Intel will reportedly buy cloud-optimization startup Granulate for $650M

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Thursday, March 31, 2022

Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for Thursday, March 31, 2022! It's a beautiful day in our neck of the woods, and we have a great lineup of news for you today, so let's goooooo. Grab your calendar and add these two: We're doing a Data and Culture Transformation event on April 26 for the big data aficionados, and now is your last chance to buy discounted tickets for our in-person TC Sessions: Mobility event on May 18 and 19, as well as the virtual event on the 20th. Don't worry, it's Thursday. The weekend is almost here. You can do it; we believe in you. – Christine and Haje Image Credits: Monika Sakowska / EyeEm / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3 SEC looks at another EV SPAC: In today's abbreviation news, several Faraday Future executives find themselves subpoenaed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission amid the agency's look at electric vehicle companies that went public via special purpose acquisitions companies. The SPAC itself is not under the microscope, but instead alleged inaccurate statements the company made to investors. It's OK, I’m sure Faraday Future did its best — everyone makes a miSPAC now and then. Klarna, Klarna, Klarna, Klarna, Klarna chameleon: Buy now, pay later company Klarna is showing us just how versatile it can be and that it won't be left out of a good opportunity. Its new open banking application programming interface, Klarna Kosma, helps companies plug into bank accounts and seems to be an answer to Visa announcing it will acquire Tink. Are startup layoffs looming?: It's a question Alex Wilhelm had us pondering today. Valuations are high, but traction is not a-matchin' for some companies that he called "paper unicorns" (spectacular phrase by the way). Could all this mean we may see layoffs from companies that were able to rake in large amounts of dough, but not able to make the doughnuts? Stay tuned.

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Startups and VC We get a teensy bit excited whenever Y Combinator does a set of demo days. I recommend that you read all our coverage this week, obvz, but if you want a quick summary, read part 1 and part 2 of our "everything you need to know" posts, make yourself a cup of coffee, and follow that up with our favorite startups part 1 and part 2, then pour yourself an adult beverage and wrap it all up with Devin's irreverently irresistible (and irrationally ironic) review of his favorite YC logos. 'Tis the season for new venture funds, apparently. Freestyle closed its sixth fund, adding $130 million of dry powder to invest, while Gumi Cryptos Capital (gCC) has a $110 million block of cash in the form of its second to deploy into the crypto universe. Docker was on the ropes for a little while, there, but hooo boy did it make a comeback. The company just announced a whale of a round, raising $105 million of fresh capital on a $2 billion valuation. 🦸 More stories of up, up, and away: Speaking of mono-racked fantasy horses, women's leadership network Chief saddled up and rode its unicorn status into its continued future of developing women in leadership in the course of its $100 million Series B round. Kenya's social commerce platform Tushop is strapping on some rocket fuel for growth, raising $3 million. 66% of Egyptian adults don't have access to formal financial services. Khazna raised $38 million to help address that gap for low- and middle-income earners. Famously filthy business, real estate, but French startup Deepski raised $166 million to improve measurement and impact of ESG data across the industry. The Great Resignation is having some interesting effects across the job market, and Pursuit spotted an opportunity. It raised a $10 million fund to create a self-sustaining job training service with a really interesting business model. Getting your customer data hacked is a surefire way to lose goodwill, and Antimatter raised a $12 million Series A to help avoid that sort of thing. Pivoting from video conferencing to higher-end video production, BoxedUp brings the sharing economy to a previously untapped market. Freelancers are a squirrely bunch at the best of times (as freelancers ourselves, we can say that with utmost confidence), and managing them can get real quixotic. Archie aims to make things easier for managers, and just closed $4.5 million to do so. Space is complex, and as much fun as Kerbal is, it doesn't cut it for commercial simulation of space missions. Slingshot Aerospace believes it can do better, and just landed a $25 million Space Force contract to build a digital twin of the inky night sky. Datanomik is bringing open banking to LatAm, with dLocal and AstroPay execs at the helm. Wouldn't it be great if you could predict the future? Black Crow AI raised $25 million to help e-commerce folks figure out what its users are most likely to buy. Not a big fan of injections, needles to say, I was pretty psyched to learn about NovaXS Biotech's push to make injection therapies needle-free.

