Techcrunch blog!: Daily Crunch - A COVID-19 pandemic travelogue

Thursday, April 09, 2020 • By Darrell Etherington

The estimable Darrell Etherington checking in (cf. yesterday’s newsletter). One person’s tale of traveling between two global coronavirus hotspots leads today’s news, along with a proposal around contact tracing that could balance privacy and protection – if big tech buys in.

A COVID-19 travelogue

TechCrunch’s own Rita Liao didn’t plan to be traveling between China and the U.S., and then back again, during the coronavirus pandemic, but that’s what ended up happening. She also managed to be ahead of the cresting wave of the outbreak in both places.

The way that this shapes up could provide an idea of how travel might change in the wake of COVID-19, both temporarily and for good.

Fast-track your PPP loan with Divvy and get funded in 72 hours

MIT's privacy-preserving COVID-19 contact tracing system

MIT based the design of its COVID-19 contact tracing system, which preserves the privacy of individuals while still providing a level of active tracing that would greatly help health officials, on Apple’s ‘Find My’ feature for locating lost devices. Now they’re looking for buy-in from Apple, Google and Microsoft to help make it a reality.

Index raises $1.2B growth fund, $800 million for earlier stage

Europe’s Index Ventures has raised a combined total of $2 billion for new investments, including $1.2 billion that it’ll funnel to growth-stage companies, and $800 million that’s earmarked for earlier-stage bets. That beats its last fund from 2018, which was $1.65 billion in total across both categories.

Image Credits: Malerapaso

Commercial real estate will be a changed world post-pandemic

There’s probably no return to normal for the commercial real estate industry, Connie Loizos reports, speaking to real estate startups and founders. That doesn’t mean it won’t be a market of opportunity, just that those opportunities might be quite different.

Bessemer VP Tess Hatch on aerospace in the era of COVID-19

Aerospace is one of the most expensive areas of investment, with the longest time horizons for payoff. Bessemer VP and deep tech expert Tess Hatch spoke to Devin Coldewey about what COVID-19 means for that industry, and for the overall investment landscape. (Extra Crunch subscription required.)

No-code automation earns Tonkean $24 million

Tonkean, a startup working on a no-code solution to automating business processes, has raised $24 million in a Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. It aims to reduce menial, repetitive day-to-day activity.

Zoom faces shareholder suit over security claims

Zoom’s time in the spotlight is exposing a lot of warts, and shareholders have taken note. A class action led by one of its investors claims that the company has “overstated” some of its security boasts and seeks recompense for “significant loss and damages” suffered as a result.