Category: UNCATEGORIZED

Earlier this month we announced the launch of the Disrupt Digital Pass for TechCrunch’s flagship Disrupt SF event (Sept. 14-16) as a way to help ensure that, no matter what, TechCrunch fans everywhere would be able to enjoy the big interviews at the show. We also hinted that we were working on a Pro edition of the Digital Pass for people who really want to engage as fully as possible with Disrupt SF, including all the programming on the four primary stages and lots of real time interaction with fellow attendees, founders in Startup Alley, engaging Q&A sessions, and our all important exhibitors and partners. That was trickier to figure out, but we’re there. 

Today we’re happy to unveil the Disrupt Digital Pro Pass that we’ve been working hard to finalize. Here’s what you get with your Disrupt Digital Pro pass starting at $245: 

• Live stream and VOD (video-on-demand) from the Extra Crunch Stage. Live and on-demand access to TechCrunch editors’ discussions with top experts – growth marketers, lawyers, investors, technologists, recruiters – on topics critical to founders’ success. Pass holders, in-person and virtual, may submit questions in real-time to the moderator on stage.
• Live stream and VOD from the Q&A Stage. Virtual pass holders can submit questions during live Q&A sessions with speakers after they have appeared with TechCrunch editors on the Disrupt and Extra Crunch stages. 
• VOD from the Showcase Stage. Watch top founders exhibiting in Startup Alley pitch and take questions from TechCrunch editors. 
• Interact with early-stage startups in Startup Alley virtually. Browse the hundreds of exhibiting startups, organized by category, and watch their product demos on demand. Digital Pro pass holders can arrange 1:1 meetings with founders whether they be virtual or exhibiting on the show floor in-person.
• Video conference networking with CrunchMatch. TechCrunch’s hugely popular platform to connect like-minded attendees will be accessible to Digital Pro pass holders as well as in-person attendees. Find attendees, request a meeting, and connect via a private video conference. 
• Virtual sponsor engagements. We love our sponsors, and they will be front and center for Digital Pro pass holders, whether that’s opportunities to set up 1:1 meetings virtually with sponsor reps or watch sponsors’ presentations. 

In addition, of course, Pro pass holders also have access to the features of the free Disrupt Digital Pass:

• Live stream and VOD from the Disrupt Stage. Live and on-demand access to all the great interviews TechCrunch’s editors conduct with the biggest names in tech. 

You can expect to see the TechCrunch team at San Francisco’s Moscone center during Disrupt, but now attendees can join us in person and/or virtually. 

Innovator, Founder, Investor, and Startup Alley pass holders (except Expo Only passes) will also have access to all the Disrupt Digital Pro Pass features as well as the opportunity to be present with us in San Francisco. 

Sign up for Disrupt SF today. 2020 marks the 10th anniversary of Disrupt SF, and we hope you will join us to celebrate, online or at Moscone. We would love to have you either way.

Meetup, the social networking platform designed to connect people in person, is being spun out from shared office space provider WeWork, the company confirmed on Monday. The site is being sold to AlleyCorp and other private investors for an undisclosed sum, but one that’s reportedly far less than the $156 million acquisition price WeWork paid for the social network back in 2017.

Fortune (paywalled) was first to break the news of Meetup’s sale. The company has also now put out a press release with further details.

Meetup, which has operated for two-and-a-half years as a WeWork subsidiary, will divest itself from its parent company and continue to operate, it says. The site today serves 49 million registered members and over 230,000 organizers who create an average of 15,000 in-person events per day.

But even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Meetup had been struggling. The company in November announced a round of layoffs amid other cost-cutting measures. And these had followed earlier cuts of 10% of staff during acquisition negotiations.

With the COVID-19 pandemic now in full force, fewer people than ever are willing and able to meet in-person, leading to Meetup to position itself today as a place for groups to meet “online during times of crisis,” its release said. That remains to be seen.

The investor groups in Meetup’s latest acquisition are led by Kevin Ryan’s AlleyCorp and also include other “mission-driven private funds” and “accomplished technology executives,” the company claims.

The deal will see Ryan joining Meetup as Chairman of the Board. David Siegel will remain Meetup CEO and board member, and will continue to lead the company.

Meetup groups will continue to operate as will Meetup’s enterprise business solution, Meetup Pro, which has been used by over 1,500 clients to date, including Adobe, Google, Microsoft Azure, IBM, Twitter, and Looker, among others.

