Daily Crunch - Robinhood raises $1B

TechCrunch Newsletter

Friday, January 29, 2021 • By Anthony Ha

Robinhood caps a wild week for new funding, Coinbase is going public and Johnson & Johnson reveals new vaccine trial data. This is your Daily Crunch for January 29, 2021.

The big story: Robinhood raises $1B I know the newsletter has been dominated by Robinhood and stock market news for the past few days but, well, so have the headlines. The latest news is that after reportedly tapping its credit lines, Robinhood raised $1 billion in new funding from existing investors. It seems the company needed the money in order to meet regulatory minimums and other requirements tied to users’ trading activity. Meanwhile, the SEC has issued a statement that doesn’t specifically mention Robinhood or GameStop by name, but it says that “extreme stock price volatility has the potential to expose investors to rapid and severe losses" that could "undermine market confidence.” Read more

The startup helping companies spend less time in Excel Sponsored by Flatfile Data import is an essential part of customer onboarding, but few companies know how to deal with it. Flatfile is helping B2B companies spend less time formatting spreadsheet data, and more time using it with two innovative products. Read more

The tech giants You can now give Facebook's Oversight Board feedback on the decision to suspend Trump — The board says the point of the public comment process is to incorporate "diverse perspectives" from third parties who wish to share research that might inform their decisions. Uber's Autocab acquisition gets eyed by UK competition watchdog — Autocab makes booking and dispatch software for the taxi and private-hire vehicle industry. Image Credits: MANDEL NGAN / JOSH EDELSON/AFP / Getty Images (Image has been modified)

Startups, funding and venture capital Coinbase is going public via direct listing — The company has raised over $540 million in funding as a private company. Firehawk Aerospace extends seed funding to $2.5M with $1.2M from Harlow Capital — Firehawk has developed a new kind of hybrid rocket fuel that greatly enhances rocket launch safety, cost and transportation using additive manufacturing. SoftBank earmarks $100M for Miami-based startups — The fund will back companies that are in Miami or plan to move there. Image Credits: Chesnot / Getty Images

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch Customer advisory boards are a gold mine for startup brand champions — Some considerations to make certain your customer advisory board is a success. Rising African venture investment powers fintech, clean tech bets in 2020 — The Exchange looks at a report from Briter Bridges, a research group that focuses on Africa’s private capital market. Subscription-based pricing is dead: Smart SaaS companies are shifting to usage-based models — That’s according to Open VP of Growth Kyle Povar. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.) Image Credits: Andrii Yalanskyi / Getty Images

Everything else Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine is 85% effective against severe cases, and 66% effective overall per trial data — Johnson & Johnson's vaccine is a single shot rather than a two-course treatment. ‘Frozen' CG snow and crash-test cadavers offer hints for 60-year-old Russian mystery deaths — New research uses simulation techniques from multiple eras to advance what is perhaps the least implausible explanation for a tragic mystery. Reap big benefits when you attend both TC Early Stage 2021 events — TechCrunch Early Stage is a two-day virtual bootcamp that gives early founders access to leading experts. Image Credits: Thiago Prudêncio/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Demand Generation Manager at Quorum (Washington, D.C., USA) Software Engineer at SG Cap Trading (Chicago, IL, USA) C++ Software Engineering Manager at SG Cap Trading (Chicago, IL, USA) Director of Media Relations at SalientMG (New York, NY, USA) Sr. Rails Developer - HealPay at HealPay (Web Applications) (USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

View this email online in your browser Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe © 2021 Verizon Media. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Daily Crunch - Robinhood restricts GameStop trading

TechCrunch Newsletter

Thursday, January 28, 2021 • By Anthony Ha

The GameStop stock saga continues, Apple releases more details about its privacy changes and Qualtrics goes public. This is your Daily Crunch for January 28, 2021.

The big story: Robinhood restricts GameStop trading Robinhood has responded to an upsurge in retail investors buying shares in companies like GameStop, AMC and Blockbuster by restricting trading on “certain securities” to “position closing only,” meaning that users can no longer buy more of the companies’ stocks. (It says it will allow “limited buys” tomorrow.) This comes after the current buying spree — targeting stocks shorted by institutional investors and spurred by the WallStreetBets forum on Reddit — took Robinhood and Reddit to the top of the app charts. Now, Robinhood is being hit with numerous 1-star reviews, and the move also attracted criticism from politicians on both sides of the aisle, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez describing it as “unacceptable” and Senator Ted Cruz tweeting, “Fully agree.”   Read more Image Credits: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg / Getty Images

International taxes and regulations made easy Sponsored by Digital River Expanding into international markets means managing taxes and regulations. Let Digital River simplify the complexities of calculating, collecting, reporting and remitting taxes on all sales, helping you grow business while minimizing your risk. Read more

The tech giants Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature will be enabled by default and arrive in 'early spring' on iOS — The plan is to launch these changes in early spring, with a version of the feature coming in the next iOS 14 beta release. Qualtrics prices IPO at $30 per share, above its upgraded target range — The company sold 50.4 million shares in the process. Twitter is already working on integrating newsletters on its site, following its Revue acquisition — It appears "Newsletters" will soon be the newest addition to Twitter's sidebar navigation.   Image Credits: Apple (live stream)

Startups, funding and venture capital Workday acquires employee feedback platform Peakon for $700M — Peakon says companies have used its platform’s weekly surveys to ask more than 153 million questions since inception six years ago. Fintech darling Nubank raises blockbuster $400M Series G at $25B valuation — The fintech company now has 34 million customers. Flowhaven raises $16M to evolve brand licensing management beyond emails and spreadsheets — The media licensing business is a massive market, but much of the work involved is still handled manually through emails and spreadsheets.   Image Credits: Getty Images

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch Thirteen investors say lifelong learning is taking edtech mainstream — As learners become more multi-layered and nuanced, so have the edtech companies that back them. Talent and capital are shifting cybersecurity investors' focus away from Silicon Valley — Solving the cybersecurity problem will take more time and resources than we are currently allocating. Mind the gap: E-commerce marketers should revise their TAM and SAM estimates — 2021 is going to be another glorious year for e-commerce. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.) Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

Everything else Smartphone sales slowed decline in Q4, with a big assist from Apple — The past year was, of course, a major blow to an industry already suffering a slide. GM pledges to be carbon neutral by 2040 with zero tailpipe emission vehicles by 2035 — It's a big step for a company whose products are responsible for a large percentage of global greenhouse gas emissions. UCLA is building a digital archive of mass incarceration with a new $3.6M grant — The "Archiving the Age of Mass incarceration" effort is being led by Kelly Lytle Hernandez, director of the university's Bunche Center for African American Studies.   Image Credits: INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP / Getty Images

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Director of Media Relations at SalientMG (New York, NY, USA) Sr. Rails Developer - HealPay at HealPay (Web Applications) (USA) Sr. Software Engineer (US - Remote) at Hip eCommerce (USA) Sr. QA Engineer - (Remote) at Hip eCommerce (Raleigh, NC, USA) Digital Ad Operations Manager at SEBPO (Marlton, New Jersey 08053, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

View this email online in your browser Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe © 2021 Verizon Media. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Daily Crunch - GameStop becomes a meme stock

TechCrunch Newsletter

Wednesday, January 27, 2021 • By Anthony Ha

Reddit users have some fun with the stock market, Facebook predicts advertising challenges and ByteDance is cutting jobs in India. This is your Daily Crunch for January 27, 2021.

The big story: GameStop becomes a meme stock GameStop’s stock continued to climb today, along with Blockbuster and AMC — all stocks shorted by institutional investors. These gains were apparently driven by users in the r/WallStreetBets subreddit. We’ve rounded up the fairly non-committal statements from various trading apps like Robinhood about how they’re responding to this volatility. And Lucas Matney asks how this might affect cryptocurrencies: “For investors looking to have a good time or shoot the moon, meme stocks are a more fun place to be than crypto is.”   Read more Image Credits: champc / Getty Images

Do business smarter with intelligent contracts Sponsored by Conga Contracts govern over 80% of transactions and value in an average organization. Ditch manual contract processes and opt for an end-to-end solution that streamlines, automates, and increases visibility. Learn more in the Ultimate Guide to Contract Management. Read more

The tech giants Facebook predicts 'significant' obstacles to ad targeting and revenue in 2021 — While Facebook's fourth quarter earnings report included solid user and revenue numbers, the company sounded a note of caution for 2021. SAP launches 'RISE with SAP,' a concierge service for digital transformation — RISE is a subscription service that combines a set of services and product offerings. ByteDance is cutting jobs in India amid prolonged TikTok ban — The company employs more than 2,000 people in India. Image Credits: Graeme Jennings-Pool / Getty Images

Startups, funding and venture capital SoftBank teams with home goods maker Iris Ohyama for new robotics venture — The newly formed Iris Robotics has set an extremely aggressive goal of $965 million in sales by 2025. Literati raises $40M for its book club platform — CEO Jessica Ewing told me that she's trying to build the first "new, innovative bookseller" since Amazon launched 25 years ago. Renewable investment wave continues as solar lending company Loanpal raises $800M — The $800 million commitment to Loanpal arrives alongside a flurry of climate commitments from some of the world's largest investors.   Image Credits: SoftBank Robotics

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch How two startups scaled to $50M ARR and beyond — The Exchange examines OwnBackup and Assembly. Dear Sophie: How can I sponsor my mom and stepdad for green cards? — The latest “Dear Sophie," the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies. Check out the amazing speakers joining us on Extra Crunch Live in February — We'll take a look at funding deals through the eyes of the founders and investors who made them happen. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.) Image Credits: Nigel Sussman

Everything else Battling algorithmic bias at TC Sessions: Justice — At TC Sessions: Justice on March 3, we're going to dive head-first into data discrimination, algorithmic bias and how to ensure a more just future. Image Credits: TechCrunch

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard Sr. Rails Developer - HealPay (Remote, USA) at HealPay (Web Applications) (Ann Arbor, MI, USA) Sr. Software Engineer (US - Remote) at Hip eCommerce (USA) Sr. QA Engineer - (Remote) at Hip eCommerce (Raleigh, NC, USA) Digital Ad Operations Manager at SEBPO (Marlton, New Jersey 08053, USA) Software Developer at ESKER INC (Madison, WI, USA) See more jobs on CrunchBoard Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

View this email online in your browser Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe © 2021 Verizon Media. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103