Not even 5G could rescue smartphone sales in 2020

{rss:content:encoded} Not even 5G could rescue smartphone sales in 2020 https://ift.tt/3mOwFHl https://ift.tt/2KCSHQ2 December 24, 2020 at 09:25PM This was going to be the year of 5G. It was going to be the year the next-generation wireless technology helped reverse some troubling macro trends for the industry — or at the very least helped stem the bleeding some. But the best laid plans, and all that. With about a week left in the year, I think it’s pretty safe to say that 2020 didn’t wind up the way the vast majority of us had hoped. It’s a list...

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Use Git data to optimize your developers’ annual reviews

Alex Circei Contributor Share on Twitter Alex Circei is CEO and co-founder of Waydev, a Git analytics tool that measures engineers' performance automatically. More posts by this contributor If you care about remote employees, start tracking their performance The end of the year is looming and with it one of your most important tasks as a manager. Summarizing the performance of 10, 20 or 50 developers over the past 12 months, offering personalized advice and having the facts to back it up — is no small task. We believe that the only...

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US seed-stage investing flourished during pandemic

As the United States entered its first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns, there were wide expectations in startup land that a reckoning had arrived. But the expected comeuppance of high-burn, high-growth startups fueled by cheap capital provided by venture capitalists raising ever-larger funds, failed to arrive. Instead, the very opposite came to pass. Layoffs happened swiftly and aggressively during the early months of the pandemic era. But by the middle of Q2, venture activity had warmed and third quarter dealmaking felt swift and competitive, with...

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Five VCs discuss what surprised them the most in 2020

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast (now on Twitter!), where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. Today is our holiday look-back at the year, bringing not only our own Danny and Natasha and Chris and Alex into the mix, but also five venture capitalists who we got to leave us their notes as well. The goal for this episode was to reflect on a year that no one could have ever predicted, but with a specific angle, as always, on venture capital and startups. We asked about the biggest surprise,...

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Bristol’s Brightpearl raises $33M Series C round led by Sage to boost its platform for retailers

Brightpearl, which allows retailers to streamline their operations thus boosting sales, has raised $33 million in funding to scale its business. This Series C round was led by Sage, which has put $23 million into the U.K. company. Previous backers Cipio Partners, Notion Capital and Verdane also participated, putting in $10 million. The Bristol, U.K.-based startup has a platform for financial management, CRM, fulfillment, inventory and sales order management, purchasing and supplier management, warehousing and logistics. Sage now takes a seat...

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Daily Crunch: Telegram prepares to monetize

Telegram will introduce ads, TikTok’s parent company is moving into drug discovery and President Trump continues his battle against Section 230. This is your Daily Crunch for December 23, 2020. The big story: Telegram prepares to monetize Telegram founder Pavel Durov said the messaging app will introduce advertising next year on public one-to-many channels. Durov wrote on his Telegram channel the ad platform will be “one that is user-friendly, respects privacy and allows us to cover the costs of server and traffic.” He also pointed to premium...

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Daily Crunch: Telegram prepares to monetize

{rss:content:encoded} Daily Crunch: Telegram prepares to monetize https://ift.tt/3aFwziW https://ift.tt/2CoAoqu December 24, 2020 at 12:10AM Telegram will introduce ads, TikTok’s parent company is moving into drug discovery and President Trump continues his battle against Section 230. This is your Daily Crunch for December 23, 2020. The big story: Telegram prepares to monetize Telegram founder Pavel Durov said the messaging app will introduce advertising next year on public one-to-many channels. Durov wrote on his Telegram channel the ad platform...

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TechCrunch’s top stories of 2020

As the year comes to a close, some of our editors share their top stories from 2020. Read more: For Seattle’s cop-free protest zone, tech is both a revolutionary asset and disastrous liability Uber in talks to sell ATG self-driving unit to Aurora Uber sells self-driving unit Uber ATG in deal that will push Aurora’s valuation to $10B Aurora sends offers to majority of Uber ATG employees, but not the R&D lab Uber leads $170M Lime investment, offloads Jump to Lime Uber sells air taxi business Elevate to Joby Aviation, shedding its last moonshot Uber...

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TechCrunch’s top stories of 2020

{rss:content:encoded} TechCrunch’s top stories of 2020 https://ift.tt/3aJUAFz https://ift.tt/37JPvuG December 23, 2020 at 09:43PM As the year comes to a close, some of our editors share their top stories from 2020. Read more: For Seattle’s cop-free protest zone, tech is both a revolutionary asset and disastrous liability Uber in talks to sell ATG self-driving unit to Aurora Uber sells self-driving unit Uber ATG in deal that will push Aurora’s valuation to $10B Aurora sends offers to majority of Uber ATG employees, but not the R&D lab Uber...

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Letterhead wants to be the Shopify of email newsletters

You’re probably investing in an email newsletter these days, whether you’re an international brand, a nonprofit or a local news publisher. Maybe email is even your focus now, because you got burned by Facebook, Google or other closed platforms during the past decade. The problem is that the tools you have available are probably too generic, or are built specifically for marketers. What if you want to make money from the newsletter content itself? Letterhead is slicing through the vast market of existing email SaaS products, betting that a cross-section...

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Honk introduces a real-time, ephemeral messaging app aimed at Gen Z

A new mobile app called Honk aims to make messaging with friends a more interactive, real-time experience. Instead of sending texts off into the void and hoping for a response, friends on Honk communicate via messages that are shown live as you type, with no saved chat history and no send button. The end result is a feeling of being more present in a conversation, as Honk will notify users the moment someone leaves a chat. And if you really want to get someone’s attention, you can send them a “Honk” — a hard-to-miss notification to join your chat. If...

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Dear Sophie: What’s ahead for US immigration in 2021?

Sophie Alcorn Contributor Share on Twitter Sophie Alcorn is the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley and 2019 Global Law Experts Awards’ “Law Firm of the Year in California for Entrepreneur Immigration Services.” She connects people with the businesses and opportunities that expand their lives. More posts by this contributor Dear Sophie: How did immigration change for startup founders in 2020? Dear Sophie: Can founders get visas in 2021 through DACA or other means? Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column...

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Fluent Forever raises $4.9M for its language learning system

Fluent Forever, a startup that uses a novel learning system to help its users master a new language faster, has raised a $4.9 million funding round led by Denver-based Stout Street Capital. Other investors in this round include The Syndicate, LAUNCH, Mana Ventures, Noveus VC, Flight.VC, Insta VC, UpVentures, Firebrand Ventures, Cultivation Capital, Spero Ventures and Lofty Ventures. In many ways, Fluent Forever is a direct competitor to Duolingo, Babbel and similar online language learning services. What sets it apart is a focus on a personalized...

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Heading into 2021: Venture fundraising, liquidity and the everything bubble

The last 12 months have provided us with shocking lows and surprising highs. In startup land, great expectations in January and February were followed by dashed hopes in March. Those woes were followed by April despair, surprised optimism from May through June, and, finally, a straight shot all the way to the moon through December. The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. Read it every morning on Extra Crunch, or get The Exchange newsletter every Saturday. It’s been a lot. But it’s all behind us. We don’t need to spend more time thinking...

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AI-driven energy startup Octopus hits $2B mark after $200M investment from Tokyo Gas

You’ve heard of challenger banks? Now meet the challenger energy suppliers. The U.K.’s Octopus Energy has attained a $2.06 billion valuation (£1.5 billion) after attracting a $200 million (£150 million) investment from Tokyo Gas, for a 9.7% stake, in order to launch a joint venture. Octopus will own 30% of the venture, with Tokyo Gas owning the majority. After five years of operation, Octopus is now close to the valuation of British Gas owner Centrica. Octopus will now launch as a brand in Japan with its trademark 100% renewable electricity operation,...

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Chinese autonomous driving startup WeRide bags $200M in funding

WeRide, one of China’s most-funded startups developing autonomous driving capabilities, said on Wednesday that it has raised a $200 million strategic round from Chinese bus maker Yutong. Mega investments aren’t uncommon at companies like WeRide developing the next-generation level 4 driving standard, which denotes that the car can handle the majority of driving situations independently without human intervention. WeRide did not disclose its valuation for this round, which is the first tranche of its Series B round, a company spokesperson told...

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Telegram, nearing 500 million users, to begin monetizing the app

Instant messaging app Telegram is “approaching” 500 million users and plans to start generating revenue starting next year to keep the business afloat, its founder Pavel Durov said on Wednesday. Durov said he has personally bankrolled the seven-year-old business so far, but as the startup scales he is looking for ways to monetize the instant messaging service. “A project of our size needs at least a few hundred million dollars per year to keep going,” he said. The service, which topped 400 million active users in April this year, will introduce...

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On-demand logistics company Lalamove gets $515 million Series E

Lalamove will extend its network to cover more small Chinese cities after raising $515 million in Series E funding, the on-demand logistics company announced on its site. The round was led by Sequoia Capital China, with participation from Hillhouse Capital and Shunwei Capital. All three are returning investors. According to Crunchbase data, this brings Lalamove’s total raised so far to about $976.5 million. The company’s last funding announcement was in February 2019, when it hit unicorn status with a Series D of $300 million. On-demand logistics...

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