“This acquisition provides the long-term capital to ensure that Meetup focuses on what is most important: the organizers who make Meetup successful, our passionate members, and our dedicated employees,” said David Siegel, CEO of Meetup, in a statement. “We are excited to continue on our mission of empowering personal growth through real human connections, and I’m happy to have brought in a team of smart investors who share and support the same values,” he said.

WeWork’s intention to sell off Meetup was previously known. Unfortunately for the longtime social network, it was one of several casualties arising from WeWork’s larger troubles.

It’s unclear, however, what the future holds for Meetup. Though the government lockdown policies may eventually end, consumers’ appetite for getting together in real-life groups with people they first met online may not be as strong it was before. Meetup may have to shift more of its focus to supporting online-only groups — a market that’s today dominated by Facebook Groups, or niche apps catering to specific categories, like Peanut for moms or Nextdoor for neighbors, for instance.

“We are confident in the enormous potential of the business and Meetup’s mission of bringing people together in substantive ways,” said AlleyCorp’s Ryan, in a statement. “We are very excited to collectively serve and grow Meetup’s extensive and incredibly engaged user base.”

Early-stage founders: don’t miss your chance to follow in the footsteps of tech giants. We know COVID19 has created challenges for startup founders, but fear not. Disrupt SF is still proceeding as scheduled with a Disrupt Digital Pass Virtual option. Launch your startup in the world’s most famous pitch competition, Startup Battlefield. The smackdown goes down live on the Main Stage at Disrupt San Francisco 2020 on Sept. 14 – 16. Want a shot at $100,000 and the Disrupt Cup? Fill out your application to compete right here.

Companies such as FitBit, Cloudflare, Mint.com, Dropbox, Vurb, Yammer and Get Around — to name but a few — trace their origins to the Battlefield competition. This Startup Battlefield Alumni Community — 902 companies strong and counting — have collectively raised $9 billion and produced more than 115 successful exits (IPOs or acquisitions). That’s some impressive company to keep. Why not join their ranks?

Here’s how Startup Battlefield works. First, you apply. (Pro tip: applying and competing in the Battlefield is free and TechCrunch does not take any equity). Next, TechCrunch’s Battlefield-savvy editorial team pours over every application looking for approximately 20 startups to pitch on the Main Stage.

The TechCrunch team will put all participants through rigorous, weeks-long training to hone pitches, business models, presentation skills and any other startup issues that require tightening. You’ll be in fighting trim and ready to step out onto the Main Stage.

Teams have just six minutes to pitch and present a live demo to a panel expert judges. After each pitch, the judges (we’re talking folks like Cyan Banister, Kirsten Green, Aileen Lee, Alfred Lin and Roelof Botha) will put each team through a Q&A. No flop-sweat here, thanks to all those weeks of pitch coaching.

The judges will select anywhere from four to six teams to advance to the finals. And that means another pitch and Q&A in front of a fresh set of judges. The winning team takes home $100,000, the coveted Disrupt Cup, and they bask in a spotlight of media and investor attention. Startup Battlefield can be a life-changing experience for all competitors — not just the ultimate winner.

The action takes place in front of an enthusiastic audience of thousands. Plus, we live-stream the entire event on TechCrunch.com, once you sign up for the digital pass. If all that’s not enough, consider this. Startup Battlefield competitors receive a VIP Disrupt experience.

You’ll have access to private VIP events like the Startup Battlefield Reception, and each team receives four complimentary event tickets. You get to exhibit at the show for all three days, and you’ll have access to CrunchMatch, TC’s investor-founder networking platform. And you also get a complimentary ticket to all future TC events and free subscriptions to Extra Crunch.

Whew. That’s a whole lot of opportunity and exposure. So, what are you waiting for? Disrupt San Francisco 2020 takes place on Sept. 14 – 16. Apply to compete in Startup Battlefield for a shot at launching your dream to the world.

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

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Disrupt San Francisco 2020? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

Early-stage founders: don’t miss your chance to follow in the footsteps of tech giants. We know COVID19 has created challenges for startup founders, but fear not. Disrupt SF is still proceeding as scheduled with a Disrupt Digital Pass Virtual option. Launch your startup in the world’s most famous pitch competition, Startup Battlefield. The smackdown goes down live on the Main Stage at Disrupt San Francisco 2020 on Sept. 14 – 16. Want a shot at $100,000 and the Disrupt Cup? Fill out your application to compete right here.

