For the second week, Ukraine still battles on. Again, we are reassured and encouraged in the way the world, and especially those in tech, has stood up and made themselves counted.
Scroll down and you’ll see various ways that people have supported Ukraine, and ways you can support right now 🇺🇦
The Grapevine Newsflash 🔥
9 tech & startup stories in 121 super short seconds.
🏦 Bitcoin ATMs Banned. The FCA has ordered that 81 crypto ATMs are operating illegally and must be shut down. Read more here.
🐒 NFT Monopoly? Yuga Labs, the team behind famous NFT brand Bored Ape Yacht Club has bought CryptoPunks (another famous NFT) from Larvalabs. Yugo Labs now has control of the three most popular NFT projects on the market. Read more here. Still confused about NFTs? Watch this 4 minute video here.
🤖 Predicting The Past! DeepMind, which was acquired by Google in 2014, is using machine learning to read and understand damaged ancient greek texts. How? Check out this fascinating article now explaining how they do it.
🚲 Getir’s Series E. Getir, the delivery startup, has closed $768m in Series E funding at a $11.8bn valuation. Getir has attracted 40m app downloads across 9 countries and has 1,100 ‘dark stores’ where they store goods close to users. Read more here. Meanwhile Russian grocery delivery app Buyk has shut down after being restricted by financial sanctions.
📈 What’s Next For Amazon? CB Insights have created a really fantastic report on the industries that Amazon might disrupt next and why. It gives great stats, charts and graphs and analysis. So, what will Amazon do next? Pharma, food delivery, brick and mortar and small business lending. Read more here.
🇯🇵 Japan’s Monzo? US Fintech Block has led a $41m round in Japanese Challenger bank Kyash. Read more here.
6️⃣ Hit for Six Cristiano Ronaldo is rumoured to be amongst the backers of a platform for digital cricket collectibles: “FanCraze”. He’s said to be a part of a $100m round led by B Capital & Insight Group. This isn’t a huge surprise considering they raised a $17.4m seed round led by Tiger Global last year.
🧳 Space Suitcase As private business in space becomes more prevalent and cheaper, it is inevitable founders will look to the sky for opportunities. One such company is Inversion Space. They’re building earth-orbiting capsules with the aim of delivering goods anywhere in the world, from outer space. The capsules are being tested so that they’ll be able to come through the Earth’s atmosphere at 25x the speed of sound. Potential use cases include the storage of artificial organs.
💔 Till Fraud Do Us Part The founder of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, was found guilty of fraud a few months ago. However, the saga is not over. Now, her former partner (both business and relationship-wise) is on trial for his role in the company. Read all about him here.
🇺🇦 Supporting Ukraine 🇺🇦
We’re incredibly saddened at the current situation unfolding in Ukraine. We want to actively state that we stand by the people of Ukraine and are encouraging all our readers to donate via RedCross here.
£10 could provide a hygiene kit to a family of five, giving them supplies to stay healthy for a month
£20 could provide five blankets to families taking shelter
£33 could provide 40 chlorine tablets to ensure that families have access to clean, safe water
£72 could provide a thermometer to help treat those who have fallen ill
£210 could provide a fully equipped first aid kit, including supplies, to a first aider treating those wounded
If you also want to help in other ways (e.g. joining a protest, hosting Ukrainians or support the cyber defence) then check this link.
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Over & Out,
Nick & Louis