Daily Crunch - TikTok creates a $200 million creator fund

TikTok lures creators with new pile o’ cash, Tesla once again gets litigiously jealous and Twitter contemplates a paid product. Here’s your Daily Crunch for July 23, 2020.

The big story: TikTok earmarks $200 million for creators

TikTok has set up a $200 million fund aimed at users 18 years or older who meet certain criteria around audience size and consistently position new content.

The money could help the company retain and encourage more new creators, in the face of some users potentially getting scared off the platform by increasing signs that the U.S. could eventually pull the plug on the platform because of its ties to China.

TikTok probably doesn’t need the extra encouragement now, given it still seems to be enjoying tons of engagement and usage organically, but this could come in handy if fears among the creator community begin to add up to a real exodus.

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The tech giants

Twitter said during its Q2 earnings that it’s considering a potential subscription option as one way to offset a drop in ad revenue. CEO Jack Dorsey even said that tests of such a service could appear as early as later this year.

Microsoft previews Halo Infinite and other Series X games — Microsoft continues its long, drawn-out and sometimes grueling Xbox Series X launch with a gameplay showcase, including previewing the newest Halo and teasing a new Fable entry. I’m already sold, so just tell me when I can actually pre-order.

Facebook adds live broadcasts to Messenger Rooms group video chat — Facebook wants to lure in more Zoom users with its group video chat, and its latest competitive advantage is built-in live-streaming capability for group calls. Now everyone can watch your remote game night on Facebook, which I hear some people still use.

Startups, funding and venture capital

Arrive Outdoors raises $4.75 million for adventure gear rental — Like power tools, outdoor gear probably isn’t something you need to own based on the frequency you actually use it. Arrive Outdoors provides on-demand hiking, camping and other outdoor activity gear on an on-demand short-term basis, with more schedule reliability than just getting it at your destination.

Mira raises $10M for its industrial AR products — The AR/VR hype cycle has definitely peaked, but companies are still raising to pursue less dazzling opportunities. Mira has raised $10 million more, which they’re calling a seed extension three years after raising a prior $3 million, with a renewed focus on industrial AR headset hardware and software.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

Floodgate’s Ann Miura-Ko on the two stages of company building — At our debut Early Stage event this week, Floodgate investor Ann Miura-Ko talked about the two big breakthroughs that she’s looking for when she’s determining where to invest her money in both a company’s value-seeking and growth stages.

Consider carefully when building out your tech stack — Also at Early Stage, HappyFunCorp’s CEO Ben Schippers and CTO Jon Evans talked about the importance of being careful and considerate when selecting the tech stack upon which you build, because not doing so can have truly dire consequences later on. They offer their best advise on how to stack wisely.

(Reminder: Extra Crunch is our subscription membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

Tesla sues Rivian over alleged poaching and trade secret theft — Tesla has done this before, so it’s hardly out of character. Depending on how you look at it, it’s a vigorous defense of a market lead well-earned, or a stifling attempt to distract strong potential competitors.

SpaceX and NASA tag September for first crewed operational mission — SpaceX has already launched people aboard one of its spacecraft for the first time, but it still needs to bring those two back just to complete its final demonstration mission, and then it can start its regular service. That first operational commercial astronaut mission should happen at the end of September if all goes to plan, and all eyes will be on that flight, just like for Demo-2 at the end of May.

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