The U.S. technology giants are under antitrust scrutiny, Spotify has a mixed quarter, and home fitness startup Tempo is collecting funds. This is your daily crisis for July 29th, 2020.
The big story: Tech CEOs are facing the congress
Amazon Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook from Apple, Facebook Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai appeared from afar this afternoon before the House's Subcommittee on Antitrust.
Different representatives seemed to be focusing on very different issues: the Republicans repeatedly returned to the question of whether the major technology platforms were suppressing conservative positions, while the Democrats appeared to be more concerned about potentially anti-competitive behavior.
For example, citing the newly exposed email that Zuckerberg sent to other Facebook executives, Rep. Jerry Nadler said, “Facebook saw Instagram as a powerful threat that could distract Facebook's business from buying it instead of Facebook to compete with him. ”And Rep. Val Demings (like Nadler, a Democrat) suggested that Google was responsible for" effectively destroying anonymity on the Internet. "
The technology giants
Spotify users are streaming again, but advertising revenue is still suffering from the COVID crisis. In its latest earnings report, Spotify said it increased active monthly users by 29% to 299 million.
Google One now offers free phone backups up to 15 GB for Android and iOS – Google One of them is Google’s subscription program for buying additional storage and live support. It is being updated.
Samsung is reportedly considering a Google deal that would disadvantage Bixby, according to Reuters.
Startups, funding and venture capital
Mirror competitor Tempo brings in a $ 60 million Series B – The news comes almost exactly a month after Mirror, one of the San Francisco-based company's main competitors, from fitness brand Lululemon for $ 500 million was acquired.
According to the money transfer business, the money transfer business increased $ 85 million at a valuation of $ 1.5 billion – CEO Matt Oppenheimer told us that customer growth has increased 200% year over year.
Joymode, the consumer goods rental service in LA, sells to investment firm XRC Labs in New York. Joymode founder, Joe Fernandez, will continue to act as a consultant to the startup to focus its business on retail partnerships.
Advice and analysis of extra crunch
How to plan your Series A fundraiser – At our early stage event last week, Jake Saper of Emergence Capital said that it takes a micro and macro level strategy to find the right time to fundraise.
Investments in AI startups fall to a three-year low – A new report from CB Insights shows historically strong but falling investment rates for AI startups.
Where is Voice Tech going? – One of the greatest stories in emerging technology is the growth of different types of voice assistants.
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Everything else
Walmart starts its own language assistant, "Ask Sam", initially for employees. This tool allows Walmart employees to look up prices, access business cards, find products, view sales information, check email, and more.
The Hummer EV is evolving from an electrical response from GM to the Ford Bronco and Tesla Cybertruck – GM has just taken its first look at the vehicle that was announced in the Super Bowl before COVID.
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