Monday, January 22, 2024

Exxon lawsuit aims to stifle shareholders

TechCrunch Newsletter
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By Christine Hall

Monday, January 22, 2024

Hello and welcome to TechCrunch PM, your afternoon dose of startups, venture capital and Big Tech. We'll discuss what happens when shareholders actually pay attention, developers don't develop, a big climate tech fund and X comes down with a bug. Let's go!

Christine

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TechCrunch PM Top 3

Exxon throws a fit over shareholders exercising their rights: Over on TechCrunch+, Tim writes about two Exxon activist investors pushing for Exxon to reduce its vast carbon emissions. Simple enough, right? Well, over the weekend, the oil giant filed a lawsuit in federal court asking for permission to ignore them at its next annual meeting. So much for public companies being beholden to shareholders.

Apple Vision Pro is coming, only without a lot of apps: Although consumer excitement for Apple's Vision Pro mixed reality headset may be high, there's only a tepid response from app developers. New App Store data shows only around 150 apps have been designed specifically so far.

X bug labels some posts as 'sensitive media': X's relationship with advertisers has been . . . hot and cold at best — examples here and here. However, when you are trying to attract and retain advertisers, it helps when the system doesn't mark them as "sensitive media."

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More top reads

Disney wants you to get moving: Myriad laughs have been had watching people walk into walls or destroy televisions while operating VR headsets. To save your drywall, Disney has a solution that will keep you on your feet and moving, but stay in place.

Day One wants you to share: Journal app Day One got a bit more social with a new "Shared Journals" feature, which is a private space where you can share life updates with up to 30 other people. Members of Shared Journals can leave comments and reactions on entries.

Crypto snow seems to be melting away: Sure, there's been a string of good news lately on the cryptocurrency front, including the recent launch of spot bitcoin ETFs and the legal system being more crypto-positive. Over on TechCrunch+, we wonder if those recent wins are enough to resurrect venture interest.

My, what a big climate tech fund you have: ArcTern, now flush with $355 million in capital commitments for a new climate tech fund, is looking for startups that can show quick returns. It's not interested in tech that can't scale.

It's a good time to invest in early-stage edtech: Speaking of areas to invest in, AI has excited the world of edtech startups, and some have been heads down in the development phase. However, AI is not going to be enough — startups will need to get creative on the best ways to use it. That's why a handful of investors remain bullish on this sector. Head over to TechCrunch+.

How to activate auto scroll on TikTok: TikTok has been experimenting with an auto-scrolling mechanic for months. Here's how it works.

Here comes the sun: Japan's first lunar lander has officially powered down on the moon after its solar cells were unable to generate electricity. There's a chance things could change with the direction of the sun's rays.

A comprehensive list of 2023 & 2024 tech layoffs: We continue to show you how and where layoffs are affecting the tech industry.

In case you missed it:

Voice cloning startup ElevenLabs lands $80M, achieves unicorn status

LoanDepot says 16.6M customers had 'sensitive personal' information stolen in cyberattack

Terraform Labs files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Hackers breached Microsoft to find out what Microsoft knows about them

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On the pods

Monday's Equity gives a rundown of news from the weekend and the week ahead: Crypto is not enjoying a post-ETF boom, Canva is big, and the Q4 2023 earnings cycle will kick off this week. Listen here.

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Say hello to the newest AI unicorn

TechCrunch Newsletter
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By Alex Wilhelm

Monday, January 22, 2024

Good morning, friends, and welcome to TechCrunch AM for Monday, January 22, 2024. Today we have a new AI unicorn, electric supercars, a startup acquisition, and notes on how TikTok may finally have hit the ceiling. It's going to be a busy week, so let's get to it!

Alex

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TechCrunch Top 3

  1. AI voice cloning is big business: ElevenLabs just raised $80 million at a valuation north of $1 billion in a round backed by a16z, Sequoia Capital and others. The startup is developing AI-powered tools to create and edit synthetic voices, and is building a marketplace for voices, which is cool, as long as voice actors can still make money. It was last valued at around $100 million last year.
  2. Did you charge your Lambo? Italian supercar maker Lamborghini has tapped an MIT-sourced piece of battery technology to help electrify its lineup. Don't think that supercars should be electric? Google "Rimac" to learn the error of your ways.
  3. The only one who can stop TikTok is TikTok: Meta, Snap and X have struggled for years to grab a share of TikTok's growth, but there now seems to be one company that can finally rope it in: TikTok itself. Sarah Perez reports that the introduction of TikTok Shop might have been detrimental for the short-form video app's growth curve in the U.S.
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Don't miss these

Chronosphere buys Calyptia: Startup M&A could be a big theme this year, so we're keeping close tabs on startups that are feeling acquisitive. Today, Chronosphere, a startup that offers a cloud-native observability platform, has acquired Calyptia, which is commercializing some open source tech. The deal could broaden the remit of Chronosphere's suite of offerings.

XRP eyes enterprise future: The regulatory fog that crypto has endured for a while in the United States is lifting ever so slightly, which is making crypto projects big and small more bullish on the future. Ripple and its XRP token are no exceptions, Jacquelyn Melinek reports.

Sony and Zee will not merge: Sony is not going to end up closing a merger of its Indian unit with media conglomerate Zee Entertainment to form a $10 billion giant. Sony is bummed about the deal's failure, which underscores just how large and important the Indian market is for digital entertainment companies and tech startups alike.

Captain looking to command $50M more: Speaking of India, a local startup called Captain Fresh is hunting for $50 million. The company operates a harvest-to-retail marketplace for animal protein, which is a fancy way of saying that it connects fishermen and others of their ilk to places that sell their goods to consumers. Nekkanti Sea Foods, SBI Investment, Evolvence, Tiger Global and Prosus Ventures are in the mix as potential backers for its next round.

AI bossware may be messware: AI is cool, but not all it’s going to be used for will be. Bossware is one such category. Sure, companies have been using software to keep tabs on employees for years, but AI opens up all sorts of new ways to dig into how productive workers are, and how they might be tuned. If that sounds miserable, that's because you aren't a CEO! (Note: I am also not a CEO.)

Team Equity recently interviewed Aileen Lee, and has a deep dive with Crunchbase's Gene Teare coming this week on all things 2023 venture capital. Remember to tune in!

$3.7M more for Kenyan agtech: Shamba Pride just snagged a new funding round for its business that provides last-mile distribution for farm inputs and tackles price exploitation and quality issues for farmers. African startups have seen venture demand for their shares wither in the present downturn, so this round is a notable transaction.

We have even more: EU rules are affecting how Meta deals with user accounts; LoanDepot was breached; and AI might not be coming for as many of our jobs as we feared.

Don't miss these image

Image Credits: Andriy Onufriyenko / Getty Images

Before you go

Former stablecoin company Terraform has filed for bankruptcy protection.

If you're thinking, "Wait, that hadn't happened already?", you aren't alone. The parent company of failed algorithmic stablecoin Terra, Terraform Labs wiped out at least $40 billion in market value and played a role in the collapse of the crypto market in May 2022. Quelle surprise.

Read More

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