Daily Crunch: For the second consecutive quarter, millions of subscribers drop Disney+ Hotstar

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Happy Thursday, Crunchers! It’s an exciting time to be a tech reporter, with a ton of fun stories coming down the pipeline. So let’s get to it! Hasta manana, Christine And Hey

The businessroundups.org Top 3

• The house Mickey built: Disney+ lost about 4 million subscribers in the second quarter, marking the second time in a row that this has happened. Manic took a deep dive into revenue and found that much of that can be attributed to Disney’s Hotstar losing 8.4 million subscribers. Oh, and Disney+ and Hulu will be combined into one app later this year, Lauren reports.
• Do you see the correction?: Manic also reported on SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which lost $32 billion. He notes that this comes in a year in which startup valuations were downgraded, writing that SoftBank had gone into “defense mode” earlier this year.
• Riders on the storm: Peloton is recalling millions of exercise bikes, citing faulty assembly, following reports of injuries. Kyle has more.

Startups and VC

Most US-based technology investors are probably familiar with smaller investor marketplaces AngelList and Carta. In Europe, the German Bunch and the British Vauban (acquired last year by the American Carta) have tried to do a similar job. But the backstory to this is that AngelList, although launched many years ago, struggled with European regulations. Mike wonders if Odin could be Europe’s answer to AngelList.

It used to be that having a company blog and some paid content was at the core of your marketing department’s content efforts, and that was enough. But as larger companies like Salesforce and HubSpot have launched their own full-fledged media arms, it may be time to rethink your content strategy. AudiencePlus aims to help any business run its own media platform, and today the company announced a $5.4 million seed investment, Ron reports.

A few more highlights and lowlights:

• Less LSD for the LLM: Writer introduces product that could help reduce hallucinatory content in his LLMs, reports Ron.
• Fairly repairable headphones: Natasha L reports that Fairphone is getting its audio groove with repairable over-ear BT headphones.
• Hospitals, but Amazon-ier: MediShout wants to bring Amazon-like efficiency to hospital operations, reports Paul.
• Hello, this is the pre-crime department: Everseen raises more than $70 million for AI technology to spot potential shoplifting, reports Kyle.
• That’s a pass from me, thanks: Tinder-inspired Cala dares you to swipe left on useless meetings, reports Harry.

Unlocking the M&A code: 5 factors that can make (or break) a deal.

A merger or acquisition is the start of a new relationship, which is why most people approach exits with optimism.

“But all is not rosy in the world of M&A,” said Frank Roe, CEO of SmartBear, which has made eight acquisitions in less than five years.

“It is a complex and substantially risky decision, not for the faint hearted. It is essential to approach the decision and process carefully and thoughtfully.”

In this TC+ guest post, he shares “five essential elements to consider for a successful M&A,” reminding readers that “there is no ‘secret formula’.”

Three more from the TC+ team:

• Finally a decent “the ask” slide: Hey is back with the latest Pitch Deck Teardown: Fibery’s $5.2 million Series A deck.
• Don’t call it a comeback. Or, maybe, do: Higher interest rates promote a fintech comeback story, writes Alex.
• We are chained together; let’s work together: Jaquelyn argues that crypto needs a global vision to build better regulatory models.

businessroundups.org+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams lead the way. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

Natasha L gives you everything you need to know and more about a series of votes in the European Parliament this morning where MEPs supported a slew of amendments related to transparency and security rules for generative AI.

In the meantime, Amanda reports on a movement that started with a tweet and ended with a book in the top 3 on Amazon. No, it’s not another book in the “Fifty Shades of Gray” saga – it’s a “Bigolas Dickolas” recommendation, and we suggest you stop what you’re doing and read.

And we have five more for you:

• Come in for your close-up: Canon’s PowerShot V10 is a tiny, tiny camera that can rival vloggers, reports Hey.
• Do not kill this Messenger: That’s because Meta does that for us by killing the Messenger app for Apple Watch, Aisha reports.
• Welcome to Kyle‘s Ted Talk: Today he discusses the ever-growing list of text-generating AI, specifically about how AI2 is developing a large language model optimized for science.
• Secrets, secrets are no fun, except on Twitter: Ivan writes that Twitter’s new encrypted DMs for authenticated users have some security drawbacks.
• Stepping on the EV pedal: Hyundai Motor has plans to invest $2.45 billion in India over the next nine years to boost its EV ecosystem. Jagmeet has more.

Daily Crunch: For the Second Consecutive Quarter, Millions of Subscribers Quit Christine Hall’s Disney+ Hotstar, Originally Published on businessroundups.org