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Top News of the Week:
Pompeo says U.S. looking at banning TikTok, other Chinese apps (link)
Uber acquires Postmates for $2.7B (link), integrates Cornershop (link)
Walmart is launching a $98 per year Amazon Prime competitor (link)
Sony invests $250M into Fortnite maker Epic Games (link)
Reuters: Coinbase is preparing to go public this year (link)
Weekly Synthesis:
This week, the biggest news in tech centered around TikTok and the growing concern from governments around the world about its influence and the data TikTok collects on its users. Last week, India banned TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps—now the U.S. is considering a similar ban of TikTok according to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Wells Fargo instructed its employees to delete TikTok, after Amazon did the same but then retracted. While this is creating a potential opportunity for Instagram, YouTube, and others to close TikTok’s substantial lead globally, a broader pattern around the nationalization of important tech platforms like TikTok and Facebook may be well underway, which will have dramatic consequences for business and people as we’re seeing play out right now in Hong Kong.
Black Lives Matter Related News:
Facebook fails to appease organizers of ad boycott (link)
Kaepernick, Disney partner on racial inequality series (link)
TikTok-tivists attack Trump campaign app with negative reviews (link)
Ford employees lobby company to stop making police cars (link)
Covid-19 Related News:
Jack Dorsey donates $3M to pilot UBI in 15 U.S. cities (link)
U.S. online grocery sales hit record $7.2B in June (link)
High-tech face mask can translate your voice into 9 languages (link)
Harvard, Yale to allow only 50% students on campus in fall (link)
Artificial Intelligence:
Facebook speech recognition system supports 51 languages (link)
Japanese app uses AI to assess sushi quality (link)
Autonomous & Mobility:
Musk: Tesla is very close to Level 5 autonomous driving tech (link)
Didi launches free robotaxi service in Shanghai (link)
Tyson investing in robot butchers, spurred by Covid-19 outbreaks (link)
Basemark raises $8M for autonomous car graphics software (link)
Fintech & Legaltech:
SoFi applies to become a bank, accept deposits, lend money (link)
Supply chain fintech raises $60M from Ping An, JP Morgan (link)
Robinhood users younger, riskier, inexperienced, losing money (link)
Payfazz raises $53M to give Indonesians access to finance (link)
Blockchain & Crypto:
Ride-hailing giant DiDi to trail China’s central bank digital currency (link)
Shipping giant Cosco to trail Alibaba’s blockchain to cut costs (link)
Ethereum, Bitcoin locked in DeFi hits all-time high of $2B (link)
Visa hiring Ethereum developer for new B2B blockchain app (link)
Augmented & Virtual Reality:
Rave in Minecraft staring Deadmau5, Aoki, 850 artists airing now (link)
FitXR raises $8M for VR fitness apps like VR boxing (link)
Microsoft partnership with Facebook Gaming could focus on VR (link)
Survey: Third of VR users experience motion sickness (link)
Consumer Tech:
Lululemon’s acquisition of Mirror takes retail to the next level (link)
Instagram Reels enters India after India bans TikTok (link)
Tencent launches new U.S. game studio to publish AAA games (link)
Ninja starts streaming on YouTube after Microsoft closes Mixer (link)
Health Tech:
Telemedicine startup Doctor on Demand raises $75M (link)
Mudabala Ventures launches healthcare-focused VC fund (link)
Enterprise Tech:
Zoom launches videoconferencing hardware products (link)
AWS, Docker partner to improve container workflows (link)
OwnBackup raises $50M from Salesforce Ventures (link)
‘Google Maps for IT architectures’ raises $80M from Goldman (link)
Future Tech:
Alphabet’s Loon now providing internet in Kenya via balloons (link)
China’s quantum radar could be a game changer during warfare (link)
Nanotech injection successfully restores vision in blind rats (link)
NFL is investing in 3D printing for safer helmets (link)
Venture Capital:
Chelsea Clinton is launching a venture capital fund (link)
Sequoia Capital raises $1.4B India, Southeast Asia fund (link)
Victress Capital raises 2nd fund to back female founders (link)
Mergers, Acquisitions, IPOs:
Analog Devices acquires Maxim Integrated for $20B (link)
Buffett acquires Dominion Energy for $9.7B (link)
KKR acquires Global Atlantic Financial Group for $4.4B (link)
New acquisitions: Twilio (link), Slack (link), Binance (link)
Tech v. Government:
Google, Facebook, Twitter halt Hong Kong user data requests (link)
TikTok will exit Hong Kong market due to user data requests (link)
U.S. investigating allegations TikTok violates children’s privacy (link)
Australia: TikTok may be a data collection service in disguise (link)
Leadership:
Peggy Johnson, ex Microsoft exec, named CEO of Magic Leap (link)
How Bezos, Musk use the ‘Future-Back’ visioning technique (link)
Crypto billionaire Brock Pierce announces run for president (link)
Things I’m Involved In / Tracking:
New crypto project will tokenize celebrities, influencers (link)
How crypto will enable new business models for online creators (link)
What is DeFi yield farming—why it’s all the rage, and risky (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 or Monday.
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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