uber loses UK legal challenge

TechCrunch Newsletter

Friday, February 19, 2021 • By Anthony Ha

Uber loses a legal battle over driver classification, we survey mobility investors and new data suggests a COVID-19 vaccine should be easier to transport. This is your Daily Crunch for February 19, 2021.

The big story: Uber loses UK legal challenge The United Kingdom’s Supreme Court has reaffirmed earlier rulings that the Uber drivers who brought the case — which dates back to 2016 — are workers, not independent contractors. “Drivers are in a position of subordination and dependency in relation to Uber such that they have little or no ability to improve their economic position through professional or entrepreneurial skill,” the court said in a statement. “In practice the only way in which they can increase their earnings is by working longer hours while constantly meeting Uber's measures of performance." Uber, while acknowledging the decision, emphasized that it applies to the specific group of drivers who brought the case, many of whom are no longer driving through the app. Read more Image Credits: Thomas Trutschel / Contributor / Getty Images

Free O'Reilly eBook: Infrastructure as Code Sponsored by Linode Development teams for companies worldwide are attempting to build large infrastructure codebases. Download this eBook and learn how to effectively use principles, practices, and patterns pioneered by DevOps teams to manage cloud-age infrastructure. Read more

Startups, funding and venture capital Ex-General Catalyst and General Atlantic VC announces $68M debut fund — New York-based Avid Ventures is launching its $68 million debut venture capital fund. With $20M A round, Promise brings financial flexibility to outdated government and utility payment systems — Promise integrates with official payment systems to offer more forgiving terms for fees and debts that people can't handle all at once. Acast acquires podcasting startup RadioPublic — RadioPublic spun out of public radio marketplace PRX in 2016.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch Ten investors predict MaaS, on-demand delivery and EVs will dominate mobility's post-pandemic future — The COVID-19 pandemic didn't just upend the transportation industry, it laid bare its weaknesses and uncovered potential opportunities. A fraction of Robinhood's users are driving its runaway growth — A closer look at payment for order flow, a controversial practice in which Robinhood is paid by market makers for executing customer trades. Three strategies for elevating brand authority in 2021 — Advice from Fractl marketing director Amanda Milligan. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.) Image Credits: piola666 / Getty Images

Everything else Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine just got a lot easier to transport and distribute — There’s new stability data collected by Pfizer and BioNTech, which has been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dizzying view of Perseverance mid-descent makes its 'seven minutes of terror' feel very real — NASA has just shared a hair-raising image of the rover as it dangled from its jetpack above the Martian landscape. Will the Texas winter disaster deter further tech migration? — It's too early to tell the exact toll the storm has taken in loss of life, property damage and economic activity. Image Credits: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP / Getty Images

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Information Systems Manager at Consolidated Cooperative (Delaware, OH, USA) Product Marketing Manager (Demand Generation) at IncentFit (Philadelphia, PA, USA) Banner Developer at Horry Georgetown Technical College (Conway, SC, USA) Network Engineer at Horry Georgetown Technical College (Conway, SC, USA) Head of Technology at West Coast Search Fund / PE Firm (Phoenix, AZ, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

View this email online in your browser Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe © 2021 Verizon Media. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103