Author: azeeadmin

Fresh off of a successful earnings report, Snap announced today that it was looking to raise $750 million in a new debt offering.

This upcoming offering will consist of $750 million in convertible senior notes that will mature May 1, 2025. It will be a private placement to qualified institutional buyers and Snap is looking to give buyers the option to secure $112.5 million worth of notes down the road as well.

Snap’s Q1 earnings impressed investors but the company is still losing plenty of cash and it’s clear that the full impact of the digital ad market’s downturn won’t be seen until the company’s Q2 earnings. On Tuesday, the company shared it had logged $462.5 million in revenue for the quarter and a $306 million net loss.

The COVID-19 crisis has pushed private and public companies to take a long and hard look at their balance sheets. For well-positioned companies, raising debt is an attractive option for combatting looming market uncertainty.

This isn’t the first time Snap has looked to a debt offering either. In August, the company announced they were pursuing a $1.1 billion debt offering.

Digits, a fintech startup hailing from the same team that built and sold Crashlytics to Twitter, is officially launching today after two years of development. It’s also announcing a $22 million Series B round of funding led by GV, as it makes its public debut.

While the company had been fairly quiet about product details while in stealth mode, it’s today unveiling its first product: a visual, machine-learning powered expense monitoring dashboard aimed at startups and small businesses.

The dashboard, called Digits for Expenses, helps business owners track how their company is spending money, by showing things like spend by category, by identifying vendors and recurring expenses, and by offering real-time alerts, among other features.

Instead of requiring business owners to make a switch from their existing financial solutions, Digits connects with the accounting software, banks, payroll providers, financial packages, sources of revenue and credit cards the business already uses — like Xero, QuickBooks, NetSuite, Citi, Bank of America, or Chase, for example.

At launch, the list includes over 9,000 banks, with support for Xero and NetSuite coming soon.

After setup, Digits will then automatically analyze the company’s spend and visualize it, in real-time.

While visualizations of data may be reminiscent of personal finance startup Mint, Digits’ web-based solution is more technical in nature and offers an expanded analysis of the data on hand. Plus, as a business solution, it has to offer features like security, permissioning, and collaborative workflows, which results in a more sophisticated product.

Digits also uses machine learning technology to predictively categorize transactions as they happen and the software can alert users to anomalies — like suspicious activity or unexpectedly large transactions — in real-time. Business owners can use the dashboard to find out things like how quickly expenses are growing, what the cash flow looks like, where costs can be trimmed, what services are being paid for on a recurring basis, and more, and can search for transactions.

The software also supports the ability to comment on transactions, loop in a colleague to ask for clarification about a charge, and upload missing receipts. Everything uses HTTPS along with TLS and certificates so data is encrypted between Digit’s services and at rest.

The original idea for Digits came from a problem that co-founders Wayne Chang and Jeff Seibert faced themselves when building Crashlytics. As they explained previously, their focus as entrepreneurs was on solving technical challenges, not on the operational side of running a business.

Many entrepreneurs also find themselves in this same space. They’re trying to solve a problem or crack a tough engineering puzzle, but instead have to redirect their time and resources to spreadsheets, financial reports, transaction records, and other paperwork required to actually run the business.

“Startups and small businesses today simply don’t have the resources to manage their finances internally. Most of them still settle for spreadsheets, and the lucky ones work on an hourly basis with external accountants,” explains Seibert. “As a result, their accounting itself is seen as a cost-center, and they pay for little beyond the basic monthly financial statements  — Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, etc. By the time those statements are delivered — weeks after the end of each month — they’re already out of date,” he said

That means things businesses need — like updates, one-off reports, and new budgets — can require additional costs and longer wait times, so they get skipped.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put even more pressure on small businesses, many of which are now struggling to even survive. As a result, Digits has decided to launch the product for free to those who sign up — not a free trial, but actually free. It plans to later charge for additional products and paid upgrades to support its own business.

Digits is able to make this offer because of its now-expanded venture funding.

Already, the company had raised $10.5 million in Series A funding in a round led by Benchmark. That round had included a sizable 72 angel investors as well, including founders and CEOs from companies like Box, GitHub, Tinder, Twitch, StitchFix, SoFi and several others — entrepreneurs with an understanding of the problems Digits is aiming to solve.

Today, Digits is announcing an additional $22 million led by Jessica Verrilli at GV,  who also now joins Digits’ board alongside Benchmark’s Peter Fenton. (Benchmark also participated in the new round).

