Category: UNCATEGORIZED

Another tech giant is under investigation in Europe for potential privacy breaches of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), TechCrunch has learnt.

The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), which is the lead data protection regulator for most multinational tech giants in Europe, has opened a formal probe into Quantcast’s business — adding +1 to the 17 investigations it already had up and running into Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Apple, Twitter and LinkedIn. 

In a statement about the new statutory inquiry into Quantcast the DPC told us:

Since the application of the GDPR significant concerns have been raised by individuals and privacy advocates concerning the conduct of technology companies operating in the online advertising sector and their compliance with the GDPR. Arising from a submission to the Data Protection Commission by Privacy International, a statutory inquiry pursuant to section 110 of the Data Protection Action 2018 has been commenced in respect of Quantcast International Limited. The purpose of the inquiry is to establish whether the company’s processing and aggregating of personal data for the purposes of profiling and utilising the profiles generated for targeted advertising is in compliance with the relevant provisions of the GDPR. The GDPR principle of transparency and retention practices will also be examined

We’ve reached out to Quantcast for comment.

The full Privacy International submission to the DPC can be found here.

The privacy advocacy group raises a number of concerns about Quantcast’s products — including behavioral ad targeting tech and its consent management tool for publishers and advertisers. (The complaint also names two other “adtech brokers”, Criteo and Tapad.)

The DPC’s head of communications, Graham Doyle, told us it’s not releasing information on the number of complaints it received about Quantcast specifically.

As we reported in February, Facebook and Facebook-owned companies still account for the lion’s share of the Irish regulator’s probes of big tech — with another added to its tally just last week (into the breach of “hundreds of millions” of Facebook and Instagram user passwords which had been stored in plaintext).

But Quantcast is an interesting addition to the DPC’s investigation list given that it’s not a consumer-facing tech giant but rather an adtech veteran which sits behind the scenes, selling ‘marketing intelligence’ tools to other brands so they can sift and mine Internet users’ personal data.

The addition of Quantcast shows the value of GDPR enabling campaign organizations such as Privacy International to make complaints on EU citizens’ behalf. Few consumers know the half of how adtech works.

A 2017 AdAge article described Quantcast’s technology as “almost woven into the fabric of the internet” — on account of how it got started providing measurement capabilities to publishers. (It was founded in San Francisco, back in 2006.)

But since the GDPR came into force last May Quantcast’s b2b brand has become increasingly visible to web users — with its branded technology powering many of the consent pop-ups used by online publishers to claim GDPR ‘compliance’.

These pop ups typically feature a big blue ‘I agree’ button that nudges Internet users to agree to their personal data being processed by the website they’re visiting — and any ad/analytics partners it wants to share it with.

Clicking the almost invisible and gnomically named ‘Show Purposes’ link opens a fuller menu of consent options — where users are able to toggle on/off any fields that the tool’s user has not deemed ‘required’.

Cedric Kovacs-Johnson launched Flume Health after watching his own family struggle with payments for his sister’s surgery.

“When we looked at who was calling the shots [on prices] it was this litany of service providers that was unknown to us and the cost was unknown to us until we got the bill weeks later,” says Kovacs-Johnson. 

The family had thought that their medical bills would be covered by one insurance provider, but as bills kept rolling in, they realized that what had been promised as one insurance company was actually an insurance plan managed by a benefits manager whose plan was not as extensive — and that the insurer was only managing the relationship with the benefits manager.

So the former Makerbot employee launched Flume in February 2017 to make the payment process more transparent for the hundreds of companies that are self-insuring their employees to cope with rising healthcare premiums.

Roughly 80% of companies with over 500 employees are providing their own insurance plans, or outsourcing the administration of insurance coverage to plan administrators and startups, seeing the woefully poor service these companies provide, are jumping into the fray.

Collective Health is one of the best funded, with $300 million in capital committed to the company, including a $110 million round last year. Another startup, Limelight Health has raised $40 million in financing as it tries to grab market share by providing tools to make the self-insured health management process easier for companies.

Those companies and upstarts like Flume, Apostrophe and Eden Health are all tackling services and support for companies providing self-insurance.

“We become the independent administrator [and] instead of buying a whole bundle of services from a carrier we let them buy it from independent providers.”

Flume is able to offer lower prices for procedures than competitors by offering payment on the day of an operation or within three days of a visit.

“Our difference is that you have an ability to change the fundamental relationship between payer and provider,” said Kovacs-Johnson. “We pay for a bundle. We know ahead of time that a procedure is pre-authorized… when we give them the approval on this estimated date of service… now that we know we’ve authorized the service we are going to pay that before or at the time of service. So we get discounts because providers hate the billing process.”

Traditional insurance administrators usually offer a bundled package of services that companies just pay for. Instead, Flume offers companies transparent pricing for independent services that allows patients and providers to pick and choose — cutting out much of the claims processing that creates additional administrative overhead for care providers, according to the company.

To navigate the world of third party administrators, Flume hired one. The company’s chief operating officer was the chairman of the board of third party administrators, Kevin Schlotman.

“As SPBA chairman, I am constantly looking at the future of our industry and have been frustrated by the lack of transparency in the cost and quality of healthcare, and the structural barriers in place that restrict flexibility in plan design and reimbursement methods that our clients are demanding,” Schlotman said in a statement when he joined the company in September.

So far, Flume has eight customers who’ve signed on to its digital health plan administration service pulling its first clients from unions and school districts across five states.

The New York-based company has also managed to attract a few investors, raising $4 million from New York investors including Primary Venture Partners, Accomplice, Founder Collective, and Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator.

By working directly with providers to get cash prices for services, patients avoid surprise bills and know what they’re paying before an appointment, according to the company.

“Cedric and team have created a solution to one of the most crippling problems facing America right now, and their early success is strong evidence that employers are desperate for change. What they’re doing has huge implications for the future of healthcare in our country,” said TJ Mahoney, partner at Accomplice .

Cedric Kovacs-Johnson launched Flume Health after watching his own family struggle with payments for his sister’s surgery.

“When we looked at who was calling the shots [on prices] it was this litany of service providers that was unknown to us and the cost was unknown to us until we got the bill weeks later,” says Kovacs-Johnson. 

The family had thought that their medical bills would be covered by one insurance provider, but as bills kept rolling in, they realized that what had been promised as one insurance company was actually an insurance plan managed by a benefits manager whose plan was not as extensive — and that the insurer was only managing the relationship with the benefits manager.

So the former Makerbot employee launched Flume in February 2017 to make the payment process more transparent for the hundreds of companies that are self-insuring their employees to cope with rising healthcare premiums.

Roughly 80% of companies with over 500 employees are providing their own insurance plans, or outsourcing the administration of insurance coverage to plan administrators and startups, seeing the woefully poor service these companies provide, are jumping into the fray.

Collective Health is one of the best funded, with $300 million in capital committed to the company, including a $110 million round last year. Another startup, Limelight Health has raised $40 million in financing as it tries to grab market share by providing tools to make the self-insured health management process easier for companies.

Those companies and upstarts like Flume, Apostrophe and Eden Health are all tackling services and support for companies providing self-insurance.

“We become the independent administrator [and] instead of buying a whole bundle of services from a carrier we let them buy it from independent providers.”

Flume is able to offer lower prices for procedures than competitors by offering payment on the day of an operation or within three days of a visit.

“Our difference is that you have an ability to change the fundamental relationship between payer and provider,” said Kovacs-Johnson. “We pay for a bundle. We know ahead of time that a procedure is pre-authorized… when we give them the approval on this estimated date of service… now that we know we’ve authorized the service we are going to pay that before or at the time of service. So we get discounts because providers hate the billing process.”

Traditional insurance administrators usually offer a bundled package of services that companies just pay for. Instead, Flume offers companies transparent pricing for independent services that allows patients and providers to pick and choose — cutting out much of the claims processing that creates additional administrative overhead for care providers, according to the company.

To navigate the world of third party administrators, Flume hired one. The company’s chief operating officer was the chairman of the board of third party administrators, Kevin Schlotman.

“As SPBA chairman, I am constantly looking at the future of our industry and have been frustrated by the lack of transparency in the cost and quality of healthcare, and the structural barriers in place that restrict flexibility in plan design and reimbursement methods that our clients are demanding,” Schlotman said in a statement when he joined the company in September.

So far, Flume has eight customers who’ve signed on to its digital health plan administration service pulling its first clients from unions and school districts across five states.

The New York-based company has also managed to attract a few investors, raising $4 million from New York investors including Primary Venture Partners, Accomplice, Founder Collective, and Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator.

By working directly with providers to get cash prices for services, patients avoid surprise bills and know what they’re paying before an appointment, according to the company.

