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Today, we’ve been learning about what the hell a Mastodon even is, so the timing of Amanda’s piece toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/what-is-mastodon/”>‘A beginner’s guide to Mastodon’ is all sorts of perfect.
Give it a read, and come find us on Mastodon after. If you can — that’s another challenge. We have faith in your cyberstalking skills, but here’s a hint: Both of us are on Mastodon.Social. — Christine and Haje.
The TechCrunch Top 3
- toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/binance-signs-letter-of-intent-to-acquire-ftx/”>This surprise was off the chain!: In a surprise twist today, Binance announced its intent to acquire FTX in a move that will clear out some of the “liquidity crunches” that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried tweeted about, Manish reports. This comes after the two companies’ founders had a very public spat recently. (More on that in Big Tech Inc. below).
- toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/peloton-co-founder-john-foley-is-a-rug-guy-now/”>Roll out: Over in TechCrunch+ land, Becca writes about what Peloton co-founder John Foley has been doing. Apparently, he “is a rug guy now.” Also, as Becca points out, his new company, Ernesta, is another example of VCs investing in people they knew, even if their last company flailed some.
- toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/a-list-of-features-elon-musk-has-promised-to-bring-to-twitter/”>A list that changes every day: Hey, fellow Twitter users, are you on Team Verify or Team Leave My Stuff Alone? Either way, Ivan has a list of features Elon Musk has promised to bring to Twitter.
Startups and VC
Though finance technology startups are having a moment when it comes to decreased venture capital deals and layoffs, Quona Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in emerging markets that accelerate financial inclusion, has found the appetite is still there for fintechs, Christine reports. The firm had its toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/quona-capital-332m-financial-inclusion/”>final close on $332 million in capital commitments for its Fund III, which focuses on financial inclusion.
Also from Christine today (in addition to our resident Daily Crunch newsletter wrangler, she’s a post-writing machine!) is a piece about Doola, a company helping toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/doola-nurses-new-capital-for-its-business-in-a-box-tool-targeting-global-founders/”>global founders start a limited liability company in the United States, even without a Social Security number. The company raised an $8 million round of funding, less than a year after it raised $3 million worth of seed funding.
A handful more, because we love ya:
- Security on cruise control: toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/laika-laps-up-50m-for-its-automated-security-compliance-platform/”>Laika laps up $50 million for its automated security compliance platform, Ingrid reports.
- Moar security on cruise control: Security automation startup toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/security-automation-startup-veriti-launches-out-of-stealth-with-18-5m/”>Veriti launches out of stealth with an $18.5 million sack of cash to fuel it, Kyle reports.
- AI marketing videos are here: Rita reports that Movio wants to make your toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/movio-marketing-videos-generative-ai/”>marketing videos with generative AI.
- YC sticking to its guns: Outgoing YC president Geoff Ralston told Connie that toptechtrends.com/2022/11/07/outgoing-yc-president-geoff-ralston-the-market-is-changing-ycs-terms-are-not/”>the market is changing, but YC’s terms are not.
- Finding startups in new ways: Gunning for the likes of PitchBook and Crunchbase, Natasha M reports that toptechtrends.com/2022/11/07/harmonic-helps-investors-query-the-startup-searches-of-their-wildest-dreams/”>Harmonic helps investors query the startup searches of their wildest dreams.
Here’s the rundown on the Binance and FTX fiasco
Image Credits: wenjin chen (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Today we learned that the world’s largest crypto exchange is bailing out the world’s third-largest crypto exchange. But why?
In a detailed explainer, Jacquelyn Melinek wrote about how a CoinDesk report last Thursday on crypto trading firm Alameda Research led Binance to liquidate a mountain of tokens that backed many of Alameda’s loans.
Three more from the TC+ team:
- Chasing clouds: Alex has a piece about startup CEOs having opinions on toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/startup-ceos-sound-off-on-picking-cloud-providers/”>picking cloud providers.
- First, ’tain the dollars. Then retain them: Anna and Alex exploretoptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/whats-the-right-ndr-target-for-saas-startups/”> what the right net dollar retention (NDR) target should be for SaaS startups.
- Unicornier and unicornier: Matt Armanino has toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/ive-worked-with-hundreds-of-unicorns-heres-what-founders-and-executives-need-to-focus-on/”>worked with hundreds of unicorns, and he shares what founders and executives need to focus on.
toptechtrends.com/techcrunchplus/”>TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack.toptechtrends.com/click/26685582.342535/aHR0cHM6Ly90ZWNoY3J1bmNoLmNvbS9zdWJzY3JpYmUvP3V0bV9tZWRpdW09VENuZXdzbGV0dGVyJnRwY2M9VENkYWlseW5ld3NsZXR0ZXI/6036d5494a049802a929497cBf82fd2bd”> You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!
Big Tech Inc.
As promised from above, Jacquelyn dives deeper into some of the things going on at FTX, including that the toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/ftxs-seemingly-sluggish-withdrawals-raise-eyebrows/”>crypto exchanges withdrawals seemed to be sluggish. And that its potential new owner, Binance, was going to “slowly toptechtrends.com/2022/11/07/heres-the-rundown-on-the-binance-and-ftx-fiasco/”>withdraw billions of its holdings in FTX’s native token, FTT.” Oh, you two!
And we have five more for you:
- Who’s got a new trivia game?: It’s Netflix! The streaming service is trying its hand at a new trivia game — remember its venture into “Trivia Quest”? The new one is toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/netflix-launches-a-new-interactive-trivia-experience-triviaverse/”>an interactive trivia experience called “Triviaverse.” Lauren has more.
- Video, email, calendar:toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/zooms-adding-email-and-calendar-as-it-pushes-hard-to-expand-the-platform/”> Zoom is adding email and calendar to its features lineup, a move Ron reports is its chosen avenue, for now, as the company looks to expand its offerings.
- Stepping down:toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/grab-financial-leader-reuben-lai-to-step-down/”> Grab Financial leader Reuben Lai is planning to leave the company at the end of the year, Catherine writes.
- It’s a party, a third-party, that is: Third-party merchants in India can now have toptechtrends.com/2022/11/07/amazon-quietly-opens-its-logistics-network-to-third-party-merchants-in-india/”>Amazon-like logistics power thanks to the delivery giant opening it up to them, Manish writes.
- Don’t ever say you’re left out: European Union investigators now plan to toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/microsoft-activision-eu-antitrust-probe/”>take an even deeper dive into Microsoft’s $68.7 billion bid to acquire Activision and what it could mean for competition,toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/microsoft-activision-eu-antitrust-probe/”> Natasha L reports.
toptechtrends.com/2022/11/08/daily-crunch-binance-says-it-will-buy-ftx-after-smaller-rival-stumbles-through-liquidity-crunch/”>Daily Crunch: Binance says it will buy FTX after smaller rival stumbles through ‘liquidity crunch’ by toptechtrends.com/author/christine-hall/”>Christine Hall originally published on toptechtrends.com/”>TechCrunch
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