Extra Crunch Friday: Investors, founders report hot market for API startups

Welcome to Extra Crunch Friday

For our latest survey, Lucas Matney and Alex Wilhelm polled API-focused founders and investors to learn more what’s happening in the sector.

Investors were largely bullish, but they noted that API-powered startups are substantially different than their SaaS counterparts (e.g., lower gross margins, stronger retention).

The founders they interviewed said there’s plenty of interest these days from VCs, but “the question for them then becomes how far they can run the gross margin numbers up before they go public.”

• Isaac Roth, Shasta Ventures
• Daniel Levine and Vasant Natarajan, Accel
• Lee Edwards, Root Ventures
• Shannon Goggin, Noyo
• Anshu Sharma, Skyflow
• Nina Kuruvilla, Daily.co

Thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch this week — I hope you have a great weekend.

Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist

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Transportation VCs suggest frayed U.S.-China ties will impact mobility markets

At this week’s virtual Mobility 2020 session, three investors shared their thoughts about how the U.S.-China trade war is affecting mobility markets:

Amy Gu, Hemi Ventures
Reilly Brennan, Trucks VC
Olaf Sakkers, Maniv Mobility

The discussion covered a lot of ground, but I found one comment particularly surprising:

Reilly Brennan: People fell off micromobility platforms not because they didn’t like them, but they liked them so much, they wanted to buy [the scooters and bikes].

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Join Yext's Howard Lerman for a Q&A October 13 at 2 pm ET/11 am PT

Sponsored by TechCrunch

Alex Wilhelm ("The Exchange") will host our next episode of Extra Crunch Live — prep your questions!

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Media roundup: Google to cut big checks for news publishers, Substack continues to draw top creators, more

Anthony Ha’s Media Roundup column aggregates news for entrepreneurs building advertising and content-related companies.

In his latest outing, he looks at some notable funding rounds and larger platform shifts:

• Movie studios and theaters face a bleak fall
• Google is writing big checks to news publishers
• Playco is already a mobile gaming unicorn
• House committee recommends sweeping antitrust changes
• Substack continues to draw top journalists

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Helsinki rides the Slush wave toward a booming startup future

According to the Finnish Venture Capital Association, investment flowing into Finland’s startups increased 58% from 2017 to 2018.

Our roving Editor-at-Large Mike Butcher trained his sights on the region with a comprehensive investor survey.

“Over the whole country, nearly 300,000 Finns work in tech,” Mike notes, “an enormous amount when you consider the population of Helsinki is 1.3 million.”

To learn more about Finland’s startup ecosystem, he spoke to:

• Pirkka Palomaki, partner, Maki.vc
• Jyri Engestrom, founder, Yes VC
• Sakari Pihlava, partner, Vendep Capital
• Pontus Stråhlman, partner, Voima Ventures
• Timo Ahopelto, partner, Lifeline Ventures
• Petri Lehmuskoski, partner, Gorilla Capital
• Walter Masalin, Partner, NGP Capital

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Decrypted: The major ransomware attack you probably didn't hear about

Most of us don’t give much thought to protecting our data until something goes wrong, which is why Security Editor Zack Whittaker’s Decrypted column is well worth reading.

The news he aggregates might not affect you personally, but it will give you a much keener view of the threat landscape. When it comes to protecting corporate data and personal privacy, it’s good to keep an eye on the horizon.

• Blackbaud hack gets worse, as bank account data stolen
• Facebook shuts down malware that hijacked accounts to run ads
• IRS under investigation for using location data without a warrant
• Meet Twitter’s new security chief, Rinki Sethi
• $ECURITY $TARTUPS funding news

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Understanding Airbnb’s summer recovery

Industry watchers expected Airbnb to go public this year, but once a global pandemic shut down the travel industry, all bets were off.

The company raised $2 billion in April and laid off about 25% of its workforce in May, but when I was looking for a weekend getaway in June, I found far fewer options than I expected.

That’s because bookings and demand started to show signs of recovery over the summer as the platform’s latest reporting as it preps its long-awaited IPO filing.

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Tech's role in the COVID response: Assist, but don't reinvent

At TechCrunch Disrupt, two healthcare startup CEOs discussed how their companies are operating during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perhaps ironically, instead of seeking to disrupt, “technology has opted to take a back seat to frontline workers,” reports Devin Coldewey, who recapped discussions with speakers Carbon Health CEO Eren Bali and Othman Laraki, CEO of Color.

“At this point the U.S. doesn’t have the best public health system, but at the same time we have best-in-class private companies who can sometimes operate a lot more efficiently than governments can,” said Bali.

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4 sustainable industries where founders and VCs can see green by going green

In his latest clean technology overview, Jonathan Shieber examines four sectors that offer the largest opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors in 2020:

• Foodtech
• Carbon monitoring and management
• Biomaterials
• Energy management and construction technology

“Now’s the time for sustainable investments to shine,” writes Jon.

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To fill funding gaps, VCs boost efforts to find India’s standout early-stage startups

Reporter Manish Singh interviewed established founders and VCs in India on to learn more about the funding gaps many early-stage startups have fallen into.

“In the first half of 2020, early-stage startups participated in 577 rounds to secure $1.84 billion,” reports research firm Tracxn. “That figure is the lowest the Indian startup ecosystem has seen in years.”

According to Karthik Reddy, co-founder of Blume Ventures, India’s largest VC firm, “there’s an artificial skew toward unicorns and chasing the unicorns.”

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