Monthly Archives: July 2021

News: UTEC launches a new initiative to help deep-tech founders commercialize their work

• July 21, 2021
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The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC) is launching a new program to address a problem the venture capital fund says many deep-tech founders face. They may raise pre-seed capital from an incubator or accelerator program, but reach a funding gap before moving on to early-stage rounds. Without financial resources, it takes longer to

The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC) is launching a new program to address a problem the venture capital fund says many deep-tech founders face. They may raise pre-seed capital from an incubator or accelerator program, but reach a funding gap before moving on to early-stage rounds. Without financial resources, it takes longer to commercialize their technology, no matter how promising.

UTEC, an independent venture fund associated with The University of Tokyo and other academic institutions, created the UTEC Founders Program (UFP) to address that gap. It offers two tracks: equity, which invests up to $1 million with flexible terms, and grants, a non-dilutive donation of about $50,000 (or occasionally up to $100,000) awarded to recipients every six months.

UFP’s applications are open to deep-tech researchers and founders anywhere in the world.

UTEC launched a $275 million fund in May, and typically writes first checks of about $1 million to $5 million. Its aggregated assets under management are about $780 million, which the firm says makes UTEC the largest venture capital fund in Japan for science and tech companies, and one of the largest deep-tech funds in Asia.

After getting feedback from deep-tech researchers and entrepreneurs, the fund’s partners realized that even though they might have developed potentially impactful tech, it might not be immediately ready for seed funding. Many teams would also benefit from swift funding to continue preparing their tech for commercialization, instead of waiting through a lengthy due diligence process.

In an email, UTEC principals and UFP leads Hiroaki Kobayashi and Kiran Mysore told TechCrunch, “Just like entrepreneurs who create new product offerings to cater to unmet market needs, we at UTEC endeavor to be more nimble and offer new investment products to serve science and technology researchers and entrepreneurs. UFP is UTEC’s attempt to channel over 15 years of deep-tech investing experience and learnings into an early-stage technology commercialization initiative.”

The equity track is primarily for seed and pre-Series A startups, and offers flexible investment terms like SAFE notes, KISS and J-KISS (the Japanese version of Keep It Simple Security), convertible notes and bonds, or common stocks. It accepts applications throughout the year, and successful candidates are contacted for a first interview within three days. Mysore said that the entire due diligence and investment committee process will be completed within four weeks of the first interview.

The grant track is aimed at pre-launch or early-stage startups, and the funds can be used for things like prototyping, testing the market and recruitment. Applications are opened every six months, with about five teams selected each time. The deadline for the first batch of applicants is July 31 and decisions will be made in September.

Deep-tech teams who participate in UFP also get access to UTEC’s network of more than 115 Japanese and global startups, academic institutions, government organizations and corporations.

 

News: Samsung will announce new foldables on August 11

• July 21, 2021
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Samsung just sent out invites for its next Unpacked event. There are those companies that like to sneak hints into their invites — and then there’s Samsung. The note leads with the big, bold words “Get ready to unfold” and features a pair of flat-colored objects that can reasonably be said to resemble the form

Samsung just sent out invites for its next Unpacked event. There are those companies that like to sneak hints into their invites — and then there’s Samsung. The note leads with the big, bold words “Get ready to unfold” and features a pair of flat-colored objects that can reasonably be said to resemble the form factors of the Galaxy Z Fold and Flip, respectively.

In keeping with…the general state of the world over the past year-and-a-half, the event will be held virtually on Wednesday, August 11. Interestingly, the company is also opening up preorders on its “next flagship,” sights and specs unseen. Perks for early preorders include “12 free months of Samsung Care+, up to an extra $200 trade-in credit and a special pre-order offer.”

But honestly, it’s generally best to wait until you actually see the thing and maybe even read a review or two.

There’s a lot to unpack (so to speak) ahead of the event. First, I’m probably not alone in expecting that the company would focus its next big event on the upcoming Galaxy Watch. The big event at MWC was a bit of a dud (not unlike MWC itself), offering up more information on the upcoming wearable partnership with Google, in lieu of announcing any hardware.

As the company noted at the time, “The upcoming One UI Watch will debut at an upcoming Unpacked event later this summer, sporting the new UI, as well as the forthcoming joint Samsung/Google platform.”

It seems reasonably likely that this will be the event where that will occur, even if the new watch doesn’t get top billing. For one thing we’re running out of summer. For another, rumors have the new Galaxy Watch set for a late-August (the 27^th) release.

