Year: 2020

Earlier this month, href="https://www.zettavp.com/">Zetta Venture Partners, a B2B, AI-focused venture outfit, announced a new $180 million fund.

As new VC funds are anecdotally a bit thinner on the ground these days — and because we’re in the midst of economic upheaval, which is changing investing patterns and shaking up startup verticals — I got on the phone with Zetta’s Jocelyn Goldfein (a TechCrunch regular) to chat about what her firm is doing and what’s up with AI investing.

The fund

Zetta’s new fund is about 50% larger than its preceding capital pool, which was roughly double its first fund. If you don’t want to do the math, Zetta’s first fund was worth $60 million, and its second $125 million.

Zetta will invest in B2B-focused, AI-powered seed-stage startups like it has before, but with more capital. I was curious about cadence: Would the firm write more checks more quickly now that it has more capital? Per Goldfein, the firm is keeping its pace and strategy pretty much the same with preceding funds, though it has promoted a principal from within who will begin to lead deals from the new fund.

Why more money if things are mostly looking the same? Zetta wants the capability to write larger checks and take a bit more ownership, so it needs more capital. In turn, defending those percentages requires more capital; you get the idea.

Pace, pricing

Early in our chat with Goldfein it became obvious that it’s an active time for AI-focused startups to raise, thanks to COVID-19-driven uncertainty. According to Goldfein, founders who have yet to raise their first capital are “looking at the funding window and thinking, oh, boy, if we thought we might raise three months from now, maybe we should just try now.” Even more, some companies that have already raised are going back to the market for top-ups. Goldfein said those startups are looking for “a little extra runway.”

In its quarterly earnings today, iRobot announced an indefinite delay of its lawn mowing robot, Terra. The Roomba maker has abandoned plans to launch to the long awaited home robot in 2020.

No surprise, the company says fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is to blame for the uncertainty. More specifically, it blames “current market realities.” Here’s the statement a spokesperson for the company sent to TechCrunch,

Like many other consumer and technology companies, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted iRobot, necessitating a reprioritization of go-to-market plans and product development initiatives. As a result of current market realities, it has become necessary for the company to suspend its planned 2020 commercial launch of the Terra robot mower and to increase focus on its core business and other strategic priorities. iRobot still believes there is great potential for robot mowers, and while it is suspending its Terra launch for now, it will reassess options for launching it when the time is right. This decision will help ensure iRobot emerges from this downturn as a stronger company better positioned to extend its leadership position in consumer robotics and deliver sustained, profitable growth.

It’s hard to say how much of this has to do with global supply chain issues and how much is simply a perceived lack of demand. COVID-19 has led to an increased interest in automation, as robotics and AI can go a ways toward limiting human contact and thus the key disease vector. But with more people spending a lot more time at home, a product likely to cost around $1,000 may not be where people are looking to invest their stimulus money.

The “reprioritization” could be an interesting bit of insight into a company that spinoff its own telepresence robot, Ava, a few years back. Perhaps the crisis is causing the company to explore different avenues that could be useful as people adjust to the realities of remote learning long term.

iRobot won’t comment on specifics beyond this, but this manner of indefinite delay isn’t a great sign for the company’s next big thing, even if a pandemic is ultimately to blame here.

Lincoln Motor, the luxury brand under Ford, has canceled plans to build an all new electric vehicle based on Rivian’s skateboard platform.

Crain’s Detroit reported that dealers were informed Tuesday.

Rivian and Ford said in a statement sent to TechCrunch that this was a mutual decision based on the current environment, which was meant to imply that the COVID-19 pandemic was the primary cause. The companies still plan to co-develop a vehicle in the future.

“Given the current environment, Lincoln and Rivian have decided not to pursue the development of a fully electric vehicle based on Rivian’s skateboard platform,” a Lincoln spokesperson said in a statement. “Our strategic commitment to Lincoln, Rivian and electrification remains unchanged and Lincoln’s future plans will include an all-electric vehicle consistent with its Quiet Flight DNA.”

The decision comes one year after Ford invested $500 million into Rivian, a Michigan-based EV startup that is developing an all-electric pickup truck and SUV. At the time, Ford also announced plans to co-develop an electric vehicle with Rivian.

