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Hello dear crunchers! We hope you had a peaceful weekend and were able to get away from social media for a few days. LOL who are we kidding? We’re all stuck in a slow-moving, painful, Elon-catalyzed bird crash on Twitter. Now, if only Mastodon would call his posts something other than “toots” we might get behind them. In the meantime, come and say hi to us at Mastodon!
Lots of love from Christine (@ChristineHall@mastodon.social) and Haje (@Haje@mastodon.social). And, given that those social handles don’t exactly roll off the tongue, we’ll get back to linking our Twitter accounts tomorrow. After all, we are nothing if not creatures of experience.
TechCrunch’s Top 3
- Be ready to be intimatePhotoroom, a photo-editing app for e-commerce sellers that lets users remove backgrounds from objects, has attracted 40 million app downloads and has now raised $19 million. Roman Reports.
- Twitter wants you backIf you recently got kicked out of Twitter, will you be back? Ivan After laying off half of its staff, the social media giant is compiling a list of people to be asked to come back, he wrote. Better read the fine print on that reemployment contract.
- Putting “extreme” in the super app: Organizing all aspects of your life in one app seems to be very popular and Yasir is proof of that. Africa-based super app Ride-Hail, which offers food and grocery delivery and payments, raised $150 million. take up It has more.
Startups and VCs
Clearly, the downturn hasn’t disappointed investors in the travel industry. Travel booking startup Hopper today announced the closing of a $96 million follow-on investment from Capital One, bringing the company’s total revenue to nearly $730 million. Kyle Reports. The new money will be used for several efforts, CEO and founder Frederic Lalonde said in a press release, including supporting Hopper’s new social business venture.
Want to start a DAO? It’s not that hard. Want to join the DAO? It’s simpler, but there are a lot of steps involved. Some of these steps are scary. Matt He’s here to help, and he’s invited Alex Taub and one of his investors to learn more about how getting started and onboarding for The DAO can be so much easier if they at least have something to do with it. Tune in to our next TechCrunch Live Wednesday to hear from Alex and investor Karin Klein from Bloomberg Beta.
Even more surprising:
Dear Sophie: How can I stay in America if I am fired?
Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch
Dear Sophie,
I was laid off and am on H-1B. I have enough savings to live for a while. What should I do if I am fired? I am on H-1B, approved I-140 and I-797 expiring in March 2024.
If I have to leave the US, can I transfer my current I-797 to my next employer? Are there any issues I should be aware of?
– Renovated and unemployed
Three more from the TC+ team:
TechCrunch+ Our membership program helps founders and startup teams stay ahead of the pack. You can register here.. Use code “DC” for 15% off annual subscription!
Big Tech Inc.
Roman Here’s your look at the Devialet Mania, a $790 high-end portable speaker. And it actually uses the word “portable” lightly because it weighs five pounds, so you can pick up and change parts instead of carrying around in a bag like a speaker.
A business marriage is in the air, with Ouster and Velodyne agreeing to merge. Rebecca This move “shows consolidation in the lidar industry” and also explains the background and reasons for this.
Are you ready for five more?
- That’s a lot of cryptocurrency.The United States Department of Justice has revealed that it has seized $3.36 billion worth of cryptocurrency from James Zong. Jacqueline Reports have been accused of illegally obtaining that large chunk from the dark web.
- Game on.: Paul It marks the completion of the $4.4 billion Unity and Iron Source merger. The companies are jointly building a platform for games development and monetization.
- It is flowing into something new.: Fueled by all the Twitter drama of the past week, people have been looking for another place to enjoy social media. Mastodon has reached 1 million active monthly users as one of the benefactors. Kyle Reports.
- All prices suitable for postingAirbnb is updating search to soon show all-inclusive prices in search results. Ivan He wrote.
- Goodbyeat the end of the week, Lauren HBO had a story about canceling “Westworld.”
