Year: 2020

Amazon is going to be working with a new research initiative backed in part by the Gates Foundation that will distribute at-home coronavirus assessment kits, and then deliver the collected samples to FDA-approved test facilities. Amazon Care, the health arm formed by Amazon initially for internal employee care, will be handling the delivery of the kits, as well as transportation of collected samples to the test labs, as first reported by CNBC.

While the FDA updated its guidance just a few days ago to specifically exclude at-home testing from the Emergency Use Authorization that is in place to enable broadened private lab testing of potential COVID-19 cases, the arrangement with the Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network (SCAN) and Amazon Care bypasses use of the traditional mail or package delivery network. The Amazon Care drivers who are doing the test kit drop-offs and deliveries are specifically trained in proper handling of sensitive medical materials, and the SCAN project is for a limited research endeavor undertaken in order to help “understand how coronavirus is spreading in the Greater Seattle area.”

Availability of kits will be limited, but will include the kind of swab testing that is being conducted at drive-through testing facilities in the U.S. as well. Should a sample test positive for COVID-19, the person who provided the sample to SCAN will be contacted by a healthcare workers for next steps, including advice on how to seek treatment and prevent transmission.

SCAN is the result of a partnership by Seattle & King County’s Public Health department, as well as a team of hospitals and health organizations that created the Seattle Flu Study, a similar project meant to study the spread of the traditional seasonal flu within the community. The research and data modelling work done for that study have been adapted to the study of COVID-19, and the flu study has been put in hold while researchers focus on the pandemic instead.

San Francisco-based Instacart today announced it will bring on 300,000 shoppers for its grocery delivery platform over the next three months. The move is meant to manage an uptick in demand due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. 

The platform lets users shop from well-known grocery stores like Costco, Safeway, Krogers and more from home. Once an order is submitted, a designated grocery shopper will pick up the items and deliver it home. 

Once relying on the lazy shoppers among us, Instacart is now seeing an uptick in volume of orders as delivery becomes a safer option amid the novel coronavirus disease. All of a sudden, social distancing means less trips to the grocery stores, which means more reliance on delivery platforms like Instacart. 

In a release, Instacart noted that it operates in more than 5,500 cities and will bring on shoppers from across the country. In California, Instacart will bring on 54,000 new shoppers. In New York, the company will bring on 27,000 new shoppers. Other states like Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, and New Jersey will also get thousands of new shoppers. 

The new shoppers will be offered sick pay, and it will distribute cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer to them as well.

Grocery stores, for now, remain open across the country, even in states under lockdown. Grocers are deemed an essential business, and Instacart is helping goods get in the hands of people that can’t take the chance to leave their home.

Earlier this month, the FCC issued a new measure aimed at easing some of the burdens on consumers as COVID-19 continues to have an increasingly profound impact on nearly every aspect of life.

Most or all major internet and wireless providers in the U.S. signed up for the pledge, agreeing to take actions like waiving late fees and not terminating service. Now specific plans are starting to emerge from carriers, aimed at helping cash-strapped consumers until this pandemic blows over.

T-Mobile this morning announced the launch of a $15/month Metro plan — at half the cost of its current lowest-price plan. The pricing will be in place for the next 60 days, including unlimited talk and 2GB of data. The company is also tossing in a free eight-inch tablet (with rebate, plus fine print) and will be adjusting other data plans for the next two months.

At the same time, Verizon (TC’s parent company) announced that it will be adding 15GB of 4G data to current consumer and small business plans, in an effort to help customers use their handsets as mobile hotspots as needed. The company will also be taking $20 off select FiOS plans and waving router rental fees for 60 days.

Like the other carriers, AT&T noted in a message to TechCrunch that it will not terminate service over inability to pay. It will also be waiving late fees, along with domestic overcharges for data, voice and text, retroactive to March 13.

Sprint, meanwhile, will provide for 60 days unlimited data to customers with metered plans, starting March 18, along with 20GB of free mobile hotspot data.

Over-the-top live TV streaming service fuboTV announced today it plans to merge with the virtual entertainment technology company, FaceBank Group. The proposed merger would retain the name fuboTV for the combined company, consisting of fuboTV’s direct-to-consumer live TV streaming platform and FaceBank’s technology IP in sports, movies, and live performances.