All told, this could well be a pretty huge summer event for the company, bucking last year’s trend of meting out devices one by one at virtual invents. Word on the street is we could be seeing a Galaxy Watch 4, Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 3, Galaxy S21 FE (“Fan Edition” — basically the latest version of the company’s budget flagship) and even the Galaxy Buds Pro, which will more directly take on the AirPods Pro (which are getting a bit long in the tooth).

What’s missing in all of this? No points if you said the Note. Samsung’s well-loved phablet is reportedly not coming this year, as chip shortages continue to plague the industry. That would be a big hit to Samsung’s six-month cycle, though we’ll see how that all plays out soon enough.

The August 11^th event kicks off at 10AM ET / 7AM PT.

News: Elon Musk: Tesla to open up global charging network to other EVs later this year

• July 20, 2021
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Tesla will allow other electric vehicles to access its global network of chargers later this year, CEO Elon Musk tweeted Tuesday. The comment follows years of chatter by Musk that signaled the company was amenable to the idea. Until now, there has never been any details about how or when the company would open up

Tesla will allow other electric vehicles to access its global network of chargers later this year, CEO Elon Musk tweeted Tuesday. The comment follows years of chatter by Musk that signaled the company was amenable to the idea.

Until now, there has never been any details about how or when the company would open up its SuperCharger network of 25,000 chargers. Details are still slim. For instance, it’s unclear where it would initially open up, which automakers have reached agreements with Tesla and whether Tesla owners would get priority. However, Musk did finally attach a timeline of sorts by noting this would kick off before the end of 2021.

He later added in another tweet that its network would eventually be open to other EVs in every country that it has chargers. Tesla SuperChargers are located in North America, Asia and Europe as well as Middle Eastern countries UAE and Israel.

 

Musk has talked about either sharing the technology behind his Tesla Superchargers or opening them up for use to other EVs for years now. Way back in 2014, Musk said he’d be willing to open up the designs in order to build a standard that can be used interchangeably across the industry. This would allow competing electric car models to charge up at the Supercharger network.

He has mentioned some version of this at various events and during earnings calls ever since. In 2018, Musk said in response to a question during an earnings call that the Supercharger network is not a walled garden, a reference meant to express that it is not designed to prevent other EVs from using. However, it should be noted that Superchargers are not compatible to other EVs.

“We’ve always said that we’re — this is not intended to be a walled garden, and we’re happy to support other automakers and let them use our Supercharger stations,” Musk said in 2018. “They would just need to pay the share of the cost proportionate to their vehicle usage. And they would need to be able to accept our charge rate or at least — and our connector, at least have an adaptor to our connector. So this is something we’re very open to, but so far none of the other car makers have wanted to do this. But it’s like not because of opposition from us. This is not a walled garden.”

The two common connectors used for rapid charging are Combined Charging System (CCS) or CHAdeMO. CCS, a direct current connector that is an open international standard that in recent years has gained popularity in Europe and North America.

Tesla has its own connector, which means automakers would have to provide or sell an adapter to owners of its EVs to access the SuperCharger network. It’s a different story in Europe. Tesla uses the CCS direct current connector in Europe, making this the most likely region for Tesla to open up first.

 

 

News: Instagram adds new controls for limiting sexual and violent content in the Explore tab

• July 20, 2021
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Instagram is giving its users a tiny bit more power to see what they want — and not see what they don’t want — in its content discovery hub. The company introduced a new toggle called “Sensitive Content Control” on Tuesday that allows anyone to screen posts that it thinks could be offensive, hiding them

Instagram is giving its users a tiny bit more power to see what they want — and not see what they don’t want — in its content discovery hub. The company introduced a new toggle called “Sensitive Content Control” on Tuesday that allows anyone to screen posts that it thinks could be offensive, hiding them from the Explore tab.

The new feature appears in the settings menu and lets users choose to either allow more content that could be “upsetting or offensive,” limit that content or “limit even more.” The phrasing is kind of weird but it acknowledges that the company’s moderation efforts aren’t perfect, and that’s realistic at least.

“You can think of sensitive content as posts that don’t necessarily break our rules, but could potentially be upsetting to some people – such as posts that may be sexually suggestive or violent,” Instagram explained in the announcement.

TechCrunch asked the company to expand on what kinds of posts are screened out under each category and if human or algorithmic moderation determines what is sensitive, but did not receive a response.

We also asked if the company has any plans to create separate toggles for violence and sexual content, considering that a lot of people comfortable with the latter might be less inclined to see violence bubble up among the app’s makeup tutorials and influencer junkets.

On Instagram, “sensitive” content is a massive catch-all category for stuff it allows but doesn’t want to be seen as directly promoting. In its own guidelines on content it recommends, Instagram states that sexually suggestive content like “pictures of people in see-through clothing” aren’t eligible for the Explore tab. Instagram’s definition of sensitive content also includes dangerous forms of content like “exaggerated health claims” and posts promoting weight loss supplements.

Instagram is notorious for over-policing content that the platform deems to be sexual. A campaign from Black plus-size model Nyome Nicholas-Williams successfully pressured the platform into relaxing one of its overly restrictive nudity rules last year.

Instagram contextualized the new content controls as part of a new effort to give users more power to determine what shows up in their feed. “We believe people should be able to shape Instagram into the experience that they want,” the company wrote in a blog post, noting that recent changes like being able to disable comments also give users more choice.

While the company is giving users more control over its algorithm in some small ways, it’s also considering giving them less. Last month, Instagram began testing algorithmic suggestions mixed into the main feed, a design choice that would let the company inject the platform with even more of what it wants you to see.

News: Daily Crunch: Jeff Bezos and 3 guests share Blue Origin’s first crewed flight

• July 20, 2021
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Hello friends and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here.

Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for July 20, 2021. The markets have been active in the last few days, with stocks dropping yesterday before rebounding today. Cryptos have also been suffering from ups and downs. A bit like Jeff Bezos, though his were planned. More on that in a second. — Alex

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Bezos blasts off: The billionaire space race reached its second stage today, as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos left the planet for a few minutes. There was a livestream, though the Blue Origin space company was a bit more salesy than I was comfortable with. Regardless, the humans went up and came down, and the rocket and everyone aboard survived. The crew was pretty stoked about it all.
• European startups are thriving: Of all the startup markets in the world, Europe’s is among the very hottest. And according to venture capitalists that TechCrunch spoke with, the pace of investing activity on the continent is not set to slow much in the back half of 2021. This year will set all-time records in the European startup market for capital raised.
• Square builds a business bank: What has lots of small-biz customers and big fintech aspirations? Well, a lot of tech companies, but also Square. The company has put together a business bank for its business customers. How long until Square is simply a bank for individuals and companies alike? A good rule of thumb for fintech: No matter where a startup starts in financial technology, it will end up doing all things. Or die trying.

Startups/VC

Holy heck there were a lot of funding rounds announced today. TechCrunch covered a huge chunk of the total, so many that we can’t get to them all here. But after checking in on China, we have your speed-read all the same. Let’s go!

• All about the Chinese startup scene: Are you a little behind on China’s technology regulatory crackdown? Don’t worry if so. Our own Rita Liao is on the case and has a brilliant roundup of what’s going on with Didi and other China-based companies that went public on the U.S. market. The gist is that data may not be the new oil, as some liked to say a few years back, but data is proving to be a geopolitical flashpoint. As it turns out, the Europeans were early on this one.

Now, the venture capital rundown, in brief format to allow for the inclusion of more items:

• Taking on counterfeit drugs in Africa: That’s what RxAll is doing, and it has landed $3.15 million to pursue its vision. Launched in 2016, the company wants to combat fake drugs and the health problems that they cause.
• Charging consolidation: TechCrunch covered the deal between ChargePoint and the frustratingly punctuated has·to·be, in which the first company spent $295 million to buy the latter. Our read is the deal will allow ChargePoint “a boost in its pursuit to gain market share beyond North America” in the EV charging market.
• Titan raises $58M to bring active wealth management to the masses: If Robinhood did a good job making retail investing open to the masses by cutting fees to zero, Titan wants to pull a similar trick with the active-management world of wealth management. The company raised a $12.5 million Series A earlier this year.
• $44M for Little Spoon’s baby food mission: Feeding children is a daily challenge. Finding good things for them to eat that they will actually consume is even harder. Little Spoon wants to solve the matter by helping parents of young kids subscribe to D2C baby foods while also selling vitamins and the like.
• Path Robotics raises (again): The Ohio-based Path Robotics is back at the fundraising well this week, picking up a $100 million Series C. The round comes after the startup raised a $56 million Series B in May. What does it do? Welding robots!
• More money raised to buy SaaS revenue: Capchase has put together a $280 million round of funding (debt and equity) to grow its business of buying future software revenues for present-day cash. It’s a big market that Pipe also plays in.

