Author: azeeadmin

Venture capital is a networks business — from networks of founders to the web of investors and angels and gossamer threads of potential customers, talent, and service providers. The density of those networks determines success: find just the right person to fit a role or a slot on a cap table, and a startup might just get a bit more lift.

It’s a topic that Casey Caruso has thought a lot about. In a research project at Stanford, she looked at a slightly different form of network density: using convolution neural network (CNN) models to evaluate investment decisions, working with a group of three other authors to analyze how to optimize VC using algorithms. It’s a cross-over point she’s familiar with, building upon a technical background and an engineering role at Google while also part-time investing with Bessemer.

While at a dinner at San Francisco’s northern Italian restaurant SPQR in Lower Pac Heights, she talked about investing with friends Lauren Stephanian, now a principal at blockchain-focused Pantera Capital, and Terri Burns, a partner at GV. They realized that much like how all roads lead to Rome, all three were on paths heading for the same direction: using technology to improve venture decision-making. “We are all computer scientists by training,” Caruso said. “Because of that fundamental training, we all approach problems pretty pragmatically.”

The three began collaborating outside of their day jobs on how to integrate AI better into the earliest stages of venture, identifying features from models while also being open to the qualitative nature of the business. Then, they decided to more formally build a compact around investing in 2019, creating TLC Collective (their combined initials) as a base to invest from.

Investing using their own combined capital, TLC writes angel and pre-seed checks into companies built by technical founders. So far, the group has invested in 11 companies, including data discovery platform Select Star (which I profiled a couple of weeks ago), audio breakout app Clubhouse, biology data platform Watershed, remote work manager Friday, cryptocurrency risk compliance platform TRM and a variety of others.

While their investments span sectors, the thread holding them all together is the technical chops of the founders. “We invest in very technical teams because we are very technical and that is our first qualifier,” Caruso said. Stephanian meanwhile emphasized that while technical talent is a key benchmark, the trio can diverge on areas of focus. “Despite having a similar background, we all have different interests and skillsets,” she said. They noted that Burns focuses on consumer, Stephanian on fintech, enterprise and crypto, and Caruso on frontier tech.

So far, the group remains a “side gig” for the three, and they are continuing to iterate on their underlying algorithm. “We go back and forth between using the actual algorithm versus just using it as a framework or reference,” Caruso explained. “We are finding a balance between the art and the science by applying our programming background.”

The collective’s pace has been roughly an investment per quarter, a bandwidth that the group said they are likely to continue for the time being. They continue to invest their own capital, and they don’t feel pressure to expand into new models like rolling funds or crowdfunding — at least, not yet. “We haven’t even considered doing a rolling fund,” Caruso said, although noted that the group is part of On Deck Angels. Stephanian said that the competition today in that space is keen. “I have gotten so many messages from people who are raising their own syndicates,” she said.

The firm’s checks range from the tens of thousands to the hundreds of thousands of dollars per investment.

Like the networks powering their AI models and the networks they are building among their founders, TLC Collective has built a triangle of connections amidst its investors. As those connections expand out, the hope for the group is that they are able to expand the data data to optimize their models while also investing in the best technical founders growing new businesses.

The era of cloud gaming hasn’t arrived with the intensity that may have seemed imminent a couple years ago when major tech platforms announced their plays. In 2021, the market is still pretty much non-existent despite established presences from nearly all of tech’s biggest players.

Microsoft has been slow to roll out its Xbox Cloud Gaming beta to its users widely across platforms, but that’s likely because they know that, unlike other upstart platforms, there’s not a huge advantage to them rushing out the gate first. This week, the company will begin rolling out the service on iOS and PC to Game Pass Ultimate users, sending out invited to a limited number of users and scaling it up over time.

“The limited beta is our time to test and learn; we’ll send out more invites on a continuous basis to players in all 22 supported countries, evaluate feedback, continue to improve the experience, and add support for more devices,” wrote Xbox’s Catherine Gluckstein in a blog post. “Our plan is to iterate quickly and open up to all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members in the coming months so more people have the opportunity to play Xbox in all-new ways.”

The service has been available in beta for Android users since last year but it’s been a slow expansion to other platforms outside that world.

