Autonomous trucking startup Gatik AI raises $85M Series B led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, bringing total raised to $114.5M — In the two years since Gatik AI came out of stealth, the autonomous vehicle startup has launched pilots with Walmart and Canadian retail giant Loblaw in its bid …
As ad revenue surges, Alphabet shares are up 65% over 2021, and up more than 7% in August to reach a record high of $2,891.81, the longest rally since 2009 — - Shares are poised for their eighth straight month of gains — Yearly rise nearly twice as much as Facebook, Microsoft
Sources and experts say US-funded Afghan government databases containing sensitive personal data could be used by the Taliban to identify millions of Afghans — By capturing 40 pieces of data per person—from iris scans and family links to their favorite fruit—a system meant to cut fraud …
At the behest of South Korean regulators, payments service Kakao lowers its IPO target to ~$1.3B at the top of the range, down from ~$1.4B — - Regulators asked the startup to revise its IPO prospectus — Krafton's lukewarm debut has soured sentiment domestically
South Korea's National Assembly passes a bill that forces Apple and Google to allow alternative payment systems in their app stores — Seoul requires the companies to allow competing payment systems, threatening their 30% cut of most in-app digital sales — SEOUL—Google and Apple Inc …
Sources: Indian ride-hailing company Ola is seeking to raise about $1B at an $8B+ valuation in a Mumbai IPO; source says the filing could arrive by October — - Citigroup, Kotak Mahindra, Morgan Stanley are on the listing — Startup to seek valuation of more than $8 billion in the IPO
New York and San Francisco are moving to make commission caps for delivery platforms permanent; NYC voted to approve a 23% cap, below the 30% usually charged — Grubhub vows to fight legislation as shares in European parent Just Eat Takeaway fall — Shares in Just Eat Takeaway …
A flaw in Go Ethereum, used to verify transactions, has been fixed after it caused about half of the Ethereum ecosystem to split into a separate chain — - Ethereum blockchain was divided by mistake in client software — Network patch swiftly stabilized the blockchain system
Russia's Yandex says it will buy Uber's stakes in their joint foodtech, delivery, and self-driving businesses in a $1B deal — Russian internet giant Yandex (YNDX.O) said on Tuesday it would buy Uber's (UBER.N) stakes in their joint foodtech, delivery and self-driving businesses …
Flip, a social commerce app with 1M+ downloads that mixes customer reviews with live shopping shows, raises $28M Series A led by Streamlined Ventures — Social commerce startup Flip is mixing live commerce mobile apps with real customer reviews to improve the buying experience and opportunity for the creator economy.
China's crackdown on Big Tech has shifted balance in the country's e-commerce market, with JD.com, Pinduoduo thriving while Alibaba reels under heavy pressure — Regulatory scrutiny and scandals put e-commerce leader on the ropes — SHANGHAI — China's crackdown on Big Tech has shifted …
Fossil announces Gen 6 Touchscreen smartwatch with a Snapdragon Wear 4100+ processor, starting at $299, and says it won't get Wear OS 3 until sometime in 2022 — A new Qualcomm processor promises better battery life — Fossil has announced its fall 2021 smartwatch lineup running Wear OS, which it is calling the Gen 6 Touchscreen.
Whoop, which makes a fitness tracker and sells a subscription-based health coaching app, raises $200M from SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 at a valuation of $3.6B — Funding enables fitness tracker start-up to challenge tech giants in health monitoring business — Whoop, which makes a fitness tracker …
ByteDance acquires VR headset maker Pico; according to IDC, Pico was the third-largest VR headset maker globally in Q1 2021 with shipments up 44.7% YoY — - TikTok owner ByteDance has made its first foray into virtual reality (VR) through the acquisition of a start-up called Pico.
State media says China is restricting online gaming time of minors to 3 hours most weeks of the year, from 8pm to 9pm on Fridays, weekends, and public holidays — - The country is imposing its strictest limits yet on play time — Beijing is waging a campaign to groom productive youths
A look at social media stock pickers, many of whom generate more income from ad revenue than investment success, and how bullish advice brings more page views — Young investors are turning to a new generation of stock pickers—many without formal training—for advice.
S. Korea is expected to be the first country to pass a law to prevent app stores from mandating first-party IAP payment systems; assembly vote on 8/30 is likely — - New law will mandate free choice of app payment providers — Silicon Valley giants argue privacy, security under threat
Most of the internet privacy proposals on the table today are in absolute, direct conflict with most of the proposals to increase competition in the markets — The consumer internet industry spent two decades building a huge, complex, chaotic pile of tools and systems to track and analyse …
Sources: Apple Watch Series 7 will get an updated design, come in 41mm and 45mm sizes, featuring multiple new watch faces to take advantage of the bigger screen — This is the free version of Power On. If you like it, consider subscribing to Bloomberg.com — you'll receive …
Jack Dorsey and Mike Brock say Square's TBD is building a Bitcoin-centric decentralized exchange for digital assets — Square's Cash App is a popular way for people to buy and sell Bitcoin, but CEO Jack Dorsey's love for the leading cryptocurrency is immense—and the financial services firm plans to do a lot more in the space.
Kuo: iPhone 13 hardware could support LEO satellite communications; Apple may work with Globalstar to enable connectivity when not in 4G/5G range — The iPhone 13 will feature low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication connectivity to allow users to make calls and send messages …
China starts a two-month campaign to crack down on websites and social media accounts that post financial information that “maliciously bad-mouths” its economy — China kicked off a two-month campaign to crack down on commercial platforms and social media accounts …
Filing in AGs' lawsuit against Google: the Play Store hit revenues of $11.2B in 2019, with $8.5B in gross profit and an operating margin of over 62% — Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google generated $11.2 billion in revenue from its mobile app store in 2019, according to a court filing unsealed on Saturday …
CryptoSlam: CryptoPunks, an NFT platform with 10K pixel portraits, crossed $1B in transaction volume, with the cheapest artwork available for sale costing $450K — Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review! Last week we dove into Bezos's Blue Origin suing NASA.
Apple's “clarifications” as part of its settlement will not make much of a difference in the long run for developers or to how the App Store actually works — Apple isn't changing how the App Store works because Apple doesn't want it to change — Apple made waves this week …
Analysis: a record 19 fintech startups in Europe have become unicorns in 2021 so far, bringing the total number of fintech unicorns on the continent to 39 — At the start of 2021, Europe had just one decacorn—a startup valued at $10 billion or more—in the fintech sector to speak of …
William Brown / Firstyear's blog-a-log : Google and Apple use passkeys to capture users by locking credentials into their platforms an...
