To get a bunch of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox daily at 3pm PDT (except today for breaking Musk news!), Sign up here.
Jet-lagged and post-COVID fatigue, Haje is back, joining Christine to bring you great tech news in this very newsletter. Also, rumors (and calendars) suggest that it could be Friday. If that almost unverifiable rumor is true, then have an enjoyable weekend. – Christine and Haje
Top TechCrunch… 4
- Musk’s Friday newsletter: We’re done with the newsletter, but it won’t be late on Friday, there’s some breaking news. And again, it’s about Elon Musk. CEOs of many companies and the obvious father with a new set of twins with an executive of one of those companies, decided terminate his deal to buy Twitter. But Twitter’s don’t really have it and say as much as possible in response in a paragraph, two sentences to news. This is a developing story, so stay tuned here for the latest information.
- please check: This is a well done story by Kyle details the demise of Butler Hospitality, which raised $50 million last year. Then it ran into some challenges and ended up with the company, which essentially leased the hotel kitchen space to someone else to act as a ghost kitchen, laying off hundreds of people and unable to fulfill its commitments.
- Well, it’s not a shock to the senses: There can be many reasons why someone doesn’t invest in an electric car, but HeartToday’s story shows that a large company doesn’t trust the public toll infrastructure enough. It’s actually a legitimate fear, because that 600-mile trip will end badly without a reliable and fast place to plug along the way.
- The hunt for electric car chargers is starting: Where Tim’s story is about electric vehicle chargers in general, another top story for today is Jaclyn‘s, who wrote that the White House wants to expand charging capabilities and that Elon Musk is also involved in the case, is working on expanding Tesla’s Supercharger network.
Start-ups and VC
Alliance, a San Francisco-based startup that combines cyber insurance and proactive cybersecurity tools, is preparing to expand outside of the US for the first time after a massive $250 million Series F round put its valuation to a whopping $5 billion, Carly report.
We also particularly enjoyed the interview Connie did with Jess Lee of Sequoia Capital, regarding its new Arc program and whether it is a competitor to Y Combinator. “We are really looking for founders who want to build long-lasting, transformative, portfolio-defining companies… create a new market. There’s no one we want to rule out, but it’s about the scale of the ambition,” Lee shared.
Our money doesn’t wobble, it folds:
The Art of Spinning: Working closely with investors to improve your odds
Image credits: MirageC (Opens in a new window) / Beautiful pictures
For her latest TC+ post, we asked veteran investor Marjorie Radlo-Zandi to share her experience helping first-time founders run their companies through swivel axis.
Changing direction is big work, but she breaks the process down into steps that will help entrepreneurs gain the backing of investors (and employees).
Radlo-Zandi writes: “There is no shame in twirling. “On the contrary, it is a sign of strength.”
(TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams rise to the top. You can register here.)
Big Tech Inc.
First we focus on a story Taylor gather together this afternoon on one Congressional investigation into cycle-tracking apps and related data. With Roe abolished, there is concern that this kind of data can pose a threat to those seeking reproductive care.
We can summarize today’s big tech news – well, technically late yesterday – in three words: Twitter, cars, yachts. Not to be confused with gym, sunbathing, laundry.
Amanda reports Twitter targets its talent acquisition group by laying off 30% of that workforce. The company declined to go into specifics, so we don’t know exactly how many people there are, but it’s safe to say the jobs at Twitter won’t be filled for some time. If that wasn’t enough trouble for Twitter, Taylor Follow up a suggested report Elon Musk doesn’t want to buy a company anymore.
But wait a minute:
- No one at the wheel: The firing process continues, this time ending at Argo AI, testing unmanned technology for automakers like Ford and Volkswagen, Kirsten report.
- It’s so hot: SpaceX is filming at develop a more reliable internet service to those at sea, Andrew write.
- Can you hear me?: Lauren write about Netflix’s spatial sound feature deployed to all your devices so your home can be like a theater.
- Roofer, we barely know her: Yes, yes, not a funny joke. Christine only knows one person in her neighborhood who gave Tesla Solar Roofand follow HarriThe story of the story, it’s one of maybe 20 per week Tesla installed in the second quarter, much lower than the 1,000 per week Tesla originally planned.