To close out our startup and venture capital news, some updates on venture capitalists that want to fund startups:

• Hyper’s $60M concept: Part venture firm, part venture-funded media group, the Product Hunt sister company is looking to put capital and connections to work. TechCrunch’s Matthew Panzarino has the details.
• New Boston funds: Pillar VC has raised new capital in two chunks, including $169 million for its Pillar III capital pool and a $23 million second fund. The VC firm intends to invest broadly, including into SaaS, hardware and other categories. The investing group is perhaps best known for buying common stock in companies it backs.

For the operators out there, TechCrunch has a chat with Maya Moufarek, the founder of Marketing Cube, who spent more than 15 years working for companies like Google and American Express before launching her own growth consultancy about startup marketing. Enjoy!

How we built an AI unicorn in 6 years

Few startups go to market with the exact product their founders first envisioned.

Today, Tractable is known for developing tech that allows drivers to upload photos of their vehicles after a collision so its AI can assess the damage. Its first paying customer, however, used Tractable to inspect plastic pipe welds.

As fate would have it, that customer also fired them just as the founders were raising their first round.

“We struck gold with car insurance,” says co-founder Alex Dalyac, as it was “a huge and inefficient market in desperate need of modernization.”

In an Extra Crunch guest post, he shares several takeaways from the last six years spent scaling a unicorn that have value founders of all stripes. Step one?

“Search for complementary co-founders who will become your best friends,” advises Dalyac.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Big Tech Inc.

• Facebook is really doing the newsletter thing: The newsletter push is not slowing down, with Facebook’s Bulletin service bringing on 31 new writers. That’s a pretty big haul. Of course, Facebook is using the service as a way to drive Facebook Pay usage, among other goals. But as a writer, seeing major companies argue over my professional cohort is certainly a turn of the tables.
• Venmo admits that its default-public feed was bad: Ah, the public Venmo activity feed. It never made sense, but Venmo stuck to it through thick and thin until now. Now you will merely see a more friend-focused feed. Progress!
• YouTube embraces tips: Want to tip a YouTube creator for their work? You will be able to thanks to a new feature on the social video service called Super Thanks. It’s a one-time tip of between $2 and $50. Hopefully this helps musical groups that use the platform for distribution.

TechCrunch Experts: Growth Marketing

We’re reaching out to startup founders to tell us who they turn to when they want the most up-to-date growth marketing practices. Fill out the survey here.

Read one of the testimonials we’ve received below!

Marketer: Illia Termeno, founder of Extrabrains

Recommended by: Anonymous

Testimonial: “T-shaped expertise with focus on strategy and long-term ROI.”

Tomorrow! XTC Global Finals. The No. 1 purpose-driven startup event. Free registration

XTC Global Finals is the world’s largest startup ecosystem for powering a better world via purpose-driven innovation and technology, inspired by the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It’s free to attend. Sign up today and join the show tomorrow starting at 9 a.m. PDT!

News: Consumer Reports concerned Tesla uses owners to test unsafe self-driving software

• July 20, 2021
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A Tesla in full self-driving mode makes a left turn out of the middle lane on a busy San Francisco street. It jumps in a bus lane where it’s not meant to be. It turns a corner and nearly plows into parked vehicles, causing the driver to lurch for the wheel. These scenes have been

A Tesla in full self-driving mode makes a left turn out of the middle lane on a busy San Francisco street. It jumps in a bus lane where it’s not meant to be. It turns a corner and nearly plows into parked vehicles, causing the driver to lurch for the wheel. These scenes have been captured by car reviewer AI Addict, and other scenarios like it are cropping up on YouTube. One might say that these are all mistakes any human on a cell phone might have made. But we expect more from our AI overlords. 

Earlier this month, Tesla began sending out over-the-air software updates for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta version 9 software, an advanced driver assist system that relies only on cameras, rather than cameras and radar like Tesla’s previous ADAS systems.

In reaction to videos displaying unsafe driving behavior, like unprotected left turns, and other reports from Tesla owners, Consumer Reports issued a statement on Tuesday saying the software upgrade does not appear to be safe enough for public roads, and that it would independently test the software update on its Model Y SUV once it receives the necessary software updates. 

The consumer organization said it’s concerned Tesla is using its existing owners and their vehicles as guinea pigs for testing new features. Making their point for them, Tesla CEO Elon Musk did urge drivers not to be complacent while driving because “there will be unknown issues, so please be paranoid.” Many Tesla owners know what they’re getting themselves into because they signed up for Tesla’s Early Access Program that delivers beta software for feedback, but other road users have not given their consent for such trials. 

