Category: UNCATEGORIZED

It’s a whole new playing field these days for music labels and publishers, and today one of the big three made an acquisition to help it sharpen up its strategy to better understand what people want to see and hear online today.

Warner Music — which owns labels like Atlantic, Elektra and others and has a huge roster of artists that includes the likes of Madonna, Ed Sheeran and Linkin Park — is acquiring IMGN Media, a Tel Aviv and New York-based startup that builds and tracks viral social media content in categories like e-sports and gaming, ASMR and entertainment.

IMGN used be called Comedy.com. It widened its remit from simply funny stuff and rebranded in 2017, and according to its site has about 3 billion views per month and has some 40 million subscribers to its content, with some 85% of that classified as “Gen Z and millennials.”

The news caps off several weeks of speculation about the startup. In July, reports in the Israeli press emerged that said IMGN was being circled by Snap for about $180 million; and further to that, a source told us that TikTok was also in the frame, looking at the company at around a price tag of $150 million. In the end, the terms of the deal were not disclosed but we understand that the deal was done for just under $100 million.

IMGN was founded in 2015 and had raised about $6 million from a long list of angels and some firms including Rhodium, Dot Capital and Prism Venture Management.

The plan will be to keep IMGN independent of Warner, continuing to develop and analyse viral content across a range of platforms, with founder Barak Shragai staying on to lead the team.

Warner, meanwhile, does not plan to use the platform to simply market its artists, but to tap it for more insights into where people are going online these days, and what they want to see, so that it can better target its own marketing efforts accordingly.

That’s not to say that the two will not work together at all. Warner became acquainted with the startup because it had been a customer of IMGN’s.

Warner has a history both of investing and acquiring startups, depending on its strategic interests. In July, for example, it took part in a Series B round for Canadian audio mastering startup Landr. Further back, it has acquired the likes of music concert listings platform Songkick and pop culture site Uproxx.

“WMG not only offers us greater investment and support, but an entrepreneurial environment to continue growing our business, with the people running our accounts having editorial independence,” said Shragai. “We’re excited to partner with them as we take our company into the future.”

The bigger picture here is that the music industry has evolved well beyond the world of publishing and selling physical media, with people learning about new artists and songs through the radio, TV and magazines.

With the shift to digital platforms, there’s also now a huge plethora of places where people discover and listen to music, and digital platforms themselves — from those focused specifically on audio and music, like Spotify, through to those where music is a side-hustle to continue to capture audience, like Facebook, through to those that are neither but are still huge music platforms, like TikTok — are also getting deeply involved in tracking how tastes are evolving, and where people are going to get their music fix. It’s only natural to see labels looking for ways to have more direct access to those insights themselves, bypassing all those platforms — even as they also work with them (and indeed, to help them negotiate better with those platforms, at the end of the day).

Facebook is going all in on short-form videos. After flirting with the idea in Lasso, a TikTok-clone it tested in select markets, and adding a similar feature to Instagram recently, the company is exploring a new venue for this TikTok-esque experience: The big blue app.

The company confirmed to TechCrunch that it is testing short-form videos in the Facebook app in India, its biggest market by users. In the current avatar, ‘Short Videos’ has a dedicated section within the news feed. On top of it sits the ‘Create’ button, tapping which prompts Facebook Camera to launch, and users can browse through videos by swiping up.

“We’re always testing new creative tools so we can learn about how people want to express themselves. Short form videos are extremely popular and we are looking at new ways to provide this experience for people to connect, create and share on Facebook,” a Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch.

Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, first revealed the existence of the new test.

The test comes as Facebook continues to cash in on the absence of TikTok, the ByteDance -owned app that was banned by India in late June, in the country. Facebook launched Reels in India last month weeks before launching it to dozens of additional markets. A source familiar with the matter said the daily engagement of Facebook’s services in India has increased by more than 25% since the ban on TikTok.

