Techcrunch blog!: The foldable phone battle is on

Wednesday, February 07, 2024

Good afternoon, and welcome back to TechCrunch PM! We've got a jam-packed newsletter for you thanks to all the great news that you eagerly gobbled up, pretty much as it was being posted. Read about Microsoft's new Copilot features, how Bluesky did after making its app open to all, why X is suddenly on top and what's going on with H-1B visas.

— Christine

Image Credits: Gabby Jones / Bloomberg / Getty Images

TechCrunch PM Top 3

Microsoft and the Super Bowl: The enterprise software giant is attempting to score some extra yardage with consumers with a Super Bowl LVIII campaign. The commercials will tout the new design upgrades to Copilot, its suite of generative AI tools.

The foldable phone battle is on: Apple just took off its glove and slapped Samsung in the face. Usually we get lots of rumors about new Apple products; however, CEO Tim Cook alluded to the possibility of a foldable iPhone sooner rather than later.

The public looks good on Bluesky: So many people crowded onto Bluesky that it caused some outages. The social media app, a new competitor to X, saw its unique user count nearly double between Monday and Tuesday after opening to the public yesterday.

Image Credits: Microsoft

More top reads

X is No. 1: Former Fox news host Tucker Carlson stunned all of us when he said he was going interview Russian president Vladimir Putin. What's more stunning is that people flocked to the Apple App Store to download X, causing it to rise to the top of the downloads overnight.

Amperesand wants to remake the 140-year-old transformer: As electricity flows through the grid, the transformer has been there for over a hundred years to change the voltage when that happens. Well, it's getting hard for the transformer to do its job, and Amperesand, now with $12.5 million in seed funding, has a solution.

Web3 has friends in high places: SEC commissioner Hester Peirce still plans to push for a token "safe harbor" plan. It's been three years since Peirce released her initial proposal that called for providing initial development teams with a three-year grace period during which they could participate in and create a decentralized network. During that time, they would be exempt from "registration provisions of the federal securities laws so long as certain conditions are met."

Threads pulling at ways to save posts: What do we want? To save posts! When do we want it? Yesterday! The text-based social networking app is experimenting with the ability to save posts, allowing users to bookmark favorite posts to revisit them later.

The 3D version of your life: Polycom closed on an $18 million round of funding to help you capture 3D object scans.

WhatsApp prepares to allow third-party chat support: Of course, there are caveats: Companies that want to be interoperable with Meta's system will have to sign an agreement, and WhatsApp will require end-to-end encryption.

Funding news: Goodshuffle helped their event rental and production company clients take advantage of their tables, chairs and tents being needed by a new audience during the pandemic.

NinjaOne is now valued at $1.9 billion after raising $231.9 million in new funding. NinjaOne's tools are designed to integrate with existing IT and security platforms and run the gamut from remote device monitoring and data backup to software deployment, alerting, scripting and app automation.

Simplify is giving the job search a digital update, and now that it has $3 million in new funding, the startup plans to build a business model around the idea of an AI career agent.

Get this: A venture capital firm coming out of stealth. Varsity, based in Paris, is a new early-stage venture capital fund that has already raised €70 million to invest across several verticals.

Planning to enter someone in the H-1B lottery?: Attorney Sophie Alcorn tells you everything you'll need to keep in mind, from an increase in fees to timing to learning how to submit applications online.

Image Credits: TechCrunch

On the pods

On today's Equity, Alex discussed startups and capital, including those still doing well in vertical SaaS, as well as audience-tuned fintech products and a crypto startup with consumer traction. He also looked at what's up in social media and new venture capital funds. Listen here.

Then over on Chain Reaction, we have a bonus episode with Hester Peirce, commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Jacquelyn moderated a fireside chat with Commissioner Peirce at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business alongside Eddie Cullen, a former candidate for New York City mayor in 2021 and co-founder and CEO of Crescite Innovation Corporation. They discussed a number of timely topics, including the SEC's spot bitcoin ETF approval, policy-making to keep crypto innovation alive in the U.S., and the commissioner's Token Safe Harbor Proposal 2.0 and whether she's considering a new one. Listen here.

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

Join Waymo, Signal, and more at StrictlyVC Los Angeles

Join StrictlyVC’s cocktail party in Los Angeles on February 29 to hear from leaders like Meredith Whittaker (president, Signal) and Tekedra Mawakana (co-CEO, Waymo), and connect with top VCs and entrepreneurs. Tickets are $150 — register today.