Companies such as FitBit, Cloudflare, Mint.com, Dropbox, Vurb, Yammer and Get Around — to name but a few — trace their origins to the Battlefield competition. This Startup Battlefield Alumni Community — 902 companies strong and counting — have collectively raised $9 billion and produced more than 115 successful exits (IPOs or acquisitions). That’s some impressive company to keep. Why not join their ranks?

Here’s how Startup Battlefield works. First, you apply. (Pro tip: applying and competing in the Battlefield is free and TechCrunch does not take any equity). Next, TechCrunch’s Battlefield-savvy editorial team pours over every application looking for approximately 20 startups to pitch on the Main Stage.

The TechCrunch team will put all participants through rigorous, weeks-long training to hone pitches, business models, presentation skills and any other startup issues that require tightening. You’ll be in fighting trim and ready to step out onto the Main Stage.

Teams have just six minutes to pitch and present a live demo to a panel expert judges. After each pitch, the judges (we’re talking folks like Cyan Banister, Kirsten Green, Aileen Lee, Alfred Lin and Roelof Botha) will put each team through a Q&A. No flop-sweat here, thanks to all those weeks of pitch coaching.

The judges will select anywhere from four to six teams to advance to the finals. And that means another pitch and Q&A in front of a fresh set of judges. The winning team takes home $100,000, the coveted Disrupt Cup, and they bask in a spotlight of media and investor attention. Startup Battlefield can be a life-changing experience for all competitors — not just the ultimate winner.

The action takes place in front of an enthusiastic audience of thousands. Plus, we live-stream the entire event on TechCrunch.com, once you sign up for the digital pass. If all that’s not enough, consider this. Startup Battlefield competitors receive a VIP Disrupt experience.

You’ll have access to private VIP events like the Startup Battlefield Reception, and each team receives four complimentary event tickets. You get to exhibit at the show for all three days, and you’ll have access to CrunchMatch, TC’s investor-founder networking platform. And you also get a complimentary ticket to all future TC events and free subscriptions to Extra Crunch.

Whew. That’s a whole lot of opportunity and exposure. So, what are you waiting for? Disrupt San Francisco 2020 takes place on Sept. 14 – 16. Apply to compete in Startup Battlefield for a shot at launching your dream to the world.

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

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Disrupt San Francisco 2020? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

Muslim matchmaking app Muzmatch is getting (slightly) involved with video: It’s adding a button to enable users to request a video chat with a prospective match’s father.

If the user impresses on camera, the dad can grant a ‘Dad Verified’ badge to add to their profile — as an added layer of parental vetting for a community that’s seriously focused on finding a life partner.

YC backed Muzmatch has been building out a community-sensitive approach to app-based swipe-to-match ‘dating’ for Muslims for around five years at this stage, broadening its early focus on the UK and the US to include Muslim majority markets last year. In January it passed the 2 million user mark globally, up from 1.5M last summer.

Back in July, when we chatted to founder Shahzad Younas, video was on his mind — though his preoccupation was on how to incorporate “elements of video” in a sensible and safe way for a user base that’s intent on finding serious connection for the purpose of marriage. Muzmatch users definitely aren’t interested in casual dating or hook-ups. So “simple video” wasn’t on the cards, he said then.

In the event Muzmatch is starting by opening an indirect video chat channel between a potential match and a parent — to augment existing chaperone elements within the app, such as an optional wali/guardian feature for female users (which lets them elect to have their in-app chats emailed to a third party).

To access the new video dad chat feature — which must surely rank as one of the most nerve-wracking types of live chats available in the broad-brush dating app world right now — a Muzmatch user needs to navigate to their chat options and tap on the Dad Verification button.

Be warned: This will immediately trigger a video call with a potential partner’s dad. Evidently it’s not a button to be pressed when casually dressed or lost for words.

Unlike the wail/guardian chaperone feature, the Dad Verification button is universally available to both male and female users — so both sides of the community of users can opt to seek the approbation of a match’s father to advance their suit, per Muzmatch.

It’s not clear whether the startup is manually verifying a user’s dad is who they say they are. We’ve asked for more on that.

“To support the women who are complaining that men simply aren’t as serious about marriage anymore and the ones who have been ghosted and led on, the revolutionary Dad Verified feature will allow both men and women on muzmatch to check if their match is ready for marriage by getting them to speak to their father and get the seal of approval,” it writes in a press release.

It’s the latest tweak for the app which underwent some spring cleaning in January.

A v3.0 launch then brought updates to the interface, including support for richer profile content; a new card layout to showcase potential matches; and a cleaner view of matches/unmatches. Browsing and discovery, explore and chat also got a refresh at that point. But with dad video chats Muzmatch is taking a bigger step in the hopes of bringing its community along for the ride — and fending off growing competition for its target users in the process.