Scores of local startups, including Twitter-backed ShareChat and Times Internet’s Gaana and MX Player streaming services, have launched standalone apps or integrated features to replicate the social experience TikTok provided to users in recent weeks. The local apps have claimed to have added tens of million of new users during the period.

YouTube has also rolled out a similar feature, still in testing phase, to more users in India in recent weeks.

The urgency in Facebook’s attempt to court users with short-form videos comes as TikTok is plotting ways to re-enter the market. ByteDance is engaging with Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries to sell stake in TikTok’s local business, TechCrunch reported earlier this week.

Pinterest employees are walking out today to demand change at the company. The walkout is directly in response to recent accusations of racial and gender discrimination at Pinterest.

Organizers of the walkout are encouraging employees to post the following message in the #qanda and #pinployees-global channels on Slack: “I am [upset/angry/shocked/unhappy/whatever you’re feeling] about the racial and gender discrimination that has happened at Pinterest, and am leaving work early today. Join me. changeatpinterest.com.”

In addition to the walkout, there’s a petition circulating throughout the company demanding systemic change. The change they seek entails full transparency about promotion levels and retention, total compensation package transparency and for the people within two layers of reporting to the CEO to be at least 25% women and 8% underrepresented employees.

Two days ago, former Pinterest COO Françoise Brougher sued the company, alleging gender discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination. Prior to that, Aerica Shimizu Banks and Ifeoma Ozoma, also accused Pinterest of discrimination.

“These are not isolated cases,” workers wrote in the petition. “Instead, they are representative of an organizational culture that hurts all Pinterest workers, and keeps us from achieving our mission of bringing everyone the inspiration to create a life they love. We recognize that Pinterest has been a leader in diversity and inclusive hiring, with the diversity goals for new hires. It’s become clear that this is not enough, and that the diversity goals need to apply from the top down, not just the bottom up. Not only will diverse and inclusive leadership prevent discrimination and harassment among workers, it will help us build a product that is relevant on a global scale.”

Beyond the walkout and petition, organizers are asking employees to overlay their company profile picture on Slack with the faces of Ozoma, Banks and Brougher.

Thirty Madison, the New York-based startup developing a range of direct to consumer treatments for hair loss, migraines, and chronic indigestion, has raised $47 million in new financing.

After last week’s nearly $19 billion merger between Teladoc and Livongo, remote therapies and virtual care companies are all the rage among the healthcare industry and Thirty Madison’s business is no exception. 

An indicator of just how important these companies are to the future of the healthcare business can be seen in the presence of Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC) in the latest round for Thirty Madison. 

Existing investors Maveron and Northzone also returned to back the company in a deal led by Polaris Partners. Thirty Madison has raised a total of $70 million so far. 

Founded just three years ago by Steven Gutentag and Demetir Karagas, Thirty Madison expanded from treating hair loss with its Keeps brand in 2018 to migraine treatments in early 2019 with Cove, and launched Evens (the company’s acid reflux treatment service) later that year. 

Thirty Madison has just begun offering urgent care consultations for users on a pay what you will model.

And the company’s founders differentiate Thirty Madison’s business from their better-funded competitors like Hims and Ro by emphasizing that their company provides continuing care after a diagnosis and offers a range of treatment options for the conditions that the company treats. That, coupled with the more narrow focus on a few specific conditions, distinguish Thirty Madison from its peers in the industry.

“Over 59% of Americans suffer from at least one chronic condition, but few resources exist to help them connect the dots of their care,” said Amy Schulman, a partner with Polaris Partners and new director on the Thirty Madison board. 

 

After Minneapolis police killed George Floyd and the subsequent racial justice uprising, many people in tech shouted from the rooftops that “Black Lives Matter,” despite having subpar representation of Black and Latinx folks at their companies. In some cases, these companies’ proclamations of “Black Lives Matter” felt especially performative in contrast to their respective stances on Trump and selling their technology to law enforcement agencies. 

Still, this has led to an increased focus on diversity, inclusion and equity in the tech industry. If you’re wondering things like, “Where do I find Black and brown talent?” or saying, “I’d invest in Black and Latinx people if I could find them!,” then this is for you. 

Below, you’ll learn about some of the issues at play, some of the key organizations doing work in this space, and access a glossary of frequently used terms in the realm of diversity, equity and inclusion in tech.

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The data

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• Major tech companies are predominantly white and male. Facebook, for example, is just 3.9% Black, 6.3% Latinx and 37% female.
• In 2018, female founders brought in just 2.2% of U.S. venture capital dollars.
• Less than 10 percent of decision-makers at VC firms in the U.S. are women.
• Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams are 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile, according to McKinsey’s 2020 report.
• Companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity outperform those in the fourth quartile by 36% in profitability, according to McKinsey.
• Latinx women make up less than 2% of women-led startups, according to Digital Undivided.
• Since 2009, Black women have only received .06% of all venture funding, according to Digital Undivided.
• Black women make 79 cents for every dollar white men earn in the tech industry, according to Hired.

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Glossary of terms

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Below, you’ll find a list of commonly used terms when talking about diversity, equity and inclusion.

• Ableism: Discrimination that favors able-bodied people.
• Accomplice: Someone who uses their privilege to actively advocate for change as it pertains to BIPOC, women, disabled people and so forth. An example of this is a white person who calls out racism in the workplace.
• Ally: A more passive version of an accomplice. An example of an ally is someone who supports the cause but may not put themselves on the line.
• Anti-racist: “To be antiracist is to think nothing is behaviorally wrong or right — inferior or superior — with any of the racial groups. Whenever the antiracist sees individuals behaving positively or negatively, the antiracist sees exactly that: individuals behaving positively or negatively, not representatives of whole races. To be antiracist is to deracialize behavior, to remove the tattooed stereotype from every racialized body.” – Ibram X. Kendi
• BIPOC: Black, Indigenous and people of color. This term is an alternative to simply saying “people of color,” which fails to recognize the unique experiences and hardships of Black (slavery) and Indigenous (genocide) folks in the U.S.
• Cisgender: Person whose gender matches their sex assigned at birth.
• Culture fit: Code for “looks like me, thinks like me,” which can lead to homogenous workplaces.
• Diversity report: An oftentimes yearly report where tech companies show their employee demographic breakdown.
• Equality: Treating everyone the same, regardless of any structural barriers of discrimination.
• Equity: Treating people in fair and just ways that take into account systemic discrimination and other structural barriers.
• Gender nonconforming: People who identify with no specific gender.
• Imposter syndrome: When individuals doubt their worth and accomplishments and fear being exposed as a fraud.
• Intersectionality: The concept that people face multi-faceted layers of discrimination as a result of their intersecting identities relating to race, gender, class, sexual orientation, etc. For women and trans people of color, the oppressive institutions of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia all come into play and cannot be examined separately.
• Microaggression: Casual comments, behaviors or actions that are driven by underlying biases about a particular race, gender, sexuality or other characteristic. A classic example of this is telling a Black person, “You’re so articulate!” or, “You’re the whitest Black person I know!” The former suggests its rare for Black people to be articulate while the latter implies that Black person’s behavior doesn’t fit in with society’s stereotypical ideas of Blackness.
• Performative: Engaging in woke speak without engaging in woke action.
• Pipeline problem: A misconception that the lack of diversity in tech is a result of too few Black and Latinx people interested in technology.
• Transgender: Person whose gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth.
• Unconscious bias: Also known as implicit biases, these are underlying beliefs people have about certain groups of people that are powered by stereotypes. Over the years, however, some have argued that these types of biases are not all that unconscious.
• White privilege: The benefits and advantages that people have simply for being white in society. More here.

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DE&I Landscape

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Diversity, inclusion and equity do not just mean hiring and recruiting Black and brown folks. It touches on all aspects of the tech industry, including venture capital and the gig economy, where many of its workers are Black, Indigenous or people of color.

Common wisdom is that it’s better to start focusing on your startup’s diversity and inclusion efforts sooner rather than later. And by “sooner” we mean now.

Below, you’ll find an overview of the organizations active in this space. Whether you’re looking to beef up your recruiting efforts, implement unconscious bias or allyship trainings, seek mentorship, get funding or connect with other gig workers, there’s something here for you.

This guide is not comprehensive but is designed to serve as a starting point for those not quite knowing where to begin. As for next steps, we recommend getting in touch with any of those organizations featured above that piqued your interest.

---

Additional reading

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After Minneapolis police killed George Floyd and the subsequent racial justice uprising, many people in tech shouted from the rooftops that “Black Lives Matter,” despite having subpar representation of Black and Latinx folks at their companies. In some cases, these companies’ proclamations of “Black Lives Matter” felt especially performative in contrast to their respective stances on Trump and selling their technology to law enforcement agencies. 

Still, this has led to an increased focus on diversity, inclusion and equity in the tech industry. If you’re wondering things like, “Where do I find Black and brown talent?” or saying, “I’d invest in Black and Latinx people if I could find them!,” then this is for you. 

Below, you’ll learn about some of the issues at play, some of the key organizations doing work in this space, and access a glossary of frequently used terms in the realm of diversity, equity and inclusion in tech.

---

The data

---

• Major tech companies are predominantly white and male. Facebook, for example, is just 3.9% Black, 6.3% Latinx and 37% female.
• In 2018, female founders brought in just 2.2% of U.S. venture capital dollars.
• Less than 10 percent of decision-makers at VC firms in the U.S. are women.
• Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams are 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile, according to McKinsey’s 2020 report.
• Companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity outperform those in the fourth quartile by 36% in profitability, according to McKinsey.
• Latinx women make up less than 2% of women-led startups, according to Digital Undivided.
• Since 2009, Black women have only received .06% of all venture funding, according to Digital Undivided.
• Black women make 79 cents for every dollar white men earn in the tech industry, according to Hired.

---

Glossary of terms

---

Below, you’ll find a list of commonly used terms when talking about diversity, equity and inclusion.

• Ableism: Discrimination that favors able-bodied people.
• Accomplice: Someone who uses their privilege to actively advocate for change as it pertains to BIPOC, women, disabled people and so forth. An example of this is a white person who calls out racism in the workplace.
• Ally: A more passive version of an accomplice. An example of an ally is someone who supports the cause but may not put themselves on the line.
• Anti-racist: “To be antiracist is to think nothing is behaviorally wrong or right — inferior or superior — with any of the racial groups. Whenever the antiracist sees individuals behaving positively or negatively, the antiracist sees exactly that: individuals behaving positively or negatively, not representatives of whole races. To be antiracist is to deracialize behavior, to remove the tattooed stereotype from every racialized body.” – Ibram X. Kendi
• BIPOC: Black, Indigenous and people of color. This term is an alternative to simply saying “people of color,” which fails to recognize the unique experiences and hardships of Black (slavery) and Indigenous (genocide) folks in the U.S.
• Cisgender: Person whose gender matches their sex assigned at birth.
• Culture fit: Code for “looks like me, thinks like me,” which can lead to homogenous workplaces.
• Diversity report: An oftentimes yearly report where tech companies show their employee demographic breakdown.
• Equality: Treating everyone the same, regardless of any structural barriers of discrimination.
• Equity: Treating people in fair and just ways that take into account systemic discrimination and other structural barriers.
• Gender nonconforming: People who identify with no specific gender.
• Imposter syndrome: When individuals doubt their worth and accomplishments and fear being exposed as a fraud.
• Intersectionality: The concept that people face multi-faceted layers of discrimination as a result of their intersecting identities relating to race, gender, class, sexual orientation, etc. For women and trans people of color, the oppressive institutions of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia all come into play and cannot be examined separately.
• Microaggression: Casual comments, behaviors or actions that are driven by underlying biases about a particular race, gender, sexuality or other characteristic. A classic example of this is telling a Black person, “You’re so articulate!” or, “You’re the whitest Black person I know!” The former suggests its rare for Black people to be articulate while the latter implies that Black person’s behavior doesn’t fit in with society’s stereotypical ideas of Blackness.
• Performative: Engaging in woke speak without engaging in woke action.
• Pipeline problem: A misconception that the lack of diversity in tech is a result of too few Black and Latinx people interested in technology.
• Transgender: Person whose gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth.
• Unconscious bias: Also known as implicit biases, these are underlying beliefs people have about certain groups of people that are powered by stereotypes. Over the years, however, some have argued that these types of biases are not all that unconscious.
• White privilege: The benefits and advantages that people have simply for being white in society. More here.

