Some Clubhouse users were treated to a surprise feature in their favorite app, but it wasn’t long for this world. A new UI element called “backchannel” popped up briefly before disappearing late last week, pointing the Clubhouse faithful to a new area of the app and generating plenty of chatter among users ready for more […]
Mobile commerce is where it’s at, and rising investment in so-called conversational commerce startups underscores the opportunity. Via, a two-year-old, Bay Area-based startup, is among those riding the wave, having identified some trends that are becoming clearer by the month. First, more e-commerce sales will be on mobile phones this year than desktops (as much […]
Facebook’s efforts to bring advertising to the Oculus virtual reality platform it has spent billions of dollars building out doesn’t seem to be off to a great start. The company announced last week that they were planning to roll out their first in-game ads inside the title “Blaston” from the prolific VR game developer Resolution […]
Couchbase could double its valuation provided that investors are more interested in its faster-than-Red-Hat growth than they are worried about its history of cash consumption and growing net losses.
Popular Twitch streamers Amouranth and Indiefoxx are the two latest casualties of Twitch’s ongoing battle to enforce its own confusing rules around sexually suggestive content. Both creators were suspended following ASMR streams that pushed the bounds of Twitch’s community guidelines forbidding content that isn’t quite sexual in nature but is still too risqué for a […]
Ubco, the New Zealand-based electric utility bike startup, has raised $10 million to fund a global expansion focused on the U.S. market and scale up its commercial subscription service business. Ubco’s hero product, the Ubco 2X2, is an all-wheel drive electric motorbike that looks like a dirt bike but rides like a moped. What began […]
In something of an about-face, Amblin Partners, Steven Spielberg’s long-running film production company, will produce several films per year for Netflix. The deal reflects Netflix’s rising star and arguably acceptance by the legendary director of a new order to the cinematic world where home viewing is a first-class citizen. The deal was announced in a […]
Collectibles boomed during the pandemic and while NFT outfits like NBA Top Shot exploded as consumers flirted with newer efforts, the sneaker world grew even more mature with enthusiasts digging deeper into communities dedicated to the hobby/passion/obsession/alternative asset class. Vancouver’s SoleSavy, a sneaker community dedicated to giving fans a curated place to navigate the world […]
Google search is not what it used to be. We all want to be #1 on the search results page, but getting there isn’t enough. It might be worth it to instead go for the top featured snippet position.
TikTok announced today the launch of its Jump program, which expands the app’s potential for third-party integrations. TikTok began beta-testing this feature in February with Whisk, a recipe-sharing app, though only select creators could use the feature. Now, Jump will start rolling out to all users with an expanded slate of partners. Jumps can only […]
India proposed on Monday banning flash sales on e-commerce platforms and preventing their affiliate entities from being listed as sellers as the South Asian market looks to further tighten rules that could hurt the future prospects of Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart in the world’s second-largest market. The proposal (PDF), unveiled by India’s Ministry of Consumer […]
Following this morning’s announcement that Hyundai has closed its acquisition of Boston Dynamics, another automotive company has posted some robotics news. The Toyota Research Institute announcement is decidedly less earthshaking than that big deal — if anything, it’s more of a progress check on what the division has been working on. Of course, incremental updates […]
Uber has reached a deal to become the sole owner of Latin American delivery startup Cornershop, just one year after acquiring a majority stake in the company. The ride-hailing giant said in a regulatory filing Monday that it will purchase the remaining 47% interest in Cornershop in exchange for 29 million shares. The transaction is […]
Soldier-entrepreneurs are unfortunately still a rare breed in Silicon Valley, despite the region’s origins in Cold War defense spending. While the courage and perseverance required to fight in an overseas battlefield (or the office bureaucracy on base) would seem a perfect fit for the travails of the founder, the reality is that the journey from […]
Neobanking has yet to show that it can generate positive, growing free cash flows over a multiyear period. But their results at least indicate that such incomes could occur in time.
Luxury sports car manufacturer Porsche AG is going into the battery business. The automaker said Monday it plans to open a new factory that will produce high-performance cells through a joint venture with lithium-ion battery developer Customcells. Porsche invested in “the high double-digit millions” in the new joint venture, dubbed Cellforce Group GmbH, executive board […]
The cyber executive order, alongside sanctions on Russia, are strong indications the Biden administration intends to take a far more proactive approach to cybersecurity. But it's not quite enough.
Most Series A investors today look for around $2 million in annual recurring revenues (ARR) before they lean in, but getting to that figure is a very long and thorny path.
