Top News of the Week:
Walmart teams with Microsoft in bid to acquire TikTok (link)
TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer quits after only 3 months (link)
Fortnite splits into two games because of fight with Apple (link)
Warby Parker raises $245M @ $3B valuation (link)
Weekly Synthesis:
This week, the TikTok saga got even more interesting as we may be nearing the end. TikTok not only sued the Trump administration and U.S. government but also allegedly approached Netflix to gauge its interest in acquiring the app. Meanwhile, Walmart initially teamed with Google and Softbank to acquire TikTok, but the U.S. government mandated that a tech firm take majority control of TikTok to secure the app’s data. Walmart is now teaming in a follower role with Microsoft, competing with a counter bid from an Oracle-Sequoia-General Atlantic consortium. Word is that TikTok will be selecting between Microsoft and Oracle’s acquisition offers in the next 48 hours. Perhaps that’s why TikTok’s CEO Kevin Mayer quit after being on the job for only 3 months since leaving Disney as head of Disney+. Who knew a Chinese dance video app would become the tech acquisition of the decade?
IDEO at the Edges of Crypto:
This week, my teammates launched an anti-VC fund in the crypto space called “fair launch capital,” that provides *free* capital to founders—with no strings attached—to fund and launch new crypto networks that are not VC-backed. It’s an experiment, but I believe it’ll be very disruptive to the venture capital model. Venture capital has already become a commodity—especially in the crypto space—now we are experimenting with making venture capital irrelevant. I’ll share more as things develop, but already it’s inspired hundreds of entrepreneurs to join its community, and applications for funding are already rolling in. We’re in for a wild ride. Also, I wrote a blog post this week on why “DeFi Doesn’t Need to Go Mainstream.” Here’s an image from the post, showing how much room there is for crypto, Bitcoin, and DeFi to grow:
Covid-19 Related News:
Pandemic is reshaping the startups in Y-Combinator (link)
JP Morgan will have staff cycle from office and remote work (link)
Remote learning is exacerbating inequality (link)
Bank profits down 70% YoY due to economic slump (link)
Artificial Intelligence:
Socure raises $35M to combat identity fraud with AI (link)
MIT grad raises $10M from Intel Capital for ML platform (link)
AI will increase, not decrease, demand for data scientists (link)
Autonomous & Mobility:
AI fighter beats human pilot 5-0 in dogfight (link)
Gates leads $85M investment into telematics startup (link)
Autonomous aircraft startup raises $34M (link)
Fox Robotics raises $9M for autonomous forklifts (link)
Fintech:
Mexican challenger bank raises $14M from Google (link)
JP Morgan plans to launch digital-only bank in UK (link)
Blockchain & Crypto:
IMF: ‘Crypto could be the next evolution of money’ (link)
FTX exchange acquires Blockfolio for $150M (link)
Consensys acquires Quorum from JP Morgan (link)
Fidelity files for Bitcoin-focused fund (link)
Consumer Tech:
Facebook says Apple’s privacy change will disrupt advertising (link)
Spotify is developing a ‘virtual events’ feature (link)
Why Uber’s business model is doomed (link)
Fitbit launches $330 Apple Watch competitor (link)
Enterprise Tech:
YC startup raises $16M from a16z before Demo Day (link)
Data visualization startup ChartHop raises $14M from a16z (link)
Salesforce lays off 165 SF workers despite record revenue (link)
Salesforce, Honeywell replace Exxon, Pfizer in Dow (link)
Future and Space Tech:
Musk may reveal working Neuralink device on Aug 28 (link)
Musk: Electric aircraft are coming in 3-4 years (link)
50 new planets identified using AI (link)
Mergers and Acquisitions:
Apple acquires VR videoconference company ‘Spaces’ (link)
Aveva acquires Softbank-backed OSISoft for $5B (link)
MelodyVR acquires Napster in $70M reverse takeover (link)
Fastly acquires Signal Sciences for $775M (link)
IPOs:
Palantir files for IPO—company lost $580M last year (link)
Ribbit Capital files for $350M IPO (link)
Thiel Fellow startup Luminar to go public via $3.4B SPAC (link)
Policy and Regulation:
Fed makes landmark policy shift to increase inflation (link)
SEC amends U.S. accredited investor definition (link)
Apple can’t block Fortnite maker from developer tools (link)
Leadership:
Ex-Trump advisor Cohn raising $600M SPAC (link)
Dorsey: Working 20-hour days like Musk to succeed is BS (link)
Things I’m Involved In / Tracking:
IDEO team launches anti-VC “fair launch capital” (link)
Ian’s blog post: DeFi Doesn’t Need to Go Mainstream (link)
IDEO incubated startup Mural raises $118M Series B (link)
Zuckerberg Media invests in True Tickets (link)
About Synthesis
Synthesis is a weekly newsletter of the top tech and innovation news for busy executives. Stay up to date, and save time. Delivered every Friday.
About the Author
I’m Ian. I’ve been in the venture and corporate innovation space for the last 10 years and helped build and operate investing, venturing, and innovation units at IDEO, Citigroup, and Deloitte. You can find me on Twitter here, mostly rambling about the latest in decentralization and crypto.
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