---

DE&I Landscape

---

Diversity, inclusion and equity do not just mean hiring and recruiting Black and brown folks. It touches on all aspects of the tech industry, including venture capital and the gig economy, where many of its workers are Black, Indigenous or people of color.

Common wisdom is that it’s better to start focusing on your startup’s diversity and inclusion efforts sooner rather than later. And by “sooner” we mean now.

Below, you’ll find an overview of the organizations active in this space. Whether you’re looking to beef up your recruiting efforts, implement unconscious bias or allyship trainings, seek mentorship, get funding or connect with other gig workers, there’s something here for you.

This guide is not comprehensive but is designed to serve as a starting point for those not quite knowing where to begin. As for next steps, we recommend getting in touch with any of those organizations featured above that piqued your interest.

---

Additional reading

---

Robots primarily rely on two basic senses: vision and touch. But even the latter still has a long ways to go to get up to the speed with the former. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are looking to hearing as a potential additional sense to help machines increase their perception of the world around them.

A new experiment from CMU features Rethink Robotics’ Sawyer moving objects inside a metal tray to get a sense of the sounds they make as a roll around, slide and crash into the sides. There are 60 objects in all — including tools, wooden blocks, tennis balls and an apple — with 15,000 “interactions” recorded and cataloged.

The robot, named “Tilt-Bot” by the team, was capable of identifying objects with a 76% success rate, even determining the relatively small material differences between a metal screwdriver and wrench. Using the sound data, the robot was often able to correctly determine the material make up of the objects.

“I think what was really exciting was that when it failed, it would fail on things you expect it to fail on,” CMU assistant professor Oliver Kroemer said in a release tied to the research. “But if it was a different object, such as a block versus a cup, it could figure that out.”

This is still early stages stuff, with the initial results only just having been published, but the researches foresee the potential to harness sound detection as yet another tool in a robot’s sensing arsenal. Among the possibilities is the inclusion of a “cane,” the machines could us to tap an object in order to better determine its material properties.

Before the coronavirus made edtech more relevant, companies in the sector were historically likely to see slow, low exits. Despite successful IPOs by 2U, Chegg and Instructure in the United States, public markets are not crowded with edtech companies.

Some of the largest exits in the space include LinkedIn’s scoop of Lynda for a $1.5 billion in cash and stock and TPG’s purchase of Ellucian for $3.5 billion.

But both of those deals happened in 2015. Five years later, edtech is cooler and surging — but is it seeing exits? Are Lynda and Ellucian one-off success stories?

2U’s co-founder and CEO, Chip Paucek, said he is optimistic.

“We are a rare edtech IPO,” he told TechCrunch last week. “For a long time in edtech it was either ‘sell to Pearson or not.’”

Despite the sector’s slow past, Paucek said now is a good time to start an edtech company because the sector “is finally starting to hit its stride” with more back-end infrastructure and demand for online education.

This morning, let’s use some data to paint a picture of the landscape of edtech exits and bring some balance to this stodgy stereotype.

Boot the growth

There have been approximately 225 acquisitions in edtech between 2003 and 2018, according to Crunchbase data. RS Components sent me a graph in March to contextualize this timeframe a bit more:

I enjoy driving the Polestar 2 more than the Tesla Model 3. The Polestar 2 is more comfortable, seemingly better built, and has a better infotainment system. In all the traditional automotive metrics, it’s a better car, and yet I find it hard to recommend over the Tesla Model 3.

The Polestar 2 often excels where the Tesla Model 3 falters. The fit and finish of the 2 are on par with anything from BMW, Mercedes, or Volvo as Polestar is a close partner to the Swedish luxury brand.

However, while the Polestar 2 is fantastic, the car lacks the appealing Tesla ecosystem. Polestar does not have a network of their EV charging stations, and it’s unknown if the company will roll out novel features through over-the-air updates. Tesla has a culture around its brand that’s exciting and enticing.

Review

I spent a long morning in the Polestar 2, navigating suburban traffic and racing around the dirt roads near Hell, MI. I drove the EV on the highway, took it shopping, and lived with the car. After driving the car for a few hours, there were still 120 miles left on the battery.

The EPA has yet to announce the range rating on the Polestar 2, but Polestar itself says it can go up to 275 miles on a charge. I experienced something a bit less — more like 250 miles. That said, during my short time with the vehicles, I drove it hard and fast. The winding dirt roads loved the AWD system and 49/51 weight balance.

The Polestar 2 is a lovely vehicle, and the build quality is superb. The doors close with a resounding thud, the seats are supportive and comfortable, and the dash is constructed of several recycled material that is simultaneously upscale but responsible. It feels like a car from a mature car company.

I cannot stress enough how well built the Polestar 2 feels, and that’s likely due to its close ties with Volvo.

Started just three years ago within Volvo and Geely, Polestar was quickly spun out as its own automaker though retains close ties to both parents. As such, Polestar is considered an automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) just like Volvo, General Motors, and BMW. Polestar is independent of Volvo and Geely with its VIN numbers, manufacturing facilities, and executive team.

Polestar 2 is the second vehicle from the young automotive startup. The company started with the Polestar 1, a $155,000 hybrid grand tourer that’s limited to 1,500 cars with only 450 coming to North America over three years. I drove a production Polestar 1 a few weeks ago and found the powertrain to be fantastic. The hybrid system is tuned in a way that makes it an excellent driver’s car on the same level as the best tourers.

Polestar says it’s designing its cars to be enjoyable to drive, and the company is two for two. The hybrid Polestar 1 is lovely to drive in a powerful, masculine way. The all-electric Polestar 2 is naturally different from the Polestar 1 and is still tuned for the driver’s enjoyment.

Like said at the top, the Polestar 2 is a better car to drive than the Tesla Model 3.

The Polestar 2’s electric motors deliver power with restrained control. Instead of being jerky or quick, the electric Polestar 2 is smooth and refined. When massing the gas pedal, the Polestar 2 gradually lays down the power, starting slowly and accelerating quickly. Don’t mistake what I’m saying. The Polestar 2 is still quick, able to hit 60 mph in less than 5 seconds, which is fast enough for any family vehicle. In my experience, the Model 3’s electric power delivery is tuned to deliver a lot of power at the moment of acceleration. The Model 3 is very quick, but it’s too fast to some, even in standard modes.

The difference between the Polestar 2 and Model 3’s acceleration is subtle but essential. The Model 3 can smoke the Polestar 2 in a drag race, and yet that’s not relevant to most drivers. To me, the slightly slower, but still quick, Polestar 2 is more enjoyable to drive.

The Polestar 2 turns in with confidence and has nary an understeer. It’s controllable like the best four-door sedans. This is due to several things. One, the car has a nearly perfect weight balance with 49% in the front and 51% in the back. And most of that weight is on the bottom of the car, where the batteries are located, reducing body sway. Second, the electric motors on each axle provide fantastic traction through an AWD system.