Tesla’s updates are shipped out to drivers all over the country. The electric vehicle company did not respond to a request for more information about whether or not it takes into account self-driving regulations in specific states — 29 states have enacted laws related to autonomous driving, but they differ wildly depending on the state. Other self-driving technology companies like Cruise, Waymo and Argo AI told CR they either test their software on private tracks or use trained safety drivers as monitors. 

“Car technology is advancing really quickly, and automation has a lot of potential, but policymakers need to step up to get strong, sensible safety rules in place,” says William Wallace, manager of safety policy at CR in a statement. “Otherwise, some companies will just treat our public roads as if they were private proving grounds, with little holding them accountable for safety.”

In June, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a standing general order that requires manufacturers and operators of vehicles with SAE Level 2 ADAS or SAE levels 3, 4 or 5 automated driving systems to report crashes. 

“NHTSA’s core mission is safety. By mandating crash reporting, the agency will have access to critical data that will help quickly identify safety issues that could emerge in these automated systems,” said Dr. Steven Cliff, NHTSA’s acting administrator, in a statement. “In fact, gathering data will help instill public confidence that the federal government is closely overseeing the safety of automated vehicles.” 

The FSD beta 9 software has added features that automates more driving tasks, like navigating intersections and city streets with the driver’s supervision. But with such excellent graphics detailing where the car is in relation to other road users, down to a woman on a scooter passing by, drivers might be more distracted by the tech that’s meant to assist them at crucial moments. 

“Tesla just asking people to pay attention isn’t enough — the system needs to make sure people are engaged when the system is operational,” said Jake Fisher, senior director of CR’s Auto Test Center in a statement. “We already know that testing developing self-driving systems without adequate driver support can — and will — end in fatalities.”

Fisher said Tesla should implement an in-car driver monitoring system to ensure drivers are watching the road to avoid accidents like the one involving Uber’s self-driving test vehicle, which struck and killed a woman in 2018 in Phoenix as she crossed the street. 

News: Pivot Bio rakes in $430M round D as modified microbes prove their worth in agriculture

• July 20, 2021
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Pivot Bio makes fertilizer — but not directly. Its modified microorganisms are added to soil and they product nitrogen that would otherwise have had to be trucked in and dumped there. This biotech-powered approach can save farmers money and time and ultimately may be easier on the environment — a huge opportunity that investors have

Pivot Bio makes fertilizer — but not directly. Its modified microorganisms are added to soil and they product nitrogen that would otherwise have had to be trucked in and dumped there. This biotech-powered approach can save farmers money and time and ultimately may be easier on the environment — a huge opportunity that investors have plowed $430 million into in the company’s latest funding round.

Nitrogen is among the nutrients crops need to survive and thrive, and it’s only by dumping fertilizer on the soil and mixing it in that farmers can keep growing at today’s rates. But in some ways we’re still doing what our forebears did generations ago.

“Fertilizer changed agriculture — it’s what made so much of the last century possible. But it’s not a perfect way to get nutrients to crops,” said Karsten Temme, CEO and co-founder of Pivot Bio. He pointed out the simple fact that distributing fertilizer over a thousand — let alone ten thousand or more — acres of farmland is an immense mechanical and logistical challenge, involving many people, heavy machinery, and valuable time.

Not to mention the risk that a heavy rain might carry off a lot of the fertilizer before it’s absorbed and used, and the huge contributions of greenhouse gases the fertilizing process produces. (The microbe approach seems to be considerably better for the environment.)

Yet the reason we do this in the first place is essentially to imitate the work of microbes that live in the soil and produce nitrogen naturally. Plants and these microbes have a relationship going back millions of years, but the tiny organisms simply don’t produce enough. Pivot Bio’s insight when it started more than a decade ago was that a few tweaks could supercharge this natural nitrogen cycle.

“We’ve all known microbes were the way to go,” he said. “They’re naturally part of the root system — they were already there. They have this feedback loop, where if they detect fertilizer they don’t make nitrogen, to save energy. The only thing that we’ve done is, the portion of their genome responsible for producing nitrogen is offline, and we’re waking it up.”

Other agriculture-focused biotech companies like Indigo and AgBiome are also looking at modifying and managing the plant’s “microbiome,” which is to say the life that lives in the immediate vicinity of a given plant. A modified microbiome may be resistant to pests, reduce disease, or offer other benefits.

It’s not so different from yeast, which as many know from experience works as a living rising agent. That microbe has been cultivated to consume sugar and produce a gas, which leads to the air pockets in baked goods. This microbe has been modified a bit more directly to continually consume the sugars put out by plants and put out nitrogen. And they can do it at rates that massively reduce the need for adding solid fertilizer to the soil.