5 things first-time founders must remember when working with VCs Nothing beats experience like experience, which is why we were happy to run a column written by Zach DeWitt, winner of the 2013 TechCrunch Meetup and Pitch-off. DeWitt, who became a VC after selling Drop, Inc. to Snapchat in 2016, shares five essential lessons for first-time founders wandering in the wilderness in search of an investor who’ll be “a true partner.” There’s an inherent power imbalance when asking a stranger for money, but “VCs should work to earn your trust,” writes DeWitt. “In many ways, it's like finding the right spouse.” (TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.) Read More Image Credits: Carol Yepes / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. Microsoft goes deeper into process mining: What is process mining? Don't worry, reporter Kyle Wiggers (who is rounding out his first week with us) tells you all about what that is. He also says Microsoft's latest acquisition of process mining company Minit "comes at a time when the broader business process automation industry, which remains flush with cash, heads toward general consolidation." Intel also gets in on the M&A: We noted last year, when Israel-based Granulate received funding, that it seemed like the network management space was seeing some consolidation. Well, that was confirmed earlier today when Intel said it acquired Granulate "to continue extending both its operations in Israel and the tools that Intel provides to customers to better manage traffic on Intel-powered kit." New research sheds light on Viasat hack: The cyberattack that took down the U.S.-based satellite communications provider's service in Europe was deemed "likely the result of destructive wiper malware" that originated in Russia, we report. The identity of the hackers is still unknown. The strike that turned into a potential lawsuit: Meta and its subcontractor, Sama, are in the hot seat in Kenya, facing some legal action that alleges poor working conditions. Reporter Annie Njanja describes allegations against the companies by former Sama contractor Daniel Motaung, who claims that contractors like him weren't told what their jobs would be, but that it ended up being content moderation where they looked at some pretty graphic content for a long time, but were not often granted time to compose themselves or offered support when it became too much. Sama is denying any wrongdoing.

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

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'Strategic finance platform' Mosaic raises $25M Series B

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for Wednesday, March 30, 2022! It's day two of Y Combinator's Demo Day, which means that the TechCrunch team has been looking at more than 400 startups over two days. If you'll forgive us, our brains are dripping out of our ears as we stare vacantly in the middle distance after some information overwhelms – but one thing's for sure: It's hella exciting times in startup land and across the ecosystem. Dive in; the water is non-fungible, COVID-free, and will probably launch a corporate credit card before long. – Christine and Haje Image Credits: Co-founders left to right: Bijan Moallemi, Joe Garafalo and Brian Campbell / Mosaic

The TechCrunch Top 3 'From tiny to mighty': Fintech reporter Mary Ann Azevedo hit it out of the park today with some financial news. First, she wrote about Cross River Bank, which secured a giant round of $620 million that put its valuation at over $3 billion. This is not shocking due to the amount of venture capital being pumped into the sector. However, Cross River was not only an early recipient of fintech funding, getting $30 million back in 2016, but has been profitable since 2010. Helping CFOs manage high growth: Mary Ann's other story was about a couple of Palantir alums out to provide tools for CFOs of high-growth companies. Mosaic raised $25 million in Series B funding from Founders Fund to continue developing what the company calls a "strategic finance" category to get all departments within a company talking about finance. When you are growing, knowing your financial status is certainly important. Dyson wants you to mask up: Reporter Brian Heater wins "headline of the day" for his story about, you guessed it, Dyson's new wearable air purifier.

