WORLD

90 Days of Tech

We had to triple fact check that January 1 was 93 days ago, because it felt more like 930. Now that Q1 is over, here's a look back at the biggest emerging tech stories from the quarter. 

January 

We learned that 2019 was a banner year for AI startup financing, 54% of U.S. homes had a smart device, and one in five American adults regularly wore a smartwatch. 

CES took place in Sin City with a spotlight on 5G, foldable hardware, smart devices, and automotive tech. At Davos, tech chatter centered around 5G geopolitics and AI regulation. As we now know, these were the tech circuit's last two major events before the pandemic broke out. 

Chinese tech companies mobilized their formidable tools against the coronavirus outbreak, while American platforms started to see a surge in viral virus-related misinformation. 

February

The Super Bowl was packed with emerging technology ads. The FTC announced a probe into a decade's worth of Big Tech acquisitions. And Amazon launched its first full-scale Go grocery store.

Early signs pointed to COVID-19 disrupting business-as-usual outside China. Organizers called off Mobile World Congress 2020, the wireless industry's biggest event, after the largest companies started pulling out. By mid-month, we knew COVID-19 would seriously disrupt tech supply chains. 

March

In non-coronavirus news (which still existed in early March) Alphabet announced its Tidal fish tracking and farming moonshot, and Waymo took in external financing for the first time. 

Silicon Valley recognized the threat of coronavirus early on. By the first week of March, tech companies were instructing employees to WFH, canceling corporate travel, and calling off annual conferences and/or moving them online. 

When the U.S. stock market began tanking, cryptocurrencies went with it. Tech platforms with billions of users pledged to elevate authoritative content and take a hard line on flushing out the fraudulent info, but moderation by machine learning has been imperfect. Now, governments are tapping mobile location data for COVID-19 contact tracing.

Looking ahead...Q2's top stories will likely include: containing the coronavirus and mitigating its economic fallout. Civil liberties vs. tech-enabled surveillance for COVID-19 response. The tech industry's retooling, mobilization, and image makeover during the pandemic.

TELECOM

Huawei: What Ban?

When the White House blacklisted Huawei last year, it wanted to limit the tech giant's access to U.S. components. That blacklisting cost Huawei $12 billion in revenue in 2019, the company said earlier this week. 

Still, Huawei purchased $18.7 billion from U.S. suppliers, rotating chairman Eric Xu told the FT. Its latest flagship phone has parts designed by three U.S. companies, according to an FT teardown. 

• Reminder: The White House has granted some exemptions to the blacklist...so those parts don't indicate foul play, just that the cleaver hasn't completely severed commercial ties. 

The White House isn't done yet, though. It's readying more measures that would restrict foreign companies using U.S. chipmaking equipment from selling chips to Huawei without a license, Reuters reports. 

Who knew telecommunications could be so dramatic?

"The Chinese government would not sit there and watch Huawei being slaughtered," Xu told CNBC Tuesday, hinting at tit-for-tat countermeasures in the event of more U.S. restrictions. Left unsaid: Huawei is accelerating its push to become self-reliant for componentry and software. 

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VC

Fundraising Amid COVID-19

Based on positive feedback from last week, I'll be continuing a new weekly section highlighting startup financing rounds. I would love to hear more of your thoughts.

Staying active: Despite a bleak outlook for the transportation industry, four startups recently announced new funding.

• Last week, self-driving software startup Helm.ai raised a $13 million seed round.
• On Monday, ride-hailing startup Via announced $400 million in funding and said it would focus on software for public transit agencies. 
• Tuesday, industrial autonomous vehicle manufacturer Seegrid announced $25 million in funding. 
• Yesterday, Phantom AI announced a $22 million Series A. The startup develops advanced driver assistance systems for auto suppliers. 

All in the genes: At the beginning of March, Boston-based Akouos raised $105 million in Series B funding to develop gene therapy treatments focused on restoring/preserving hearing. And last week, Castle Creek Biosciences, a late-stage gene therapy startup, announced $75 million in equity and debt financing.  

One that makes sense right now: Strivr, a Palo Alto startup that makes VR training software, announced Tuesday it's raised a $30 million Series B.

THE TRAFFIC REPORT

March was a long, uncertain month. Nearly 3.5 billion people are locked down in some fashion, watching the world through a computer monitor or mobile screen. 

Tech companies experienced dramatic swings in the usage of their services. Engagement was either way up or way down. Emerging Tech Brew's COVID-19 Traffic Report has compiled data on spikes, surges, streaming, and social distancing from dozens of sources. 

Some intentionally vague excerpts:

• A U.S. carrier consistently saw 2x the call volume of Mother's Day.
• A gaming service hit 3 million concurrent players in early March, then 4 million two weeks later.
• Some states are seeing more Airbnb activity. 
• Foot traffic to liquor stores may not follow the patterns you're expecting.
• Around the world, internet traffic has retreated to one part of the city. 

Check out the COVID-19 Traffic Report here.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Mobile payment volume cooled off in China as consumers scaled back offline consumption during the country’s lockdown.
• Anthony Levandowski, the self-driving whiz who illegally whisked trade secrets from Google to Uber, wants Uber to help him pay the court-ordered $179 million fine he owes Google.
• Binance acquired CoinMarketCap, which provides exchange volume and crypto pricing data. The Block reports the price tag could be as high as $400 million.
• Amazon will roll out temperature checks and masks for all staff at U.S. and European warehouses by next week.
• Zoom CEO Eric Yuan announced the company would freeze feature development and focus on trust, safety, and privacy features for the next 90 days. Zoom has been having trust, safety, and privacy issues. 

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GOING PHISHING

There are over 30,000 known species of fish. But there are just five phishing choices for you to choose from here. Four of the following news stories are real; one is fake. Can you spot the odd one out?  

1. A balloon startup is dropping motivational stay-at-home fliers over Florida homes. 
2. Deadpool is holding an in-game Fortnite event with music and tacos. 
3. Shanghai has replaced some judicial court clerks with AI assistants as part of a six-month pilot.
4. Employees are looping videos of themselves during Zoom meetings to pretend that they're paying attention.
5. Composer Hans Zimmer is making the artificial sounds for BMW EVs.

TECH THINGAMABOBS

This is a limited-run section to help you pass the time during lockdown. 

For those in the Big Apple: See a "visual, abstract exploration" of your city without people in it. 

For the memers: Upon request, This Meme Does Not Exist algorithmically generates meme captions for popular templates. Some are funny, some make no sense. Most make no sense.

For the overachievers: Become a Guinness World Record holder from your home. GWR is holding weekly record challenges across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

For the 'Gram: Follow @emergingtechbrew.

GOING PHISHING ANSWER

There isn't a balloon startup dropping fliers in Florida.