Wednesday, September 26, 2018

High-flying VC funds come tumbling down. It's The Daily Crunch.

THE DAILY CRUNCH
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 2018 By Anthony Ha

Some high-profile VC firms have high-profile deaths, Google makes concessions on Chrome privacy and Facebook Stories reaches 300 million users. Here's your Daily Crunch for September 26, 2018.

1. The death of once high-flying VC funds

My colleagues Danny Crichton and Armen Tabatai look at issues at firms like Formation 8, Social Capital, Binary Capital and Rothenberg Ventures.

To be clear, each of the firms had its own story, and its own unique troubles, but there are some broader lessons here. For one thing, giving hundreds of millions of dollars to neophytes probably wasn't the best plan to build long-lasting funds.

2. Google to give Chrome users an opt-out to 'forced login' after privacy backlash

The update to Chrome 69 means users are automatically logged into the browser when they are signed into another Google service, giving them no option to keep these digital identities separate. Now Google is saying there will be an option to prevent it pinning your Chrome browsing to your Google account — but you'll have to wait about a month to get it.

3. Inside Facebook Stories' quest for originality amidst 300M users

For all the jabs about Facebook stealing Stories from Snapchat, the company says it's working hard to differentiate. That's in part because there's not much left to copy, and also because it's largely succeeded in conquering the company that refused to be acquired.

4. Daimler names new CEO to lead push into electric, autonomous vehicles

Dieter Zetsche is stepping down as CEO and will be replaced by a long-serving executive who has recently led the automaker's research and development efforts — including its push into electric vehicles.

5. Circle launches its stablecoin

When Circle raised its $110 million funding round, the company used this opportunity to talk about its stablecoin — USD Coin, or USDC for short. As the name suggests, 1 USDC is worth 1 USD, and unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, you can be sure that the value of USDC isn't going to fluctuate like crazy.

6. Cloudflare partners with Microsoft, Google and others to reduce bandwidth costs

Say hello to the Bandwidth Alliance, a new group led by Cloudflare that promises to reduce the price of bandwidth for many cloud customers.

7. WhatsApp founder Brian Acton says Facebook used him to get its acquisition past EU regulators

In a new interview with Forbes, Acton (who left Facebook a year ago) delves into the ethics clash behind his acrimonious departure.

Get more stories at techcrunch.com 

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