Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Welcome to TechCrunch AM! Did you think HRtech was boring? Well, Rippling’s ongoing fundraise makes it clear that VCs love the space regardless. We also have notes on a huge opportunity for space startups, Tesla discontinuing its discount program, a startup taking on Stripe, and some competition drama involving Google Pay in India. — Alex

TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Haje Kamps / TechCrunch

1. Rippling looks to cash out early backers: HRtech unicorn Rippling is raising a massive new round, but TechCrunch reporting indicates that the bulk of the new funding will go to existing shareholders. Such massive secondary transactions are a good way to ease pressure on the company to find exit via an IPO or M&A. Rippling will raise $200 million for itself, and set a new higher valuation for its business in the deal. Read More

2. A $11 billion free-for-all: NASA’s mission to return samples from Mars is going to take too long and cost too much, the agency has decided. So it’s ripping up its early plans, and going out to the industry to see how the project can be sped up. For startups building space-related tech, it’s game time. Read More

3. Tesla ends discounts on EVs: Tesla is shaking up its sales motion by shuttering its discount program as part of a plan to streamline its sales and delivery system. TechCrunch notes that the company has a history of making such changes. It’s worth considering the impact of fewer discounts on Tesla’s growth curve in the coming quarters. Read More

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Morning Must Reads

Image Credits: Flatpay

Flatpay raises €45M to simplify payments for SMBs: Danish payments startup Flatpay’s model seems to be working well even in a market that Stripe has done yeoman’s work to dominate. Flatpay focuses on small-to-midsize businesses like shops, restaurants and salons, and has a very simple cost structure that is friendly enough to allow it to lose money on certain transactions. And its direct sales approach makes this business one to keep an eye on. Read More

The SpaceX-to-VC pipeline lives on: It appears SpaceX alumni have yet again forayed into Venture Land. Former SpaceX executive Tom Ochinero is linking arms with Achal Upadhyaya (formerly of SpaceX) and Spencer Hemphill (formerly of Sequoia) to build a new VC firm called Interlagos Capital, TechCrunch has learned from filings. Read More

How to accelerate EV charging infra: Electric cars have many things going for them, but owning one brings one major drawback: poor infrastructure. EV charging startup FLO is looking to change that by building a reliable network of EV charging stations throughout North America. Its founder, Louis Tremblay, recently spoke on TechCrunch’s Found podcast about the startup’s journey and its plans for the future. Read More

Self-driving comes to Atlanta: Waymo is coming to yet another United States city that is not my own. The company is working on mapping Atlanta, and we should be able to soon see robotaxis plying the city’s streets. Meanwhile, Providence will remain the domain of icky humans driving while trying to text. Alas. Read More

India seeks to limit Google, PhonePe’s payments dominance: Google Pay and PhonePe control the lion’s share of transactions on India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) mobile payment system. The government doesn’t like that, so it’s planning to talk with their rivals to see how they can help undo that dominance, TechCrunch’s Manish Singh reports. Read More

Vorlon wants to make APIs more secure: APIs are neat, allowing apps and services to work with one another and swap data as needed. But wherever data is in motion, there will be cybersecurity risks. Vorlon wants to make API usage safer, and just raised $15.7 million to help companies do that. Read More

Who isn’t building a humanoid robot? Mentee Robotics is jumping into the fast-expanding robotics ring with a new humanoid ‘bot. That means that there is yet another contender to keep tabs on. The more the merrier! I just want a robot that will unload the dishwasher for me. Read More

Around the Web

Russian group apparently hacked Texas’ water infra: A hacking group that is linked to the Russian government was behind a cyberattack that caused issues with water infrastructure in Texas, CNN reports. Geopolitics may seem far away from our daily lives, but this is one clear example of how it can affect nearly everyone. Read More

Digital ad revenue is trailing off: Digital ad revenue in the United States increased 7.3% last year, down from the 10.9% increase back in 2022, AdExchanger reports. It seems the digital advertising’s post-COVID doldrums aren’t going anywhere. Read More

Uncle Sam wants to know more: There’s concern that a bill in Congress would greatly expand the NSA’s ability to demand data from more businesses. Doesn’t sound so good. Read More

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Before You Go

Image Credits: Alexander Shatov/Unsplash

Snap to watermark images made with AI: Snap will add a sparkly watermark to AI-generated images made using its apps. The move is intended to help users understand what they are looking at and where it came from. A good question is whether or not we should expect this sort of service from platforms, or if it would be better to let consumers handle the labeling or lack thereof. Read More