“Cedric and team have created a solution to one of the most crippling problems facing America right now, and their early success is strong evidence that employers are desperate for change. What they’re doing has huge implications for the future of healthcare in our country,” said TJ Mahoney, partner at Accomplice .

FreightHub, the European digital freight forwarder, has raised $30 million in Series B financing. Leading the round is Rider Global — a venture fund said to be founded by logistics experts — along with Maersk Growth, the corporate venture arm of container shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk.

Existing investors Northzone, Rocket Internet’s Global Founders Capital (GFC), and Cherry Ventures also participated. I’m told the London-based investment firm Unbound, founded by Shravin Mittal, significantly expanded its stake too.

Operating in the freight industry, an antiquated market that is ripe for digitalisation and as a result has attracted a plethora of well-funded startups, FreightHub is setting out to compete with and replace traditional freight forwarding companies who typically rely on legacy IT systems and cumbersome and manual processes.

Described as a fully-fledged freight forwarder, the Berlin and Hamburg-based startup offers transport services for sea, air and rail freight, built on digitized processes – from booking, communication, data exchange and document management to supply chain optimization.

Last year, off the back of its $20 million Series A, FreightHub says it heavily invested in solutions for digital collaboration between customers, partners and suppliers and expanded the interface functions for its system integration capabilities. The company also expanded its service portfolio, including obtaining an IATA license for air freight services.

“Our forwarding solution offers more transparency, reliability and ultimately time and cost advantages for large and mid-sized organisations,” says FreightHub CCO Michael Wax in a statement. “Today, we serve some of the most well-known German brands and grew our volumes again 3x year over year”.

Claiming more than 1,500 customers – including well-known companies such as Home24, Miele and Viessmann – in addition to existing locations in Berlin and Hamburg, the FreightHub recently opened its first Asian office in Hong Kong and acquired a sea freight forwarder specialised in Asian imports.

“Our recent growth trajectory has confirmed the potential that our digital solutions can realize for both our customers and FreightHub’s internal processes,” adds FreightHub founder and CEO Ferry Heilemann. We will use the fresh capital to further develop our digital service offering and to expand our presence in Asia”.

Dépêche-toi et ne tarde pas! Roughly translated that means “hurry up and don’t delay!” You can still register to participate in the TC Hackathon at VivaTech to hack for some great prizes. It won’t cost you a thing to join the fun — tickets are free, and they also give you access to all three days of VivaTech 2019. Get yours now while you still can.

The TC Hackathon takes place May 17-18 — on days two and three of VivaTech. Come and join more than 500 hackers, coders, developers, UX/UI designers and other creative geniuses to build, pitch and present something incredible in less than two days. Enjoy the competition, the community, the camaraderie — and win cold, hard cash, prizes and swag in the process.

If you’re not familiar with how this hackathon works, here’s what you need to know. Teams, which can range from 4-6 people, will choose one of several sponsored hack contests (more on those in a minute) when they register. If you don’t have a team, you can find one when you get onsite.

When the hackathon starts, your team has just 24 hours to build a working solution for the challenge you selected. It’ll take all your focus, skills and stamina to get the job done. Then it’s time to present and pitch your product to the TechCrunch judges onstage — in 60 seconds.

The esteemed TechCrunch judges assign each team a score between one and five, and the team with the highest score wins the prize associated with the sponsored hack. Depending on the challenge you select, you could win €5000, incubation, other cash prizes and hardware. All teams that receive a combined score of three or higher also win tickets to TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin 2019 and VivaTech 2020.

In addition, TechCrunch will select one team as the overall best hack and award them with a €5000 grand prize. Last year, CommerceDNA earned that honor. Will it be you this time?

If you’re detailed-oriented or just plain curious, check out the TC Hackathon FAQ. Wondering about the sponsored contests we have lined up so far? Here’s the latest info:

Galeries Lafayette Publicis Sapient Predictive Mode Challenge
Discovering emerging brands and proposing an offer aligned with consumer expectations is a permanent challenge. Data can help us identify major upcoming trends and measure the potential of a brand or collection by uncovering fashion trends of tomorrow through text mining algorithms and pattern recognition in images and videos. If you wish to put your creativity and data analysis skills to link fashion and deep learning algorithms, then this challenge is made for you! The best product that addresses this challenge will receive €5000 in prize money.

