Daily Crunch - Facebook isn't happy about App Store fees

Facebook is the latest company taking aim at Apple, Pinterest employees walk out and Initialized Capital raises a new fund. This is your Daily Crunch for August 14, 2020.

The big story: Facebook isn't happy about App Store fees

Facebook joined the growing ranks of companies publicly complaining about the 30% fee that Apple collects on payments made through its App Store.

In Facebook’s case, the complaints came midway through an announcement that the social network is launching a new feature supporting paid online events — a way for businesses struggling during the pandemic to make additional revenue. Facebook said those businesses will receive 100% of payments on web and Android, but on iOS, “We asked Apple to reduce its 30% App Store tax or allow us to offer Facebook Pay … Unfortunately, they dismissed both our requests and SMBs will only be paid 70% of their hard-earned revenue.”

This comes as Fortnite-maker Epic Games is also engaged in a legal and PR battle against the App Store.

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The tech giants

Pinterest employees are walking out today in light of discrimination allegations — In addition to the walkout, there’s a petition circulating throughout the company demanding systemic change.

Travel startups cry foul over what Google’s doing with their data — More than half a dozen travel startups in Germany are united in a shared complaint that Google is abusing its search dominance.

Amazon launches online pharmacy in India — The company said Amazon Pharmacy has started accepting orders for both over-the-counter and prescription medicines in Bangalore.

Startups, funding and venture capital

With a new general partner and without Alexis Ohanian, Initialized Capital garners $230 million for fund five — Initialized’s new general partner is Brett Gibson, who previously co-founded Posthaven and Posterous with Initialized’s Garry Tan.

Warner Music acquires IMGN, a social media publishing platform, for under $100M — IMGN used to be called Comedy.com, before widening its remit beyond comedy and rebranding in 2017.

Thirty Madison raises $47 million for its direct to consumer treatments of hair loss, migraines and indigestion — Thirty Madison has just begun offering urgent care consultations for users on a pay-what-you-will model.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

Edtech exits are increasing, but by how much? — Natasha Mascarenhas dives into the data on edtech exits.

Eliminate DevOps waste with Japanese management practices — Rookout’s Liran Haimovitch advocates for developing only the features clients need, and only when they need them.

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

Everything else

NASA and SpaceX target October 23 for first operational astronaut launch — Crew-1 will carry astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins and Soichi Noguchi to the International Space Station, and will mark the first regular service mission of the Dragon spacecraft.

Looking at how Gen Z has changed fundraising — The latest episode of Equity puts fundraising changes into historical context and argues that the kids are alright.

• Principal Back-end Software Engineer at LifePod (Boston, MA, USA)
• Associate Account Executive at Yardi (New York, NY, USA)
• Principal Associate, Network Engineer at The Pew Charitable Trusts (Washington, D.C., USA)
• Senior Associate, HRIS at The Pew Charitable Trusts (Washington, D.C., USA)
• Magento Software Engineer at First Book (Washington D.C., DC, USA)

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