A big part of that slowdown has been the result of Apple playing hardball with cloud gaming platform providers, whose business models represent a major threat to App Store gaming revenues. Apple announced a carve-out provision for cloud-gaming platforms that would maintain dependency on the App Store and in-app purchase frameworks but none of the providers seemed very happy with Apple’s solution. As a result, Xbox Cloud Gaming will operate entirely through the web on iOS inside mobile Safari.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is opening an investigation into a crash involving a Tesla that authorities say was operating with no one behind the wheel, which left two men dead on late Saturday evening outside of Houston.

The 2019 Tesla Model S went off the road after it failed to negotiate a slight curve, local CBS-affiliate KHOU-TV reported. Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman told local reporters that the accident was unprecedented.

“Our office has never experienced a crash scene like this,” he said. “Normally, when the fire dept arrives, they have a vehicle fire under control in minutes, but this went on for close to four hours.” The long burn time was reportedly due to the electric vehicle batteries repeatedly reigniting.

More than 30,000 gallons of water were used to put out the fire. One of the victims was in the front passenger seat and the other was in the backseat, “and at the time of the accident there was no one in the [driver’s] seat,” Herman said.

Earlier on the day of the crash, Tesla CEO Elon Musk retweeted news that the company released its first-quarter 2021 safety report. “Tesla with Autopilot engaged now approaching 10 times lower chance of accident than average vehicle,” he said. Tesla describes its Autopilot as a “suite of driver assistance features” and states that it requires “active driver supervision.”

“NHTSA is aware of the tragic crash involving a Tesla vehicle outside of Houston, Texas,” an spokesperson told TechCrunch. “NHTSA has immediately launched a Special Crash Investigation team to investigate the crash. We are actively engaged with local law enforcement and Tesla to learn more about the details of the crash and will take appropriate steps when we have more information.”

TechCrunch reached out to Tesla for comment and will update the story if the company responds.

On the heels of Clubhouse’s latest fundraise, Reddit today officially unveiled its Clubhouse rival, Reddit Talk following a recent report from Mashable that revealed the company had been developing audio-based social networking features. Like many of the newly launched Clubhouse clones, Reddit’s voice chat experience hasn’t deviated much from Clubhouse’s overall design where speakers sit at the top of the screen in a stage area of sorts, and listeners appear below — all with rounded profile icons, plus tools to react or raise a hand to ask to speak.

In Reddit’s case, however, it’s repurposed this Clubhouse-style format for its own communities, known as subreddits. Initially, Reddit Talk will live within subreddits, which are individual forums focused on a given topic or theme. Those community’s moderators will be the only ones able to start a talk for the time being, as the audio feature is still being tested, Reddit says.

These moderators will be given tools that allow them invite users to join, mute participants, and remove speakers during the live sessions. They can also ban unwanted users from the talk entirely and stop them from being able to rejoin.

Although only the subreddit moderators can start talks, once they are underway, they can invite anyone they choose to join them to speak. The other users can listen the Reddit Talk sessions across both iOS and Android.

Image Credits: Reddit

While the overall style is very much Clubhouse-like, Reddit has added its own touches. For example, users can react to speakers using a different set of emojis than you might find on rival services. Reddit’s product images today showed reactions that included popular Reddit designs like a rocket ship, the Reddit alien, and the diamond emoji, among others. Reddit says it’s currently testing a way for moderators to customize the background colors and the emoji used in their own communities when they launch Reddit Talk. They’re also able to change their own avatar’s appearance to fit the talk, too.

Reddit suggests the new audio features will make sense for things like Q&As, AMAs (Ask Me Anything), lectures, sports radio-style discussions, community feedback sessions or even just hangouts.

The company is currently developing other features designed specifically to support AMAs and other types of conversations, it also noted.

In the comments of the Reddit Talk announcement, Reddit responded to questions from users about why it’s doing this, and acknowledged the Clubhouse similarities.

Image Credits: Reddit

“We believe that there is more to offer here by letting users have real-time live voice discussions with others in their communities — maybe talking about a sporting event while it’s on TV or listening to a casual chat or AMA with field experts,” Reddit’s Product Lead for creators wrote. “Yes, there are a few different platforms diving into live audio right now. Our hope is that by announcing this early with a community-first design, we will see engaging conversations hosted first by moderators, who we’ll be working with closely to ensure we’re creating a unique, supportive, and positive user experience,” the comment read.

There are more than a “few” other platforms now building out Clubhouse clones at this point, of course. Facebook has several tools on the way, Twitter has Spaces, and there are audio platforms in various stages of development from Discord, Telegram, Spotify and even LinkedIn, in the works.

Reddit Talk is not publicly available as it’s in a test period. But community moderators can join a waitlist to be alerted as to when they can try out the feature for themselves. After the test period, Reddit says it will work with moderators to allow other trusted users to host talks through the new feature, too.

A stunning first quarter in venture capital funding was not restricted to the United States; Europe also had one hell of a start to the year.

According to data from Dealroom and Crunchbase News, an investor, and an analyst from PitchBook, European startups put together an impressive fundraising haul. The venture capital world kicked off its 2021 European investing cycle with enough activity to set the continent on the path that would crush yearly records.

The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. 

Read it every morning on Extra Crunch or get The Exchange newsletter every Saturday.

Inside the data, there’s lots to unpack, including which sectors of European startups stood out in terms of capital raised, rising seed and late-stage deals, and dollar volume. We’ll also need to discuss exits — the Deliveroo IPO and its various woes was not the only transaction from the period worth understanding.

As with our prior looks at AI startup fundraising and the United States’ own blistering start to the year, we’ll lean on multiple sources to ensure that we have a wide lens. And we’ll keep in mind that all venture capital data lags reality somewhat, as many deals from a particular period are not disclosed or discovered until long after they actually occurred.

In this case, it makes the numbers all the more impressive. Let’s get into the data.

The big numbers

Dealroom was first out of the gate, reporting that European startups had a record quarter in Q1 2021 back when April just got started. Its preliminary results for the first quarter indicated that startups on the continent raised €16.6 billion, or $19.9 billion at today’s exchange rates.

That total was not only a record, but what Dealroom described as double the results of Q1 2020. While we’ve become slightly inured in recent months to the venture capital market’s rapid pace and capital-rich environment, it’s worth considering for a moment, as the first quarter of last year ended, how few of us would have guessed that just a year later — as COVID-19 still harms public health and disrupts life and business — we’d see numbers like this.

The Dealroom data, however, was not all records. Round volume by the group’s estimates was down from the year-ago period, if slightly better than the last few quarters. The general move toward the later-stage and larger-round venture capital market is alive and well in Europe.

Regret — such an unfortunate and unnecessary emotion, is it not? If you missed out on our April TC Early Stage bootcamp, this is your chance to cast regret aside and secure your spot at TC Early Stage 2021: Marketing and Fundraising on July 8-9.

Jumping on the TC Early Stage bandwagon this well, early, offers a sweet benefit — you’ll save $100 bucks. But that early-bird savings disappears in less than two weeks. Don’t miss out. Buy your Early Stage 2021: Marketing and Fundraising ticket before April 30, at 11:59 p.m. (PT).

Let’s talk about the other benefits of attending TC Early Stage 2021: Marketing and Fundraising. This bootcamp is all about helping founders in their early innings learn, develop and improve on the essential skills required to build a successful startup.

You’ll hear from top-tier investors, seasoned founders and respected subject-matter experts across the startup ecosystem. Topics range from fundraising and marketplace positioning to growth marketing and content development.

But it’s more than just listening — all the presentations are highly interactive. It’s a rare opportunity to ask questions and get answers from the folks who’ve been there, done that and want to help you move forward.

We debuted TC Early Stage last year, and it was so well received that we doubled-down in 2021. Here’s what Ashley Barrington, the founder of MarketPearl, told us about her experience.

“Early Stage 2020 was a great opportunity to hear seasoned startup founders talking about their experiences and how they dealt with many of the same challenges I faced then and am going through now. It’s like a mini-MBA session on early-stage companies.”

Here are just two of the high-profile speakers lined up to share their knowledge in July at TC Early Stage 2021. We’re adding new speakers every week, so keep checking back.