Zooming out, while dating apps are facing a curious time right now, as a result of the coronavirus crisis putting a dampener on face-to-face meet-ups with so much of the world under de facto house arrest, such physical restrictions seem likely to offer less of a disruption to Muslim dating apps — where the focus is on remote courtship to establish if there’s a marriage connection, rather than applying digital chatter as an accelerant for meeting in person.

Muslim matchmaking app Muzmatch is getting (slightly) involved with video: It’s adding a button to enable users to request a video chat with a prospective match’s father.

If the user impresses on camera, the dad can grant a ‘Dad Verified’ badge to add to their profile — as an added layer of parental vetting for a community that’s seriously focused on finding a life partner.

YC backed Muzmatch has been building out a community-sensitive approach to app-based swipe-to-match ‘dating’ for Muslims for around five years at this stage, broadening its early focus on the UK and the US to include Muslim majority markets last year. In January it passed the 2 million user mark globally, up from 1.5M last summer.

Back in July, when we chatted to founder Shahzad Younas, video was on his mind — though his preoccupation was on how to incorporate “elements of video” in a sensible and safe way for a user base that’s intent on finding serious connection for the purpose of marriage. Muzmatch users definitely aren’t interested in casual dating or hook-ups. So “simple video” wasn’t on the cards, he said then.

In the event Muzmatch is starting by opening an indirect video chat channel between a potential match and a parent — to augment existing chaperone elements within the app, such as an optional wali/guardian feature for female users (which lets them elect to have their in-app chats emailed to a third party).

To access the new video dad chat feature — which must surely rank as one of the most nerve-wracking types of live chats available in the broad-brush dating app world right now — a Muzmatch user needs to navigate to their chat options and tap on the Dad Verification button.

Be warned: This will immediately trigger a video call with a potential partner’s dad. Evidently it’s not a button to be pressed when casually dressed or lost for words.

Unlike the wail/guardian chaperone feature, the Dad Verification button is universally available to both male and female users — so both sides of the community of users can opt to seek the approbation of a match’s father to advance their suit, per Muzmatch.

It’s not clear whether the startup is manually verifying a user’s dad is who they say they are. We’ve asked for more on that.

“To support the women who are complaining that men simply aren’t as serious about marriage anymore and the ones who have been ghosted and led on, the revolutionary Dad Verified feature will allow both men and women on muzmatch to check if their match is ready for marriage by getting them to speak to their father and get the seal of approval,” it writes in a press release.

It’s the latest tweak for the app which underwent some spring cleaning in January.

A v3.0 launch then brought updates to the interface, including support for richer profile content; a new card layout to showcase potential matches; and a cleaner view of matches/unmatches. Browsing and discovery, explore and chat also got a refresh at that point. But with dad video chats Muzmatch is taking a bigger step in the hopes of bringing its community along for the ride — and fending off growing competition for its target users in the process.

Zooming out, while dating apps are facing a curious time right now, as a result of the coronavirus crisis putting a dampener on face-to-face meet-ups with so much of the world under de facto house arrest, such physical restrictions seem likely to offer less of a disruption to Muslim dating apps — where the focus is on remote courtship to establish if there’s a marriage connection, rather than applying digital chatter as an accelerant for meeting in person.

While the origins of its coronavirus testing program were muddled by President Trump’s misleading announcements attributing its efforts to Google and inflating its scale, Alphabet’s Verily health sciences subsidiary has established and grown its community-based California testing initiative, deploying drive-up testing sites and ramping the number of tests completed from just over 1,200 last Wednesday to over 3,700 as of Saturday.

The Verily team detailed its progress in a new blog post, and CNBC reported last week that it has brought on 1,000 new volunteers from Google and other Alphabet companies to help increase its testing efforts and bring testing sites to new areas. In total, there are four testing sites in operation across California, which took two weeks to set up.

That’s a lot accomplished in not a lot of time, and Verily now wants to pass on the benefits of its experience and lessons learned. It put together guidelines and resources for anyone else looking to set up a community-based testing initiative (assuming they have access to qualified laboratories, testing supplies and healthcare professionals) and provided them for anyone to download.

The guide includes various documents, including workflows for everyone involved in the drive-through testing process, as well as the type of personal protective equipment needed, and how to organize and deploy on-site staff. There’s even full testing signage kits ready for download and printing.

