It’s that time of the week, folks: Time of the Week in Review (WiR). If you’re new to WiR, this is the newsletter where TechCrunch recaps the week in tech that’s been. We get it — you’re a busy person. all of us. So what better way to make up for what happened than with an abbreviated bitmap? We can’t think of one — and trust us, we tried.
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With the call to action left out, let’s get to the news!
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Tragic murder: Bob Lee, creator of the Cash app and former CTO of Square, was killed this week in a fatal stabbing accident in San Francisco. Roman He wrote that before joining MobileCoin, Lee worked at Google for the first few years of Android, focusing on core library development. He then joined Square, the payment company that later became Block, and was an investor in startups, including SpaceX, Clubhouse, Tile, and Figma.
Twitter Sends Doug Soaring: on monday, Alex He wrote that Twitter added the cryptocurrency token dogecoin to a prominent place on Twitter.com, driving up the value of dogecoin. Not coincidentally, Twitter CEO Elon Musk is currently embroiled in a cryptocurrency lawsuit — one in which Musk’s lawyers have called dogecoin “a legitimate cryptocurrency that still holds nearly $10 billion in market capitalization.”
Gen Z Fanfix embraces: More and more Gen Z users are hopping on the content creation train in an effort to make a living beyond the typical 9 to 5 gig. However, given the recent drama surrounding major social media apps, many creators are worried. Lauren This is why more and more Gen Zers are jumping on Fanfix – the Patreon competitor that only allows clean content and enables influencers to earn money directly from their followers.
The arrival of the long-promised treadmill: Startup Virtuix—which has long promised a mass-market multi-directional treadmill, and raised more than $1.1 million on Kickstarter and $35 million from investors to bring it to market—has finally begun shipping a home version of its product. Brian Reports indicate that the $2,595 Omni One features some upgrades to the original limited-production Virtuix model, including a new link arm, and comes bundled with a custom Pico Neo 3 headset.
Western Digital breaches: Data warehousing giant Western Digital confirmed that hackers recently stole data from its systems during a “network security incident,” Carly He writes. The California-based company said in a statement Monday that an unauthorized third party gained access to “a number” of its internal systems on March 26. Western Digital has not confirmed the nature of the incident or disclosed how it was compromised, but its statement indicates that the incident may be related to ransomware.
Android apps get the option to delete: Ivan Reports said that Google this week announced a new account deletion policy for Android apps, providing apps that offer account creation an easy way to delete the account as well. Set to be enforced sometime next year, the move follows Apple, which implemented a similar policy last June for apps on the App Store.
A publisher-focused alternative to Twitter: Post, a Twitter alternative that rethinks how publishers interact with social media, has just opened its doors to the public. pleasant Reports indicate that the startup, like others in the field, has gained ground in the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter as many have begun looking for a new place to read and discuss news or share their thoughts with their followers. But Post doesn’t want to be just another version of Twitter.
SpaceX hype machine: More and more hype is building for the first orbital flight test of the Starship, SpaceX’s ultra-heavy launch system. The hype started to come to a head this week as the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an air traffic advisory that set April 10 as the primary launch date. But the FAA has yet to issue the all-important launch authorization to SpaceX, the song Writes – A final regulatory green light that is a non-negotiable step before a company can take the exam.
My voice
TechCrunch isn’t just a source of well-reported written clips (how’s that for the obligatory Friday anagram?) — it’s a streamer, too, you wouldn’t know it. Around stocks, the team talked about Y Combinator’s demo day as well as first quarter numbers, deals for the week, and venture activity in Latin America. Highlights of TC’s Found The Nudge podcast, a text app that helps users make the best plans in their city. Chain Reaction — which was nominated for a Webby Award (voting closes April 20, by the way) — interviewed Ariana Simpson, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, about the company’s focus on crypto investments. And TechCrunch Live delved into Oma Fertility, a company that has raised more than $70 million to radically improve in vitro fertilization.
Techcrunch +
TC+ subscribers get access to in-depth comments, analysis, and polls – which you know if you’re already a subscriber. If you aren’t, consider subscribing. Here are some highlights from this week:
YC Winter 2023 Demo Day Favorites: The TC crew has rounded up a few of their top picks from Y Combinator’s Winter 2023 lineup, including companies that develop comics software, meat-based plants, and Tesla discrete heat pumps.
Slowing down climate technology: Tim He writes about the slowdown in climate technology dealmaking, which is happening just as investors are anticipating a recession in the coming months. Climate technology’s resilience has so far led some to call it the ultimate “recession-proof” investment. Tim explores if this is still true.
Blues Q1: Alex He writes about how the global venture capital market contracted in the first quarter of 2023 – and it could have been worse if not for some huge deals. The decline in funding suggests that the current downturn in startup investment may not turn its tide any time soon.