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Hello and welcome to the Daily Crunch on January 14, 2022! I assume this was Wordle’s week when everyone and their dog tweeted their scores and results. A bit of camaraderie for those of you out there who aren’t good at the game: I’m trash too. And since I’m still getting paid to write, I refuse to associate “Good at Wordle” with “Good at words!” – Alex
PS Speaking of words, The equities team had a hell of a time this week, in case you wanted to take a chatty dive through recent startup events.
The TechCrunch Top 3
- Bolt raises $355 million as online checkout war rages on: bolt (not this bolt) has raised a huge new round of funding, taking its valuation to $11 billion. Bolt offers an online checkout solution for other businesses. It competes with Fast and on various occasions Checkout.com, which just raised $1 billion at a $40 billion valuation. It can be argued that there is a disconnect between players in terms of their position in the world of online payments and checkout, but the overlap between competitors seems to be increasing. (Almost a year ago We called the online check market a war; the fight goes on.)
- Big tech companies subpoenaed by Congress: As an investigation into the January 6th rioting continues here in the US, big tech companies are becoming involved in the hunt for answers. YouTube (alphabet), Facebook and Instagram (meta), Reddit and Twitter seem to be in the line of fire.
- All that glitters is not legitimate trading volume: As the market for non-fungible tokens — digital signatures on the blockchain that often reference assets stored on the traditional web like images — heats up, we’re tracking the various exchanges where trading is taking place. What we have recently learned is that all trading volume may not be what it first appears.
Startups/VC
- Daasity raises $15 million to help businesses leverage e-com data: Daasity is a startup that helps customers collect their information from various e-commerce platforms (Amazon, Shopify, etc.), “analyze it and share it with marketing channels to optimize customer experiences based on insights from a historical performance writes TechCrunch. The company’s new round of funding was a Series A, led by VMG Catalyst.
- Commercial electric vehicles for the Indian market: Amazon is working with a number of companies on electric vehicles for its global delivery network, including EVage. The Indian company has just raised $28 million for an electric truck van box that’s admittedly quite appealing — assuming you’re the kind of person who likes brutalist architecture.
- Startups are growing in the cannabis labor market: TechCrunch notes in this story that work platforms are being built to help specific industries recruit. The healthcare market, for example, has a few. And now the cannabis industry, too, thanks to Vangst, which just raised $19 million Series B.
Fintech and insurtech innovation in Brazil will benefit from regulatory tailwinds
Nubank’s current headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Credit: NELSON ALMEIDA/AFP via Getty Images
Regulation is often decried as a barrier to innovation in most parts of the developing world.
But in Brazil, the central bank is being hailed by investors and fintech founders alike as a tailwind to bring banking to the masses.
“The open banking initiatives enacted by the Central Bank of Brazil are absolute tailwinds for fintech innovation,” Costanoa Ventures’ Amy Cheetham told TechCrunch.
In an in-depth market analysis, Anna Heim examines the growth of Brazilian fintech in the wake of Brazil’s open banking initiatives and how the insurtech is poised to capitalize on it.
(TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead. Here you can sign up.)
BigTech Inc.
Today we’ve got our hands on some big tech transit-themed news, followed by, what else, some European legal news involving a big US tech company!
- Self-driving taxis are working to get into the fast lane in China: Our very own Rita Liao has done everyone a favor by writing an in-depth look at the self-driving taxi market in China. As she writes, it seems that every week “news arrives that another big player has been given the green light to launch a new pilot program or small service” in the country. What do the individual news events add up to? find out!
- Speaking of self-driving cars: Waymo and JB Hunt, a trucking company, are turning their pilot project into a long-term program. The U.S. faces a shortage of truck drivers, meaning trucks going unaided could be a big deal in the nation.
- Here’s a review of a car no one at TechCrunch can afford: To be clear, I want a Bentley Continental GT Speed. I would also go for a regular Bentley Continental. The fact that Kirsten Korosec, our enterprising traffic editor, was allowed to test one makes one jealous. On the factual front, if you have over a quarter million dollars laying around and need 12 cylinders, this might be the car for you.
- Meta is facing a class action lawsuit in the UK.: A class action lawsuit filed with the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal in London wants to fine the US social media giant around $3.1 billion for abusing its market power in the UK. Let’s see if that gets anywhere.
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