Sidewalk delivery robot startup Serve Robotics goes public via blank-check merger

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Thursday, August 10, 2023

Today's top story involves the reverse merger of the Uber- and Nvidia-backed delivery robot startup Serve Robotics. The merger will make it a public company. Read more. Next, OpenAI announced that it's expanding custom instructions to all users, even those using ChatGPT for free. Learn how it gives users more control over how ChatGPT responds. Meanwhile, Instacart now accepts EBT SNAP payments in all 50 states. Read on. Then, Moove gets a valuation boost after securing $76 million in equity and debt. Read more about this fintech mobility company. And X CEO Linda Yaccarino did her first broadcast interview since taking the helm of the company formerly known as Twitter. Here’s what she had to say. Meanwhile, video calls are coming. Image Credits: Serve Robotics

More top reads M&A: Security company Check Point buys Perimeter 81 for $490 million to enhance its security tools for hybrid and remote workers. Get the scoop. Teamwork: Now you can verify your Threads profile on Mastodon. Here's how. What's the password?: Disney is taking a nod from Netflix in cracking down on the sharing of passwords. Learn more. Meanwhile, Disney+ makes another price hike and Hotstar loses nearly a fourth of its subscribers. Making molds: SAEKI's "microfactories" help large concrete mold manufacturing scale up. Read more. Fearless indeed: Fearless Fund responds to racial discrimination lawsuit. Here's what the firm's founders had to say. Looking for more? Listen to Wednesday's Equity podcast for more on the story. A decade long: We learned that Belarus hackers have been targeting foreign diplomats with the help of local ISPs for the better part of 10 years. Find out what researchers say happened. Oura's got some competition: Looking for something new in fitness and nutrition? Check out this review of the Ultrahuman Ring Air. If you like it, then you can put a ring on it. There's been an incident: Websites go down all the time; however, Rootly, now flush with $12 million, wants to automate this to reduce outages. Get the scoop. Stopping the leaks: Wint, which bills itself as a "water intelligence" startup, grabbed $35 million to help companies find and stop leaks. Start the word flow here. Credit crown: Meet Marie-Elise Droga, Visa's new head of fintech, who talks about partnerships, venture and creators as an addressable market. Read the Q&A. Private eyes: With all of the data hacks out there, companies are paying a lot of money to keep their data safe. Enter Osano, a data privacy management platform that secured $25 million to be the go-to solution. Read more. More for your Thursday: Lyft takes a page from Uber's playbook: Ads VLGE opens SDK for its no-code virtual world builder aimed at fashion, beauty and art industries Basys.ai grabs $2.4M for its prior authorization tech powered by Mayo Clinic's data The most valuable startups are getting closer to profitability, but at a cost (TC+) Identity management platform Veza secures $15M from Capital One and ServiceNow Image Credits: ArtemisDiana / Getty Images

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Unveiling the winning formula: How B2C fintechs conquer customer acquisition Customer acquisition costs are top of mind for every startup, but B2C (business-to-consumer) fintechs operate in an intensely competitive environment as they try to differentiate their offerings. To find tactics that helped companies break through, Ian Sherman, director of growth and value creation at Sagard, surveyed fintechs between seed stage and Series D to track how they managed their marketing budgets over time. “Amid the barrage of marketing channels available, the mantra for B2C fintechs is ‘less is more," and our evidence-based research supports this approach,” he writes. 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: virtualphoto / Getty Images

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Cybersecurity firm Rapid7 will close some offices and lay off 18% of staff in restructuring plan

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Wednesday, August 09, 2023

Today, Rapid7 announced plans to lay off 18% of its workforce and close some offices. The cybersecurity company is staying mum on the details for now. However, this particular piece of news came while Rapid7 was discussing its second-quarter earnings results, which included a deeper net loss. Get the scoop. Next, Microsoft partners with the Aptos blockchain to marry AI and web3. Find out more. (TC+) Meanwhile, check out Slack now that it has undergone a major makeover to help users see what's most relevant to them. See the new and improved Slack. And, machine learning operations seems to be something all of you are very eager to read about today. Weights & Biases, which counts OpenAI as a customer, landed $50 million in new funding. Read more. Image Credits: andresr / Getty Images

More top reads A good review: Goodnotes' biggest update in four years brings AI-powered handwriting features and a digital marketplace. Get the scoop. Lukewarm about semiconductors: As Tim De Chant reports, the room-temperature semiconductor claim was fun while it lasted. Read more. (TC+) Where do you want to eat?: Atmosfy, an app that helps you discover local businesses through short-from video, raises $12 million. So much to eat, so little time? First close, best close: Pretiosum Ventures hits a first close on its second fund. Find out what kind of companies the firm backs. Sweet treat: Sweet Security raises a $12 million seed round for its cloud security suite. Learn more. Shop till you drop: E-commerce company Coupang will ramp up its investment in Taiwan after four quarters of profits. Read more. You'll want to subscribe to TechCrunch+ for this: Alex Wilhelm dives into WeWork's fallen market cap to discuss why VC and a low-margin business don't mix. (TC+) If you missed the story from yesterday, here it is: WeWork goes from a $47 billion valuation to "substantial doubts" about its ability to continue. When voting gets hacked: Following yesterday's story on 40 million voter accounts being hacked in the United Kingdom, let's see if we can figure out what happened, shall we? Go inside the cyberattack. I hope this comes with a bow: The all-electric 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ is loaded with tech and wrapped up in a big ol' package. Unwrap it. Overworked and overburdened: Deepset secures $30 million to expand its large language model–focused machine learning operations offerings. Read more. A cup of coffee worth $100 in savings: Going into Target for one thing usually means coming out with lots of other items you didn't intend to buy. If you're one of those who skirts temptation by doing order pickup, you can now get your caffeine fix at the same time. Get the scoop. That's music to our ears: Duolingo is not just for learning how to speak another language anymore. The company was spotted developing a music learning app. Find out more. More for your Wednesday: Spotify integrates with Patreon to stream subscriber-only content South African VC Knife Capital closes $50M Series B fund for startups with high exit potential A conversation with Visa's head of fintech Matter filters out microplastics, one washer at a time — and raises $10M to go industrial BlueJeans folds Image Credits: MirageC / Getty Images

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So your startup's runway is dwindling and fundraising is hard. What's next? According to Crunchbase, web3 startups raised $3.6 billion in the first half of 2023. Given that funding is down 78% from the same period last year, Jacquelyn Melinek asked several investors about how startups should proceed — and adjust their expectations. “If you are down to just two to three months, you're out of options,” advised Kelly Brewster, CEO of bitcoin-focused accelerator Wolf. “You should pay employees severance, [your remaining] tax bill, and shut down the company. Or, you may find yourself in a bad situation.” 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: Boris Zhitkov / Getty Images

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 $600 when you buy your pass now through August 11, and save 15% on top of that with promo code DC. Learn more. Read More

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