“Jeff and Wayne are masterful at creating intuitive, high-utility products from complicated data,” said Verrilli about the GV investment. “I saw this up close with Crashlytics and Twitter, and I’m thrilled to partner with them on Digits as they reimagine financial software for startups,” she added.

The startup, now a team of 18 and hiring, was already offering its software solution to a group of customers ahead of today’s public launch, who effectively operated as beta testers allowing Digits to refine its product. Digits isn’t able to share its customer names, for the most part. However, it noted that Coda was one of early adopters and provided valuable feedback.

It also has over 10,000 companies who joined its waitlist over the past 2 years who are now being let in.

At the time of its Series A, Digits saw over $1.5 billion in transaction value flowing across its production systems. That number has since grown to $8 billion.

The software is free starting today for U.S.-based small businesses. The company plans to add support for international markets later this year.

With another major round of COVID-19 federal financial assistance around the corner, two lawmakers in states with previously booming cannabis businesses are asking for the federal government to bring the industry in from the cold.

The legislation, proposed by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (OR) and Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), would make cannabis companies eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loans, and emergency advances through the disaster loan program.

Cannabis companies have been given essential business status allowing them to continue operating in most states where marijuana has been legalized for medical and recreational sale. Still, cannabis companies aren’t able to apply for loans or other COVID-19 aid through the Small Businesses Administration, even if they would otherwise meet a program’s requirements. That includes the PPP, a forgivable loan program introduced after the last major COVID-19 financial relief package.

While many small business owners scrambled to apply for PPP loans, which turn into grants if applied toward keeping workers employed, few were able to secure the funds. Worse, some of the loans were awarded to major restaurant chains, hedge funds and other companies that defied the definition of a small business.

“Cannabis businesses are major employers and significant contributors to local economies in Colorado and across the country,” Rep. Perlmutter said. “They should receive the same level of support as other legal, legitimate businesses and be eligible for SBA relief funds during this COVID-19 crisis.”

Instacart’s aggressive hiring spree is continuing due to COVID-19 shelter in place orders. Today, the company announced it is adding 250,000 more shoppers to meet consumer demand, and to help the company return to “one-hour and same-day delivery,” according to a statement.

Along with the hiring announcement, Instacart is implementing a slew of new policies, including extended COVID-19 sick pay and bonuses for both part-time employees and full-service shoppers, and in-app check-ins for shoppers that need health and safety kits.

In just one month, Instacart has announced plans to grow its shopper network 250%.

In March, the company announced it will hire 300,000 new full-service shoppers on top of its existing 200,000 shoppers. It has since met that goal, and with today’s hiring news, Instacart’s shopper network will be 750,000 shoppers. The company also announced earlier this month that it is more than doubling its care team, from 1,200 agents to 3,000 agents.

The company’s recent hiring illustrates how essential businesses are disproportionately in demand while other companies struggle with layoffs.

Aggressive hiring and new policies could level out some of the stresses that Instacart shoppers have recently been inundated with from unprecedented demand from customers.

Last month, some Instagram shoppers went on strike, demanding the company provide personal protective equipment, add hazard pay of $5 per order, change the default tip minimum, extend the sick pay policy to those who have pre-existing conditions and more.

Instacart has responded to some of these demands. Last month, the company outlined an extended pay policy and contactless pay option. The company also introduced new product features aimed at making delivery windows for shoppers more flexible and fast.

While Instacart’s news today shows the company focusing on quality return to shoppers and customers, the existing damage control is not stopping the company from looking for new opportunities.

Last week, Instacart announced that it is jumping into prescription delivery with Costco. 

For the vast majority of startup founders who were planning their capital raise in Q1 2020, the COVID-19 blow was so dramatic and sweeping, we cannot see all its effects at once.

One big question on the minds of most founders: How should we plan our next raise in terms of timing, valuation and amounts?

Sarah Guo, partner at Greylock Partners, says the fundraising environment has slowed down significantly, but founders who have built ties with VCs via informal coffee updates and check-ins are at a clear advantage. “Early-stage bets require relationship-building,” says Guo, who has been investing in seed through Series B rounds.

Ram Shanmugam, founder and CEO of AutonomIQ*, a seed-stage code and process automation company, has been strengthening his relationships. For a company that has low operating expenses and a community of 600,000 developers, he says he is not fazed. “Our automation code brings efficiencies and in fact, we have nine inbound leads in Q2. Having said that, we are being realistic at the pace at which we can close these contracts.”

