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Joyful Thursday, Crunchers! It’s an exciting time to be a tech reporter, with a ton of fun stories coming down the pipe. So let’s get to it! Hasta mañana, Christine and Haje
The TechCrunch Top 3
- The home that Mickey built: Disney+ is down about 4 million subscribers within the second quarter, which is the second time in a row that has happened. Manish did a deep dive into the earnings and located that much of that may be attributed to Disney’s Hotstar losing 8.4 million subscribers. Oh, and Disney+ and Hulu are set to mix into one app later this yr, Lauren reports.
- Are you able to see the correction?: Manish also reported on SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which lost $32 billion. He notes this is available in a yr when startups valuations were cut, writing that SoftBank earlier this yr had entered “defense mode.”
- Riders on the storm: Peloton recalls thousands and thousands of exercise bikes, citing faulty assembly, after reports of injuries. Kyle has more.
Startups and VC
Most U.S.-based tech investors are likely accustomed to smaller-ticket investor marketplaces AngelList and Carta. In Europe, Germany’s Bunch and the U.K.’s Vauban (acquired by by U.S.-based Carta last yr) have attempted to do an identical job. However the backstory to that is that although launching a few years ago, AngelList struggled with Europe’s regulatory environment. Mike wonders if Odin may very well be Europe’s answer to AngelList.
It was once that having a company blog and a few paid content was the gist of your marketing department’s content efforts, and that was enough. But as larger firms like Salesforce and HubSpot have launched their very own full-blown media arms, it might be time to rethink your content strategy. AudiencePlus desires to help every company run its own media platform, and today the corporate announced a $5.4 million seed investment, Ron reports.
One other smattering of highlights and lowlights:
- Less LSD for the LLM: Author introduces product that would help reduce hallucinated content in its LLMs, reports Ron.
- Fairly repairable headphones: Natasha L reports that Fairphone gets its audio groove on with repairable over-ear BT headphones.
- Hospitals, but Amazon-ier: MediShout desires to bring Amazon-like efficiency to hospital operations, reports Paul.
- Hello, that is the pre-crime division: Everseen raises over $70 million for AI tech to identify potential retail theft, reports Kyle.
- That’s a pass from me, thanks: Tinder-inspired Cala dares you to swipe left on useless meetings, reports Harri.
Unlocking the M&A code: 5 aspects that could make (or break) a deal
Image Credits: mjrodafotografia (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
A merger or acquisition is the beginning of a latest relationship, which is why most individuals approach exits with optimism.
“But all’s not rosy on this planet of M&A,” says SmartBear CEO Frank Roe, who’s accomplished eight acquisitions in lower than five years.
“It’s a fancy and substantially dangerous decision, not for the faint-hearted. It is important to approach the choice and process with diligence and forethought.”
On this TC+ guest post, he shares “five indispensable elements to contemplate for a successful mergers and acquisitions journey,” reminding readers that “there’s no ‘secret formula.’”
Three more from the TC+ team:
- Finally, a good “the ask” slide: Haje is back with the most recent Pitch Deck Teardown: Fibery’s $5.2M Series A deck.
- Don’t call it a comeback. Or, possibly, do: Higher rates of interest are fostering a fintech comeback story, writes Alex.
- We’re chained together; let’s work together: Jacquelyn argues that crypto needs a world view to construct higher regulatory models.
TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You possibly can enroll here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!
Big Tech Inc.
Natasha L gives you every little thing it’s good to know and more a few series of votes within the European Parliament this morning where MEPs have backed a raft of amendments related to transparency and safety rules for generative AI.
Meanwhile, Amanda reports on a movement that began with a tweet and ended with a book in the highest 3 on Amazon. No, it’s not one other book within the “Fifty Shades of Grey” saga — it’s a suggestion by “Bigolas Dickolas,” and we recommend you stop what you’re doing and browse.
And we now have five more for you:
- Are available in in your close-up: Canon’s PowerShot V10 is an itty-bitty, teeny-weeny camera that sidles as much as vloggers, reports Haje.
- Don’t kill this Messenger: That’s because Meta is doing that for us by killing the Messenger app for Apple Watch, Aisha reports.
- Welcome to Kyle’s TedTalk: Today, he discusses the ever-growing list of text-generating AI, specifically about how AI2 is developing a big language model optimized for science.
- Secrets, secrets are not any fun, except on Twitter: Ivan writes that Twitter’s latest encrypted DMs for verified users has some security drawbacks.
- Stepping on the EV pedal: Hyundai Motor has plans to speculate $2.45 billion in India over the subsequent nine years to spice up its EV ecosystem. Jagmeet has more.
Every day Crunch: For second consecutive quarter, thousands and thousands of subscribers drop Disney+ Hotstar by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch
