Just a few months after closing a new $185 million fund to continue backing early-stage European startups, Blossom Capital, the VC firm founded by Ophelia Brown, is announcing a new angel investment program seeking to back European unicorn alumnus.
Dubbed “Cultivate,” the new program looks to create a 30-strong angel network made up of founders or operators from European unicorns or those with a European HQ, who will be tasked with backing alumni starting up.
This idea is to act as a catalyst for a more robust angel ecosystem in Europe, and in turn trigger a virtuous cycle as employees inevitably leave successful companies to hopefully build the next generation of European unicorns, backed by experienced operators.
At launch, the Cultivate angel network includes Des Traynor, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Intercom, Guillaume Pousaz, CEO and founder of Checkout.com, Nilan Peiris VP Growth at Transferwise, and Shakil Khan, an early investor in Spotify. Additional angels are expected to join in the coming months.
“In the first year of the program, we’ve just made it available to people spinning out of unicorns,” Ophelia Brown tells me. “And so if you know you’re the CEO of Intercom or the CEO of Checkout, you’re going to have people leave your company, that’s just a fact, and you hope that they’re gonna go off and start something great. So they’re sourcing, in that they can refer either their former employees or anyone else that they meet building a startup, but they’re not going to be spending their day to day sourcing. Blossom is helping with the sourcing as well”.
Over the next 12 months, Blossom says it aims to invest a total of $5 million via the Cultivate program into 20 startups in Europe, with a focus on seed and pre-seed (as apposed to Blossom’s Series A sweet spot). Each startup will get an equal investment of $250,000, although individual angels are invited to make additional co-investments, too. Beyond capital, Cultivate backed founders will be given access to the angel network throughout the year for insights, advice and learnings.
“This is different [from an angel scout program] in that the angels are all acting in concert together,” explains Brown. “They will review the applications as a group and make a decision based on that. I think it’s [the] first of its kind in that it sits somewhere between a scout program and something like Y Combinator, because with YC, the power’s in the network. And we’ve kind of taken the best of both and made it fit for Europe”.
Asked why founders might choose Cultivate over applying to YC, Brown is quick to heap praise on the renowned Silicon Valley accelerator program, but says it doesn’t necessarily make sense for startups in Europe.
“For lots of European businesses that are building their core in Europe, why would you want to move to the valley for that period to come back to build in Europe? It’s disruptive,” she says. “And also I think people are beginning to realise that the 7% tax that YC takes is actually significant when you’re doing future rounds in terms of how diluted it could be. So I think YC is no doubt a great program. Like, it’s absolutely amazing, but it’s not one size fits all. And certainly, for European founders, we wanted them to get access to founders who have experience of scaling businesses in Europe. It’s a different ecosystem”.
On that note, Brown says she hopes to grow the Cultivate angel program over time. This may well include opening it up beyond unicorn alumni, once the concept it proven, and hopefully inspiring the angel network to take on a life of its own.
“Europe really lacks an angel ecosystem in the way that we need it to exist,” adds the Blossom founder. “And so we hope that we spawn the first group and then as they feel comfortable, they’ll go and do it independently of Blossom”.
WhatsApp is imposing additional restriction on how frequently a message can be shared on its platform in its latest effort to curtail the spread of misinformation.
The Facebook -owned instant messaging service said today that any message that has been forwarded five or more times will now face a new limit that will prevent a user from forwarding it to more than one chat (contact) at a time.
A spokesperson told TechCrunch that WhatsApp will roll out this change to users worldwide today.
“Is all forwarding bad? Certainly not,” the company wrote in a blog post today. “However, we’ve seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation. We believe it’s important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation.”
But the vast reach of Facebook has also attracted scammers. “Unfortunately, scammers may try to take advantage of people’s vulnerability and generosity during this time,” wrote Stan Chudnovsky, VP of Messenger.
WhatsApp has also been testing a feature on the beta version of its Android app that gives users the ability to quickly comb through the web with the text or video they have received for more context.
Images credit: @shrinivassg
A spokesperson said the platform plans to roll out this feature in the near future.
DeHaat, an online platform that offers full-stack agricultural services to farmers, has raised $12 million as it looks to scale its network across India.
The Series A financial round for the eight-year-old Patna and Gurgaon-based startup was led by Sequoia Capital India. Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO, and existing investors Omnivore and AgFunder, also participated in the round. The startup, which began to seek funding from external investors last year, has raised $16 million to date and $3 million in venture debt.
DeHaat (which means village in Hindi) eases the burden on farmers by bringing together brands, institutional financers and buyers on one platform, explained Shashank Kumar, co-founder and chief executive of the startup, in an interview with TechCrunch.
The platform helps farmers secure thousands of agri-input products, including seeds and fertilizers, and receive tailored advisory on the crop they should sow in a season. “We have built a comprehensive database of crop tests to offer advice to farmers,” he said.
DeHaat, which employs 242 people, also helps them connect with 200 institutional partners to provide farmers with working capital, and when the season is over, helps them sell their yields to bulk buyers such as Reliance Fresh, food delivery startup Zomato and business-to-business e-commerce giant Udaan.
DeHaat today operates in 20 regional hubs in the eastern part of India — states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand — and serves more than 210,000 farmers, said Kumar.
Shashank Kumar, Amrendra Singh, Adarsh Srivastav and Shyam Sundar Singh co-founded DeHaat in 2012
The startup has developed a network of hundreds of micro-entrepreneurs in rural areas that distribute agri-input goods to farmers from their regional hubs and then bring back the output to the same hub.
“We have an app in local languages and a helpline desk that farmers, many of whom don’t own a smartphone, use to reach out to us and explain their pain points and needs,” he said.
DeHaat does not charge any fee for its advisory, but takes a cut whenever farmers use its platform to buy agri-inputs or sell their crop yields.
The startup will use the fresh capital to extend its network to 2,000 rural retail centres, on-board more micro-entrepreneurs for last-mile delivery and reach 1 million farmers by June of next year, said Kumar. DeHaat is also working on automating its supply chain and developing more sophisticated data analytics, he said.
“This industry is on the brink of a massive transformation thanks to ease of regulation, farmers getting organized and increasing penetration of smartphones. DeHaat is leveraging these trends to build the next-gen product in agricultural supply chain,” said Mohan in a statement.
“The tipping point that led to Sequoia India’s decision to partner with them was the field visit, where the farmers expressed how proud they were to be associated with a platform they felt truly worked in their favour. This impact and deep brand loyalty stems from the leadership team’s razor-sharp focus, deep empathy and fine execution,” he added.
Boeing has confirmed what many suspected following the partial failure of their original Starliner capsule Orbital Flight Test (OFT) – the company will re-fly the mission, once again seeking to test and demonstrate the Starliner’s launch, flight, Space Station docking and landing capabilities prior to flying a version of the mission with actual astronauts on board.
In a statement, Boeing said that it “has chosen” to re-fly the mission, in order to “demonstrate the quality of the Starliner system.” The aim will be to do all the test objectives that were on the table the first time around, the statement continues, and this second flight will be flown “at no cost to the taxpayer,” which presumably means Boeing is eating the cost of the unplanned second attempt.
During the first OFT, the launch (aboard a ULA Atlas V rocket) went exactly to plan, but after the Starliner decoupled from the launch vehicle, it fired its own engines too early owing to a mission timer error, and expended more fuel than was planned without reaching its target orbit. NASA and Boeing decided to end the mission early rather than attempt a Space Station docking after putting the Starliner into a stable orbit, and found, then fixed a second error during the landing process.
Initially, both NASA and Boeing maintained that further investigation would be required before making a determination about whether another OFT mission would have to be flown. Representatives from both noted that the original OFT, while not successful in each of its goals, nevertheless did prove out the proper working of many aspects of the Starliner’s systems. Immediately following the launch and initial error, NASA and Boeing held a press conference in which NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine further noted that were astronauts on board, they likely could’ve saved the original mission goal of a docking via manual intervention.
No timeline has been given for the OFT re-flight, but it’s definitely going to impact the schedule for when Boeing will be able to fly its first astronauts aboard Starliner. Boeing and SpaceX are both participating in NASA’s Commercial Crew program, which aims to return human launch capabilities to U.S. soil via partners from private industry. SpaceX is now preparing for its first crewed demonstration mission, which is currently set to take place sometime in mid-to-late May.
Boeing said Monday it will suspend all 787 operations at its South Carolina factory following a stay-at-home order issued by the governor, effectively putting the company’s entire commercial airplane production on hiatus.
The closure will start at the end of the second shift April 8.
“It is our commitment to focus on the health and safety of our teammates while assessing the spread of the virus across the state, its impact on the reliability of our global supply chain and that ripple effect on the 787 program,” Brad Zaback, vice president and general manager of the 787 Program and BSC site leader said in a statement.
Boeing already stopped operations at its Seattle area facilities. Boeing said Sunday it would extend the suspension of production operations at its Puget Sound area and Moses Lake sites in Washington until further notice. The company said it extended the closure due to the spread of COVID-19 in Washington as well as the reliability of the supply chain.
Boeing didn’t provide a date when it will restart production of the 787 airplanes or provide guidance on any of its other operations in the U.S.
Employees at the Boeing South Carolina (BSC) facility who can work remotely will continue to do so, the company said. Those who cannot will receive paid leave for 10 working days of the suspension. Boeing said this is twice as long as its company policy. If the closure persists, employees will have the option to use a combination of paid time off or file for emergency state unemployment benefits.
The international community has struggled for decades to formalize rules regarding the collection and use of resources in space and on the Moon. While the U.S. and all spacefaring countries declined to endorse the most famous attempt, the 1979 “Moon Treaty,” the new Moon race has spurred the White House to announce it is open to a new international agreement on the topic.
In an executive order issued today, the administration signaled that it will be the policy going forward to “encourage international support for the public and private recovery and use of resources in outer space.”
The order doesn’t impose anything but remains a mere statement of policy, so this is just an initial step. But it’s an indication that the U.S. wishes to move forward with a new framework regarding the use of resources in space.
The question of what laws apply (including property laws and border agreements) once you leave the surface of the Earth is a complex one; Even if it weren’t, many laws and rules on the topic were written or conceived of during a very different space age and various forms of Cold War. Considering the present boom in the space business and the impending colonization of near-Earth bodies like the Moon and potentially asteroids, new rules are clearly necessary.
As it stands, there is very little in the way of official legal status for materials harvested on the Moon, brought there to stay, shared with other countries, and so on. What authorities on Earth are going to arbitrate disagreements? How will we prevent the lunar surface from being disfigured by a commercial mining operation blowing chunks of regolith into orbit?
Like the lack of rules surrounding filling the sky with communications satellites, and the resulting global outcry, it’s clear something needs to be done. But even the scope of the rules is in question. Should things like property rights on the Moon be considered? If so, considering the complexity of that question, would the rules be finished in time to avert the conflicts they’re intended to? But if not, why not? And when will they be considered?
As you can see, this is a pretty big can of worms the U.S. is planning on opening, but it has to be done sooner or later.
To that end, the U.S. will “seek to negotiate joint statements and bilateral and multilateral arrangements with foreign states regarding safe and sustainable operations for the public and private recovery and use of space resources,” the executive order reads.
No doubt there are high-level talks already in progress, or else the administration would likely not find it expedient to publicly declare support for a new approach to space regulation. Doubtless every other country planning commercial use of space is ready to take part — but that doesn’t mean negotiations will be simple or easy.
While the circumstances that led to the boom are sobering, the bidet company needed to adapt its strategy after seeing an uptick in business amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Other companies in this cohort include video conferencing service Zoom, meal kit service Blue Apron and Facebook, thanks to its social network, video hardware Portal and Oculus Quest VR headset. These companies all have something in common — they offer solutions to problems that, until recently, were not all that urgent.
Founded in 2015 by Thinx founder Miki Agrawal, Tushy aims to replace toilet paper, CEO Jason Ojalvo tells TechCrunch. Ojalvo, who joined the company as CEO in 2018, says North America has been a holdout when it comes to bidets. As a result, the nation flushes about 15 million trees down the toilet every year.
Tushy, which has raised $2.9 million since its founding, has been profitable for the last two years. That’s in part thanks to the company’s focus on sustainability — not just from an environmental standpoint, but from a business one, Ojalvo says. That means not over-hiring or spending too much on marketing.