Similarly, Fred Blumer, who exited Hughes Telematics at an enviable $750 million, says he is taking a more pragmatic approach to the Series A raise for his new company, Mile Auto. “We expect to have a 5x growth in our business in 2020, even after adjusting for COVID,” he said. “Our pay-per-mile insurance is a great fit for people who are driving less.” Because so many drivers are sheltering in place, legacy insurance companies are refunding hundreds of millions of dollars to customers, which offers an advantage (and an opportunity) to a startup like his.

“But we need to be patient and mindful. While our families, health and safety are top priority, we are staying focused on our customers,” Blumer said. “Insurtech is a resilient arena, and in my past company we raised $100 million, so working with investors has never been a challenge. Keeping up with growth and perfecting the customer experience are what keep us up at night.” He said he plans to get out in the market after investor confidence returns.

Even as Mark Zuckerberg touted the “hundreds of thousands of piece of misinformation related to COVID-19” that the site had pulled in recent months, Facebook continued to offer targeted ads classified as “pseudoscience.” It was an odd choice from a social network so publicly declaring its own campaigns to remove junk science amid a global pandemic.

Using Ad Manager, advertisers were able to serve ads to some 78 million people “who have expressed an interest in pseudoscience.” Following an investigation by The Markup that found the site buying ads to target that category, Facebook says it’s done with the pseudoscience tag.

In a statement to TechCrunch, the company reconfirmed the move. “This interest category of advertising should have been removed in a previous review and we’ve removed it,” Director of Product Management, Rob Leathern said. There was never a great time to run junk science ads, of course, but the issue has come to a head in recent weeks and months, as COVID-19 has become a massive hotbed for conspiracy and dangerous cures.

As Zuckerberg noted in his piece last week, popular theories flagged by the company include the notions that “drinking bleach cures the virus or that physical distancing is ineffective at preventing the disease from spreading.” It’s unclear (beyond the obvious answer of ad revenue) why Facebook continued to offer the category until it was essentially called out on the matter.

Other ad networks and social media sites have been taking pains to slow the spread misinformation. Twitter recently added 5G-related conspiracies to its is list of COVID-19 related guidance, while Google just announced that it would be extending its ID verification for its ad systems.

Virgin Orbit has secured an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its ventilator, which the small satellite launch company designed and prototyped within the past few weeks in response to growing need for ventilator hardware to address the most severe cases of COVID-19 infection. Virgin Orbit anticipates deliveries of the ventilator hardware to start “within the next few days” now that it has secured the agency’s authorization.

Virgin Orbit designed its ventilator, which is a take on an automated version of the manual resuscitators used most frequently in ambulances by paramedics responding to calls where a person has lost the ability to breath on their own, based on guidance form a group of experts and doctors called ‘The Bridge Ventilator Consortium.” It’s designed mostly as a stop-gap and supplement to free up use of proper ventilator hardware to treat the most severe respiratory symptoms in COVID-19 patients, but should still free up a valuable medical resources that are in short supply as the pandemic continues.

Already, Vrigin says it’s manufacturing the ventilators, and is making “over 100 per week” in terms of its ongoing production rate. The initial delivery set to go out this week will be 100 units that will be shipped to California’s Emergency Medial Services Authority, for distribution depending on need in that sate.

While it has done a lot to quickly ramp up this production line and start shipping ventilators, Virgin Orbit says that it’s been continuing to build out its own small satellite launch system. In fact, it just recently flew a key final test of its LauncherOne vehicle and the carrier aircraft that brings it to its launch altitude – the last big step before it runs a full demonstration of its system, including an orbital flight, later this year.

A German research institute that’s involved in developing a COVID-19 contacts tracing app with the backing of the national government has released some new details about the work which suggests the app is being designed as more of a ‘one-stop shop’ to manage coronavirus impacts at an individual level, rather than having a sole function of alerting users to potential infection risk.

Work on the German app began at the start of March, per the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft institute, with initial funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Federal Ministry of Health funding a feasibility study.

In a PDF published today, the research organization reveals the government-backed app will include functionality for health authorities to directly notify users about a COVID-19 test result if they’ve opted in to get results this way.

It says the system must ensure only people who test positive for the virus make their measurement data available to avoid incorrect data being inputed. For the purposes of “this validation process”, it envisages “a digital connection to the existing diagnostic laboratories is implemented in the technical implementation”.

“App users can thus voluntarily activate this notification function and thus be informed more quickly and directly about their test results,” it writes in the press release (which we’ve translated from German with Google Translate) — arguing that such direct digital notification of tests results will mean that no “valuable time” is lost to curb the spread of the virus.

Governments across Europe are scrambling to get Bluetooth-powered contacts tracing apps off the ground, with apps also in the works from a number of other countries, including the UK and France, despite ongoing questions over the efficacy of digital contacts tracing vs such an infectious virus.