• Mike Duboe, general partner at Greylock will talk about the latest growth trends in consumer and B2B technology.
• Sarah Kunst, founding partner at Cleo Capital, will share best practices and solid advice on a topic everyone wants to hear — how to get ready to fundraise.

That’s just the tip of the TC Early Stage experience. Day one will be packed with presentations and break-out sessions and day two…well that’s a whole new realm of opportunity. That’s the day-long TC Early Stage Pitch-off. TechCrunch will select 10 standout startups to pitch to a panel of VC judges for invaluable feedback and prizes, too.

Curious? You can read about the April TC Early Stage Pitch-off right here — spoiler alert: Nalagenetics took first place.

We’ll open the application process (you have to apply to be considered) in the coming weeks, so if you want in on the pitch-off action, be sure to check back.

TC Early Stage 2021: Marketing and Fundraising takes place on July 8-9. Kick regret to the curb, save $100 and learn the best ways to build a strong foundation for your startup. Remember: buy your pass before prices go up on April 30, at 11:59 p.m. (PT).

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Early Stage 2021 – Marketing & Fundraising? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite constellation is one step closer to actually making it to space: The company announced it has secured an agreement with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) to fly its satellites on nine Atlas V rocket launches. Amazon intends to use multiple launch providers and spacecraft to ultimately get the full complement of 3,236 Kuiper satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO), but ULA is the first launch provider that Amazon has signed or announced.

ULA’s Atlas V is a proven workhorse in the space launch industry, having flown 85 prior missions with a perfect track record. The spacecraft was used to launch NASA’s Perseverance rover, for example, as well as Lockheed Martin’s OSIRIS-REx robotic asteroid exploration craft. While Amazon and ULA detailed to total number of launch vehicles that the contract covers, they didn’t share a timeline about when we can expect the launches to take place.

Late last year, I spoke to Amazon SVP of Devices & Services Dave Limp at our TC Sessions: Space events, and I asked him about timelines for launches. Limp said at the time that Amazon was about at the “middle of [its] design phase” for the Project Kuiper satellites, which indicates there’s still work to be done before they enter mass production, which would obviously precede launch.

Limp also pointed out that the clock is ticking for Amazon in terms of its FCC license to operate the constellation, so it essentially has to “have half [its] constellation up in about six years.” That will mean an aggressive launch schedule once the design phase is complete and its actually in the process of building its satellites.

Amazon has invested a lot of capital and time into Project Kuiper, with a commitment to back it with an initial $10 billion investment, and a dedicated staff on the project that now includes 500 people, as well as a dedicated office and research & development facility in Redmond near its global HQ.

Apple will reinstate Parler on its App Store following its multi-month ban, according to a letter Apple has sent to Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Ken Buck, which was made public today via a post this morning on Congressman Buck’s Twitter. TechCrunch also obtained the letter from Apple directly to confirm. The lawmakers had earlier written to Apple on March 31, 2021 to ask for additional information about why the app, which is heavily favored by conservatives, had been removed from the App Store. Apple’s response explains how Parler had violated its policies but said it has engaged in extensive conversions with Parler’s team since the app’s removal. It also says Parler’s proposed updates to the app, its content, and its moderation practices will allow it to be approved for reinstatement to the App Store immediately update its release.

Apple was one of several tech platforms that banned Parler following the Capitol riot, after it came to light how the app had been used by Trump supporters and other far-right users to call for violence and organize their plans to storm the Capitol. The insurrection left five people dead, over 140 police officers injured, and resulted hundreds of arrests.

Google and Amazon also quickly banned Parler from their respective platforms after the Capitol riot.

In Apple’s case, the company had first given Parler notice the app would be removed unless the company submitted a content moderation improvement plan. But Parler’s then-CEO John Matze posted to his own Parler account that he would not cave to Apple’s ultimatums and the app, having failed to meet Apple’s requirements, was banned. In the weeks that followed, Matze was fired by Parler’s board, controlled by Republican Party donor Rebekah Mercer.

Parler has been working to obtain re-entry to the App Store since its removal, but those efforts continued to fall short. Bloomberg reported last month, for example, that Parler had submitted new guidelines in February that were insufficient to comply with the App Store rules due to issues with violating content. That letter, addressed to Parler’s chief policy officer on Feb. 25, had stated: “There is no place for hateful, racist, discriminatory content on the App Store.”

