Subscribe here for a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3pm PDT.
Friday Crunch is here! Friday Crunch is here! Ready to sit by the proverbial pool with a drink under an umbrella. (Realistically, it’s the embodiment of TV and beer, fancy cocktails and swimming pools. The mind is that strong.) Anyway, let’s keep the news going! — Christine and he came
TechCrunch Top 3
- I can’t see anything here: For a while, cryptocurrency giant Binance had to temporarily suspend spot trading, deposits and withdrawals. mannish report. As of this morning, everything is back to normal.
- lost: Google has removed hundreds of Kenya-focused loan apps from the Play Store following a new policy requiring digital lenders to provide proof of license. Annie I am writing. February saw similar activity in the Indian government and lending apps.
- Huge investment in EV: Ford is hitting the gas on electric vehicles, planning to build its next generation of electric trucks at a $5.6 billion plant in Tennessee in 2025. Kirsten report.
Startups and VC
Zigazoo, a startup known for its TikTok-style video-sharing app for kids, is launching another app aimed at Gen Z users. Lauren report. The new app has become a flagship name and is aimed at ages 13 and up, while the original kids app is aimed at Generation Alpha (ages 3-12) and has been rebranded to “Zigazoo Kids”. Previous users in the younger age group will automatically be migrated to his Zigazoo Kids.
WebAssembly, or Wasm for short, is an open standard that enables browser-based applications to run with near-native performance. Frederick report. It has also been extended to support non-browser environments. This drives much of the hype these days. But like any emerging technology, it needs a stronger tool ecosystem to reach its full potential. Dylibso has raised $6.6 million to help developers bring this technology to market.
As we gear up for the weekend, here are six more.
Pitch Deck Teardown: $1.5 Million Seed Deck from Prelaunch.com
Image credit: Prelaunch.com (opens in new window)
Earlier this week, Haje Jan Kamps interviewed Prelaunch.com CEO Narek Vardanyan for his take on how hardware startups validate their products before they hit the market.
In a follow-up, he analyzed the pitch deck of Prelaunch.com’s $1.5 million seed round to show investors how the company monetizes its product forecasts.
- cover slide
- Summary slide
- market status slide
- problem slide
- Solution slide
- Problems with existing solution slides
- Product slide 1
- result slide
- Product slide 2
- Product slide 3
- Product slide 4
- vision slide
- value proposition slide
- traction force and indicator slide
- Business model and price slide
- Market trend slide
- why slide now
- team slide
- question slide
- contact slide
Three more from the TC+ team:
TechCrunch+ is a membership program that helps founders and startup teams stay ahead. You can sign up here. Use code ‘DC’ and get 15% off your annual subscription!
Big Tech Co., Ltd.
Remember when we told you yesterday that Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon was detained? Kate There have been updates, and Kwon appears to have been pretty mischievous, among other things, trying to flee to Dubai with forged documents. There is likely to be. Where he will end up is not yet known.
So let’s wrap up yesterday’s TikTok coverage. CEO Shou Zi Chew didn’t seem to impress the congressional audience, though he learned a few new things. Sara reports that the social media giant scans public videos to determine the age of its users. Chew also denied espionage was taking place when ByteDance employees monitored the journalist. taylor has more information.
In addition, there are five
- across the pond: Natasha L. has two foreign government news items. The UK’s antitrust watchdog said new evidence “temporarily alleviates” concerns about the supply of video game consoles in the UK linked to an antitrust probe into the Microsoft-Activision deal. The French parliament also voted in favor of biometric surveillance at the Paris Olympics.
- Up, up, but not away: Blue Origin has released a report on a launch anomaly that occurred six months ago and vows to fly again “soon,” Devin writes.
- cancel anytime: The Federal Trade Commission proposes new rules to make it easier to cancel free trials and subscriptions. Aisha There are more.
- test, test 1, 2, 3: Battery replacement provider Gogoro plans to expand into new markets through B2B partners such as Singapore’s Foodpanda. Rebecca report.
- 800,000 problems and AI is not one: The Allen AI Institute created a database of 3D models of everyday items for AI to play with. 800,000 virtual props, to be exact, he writes Devin.
