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Friday!
How’s that for brevity in newsletter introductions? Let’s start so we can open a liquid death and sink the week into the murky distance of memory sooner rather than later. — Christine and hi
Contents
The businesskinda.com Top 3
- oh oh: Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has confirmed it has found a blockchain bridge breach in which hackers made off with $100 million. carly has more.
- Evolving Elephants into Unicorns: annie reports that Kenya’s tourism-focused startup studio Purple Elephant Ventures is raising $1 million in pre-seed funding to help modernize the industry.
- What until you see the picture: Amazon’s Scout will make you just want to go over there and give it a pat. Unfortunately, you may not get a chance to do that. After three years of unveiling the robot, the delivery giant said it will be shortening the program. Brian reports.
Startups and VC
Wildfires have become an increasing threat as homes are built closer together and the increasing effects of climate change wreak havoc on natural landscapes. In response, entrepreneurs have begun to develop technology intended to minimize the magnitude and damage of these natural disasters. Convective Capital is a new VC firm that wants to support them, and it has raised $35 million to do so, Becca reports.
hi really got tired of startups taking liberties with their market size, complaining that if you’re a car dealer, your total usable market isn’t the value of the cars you sell (that’s the SUM for the car manufacturer). Your SUM is the total value of the sales commissions, service plans, aftermarket goods and services, and anything else you can actually earn money from.
And we have five more for you:
7 investors discuss how agtech can solve agriculture’s biggest problems
Image Credits: The creative drone (Opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Of all the global industries, none may be more susceptible to the dangers of climate change than agriculture.
There is a consensus among renowned scientists that the amount of CO2 we put into the atmosphere exacerbates extreme weather events. How will that affect the way agtech VCs operate during a downturn?
For more information, we conducted a survey:
- Brett Brohl, director of Techstars Farm to Fork, and managing partner at Bread and Butter Ventures
- Monica Varman, partner at G2 Venture Partners
- Jinesh Shah, Managing Partner at Omnivore
- Adam Anders, managing partner at Anterra Capital
- Ting Ting Liu, investor, and Ashutosh Sharma, India head at Prosus Ventures
- Camila Petignat, partner at The Yield Lab
Three more from the TC+ team:
businesskinda.com+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams stay ahead of the curve. You can register here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!
Big Tech Inc.
Google plans to open its first data center in Japan in 2023, Ivan writes. The center is part of a $730 million infrastructure fund and will be the search engine giant’s third in the region.
In the meantime, Kylea and Amanda looked at artificial intelligence-powered music generators and their place in an industry where it generally pays to use your natural, human capabilities.
And five more for you:
- Sharing is caring: A new Twitter feature encourages users to share the tweet instead of taking a screenshot of it and then posting it to other social media, Ivan writes.
- Press pause: A judge ruled that the Musk vs. Twitter may be temporarily suspended while the two sides work out a deal, Amanda reports.
- It’s Mariooooo: Amanda gives you a glimpse into the new “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” where she writes, “So far Chris Pratt’s Mario is more like Andy Dwyer than Star-Lord, and we love that about him.”
- Make tweaks: Shopify has agreed to add some consumer safety features to its app in Europe, including a faster and easier way for national consumer authorities to report issues, Natasha L reports.
- Break open a cold one: Pepsi is front of the line to get some of the first Tesla Semi deliveries, Kirsten writes.
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.