Category: UNCATEGORIZED

Whether space is the final frontier remains to be seen, but it’s certainly the next one as far as we’re concerned. On December 16-17, we’re hosting TC Sessions: Space 2020, a two-day online conference and our first event focused squarely on space technology and the early-stage startups and investors that make it possible.

The future of this industry is wide open, and it’s going to require cultivating a deep bench of visionaries to sustain it. And it starts with affordable access for students eager to turn science fiction into fact. Grab your $50 student pass here and get ready to shift your career into warp speed.

Pro Tip: We offer a range of ticket options for non-students (including discounts for government, military and non-profits). Buy yours before early-bird pricing ends on November 13 at 11:59 pm PT. Also, current Extra Crunch subscribers receive an additional 20 percent discount on passes.

This is your chance to hear from the best and brightest people leading this universal expedition. You’ll meet and engage with engineers, founders, investors, executives, military and government officials.

We’re talking officials like NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Space Command’s General John W. Raymond. We’re talking founders like Relativity Space’s Tim Ellis and Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck. We’re talking investors like Bessemer Venture Partners’ Tess Hatch and SpaceFund’s Meagan Crawford. And that’s just the tip of the rocket, so to speak.

We’re packing the two-day event with top-notch programming. Set coordinates for the main stage for fireside chats and moderated panel discussions. TechCrunch editors ask the tough questions and dig deep on topics like launch services, orbital operations, ground station networks, broadband communications, earth observation data, manufacturing and military operations in space.

Don’t miss the breakout sessions and Q&As. Breakouts let you explore specific topics. Main stage events always generate lots of questions, and the Q&A sessions give the audience a chance to pose questions to speakers who appeared on the main stage.

Searching for a stellar internship or a job that’s out of this world? Ouch. Explore the expo area where you’ll find early-stage space startups and sponsors showcasing their tech and talent.

That brings us to networking. Remember, this virtual conference reaches thousands of people around the world. It’s prime territory for expanding your network — an essential part of startup success. You’ll have free use of CrunchMatch, our AI-powered networking platform.

It makes quick, efficient work out of finding, scheduling and meeting people. Not just any people — people who align with your startup interests. People who can help you build a business or a career. Answer a few quick questions when you register, and CrunchMatch goes to work for you.

We’ll have plenty more to announce over the next two months, so stayed tuned. TC Sessions: Space 2020 blasts off on December 16-17. Don’t wait, buy your $50 student pass today and boldly go!

Is your company interested in sponsoring TC Sessions: Space 2020? Click here to talk with us about available opportunities.

During yesterday’s tense voting and this morning, shares of American-listed technology companies are shooting higher.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is up around 3.35% this morning, more than double what the broad S&P 500 index is currently managing. SaaS and cloud stocks kicked off the day up a staggering 4.98%, a sharp rally in the value of smaller, more growth-oriented technology companies.

The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. Read it every morning on Extra Crunch, or get The Exchange newsletter every Saturday.

For technology companies on the wings of the IPO market, it’s great news.

In 2020 it can be easy to forget, but tech stocks do not have to rise. They merely have in recent months, perhaps warming the waters for more technology debuts as the fourth quarter races towards its midpoint. The Exchange has heard whispers from several folks that the late-November/early-December period could be active for new filings, bringing rising stocks and pent-up demand together for a possible IPO run.

We’ll see. Today’s rally — and ballot measure results in California — could be the push companies like Airbnb and DoorDash needed to stop faffing around with private filings.

In pedestrian terms, the getting is good right now for public tech companies, so if you are going to go public, go get got while the getting stays good.

Today, let’s examine recent market gains for tech stocks and remind ourselves who is expected to go public next. And then, of course, chat about all the unicorns on the unofficial IPO list who could find a greased path ahead of them towards a flotation.

Gains

Big tech stocks are gaining, small stocks are up and software companies are hot. The Nasdaq is now less than 5% away from its all-time highs, and the Bessemer Cloud Index is now just 9% down from its own, a rebound from its prior status in correction territory. (A correction occurs when an index falls 10% or more from highs.)