“We’ve taken what is traditionally tons and tons of physical materials, and shrunk that into a powder, like baker’s yeast, that you can fit in your hand,” Temme said (though, to be precise, the product is applied as a liquid). “All of a sudden managing that farm gets a little easier. You free up the time you would have spent sitting in the tractor applying fertilizer to the field; you’ll add our product at the same time you’d be planting your seeds. And you have the confidence that if a rainstorm comes through in the spring, it’s not washing it all away. Globally about half of all fertilizer is washed away… but microbes don’t mind.”

Instead, the microbes just quietly sit in the soil pumping out nitrogen at a rate of up to 40 pounds per acre — a remarkably old-fashioned way to measure it (why not grams per square centimeter?) but perhaps in keeping with agriculture’s occasional anachronistic tendencies. Depending on the crop and environment that may be enough to do without added fertilizers at all, or it might be about half or less.

Whatever the proportion provided by the microbes, it must be tempting to employ them, because Pivot Bio tripled its revenue in 2021. You might wonder why they can be so sure only halfway through the year, but as they are currently only selling to farmers in the northern hemisphere and the product is applied at planting time early in the year, they’re done with sales for the year and can be sure it’s three times what they sold in 2020.

The microbes die off once the crop is harvested, so it’s not a permanent change to the ecosystem. And next year, when farmers come back for more, the organisms may well have been modified further. It’s not quite as simple as turning the nitrogen production on or off in the genome; the enzymatic pathway from sugar to nitrogen can be improved, and the threshold for when the microbes decide to undertake the process rather than rest can be changed as well. The latest iteration, Proven 40, has the yield mentioned above, but further improvements are planned, attracting potential customers on the fence about whether it’s worth the trouble to change tactics.

The potential for recurring revenue and growth (by their current estimate they are currently able to address about a quarter of a $200 billion total market) led to the current monster D round, which was led by DCVC and Temasek. There are about a dozen other investors, for which I refer readers to the press release, which lists them in no doubt a very carefully negotiated order.

Temme says the money will go towards deepening and broadening the platform and growing the relationship with farmers, who seem to be hooked after giving it a shot. Right now the microbes are specific to corn, wheat, and rice, which of course covers a great deal of agriculture, but there are many other corners of the industry that would benefit from a streamlined, enhanced nitrogen cycle. And it’s certainly a powerful validation of the vision Temme and his co-founder Alvin Tamsir had 15 years ago in grad school, he said. Here’s hoping that’s food for thought for those in that position now, wondering if it’s all worth it.

News: Brokrete wants to be the ‘Shopify of construction’, raises $3M seed led by Xploration Capital

• July 20, 2021
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With the pandemic affecting every aspect of life and industry, it’s no surprise that digitization is coming to construction fast. Construction suppliers are increasingly under the same pressure as other sectors to perform at a higher level. We’ve seen the rise of companies like Dozer, Reno Run, and Toolbox try to address this, but often

With the pandemic affecting every aspect of life and industry, it’s no surprise that digitization is coming to construction fast. Construction suppliers are increasingly under the same pressure as other sectors to perform at a higher level. We’ve seen the rise of companies like Dozer, Reno Run, and Toolbox try to address this, but often the model is closer to a vertical integration one rather than something more open. Even with that, it’s still the case that to order concrete or bricks, construction companies have to negotiate each time, while simultaneously record keeping.

This is the argument of Brokrete, which bills itself as the “Shopify of construction.”

The startup has now raised a $3M seed financing round led by Xploration Capital, which was joined by unnamed new strategic investors and existing investors. The startup graduated from Y Combinator’s winter cohort last year. Other strategic investors include Ronald Richardson, Avlok Kohli (CEO of AngeLlist Ventures) and the MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF). The funding will be used to expand in North American and European markets. Brokrete also launched an e-commerce platform for suppliers in the construction industry it calls Storefront.

Jordan Latourelle, the company’s founder and CEO said: “Construction today is a largely offline, $1.2 trillion market where legacy commerce is the norm. Brokrete’s Storefront product equips suppliers with the tools required to enhance their operations by orders of magnitude. I founded Brokrete after seeing an industry left behind by e-commerce giants. Now we are becoming the operating system for e-commerce in the construction industry, while staying easy and affordable at the same time.”

