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Good day, and welcome to your Friday. Did the week drag on, or did it go by rapidly for you? Or possibly you had as we speak off. Irrespective of, I’m right here to convey you all of as we speak’s techy goodness. The lesson for as we speak: “Don’t ever leak knowledge.”
Oh, and help our colleagues over on the Chain Response and Discovered podcasts: They had been nominated for a Webby, so please help them with a vote by April 20. — Christine
The TechCrunch High 3
- That’s one a-spicy utility: ByteDance’s newest hit, Lemon8, which some describe as a cross between Instagram, Pinterest and Amazon, is now sitting among the many high 10 apps within the U.S. Nevertheless, Rita says Lemon8 is extra like one other app referred to as Xiaohongshu and discusses why ByteDance might have taken one other web page from the China playbook.
- Get your unicorn horn prepared: You’re going to want a TechCrunch+ subscription to learn this subsequent one, however I promise, it’s value it. Alex went unicorn IPO searching and got here again with a listing of names, saying, “The primary group of upcoming potential unicorn IPOs is shaping up effectively.”
- In a galaxy far, far-off: If you happen to’re a Star Wars fan, Disney+ will debut a brand new collection referred to as “The Acolyte” in 2024. Aisha writes that this storyline takes place on the finish of the Excessive Republic period earlier than the occasions of the primary Star Wars movies.
Startups and VC
Everybody wants some good competitors to get the creativity flowing. Kyle, Devin and Manish teamed up to have a look at Anthropic’s $5 billion, four-year plan to tackle OpenAI. Going by the corporate’s pitch deck, the trio describe the enterprise mannequin that may take Anthropic there and the traders behind it.
Wrapping up the week, as talked about yesterday, there was a gaggle of us watching Y Combinator’s Winter 2023 Demo Day. Synthetic intelligence and open supply had been huge buzzwords on Day 1, whereas Day 2 had us questioning if crypto is again and why accountants are instantly getting plenty of love.
VCs to recommerce startups: Let’s pop some tags
Picture Credit: Kinga Krzeminska (opens in a brand new window) / Getty Pictures
Thanks largely to Gen Z’s curiosity in sustainable buying, recommerce is hovering to new heights, and VCs are searching for the come up.
Since Etsy went public in 2015, firms like Poshmark, The RealReal and thredUP adopted swimsuit, attracting much more traders to the sector. Final 12 months, VCs flowed roughly $6 billion to resale platforms, writes Brian Schwarzbach, an investor with Cathay Innovation.
In a publish for TC+, he explores three recommerce areas attracting VC funds and shares “some meals for thought for founders constructing startups on this (re)rising area.”
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Massive Tech Inc.
Generally issues don’t go as deliberate. In India, its central financial institution determined to press pause on plans it had for a rival to the nation’s dominant fee system, Unified Funds Interface. Manish writes that the undertaking, referred to as New Umbrella Entity, had made some traction, attracting curiosity from massive firms and monetary establishments, and welcoming bids in 2021 for licenses to function new retail fee and settlement methods throughout India. Nevertheless, the undertaking simply didn’t have that sizzle and pop that the Reserve Financial institution of India was searching for.
Catch a falling iPod and put it in your pocket…Harri studies on Apple’s patent utility for what appears to be like to be a teeny, tiny iPod that may do all of it: music, movies and books, no smartphone or smartwatch wanted. Although undecided how one can learn on one thing that small. I assume we’ll see.
And we now have 5 extra for you: