Google welcomes the new year with more layoffs

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Welcome back to TechCrunch AM, your morning tech and startups newsletter. Today we have an in-depth exploration of the evolution of unicorns, big tech layoffs, crypto regulation, satellite refueling in space, the Apple Vision Pro, and several fascinating funding rounds. To work!

– Alex

TechCrunch Top 3

Google wants to keep swinging the ax: Despite laying off more than 1,000 people recently (100 jobs are going to be cut at YouTube soon, too), Google seems to think it still has too many employees. Given its profitability and my issues with the direction the company is taking search in, I think Google needs more people, not less. Alphabet, Google’s parent, had operating income of $21.3 billion in Q3 2024, for reference.
Coinbase locks horns with the SEC: After approving spot bitcoin ETFs last week, the SEC is now arguing with Coinbase about the limits of its jurisdiction, and just what the definition of a security is. Chatter indicates that Coinbase is standing its ground, but there’s a long road ahead to sort out how crypto tokens fit into the existing regulatory frameworks — if they do at all.
Aileen Lee returns to chat about unicorns and their evolution: Just over 10 years ago, venture capitalist Aileen Lee coined the term “unicorn” in an article on TechCrunch. The rest is history. Today, she’s back with a sheaf of new charts and data, detailing how the world of $1 billion startups has evolved since the term unicorn came into being. It’s a must read.

Image Credits: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

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The Apple Vision Pro seems pretty cool: That’s my takeaway from Brian Heater’s excellent run-through of the hardware, software, fitting process, and the awe that Apple’s new VR headset can generate. While the device is very expensive for a first-gen piece of consumer hardware, if and when it sees a price cut, I presume that most tech-forward people will want to at least try, if not buy one. I know that I do.

In-space refueling is coming: Astroscale, a Japanese space startup that has raised nearly $400 million, recently showed off its new in-orbit satellite refueling concept. It’s super cool. Being able to refuel satellites while they’re in orbit could dramatically extend the life of our little friends in the sky, so long as the tech works and more satellites are equipped to accept more juice while in flight.

Apple’s being greedy again: Forced to allow app developers to redirect users to their own sites for payment purposes, Apple intends to still collect a 27% cut of the transaction value. To me, that sounds like a classic case of having a cake and wanting to eat it, too — 27% isn’t much lower than the 30% it collects from transactions on the App Store after all. The setup smells like a bad-faith money grab, so I collected some industry commentary to back up my argument.

The EU is tinkering with streaming music regulation: The EU is considering forcing “streaming platforms to open up their recommendation algorithms,” and provide more notices to consumers concerning AI-generated music. The EU’s final choices here could have big impacts in the music world, especially since Spotify is a European company.

Kiln proves that crypto fundraising is not dead: VC investment in the crypto space has fallen off a cliff in recent years, but there are still signs of life: Kiln recently raised $17 million to offer “white-label infrastructure-focused products” used by major platforms. It seems selling shovels during a gold rush will always be a good idea.

Facebook in trouble, again, about kids: A lawsuit in New Mexico is shedding light on how despite Facebook’s employees raising concerns about “the exploitation of children and teenagers on the company’s private messaging platforms,” the company did not prioritize implementing safeguards. Facebook argues that it has safety controls in place. Governments disagree.

Farm-ng wants to build modular farming robots: Automation in agriculture is difficult to pull off given the sheer variety of tasks involved, but farmers might one day be able to avoid all the back pain by getting a customizable robot to do all sorts of tasks. At least if Farm-ng has its way. Flush with a fresh $10 million, the company is planning to ramp up production of its modular farming robots. It’s promising, especially since some farms have seen dramatically lower labor times and costs when they’ve used Farm-ng’s robots.

Getsafe buys deineStudienfinanzierung: Student loan platform (and the newest winner of the ‘Very Good Startup Names’ competition always running here at TechCrunch), deineStudienfinanzierung, has been snapped up by insurtech company Getsafe. What would an insurtech business do with a student loan provider, you ask? Well, if you snag students early, you can sell more to them over time.

International Battery Company raises $35M: And in the “Is this company trying to be the next IBM?’ category of startup names, we have International Battery Company. It just raised nearly three-dozen million dollars to build EV batteries in India, a market that could see quick adoption of electric vehicles in the coming years.

Image Credits: Apple

Before you go

When people talk about a failed project’s last days, they often say “it crashed and burned.” It’s a stirring way to describe a failure, and we tend to use it in all sorts of contexts. Then there is the literal meaning of the phrase, which is about to happen to Astrobotic’s lunar lander.

Later today, the Peregrine lunar lander will crash into the world’s atmosphere and burn up. The mission seemingly failed due to a fuel leak because valves are an incredible challenge in space-flight, apparently. Still, let’s try again, yeah?