Brokrete says its platform is code-free, white-labeled, multi-channel, and industry-specific to sell and manage orders online. Suppliers get an iOS and Android app for e-commerce to receive offline orders from more ‘traditional’ customers. It then provides order management, payouts, dispatching, logistics, and real-time delivery. There are also financial and operational ERP integrations. Brokrete claims to works with 1000+ contractors and to have a 250+ supplier network.

Latourelle told me: “We’re giving the construction industry an opportunity to use it on a Shopify way, and create their own store. It’s like a branded storefront for suppliers.”

Eugene Timko, managing partner at Xploration Capital said: “Construction is one of the few remaining large industries with mostly undigitized supply chains. Historically the key problem was the lack of real-time access to actual stocks which prevented producers and distributors from going online. Now with Brokrete’s end-to-end solution, these businesses can not only sell through Brokrete’s marketplace but can also enable their own direct online channels. Similar to Shopify, this has allowed many thousands of previously offline businesses to start accepting orders online.”

News: Biden nominates another Big Tech enemy, this time to lead the DOJ’s antitrust division

• July 20, 2021
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The Biden administration tripled down on its commitment to reining in powerful tech companies Tuesday, proposing committed Big Tech critic Jonathan Kanter to lead the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Kanter is a lawyer with a long track record of representing smaller companies like Yelp in antitrust cases against Google. He currently practices law at his

The Biden administration tripled down on its commitment to reining in powerful tech companies Tuesday, proposing committed Big Tech critic Jonathan Kanter to lead the Justice Department’s antitrust division.

Kanter is a lawyer with a long track record of representing smaller companies like Yelp in antitrust cases against Google. He currently practices law at his own firm, which specializes in advocacy for state and federal antitrust enforcement.

“Throughout his career, Kanter has also been a leading advocate and expert in the effort to promote strong and meaningful antitrust enforcement and competition policy,” the White House press release stated. Progressives celebrated the nomination as a win, though some of Biden’s new antitrust hawks have enjoyed support from both political parties.

The Justice Department already has a major antitrust suit against Google in the works. The lawsuit, filed by Trump’s own Justice Department, accuses the company of “unlawfully maintaining monopolies” through anti-competitive practices in its search and search advertising businesses. If successfully confirmed, Kanter would be positioned to steer the DOJ’s big case against Google.

In a 2016 NYT op-ed, Kanter argued that Google is notorious for relying on an anti-competitive “playbook” to maintain its market dominance. Kanter pointed to Google’s long history of releasing free ad-supported products and eventually restricting competition through “discriminatory and exclusionary practices” in a given corner of the market.

Kanter is just the latest high-profile Big Tech critic that’s been elevated to a major regulatory role under Biden. Last month, Biden named fierce Amazon critic Lina Khan as FTC chair upon her confirmation to the agency. In March, Biden named another noted Big Tech critic, Columbia law professor Tim Wu, to the National Economic Council as a special assistant for tech and competition policy.

All signs point to the Biden White House gearing up for a major federal fight with Big Tech. Congress is working on a set of Big Tech bills, but in lieu of — or in tandem with — legislative reform, the White House can flex its own regulatory muscle through the FTC and DOJ.

In new comments to MSNBC, the White House confirmed that it is also “reviewing” Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a potent snippet of law that protects platforms from liability for user-generated content.

News: Biosafety startup R-Zero acquires CoWorkr to create an “OS for the workplace”

• July 20, 2021
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On Tuesday, R-Zero, a pandemic-era biosafety company, announced the acquisition of CoWorkr – a company that develops room occupancy sensors. The acquisition marks a shift in focus for R-Zero as people return to work, vaccines are rolled out, and companies that sprung up in response to the COVID-19 adapt to another phase of the pandemic. 

On Tuesday, R-Zero, a pandemic-era biosafety company, announced the acquisition of CoWorkr – a company that develops room occupancy sensors. The acquisition marks a shift in focus for R-Zero as people return to work, vaccines are rolled out, and companies that sprung up in response to the COVID-19 adapt to another phase of the pandemic. 

When R-Zero was founded in April 2020, the company primarily focused on developing hospital-grade UVC disinfection systems, or lights that can neutralize certain types of viruses (more on this later). As companies scrambled for ways to sanitize buildings, the company racked up a total of $58.8 in funding at a $256.5 million valuation. R-Zero now has about 1,000 private and public sector clients that range from correctional facilities, to the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics, to the South San Francisco Unified School District. 

CoWorkr was founded in 2014 and had totaled about $200,000 in seed funding, per Crunchbase. 