According to Apple’s new letter, released today, things have changed. It says that Apple has now informed Parler as of April 14, 2021 that its proposed moderation practices will qualify it for reinstatement. The letter, signed by Timothy Powderly
Apple’s Senior Director of Government Affairs in the Americas, says:

In the period since Apple removed the Parler app from the App Store, Apple’s App Review Team has engaged in substantial conversations with Parler in an effort to bring the Parler app into compliance with the Guidelines and reinstate it in the App Store. As a result of those conversations, Parler has proposed updates to its app and the app’s content moderation practices, and the App Review Team has informed Parler as of April 14, 2021 that its proposed updated app will be approved for reinstatement to the App Store. Apple anticipates that the updated Parler app will become available immediately upon Parler releasing it.

The letter also notes that it did not consult with Google or Amazon in respect to its original decision to remove Parler — a response meant to put to rest the false claims of a coordinated effort between tech giants to silence conservatives.

Apple did not detail what specific changes Parler had agreed to, but earlier this year, the app was still non-compliant with Apple’s guidelines for allowing user profile pictures that featured swastikas and white nationalist imagery, and because it had permitted usernames and posts that were misogynistic, homophobic and racist, Bloomberg said at the time.

Apple’s letter, first reported this morning by CNN, indicates Parler will be approved immediately when submitted.

Apple also told TechCrunch the app’s relaunch time frame will be up to Parler to decide, but offered no additional comment.

Apple Response April 19, 2021 by TechCrunch on Scribd

French startup Alan has raised a $220 million funding round at a $1.67 billion valuation (€185 million and €1.4 billion respectively). Coatue is leading the round with Dragoneer, Exor, and existing investors Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital and Temasek also participating.

Alan has been building health insurance products from scratch. When I first covered the company back in 2016, the startup had just managed to get approval from regulators to become an official health insurance company.

Since then, it’s been a not-so-slow and steady growth story as the company now covers 160,000 people. Overall, Alan generates over €100 million in annualized revenue. While most of that revenue is spent back on claims, it’s an impressive revenue trajectory.

Like other insurance companies, Alan has some capital requirements to comply with health insurance regulation. Alan has to raise more if it wants to insure more people. But that’s just part of the story as the startup still had enough cash on its bank account for the next 12 to 18 months.

“The context is that we managed to end the year 2020 very strong, finally — and I say finally because it’s been stressful until the last minute,” co-founder and CEO Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve told me.

Alan managed to meet its goals and international expansion finally started to take off. Many startups try to raise when they’re in a strong position. You shouldn’t wait until you have your back against the wall and that’s exactly what’s happening here.

“We thought it was the right time and we had multiple term sheets. Even though valuation is really good we first looked at a partner that has a really long-term vision,” Samuelian-Werve said.

With today’s funding round, the company can iterate on its core product — health insurance — and everything that makes Alan a super app — a single app that lets you access several services. In France, employees are covered by both the national healthcare system and private insurance companies. Alan sells its products to other companies so that their employees are automatically covered by Alan contracts. It’s a sort of B2B2C play.

9,400 companies have opted for Alan in France, Belgium and Spain — the company’s home market remains its main market. Clients include WeWork, Deliveroo, JustEat, Vitaliance and Big Mamma. By 2023, Alan wants to reach 1 million members.

In order to gain more customers, Alan is betting on three pillars — product innovation, customer satisfaction through additional services, and expansions to new verticals and markets.

When it comes to product innovation, Alan has designed a modular insurance builder. Small companies can subscribe to Alan in a few clicks. Big companies can tweak every single parameter to build the right insurance package for them.

After that, the company tries to make it easy to manage your health insurance. You’ll soon be able to automatically manage sick leaves, change the employee affiliation status, etc. As for employees, the company has always promoted a transparent offering. For instance, you should know how much you’re going to pay out of pocket when you see a doctor. You can see a map of doctors around you and how much they charge on average. This way, there’s no surprise.

Alan also tries to reimburse you as quickly as possible. If it’s a straightforward claim, the startup tries to analyze and categorize your claim as quickly as possible and then issue an instant SEPA transfer. 75% of claims are reimbursed and available on your bank account in less than an hour.