It wasn’t clear until earlier this year what the vehicle would be or under what brand. Ford announced in January that Lincoln and Rivian would co-develop an all-electric vehicle that would likely be an SUV. The Lincoln battery electric vehicle would be built off of Rivian’s flexible skateboard platform, the companies said several months ago.

Ford told TechCrunch that “as we moved through the development cycle, and given the current environment, we determined that it would be better to focus our development efforts on Lincoln’s own fully electric vehicle.”

Ford added that its partnership with Rivian is still strong.

“Our strategic commitment remains unchanged and the company continues to work with Rivian on an alternative vehicle based on Rivian’s skateboard platform,” Ford said without saying what that vehicle would be.

Lincoln has produced two plug-in hybrid vehicles, the Aviator and Corsair Grand Touring, which it unveiled in November at the LA Auto Show. The company has never produced an all-electric vehicle.

Lincoln Motor, the luxury brand under Ford, has canceled plans to build an all new electric vehicle based on Rivian’s skateboard platform.

Crain’s Detroit reported that dealers were informed Tuesday.

Rivian and Ford said in a statement sent to TechCrunch that this was a mutual decision based on the current environment, which was meant to imply that the COVID-19 pandemic was the primary cause. The companies still plan to co-develop a vehicle in the future.

“Given the current environment, Lincoln and Rivian have decided not to pursue the development of a fully electric vehicle based on Rivian’s skateboard platform,” a Lincoln spokesperson said in a statement. “Our strategic commitment to Lincoln, Rivian and electrification remains unchanged and Lincoln’s future plans will include an all-electric vehicle consistent with its Quiet Flight DNA.”

The decision comes one year after Ford invested $500 million into Rivian, a Michigan-based EV startup that is developing an all-electric pickup truck and SUV. At the time, Ford also announced plans to co-develop an electric vehicle with Rivian.

It wasn’t clear until earlier this year what the vehicle would be or under what brand. Ford announced in January that Lincoln and Rivian would co-develop an all-electric vehicle that would likely be an SUV. The Lincoln battery electric vehicle would be built off of Rivian’s flexible skateboard platform, the companies said several months ago.

Ford told TechCrunch that “as we moved through the development cycle, and given the current environment, we determined that it would be better to focus our development efforts on Lincoln’s own fully electric vehicle.”

Ford added that its partnership with Rivian is still strong.

“Our strategic commitment remains unchanged and the company continues to work with Rivian on an alternative vehicle based on Rivian’s skateboard platform,” Ford said without saying what that vehicle would be.

Lincoln has produced two plug-in hybrid vehicles, the Aviator and Corsair Grand Touring, which it unveiled in November at the LA Auto Show. The company has never produced an all-electric vehicle.

Rapid7 announced today after the closing bell that it will be acquiring DivvyCloud, a cloud security and governance startup for $145 million in cash and stock.

With Divvy, the company moves more deeply into the cloud, something that Lee Weiner, chief innovation officer says the company has been working towards, even before the pandemic pushed that agenda.

Like any company looking at expanding its offering, it balanced building versus buying and decided that buying was the better way to go. “DivvyCloud has a fantastic platform that really allows companies the freedom to innovate as they move to the cloud in a way that manages their compliance and security,” Weiner told TechCrunch.

CEO Corey Thomas says it’s not possible to make a deal right now without looking at the economic conditions due to the pandemic, but he says this was a move they felt comfortable making.

“You have to actually think about everything that’s going on in the world. I think we’re in a fortunate position in that we have had the benefit of both growing in the past couple years but also getting the business more efficient,” Thomas said.

He said that this acquisition fits in perfectly with what he’s been hearing from customers about what they need right now. “One area of new projects that is actually going forward is how people are trying to figure out how to digitize their operations in a world where they aren’t sure how soon employees will be able to congregate and work together. And so from that context, focusing on the cloud and supporting our customers’ journey to the cloud has become an even more important priority for the organization,” he said.