With the acquisition of CoWorkr, R-Zero plans to develop an internet of things-style sensor network to manage both personnel and cleaning in the workplace, says R-Zero founder Grant Morgan. The company is moving beyond simply disinfecting air and surfaces, and will focus on managing the flow of people (and the viruses and bacteria) in public spaces. 

“It’s like an OS for the workplace. That’s what we’re building: Tools that help both create and maintain indoor environments with health and productivity at their core,” Morgan tells TechCrunch. 

Elizabeth Redmond and Keenan May, both co-founders of CoWorkr, will remain on in full time roles, where they will run a corporate real estate initiative, and develop an IoT capacity.  

“We’ve spent a lot of time with our customers and understanding our customers’ initiatives, especially in commercial real estate,” Redmond tells TechCrunch. 

“The majority are moving to a hybrid working scenario and that means you know they really need occupancy information,” she continues. “Our initiative in joining with R-Zero is very much highlighted by what the future of hybrid work looks like and what the future of commercial real estate looks like.”

Pre-CoWorkr, R-Zero’s flagship product was a UVC light called Arc – a rectangular light that can be wheeled into an office space once janitorial staff leave the office. It also offered a product called Arc Air, an air filter that also uses UVC light to kill germs, and that could be used in occupied spaces. 

UVC lights had a brief moment of fame in mid-2020 for several reasons: they seemed like powerful ways to disinfect communal spaces, and there were certain incentives for companies to apply tech-based solutions to COVID-19. 

UVC lights have been used in hospitals for decades to sanitize surfaces like scanners, or to sanitize air when inserted into UV air ducts. Studies have shown it can inactivate flu viruses in the air. Limited evidence also noted that UVC can also inactivate SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses by destroying the virus’ outer protein coating. 

These lights were also used in real-life during the pandemic. The New York Metropolitan Transport Authority, for example also, purchased $1 million worth of UVC lights to disinfect subway cars each evening. The CARES act passed in March 2020 was to allow companies and public sector institutions to use government loans to purchase cleaning services, including UV lights. 

Still, some consumer-facing lamps drew their fair share of criticism. For one, they can cause eye injuries or burns if people are exposed to them for a long period of time. One review of UVC disinfection (notably, written by two scientists with ties to a UVC disinfection company) offered a blunt assessment noting that “nonscientific performance claims” were “widespread” in the nascent industry. 

For its part, R-Zero’s Arc does have third-party testing to its name – it was shown to reduce 99.99 percent of two viruses: a common cold coronavirus, and a surrogate for norovirus on surfaces. It was also 99.99 percent effective in killing off E. Coli and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). 

Despite back-and-forth over the utility of some UVC lights as disinfection technology, some analysts suggest this industry isn’t going anywhere (for one, LG has entered the UV-based cleaning space). Tim Mulrooney, a commercial services equities analyst for William Blair told the Washington Post that we’re living through a “paradigm shift” in how people think about hygiene. 

Polling from 2020 suggests that cleaning procedures were top of mind for employees and customers alike. Of 3,000 people surveyed by Deloitte, 64 percent of employees said that regular cleaning of shared spaces was important to them and 62 percent of customers wanted surfaces cleaned after every interaction. (This is despite evidence that surfaces aren’t thought to be a way that COVID-19 spreads). 

At this point, it’s unclear how the rise of vaccines might impact perceptions of office cleanliness. But Morgan is betting that companies (and employees) are now more aware of the germs in our midst than they might have been pre-pandemic, and will be eager for ways to control their spread – that includes managing the flow of people within an office. 

For R-Zero that means moving beyond UVC disinfection to focus on occupancy management, with the acquisition of CoWorkr. 

Morgan calls CoWorkr’s sensors R-Zero’s “eyes and ears.” R-Zero plans to announce two UVC-based products that address air cleanliness in occupied spaces, and will use CoWorkr’s sensors to ensure “full automation.” 

For instance, CoWorker’s battery-powered thermal sensors allow employers to know which rooms in an office are being occupied. That information, he says, could help trigger the use of an UV-based air filter or other cleaning products. 

That information could also tell janitorial staff to clean the room more thoroughly that evening — or conversely, to forgo cleaning a room that hasn’t been touched all day. 

“What our customers are seeing is that they’re getting an immediate ROI. Our customers are reducing labor costs by 30-40 percent,” says Morgan. 

Overall, says Morgan, the company is still bullish on the idea that people will still crave clean workspaces; perhaps due to some lingering “scar tissue” from the pandemic, he notes. 

“​​In almost 100% of cases, our customers are looking at this as a long term investment,” Morgan adds.