These guide materials were created by Verily’s Project Baseline team, working in partnership with California’s Department of Public Health and other state governing and regulatory bodies, and they represent input from Stanford Medicine as well. Overall, the guide is intended as a way to help Verily spread the benefit of its experience, at a pace that it just can’t match via its own efforts to scale.

The company is definitely still looking to scale its own testing sites, however, and to launch new ones. This guide could help others make the most of its experience as it does so, though they’ll require a lot of access to specialized resources to replicate, even with the benefit of information shared by a team with first-hand knowledge of the challenges that mobile COVID-19 testing entails.

Confluence, Atlassian’s content-centric collaboration tool for teams, is making it easier for new users to get started with the launch of an updated template gallery and 75 new templates. They incorporate what the company has learned from its customers and partners since it first launched the service back in 2004.

About a year ago, Atlassian gave Confluence a major makeover, with an updated editor and advanced analytics. Today’s update isn’t quite as dramatic but goes to show that Confluence has evolved from a niche wiki for technical documentation teams to a tool that is often used across organizations today.

Today, about 60,000 customers are using Confluence daily and the new templates reflect the different needs of these companies. The new template gallery will make it easier to find the specific template that makes sense for your business, with new search tools, filters and previews that you can find in the right-hand panel of your Confluence site.

The updated gallery features new templates for design, marketing and HR teams, for example. Working with partners, Atlassian also added templates like a job description guide from Indeed and a design system template from InVision, as well as similar use case-specific templates from HubSpot, Optimizely and others. Since most tasks take more than one template, Atlassian is also launching collections of templates for accomplishing more complex tasks around developing marketing strategies, HR workflows, product development and more.

Confluence, Atlassian’s content-centric collaboration tool for teams, is making it easier for new users to get started with the launch of an updated template gallery and 75 new templates. They incorporate what the company has learned from its customers and partners since it first launched the service back in 2004.

About a year ago, Atlassian gave Confluence a major makeover, with an updated editor and advanced analytics. Today’s update isn’t quite as dramatic but goes to show that Confluence has evolved from a niche wiki for technical documentation teams to a tool that is often used across organizations today.

Today, about 60,000 customers are using Confluence daily and the new templates reflect the different needs of these companies. The new template gallery will make it easier to find the specific template that makes sense for your business, with new search tools, filters and previews that you can find in the right-hand panel of your Confluence site.

The updated gallery features new templates for design, marketing and HR teams, for example. Working with partners, Atlassian also added templates like a job description guide from Indeed and a design system template from InVision, as well as similar use case-specific templates from HubSpot, Optimizely and others. Since most tasks take more than one template, Atlassian is also launching collections of templates for accomplishing more complex tasks around developing marketing strategies, HR workflows, product development and more.

Ixigo, a 13-year-old travel and hotel booking service in India, said on Monday it is cutting the salary of its entire staff as the firm grapples with severe disruption in its business due to the coronavirus outbreak that has pushed New Delhi to issue a nationwide lockdown.

Aloke Bajpai, co-founder and chief executive of Ixigo, said the leadership at the firm has agreed to take a 60% pay cut while the rest of the staff, about 200 people, have agreed to have their salaries reduced between 20% to 50%. Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar, the other co-founder, have decided to forgo their entire salary until the business is back on track.

“We will reinstate the salaries as soon as the situation improves and we will also convert the accumulated salary deductions over the hardship period into equivalent ESOPs so that everyone benefits from future upside when the going gets better again,” said Bajpai.

The Indian government suspended all domestic flights and other public transportation services earlier this month and ordered a complete lockdown for three weeks to its 1.3 billion people in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease in the country.

Verteran industry executive Bajpai said the current situation is “the darkest hour for travel.” And it has hit the company at a time when it had just turned EBIDTA positive in the first two months of 2020.

Bajpai said Ixigo’s revenue surged by almost 50% in 2019 and burn rate dropped by almost 85% in the same year. The pay cut has enabled the company to not let go of any individual, he said.

“What the travel industry (and indeed any industry in our nation) faces today is no less than a war. India and the entire world are facing a catastrophe imposed by a microscopic adversary that has forced us to be confined to our homes, taken away our freedom to socialize with others, to roam and travel freely and forced us to give up all those things that help us experience the world and make us more human,” he said.

MakeMyTrip, another travel and stay booking service, announced last week that it was also cutting the salary of its top management level across the company, which includes flight ticketing service Goibibo and bus ticketing service redBus.

Indian news outlet Entrackr reported last week that MakeMyTrip may fire as many as 400 people if the business remains disruptive for long.