The TechCrunch Hackathon at VivaTech 2019 takes place in Paris on May 17-18. Don’t miss out on this exhilarating, exhausting and fun event. Register for your free ticket now. Dépêche-toi et ne tarde pas!

Plum, the chatbot-based app that helps you manage your money, is disclosing $4.5 million in further funding.

The round, which quietly closed in the summer, was led by venture firm VentureFriends and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). It brings total funding for the London and Athens-based fintech to $6.3 million.

Founded in 2016 by early TransferWise employee Victor Trokoudes and Alex Michael, Plum is described as an AI-powered online money management tool.

Similar to U.K. competitors Cleo and Chip and a host of other PFM-styled apps, you link the app to your bank accounts and gain access to a range of functionality spanning savings, investments and finding ways of saving money based on analysis of your regular outgoings.

This includes helping you save based on what Plum’s algorithm’s deem you can afford — in the form round-ups and/or regular savings — and other budgeting tools.

You can also open an ISA investment account and invest based on themes, such as only in “ethical companies” or technology.

Launched last month, a related feature dubbed “Splitter” lets you split your automatic savings between Plum savings and investments, selecting the percentage amounts to go into each pot from 0-100 percent.

Lastly, if Plum spots you are overpaying on various household bills it will offer to help you switch supplier.

Meanwhile, the fintech startup is making its chatbot available beyond Facebook Messenger with the launch of Plum for iOS. A version for Android is said to be available “in the coming months”.

The biggest news in a month of weighty African headlines was Jumia listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

After filing SEC IPO docs in March, the Pan-African e-commerce company’s shares began trading on the NYSE April 12, opening at $14.50 under ticker symbol JMIA. Jumia stock rose north of 70 percent on its first day of trading and started this week at $46.

With the public listing, Jumia became the first startup from Africa to list on a major global exchange. The IPO raised nearly $200 million for the internet venture.

The listing created another milestone for Jumia.  In 2016 the company became the first African startup unicorn, achieving a $1 billion valuation after a funding round that included Goldman Sachs and MTN.

Founded in Lagos in 2012 with Rocket Internet backing, Jumia now operates multiple online verticals in 14 African countries—from consumer retail to travel bookings.

Jumia has also opened itself up to Africa’s traders with more than 80,000 active sellers on the platform.

Like Amazon, Jumia brings its own mix of supporters and critics. On the critical side, there are questions of whether it’s actually an African startup. The parent for Jumia Group is incorporated in Germany and current CEOs Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec are French.

On the flipside, original Jumia co-founders (Tunde Kehinde and Raphael Afaedor) are Nigerian. The company is headquartered in Africa (Lagos) and incorporated in each country in which it operates (under ECART Internet Services in Nigeria). Jumia pays taxes on the continent, employs 5,128 people in Africa (page 125 of K-1) and the CEO of its largest country operation Juliet Anammah is Nigerian.

The Jumia authenticity and diversity debates will no doubt continue. But the biggest question — the driver behind the VC, the IPO, and demand for Jumia’s shares — is whether the startup can produce profits. The company has generated years of losses, including negative EBITDA of €172 million in 2018 compared to revenues of €139 that same year.

DHL Africa e-Shop

Call it coincidence or competition, but the day before Jumia’s IPO, DHL partnered with another e-commerce startup—MallforAfrica.com—to launch its DHL Africa eShop app for global retailers to sell goods to Africa’s consumers markets.

The platform brings more than 200 U.S. and U.K. retailers — from Neiman Marcus to Carters — online in 11 African countries.

DHL Africa eShop operates using startup MallforAfrica.com’s white label service, Link Commerce.

The new online platform takes advantage of the shipping giant’s existing delivery structure on the continent to get goods to doorsteps near and far.

DHL’s partner for the new app, MallforAfrica, was founded in 2011 to solve challenges global consumer goods companies face when entering Africa.

On a B2C level, DHL Africa eShop brings distinct advantages on a transaction cost basis (i.e. the cost of delivery) given it is connected to one of the world’s logistics masters, DHL.

Another component of DHL and MallforAfrica’s partnership is the market for offering e-commerce fulfillment services through MallforAfrica’s white label Link Commerce service.

This could put the duo on a footing to compete with (or work with) big e-commerce names entering Africa and adds another layer of competition with Jumia, which offers its own fulfillment services vertical in Africa.

Cathay Africinvest Innovation Fund

There’s a new $100 million plus African VC fund in the works. Tunisia-based private equity firm Africinvest teamed up with Cathay Innovation to announce the Cathay Africinvest Innovation Fund, with a target raise of $168 million.

