Year: 2020

Back in March, Apple joined a rapidly growing number of companies announcing an online-only model for their annual tech events. At the time, SVP Phil Schiller promised that the event would be “an innovative way to millions of developers around the world, bringing the entire developer community together with a new experience,” as planners across the world scrambled to make adapt to the newfound realities of a growing viral pandemic.

This morning, Apple is offering a lot more information about what WWDC will look like amid social distancing and stay at home requirements. The annual developer conference is now set for June 22. As previously noted, the event will consist of online sessions focused on iOS, iPadOS and MacOS developers.

In a release, Schiller once again set a positive note about launching the new format during an uncertain time. “WWDC20 will be our biggest yet, bringing together our global developer community of more than 23 million in an unprecedented way for a week in June to learn about the future of Apple platforms,” the executive said. “We can’t wait to meet online in June with the global developer community and share with them all of the new tools we’ve been working on to help them create even more incredible apps and services. We look forward to sharing more details about WWDC20 with everyone as we get closer to this exciting event.”

Developing…

Sleuth, an early stage startup from three former Atlassian employees, wants to bring some much-needed order to the continuous delivery process. Today, the company announced it has raised a $3 million seed round.

​CRV led the round with participation from angel investors from New Relic, Atlassian and LaunchDarkly.

“Sleuth is a deployment tracker built to solve the confusion that comes when companies have adopted continuous delivery,” says CEO and co-founder Dylan Etkin. The company’s founders recognized that more and more companies were making the move to continuous delivery deployment, and they wanted to make it easier to track those deployments and figure out where the bottle necks were.

He says that typically, on any given DevOps team, there are perhaps two or three people who know how the entire system works, and with more people spread out now, it’s more important than ever that everyone has that capability. Etkin says Sleuth lets everyone on the team understand the underlying complexity of the delivery system with the goal of helping them understand the impact of a given change they made.

“Sleuth is trying to make that better by targeting the developer and really giving them a communications platform, so that they can discuss the [tools] and understand what is changing and who has changed what. And then more importantly, what is the impact of my change,” he explained.

Image Credit: Sleuth

The company was founded by three former Atlassian alumni — Ektin along with Michael Knighten and Don Brown — all of whom were among the first 50 employees at the now tremendously successful development tools company.

That kind of pedigree tends to get the attention of investors like CRV, but it is also telling that three companies including their former employer saw enough potential here to invest in the company, and be using the product.

Etkin recognizes this is a tricky time to launch an early-stage startup. He said that when he first entered the lock down, his inclination was to hunker down, but they concluded that their tool would have even greater utility at the moment. “The founders took stock and we were always building a tool that was great for remote teams and collaboration in general, and that hasn’t changed… if anything, I think it’s becoming more important right now.”

The company plans to spend the next 6-9 months refining the product, adding a few folks to the five person team and finding product-market fit. There is never an ideal time to start a company, but Sleuth believes now is its moment. It may not be easy, but they are taking a shot.

Uber has partnered with trucking startup CloudTrucks to make it easier for its ride-hail drivers to get jobs as truckers during the pandemic.

Described as a “business in a box,” CloudTrucks is designed to make it easier for truck owners and operators to run their businesses. Through software and data science, CloudTrucks aims to reduce operating costs for truck drivers and improve revenue, cash-flow and costs.

“The country (and the world) is currently facing unprecedented health and economic crises at the same time: Due to Covid-19 and the shutdowns across the nation, businesses are seeing earnings plummet at an alarming rate and employees and contractors are seeing their wages depleted,” CloudTrucks CEO Tobenna Arodiogbu wrote in a blog post.

During this time, Uber drivers with valid commercial driver licenses can join CloudTrucks to start transporting freight loads. If they don’t have access to a truck, CloudTrucks’ partnership with Ryder enables them to lease a tractor and/or trailer. CloudTrucks says it will cover the deposit fee.

“Truck drivers are the backbone of our economy, and communities are depending on them now more than ever,” Uber Freight Head of Business Development and Strategy & Planning Laurent Hautefeuille said in a statement. “Our objective at Uber Freight is to support all truck drivers whether they are industry veterans or just starting out, and we hope this partnership with CloudTrucks and COOP by Ryder will open up more opportunities for those already on the Uber platform.”

There are thousands of drivers across the nation who could be eligible, but the ideal driver, according to CloudTrucks CEO Tobenna Arodiogbu, is someone who has completed at least 500 rides on the Uber platform and has good ratings.

“That said, we are happy to work Uber drivers who do not meet the number of rides requirement,” he said. “The driver would also have a valid CDL and 2 years of prior truck driving experience.”

For drivers interested in getting into trucking, it won’t cost them anything to get started. CloudTrucks will make money from this, but the company will only get paid once the driver gets paid.

