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Today, Haje specifically thought he was able to contact the TechCrunch Plus team to publish a free wall of Pitch Deck Teardowns. If you’re not a TC+ subscriber and are curious about what the $1.7 billion round of $65 million funding looks like, it’s your lucky day. Besides the freebies, now might be a great time to subscribe, but we’re running a Labor Day sale on annual TC+ memberships.
We’re going to Minneapolis soon, and we just published the agenda for the free TechCrunch virtual event that should have been called “All Eyez on Mi(nnesota)”. With apologies to Tupac.
Have a great Thursday, and know that Friday is so close that we can smell the sweet aroma of the long Labor Day weekend. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa – Christine And came
TechCrunch’s Top 3
- When the doorbell ringsRing has a shiny new feature called Ring Intercom, designed to integrate with existing apartment intercom systems. Brian It has more.
- Price compressionFintech fraud fighter Alloy is now worth $1.55 billion after securing $52 million in new bank funding. Mary Ann Reports.
- Sharing is caring: Kyle He spoke with Slack CEO Steve Wood about the company’s new automation features that will make workflows more shareable and accessible by other Slack users, and where the company is coming from.
Startups and VCs
Reddit’s acquisition spree continued this morning with news that the company is bringing the viewership content company’s Spiketrap technology in-house. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Reddit said Spiketrap’s AI-powered contextual analysis and tools will help Reddit improve ad quality scoring and leverage predictive models to drive automated bidding. Sarah Reports.
A few more, now with More Emoji!
9 strategies to help you overcome the fear of fundraising
Image Credits: Vicki Jawron, Babylon and beyond photography (Opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Cruises usually begin with an on-board safety briefing where passengers don life jackets and learn what to do in an emergency.
Likewise, there’s no reason to be afraid of raising money to start a new business, but founders should have a healthy respect for a process that’s not entirely under their control.
“Any change is an opportunity to create momentum, and a downturn is no different,” writes Masha Butcher, founder and general partner of early-stage VC firm Day One Ventures.
In this TC+ post, she talks about the current environment and shares “actionable tips for closing pre-seed to Series B rounds.”
(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can register here..)
Big Tech Inc.
Yesterday, we reported that Snap was laying off about 20% of its workforce, which appears to include the entire Zenli team. We had fun today. Pauls and RomanIn the year A second look at the social mapping app acquired by Snap in 2017 and perhaps the biggest question: “Zenly is still so popular, so why is Snap shutting it down?”
- Yo ho, yo ho, it’s business life for me.: Ivan Disney+ has skin on the news that it is looking to have an in-app commerce feature that allows users to scan a QR code and be taken to a branded site.
- Take a stand: A group of Google employees continues to speak out against their employer over the $1.2 billion Project Nimbus contract and fears over digital surveillance of Google technology in the occupied Palestinian territories. Amanda Reports.
- Fix yourself.Later this month, Twitter Blue subscribers will be among the first to get a chance to try out Twitter’s new feature; Ivan He wrote.
- price tagInstacart is acquiring AI-powered pricing and promotions company Eversight. Aisha This pairing will “give retailers and CPG brands access to new personalized and customized pricing tools,” he wrote.
- to the moonOr actually to the International Space Station. NASA is paying SpaceX $1.4 billion for five more astronaut transport flights. Arya He wrote.