Details are still forthcoming, but the fund will focus primarily on Series A to C-stage investments in startups across several countries in the areas of fintech, logistics, AI, agtech and edutech. Investments could begin as early as 2019, fund co-founder Denis Barrier told TechCrunch.

He expects to see strong local showing for startups from across Africinvest’s 10 country offices in North and Sub-Saharan African. The firm will open an office in Johannesburg in the near future, according to a company release.

Zipline expands in Ghana

Zipline, the San Francisco-based UAV manufacturer and logistics services provider, launched a program in Ghana for drone delivery of medical supplies.

Working with the Ghanaian government, Zipline will operate 30 drones out of four distribution centers to distribute vaccines, blood and life-saving medications to 2,000 health facilities across the West African nation daily. Speaking to TechCrunch, the company’s CEO Keller Rinaudo described the Ghana operation as “the largest drone delivery network on the planet,”

The Ghana program adds a second country to Zipline’s live operations. Zipline got off the ground in Rwanda and has leveraged its experience in East Africa to begin testing medical delivery services in the United States. Zipline plans to move from pilot-phase to live-delivery of medical supplies in the U.S. sometime this summer.

ConnectMed acquired by Merck

And finally, German pharmaceutical company Merck KGaa acquired the technology of Kenya based online healthtech company ConnectMed. A 2017 Startup Battlefield Africa competitor, ConnectMed paired up telehealth kiosks to local pharmacies—turning them into online clinics where patients use the startup’s tablet based app to connect live to doctors for evaluation and prescriptions. The startup had received grant and seed funds from UK based Entrepreneur First and Norway’s Katapult Accelerator.

Merck KGaa (not be confused with U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck) took over ConnectMed’s telehealth applications. “Following the handover of the company’s telehealth solutions to Merck…ConnectMed will cease operations,” said a company release on the deal. Merck will integrate ConnectMed’s platform into its own CURAFA clinic network in Kenya.

More Africa Related Stories @TechCrunch

• Boomplay, a Spotify-style music and video streaming service for African music and Africa, raises $20M
• Acquisitions, more than IPOs, will create Africa’s early startup successes
• Partnering with Visa, emerging market lender Branch International raises $170 million
• Consolidation in Africa as classifieds player Jiji acquires their main competitor OLX
• Facebook’s AI team maps the whole population of Africa

African Tech Around The Net

• Seedstars to launch $100M venture fund for African tech startups
• Founders Factory Africa, Standard Bank invest in first five fintech startups
• Ghanaian-based health startup, mPharma to buy Kenya’s second largest pharmacy chain

It’s lucky number seven as the TechCrunch posse returns yet again to Berlin, Europe’s vibrant international hub, to host Disrupt Berlin 2019 on 11-12 December. We just can’t get enough of this city’s startup spirit and, apparently, neither can you. Our Disrupt Berlin events have attracted participants from more than 50 countries, including European Union members, Israel, Turkey, Russia, Egypt, India, China and South Korea, to name a few.

Consider this a clarion call to save the date, but it’s so much more than that. We believe in rewarding action with savings, and this year we have a sweet deal available well before the official registration opens in late May. Simply sign up for our mailing list before registration opens and we’ll knock an extra €200 off the super-early-bird ticket price.

Imagine experiencing all that Disrupt Berlin has to offer knowing that you got in at the lowest possible price. That’s some serious ROI right out of the gate. Take in the Startup Battlefield — our legendary pitch-off with $50,000 cash at stake. The competition is always fierce and fascinating. Case in point: last year, Legacy earned the title of reigning champion by tackling the problem of reduced sperm motility. No, really.

Explore the hundreds of dynamic early-stage startups exhibiting a wide range of tech products, services and platforms — not to mention a ton of talent — in Startup Alley, the heart of every Disrupt event. Startup Alley is networking on steroids, where opportunity awaits at every table.

Of course, we’ll have an incredible roster of speakers, panelists, demos, workshops and Q&A Sessions. We’re talking leading founders, technologists, investors and tech icons. Last year, speakers included Frank Salzgeber from the European Space Agency, Lizzie Chapman from ZestMoney, an Indian fintech startup, and Rafal Modrzewski from satellite company ICEYE — to name a few. We’ll announce this year’s lineup over the weeks running up to Disrupt Berlin 2019, so keep checking back.