So, who does the rally help? Let’s rock through a list:

During yesterday’s tense voting and this morning, shares of American-listed technology companies are shooting higher.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is up around 3.35% this morning, more than double what the broad S&P 500 index is currently managing. SaaS and cloud stocks kicked off the day up a staggering 4.98%, a sharp rally in the value of smaller, more growth-oriented technology companies.

The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. Read it every morning on Extra Crunch, or get The Exchange newsletter every Saturday.

For technology companies on the wings of the IPO market, it’s great news.

In 2020 it can be easy to forget, but tech stocks do not have to rise. They merely have in recent months, perhaps warming the waters for more technology debuts as the fourth quarter races towards its midpoint. The Exchange has heard whispers from several folks that the late-November/early-December period could be active for new filings, bringing rising stocks and pent-up demand together for a possible IPO run.

We’ll see. Today’s rally — and ballot measure results in California — could be the push companies like Airbnb and DoorDash needed to stop faffing around with private filings.

In pedestrian terms, the getting is good right now for public tech companies, so if you are going to go public, go get got while the getting stays good.

Today, let’s examine recent market gains for tech stocks and remind ourselves who is expected to go public next. And then, of course, chat about all the unicorns on the unofficial IPO list who could find a greased path ahead of them towards a flotation.

Gains

Big tech stocks are gaining, small stocks are up and software companies are hot. The Nasdaq is now less than 5% away from its all-time highs, and the Bessemer Cloud Index is now just 9% down from its own, a rebound from its prior status in correction territory. (A correction occurs when an index falls 10% or more from highs.)

So, who does the rally help? Let’s rock through a list:

No matter whom you support for President, it’s a nerve-wracking morning as many states come down to mere tens of thousands of votes. And perhaps no state looms larger than Pennsylvania, where a larger number of votes are yet to be counted.

But if you are currently torturing yourself by reading an endless stream of tweets that do little other than spike your anxiety, TechCrunch has some balm for you this morning.

Behold, a live stream of democracy in action. Here are votes being tallied in Philadelphia, courtesy of Philadelphia City Commissioners:

See how un-Twitter-like it is? It’s calm, patient, and results-oriented. The above video is what you write on your yearly self-assessment. It’s the inverse of social media.

In more serious terms, a few states live-streamed parts of the counting process, perhaps to bolster confidence in the system. Jefferson County, Kentucky, as Quartz noted did some streaming. Arizona requires live video recordings of vote counting according to the Copper Courier, and King County in Washington still has its streams up, despite little action.

Democracy: Now even more live than before.

No matter whom you support for President, it’s a nerve-wracking morning as many states come down to mere tens of thousands of votes. And perhaps no state looms larger than Pennsylvania, where a larger number of votes are yet to be counted.

But if you are currently torturing yourself by reading an endless stream of tweets that do little other than spike your anxiety, TechCrunch has some balm for you this morning.

Behold, a live stream of democracy in action. Here are votes being tallied in Philadelphia, courtesy of Philadelphia City Commissioners:

See how un-Twitter-like it is? It’s calm, patient, and results-oriented. The above video is what you write on your yearly self-assessment. It’s the inverse of social media.

In more serious terms, a few states live-streamed parts of the counting process, perhaps to bolster confidence in the system. Jefferson County, Kentucky, as Quartz noted did some streaming. Arizona requires live video recordings of vote counting according to the Copper Courier, and King County in Washington still has its streams up, despite little action.

Democracy: Now even more live than before.

Facebook and Instagram are running notifications in their respective apps informing U.S. users that the winner of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election has not yet been determined. In large pop-ups appearing at the top of the Facebook and Instagram News Feeds, the notification states that “Votes Are Being Counted” and directs users to other in-app election resources.

Both apps are using the same language for their respective notifications:

“The winner of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election has not been projected yet. See more updates and learn what to expect as the election process continues.”

Critically, Facebook and Instagram have also added a timestamp to the notification to indicate its recency. As of Nov. 4 at 9:57 AM EST, for example, the notification read that it was last updated at 9:00 am EST.