These core product features definitely contributes to customer satisfaction. But Alan is expanding beyond insurance products with several additional services that should increase retention. For instance, you can chat with a doctor, get medical advice for your baby’s health, get a free meditation app subscription, start a telehealth appointment via a partner, talk with someone about your mental health, etc.

Those services contribute to turning Alan into a super app for your health. Essentially, as soon as you’re insured by Alan, you become a member and can access all those services without additional charges.

Eventually, Alan plans to launch a personal care guidance service to help you contact the right healthcare professional based on your health issue. In Spain, Alan can already book appointments for you.

Finally, Alan plans to reach new customers through aggressive expansion goals. The company plans to hire 400 people within the next three years and expand to other industries with tailor-made insurance products, such as retail, wholesale and manufacturing.

While the company is still going to focus on France, Belgium and Spain in the near future, it is looking at opportunities across Europe. So let’s see where Alan is going to expand next.

We’ve all heard the phrase “passive income” to describe how people can make money by owning rental properties. Many Americans would love to passively earn money, but the process of becoming a landlord can be intimidating and complicated. 

I mean, how many people have looked back and wished they hadn’t sold a property after seeing its value rise years after selling it?

And those who are already landlords can get overwhelmed by the complexities of managing properties.

One startup out of Boston, Knox Financial, aims to help people identify and manage residential rentals with its algorithm-based platform, and it’s raised a $10 million Series A to help it further that goal. Boston-based G20 Ventures led the round, which included participation from Greycroft, Pillar VC, 2LVC, and Gaingels.  

The investment brings Knox’s total raised since its inception in 2018 to $14.7 million. The company closed on a $3 million seed round in January 2020, led by Greycroft.

Knox co-founder and CEO David Friedman is no stranger to startups. He founded Boston Logic – an integrated marketing platform and online marketing services for real estate offices and agents – in 2004. He sold that company (now under the name Propertybase) to Providence Equity for an undisclosed amount in 2016.

Knox launched its platform in March of 2019, with the goal of offering homeowners who are ready to move “a completely hands-off way” of converting a home they’re moving out of into an investment property. It also claims to help landlords more easily and efficiently manage their rentals.

At the time of its seed round early last year, the company was only operating in the Boston market and had 50 units on its platform. It’s now operating in seven states, has “hundreds” of investment properties on its platform and is overseeing a portfolio of more than $100 million.

So how does it work? Once a property is enrolled on Knox’s “Frictionless Ownership Platform,” the company automates and oversees the property’s finances and taxes, insurance, leasing and legal, tenant and property care, banking and bill pay.

Knox also has developed a rental pricing and projection model for calculating the investment rate of return a property will produce over time.

Image Credits: Knox Financial

“We save investors a lot and almost always make their portfolios more profitable,” Friedman said. “If someone is moving or upsizing, we can turn properties into incredible ROI generators or cash flow.”

The company’s revenue model is simple.

“When a dollar of rent moves through our system, we keep a dime,” Friedman told TechCrunch. “We align our interests with our customers. If there’s no rent coming in, we’re not making money. Or if a tenant doesn’t pay rent, we don’t make money.”

Knox plans to use its new capital to continue expanding geographically and getting the word out to more people.

“We want to become the de facto platform for real estate investment acquisition and ownership,” Friedman said. “And we have to be coast to coast to really do that for everybody. So, we’re still very early in our growth trajectory.”

Bob Hower, co-founder and partner of G20 Ventures, shared that weeks after his college graduation, he had bought a fixer upper with his mother’s help. A week after finishing renovations, he put the house on the market. Over the subsequent 5 months, he gradually reduced the price as the market softened, and eventually the property sold at a small profit.

“That house now is worth a multiple of what I paid for it,” Hower recalls. “In hindsight, the mistake I made was deciding to sell the house at all.”

That experience helped Hower appreciate what he describes as a “clarity of thinking” in Knox’s business model.

“Had Knox existed decades ago, I’d likely still have that fixer-upper I bought after college,” he said. “Investing platforms such as Betterment have collapsed multiple advising and optimization activities into a simple single-sign-on service, and Knox is the first company to apply this type model to residential real estate investing.”