How is it to live with the Polestar 2 and drive it every day? I can’t say. I was only in the vehicle for a few hours. The backseat seems roomy enough for a mid-size car, and the floor area feels more substantial than a Tesla Model 3. The hatch area is large, and there’s a small storage compartment in the front.

The driving range is a downside with the Polestar 2. In comparison with the Tesla Model 3, the Polestar 2 comes up short. The Model 3 can go up to 322 miles fully charged while the Polestar 2’s is around 275 miles. Interestingly, the Polestar 2 has a larger battery pack than the Model 3. But it’s also heavier as the Polestar 2 is built on a Volvo/Geely platform also used for gasoline-powered vehicles.

There are hints of Volvo’s design language throughout the Polestar 2. To me, the design is futuristically chic, and I love it. The Polestar 2 has presence and poise. It’s angular while being fluid. Inside is more of the same with solid lines and sharp curves.

Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath is a long time car designer, and his influences are evident. The design seems paramount to the Polestar experience. Before Polestar, he was Volvo’s Senior Vice President of Design after holding similar positions within Volkswagen Group at Audi and Skoda.

The Polestar 2’s interior is more minimalist than most vehicles but still busier than the Model 3. There are few physical buttons: hazard lights, radio power, rear defrost, front defrost, and a knob for volume (volume should always be on a spinning knob). The two stalks on the steering column control their normal functions, and the steering wheel is sourced from Volvo’s latest cars and features media controls and cruise controls.

The large center screen is easy to read and is in a great location. I didn’t experience an offensive glare during my few hours with the Polestar 2. Please note, in the picture here, the center screen is dim because as soon as the front seats are empty, the car dims the screen to save battery.

In the end, the build quality speaks to confidence. The Polestar 2 doesn’t feel risky, like a Model 3, which has had countless design and manufacturing issues. The Polestar 2 doesn’t feel like a startup’s second vehicle.

[gallery ids="2031618,2031625,2031624,2031623,2031622,2031621,2031620,2031619"]

Android Automotive (not Android Auto)

Polestar is the first company to offer Android Automotive. Different from Android Auto, Android Automotive is the primary interface for Polestar 2. It controls everything from the radio to climate to vehicle settings and maps, apps, and connected services.

Android Automotive is impressive. The interface is clean and as responsive as the best smartphone. To take advantage of all the features, users need to be signed in to a Google Account. Some users might opt to sign in to their main account or create another just for the Polestar 2. Either way, once signed in, the system connects maps, apps, and the rest of the person’s services, including devices connected to a Google Home account.

Android Automotive can still be used without signing into Google. By skipping this step, users will have access to most connected features, but some personalization options are unavailable.

Google Assistant is built into Android Automotive, and it’s the first in-car voice service I’ve used that worked well. Just say, “Okay, Google, turn on Spotify,” and it turns on Spotify. Say a location, and it pulls up the place. Ask it to change the temperature, and it will change the temperature since Android Automotive also controls the in-vehicle climate control. Some features depend on a data connection, while others, most in-car settings, work without a data connection.

Android Automotive impressed during my time in the Polestar 2. It has a logical layout and is easy to use. The system is coming to other vehicles soon. Polestar is just the first automaker to deploy the system.

Android Automotive works with iOS devices, too. The Polestar 2 will soon gain CarPlay through an over-the-air update, and iPhone users can pair their devices to Android Automotive through a Bluetooth connection, too.

Polestar or Tesla?

I walked away from the Polestar 2 impressed, yet it’s hard to issue a complete recommendation. To me, even with a shorter range, the Polestar 2 is a better vehicle than the Model 3. But the Model 3 has something missing from the Polestar 2: The Tesla factor.

For all its quirky faults, Tesla has a history of bold innovation that’s resulted in a nationwide network of chargers, constant new features delivered from over-the-air updates, and fun quirks that delight and impress. Like Pet Mode. After a suggestion on Twitter to Elon Musk, Tesla quickly rolled out a mode that lets users keep their pets safe while displaying an informative message on the center screen. It’s a small but telling detail about the Tesla experience, and it’s unclear (and unlikely) that Polestar will offer the same experience.

