For second consecutive quarter, millions of subscribers drop Disney+ Hotstar

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Thursday, May 11, 2023

Happy Thursday, Crunchers! It's an exciting time to be a tech reporter, with a ton of fun stories coming down the pipe. So let's get to it! Hasta mañana, Christine and Haje Image Credits: Patrick T. Fallon / Bloomberg / Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3 The house that Mickey built: Disney+ is down about 4 million subscribers in the second quarter, which is the second time in a row that has happened. Manish did a deep dive into the earnings and found that much of that can be attributed to Disney's Hotstar losing 8.4 million subscribers. Oh, and Disney+ and Hulu are set to combine into one app later this year, Lauren reports. Can you see the correction?: Manish also reported on SoftBank's Vision Fund, which lost $32 billion. He notes this comes in a year when startups valuations were cut, writing that SoftBank earlier this year had entered "defense mode." Riders on the storm: Peloton recalls millions of exercise bikes, citing faulty assembly, after reports of injuries. Kyle has more.

Pioneers: Startups from Dreams to Reality, a Siemens Podcast Sponsored by Siemens Digital Industries Software Ideas alone can't change the world. It takes grit, and serious funding. In this podcast, Siemens sits down with startup owners to discuss the startup lifestyle- from concept to execution- and the big ideas that fuel these pioneers. From space balloons to flying cars, there's no frontier too far. Listen Now

Startups and VC Most U.S.-based tech investors are likely familiar with smaller-ticket investor marketplaces AngelList and Carta. In Europe, Germany's Bunch and the U.K.'s Vauban (acquired by by U.S.-based Carta last year) have attempted to do a similar job. But the backstory to this is that although launching many years ago, AngelList struggled with Europe's regulatory environment. Mike wonders if Odin could be Europe's answer to AngelList. It used to be that having a corporate blog and some paid content was the gist of your marketing department's content efforts, and that was enough. But as larger companies like Salesforce and HubSpot have launched their own full-blown media arms, it may be time to rethink your content strategy. AudiencePlus wants to help every company run its own media platform, and today the company announced a $5.4 million seed investment, Ron reports. Another smattering of highlights and lowlights: Less LSD for the LLM: Writer introduces product that could help reduce hallucinated content in its LLMs, reports Ron. Fairly repairable headphones: Natasha L reports that Fairphone gets its audio groove on with repairable over-ear BT headphones.  Hospitals, but Amazon-ier: MediShout wants to bring Amazon-like efficiency to hospital operations, reports Paul. Hello, this is the pre-crime division: Everseen raises over $70 million for AI tech to spot potential retail theft, reports Kyle. That's a pass from me, thanks: Tinder-inspired Cala dares you to swipe left on useless meetings, reports Harri.

Unlocking the M&A code: 5 factors that can make (or break) a deal A merger or acquisition is the start of a new relationship, which is why most people approach exits with optimism. “But all's not rosy in the world of M&A,” says SmartBear CEO Frank Roe, who’s completed eight acquisitions in less than five years. “It is a complex and substantially risky decision, not for the faint-hearted. It is essential to approach the decision and process with diligence and forethought.” In this TC+ guest post, he shares “five indispensable elements to consider for a successful mergers and acquisitions journey,” reminding readers that “there’s no ‘secret formula.'” Three more from the TC+ team: Finally, a decent “the ask” slide: Haje is back with the newest Pitch Deck Teardown: Fibery's $5.2M Series A deck. Don't call it a comeback. Or, maybe, do: Higher interest rates are fostering a fintech comeback story, writes Alex. We're chained together; let's work together: Jacquelyn argues that crypto needs a global view to build better regulatory models. 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 Image Credits: mjrodafotografia / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. Natasha L gives you everything you need to know and more about a series of votes in the European Parliament this morning where MEPs have backed a raft of amendments related to transparency and safety rules for generative AI. Meanwhile, Amanda reports on a movement that started with a tweet and ended with a book in the top 3 on Amazon. No, it's not another book in the "Fifty Shades of Grey" saga — it's a recommendation by "Bigolas Dickolas," and we recommend you stop what you're doing and read. And we have five more for you: Come in for your close-up: Canon's PowerShot V10 is an itty-bitty, teeny-weeny camera that sidles up to vloggers, reports Haje. Don't kill this Messenger: That's because Meta is doing that for us by killing the Messenger app for Apple Watch, Aisha reports. Welcome to Kyle's TedTalk: Today, he discusses the ever-growing list of text-generating AI, specifically about how AI2 is developing a large language model optimized for science. Secrets, secrets are no fun, except on Twitter: Ivan writes that Twitter's new encrypted DMs for verified users has some security drawbacks. Stepping on the EV pedal: Hyundai Motor has plans to invest $2.45 billion in India over the next nine years to boost its EV ecosystem. Jagmeet has more.

