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And we’re back! Well, just me for now. Hey covers CES, so if you’re there, look it up and say “Hello!” Thank you very much Henry for leading the Daily Crunch train last week. It was a pleasure to read it and I hope you enjoyed it too. Looks like we’re back at it with a long list of news, so let’s get started. — Christine
Table of Contents
The businessroundups.org Top 3
- It’s hard to pull the wool over Reddit users’ eyes: If you have an Apple iPhone, iPad, or MacBook that is out of warranty, you may want to join Reddit. Users quickly saw and spread a change in the repair pages for those devices stating that the battery replacement service charge for these devices would increase by up to $50, Ivan reports.
- Sit, Bonk, sit… good dog: The newly launched dog coin Bonk is credited as contributing to a spike in Solana’s price. Cryptocurrency prices have been volatile lately, Jaquelyn writes, after the whole FTX debacle.
- TikTok forms its own “Adults Only” room: An ability to restrict TikTok live streams to adult viewers is now something the social media giant is making available to creators for short videos, Aisha reports.
Startups and VC
Can co-CEOs work? If you’re a company with two founders looking for that advice, Bekka and Darrell have a good Found podcast for you. This time they were joined by Brex co-founder and co-CEO Henry Dubugraswho not only talked about the start of the company’s credit card and expense management business, but also what made him and his co-founder, Pedro Franceschi, decide to become co-CEOs.
And we have three more for you:
- If 2022 was a headline…: Natasha M, Mary Ann and Alex searched for answers to that question and compiled a list of how you described the tech industry’s year 2022.
- Sharing economy, but for hospital rooms: HD is a Southeast Asian startup betting that matching supply and demand could also apply to vacant hospital rooms. Rita more about how the company does this.
- The CEO of BharatPe is gone: Manic reports that Suhail Sameer, CEO of BharatPe, plans to leave the India-based fintech by the end of the week. Although CFO Nalin Negi will take on the role of interim CEO, the company is already on shaky ground: BharatPe fired its founder last year after it was discovered he allegedly misused company funds.
How to make the most of your startup’s big fundraising moment
Regardless of size, early stage investments are a sign of validation for any startup.
However, “when you see other companies raising hundreds of millions of dollars, it can be easy to think that no one will be interested in hearing about your startup’s much smaller round,” writes Scott Brown, CMO of Hum Capital.
In this early stage startup marketing playbook, Brown explains how founders can use fundraising announcements to maximize media attention, comply with SEC guidelines, and align more closely with investors to “get the most bang for their buck” .
Another one from the TC+ team:
- Greener pastures: Could climate be a safe investment right now? It seems like. Tim spoke to Union Square Ventures about its new $200 million fund and shares what USV plans to do in 2023.
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.
If you were hoping for some Nvidia news today, boy, we’ve got you covered. Roman, Rebekah and Brian listened in on a virtual CES press conference so you didn’t have to. Some highlights include many of Nvidia’s tools going into cars: Mercedes will use Nvidia’s digital twin technology to modernize its factories, Foxconn’s EVs will be built with Nvidia’s self-driving toolkit, and Hyundai, BYD and Polestar are among the automakers that will company will use because of the in-car game features. Meanwhile, Nvidia’s robot simulator adds human colleagues and Nvidia upgrades GeForce Now with RTX 4080 performance for premium users.
And we have five more for you:
- One for all and all for unionization: Microsoft now has its first official union in the US, Amanda writes. At ZeniMax, a gaming studio it owns, 300 quality assurance testers voted to unionize, something she says is becoming a trend in the gaming industry.
- Hackers knocked: The LockBit ransomware gang claims responsibility for a ransomware attack on the City of Los Angeles housing authority, Carly reports. HACLA provides affordable housing for more than 19,000 people in the city.
- Show pony: Ingrid writes about Intel’s new high-end 13th generation 24-core processors and the new CES strategy. For all your CES news, keep an eye on businessroundups.org’s dedicated CES events page during the conference, which ends January 8.
- To infinity and beyond: Aria has your take on the aerospace industry trends for 2023. Spoiler, this year will be bigger than 2022.
- Tesla ran out of gas while delivering vehicles in Q4: Rebekah writes about Tesla delivering 405,278 vehicles in the fourth quarter, which was nearly 5% below Wall Street expectations.