FaceBank is not a household name, but is a developer of hyper-realistic digital humans — including those of celebrities and consumers — for use in emerging technologies, like VR and AR, as well as in live entertainment, interactive, media, social networking, and A.I.-driven applications,

You may remember the company from its creation the hologram of Michael Jackson as The Billboard Music Awards in 2014, when it was then called Pulse Evolution. It also created a virtual Tupac in 2012, and owns the rights to develop digital representations of Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe and others. The company has also worked to create virtual creatures and characters in movies like “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” “Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith,” “Transformers,” “Benjamin Button,” and more, per its website.

According to the proposed merger agreement, the plan is to create a leading digital entertainment company that combines fuboTV with FaceBank’s IP in order to create a content delivery platform for both traditional and “future-form IP.”

That is to say, you’ll be able to stream your live TV and these virtual/digital human performances on one platform, it seems.

FuboTV also says it plans to leverage FaceBank’s IP sharing relationships with leading celebrities and other digital technologies to enhance its sports and entertainment offerings.

“The business combination of FaceBank Group and fuboTV accelerates our ability to build a category-defining company and supports our goal to provide consumers with a technology-driven cable TV replacement service for the whole family,” said fuboTV CEO David Gandler, in a statement. “With our growing businesses in the U.S., and recent beta launches in Canada and Europe, fuboTV is well-positioned to achieve its goal of becoming a world-leading live TV streaming platform for premium sports, news and entertainment content. In the current COVID-19 environment, stay-at-home stocks make perfect sense – we plan to accelerate our timing to uplist to a major exchange as soon as practicable. We look forward to working with John and his team of creative visionaries,” he added.

“As a tech-driven IP company, FaceBank was looking to find the perfect delivery platform for its celebrity and consumer-driven content, with a dynamic user interface that could support the global consumers’ rapidly evolving practices of content consumption,” added FaceBank founders John Textor and Alex Bafer. “David and his team have a clear vision of the future and fuboTV’s technology is second to none among the disruptor class of content delivery – a perfect match for FaceBank Group,” their statement read.

FaceBank also says it took out a secured revolving line of credit of $100 million, the first $10 million of which will be provided to fuboTV on April 1 or the closing date of the merger, whichever is later.

The merger will allow fuboTV to continue its international expansion, by way of FaceBank Group’s Nexway — an e-commerce and payment platform live in 180 countries, the company says.

FuboTV was founded in 2015, first as a soccer streaming service, then later expanded into more sports and entertainment. It competes with YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, AT&T TV Now, and before its shutdown, PlayStation Vue.

The deal follows several other consolidations in online streaming and media, including Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Viacom’s purchase of pluto.tv, and Fox Corp.’s acquisition of TUBI. For smaller streamers, it’s difficult to keep up with the rising costs of programming amid competition from larger competitors, like Disney (Hulu’s majority owner) and Google (which runs YouTube TV).

The Boards of Directors of both companies and the major stockholders of fuboTV have approved the transaction, which is anticipated to close during the first quarter of 2020, subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions, the companies said.

SouSmile is a direct to consumer dental company based in São Paulo. SouSmile has raised $10 million in Series A funding from Global Founders Capital, Kaszek Ventures and Canary, bringing the company’s total funding to $11.4 million. The two-year-old startup sells an invisible aligner and whitening gels through five retail stores in shopping malls across São Paulo and Rio. 

SouSmile is a new option for Brazilians hoping to get started on orthodontic work. The process consists of an evaluation by a licensed dentist that includes a panoramic X-ray, 3D scan and a clinical exam. Then, the company approves customers for treatment. SouSmile’s follow-up process includes bimonthly appointments, and costs approximately $1,000, which co-founder Michael Ruah says is 60% cheaper than comparable treatments, and can be paid in installments. Treatment is fast, taking between 3 to 9 months. 

SouSmile has a five-person cofounding team. The 100 person startup is made up of 50% licensed dentists.

Ruah anticipates that the coronavirus pandemic will have a negative short term revenue impact for the company, as they anticipate less foot traffic in retail stores over the coming weeks, possibly months. He hopes that since the business is still young, macro indicators won’t have a huge impact on the bottom line in the medium-to-long term. Ruah says that the most important thing is that SouSmile employees and customers are safe and healthy at this point. 