Polestar isn’t selling against the Model 3 but rather selling against Tesla. When a person buys a Tesla, they’re buying into an ecosystem of services that complement the vehicle. Tesla knows better than most that a car is often a lifestyle choice, and the company built an impressive culture.

Polestar executives seem to know they’re fighting an uphill battle.

On one side, the company is battling Tesla’s ecosystem, and culture and Polestar is seemingly following in Telsa’s footsteps. The car company is forgoing selling cars in dealer’s lots and is opening storefronts like Tesla’s company stores. These locations are in high profile areas like marque shopping areas alongside luxury brands. Like Tesla showrooms. However, to help get vehicles in buyer’s hands quicker, these locations will be owned by Volvo dealerships who will facilitate sales and service.

Polestar sees itself selling against luxury mid-size vehicles from European brands rather than Tesla itself. At least that’s what the company says publicly. It makes sense to a point. The build quality of a Polestar vehicle is superior than that of a Tesla and on the same level as the best from Europe.

So is the Polestar 2 better than a Tesla Model 3? Yes. But deciding which one to buy is a complicated question.

The Tesla Model 3 can drive farther on a charge and is seamlessly integrated with Tesla’s Supercharger network. That’s a significant factor that buyers should consider. Tesla’s commitment to continue rolling out new features should also be a consideration for buyers as it keeps the vehicles fresh and exciting.

The Polestar 2 carries a higher price than the Model 3, but they’re in the same range. Well equipped Polestar 2 vehicles start around $60,000 while similarly-spec’d Model 3 cars go for around $50,000. In the United States, both cars are eligible for a $7,500 tax credit.

Tesla, aside, Polestar built a fantastic vehicle in the Polestar 2, and that should be applauded. The car company is three years old, only has 800 employees worldwide, and has yet scaled to the point of making world-class vehicles. Few other car companies can make those claims. And the company has big plans for the future. Polestar says it’s on track to deliver the SUV Polestar 3 in 2022, which will feature an all-new platform and a lot longer range.

Polestar built the car, now it needs to get the word out.

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast (now on Twitter!), where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

This week we had the full crew around once again, Natasha Mascarenhas, Danny Crichton, Chris Gates, and myself. And as always, it was key to have the full crew as there was an ocean of news to get through. Before we get into the show, make sure you’ve checked out Danny’s latest work on the TechCrunch List and let’s get into it:

• The TikTok saga continues: This week we spent a few minutes discussing why bankers are incentivized to make the proposed TikTok-Microsoft deal as competitive as possible. Or at least make it look as competitive as possible. And, there’s some data from inside Microsoft about how the deal is being viewed.
• Airbnb could file to go public this month! It might go public before the year is out! That’s way better than we expected. (Bloomberg got its Q2 finances.)
• Palantir could file for a direct listing next month! That’s great. We wanted to know what Palantir really is, namely a consultancy or a tech company. And then we played valuation bingo so that we can look back later and mock ourselves.
• I was very excited about the Duck Creek IPO. Few of my friends joined me in being excited.
• The three of us also took a minute to riff on the latest Pinterest news, namely that it’s poorly run and is sexist per its now-former COO. We’d love to stop covering these stories, but they keep happening so, on we go.
• Danny had some neat SPAC data to share, helping illustrate that SPACs are not merely a meme, they are a real, driving force of public company action this year. As was Tesla’s announced stock split, which led us to ask why a few times.
• Next up, Natasha walked us through her latest work digging into how GenZ is shaking up the funding world. We framed the changes in some historical context, and decided that really in the end the kids are alright.
• Danny brought us to a close, with a note on Conduit (connecting founders and early-stage investors) and Circle (creator software). Both are worth your time.

And that was our show! We are back Monday morning. Stay cool!