Can a startup take on Google’s mobile search hegemony?

Monday, January 29, 2024

Good morning, and welcome to TechCrunch AM, our morning newsletter built to get you up and running! Today, we’re talking about a big implosion in the world of edtech, why tweeting is a bad idea, a mobile app taking on Google Search, and the end of a big Amazon deal.

– Alex

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Byju’s is now effectively worthless: Desperate for cash to stay alive, the Indian edtech startup and former unicorn is hunting for cash at a $220 million to $250 million valuation. That’s a roughly 99% cut in value, in case you wanted to run the math. The question now is whether Byju’s issues are self-inflicted or representative of the state of edtech. Investors remain somewhat bullish on the sector, though.
Garry Tan reminds us to Never Tweet: Y Combinator’s president Garry Tan told several San Francisco politicians to expire unhurriedly in a tweet that he later described as a reference to Tupac Shakur’s famous song, “Hit ‘Em Up.” TechCrunch’s Editor in Chief Connie Loizos writes that Tan is “amiable in person,” but has “become increasingly combative on social media.” Criticizing politicians is all well and good, but telling them to die is a bit much, no?
Spotify calls out Apple: In response to Apple choosing to follow the letter of the EU market’s Digital Markets Act and not its spirit, Spotify is calling Apple’s compliance plan “a complete and total farce.” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s post on the development starts off with “While Apple has behaved badly for years, what they did yesterday represents a new low,” so you can probably imagine how the rest of it goes.

Image Credits: Paul Yeung / Bloomberg / Getty Images

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Can AI fix lost and found? In the latest entry of her Deal Dive series, Rebecca Szkutak took a close look at Boomerang, which uses machine learning to match pictures and descriptions of lost items. Frankly, as someone who can get lost in a closet, this startup’s idea resonates with me on a new level.

iRobot and Amazon call off their marriage: Hey look, regulators do win sometimes! In this case, the European government – said with the kindest possible inflection – scorned Amazon for buying iRobot, which makes robot vacuum cleaners and the like. And as a result, the companies are now going to go their separate ways.

The Browser Company takes on mobile search: I’ve used Arc, the desktop browser from The Browser Company, and it’s pretty neat. But the company has bigger ambitions than just remaking browser tech: It has launched Arc Search, which uses AI to provide users with a “neatly built webpage with information about [their] search query.” Any competition in the realm of search is welcome, so here’s a shoutout to the startup for shaking things up.

How to use AI to build new stuff: Alex Circei, the CEO and co-founder of Waydev, has insightful notes on how founders and leaders can strategize and budget for AI-assisted software development in 2024.

Can venture capital survive a 3-year liquidity drop? Equity recently sat down with Crunchbase’s Gene Teare to chat through venture capital data, and what it portends. We found that while the long-running dearth of exits has complicated venture math, there could be good news on the horizon.

Oh look, another room-temp superconductor: Carry your bags of salt, everyone, we’re going back into murky forests of science, where scientists tend to claim that the seemingly impossible room-temperature superconductor problem has been solved, once and for all. This time, however, the claim comes from a startup and a university, which sounds more serious. But like we said, be skeptical.

Image Credits: Courtesy of Boomerang.

Before you go

How to poison AI: If you are worried about AI companies using your art or images, I have good news: Nightshade, a project from the University of Chicago, gives artists some recourse by ‘poisoning’ image data, rendering it useless or disruptive to AI model training. Wild.