Image Credits: Facebook

The addition of a timestamp is useful not only because election results are still being counted — and will be for days to come, most likely — but also because President Trump prematurely claimed election victory early Wednesday morning before all votes were counted.

Facebook tells TechCrunch it began showing these notifications at the top of Facebook and Instagram feeds shortly after Trump posted to Facebook that he had won. The company also began labeling posts from both Trump and Vice President Biden in accordance with the policies it shared ahead of Election Day, it says.

On Facebook, Trump’s message earned itself a label which reminded users that election night results and final results may differ, but Facebook didn’t otherwise restrict the post.

As we noted at the time of the labeling, Facebook had begun displaying the notifications about there being no projected winner.

Having a timestamp on these posts is also important in the case that either app faces any sort of caching issues that would allow users to see out-of-date data, temporarily, until the app was refreshed.

This was an issue on Instagram yesterday, Nov. 3, when a caching issue had led to some users seeing a notification that read, vaguely, “Tomorrow is Election Day,” when in fact Election Day had already arrived.

Similarly, some users may not immediately see the notification appearing at the top of their Feed on Facebook or Instagram, until their app refreshes. But there are no widespread complaints about this sort of issue today.

You might have very good reason to be on a wine kick right now – along with plenty of the rest of the country – so it’s perhaps timely to take a look at the Aveine Smart Aerator, a gadget from a French startup that offers variable, instant aeration and a connected app platform for determining just the right amount of aeration that any particular wine you happen to be drinking requires. The Aveine Smart Wine Aerator is premium-priced, but you might be surprised at just how much of a difference it can make.

The basics

The Aveine Smart Wine Aerator began life as did many other startup devices – as a crowdfunding project. The France-based team ended their campaign in 2018, having surpassed their funding goal, and spend the next couple of years working on finalizing, producing and shipping their design. The Aveine is now available to order, in both the original, full-performance version at $449, and an ‘Essential’ edition introduced this year that offers half the maximum aeration time (12 hours vs. 24) for $299 (reviewed here).

Both work the same way: You place them on top of the bottle you want to aerate once it’s opened, and they connect via Bluetooth to your phone and the Aveine app, which is available for iOS and Android . Through the app, you can take a photo of your wine’s label and it will try to match it from its growing database to automatically set the Aveine to the optimal aeration time.

Image Credits: Aveine

In practice, I found that most of the wines I was testing with weren’t in the database – which Aveine expects, and that’s why it provides a simple survey that you can fill out to get an approximate best aeration time, by supplying information like vintage, grapes used, region and whether the wine is organic or biodynamic. You can also manually set the aeration, and taste test small amounts to find your preferred amount.

Aveine includes a soft carrying case for the Smart Aerator in the box, as well as a charging base that connects to any standard USB wall plug for via micro USB. The built-in battery is rated for around 12-hours of standby, with occasional aeration use while pouring, when it’s actively injecting air into the flow using a built-in motor.

Design and performance

The Aveine feels quite heavy, and it’s clear that a lot of care went into ensuring that all of its smart internals fit comfortably inside the relatively small device. It fits easily over the vast majority of wine bottle tops, and grips while pouring without any special attachment process required. The touchscreen activates when you swipe it, showing you the adjustable aeration screen in simple black and white.

Getting started with the Aveine is simple, and doesn’t require the app at all in fact. Just adjust the scale to your desired aeration level, and pour. The aeration automatically begins when you tip the bottle, and you can hear it working as the motor works to inject air while the wine flows through. If you do use the app, it’ll ask you to connect the Aerator (if you’ve woken up the device by activating the display, it should instantly show up in the app’s device list when it’s within Bluetooth range of your phone).

If you have a wine that’s in Aveine’s database, taking a picture of the label will return a recommended aeration time, and if you’re connected to the aerator, it’ll also automatically set the aerator’s aeration time to that level. As mentioned, you can also answer a few questions about the wine if it’s not in the database to return an estimated aeration time, which will also be automatically set if you’re connected to the device.

Image Credits: Aveine

Now let’s talk performance: Let me say that I understand sticker shock when you see the asking price of the Aveine – I had the same thing. But actually using the Smart Aerator goes a long way to proving its worth. The effect is immediate and non-ambiguous: It makes just about any bottle of wine taste a whole lot better, without you having to decant it and let it sit for hours in advance.

