The coronavirus may be decimating some corners of the economy, but the impact on the digital music, as evidenced by the world’s biggest music streaming company, appears to be minimal. Today Spotify reported its earnings for Q1 with revenues of €1.848 billion ($2 billion at today’s rates) and an inching into a positive net income […]
Is it feast or famine for food delivery startups during the coronavirus pandemic? The UK’s Deliveroo has confirmed it’s axing more than 350 staff — or around 15% of its global headcount. Late yesterday the Telegraph reported that the London-based startup will be cutting 367 staff and furloughing a further 50 out of a total headcount […]
With $13.6 million in funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a new collaboration will pull together researchers at UCSF, Stanford and CZI-adjacent medical research nonprofit the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub to study the spread of COVID-19 in the Bay Area. The research team will conduct two separate large-scale studies over the course of nine months as […]
Google today announced that it is making Meet, its video meeting tool for businesses that directly competes with the likes of Zoom, available for free to everyone. Until now, you could participate in a Meet call without being a paying user, but you needed a paid G Suite account to start calls. You won’t be […]
European VC firm Atomico announced this week that it has hired Sasha Astafyeva as a new investment partner. Astafyeva previously spent three years as a principal at Felix Capital . In her new role, she’ll lead “sourcing, due diligence, and management” of consumer tech companies, according to a company statement. Originally from Ukraine, Astafyeva was […]
In its first-quarter earnings report today, Samsung said it expects the COVID-19 pandemic to continue impacting its business for the rest of the year, cutting into sales for smartphones and TVs, but increasing demand for PCs, servers and memory chips as people continue to work or study from home. Samsung’s results for the first-quarter of […]
A functioning healthcare system depends on caregivers having the right data at the right time to make the right decision about what course of treatment a patient needs. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 epidemic and the acceleration of the consumer adoption of telemedicine, along with the fragmentation of care to a number of different […]
Thuan Pham, hired as Uber’s chief technology officer by former CEO Travis Kalanick back in 2013, is leaving the company in three weeks, the ride-share giant revealed today in an SEC filing that came out just as The Information reported that massive layoffs at Uber are being proposed to preserve some of the company’s dwindling capital […]
WhatsApp, which began testing its mobile payments feature in India two years ago, could offer at least one more financial service to people in its biggest market. In a filing with the local regulator in India, the company has listed credit as one of the areas it will pursue in the country. The Facebook -owned […]
Today after the bell, Alphabet, parent company of Google, reported its Q1 2020 performance. The company’s $41.16 billion in revenue for the three-month period came in ahead of expectations, besting analyst estimates of $40.33 billion. However, its earnings per share came in under expectations, with the street anticipating $10.38 in per-share profit, while Alphabet delivered […]
Widespread theatrical closures have forced the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to loosen the rules around which films qualify for Oscars. This might not seem like much of a breakthrough in a year when Netflix got the most Oscar nominations of any studio, and when the streamer’s original films ultimately walked away with […]
SiriusXM’s first-quarter 2020 earnings today painted a picture of what’s ahead for the music and entertainment service in light of the coronavirus outbreak. While the company surprised with both an earnings and revenue beat in the quarter ended March 2020, its satellite radio business also lost net subscribers due to declines in auto shipments, and […]
In a blog post, TripAdvisor CEO and co-founder Stephen Kaufer announced that the company would be reducing its workforce in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has wrought particular havoc on the travel industry. The layoffs will reduce the company by 900 employees — nearly a quarter of its workforce. Of the cuts, 600 are […]
Ford said Tuesday it will delay until 2022 plans to launch an autonomous vehicle service, as the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the company to rethink its go-to-market strategy. The news was shared as part of Ford’s quarterly earnings, which was released after the market closed Tuesday. Ford reported a $2 billion loss in the first […]
Earlier this month, Zetta Venture Partners, a B2B, AI-focused venture outfit, announced a new $180 million fund. As new VC funds are anecdotally a bit thinner on the ground these days — and because we’re in the midst of economic upheaval, which is changing investing patterns and shaking up startup verticals — I got on […]
In its quarterly earnings today, iRobot announced an indefinite delay of its lawnmowing robot, Terra. The Roomba maker has abandoned plans to launch to the long-awaited home robot in 2020. No surprise, the company says fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is to blame for the uncertainty. More specifically, it blames “current market realities.” Here’s the […]
Lincoln Motor, the luxury brand under Ford, has canceled plans to build an all new electric vehicle based on Rivian’s skateboard platform. Crain’s Detroit reported that dealers were informed Tuesday. Rivian and Ford said in a statement sent to TechCrunch that this was a mutual decision based on the current environment, which was meant to […]
Rapid7 announced today after the closing bell that it will be acquiring DivvyCloud, a cloud security and governance startup, for $145 million in cash and stock. With Divvy, the company moves more deeply into the cloud, something that Lee Weiner, chief innovation officer, says the company has been working toward, even before the pandemic pushed […]
Apple has now added COVID-19 testing sites to its Apple Maps app across the U.S., covering all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The update provides testing locations including hospitals, clinics, urgent care facilities, general practitioners, pharmacies and more, as well as dedicated COVID-19 testing sites, where tests are available. In addition, COVID-19 is now a […]
The coronavirus pandemic has paralyzed the global economy, but large tech companies remain relatively well-positioned to reach into their deep pockets to make big moves. In an effort to call attention to the plight of smaller businesses — and the disproportionate power and resources of larger ones — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Alexandria […]