CloudTrucks is a relatively new company, having just launched earlier this year after Arodiogbu sold his last startup, Scotty Labs, to DoorDash. To date, CloudTrucks has raised $6.1 million from Craft Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Kindred Ventures and Abstract Ventures.

Treasury Prime, a startup that built software tooling to help banks automate and accelerate routine tasks, announced today that it has closed a $9 million Series A. The new capital was sourced from Amias Gerety of QED, Jason Lemkin of SaaStr, and Hans Morris of NYCA Partners.

The capital event is yet another funding round for an API -focused startup. Earlier this week, Daily.co raised $4.6 million for its video-calling API business. Both Daily.co and Treasury Prime announced new venture rounds after fintech API shop Plaid exited to Visa for billions.

Building the connective software tissue that industries need is a valuable business. Twilio is another example of the concept’s success. But what Treasury Prime is building is neat in its own right, and not merely as part of a trend that TechCrunch is watching. So let’s dig into its business.

Suits, backrooms and manual processes

TechCrunch caught up with Treasury Prime CEO Chris Dean in advance of its announcement to better understand what his company does. Condensing sharply, the startup helps banks move some of their business processes out of Victorian-era, while also allowing fintech shops to more easily plug into banks than before.

It accomplishes that with an API that allows banks to convert manual tasks into software-speed results. Dean walked TechCrunch through the modern process for opening a commercial account at a bank. The only word that came to mind during the description was byzantine. Treasury Prime wants to take processes that could require days of work and get it done in minutes.

Dean previously sold a company to Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), where he started the work that would become Treasury Prime. After working to build internal tech to accelerate SVB’s internal processes, he eventually left and built a startup off the idea. Now Treasury Prime is getting banks onto its tech, saving them time and boosting margins where human inputs can be limited.

This does more than simply allow banks to move more quickly. By cutting the costs of select banking tasks, the cohort of customers that are economically attractive grows; smaller accounts may become more viable at a bank if it can open and service that customer for a lower cost. This means that banks may be able to attract more total deposits, allowing them to loan more capital and earn more interest differential.

Even more, fintech companies can communicate with banks more easily if they both plug into Treasury Prime’s APIs. So a bank that uses the startup’s tech may be able to do more business with fintech and finservices companies big and small, possibly boosting deposits or other key banking results.

Economics

Why are API-powered startups raising capital, and why have they generated some huge exits? Economics, at least in part.

Twilio, a provider of telephony APIs that allow companies to execute calls, SMS and the like, reported adjusted gross margins of 57% in 2019, up from 54% in 2018. SaaS-like? Not exactly, but healthy and improving.

Daily.co, the other API-focused startup that raised capital this week, told TechCrunch that its has a number of levers it can pull to improve its own gross margins, but that they are already attractive.

We bring all that up because it’s possible that Treasury Prime will have better gross margins than our two examples; banking API calls cost more per call, according to Dean, though they operate at a slower pace. Still, charging more for less “work” implies a lower cost of revenue-to-revenue ratio—ergo, better gross margins

And as Twilio is trading at a price/sales ratio of 12 today (per YCharts data), Treasury Prime can expect to be valued at a SaaS multiple as well. Even better, Treasury Prime was profitable in January, and it now has years of runway in the bank.

What’s ahead

Treasury Prime has 13 employees today, which Dean told TechCrunch includes 10 engineers if you count him as one (CEOs don’t usually get too much time to code). You can tell from those figures what company needs: a go-to-market (GTM) team.

According to Dean, that’s what it’s going to hire. The startup wants to make more noise, so it intends to hire a marketing team and build out a sales team, doubling its headcount in 2020. Treasury Prime’s revenue grew 40% in April the company told TechCrunch. If it can build a more mature GTM motion, perhaps the startup can keep up that pace for a while yet.

Looking ahead, Treasury Prime expects its revenue to roughly halve between fintech players and banks, though with more total clients on the fintech side. It now has all the money it could need to go and land those customers. Let’s see how fast it can grow.

For all of its strengths, Google hasn’t exactly led the way in podcasting. After years of letting third-party developers dominate the category on Play, the company finally introduced its own Podcasts app. Since then, however, it’s been largely eclipsed by Spotify as second place to Apple’s longstanding efforts.

This morning, however, the company is taking another important step. Google Podcasts is finally getting some key analytics for producers by way of the Google Podcasts Manager tool. Show owners will be required to go through a verification process (similar to those you’ve likely already gone through for iTunes and Spotify), before gaining access to engagement metrics.

The tracking looks to be fairly extensive, down to where listeners tune in and drop off during a given episode, along with standard figures like total number of listens and listening duration. The app will also show how people listen, be it through smartphone, tablet, desktop or smart speaker.

The new feature follows the recent Podcasts redesign, along with the app’s debut on iOS.