The great hope is that digital tools will offer a route out of economically crippling population lockdowns by providing a way to automate at least some contacts tracing — based on widespread smartphone penetration and the use of Bluetooth-powered device proximity as a proxy for coronavirus exposure.

Preventing a new wave of infections as lockdown restrictions are lifted is the near-term goal. Although — in line with Europe’s rights frameworks — use of contacts tracing apps looks set to be voluntary across most of the region, with governments wary about being seen to impose ‘health surveillance’ on citizens, as has essentially happened in China.

However if contacts tracing apps end up larded with features that are deep linking into national health systems that raises questions about how optional their use will really be.

An earlier proposal by a German consortium of medical device manufacturers, laboratories, clinics, clinical data management systems and blockchain solution providers — proposing a blockchain-based Digital Corona Health Certificate, which was touted as being able to generate “verifiable, certified test results that can be fed into any tracing app” to cut down on false positives — claimed to have backing from the City of Cologne’s public health department, as one example of potential function creep.

In March Der Spiegel also reported on a large-scale study being coordinated by the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Braunschweig, to examine antibody levels to try to determine immunity across the population. Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI) was reportedly involved in that study — and has been a key operator in the national contacts tracing push.

Both RKI and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft institute are also involved in parallel German-led pan-EU standardization effort for COVID-19 contacts tracing apps (called PEPP-PT) that’s been the leading voice for apps to centralize proximity data with governments/health authorities, rather than storing it on users’ device and performing risk processing locally.

As we reported earlier, PEPP-PT and its government backers appear to be squaring up for a battle with Apple over iOS restrictions on Bluetooth.

PEPP-PT bases its claim of being a “privacy-preserving” standard on not backing protocols or apps that use location data or mobile phone numbers — with only arbitrary (but pseudonymized) proximity IDs shared for the purpose of tracking close encounters between devices and potential coronavirus infections.

It has claimed it’s agnostic between centralization of proximity data vs decentralization, though so far the only protocol it’s publicly committed to is a centralized one.

Yet, at the same time, regional privacy experts, the EU parliament and even the European Commission have urged national governments to practice data minimization and decentralized when it comes to COVID-19 contacts tracing in order to boost citizen trust by shrinking associated privacy risks. If apps are voluntary citizens’ trust must be earned not assumed, is the key point. Without substantial uptake the utility of digital contacts tracing seems doubtful.

Apple and Google have also come down on the decentralized side of this debate — outting a joint effort last week for an API and later opt-in system-wide contacts tracing.

Meanwhile a coalition of nearly 300 academics signed an open letter at the start of this week warning that centralized systems risked surveillance creep — voicing support for decentralized protocols, such as DP-3T: Another contact tracing protocol that’s being developed by a separate European coalition which has been highly critical of PEPP-PT.

And while PEPP-PT claimed recently to have seven governments signed up to its approach, and 40 more in the pipeline, at least two of the claimed EU supporters (Switzerland and Spain) had actually said they will use a decentralized approach.

The coalition has also been losing support from a number of key research institutions which had initially backed its push for a “privacy-preserving” standard, as controversy around the coalition’s intent and lack of transparency has grown.

Nonetheless the two biggest EU economies, Germany and France, appear to be digging in behind a push to centralize proximity data — putting Apple in their sights.

Bloomberg reported earlier this week that the French government is pressurizing Apple to remove Bluetooth restrictions for its COVID-19 contacts tracing app which also relies on a ‘trusted authority’ running a central server (we’ve covered the French ROBERT protocol in detail here).

It’s possible Germany and France are sticking to their centralized guns because of wider plans to pack more into these contacts tracing apps than simply Bluetooth-powered alerts — as suggested by the Fraunhofer document.

Access to data is another likely motivator.

“Only if research can access sufficiently valid data it is possible to create forecasts that are the basis for planning further steps against are the spread of the virus,” the institute goes on. (Though, as we’ve written before, the DP-3T decentralized protocol sets out a path for users to opt in to share proximity data for research purposes.)

Another strand that’s evident from the Fraunhofer PDF is sovereignty.

“Overall, the approach is based on the conviction that the state healthcare system must have sovereignty over which criteria, risk calculations, recommendations for action and feedback are in one such system,” it writes, adding: “In order to achieve the greatest possible usability on end devices on the market, technical cooperation with the targeted operating system providers, Google and Apple, is necessary.”

Apple and Google did not respond to requests for comment on whether they will be making any changes to their API as result of French and German pressure.