Disrupt Berlin 2019 takes place on 11-12 December — that’s two full days of intense programming and curated networking. There’s no better place to gain focused, in-person exposure to the European and international startup scene. And now you can save an extra €200 off passes just by signing up for our mailing list. Do it today, save a bundle and we’ll see you in December.

LG was once a stalwart of the smartphone industry — remember its collaboration with Facebook back in the day? — but today the company is swiftly descending into irrelevance.

The latest proof is LG’s Q1 financials, released this week, which show that its mobile division grossed just KRW 1.51 trillion ($1.34 billion) in sales for the quarter. That’s down 30 percent year-on-year and the lowest income for LG Mobile for at least the last eight years. We searched back eight years to Q1 2011 — before that LG was hit and miss with releasing specific financial figures for its divisions.

To give an indication of its decline, LG shipped over 15 million phones in Q4 2015 when its revenue was 3.78 trillion RKW, or $3.26 billion. That 2.5 times higher than this recent Q1 2019 period.

Regular readers will be aware that LG mobile is a loss-making division. That’s the reason its activities — and consequently sales — have scaled down in recent years. But the losses are still coming.

LG put Brian Kwon, who leads its lucrative Home Entertainment business, in charge of its mobile division last November and his task remains ongoing, it appears.

LG Mobile recorded a loss of 203.5 billion KRW ($181.05 million) for Q1 which it described as “narrowed.”

It is true that LG Mobile’s Q1 loss is lower than the 322.3 billion KRW ($289.8 million) loss it carded in the previous quarter, but it is wider than one year previous. Indeed, the mobile division lost 136.1 billion KRW ($126.85 million) in Q1 2018.

LG said Mr Kwon is presiding over “a revised smartphone launch strategy” which is why the numbers are changing so drastically. Going forward, it said that the launch of its G7 ThinQ flagship phone and a new upgrade center — first announced last year — are in the immediate pipeline, but it is hard to see how any of this will reverse the downward trend.

LG Mobile is increasingly problematic because the parent company is seeing success in other areas, but that’s being countered by a poor performing smartphone business. Last quarter, mobile dragged LG to its first quarterly loss in two years, for example.

Just looking at the Q1 numbers, LG’s overall profit was 900.6 billion KRW ($801.25 million) thanks to its home appliance business ($647.3 million profit) and that home entertainment business, which had a profit of $308.27 million. Its automotive business — which is, among other things, focused on EVs — did bite into the profits, but that is at least a business that is going places.

Podcast monetization company Acast is launching a new way for publishers to put their podcasts behind a paywall.

Until now, podcasts have not been well-suited to subscription paywalls, due to the fact that they’re distributed via RSS feeds that can be accessed by any podcast player. So instead we’ve seen workarounds like Substack building a web-based audio player and TechCrunch releasing all our podcasts free while putting transcripts behind the Extra Crunch paywall.

And then there’s Luminary, the subscription podcast app that’s faced serious backlash for including unaffiliated podcasts in a way that some podcasters suspect it was re-hosting their audio files. (The company says it wasn’t doing that.)

With Acast Access, on the other hand, publishers should be able to create versions of their podcasts that are only available to subscribers, but are still accessible from any app.

Chief Product Officer Johan Billgren said that Acast works with a publisher to create two different podcast feeds — the public feed, which is available to everyone for free, and the “accessed-RSS” feed, which should include all the public content but also extra episodes, episodes released early or episodes with additional bonus content inserted.

Billgren demonstrated the listener process for me, showing how a subscriber could log onto a publisher’s site, visit the podcast page and then click a button that will allow them to subscribe to the paid version of the podcast, choosing the podcast app of their choice. Once you’ve subscribed, you should be able to download and play episodes anytime you want, without any additional login.

Behind the scenes, Billgren said Acast is checking anonymized user data against the publisher’s API to confirm that you really do have permission to access the feed. And apparently it can still cut you off after you cancel your subscription.

Initial Acast Access partners include the Financial Times and The Economist. While it makes sense to launch with larger publishers who can incorporate this into their existing subscription paywalls, Billgren said Acast will also be making this available to smaller partners in the comings months — they’ll be able to release podcasts behind Acast’s own subscription paywall. (The company has already been experimenting with paid content through its Acast+ app.)

“Basically, we want to reach the point where it’s a natural thing to say, ‘This is the public version [of a podcast], press the link to get access to the accessed version,'” he said.