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Startups and VC It's day two of Y Combinator Demo Day, and the TechCrunch team is back on the case, sifting the sparkly from the meh for your reading pleasure. Lucas examined the crypto startups plotting out their plans for world domination, and we took a separate look at the fintech companies and AI companies that stuck their heads over the parapet as well. If you have wild dreams of raising funding from Y Combinator yourself, pop along to our Early Stage conference in a couple of weeks, where Y Combinator's Dalton Caldwell is doing a "how to get into YC" presentation. If you really want to submerge yourself in demo days, check out today's excellent episode of our "Equity" podcast as well. I mean, with a title like "Demo days definitely amplify a brand, but not the one you think," how could you not? In exciting hardware news, Boston Dynamics is starting sales of Stretch. It's not as cute as the dog-shaped robot, but probably more helpful for maneuvering around a warehouse. 🎵 Come with me, and you’ll be, in a world of pure imagination: Good news for lovers of ShhTech – Minut raised a chunk of cash for privacy-forward noise monitors so your neighbor's Airbnb guests can dial it down a bit. Bored of range anxiety as you whoosh around in your EV? Coreshell is rethinking batteries with a small change to the manufacturing process that increases existing battery capacity by a third. A propos EVs: Flux Marine just raised $15 million to help you stick to the rivers and the lakes you are used to with its electric outboard engines. I can only assume that Brian was channeling his inner John Lennon, gently humming "all we are saying is give bees a chance" as he takes a closer look at Beewise. Skiff is working on end-to-end encrypted workspaces for the security-forward among us. A good day for the cybersecurity nerds: In addition to Skiff's round, we have Cyberpion collecting $27 million to help protect businesses from external attacks. And finally, all good things come in threes: Wing Security raised $26 million to help companies monitor and bolster their SaaS security across the myriad solutions that go into building a modern business.

How to make a teaser trailer for your startup pitch When you have an opportunity to sell an investor on your idea, it will likely be via a video call, not across a table or desk. Considering how many pitch calls investors take on a daily basis, “this new pitching model presents a new problem for founders,” says Flint Capital partner Andrew Gershfeld, whose firm reviews approximately “1,500 online pitches per year.” To cut through the noise, he recommends that founders create a “teaser trailer” to share with their network before they begin approaching angels and VCs. According to Gershfeld, “since we're not getting the same in-person meeting opportunities, this is how founders can hook investors' attention.” (TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.) Read More Image Credits: Paolo Farinella / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. Get your groove on with friends: Spotify's latest update for its Blend playlist creation tool lets you see where your music tastes overlap with a friend and then provides you with a common playlist. Google's been busy: If you haven't checked in with Google in, oh, about a day, we have some news for you. The first is that Google Workspace customers who are also Markdown fans got some good news in an update that Google Docs can now automatically convert Markdown formatting to rich text. Next, we go over to Chrome OS, which is launching a new version of its operating system — the 100th, to be exact. One of the changes you will notice is the launcher, which we report now leaves space for other windows. Lastly, Google rolled out improvements on its search safety and how it will handle "personal crisis" queries. EU wants products to last longer so they don't end up in landfills: As the shift to a circular economy gains speed, the European Union is laying out some plans for ecodesign with a goal of products lasting longer so that they can be either reused or recycled. WhatsApp gives a voice to 7B messages: Reporter Manish Singh admits to never having used WhatsApp to send a voice message — and found that he is in the minority. The communications giant said an average of 7 billion voice messages are transmitted through its app every day, and to celebrate, it's adding some new features, like pausing during a message and being able to listen to it before hitting "send." Visa joins the NFT movement: The trend of NFTs has certainly hit the world of e-commerce, and credit card giant Visa wants in on the action. Its new NFT creator program aims to help small businesses get into the digital economy through a one-year immersion program.

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Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Software Architect at Moore Nanotechnology Systems (Swanzey, NH, USA) Xamarin Developer at Cardknox (Anywhere) Technical Delivery Manager at GrowthOps (Melbourne VIC, Australia) MLOps Engineer at Glassbeam Inc (Santa Clara, CA, USA) Frontend Developer at WynHouse Software (Anywhere) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

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