“We’re really careful about doing it in a way so we won’t explode like some other direct-to-consumer companies can do when they raise too much money and they over-hire and then they have to let people go,” Ojalvo says. “That’s just a debacle that I’ve seen first hand and I don’t want to be part of it. Not only do I not want to be part of it but I don’t want to be the leader of the company that does that.”
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Tushy saw its growth double year-over-year. Ojalvo says that’s partly been a result of having customers who evangelize on their behalf. Fast-forward to around March 9, when sales really started to double beyond the norm; a few days later, Tushy was having days where it brought in $500,000 in sales.
AngelList, a platform that connects angel investors to startups and has roughly $1.8 billion assets under management, has laid off a sizable number of staff and cut executive salaries across all departments, according to a source familiar with the company. AngelList declined to share the number of people who were laid off.
The layoffs, which happened last week, largely impacted the company’s talent arm, which connects job-seekers with startups looking to hire. A source said that the layoffs came as a response to hiring freezes from tech startups waiting out the economic downturn.
A spokesperson from the company provided the following statement: “As the media has covered recently, startup fundings and recruiting have recently been impacted by the current crisis. We don’t know how long the economic impacts will last, so we scaled back our costs to match. Unfortunately, that adjustment included layoffs. This was a difficult decision, but it sets up AngelList to continue our mission of helping startups succeed.”
AngelList was founded in 2010 by Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi, and has raised $26.2 million in known venture capital to date, according to Crunchbase. The company is composed of three different branches: one for angel investors, one for products waiting to be funded, and one for job-seekers looking for their next gig at a startup.
AngelList formalizes the angel investing process a bit, wraps it up in a bow, and gives you a place to talk with other friends about deal flow and the intricacies of investing. “Whether you’re starting and scaling your own fund, or investing alongside established managers, we’ll help you grow as a top investor,” the website reads.
The company also has a landing page for people who want to start their own fund or syndicate, and offers resources like back office support for legal and regulatory filings or access to limited partners.
AngelList’s talent function hosts over 100,000 companies like Affirm, Twitch, and Stripe that want to hire new talent. While the layoffs largely impact that team, sources say that the talent network will continue to exist, just with a slimmer staff.
AngelList’s layoffs feel different than the other cuts we’ve seen across the startup world, largely from travel and hospitality companies. But, an economic downturn means less liquidity, and perhaps less energy to take bets on other companies in the form of cash. Plus, broader layoffs and hiring freezes from across the Valley trickle down pretty fast to the recruiting side. There might be more demand than ever from the job-seeker end, but that demand doesn’t mean supply will appear overnight.
The FCC has denied a request that it investigate and take action on a broadcast the petitioners allege has made material and deadly contributions to the spread of COVID-19: President Trump’s frequent press conferences.
In a petition filed with the FCC in late March, media watchdog Free Press wrote that the briefings were so full of incorrect and misleading information that the communications regulator had a duty to at the very least investigate and report on the broadcasts.
Of particular and urgent concern is the deadly disinformation broadcast on television stations across the country in the form of context-less coverage of President Donald Trump’s press conferences and other statements…
We urge the FCC to conduct an urgent examination into the extent to which broadcasters have aired hoaxes and false or misleading information about COVID-19, and immediately issue an emergency policy statement or enforcement guidance recommending that broadcasters prominently disclose when information they air is false or scientifically suspect.
It’s a big ask that a federal agency should step in and say the President is perpetrating a hoax on the country. And while the accuracy of the information in the briefings is certainly questionable — for instance the President’s repeated assurances that the pandemic “will disappear,” that there are plenty of “beautiful” tests, and that the unproven chloroquine is effective against the virus — the FCC determined that it was not advisable or possible to restrict their broadcast.
A simple “no” with the requisite technical details probably would have sufficed, but the FCC opted to post a more lengthy takedown of the Free Press petition on its front page. If that seems a bit excessive, recall that Free Press has been a frequent and effective critic of the FCC, calling out a nonsensical economic analysis at the heart of the agency’s justification for rolling back net neutrality, and more recently exposing an embarrassing error that inflated broadband deployment numbers in the country by millions.
So perhaps there is something more to the decision to perform a more meticulous dismantling of Free Press’s petition. All the same, the FCC’s response provides valuable information on why the agency both can’t and shouldn’t take the actions suggested:
The Commission does not—and cannot and will not—act as a self-appointed, free-roving arbiter of truth in journalism. Even assuming for the sake of argument that Free Press’s assertions regarding any lack of veracity were true, false speech enjoys some First Amendment protection, and section 326 of the Communications Act, reflecting First Amendment values, prohibits the Commission from interfering with freedom of the press or censoring broadcast communications.
…The Commission has historically regulated the broadcast of dangerous hoaxes. But the Commission has applied this rule narrowly in light of the substantial First Amendment concerns involved with the federal government policing the content of broadcast news.
At this moment, broadcasters face the challenge of covering a rapidly-evolving, national, and international health crisis, in which new information—much of it medical or technical in nature and therefore difficult to corroborate or refute in real time—is continually revealed, vetted, and verified or dismissed.
Under such circumstances, it is implausible, if not absurd, to suggest that broadcasters knowingly deceived the public by airing these press conferences or other statements by the President about COVID-19.
Instead, the FCC suggests that the broadcast of incorrect information merely presents a new opportunity for journalists to add context and correction to the record. As it concludes, with a parting shot at Free Press:
We leave to the press its time-honored and constitutionally protected role in testing the claims made by our political leaders—as well as those made by national advocacy organizations.
The full text of the FCC denial (PDF) is an educational read if, like many these days, you wonder about the potential of a government entity like the FCC stepping in to control the airwaves in a time of crisis.
Social distancing requirements amid the COVID-19 pandemic may have canceled kids’ birthday parties, but parents are finding new ways to take the celebrations online. While video chat apps like Zoom, Google Hangouts or FaceTime are an option for gathering kids together in the virtual space, there’s still the challenge of what to do once there. A few companies are working to solve this challenge for parents who are looking for ideas to make their child’s birthday special in the time of COVID-19.
Sky Zone
One business that’s been heavily impacted by government-mandated retail closures is Sky Zone, the indoor trampoline park that’s home to dozens of kids’ birthday parties per day. The company operates Sky Zone parks in more than 160 locations across the U.S. and Canada, mainly to franchisees, which have now temporarily closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
To help give back to families who still want a party while staying at home, Sky Zone has shifted its current focus to virtual birthday parties. The move not only offers parents the benefit of the hassle-free party planning that a typical events space provides, it also gives Sky Zone a way to keep employees working during the business closures.
The party, however, is not a new source to replace the business’s lost revenue or a way to make payroll. Instead, Sky Zone is offering to host the party for free to parents for up to 10 guests. Parents will have the option to tip the party host at the end of the event to support Sky Zone team members.
To request a party, parents fill out an online form with their information, then wait to hear from the Sky Zone representative who will schedule the party and create a digital invitation with a link to join the party room. Parents forward the digital invite to their friends and family however they choose. Then, on the day of the event, everyone joins the virtual party, which is hosted via Zoom.
The party itself is a 20 to 25-minute experience with the party host leading the kids through games and activities to get kids moving, like Simon Says, Dance Battles, Trivia and even teaching the kids a TikTok dance. They’ll also lead the group in singing Happy Birthday to the Guest of Honor while parents bring in the cake.
The offering was first launched on March 26, 2020 and already Sky Zone has hosted 30 parties and has more than 100 others scheduled.
The benefit of this party over a DIY group chat is that the staff hosting the party are already used to working with kids. Plus, it’s an easy way for overworked parents to get the party handled when they don’t have time to organize more time-consuming events, like a drive-by birthday parade, in-home scavenger hunt or the other alternative birthday party options some parents have turned to in this time of crisis.
Roblox
Another company venturing into the virtual party space is gaming platform Roblox .
Already a huge online hangout for kids in the pre-COVID-19 era, Roblox usage has been booming in recent weeks as kids stuck at home look for ways to socialize with both online and real-life friends in the virtual world. Today, Roblox claims more than 120 million monthly active users and is now No. 35 on App Annie’s 2020 ranking of the top 52 mobile game publishers by revenue.