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OpenAI, Anthropic and Stability AI receive half of Sound Ventures' $240M AI fund

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Happy Google Day! There's been a wall of interesting news coming out of the search-and-everything-else-too giant at its I/O event. Christine summarized everything Google has announced at I/O thus far, so that's a good place to start. Also, it's a rare treat when TechCrunch top boss Joey shares something on the site, breaking down how we're disrupting TechCrunch Disrupt: 8 stages, 3 days, 1 city. While on the topic of Disrupt, here's your chance to vote for the roundtables and breakouts you want at the event. Much love, Christine and Haje Image Credits: Getty Images

The TechCrunch Top 3 Big spender: Connie spoke with Sound Ventures' Effie Epstein to get the scoop on which three lucky companies were the recipients of a large chunk of the venture capital firm's new AI fund. Identified flying object: Darrell reports on Vast's and SpaceX's plan to put the first commercial space station into orbit in 2025. And check out Aria's deep-dive into Vast in the Big Tech section. You've got the world in the PaLM of your hand: Google launched PaLM 2, its next-gen large language model. Frederic writes that "PaLM 2 will power Google's updated Bard chat tool and function as the foundation model for most of the search engine giant's new AI features. See what we have so far in Google I/O news in the Big Tech section.

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Startups and VC Autonomous delivery startup Nuro is in the midst of a restructuring that will result in layoffs and shift resources away from commercial operations and toward R&D, Kirsten reports. Nuro declined to share how many of its roughly 1,100 employees will be affected. Employees are expected to learn who will be laid off by the end of the week. Natasha L reports that Clearview was fined yet again, this time in France, for failing to comply with privacy orders. Whether Clearview will ever pay any of these fines remains an open question, since the U.S.-based company has not been cooperating with EU regulators. There's another fistful for you as well: To their credit, that's a smart move: Mary Ann reports how Petal raises $35 million and spins off data unit “to bring credit scores into the 21st century.” Give her a raise: Christine reports that All Raise's interim CEO is now full-time. Real money for skill-based games: Ingrid writes that Triumph raises $14 million for an SDK to add real-money tournaments into games. Drop-in payroll: "Our goal is to spice up software platforms,” says Salsa's CEO as the company raises $10 million to roll out payroll features for software companies. Christine has more. Fusion power coming soon: Helion Energy will provide Microsoft with fusion power starting in 2028, by Haje.

3 key metrics for cybersecurity product managers Cybersecurity product managers usually measure conversion rates, detection accuracy and usage/engagement to gain customer insights, but these metrics “may not be what they seem,” writes Ross Haleliuk, an investor who’s also head of product at LimaCharlie.io. “Context matters a lot, and the realities of different organizations, geographies, cultures and market segments heavily influence what can be measured and what actions can be taken based on these observations.” Three more from the TC+ team: Off the gas: Alex concludes that, yeah, tech growth is slowing down. Trust, but verif-AI: Ron writes that Salesforce is betting that its own content can bring more trust to generative AI. A blossom of hope: Despite a rocky start, climate tech is in a good position to tackle the rest of 2023, reports Tim. 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 Image Credits: Tetra Images / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. It's Google I/O day, and our team wrote at least 30 stories to deliver all the goods for you fine readers. You can catch the full download on the dedicated Google I/O 2023 event page, but here are some tidbits: Google's 'Sidekick' offers contextual prompts to get better results from AI, by Darrell. Google introduces new features to help identify AI images in Search and elsewhere, by Sarah. Google launches a smarter Bard, by Frederic. Google partners with Adobe to bring art generation to Bard, by Kyle. Google ends Bard waitlist, making English version of chatbot widely available, by Ron. Google Photos to gain a new 'Magic Editor' feature powered by generative AI, by Sarah. Google Maps is getting a new 'Immersive View for Routes' feature, by Aisha. Yes, we do have some non-Google news, too: From streaming entertainment to streaming the stranger on your front porch: Roku is getting into home monitoring as part of its smart home lineup. Lauren has more. Rocket Man: Move over, Elon, Jeff and Richard. Aria writes that Jed McCaleb's private space station venture Vast might be more than just science fiction. Gone viral: China has its own DrakeGPT moment as AI singer Stefanie Sun goes viral, Rita writes. Rolling rolling rolling: Amazon Web Services is keeping the open source training going with fuzzing tool SnapChange and policy-based access control language Cedar. Paul has more. Parental guidance suggested: Taylor digs into some new health advisory guidelines from the American Psychological Association related to kids and social media use.

Get your TechCrunch fix IRL. Join us at Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco this September to immerse yourself in all things startup. From headline interviews to intimate roundtables to a jam-packed startup expo floor, there's something for everyone at Disrupt. Save up to $800 when you buy your pass now through May 15, and save 15% on top of that with promo code DC. Learn more.

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