At the start of the year, it looked like Europe would be in a for the ‘Summer E-Scooters / E-Bike Wars’ as both regional startups and US-backed unicorns vied for the pockets of city commuters.

Consolidation came when German startup Circ was taken over by US competitor Bird at the start of the year.

Still on the battlefield was US company Lime (which was leading in most markets), Bird, Circ, Swedish startup Voi and German startup Tier. There was also Amsterdam-based Dott and Ford-owned Spin. Voi was in around 40 cities in Europe, Tier had expanded to around 56.

The approach of city authorities had been key to any growth. Marseille approved only Voi, Bird and Circ as operators. Copenhagen chose 10. So winning these licenses was absolutely the key to success.

City authorities wanted providers to be good partners, offering safety and good management. Parking spaces were also a bugbear.

Then came COVID-19.

E-Scooter and E-bike companies have since lain fallow and unused as Europe has gone into lock-down.

But the firing-gun has been cocked for the potential restart of the wars, now that Spain and Italy have loosened-up their lockdowns.

One of first out of the gate today has been Helbiz, which today launches Helbiz Unlimited, a subscription service that allows users worldwide to take unlimited 30-minute trips on its e-bikes and e-scooters every month. The subscription renews every 30 days and will be offered indefinitely.

To boost its initiative, Helbiz has partnered with the Italian government’s COVID-19 Task Force.

Salvatore Palella, Founder and CEO of Helbiz said in a statement today: “More and more cities and municipalities are recognizing the benefits of micro-mobility solutions, and we’re continuing to work closely with these local government institutions to expand our sustainable fleets to meet the increasing demand.”

Helbiz is collaborating directly with Dr. Filomena Maggino, the Head of the Control Room for Benessere Italia – the movement for Italy’s post-virus reconstruction – and the Head of the Council of Ministers. She also leads the Mobility Delegation in the Task Force, responsible for how the country moves following this pandemic.

At 29.99€ a month, Helbiz Unlimited will cost less than 1€ a day and allows users to ride Helbiz’s fleet of e-scooters or e-bikes for 30 minutes at a time. In Italy, the company currently operates a fleet of 6,000 e-scooters and e-bicycles in Milan, Turin, Verona and Rome. By next month, the fleet will be increased to over 8,000 vehicles. In addition to operating across Italy, Helbiz Unlimited will also be offered in all of Helbiz’s markets which includes Milan, Madrid, Belgrade, Washington DC, Alexandria, Arlington and Miami.

Cities may look on e-mobility more favorably, post-COVI19. They don’t cram people into public transport and are generally thought to be environmentally-friendly.

While Helbiz isn’t about to take over from giants like Lime or Bird at this point, the move is simply a further indicator of how turbulent this market will be, especially in the pandemic era.

Spin, the electric scooter startup acquired by Ford in 2019 for nearly $100 million, has restarted operations in four U.S. markets as COVID-19 related closures begin to ease.

The company has resumed operations in Orlando, Nashville, Columbus, Ohio and St. Louis. The ramp up of operations will depend on the city, the company said. In Columbus, Spin has deployed its entire 200-scooter fleet, the largest number allowed under the city’s permit. Spin is putting fewer scooters than permits allow in other cities. The company said it will scale up its scooter numbers based on demand.

Spin was operating in about 70 markets, a figure that includes college campuses and cities, up until the COVID-19 pandemic caused governments to issue stay-at-home orders. The company has maintained operations in some areas that have allowed it.

Spin said it has “enhanced” its safety protocols, which includes disinfecting scooters more often and requiring employees to wear gloves and face shields during their shifts.

The scooters are now disinfected every time they’re picked up for charging or enter a warehouse, the company said. Scooters with higher usage will be cleaned more frequently — as much as twice a day or more, a spokesperson said when asked for more details.

At warehouses, where Spin scooters are maintained, charged and cleaned, workers are supplied with disinfectant materials to properly clean high-traffic surfaces between every shift. Employees also carry disinfectant materials with them out in the field to clean scooters on the spot.
Spin said it has been working directly with cities to fill transportation gaps and deploy scooters where they are most needed.

The Consumer Technology Association penned an open letter alongside a number of other industry representatives asking the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office to loosen tariffs on a number of tech categories manufactured in China.

The parties seek to widen current COVID-19-related exemptions beyond beyond health products like ventilator and oxygen masks. The list includes wide ranging categories that serve important peripheral functions for frontline responders.

“These tariffs are not only a barrier to the entry of necessary products, they are a tax on businesses and consumers that has become ever more harmful as many enter ‘survival mode,’” according to the letter provided to Reuters.

The letter cites robotics, 3D printers, drones, personal computers and a number of different accessories, including monitors, printers and ink, citing medical professionals’ need for such material. A number of tech companies have pivoted to producing supplies amid the pandemic, from car makers manufacturing ventilators to apparel companies creating masks to 3D printing startups manufacturing parts.