My testing is admittedly non-scientific, but I did poll a wide swath of friends and families who enjoyed bottles aerated via the Aveine during socially distanced visits, and to a one they all noted a vast improvement between before and after aeration tastings. At least one even went out and immediately purchased an Aveine of their own based on the experience.

Sometimes you have to do a bit of experimentation to get the aeration right, adjusting the levels and doing contrasting taste tests – but that’s actually also part of the fun.

Bottom line

Aerator gadgets are plentiful, and often cheaply acquired in the checkout line at the local wine shop for well under $100. But the Aveine is the first one I’ve tried that makes such a clear and demonstrable difference it can convince novices and pros alike about its efficacy. It’s a high price to pay, yes, but what you get in return is a device that consistently makes life better for wine lovers – and that make some new wine lovers out of skeptics, too.

On the back of sizable gains posted yesterday, tech stocks are once again rising sharply in pre-market trading today. Futures concerning the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index are indicating a 3.4% gain this morning, far above a 1.7% gain that the broader S&P 500 index is currently anticipating.

The market capitalization of some of the world’s most valuable companies have added tens of billions of dollars in value this morning, with Apple rising 3.9% in pre-market trading, and Microsoft gaining an even-richer 4.4%.

Smaller key players in the tech market are also rising, with Salesforce gaining 2.9% ahead of the bell, and Twilio adding 3.3% to its own value.

The price of heavily-traded assets have whipsawed during the last 24 hours, with yield on American government debt falling last night — indicating that investors were bullish on the economy as a whole — before rising again when it became clear that no so-called Blue Wave was forming. The prospect of a divided Congress could stifle future economic stimulus, the possibility of which has been a key narrative driver for market trading in recent months.

Precisely why tech stocks are racing higher this morning is not entirely clear. One obvious possibility is that investors are returning to their summer trade, when they bid shares of software-heavy companies higher in hopes of parking their wealth in the firms with the best chance of posting regular growth during a period of intense economic uncertainty.

If a divided Congress means a drag on more stimulus, why not return to the play that worked before?

For tech, and tech-enabled companies hoping to go public before the year ends, or in early 2021, the rally is welcome news. But, as with everything in this election, things could still change.

Shares of American ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft are sharply higher in pre-market trading this morning on the expected passage of Proposition 22, a California ballot measure that allow tech-enabled, on-demand companies to continue classifying gig-workers as independent contractors.

Shares of Uber are up 11.88% in pre-market trading, while shares of Lyft — which is more heavily dependant on the U.S. market, and thus California — is up a staggering 14.9% before the market open today.

TechCrunch noted that the ballot measure looked set to pass around 3 am Eastern Time last night. The vote has continued to come in, with Google’s election data giving Proposition 22 a 58.4% positive tally with 71% of expected votes reporting.

We’re only seeing the value of public on-demand companies, but the value of DoorDash also rose this morning. DoorDash, a food-delivery giant backed by SoftBank and others, has confidentially filed to go public but has yet to release its S-1 filing.

Still, investors in the company are picking up the same boon that Uber and Lyft shareholders are enjoying today, both in terms of continued operational capability in California without radical price changes or shaking up their business practices as well as a perceived value increase.

Perhaps with Proposition 22 behind it, DoorDash will move with more alacrity towards the public markets.

The three companies along with Postmates spent heavily to help Proposition 22 pass, as TechCrunch reported last night:

Prop 22 was primarily backed by Uber, Lyft,  DoorDash and Postmates . Last week, DoorDash put in an additional $3.75 million into the Yes on 22 campaign, according to a late contribution filing. Then, on Monday, Uber put in an additional $1 million. That influx of cash brought Yes on 22’s total contributions to around $205 million. All that funding makes Proposition 22 the most expensive ballot measure in California since 1999.

That money now appears to be cash well spent, from a business perspective. For labor-advocates, the result is a disappointment.

