News Headline: All eyes on Reddit’s IPO

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! Today we have the latest on hot tech IPOs, why SpaceX wants to accelerate its astronaut launch schedule, several new venture funds, and how a host of climate tech startups are busy raising money. To work!

– Alex

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TechCrunch Top 3

After Astera's IPO gusher, all eyes are on Reddit: This week, datacenter hardware company Astera Labs priced the offering above its initial range, and stormed out of the gate. Reddit, not to be left behind, last night priced its IPO at the top of its price range at $34 per share. Now the question is just how the market will value the social media company, and how much weight its AI story merits. We'll find out later this morning!
SpaceX wants to accelerate how soon humans go to space: The space company is setting up a second launchpad for astronaut launches. SpaceX is working on its massive Starship launch system (with support from NASA), so it may just need the capacity to board more humans.
Glassdoor in trouble for sharing users' real names, locations: Getting regular workers to dish on their employers made Glassdoor a well-known website. Now, the website is losing users like air from a punctured balloon after it started adding their real names to their reviews without their permission.

Image Credits: TechCrunch

Morning must-reads

Greenly raises $52M to track corporate emissions: If you want to lower your company's carbon footprint, or even seek net-zero status, you have some accounting to do. TechCrunch's Tim De Chant reports that bigger companies can pull that off, but all that new work can get expensive for smaller businesses. Greenly, a French startup that just raised a massive new round, wants to help companies of all sizes track their emissions, and it apparently clocked annual recurring revenue of $10 million last year. The company is based in Paris, so chalk this up as yet another indication that French startup activity is accelerating.

Electric boats are becoming a real thing: With hydrofoils and electric engines, Candela is racking up demand for its electric boats, and investors have signed a $25 million check to help it capitalize on that demand. Notably, Candela's boats are getting bigger, which means we could see bigger seafaring vehicles run by electricity sooner than we thought.

X allows developers to buy more API access in blocks: If a developer who pays to interact with X's API runs out of access, they can now purchase 'top ups' at a rate of $100 for 10,000 posts, TechCrunch reports. The social media company is working to reform its business model under its new ownership to supplement its reportedly diminishing advertising incomes.

Pelikan Mobility raises €4M to help companies lease out more EVs: As more commercial vehicles go electric, the transition from gas isn't going to be simple for fleet companies. Enter software, enter startups, enter Pelikan Mobility. The French startup is building a platform and a leasing solution to optimize fleet management for owners of commercial vehicle fleets that want to go electric.

Nexus investor sets out on his own: Well-known Indian venture capitalist, Sameer Brij Verma, is leaving Nexus Venture Partners, one of the most active firms in the country. He's not retiring, however, but instead working on a new fund that could total $150 million.

Image Credits: Man As Thep / Getty Images

The Taps Aren't Dry

Venture investors aren't raising new capital as frequently as they used to, but a recent spate of news is proof that cash is still flowing into the accounts of startup backers:

OTB Ventures just closed a $185 million fund to invest in deep tech in Europe;
Climate-focused Silence just capped off a $35 million vehicle; and
Frontline closed two funds worth $200 million, divided between early, and later-stage bets.

Around the Web

Bloomgerg reports that the U.S. Department of Justice may be reading a legal challenge to Apple over access to iPhone features that it considers the Cupertino-based tech giant to be unfairly withholding from rivals.

9to5Google reports that Epic Games' upcoming iOS store could feature a charge as low as 12%, much less than the 30% Apple charges on its own store. Epic and Apple have been scrapping over new regulations in the region, and the right of third party developers to build and launch their own app stores for iOS.

And Axios reports that the U.S. Senate is planning its next moves on the TikTok issue. A separate chamber of Congress had previously voted to force TikTok to be divested from its Chinese parent company, or face a ban in the U.S.

Before you go

OKX to exit India: India is an attractive market for international companies simply because the country has a lot of people, and its economy is developing quickly. However, not all kinds of companies are welcome to do business there, and the current government particularly doesn't like many well-known crypto exchanges. In light of this regulatory pressure, OKX is exiting India, and if things persist, it may not be the last web3 exchange to do so.