Fraunhofer further notes that “full compatibility” between the German app and the centralized one being developed by French research institutes Inria and Inserm was achieved in the “past few weeks” — underlining that the two nations are leading this particular contacts tracing push.

In related news this week, Europe’s Data Protection Board (EDPB) put out guidance for developers of contacts tracing apps which stressed an EU legal principle related to processing personal data that’s known as purpose limitation — warning that apps need to have purposes “specific enough to exclude further processing for purposes unrelated to the management of the COVID-19 health crisis (e.g., commercial or law enforcement purposes)”.

Which sounds a bit like the regulator drawing a line in the sand to warn states that might be tempted to turn contacts tracing apps into coronavirus immunity passports.

The EDPB also urged that “careful consideration” be given to data minimisation and data protection by design and by default — two other key legal principles baked into Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, albeit with some flex during a public health emergency.

However it took a pragmatic view on the centralization vs decentralization debate, saying both approaches are “viable” in a contacts tracing context — with the caveat that “adequate security measures” must be in place.

Founders have always faced big challenges, but they pale in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Moving your business forward will require new thinking, new tools and new opportunities along with tried-and-true essentials. We’ve got you covered on all fronts.

Case in point — catching investor attention in this climate will require a pitch par excellence. Pour yourself a cold one (or a tall glass of water because that’s great, too!) and join us on May 13 at 4pm ET / 1pm PT for Pitchers and Pitches, an interactive elevator pitch feedback session with TechCrunch editors. Get feedback that can help you take your pitch to a whole new level.

Our first Pitchers and Pitches session is free and open to the public — register now. You can let us know during registration if you want to participate and we’ll randomly select 5 startups to give us their best 60 second pitch. Even if you’re not selected to pitch, it’ll be a learning experience for all who attend and you can also give feedback via live polling. You’ll gain valuable insight into the art of telling your startup’s story in under a minute.

While we’ll continue with a series of content sessions, they will be exclusive to Startup Alley exhibitors — both those who exhibit onsite at Disrupt San Francisco 2020 (September 14-16) and founders who purchase a Digital Startup Alley Package.

Wait — you haven’t heard about the Digital Startup Alley? We tapped our resources and industry connections to replicate the Startup Alley experience as a truly world-class virtual event. It’s designed to help you keep momentum despite lockdowns, travel restrictions or budgetary concerns.

We don’t have a crystal ball to see how long this pandemic will remain in play. However, if it turns out you can attend Disrupt SF in person, you have the option to upgrade your exhibit package and still access the benefits of Digital Startup Alley. Value, meet add.

Startups in the age of COVID-19 will need every tool in the shed — and a few new ones — to adapt and keep moving forward. Start with exceptional coaching and sharpen your pitch to a keen edge.

Register now for our free Pitchers and Pitches session, which takes place on May 13 at 4:00pm ET / 1:00pm PT.

TechCrunch is mindful of the COVID-19 issue and its impact on live events. You can follow our updates here.

HealthJoy, a platform that helps employees get the most use out of their benefits, launched its revamped user interface and technology stack today. The startup told TechCrunch that usage has doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the new platform, called HealthJoy 2.0, has been in the works for two years, it is now helping the company handle increased demand for services, including telemedicine.

Launched in 2014, HealthJoy now has more than 500 employers on its platform. It has raised a total of $53 million so far, including a $30 million Series C announced in February.

The new interface includes features that tell users expected wait times for services like its inbox and healthcare concierge, and a new benefits wallet. Last month, HealthJoy also added features to address the pandemic, including help to get testing, online consultations and a guide to nearby in-network healthcare facilities with low wait times.

Co-founder and CEO Justin Holland told TechCrunch that the platform “initially saw a huge spike in telemedicine visits as awareness of the virus grew and people started looking for ways to avoid physically visiting a doctor’s office. Usage for telemedicine has stabilized in the last couple of weeks and is now only a little bit above our baseline.”

He added that HealthJoy is now encouraging more employees to use the HealthJoy Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which helps them find services like mental health counseling, financial planning, and child and elder care assistance.

“We’ve seen a corresponding spike in EAP utilization as people are seeking help,” he said.

HealthJoy 2.0’s improvements, which moves more processing away from local clients to the cloud and includes an updated CRM and dashboard for employers, will also make it easier for the company to implement new features in the future.

Other health benefit engagement platforms include Collective Health, League and Lumity. Holland said that HealthJoy 2.0 will help the startup better compete by “allowing for greater integration with partners, a larger collection of APIs and easier integration with third-party data.”