📹 Real-life Nightcrawler
Square buys Afterpay for $29bn, FB releases Ray-Bans, and Robinhood goes public
So, what happened this week in the Tech & Startup world? 🌍
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The Grapevine Newsflash 🔥
11 tech & startup stories in 159 super-duper short seconds.
💸 Square Buys Afterpay! Square has bought Afterpay, an Australian buy now pay later startup, for $29bn. Why is this so important? It signifies that the social and fintech industries are on a collision course and the lines may begin to blur! Read more here.
📈 Robinhood Goes Public The renowned free stock-trading app went public last week. Similar to meme stocks like AMC & Gamestop, Robinhood’s stock price has risen as much as 65% - primarily driven by individual retail investors. Will it hold or is this a stock to short?
😎 FB Glasses! Facebook is gearing up to release its smart Ray-Ban glasses. These AR glasses are going to hold the key to Facebook’s future as they’ll diversify their business model and kick off the Facebook ‘metaverse’. What is Facebook’s metaverse? Read more here.
📹 Real-life Nightcrawler Citizen, a well-funded neighbourhood watch app with 7m users, is now hiring locals to livestream public emergencies, including crime scenes. The company has also been testing its own private security force (which apparently was just part of a now-discontinued pilot).
🦍 Disappointing Gorillas After a recent influx of capital into grocery delivery apps, it seems like some of them aren’t quite keeping up with expectations. One such company - Gorillas - is looking to raise hundreds of millions at a $2.5bn valuation (around $3.5bn lower than their intended price tag). US food delivery group, Doordash, has apparently shown interest. Revelations over poor treatment of riders & workers, and the firing of executives, accompanied the news.
🏛️ Government Tech Strat! The UK Gov has written a strategy document aimed at increasing competition in the tech sector. The paper covers the use of algorithms, cross-compatibility of competing services, and increased transparency of new features. Read a quick summary here.
🤖 Ethical AI? WEF has published a report on the 5 ways AI is doing good in the world right now. It’s true incredibly to hear how AI is tackling overfishing, human trafficking and fighting the gender imbalance on social media. Read the report summary here.
💰 Starling’s First Acquisition. Starling Bank has acquired Fleet Mortgages for a £50m cash and share deal. Why is this so interesting? This represents Starling’s continued expansion into the retail banking market. Our view? Starling’s strategy is to build a lower-cost, more tech-centric version of the big banks. Read more here. Meanwhile, their main competitor - Monzo - announced their losses have doubled to £114m ($158m).
🔗 Ethereum’s Biggest Change since 2015 Ethereum, the world’s most used blockchain, went through an update earlier this week called the “London hard fork”. This is expected to reduce fees and potentially reduce energy usage. Prices for Ethereum rose in anticipation of the development. Is it on the way back up?
👀 Google-as-a-Service? Algolia, a ‘search as a service’ company has raised $150m in Series D funding at a post money valuation of $2.25bn. What does Alogia do? Algolia allows other firms and startups to offer ‘search’ services within their apps and productions. Read more about how their API works here.
🔒 Privacy vs. Surveillance Apple has unveiled features designed to catch cases of child sexual abuse on iPhones. It’ll use technology to spot images of abuse and, in future, allow parents to be notified when their children send or receive any nude photos. It’s been welcomed by many child-safety groups, but some cybersecurity experts are concerned about the precedent it sets for surveillance.
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Over & Out,
Nick, Louis, & David Hockney