TechCrunch Industry News

Walmart is taking aim at Instacart, Target’s Shipt, and Amazon Prime Now/Whole Foods with a new grocery delivery subscription service called simply, “Delivery Unlimited.” Before, Walmart shoppers could order groceries online and pick them up at their local store for free or they could opt to pay the $9.95 (or sometimes less) per-order delivery fee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A computer science student has scraped seven million Venmo transactions to prove that users’ public activity can still be easily obtained, a year after a privacy researcher downloaded hundreds of millions of Venmo transactions in a similar feat. Dan Salmon said he scraped the transactions during a cumulative six months to raise awareness and warn users to set their Venmo payments to private. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lightspeed Venture Partners, a firm behind the likes of BetterUp, Aurora, Goop and dozens of others, will allocate more capital to mature companies with the hiring of three new partners. Adam Smith, Amy Wu and Arsham Memarzadeh join the Menlo Park-headquartered venture capital fund’s growth practice. The team is led by longtime partner Will Kohler and Brad Twohig, who joined LSVP in 2018 to amp up the firm’s late-stage efforts, leading a $1. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ask any venture capitalist about the most important ingredient to success in startups, and they’ll tell you it centers on founders who can persuade not only investors to part with some of their capital but, more important, who can convince people to leave what are often more stable jobs in order to build a company from scratch. Ryan Cohen certainly fits the description. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Details of the Pixel 4 have been swirling around this week, so Google has decided to just leak the design of its next phone via its official Twitter account, revealing the backplate and new camera module on the smartphone. “Well, since there seems to be some interest, here you go! Wait ’til you see what it can do. #Pixel4″ the tweet from the company’s verified @MadeByGoogle account read. Renders of the Pixel 4 had leaked this week via smartphone blog Pricebaba. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk: There is not a demand problem for the Tesla Model 3 Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s opening comments at the annual shareholder’s meeting went straight to a question that has been looming over the automaker since it reported wider-than-expected losses and a one-third drop in deliveries in the first quarter: demand. “We get this question a lot. I want to be clear, there is not a demand problem,” Musk said. But he didn’t stop there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joanna Glasner Contributor More posts by this contributor Which public US universities graduate the most funded founders? Big revenues, huge valuations and major losses: charting the era of the unicorn IPO Sometimes a person (I’m not naming names here) tires of staring at startup funding data, and her hungry mind wanders to pizza. But ordering a pizza in real life isn’t always the best choice for such people/reporters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vive Pro Eye launches in US, costs four times as much as Rift S HTC had the hottest VR headset out of the gate in 2016, but the thinning margins on consumer hardware thanks to Oculus have pushed them into the enterprise business. Today, the company released the Vive Pro Eye headset, its latest enterprise play that integrates eye-tracking camera to give users an additional input mode and a way for users to signal attention. It’s available in a bundle with SteamVR 2. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of the bigger security announcements from Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference this week is Apple’s new requirement that app developers must implement the company’s new single sign-on solution, Sign In with Apple, wherever they already offer another third-party sign-on system. Apple’s decision to require its button in those scenarios is considered risky — especially at a time when the company is in the crosshairs of the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Xiamoi recently discovered a safety issue with the M365 electric scooter where a screw could become loose in the folding apparatus. That would then cause the vertical component of the scooter to break off while in use. Xiaomi said it only affected a “limited number of production units” — 10,257 to be exact. The recall program will start in the United Kingdom on June 26 and in other markets July 1. The United States is not one of the markets affected. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Uber’s chief operating officer Barney Harford and chief marketing officer Rebecca Messina are stepping down as part of an organizational shakeup put into motion just a month after the ride-hailing company went public. CNBC first reported the departures. The departures, which CEO Dara Khosrowshahi explained in an email to employees, were prompted by his decision to more directly control core parts of the business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

E3 2019 is shaping up to be a bit of an in-between year. Nintendo Switch sales have finally started slowing, but the company’s a ways off from its next-generation console. Microsoft and Sony will be offering info on theirs soon, but we likely won’t be seeing much — especially from the latter, which has opted to sit out this show altogether. Still, there will be plenty to see next week in Los Angeles. Here’s what we expect so far. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bungie aims to fortify the popular but flagging Destiny 2 with an expanded free-to-play plan and universal cross-platform saving, the company announced today. It’s an interesting and player-friendly evolution of the “games as a service” model, and other companies should take note. The base game, which is to say the original campaign and the first year of updates, will be available on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Google Stadia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Drew Olanoff Contributor Editor’s note: Drew is a geek who first worked at AOL when he was 16 years old and went on to become a senior writer at TechCrunch. He is now the VP of Communications for venture equity fund Scaleworks. I have a confession to make. It’s something that I live with daily. It’s not that I’m not proud of it…it’s just that I’m never sure how people will see me after they know my “secret.” Here goes nothing. I. Was. A. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Grow Mobility, the entity that consists of electric scooter startup Grin, and bike and scooter-share startup Yellow, has merged with payments startup Flinto. Flinto enables people to make peer-to-peer payments, add minutes and text messages to your phone, and pay bills and merchants. Flinto works for those with or without bank accounts. If someone doesn’t have a bank account, they can deposit cash at local shops and restaurants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last week four security companies changed hands. The shopping spree continued this week with CDN company Imperva announcing it was buying bot mitigation startup Distil Networks. The companies did not share the acquisition price. Imperva CTO Kunal Anand says his company had a narrow bot capability, but was looking to bring a more complete solution to the platform and Distil fit the bill nicely. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brooklyn and Queens are now flush with 1,000 of Revel’s shared electric mopeds Revel Transit has released 1,000 of its shared electric mopeds onto the streets of Brooklyn and Queens, following the end of a nine-month pilot program in the area. The New York-based startup pulled the original 68 mopeds it used in its limited pilot and has replaced them with new models (and hundreds more of them) built for two riders and equipped with kickstands for parking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There’s a whole lot of ocean on this planet, and we don’t have much of an idea what’s at the bottom of most of it. That could change with the craft and techniques created during the Ocean Discovery Xprize, which had teams competing to map the sea floor quickly, precisely, and autonomously. The winner just took home $4 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Drawing inspiration from games of yore but with dog and cat protagonists that signal light adventures rather than grim, dark ones, Gato Roboto and Dig Dog are easy to recommend to anyone looking to waste a couple hours this weekend. Not only that, but the latter was developed in a fascinating and inspiring way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Microsoft has issued its second advisory this month urging users to update their systems to prevent a re-run of attacks similar to WannaCry. The software giant said Thursday that the recently discovered “wormable” vulnerability in Remote Desktop Services for Windows can allow attackers to remotely run code on a vulnerable computer — such as malware or ransomware. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last year’s WWDC was a rare step away from hardware for the company, without a single device announcement. In fact, Apple’s gadget lines have largely been the subject of quiet releases over the past year. Ahead of the big Apple TV unveil, the company issued several press releases highlighting minor updates to flagship lines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the first lunar landing is approaching, and there will be no shortage of fanfare — so why shouldn’t LEGO get in on the fun? This Lunar Lander set looks like a great way to celebrate the missions of the space program’s past, while the space station and launch sets celebrate its present and future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are very pleased to announce that the new and improved Crunchbase Unicorn Leaderboardre-launched today after nearly a year’s absence from TechCrunch. Venture investors did a lot of handwringing in the past year over rising valuations, but that did not slow the unicorn juggernaut, as 2018 outstripped all previous years in terms of the number of unicorns created and venture dollars invested. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ignoring calls that it’s creepy, Facebook is forging onward with its Portal smart display. Today Facebook quietly launched iOS and Android Portal apps that let owners show off photos on the screen without sharing them to the social network, and video call their home while they’re out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Zero raises $20 million from NEA and others for a credit card that works like debit Just ahead of the launch of the Apple Card, a startup that has its own take on modernizing the credit card industry, Zero, is announcing the close of its $20 million Series A. The new round of funding was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), and brings Zero’s total raised to date to $35 million, including both equity and debt funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Using full-body MRIs, Ezra can now detect 11 cancers in men and 13 in women When Ezra first launched about six months ago, the company was using magnetic resonance imaging machines to test for prostate cancer in men. But the company’s founder, Emi Gal, always had a larger goal. “One of the biggest problems in cancer is that there’s no accurate, fast, painless, way to scan for cancer anywhere in the body” Gal said at the time of his company’s debut. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A year ago Instagram made a bold bet with the launch of IGTV: That it could invent and popularize a new medium of long-form vertical videos. Landscape uploads weren’t allowed. Co-founder Kevin Systrom told me in August that “What I’m most proud of is that Instagram took a stand and tried a brand new thing that is frankly hard to pull off. Full-screen vertical video that’s mobile only. That doesn’t exist anywhere else. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last night’s successful Starlink launch was a big one for SpaceX — its heaviest payload ever, weighed down by 60 communications satellites that will eventually be part of a single constellation providing internet to the globe. That’s the plan, anyway — and the company pulled the curtain back a bit more after launch, revealing a few more details about the birds it just put in the air. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Julian Assange, founder of whistleblowing site WikiLeaks, has been charged with more than a dozen additional charges by U.S. federal prosecutors, including under the controversial Espionage Act — a case that will likely test the rights of freedom of speech and expression under the First Amendment. Assange, 47, was arrested at the Ecuadorean embassy in London in April after the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gamers feel passionately about loot boxes, turns out some elected officials do too. A new Senate bill was formally introduced today with bipartisan support and it could categorically shift how today’s top platforms and distribution platforms monetize the titles they sell. The bill’s introduction was first reported by The Verge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Like many of you, I’m assuming, my desk was purchased at Ikea and is the center of my life. Such as it is, the desk is littered with bits of crackers, memory cards, branded Moleskin notebooks and countless coffee cups. I’m not a slob. I just live here. The desk is clean enough. Then Dyson sent me its new task light to try out. My desk suddenly felt dirty. After assembling the light, I looked around and took inventory of my life and choices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Remember the OUYA? As a cheap Android-powered game console, it was pitched as being able to “open the last closed platform: the TV”. It was one of the first huge Kickstarter campaigns, raising nearly 9 million dollars on the site in 2012. Even half a decade later, it remains one of the biggest campaigns Kickstarter has seen. Outside of Kickstarter, the $99 console never really found its audience. OUYA was split up by 2015, its software assets and team acquired by Razer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Future Family is a startup aiming to make fertility services like IVF and egg freezing more accessible. They work with doctors and clinics to make the pricing of these services more predictable and upfront, then offer monthly payment plans to help customers spread the cost (often in the tens of thousands of dollars) over a few years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple is updating its 15” MacBook Pro with new 8-core and 6-core processors and its 13” MacBook Pro with Touch Bar with 8th gen quad-core processors. Apple says that these boosts mean that the 15” MacBook Pro will run at double the speed of the previous quad-core models and hit 40% improvements over the 6-core MacBook Pro model. Apple says that this is its fastest Mac notebook ever. Oh, and there is that keyboard update. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s a bit strange to hear that the world’s leading social network is pursuing research in robotics rather than, say, making search useful, but Facebook is a big organization with many competing priorities. And while these robots aren’t directly going to affect your Facebook experience, what the company learns from them could be impactful in surprising ways. Though robotics is a new area of research for Facebook, its reliance on and bleeding-edge work in AI are well known. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When your game tops a hundred million players, your thoughts naturally turn to doubling that number. That’s the case with the creators, or rather stewards, of Minecraft at Microsoft, where the game has become a product category unto itself. And now it is making its biggest leap yet — to a real-world augmented reality game in the vein of Pokemon GO, called Minecraft Earth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sometimes you need scrambled eggs. And with that thought, toady at the Overland Expo in Flagstaff, AZ, Rivian announced a major accessory for its electric pickup: A camp kitchen. The unit slides out from the Rivian R1T’s so-called gear tunnel that lives between the bed and cab. The kitchen includes storage and a stove that’s powered by the R1T’s 180kWh battery pack. This kitchen unit is the first significant concept Rivian has unveiled for the pickup’s unusual gear tunnel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the heels of Clutter announcing a large growth roundof $200 million earlier this year, the storage startup is cleaning up the competitive field. TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that Clutter has purchased the storage business of erstwhile rival Omni. Omni will remain an independent company, which will now instead focus on rentals of personal items. That business was originally built around renting out items that you had stored with Omni itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Premium smartphone manufacturers have moved the needle on pricing, but 2019 may well go down as a kind of golden age for budget flagships. Apple, Google and Samsung are all in that business now, and OnePlus has once again shown the world how to offer more for less. And then there’s the new ZenFone. It’s a bit of an understatement to suggest that Asus has had trouble breaking into the smartphone space. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TikTok tops the iOS App Store for the fifth quarter in a row Despite a $5.7 million FTC fine and changes to restrict its use by under 13-year-olds, TikTok retained its No. 1 position as the most downloaded app on the Apple App Store for the fifth consecutive quarter, according to a new report from Sensor Tower. The app saw more than 33 million App Store downloads during Q1, and was followed by YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger to round out the top five. The No. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Forget all those whiskey brands from musicians and celebs — there’s A.I. whiskey now. Microsoft this week announced it has teamed up with Finnish tech company Fourkind and Sweden-based distillery Mackmyra Whisky to create the “world’s first whisky developed with artificial intelligence.” Oh no! Here’s how it will work. As part of the distillation process, whiskey first spends time — typically years — sitting in charred wooden casks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon want to be plenty of things, the most predictable of which is its ambitions to control America’s shipping backbone. The company’s efforts to bring users whatever they desire in 24 hours requires movements by land, air and sea. Today, the company broke ground on expanding its airborne ambitions, breaking ground on a three million square-foot Prime Air airport outside Cincinnati (in Kentucky). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stocks had their best trading day in a while on Tuesday as investors took a break from selling to assess the actual effects of the trade war with China. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 gained back some of their losses with the DJIA climbing 207.06 points to close at 25,532.05 and the S&P hitting 2,834.41, up 0.8%. The Nasdaq Composite Index wrapped its trading day at 7,734.49. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twitter is finally allowing a number of locked users to regain control of their accounts once again. Around a year after Europe’s new privacy laws (GDPR) rolled out, Twitter began booting users out of their accounts if it suspected the account’s owner was underage — that is, younger than 13. But the process also locked out many users who said they were now old enough to use Twitter’s service legally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today at a packed event blocks from the White House, Jeff Bezos took the stage in front of select members of the media, executives, government officials and a gaggle of middle schoolers to reveal new details of his plan to get to the Moon by 2024. Blue Origin is going to send humans to space on New Shepard later this year and has unveiled a lunar lander, called “Blue Moon”, to access the resource-rich lunar surface, Bezos said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aspiring space tourism outfit Virgin Galactic has just announced its readiness to shift its operations to New Mexico’s Spaceport America, from which the company’s first commercial flights will take off. “Virgin Galactic is coming home to New Mexico where together we will open space to change the world for good,” said Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson at a press event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every so often, a big corporation manages to play the news cycle just right. Generally such things aren’t recommended and can fairly easily backfire, but the MillerCoors-owned Blue Moon Brewery would have been silly not to have capitalized on yesterday’s big announcement from Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin. Sodowe https://t. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ouch. Yikes. Oof. Sigh. Those are some of the friendlier phrases I imagine came out of the mouths of bankers, investors, executives and really anyone who has been paying close attention to Uber’s road to the stock markets today when the company debuted on the New York Stock Exchange below its initial public offering price. The ride-hailing business (NYSE: UBER), previously valued at $72 billion by venture capitalists, priced its stock at $45 apiece for a valuation of $82.4 billion on Thursday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Uber has set its initial public offering at $45 per share, per reports, raising $8.1 billion in the process. The price, which falls at the low end of Uber’s planned range, values Uber at $82.4 billion. Uber has yet to officially confirm its IPO price in an amended S-1 filing. The pricing comes one day after drivers all over the world went on strike, with drivers in San Francisco protesting right outside the company’s headquarters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Singapore has passed a controversial bill that could equip the government with extensive powers to police online media and free speech. The bill was first drafted last month and, as had been expected, it passed 72-9 in Singapore’s parliament, dominated by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) party, late on Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices