| Things sound dire at SoundCloud, Oculus has another plan for boosting VR's appeal and Uber teams with Yandex on Russia. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for July 13, 2017. 1. SoundCloud's running out of runway SoundCloud is nearing the end of its available capital, with funding set to pay for operations only until the fourth quarter of this year – and that's as a result of layoffs. It's talking to investors, but that's not much room to maneuver. Info comes via a SoundCloud all-hands meeting that was convened to explain why it recently laid off 40 percent of its staff, closing multiple offices in the process. The company's goal of becoming a central platform for independent music creators and other audio content producers looks like a dying dream in this light. 
2. Oculus plans $200 standalone VR headset Oculus wants to paint VR with as broad a brush as possible, and that means taking a number of go-to-market approaches. In addition to Rift, which it continues to support and develop, it's also working on a standalone headset with inside-out tracking and Rift-level power, and now it's said to be developing a more mid-tier offering with a $200 price tag and standalone VR features. Experimentation is the right strategy right now for this industry. 3. Uber and Yandex join forces in Russia Uber is replicating its China strategy in another tough market: Russia. It announced that it's forming a joint venture with Yandex in the country rather than trying to compete with that tech giant's Yandex.Taxi. This is a strategy we could see it use in other markets, too, including Southeast Asia, and it's probably smarter than trying to brute force incumbents, especially given its other challenges. 4. Google launches PC backup and sync Google offers one of the better deals in cloud-based storage, so it's good for users that it now offers Mac and PC backup services, which replaces both the Google Photos and Google Drive apps into one. It's a good option for consumers, provided you trust Google with your stuff. 5. Rover raises $65 million Pets are big business, and Rover has convinced investors to stump up $65 million as it continues to chase said business. Dog boarding is something pet owners take very seriously, so there's probably a lot of opportunity here. 6. Glossier expands shipping to new countries Glossier is expanding its international horizons, starting with shipping to Canada, the UK and France. It's probably going to result in a swell of sales in the near-term as pent-up demand drives new sales, and looks like a good play for the beauty startup. 7. Scientists put a GIF into a gene They proved they could do it – but did they ever stop to ask "why?" | 
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