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Good morning, and welcome to TechCrunch AM! Today on the docket we have: startup news, M&A in Venture Capital Land, voice calls coming to your social media services, TikTok getting sued yet again, and even what former TechCrunch Editor in Chief Matthew Panzarino is up to. Let’s go!

– Alex

TechCrunch Top 3

1. General Catalyst is betting on India: We talk about startups buying startups often enough, but what about a venture firm buying another of its kind? That’s what General Catalyst is considering in India to expand its footprint. Given India’s size and developer base, the move could make good sense.
2. The venture perspective on the new era: Following her blockbuster research piece on the 10th anniversary of coining the term ‘unicorn,’ we brought on Cowboy Ventures’ Aileen Lee on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast to dive deep into the numbers and the future of venture investing. It’s worth a listen, if I may say so.
3. South Korea’s Myrealtrip lands $56M as travel rebounds: When COVID hit, travel and tourism shriveled and suffered. But travel is hot again now, and Myrealtrip is riding that momentum to a new round and expanded valuation. The startup intends to “double its GMV and generate EBITDA of $12 million this year,” Kate Park reports. Not bad!

Don’t miss these

Ring, ring, it’s that guy you don’t like on Twitter: For some reason, X launched audio and video calling back in October of 2023 for subscribers who use its iOS app. Well, if you pay for X and use Android, here’s some good news: calls are now coming to the Android version of the app as well. While I do not see any reason for making calls as I tweet, X has made noise about becoming an “everything app,” so count this as one step closer to that goal.

Taiwan, politics and semiconductors: Lai Ching-te of the DPP party, who won the Taiwan elections recently, seems to have his job cut out for him. Chipmaking is one of the country’s biggest economic drivers, and Lai will have to carefully balance keeping happy supporters of the DPP, which considers Taiwan to be a separate country from mainland China, and bolster the semiconductor industry, which is increasingly more vulnerable to geopolitics.

Iowa sues TikTok: The U.S. state is suing TikTok, arguing that its age rating on mobile app stores is bunk, and that it is misleading parents about the content available to kids on the platform. TikTok is not new to the litigation game, but the suit is surely unwelcome, especially as the company – owned by ByteDance, one reason why it’s a frequent target of suits and complaints – has been trying hard to hold on to its massive and lucrative presence in the United States.

TipTop wants to buy your stuff: Former Postmates founder Bastian Lehmann and former TechCrunch Editor in Chief Matthew Panzarino are cooking up something new at TipTop. The startup’s first product is TipTop Cash, which offers instant payoffs for used electronics. Given how much clutter we all have at home, the app sounds like a good idea since, as Sarah Perez reports, it makes it easy to sell the items you own. Still, it remains to be seen how well it will compete with Facebook Marketplace and other used-goods marketplaces.

Netflix doesn’t heart the Vision Pro: The streaming service giant has confirmed that it won’t build an app for the Apple Vision Pro. I am currently on the fence about buying the VR headset, but I did expect app support from the major players — it is an Apple product after all. I’m not sure if Netflix’s decision says more about the headset (is it too hard or expensive to build new apps?) or Apple (does it no longer have the cachet to demand developer interest?), but as a consumer, this stinks.

Prime Video retreats: Speaking of tech companies acting like they are suddenly out of money, Amazon’s video streaming service is downsizing its Africa and Middle East operations in a move that will affect teams in the two regions. “Prime Video will stop contracting originals in Africa and Middle East markets,” Annie Njanja and Tage Kene-Okafor report. What’s the point of being worth trillions if you have to nickel and dime your own customers and employees?

Catchup on crypto: After a long period of relative dormancy, crypto is once again doing its thing: arguing with regulators, launching meme coins, and hunting for the killer use case that will take it to the mainstream. Jacquelyn Melinek has all the critical news, updates and memes to keep you up to speed. Enjoy!

Another day, another hack: You know what’s cool with kids these days? Supreme shoes. You know what’s not cool with kids and everyone else? Massive data breaches. That is precisely what VF Corp, the parent company of The North Face, Vans and Supreme brands, just served up in its winter collection: Some 35 million customers’ personal data was yanked by hackers, TechCrunch reports.

Before you go

Spotify’s “Daylist” feature, which serves up algorithmically generated playlists inspired by your listening habits throughout the day, has been popping off lately on social feeds. For example, my Daylist for this morning is “lyricist manifesting Friday early morning,” and is replete with “teen rock and old school emo.”

Anyway, the news here is that the person who built the feature at Spotify was let go as part of layoffs late last year. Glenn McDonald, I blame Jupiter being in Taurus, and corporate bullshit.

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