Friday, March 17, 2023

With just $2.2B in remaining liquidity, SVB’s parent company files for bankruptcy

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By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps

Friday, March 17, 2023

Happy Friday Crunch!

There's a persistent theory in hardware that manufacturing overseas is the cheaper/better/more efficient option. You manufacture there, assemble somewhere else, and finally approve and get to market in the United States, Haje writes on TC+. It turns out that it's possible to manufacture closer to home. With supply chains in the news more than ever, "nearshoring" is an oft-overlooked option for startups.

On that note — we're going to drink a beer with a shamrock poured into the foam, for no particular reason whatsoever.  — Christine and Haje

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The TechCrunch Top 3

  • Next stop, Chapter 11: Today, SVB Financial filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, disclosing that it has $2.2 billion in liquidity, Ingrid reports. "This will mean that SVB Financial can apply, and plans to apply, to the courts to resume activities while finding buyers for its assets, which include going ahead with its plans to sell off SVB Securities and SVB Capital, and more," Ingrid notes.
  • More that we didn't ask for: Now U.S. users can add a coveted blue check mark to their Instagram and Facebook accounts — well, at least get on the waitlist to do so — for a monthly fee, that is, Aisha reports. Nothing in life is truly free, loves. But there are stickers, so there's that.
  • In the nick of time: As a serial entrepreneur who has famously endured some ups and downs, Parker Conrad has nearly seen it all. Or so he might have thought until last week, Connie reports. Rippling, his six-year-old workforce management company, would go on to secure $500 million in fresh funding as a kind of insurance in the very likely scenario that SVB's meltdown wasn't resolved nearly as quickly as it happened.

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Startups and VC

Last night, the news broke that Virgin Orbit was pausing operations for at least a week while it looked for funding to support the business. As part of that pause, company executives reportedly told staff in an all-hands meeting that they were being furloughed — and that it would be unpaid. it never should've come to a staff furlough, however, Aria writes.

Unearthly Materials claimed to have big-name investors, but they weren't all on board, Tim reports over on TC+. The startup claims it's on the cusp of a superconductor breakthrough despite questionable scientific record.

And we have five more for you, complete with saltier-than-usual commentary:

Best practices for changing times: How founders should leverage AI and ML in 2023

We don’t run many articles promoting basic best practices. Suggestions like “listen to your customers” and “make data-driven decisions” are so general, they’re hard to implement.

But now that AI-driven solutions are offering search results, producing poems and generating illustrations on demand, startups need a framework for creating customized user experiences, according to Ab Gaur, founder and CEO of Verticurl.

“While excessive or unhelpful customer data can clog content pipelines, the right information can power hyper-personalization at scale,” he writes.

Three more from the TC+ team:

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Read More

Best practices for changing times: How founders should leverage AI and ML in 2023 image

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Big Tech Inc.

TikTok had a lot going on in the past day: Taking a nod from several governmental entities in the United States, New Zealand banned TikTok from phones of parliamentarians. Ivan has more on what is going on there. Speaking of the U.S., Taylor writes that the government here is increasing its pressure on TikTok to separate from parent company ByteDance or risk also being banned in the U.S. While the social media giant is dealing with that, it's also managed to strike a multiyear deal with Major League Soccer — well, unless it's banned in the U.S. For now, the deal will provide exclusive content and other in-app programming, Aisha writes.

And we have five more for you:

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

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Thursday, March 16, 2023

Microsoft waives its waitlist and opens up its AI-powered Bing chatbot to all

TechCrunch Newsletter
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The Daily Crunch logo

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Happy Thursday, Crunchers!

An agreement among a group of the nation's largest banks to deposit some $30 billion with First Republic Bank could save its bacon, Christine reports, and over on TC+, Ram breaks down everything you need to get caught up on the SVB crisis.

Meanwhile, Annie and Tage contemplate the broader implications of SVB being in hot water, reporting how it forces African startups to rethink their banking options.

With the national banking meltdown out of the way…let's continue with the rest of the tech news!

Don't forget to wear something green tomorrow! — Christine and Haje

 image

Image Credits: Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3

  • No more waiting: Ivan reports that Bing's waitlist for its GPT-4 powered chat is no more. Enjoy!
  • Biting into an AI Apple: Apple isn't about to let all those other big tech companies get in on the AI fun. A new story, also by Ivan, reports that Apple is reportedly experimenting with language-generating AI so that Siri can better understand queries.
  • Charge it: Parker is taking on the world of corporate cards — and trying to grab a piece of the market from companies like Brex and Ramp — with its new credit offering tailored to the needs of e-commerce brands. Christine has more.

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Startups and VC

One of the major challenges for companies drawing on the gig economy is managing payroll and benefits. Inspired to solve it, Kyle reports that Wingspan leaps to the rescue with a payroll platform aimed at firms employing mainly freelancers.

Here's six more stories, including a bonus one because Haje decided to favor his own story in this section. Such preferential treatment, tut tut.

How to pitch me: 7 investors discuss what they're looking for in March 2023

It's too early to determine whether Silicon Valley Bank's downfall heralds a new era for venture capital, but based on anecdotal evidence, off-the-record discussions and chats with co-workers, it seems like we're back to business as usual where pre-revenue startup fundraising is concerned.

Before the failure of SVB, Walter Thompson interviewed seven investors to learn more about where they’re looking to invest, how they prefer to be approached and whether they had any general advice for first-time founders:

Three more from the TC+ team:

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Read More

How to pitch me: 7 investors discuss what they're looking for in March 2023 image

Image Credits: Sean Gladwell / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc.

Via, out to bolster its traffic technology offerings, is making good on its promise to do more acquisitions and has now acquired trip planning app Citymapper. Rebecca and Ingrid note that it "has been rumored for years that Citymapper was trying to find a buyer" and even had some big names like Google and Apple courting it, but that all went silent until this news from Via.

Now let's move over to Microsoft, which unveiled Microsoft 365 Copilot, a suite of productivity and enterprise apps that are full of artificial intelligence–powered goodies. Kyle has more.

And we have five more for you:

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard

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Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

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