A Week Worth Caring About
It’s been a historic week by anyone’s measure. And technology has played a central part in that, both good and bad. Concentrating on the positive side, this week has reminded us how technology can be used to bring positive change to the world. It has shown us its ability to create community, educate & unite people around a common cause.
If there are any pieces of content you’ve found particularly resonate, any stories you think we should focus on, or founders/companies we should highlight - please do not hesitate to send them our way.
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The Grapevine Newsflash 🔥
10 tech & startup stories in 143 seconds.
Next-Gen Activism 💬 The events of the last week has brought social media to the forefront… yet again. TikTok, Snapchat & Instagram have become forums for civic activism and this has, and will continue to, have long-reaching effects on our youth in particular. Civic leaders are now found online, and online platforms are being used to educate. One area to be cognizant of is the polarized nature of ‘cyber echo chambers’ where algorithms filter out certain voices and prioritize others. The ideal platform will find a way to facilitate reasoned debate.
Lift Off 🚀 Last week SpaceX catapulted two US astronauts (and a toy dinosaur called “Tremor”) into space - making it the first time a US company has done so since 2011. It was one hell of a spectacle, and marks a new era of Spaceflight. Now the question is: can it become a cost-effective business? Read more here and take a look at the highlight reel of the launch here.
📷 Do the benefits of facial recognition outweigh the privacy concerns? The UK government has investigated this question and published its thinking in this very considered essay. Have a read, make up your own mind, and let us know what you think.
🚆HyperWhat? Zeleros has raised $7.8m in funding to build out its hyperloop. “What’s a Hyperloop?,” I hear you ask. Find out about the future of transportation here.
🚗 Self-Driving Dreams! Softbank has led a $500m round in the autonomous driving division of Didi (The Uber of China). Interestingly, social distancing has made testing autonomous vehicles more complex. The solution? Train autonomous vehicles in 3D virtual reality worlds. Find out more and see the training in action here.
💳 UX Wars? How does the user experience compare when opening up 12 different UK Bank accounts, including Monzo, Revolut, HSBC and Santander. Take a look at this stunning piece of research conducted by Peter Ramsay.
“I’m out…virtually” Hundreds of Facebook employees protested at Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to not intervene on recent posts published by Trump on the platform. Workers conducted a ‘virtual’ walk-out and some employees have resigned due to the disagreement. It’s probably the most serious challenge to Zuck’s leadership since he founded the company 🆘
Nothing is Private 👀 Google has been accused of collecting information on users’s browsing habits while they’re in private, or ‘Incognito’, mode. Google strongly disputes the claim but this could be a long fight… Read more here.
TikTok 2.0? A new like-for-like clone of TikTok has launched and rocketed to the top of the app store 1️⃣ Zynn differs in one key way - it pays users to sign up, watch videos & refer others. How does it do this? It received a $2bn investment from Chinese tech giant, Tencent, to fight the dominance of Bytedance (makers of TikTok).
Pizza Arbitrage 🍕 A pizza owner was shocked to find out that Doordash, an on-demand food prep service, had listed his restaurant on the platform. However, in doing so, they had listed the prices incorrectly. So, him and writer, Ranjan Roy, realized they could run an arbitrage and make $8 profit per pizza 🤑 It’s an amazing read and highlights the broken VC model that encourages inefficient, and often non-sensical, business models.
A Positive Spin
We don’t need to tell you about what’s going on in the world this week; but we do want to tell you about the companies (especially startups) doing their part to support this movement globally.
💰 Andreessen Horowitz, a prestigious US venture capital firm, has launched a fund to invest in early-stage startups with underrepresented & underserved founders. It opens with $2.2m in donations, a promise to match $5m & a pledge to reinvest all the returns into the fund. Read more here. This is part of a larger push by venture funds to support black founders & investors.
💰💰 Lego has donated $4m to organisations dedicated to support black children and educating all children about racial equality.
💰💰💰 Softbank has launched an $100m fund to “invest in companies led by founders and entrepreneurs of colour”. Read more about the fund here.
📓 Wondering whether a particular tech company has made a meaningful statement or contribution on racial justice? You can check here.
Bonus Story 🔥
Looking for a list of sworn Trump enemies ?
Wired magazine has been keeping a running list of who Trump has blocked on Twitter, and why. See the full list and all the stories here.
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Over & Out,
Nick, Louis & Ben Hart