Also in the letter are elevator and escalator parts (per The National Elevator Industry, naturally) and various cleaning and disinfecting supplies (via The American Chemistry Council). Other categories include masks, networking equipment, hand sanitizer and hand dryers. 

The USTR has yet to issue an official response to exemptions for products  “relevant to the medical response to the coronavirus.” The CTA has been a vocal critic of Trump administration tariffs for some time. Last January, the association’s president Gary Shapiro told TechCrunch, “The cost of the current tariffs remains an issue, and the uncertainty of potentially more tariffs combined with export controls is a real threat to our global leadership 5G, artificial intelligence and robotics.”

Free streaming service Pluto TV is expanding. The company has today gained access to streaming sports network, CBS Sports HQ, as a result of the ViacomCBS merger. It has also forged new distribution deals with Verizon and TiVo, both of which were detailed this week.

The free streamer had been acquired by Viacom for $340 million in early 2019, ahead of the $12 billion merger of media giants, Viacom and CBS Corp. Since the deal’s completion in December 2019, ViacomCBS has been quick to capitalize on the free streaming platform, which has since received its largest product upgrade in years and an aggressive marketing campaign.

On Tuesday, TiVo announced a partnership with Pluto TV that will give TiVo device owners one-click access to Pluto TV’s over 250 live, linear and ad-supported channels and its thousands of movies and TV shows on demand as a part of TiVo’s own ad-supported video network, TiVo+.

Launched last fall, TiVo+ is enabled by partnerships with XUMO, Jukin Media, and others, to deliver a range of free streaming content to TiVo viewers. (XUMO has since been snatched up by Comcast, we should note)

Meanwhile, Deadline exclusively reported on Pluto TV and Verizon’s rumored plans to team up on a distribution deal that will see Pluto TV distributed across Verizon’s wireless network, on connected TV platforms like Stream TV, and on its pay TV service, FiOS.

And today, the addition of CBS Sports HQ will bring live, anchored sports news coverage to Pluto TV, as well as new programming like “Fantasy Football Today,” “Pick Six,” and “Nothing Personal with David Samson.”

The streaming sports network appeals to a younger demographic, with a median age of 35, which makes a good fit for an over-the-top streaming service like Pluto TV.

Despite the cancellation of live sports events due to COVID-19, or perhaps because of it, people are hungry for sports-related content. CBS Sports HQ reports 31% year-over-year growth in unique viewers in March, some of which could be influenced by the overall growth in streaming seen during the COVID-19 quarantine.

“Pluto TV viewers have shown us how much they value news and sports offerings on the platform,” said Jeff Shultz, Chief Business Officer, Pluto TV, in a statement. “In partnership with our colleagues at CBS, we are excited to bring CBS Sports HQ to our growing audience of sports fans.”

CBS Sports HQ is not the first CBS property to make its way to Pluto TV. The free streamer already offered CBS’ streaming news service, CBSN (including local versions like CBSN:NY and CBSN: LA) as well as its streaming entertainment network, ET Live.

Pluto TV has grown to 22 million monthly active viewers in the U.S., and these numbers should increase as new deals and expansions fall into place.

Welcome to this edition of The Operators, a recurring Extra Crunch column, podcast and YouTube show that brings you insights and information from inside the top tech companies. Our guests are execs with operational experience at both fast-rising startups, like Brex, Calm, DocSend, and Zeus Living, and more established companies, like AirBnB, Facebook, Google, and Uber. Here they share strategies and tactics for building your first a company and charting your career in tech.

Our two guests for this episode have very different backgrounds, one an experienced exec serving at a large digital media unicorn and the other a younger co-founder CEO of an upstart media business. But both are at rapidly growing companies who are at the forefront of what it means to be a media company today. Both experts from the online media industry have built successful careers and businesses in this age of social media and ready-to-go, instant news.

Rich Jarislowsky began his media career as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal before becoming the national political editor as a White House correspondent. He was instrumental in bringing The Wall Street Journal online years ago. For the past 25 years, Rich has been involved in digital news at wsj.com and Bloomberg, and is currently at Smart News, where he is Chief Journalist and the VP of Content.

Sam Parr is the co-founder and CEO of The Hustle, a beloved and rapidly growing newsletter, conference convener, and broadening digital media business.

Our discussion touched on some of the most important questions in digital media:

• What opportunities are there for new media entrants;
• How it is impossible to start a successful media company today without having a strong grasp of how technology can be leveraged;
• How the hardest problems in media today center around distribution and monetization;
• Why content creation is actually one of the easier problems to address;
• How increasingly the medium is the message: the iPhone changed media consumption and increasingly it looks like how we consume audio is changing the delivery of media, consumption, and monetization; and
• An analysis on the current state of media and their predictions on where media is headed.