Uber, Lyft, Instacart, DoorDash — the major backers of California’s Proposition 22 — are getting their way. The proposition, which will keep gig workers classified as independent contractors, is projected to pass. The Associated Press called the race with 67% of precincts partially reporting.

At the time of publication, 58.2% of voters (more than 6.3 million people) voted for Prop 22, while 41.5% of voters (about 4.5 million people) voted against it.

The ballot measure will implement an earnings guarantee of at least 120% of minimum wage while on the job, 30 cents per engaged miles for expenses, a healthcare stipend, occupational accident insurance for on-the-job injuries, protection against discrimination and sexual harassment, and automobile accident and liability insurance. It’s worth noting that those earnings guarantees and reimbursement for expenses only reflect a driver’s engaged time, and does not account for the time spent in between rides or deliveries.

Proponents of Prop 22 claimed their win late Tuesday night when about 57% of the votes were accounted for. Meanwhile, some opponents of the measure conceded.

“We’re disappointed in tonight’s outcome, especially because this campaign’s success is based on lies and fear-mongering,” Gig Workers Collective wrote in a blog post. “Companies shouldn’t be able to buy elections. But we’re still dedicated to our cause and ready to continue our fight.”

The folks over at Gig Workers Rising also said the fight is far from over.

“This battle is but a stepping stone towards our continued fight to get gig workers the rights, benefits, and dignified working conditions they deserve,” Gig Workers Rising said in a statement.

Prop 22 was primarily backed by Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Postmates . Last week, DoorDash put in an additional $3.75 million into the Yes on 22 campaign, according to a late contribution filing. Then, on Monday, Uber put in an additional $1 million. That influx of cash brought Yes on 22’s total contributions to around $205 million. All that funding makes Proposition 22 the most expensive ballot measure in California since 1999.

On the other side, major donors in opposition of Prop 22 included Service Employees International Union, United Food & Commercial Workers and International Brotherhood of Teamsters. One gig worker, Vanessa Bain, recently told TechCrunch,

“The reality is that, you know, it establishes a dangerous precedent to allow companies to write their own labor laws,” Vanessa Bain, a gig worker and organizer at Gig Workers Collective, recently told TechCrunch. “This policy was created to unilaterally benefit companies at the detriment of workers.”

The creation of Prop 22 was a direct response to the legalization of AB-5, the gig worker bill that makes it harder for the likes of Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other gig economy companies to classify their workers as 1099 independent contractors.

AB-5 helps to ensure gig economy workers are entitled to minimum wage, workers’ compensation and other benefits by requiring employers to apply the ABC test. According to the ABC test, in order for a hiring entity to legally classify a worker as an independent contractor, it must prove the worker is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity, performs work outside the scope of the entity’s business and is regularly engaged in work of some independently established trade or other similar business.

Currently, Uber and Lyft are in the midst of a lawsuit regarding AB-5 brought forth in May by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, along with city attorneys from Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. They argued Uber and Lyft gain an unfair and unlawful competitive advantage by misclassifying workers as independent contractors. Then, in June, the plaintiffs filed a preliminary injunction seeking the court to force Uber and Lyft to reclassify their drivers.

In August, a judge granted the preliminary injunction. Uber and Lyft appealed the decision, but the appeals court last month affirmed the decision from the lower court. However, the decision will be stayed for 30 days after the court issues the remittitur, which the court has yet to do. Meanwhile, both Uber and Lyft previously said they were looking at their appeal options.

Throughout the case, Uber and Lyft have argued that reclassifying their drivers as employees would cause irreparable harm to the companies. In the ruling last month, the judge said neither company would suffer any “grave or irreparable harm by being prohibited from violating the law” and that their respective financial burdens “do not rise to the level of irreparable harm.”

But now that Prop 22 is projected to pass, this lawsuit has far less legal ground to stand on. It’s also worth noting that Uber has previously said it may pursue similar legislation in other states.

The California Secretary of State began releasing partial election results from the state’s 58 counties at 8 p.m. PT. However, do not expect a final count tonight, or even tomorrow. That’s partly due to the fact that California accepts absentee ballots postmarked no later than Nov. 3, 2020. Meanwhile, county elections officials have until Dec. 1, 2020 to report final results.