The company says it was inspired by the stories of friends, family and classmates connecting on its platform during the pandemic, including those who were hosting in-game birthday parties.
Together, with its developer community, Roblox on Friday launched the new “Play Together” game sort, which makes it easier for players to find those games where you socialize with others — like visiting a virtual shopping mall, going camping or riding virtual water slides, for example. The games in the Play Together game sort also offer VIP servers for 10 Robux (10 cents). That allow users to play with family, friends, classmates and others they choose in a private virtual space — like a virtual birthday party.
To create a VIP server, you first visit the individual game’s page on Roblox, then click on the “Servers” tab and then the button “Create VIP Server.” Give your server a name, then invite others using the link provided. (Note that this is opting you into a subscription, so you’ll need to cancel it after the party ends — unless you want to retain the option to have private playspaces like this going forward.)
If you can’t figure out this process, trust me that your child can show you the ropes here.
While Roblox is popular with both boys and girls alike, a private match on Fornite is an alternative for some parents. The majority of Fornite players (roughly 73%) are male, so this could be an option for non-coed parties, for instance.
Caribu
For younger children and toddlers whose virtual party may only involve gathering together extended family — like grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, for example — there’s Caribu.
The family-friendly video calling app helps little ones get over their awkwardness about chatting online by offering a variety of in-app activities. For birthday parties, Caribu’s paint and drawing feature could be a fun, mess-free activity. The app also includes other simple games like Tic-Tac-Toe, interactive word puzzles and word searches.
To help keep families connected during the COVID-19 pandemic, AT&T is sponsoring 60 days of free access and unlimited use of the Caribu app, which offers in-app subscriptions for its full content library, which includes kids’ e-books.
Houseparty
For tweens and teens, the group video chat app Houseparty is another option that works across mobile and desktop.
Houseparty has also seen significant growth due to coronavirus-related lockdowns and home quarantines, particularly in Europe. During the week of March 21, Houseparty downloads surged at 423 times the average weekly number of downloads in Q4 2019.
What makes Houseparty an option for a virtual party experience is that it’s not just another way to group chat — friends can play online games in the chat, including Heads Up!, Trivia, Chips and Guac and Quick Draw. These are free to play, though there is an option to purchase more decks through in-app purchases for some games.
Evites with built-in video chat
Even if you do choose to go the DIY route to host a simple FaceTime, Google Hangouts, Zoom or Skype video chat, there are ways to make the invite more special than just a text. For example, the digital invitations service Evite has updated its app and website to now allow party hosts to add a video chat link to their personalized invite.
The company is also beta testing its own Evite video chat, which is a more integrated option that allows up to eght guests to be able to join from a tab within the invite.
Hobnob’s digital invites app has also updated to make it easier for friends to send invitations for online-only events through Zoom, Facebook Live and YouTube Live.
This free online tool lets you customize your Zoom video call invite URL with a title, explanation, image and RSVP requirement. This latter RSVP feature means that only those you’ve specifically invited via email will be able to access the provided link and join.
While a Facebook Live stream may not have a party host like Sky Zone, or built-in options to play games like Caribu or Houseparty, it does offer an easy way to share a celebration happening at home with others. Though children won’t have their own Facebook account (hopefully!), parents can send out invites to the parents of the child’s friends or family members through a Facebook Group invite, for instance, or by posting a message about the virtual party on their own profile. Participants can then watch the stream together as the child opens gifts left on the porch (and wiped down) and celebrates at home with family.
While technology can help to facilitate these virtual events, parents can take extra steps to make a virtual party special. Some local businesses that used to send characters — like superheroes or Disney princesses — to kids’ birthday parties are now offering to record video messages or even join a virtual party the parent is hosting. Neighbors and friends can decorate the yard or leave chalk messages. Surpriseballoon drops, car parades, scavenger hunts and other activities can make the party memorable for other reasons besides being the child’s first quarantine birthday.
The party itself is a 20 to 25-minute experience with the party host leading the kids through games and activities to get kids moving, like Simon Says, Dance Battles, Trivia and even teaching the kids a TikTok dance. They’ll also lead the group in singing Happy Birthday to the Guest of Honor while parents bring in the cake.