Brian Johnson, CEO and co-founder at DivvyCloud says that is precisely what his company offers, and why it should fit in well with the Rapid7 family. “We help customers achieve rapid innovation in the cloud while ensuring they remain secure, well governed and compliant,” he said. That takes a different playbook than when customers were on prem, particularly requiring automation and real-time remediation.

With DivvyCloud, Rapid 7 is getting a 7-year old company with 70 employees and 54 customers. It raised $27.5 million on an $80 million post-money valuation, according to PitchBook data. All of the employees will become part of the Rapid7 organization when the deal closes, which is expected to happen some time this quarter.

The companies say that as they come together, they will continue to support existing Divvy customers, while working to integrate it more deeply into the Rapid7 platform.

Apple has now added COVID-19 testing sites to its Apple Maps app across the U.S., covering all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The update provide testing locations including hospitals, clinics, urgent car facilities, general practitioners, pharmacies and more, as well as dedicated COVID-19 testing sites, where tests are available. In addition, COVID-19 is now a prioritized point-of-interest option when you go to search for locations. Apple also updated its new Mobility Trends website, which provides free access to anonymized, aggregated data bout how people are getting around their cities and regions during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Maps update was reported last week, first spotted by 9to5Mac through a portal that Apple created in order to allow test site providers to provide their site location so that it could be added to the database. Now, it’s live and lives alongside other prioritized search options in Maps, which have been customized for the pandemic, and which include grocery stores, food delivery, pharmacies, hospitals and urgent care facilities.

As for the Mobility Trends site, it now includes improved regionalization, like state or province level search, depending on what terms a country uses, and it’s also been better localized, including use of a area’s local name added to search results to ensure that everyone can find what they’re looking for globally. Also, in the U.S., there are now more cities available to review.

Apple’s made this data available in order to help governments, transportation authorities and cities make better sense of the impact that the ongoing pandemic is having, and potentially provide information about the effective of, and compliance rate with, efforts like broad social distancing measures and shelter-in-place orders. The data comes from info about what methods of directions users are selecting within the Maps app, but it’s worth noting that Apple’s Maps app has privacy built-in by default, so it doesn’t collect any personal information along with guidance search info.

The coronavirus pandemic has paralyzed the global economy, but large tech companies remain relatively well-positioned to reach into their deep pockets to make big moves.

In an effort to call attention to the plight of smaller businesses—and the disproportionate power and resources of larger ones—Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) will propose new legislation to freeze large mergers and acquisitions during the coronavirus crisis. Their new proposal calls out “big tech” by name.

The Pandemic Anti-Monopoly Act, set to be introduced after Congress is back in session, would enact a moratorium on mergers and acquisitions from companies with more than $100 million in revenue, financial institutions with a market capitalization of more than $100 million, private equity companies, hedge funds, and companies that private equity companies or hedge funds have a majority-ownership stake in. The bill would also hit pause on mergers and acquisitions by companies with “an exclusive patent that impacts the crisis.”

Last week, House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI) called for similar measures, warning against “mega-mergers” like those that took place in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

“The LEAST we should do is halt big mergers during COVID to slow the consolidation of sectors,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a tweet.

The proposal, which would also pause any waiting periods and deadlines for antitrust oversight agencies, would freeze these actions “until the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) determines that small businesses, workers, and consumers are no longer under severe financial distress.”

According to a summary, the proposal would seek to “[ensure] that small businesses have viable alternatives other than accepting acquisition offers that may lead to job losses, price increases, and further entrenchment of giant corporate power.”

As two of the most prominent voices in progressive politics, Warren and Ocasio-Cortez are leveraging their combined political power to shape the conversation around the virus as the U.S. plunges into a deeply uncertain election year.

While unlikely to attract bipartisan support, reminding voters that tech companies with vast accumulated cash could swoop in and clean up during the crisis is a message that meshes with the Democratic party’s recent critiques of the tech industry. Those concerns are mostly on the backburner now, but a major reshuffling of capital and power could boost tech’s incumbents—and devastate some of its already-struggling upstarts.

As the world continues to lean more heavily on remote collaboration technologies, investors and entrepreneurs are growing more curious about how behavioral shifts will impact the future of work and education.

Bonsai, a new online platform virtually pairing students and young professionals with mentors in professional fields, is launching today with fresh funding. The startup’s founder and CEO Patrick Sullivan previously founded a pair of IP-management startups, one of which sold to Google, the other to Facebook.

“I felt the fundamental problem with job searching wasn’t the job offerings, because they’re democratized and everyone has access to those, but if you don’t have access to a network with the right information or the right guidance, you’re never going to crack that job entry point,” Sullivan told TechCrunch. “Particularly looking at getting jobs at a company like Google, that’s like a whole science.”

The platform is largely oriented around 1:1s, Sullivan doesn’t intend the platform to turn into a Masterclass-esque one-to-many instruction platform though he has seen interest from colleges in doing fireside chats with speakers.

Bonsai is aiming to scale slowly for now, ensuring that the students and young professionals who are onboarded to the platform are matched with the right network of resources on Bonsai’s end. The team has facilitated over 100 virtual meetings to date. Sullivan says that his company is in discussions with several colleges who can help market their services for an affiliate commission.

On the pricing side, Sullivan says that consultations cost an average of $50, a quarter of which goes to Bonsai.

The network of those giving professional advice relies pretty heavily on personal connections of Sullivan, who says that since the pandemic crisis began, there’s been much more inbound interest in doing pro bono work. Fundamental to the service is balancing paid services for those who can afford them with free services for those who can’t.

“We don’t want to charge inner city kids who don’t have access to the same opportunities, but obviously people that are from more affluent backgrounds are willing to pay for that access.” Sullivan says.

Bonsai’s team announced today that they’ve locked down $1.5 million in pre-seed funding from a network of angels including leaders at Google, Facebook and Columbia University.

Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies.

“Your questions are vital to the spread of knowledge that allows people all over the world to rise above borders and pursue their dreams,” says Sophie Alcorn, a Silicon Valley immigration attorney. “Whether you’re in people ops, a founder or seeking a job in Silicon Valley, I would love to answer your questions in my next column.”

“Dear Sophie” columns are accessible for Extra Crunch subscribers; use promo code ALCORN to purchase a one or two-year subscription for 50% off.

Dear‌ ‌Sophie:‌ ‌ ‌

I’m a tech founder on an ‌E-2‌ ‌investor‌ ‌visa.‌ ‌Will‌ ‌receiving‌ ‌PPP‌ ‌funding‌ ‌count‌ ‌against‌ ‌me‌ when I renew my E-2 or file my I-485 for my green card given‌ ‌the‌ ‌“Public‌ ‌Charge”‌ restrictions?

— E-2 Employer ‌in‌ Emeryville ‌

Dear‌ ‌E-2‌ Employer,

Thank you for starting a business in the United States and for your efforts to keep your team employed. Since the federal government increased funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) last week, your question is timely.

Some Hulu customers found that the video streaming service was no longer working on their Apple devices, beginning in the early morning hours on Tuesday. According to tweets and other social media posts from customers as well as from websites like DownDetector, Hulu began experiencing issues in early AM Pacific Time in the U.S., with a larger spike occurring around 5 AM PT.

Hulu confirmed with TechCrunch the issues only impacted a small percentage of its user base on Apple devices like Apple TV and iPhone. It says the issue has been resolved.

The company’s customer service Twitter account has also been replying to individual users to note that Hulu’s developers have put in changes to mitigate the service interruption and users who had issues should also reboot their devices to begin streaming.

Despite what appears to be a limited outage, losing access to video streaming during the coronavirus quarantine caused a number of users to immediately turn to Twitter to post their complaints. In fact, the hashtag #HuluDown is even still trending as of the time of writing.

But even though video services are facing record usage due to the large numbers of stay-at-home users under quarantine and government lockdowns, Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video and others haven’t seen long-term outages during these past few weeks — something that speaks to the relative stability of their services. There have been a few issues here and there of course — Netflix went down for an hour, or Twitch saw crashes, for example. And now this brief blip from Hulu.

DownDetector only showed some ~3400 incident reports, and the Twitter hashtag has accumulated just over 3,000 tweets before the problems were resolved.