Nintendo's endurance, Tesla's newest fight, and a giant thank you to mothers everywhere

May 8, 2020

Hello! Happy Mother's Day (almost)!

We're scrambling to get a few things done tonight (still!), but we did just roll out the newest episode of "StrictlyVC Download" for your listening pleasure over the weekend. For tonight's episode, Alex and I had chatted with some top Silicon Valley recruiters to find out how bad (or not) it is out there, and to ask where all the engineers -- and computer science students -- go now.

Thanks to TechCrunch for partnering with us on this week's podcast. Learn more about TC's upcoming Disrupt event coming up September 14 - September 16, featuring a jaunty new Disrupt Digital Pass.

Top News

Oof. The April unemployment rate surged to a record 14.7% and payrolls dropped by a historic 20.5 million workers, wiping out a decade of job gains in a single month.

The Food and Drug Administration said today that it has granted emergency authorization for the first at-home saliva collection kit to test for the coronavirus

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What Recruiters are Saying About the Tech Market Now

Given the endless drumbeat of layoff announcements — with deep cuts by Airbnb and Uber garnering much of the industry’s attention this week — it’s reasonable to wonder: what happens to all of the talent that’s being laid off? How does the changing supply and demand balance impact pay? Is anyone safe in this market?

Because the questions are top of mind for practically everyone everywhere right now, we reached out to recruiters in the one industry that we know — tech — to ask what they are seeing and what they predict will happen over the next three to six months. Unsurprisingly, they told us they’ve seen a steep drop-off in job searches and loads of salary cuts, but they also say there are silver linings in these turbulent times.

First the bad news, and for the moment, it’s mostly bad news.

Sales and marketing positions — particularly at consumer-facing startups — have been hard hit, and they aren’t coming back any time soon, possibly not even in 2020. Carolyn Betts, the founder of the national recruiting firm Betts Recruiting, says when the “coronavirus hit and shelter-in-place notices came out, we saw 80% of our business freeze. And then it went down from there.”

Betts’s bootstrapped recruiting company — which fills sales, marketing and people operations roles — was forced to conduct its own layoffs because of the lost business, shedding 30 percent of its staff and cutting remaining employees’ pay by 20%, although though Betts says a PPP loan has allowed the company to adjust pay upward again by 10%.

In the meantime, she has had a front row to the nearly overnight switch from an employee market where rising salaries and signing bonuses had become routine, to an employer-driven market where candidates get what they get. “There’s so much talent in the market that there are backup candidates for backup candidates.”

More here.

Massive Fundings

Kurly, a five-year-old, South Korea-based online grocery delivery startup that just last month said it had raised $150 million in new funding from Sequoia Capital, Hillhouse Capital and DST Global, has closed the round with an additional $10 million. The Korea Herald has more here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

Gojo & Company, a six-year-old, Tokyo-based micro lender, has raised $22 million in ongoing Series D funding, including from Seven Bank, Credit Saison, and SBI Group. More here.

Zeus Living, a 4.5-year-old, San Francisco-based corporate-housing startup backed by Airbnb, has raised money at roughly half the valuation it commanded five months ago, reports Bloomberg. It raised $15 million in equity and debt at a valuation of about $110 million from insiders, including CEAS Investments, Initialized Capital and Soros Fund Management, whereas it was valued at $205 million back in December, before the coronavirus ravaged the travel industry. The outlet says Zeus raised the money in part because it didn’t have enough cash to comply with a covenant tied to a loan from Soros. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Locatee, a five-year-old, Zurich, Switzerland-based maker of workplace analytics software for office management, has raised $4 million in Series A funding from FYRFLY Venture Partners and Tomahawk VC. TechCrunch has more here.

Nextmv, a year-old, Philadelphia, Pa.-based company that makes decision-making models for the logistics operations industry, has raised $2.7 million in seed funding. FirstMark Capital and Dynamo led the round, joined by XFactor, Atypical and 2048. TechCrunch has more here.

Genetesis, a seven-year-old, Mason, Oh.-based medical device company using biomagnetic imaging to facilitate rapid and noninvasive chest pain triage, has raised $9.2 million in Series B funding, including from CincyTech, Ohio Innovation Fund, and Mark Cuban. The company had closed a Series A round with $7.5 million in 2018. More here.

Stilt, a 4.5-year-old, San Francisco-based company that provides financial services for immigrants without Social Security numbers or credit reports -- it also just launched FDIC-insured pre-approved global bank accounts -- has raised $7.5 million in seed funding. Investors include Hillsven Capital, Streamlined Ventures, Bragiel Brothers, and individual angels. TechCrunch has more here.

StructionSite, a four-year-old, Oakland, Ca.-based maker of reality capture software for construction sites, has raised $7 million in funding. D20 Capital led the round, joined by Prelude and earlier investors CEMEX Ventures, Obayashi, and 500 Startups. More here.

Not-Saying-How-Much Fundings

Toposens, a five-year-old, Munich, Germany-based startup that’s developing an echolocation sensor for vehicles, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by ALPANA Ventures, with participation from Basinghall Partners and In-Q-Tel. eeNews has more here.

People

Google and Facebook told their employees this week to get (more) comfortable, working from home. Google CEO Sundar Pichai told employees yesterday to prepare to work remotely through October and possibly December's end; Facebook yesterday told employees they can work from home through the end of the year if they like and that it doesn't expect to open most offices until at least early July. Bloomberg has more here.

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Essential Reads

As the world weathers a pandemic, Nintendo is looking recession-proof.

Tesla is aiming to ramp up “limited operations” at its factory in Fremont, Ca, a decision that puts the company and CEO Elon Musk in direct conflict with a stay-at-home order in Alameda County. In fact, earlier today, local health officials said the automaker was told not to reopen.

Microsoft and Amazon are at it again, as the fight for the Defense Department JEDI contract continues. In a recent series of increasingly acerbic posts, the two companies have continued an ongoing spat over the $10 billion, decade-long JEDI contract.

Apple is planning a gradual re-opening of its U.S. stores, starting next week.

Detours

Boston Dynamics's "robot dogs" are patrolling Singapore parks, warning people to socially distance.

"The King of Staten Island."

Your mother leads a guided meditation.

Retail Therapy

International auction house Sotheby’s just opened up bidding for a pair of Nike Air Jordan 1 sneakers worn by Michael Jordan in a 1985 game. (Note: someone has already bid $100,000.)

"Breaking Bad" Monopoly. When your back is up against the wall, and you've used every board game in the house . . .

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Nintendo's endurance, Tesla's newest fight, and a giant thank you to mothers everywhere

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