Why is Brazil a good market for a D2C dental startup?

With 2 million orthodontic cases per year, highly populous Brazil is one of the largest dental markets globally, yet the penetration of invisible aligners is less than 2% due to prohibitive prices. Ruah compares this to the 40% penetration in the U.S. for adults, citing Invisalign’s numbers. There’s still a dent to be made, as SouSmile says it saw over 10,000 bookings last year. 

Ruah also cites a cultural reason as to why Brazil is a smart market for a product like this: Brazilians care a lot about both beauty and their oral health. “Brazilians brush their teeth three times a day. They’ll go out for lunch, they’ll come back to the office and brush their teeth. Everybody has their toothbrush and toothpaste with them all the time,” he explains. 

SouSmile’s invisible aligner costs around $1,200. Treatment lasts between 3-9 months.

Branding: Cosmetic vs health

SmileDirectClub raised nearly $440 million at a $3.2 billion valuation before going public in 2019. The teeth-straightening company build its brand by leveraging the celebrity beauty angle with Instagram influencer campaigns that marketed the visual results of its product. While SouSmile hopes to see big numbers like its U.S.-based predecessor, it wants to take more of a healthcare-first approach to its branding, rather than cosmetic.

SouSmile is up against some big challenges. Physical retail costs are expensive. Manufacturing is hard, and the company doesn’t appear to be particularly tech-enabled, relying mainly on physical retail presence for customer acquisition. 

SouSmile isn’t the only Latin American startup working on an anti-braces dental solution, either. Moons, a Mexican invisible aligner startup that just launched out of Y Combinator, may have a head start. Moons delivers a similar product as SouSmile for around the same cost, and is also using 3D printing to manufacture its aligners. Moons is targeting the Latin America market with $5 million in funding and the Y Combinator stamp of approval. Moons has already opened 18 locations across Mexico and Colombia. 

But Brazillian tech can operate like a separate ecosystem apart from adjacent Spanish-speaking Latin America due to country regulations, language barriers and shipping complications. Consumer startups that can deliver products that improve the daily lives of Brazil’s massive middle class are the ones that succeed, and SouSmile now has the capital to shoot its shot. 

If you heard the collective grieving shriek of a thousand Instagram influencers, YouTubers, and their followers, it’s because VidCon has been canceled.

It’s the latest mega-event to fall prey to the social distancing measures put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

In a statement, the conference organizers said:

VidCon is dedicated to delivering premium entertainment experiences across the globe. Our first priority is the safety and health of our attendees, sponsors, speakers, creators, and staff. Due to the continued uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and the precautions being taken by authorities worldwide to manage this pandemic, we have come to the difficult decision to cancel the 11th annual VidCon in Anaheim this June. All tickets and pre-ordered merch that have been purchased for the June 17 – 20, 2020 event will be refunded in full by April 15, 2020. This will include all fees for previously canceled tickets.

VidCon is one of the most important events for the massive entertainment industry that’s grown up around the streaming platforms. Those platforms — specifically YouTube and Instagram — raked in a bit over $35 billion in spending in 2019, or roughly half of the ad haul that television advertising pulled in for the same year.

More than just a chance for entertainers to promote themselves and their products, the event is a critical window into where social media is heading.

In its own way, the event is as important to the streaming community as upfronts are to traditional media, or newfronts are to online media.

The (entirely appropriate) response to the COVID-19 outbreak is one that’s been echoed in industries as disparate as entertainment, technology, and auto manufacturing. Most of the big auto shows have been canceled this year, along with the major developer events from Alphabet subsidiary Google and Facebook. Other events are going remote or turning to virtual only — like Apple’s big developer and product event later this year.

Working from home is having a moment amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but some startups are having an easier time of it than others.

Collage, an e-commerce site for custom gifts, has been all-remote since its inception; co-founders and co-CEOs Joe Golden and Kevin Borders started the company while Golden lived in Seattle and Borders was in Washington, D.C.

“Our team was remote from the start and we quickly realized we could make remote work work and turn it into an advantage for us,” Golden tells TechCrunch.

Those advantages touch many aspects of the business, from hiring the best people — no matter where they’re located — to saving money on office space. As with all things, there are disadvantages and challenges along the way. But Collage has found a way to make it work for them.

“You have to be more deliberate with your communication than you do in an office setting,” Golden says. “But over time we’ve realized that this makes us a stronger company regardless. Lots of the processes we’ve developed to make remote work work, such as clearly explaining our thinking and assumptions in writing, and clearly documenting all of our business practices, would likely improve many companies, but they are critical for remote organizations.”

Microsoft says attackers are exploiting a previously undisclosed security vulnerability found in all supported versions of Windows, including Windows 10.

But the software giant said there is currently no patch for the vulnerability.

The security flaw, which Microsoft deems “critical” — its highest severity rating — is found in how Windows handles and renders fonts, according to the advisory posted Monday. The bug can be exploited by tricking a victim into opening a malicious document. Once the document is opened — or viewed in Windows Preview — an attacker can remotely run malware, such as ransomware, on a vulnerable device.

The advisory said that Microsoft was aware of hackers launching “limited, targeted attacks,” but did not say who was launching the attacks or at what scale.

Microsoft said it was working on a fix but that the advisory should serve as a warning until a patch is released. In the meantime, the advisory offered a temporary workaround for affected Windows users to mitigate the flaw until a fix is available.

The software giant typically releases its security fixes on the second Tuesday of each month, but occasionally issues out-of-band patches in severe cases.

A spokesperson for Microsoft did not immediately comment on the timing of a patch.

In an interview with USA Today, International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound confirmed suggestions that the 2020 Summer Olympic Games will be delayed. The IOC committee veteran didn’t lay out specifics, but suggested that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could delay the games until 2021.

“We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense,” Pound told the paper, adding that specific decisions would “come in stages.” Details on the decision (along with official confirmation) are likely to emerge at some point in the next month. “The parameters going forward have not been determined,” he added, “but the games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.”

The news comes after both Canada and Australia noted over the weekend that they would not be sending athletes to the games this year. Earlier today, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggested that the events could be delayed, while adding that canceling them outright was “not an option.” In addition to prestige, the games are a source of major economic windfall for the host country.

A spokesperson for the IOC only went so far as re-confirming its earlier statement that it will be exploring all options. While it’s impossible to know precisely what the COVID-19 situation will look like come summer, the impact of the virus has had such a profound impact on every aspect of life, it has seemed increasingly unlikely that the Olympics would be able to proceed as scheduled.

There are some hard limits to the vaccine development process that mean we are not going to see any preventative immune therapies to fight the new coronavirus for at least a year to 18 months. But Moderna, which is behind the first potential vaccine to enter human clinical trials in the U.S., provided new info on Monday that indicates it will seek to provide access to the vaccine by as early as this fall, to a limited group likely consisting of healthcare workers.

The company will look at possibly doing so under an emergency use authorization from eh Food and Drug Administration, which is similar to how certain testing procedures are being granted approval for use now, bypassing the typical process under which such diagnostic tools are given the go-ahead. Moderna’s solution which was developed in partnership with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is already the fastest potential vaccine to enter the human clinical trial phase.

Their proposed vaccine makes use of messenger RNA, rather than relying on either a small or inactive sample of the COVID-19 virus itself – the source of most existing effective vaccines. The mRNA method means that there is no actual virus introduced to subjects who receive it, which in turn means that they are not at risk of actually contracting the virus form the vaccine itself, which can be an issue in the testing and development phase of any traditional virus-based immune therapy.

Last Monday, Moderna began providing the vaccine to volunteer participants in the first phase of its human clinical trial in Washington state. Despite the speed with which it entered human testing, and the unconventional bypass of the animal testing phase, commercial availability is still at least a year away. But select, limited use for healthcare professionals at an accelerated timetable could help provide additional protection for frontline workers who are risking greater exposure to curtail the pandemic’s spread – provided Moderna’s vaccine is effective, and proves safe in its current human testing.

Moderna’s solution works by convincing the body to generate proteins that resemble the virus but that are harmless, and provoke antibodies that is effective both in fighting off the protein and the actual virus itself. There are other RNA-based vaccines in development, as well as other types of immune treatments, but only Moderna’s has reached the clinical trial phase thus far. The Boston-based company has been working on mRNA-based treatments for cancer cells, and went public in December 2018.