Week in Review - TikTok's Chinese nemesis

Saturday, June 26, 2021 • By Lucas Matney

Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review!

Last week, I wrote about how regulators should be looking towards the future when it comes to limiting the reach of big tech platforms. This week, I’m looking at ByteDance’s existential threat in China.

If you’re reading this on the TechCrunch site, you can get this in your inbox from the newsletter page, and follow my tweets @lucasmtny.

The big thing

While TikTok’s social media success stateside seems unstoppable, the app is facing a major challenger in China. Short-form video app Kuaishou announced this week it has sailed past the one billion monthly active user mark, just behind TikTok’s projected 1.2 billion users.

My China-based colleague Rita Liao has the full rundown on the company. For now the company’s business in largely confined to the mainland with just about 15% of its users living outside China, primarily in South America and Southeast Asia.

While TikTok gathers most of the headlines in the U.S., Kuaishou made a big splash earlier this year with its debut on Hong Kong’s stock market, surging some 194% on its first day.

One of the app’s most interesting features it its tipping feature which is the company’s major money-maker, diverging from its largely ad-based competitors. Though users can upload short-form videos, much of the tipping occurs during user livestreams.

The Top 5 Use Cases for Embedded Analytics

Here are the TechCrunch news stories that especially caught my eye this week:

Microsoft announces Windows 11
Microsoft took the wraps off its latest desktop operating system this week. The OS will be available generally by the holidays with updates largely focused on speed and design.

Sneaker giant hits $3.7B valuation
Business is booming at GOAT, the sneaker and streetwear marketplace. The startup just raised a major Series F round from hedge fund investors who are valuing the company at $3.7 billion.

Andreessen Horowitz announces monster crypto fund
Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is aiming to breathe new life into the cryptocurrency/blockchain world with a multi-billion fund dedicated to startups in the space. The fund arrives after the firm earned billions from the Coinbase direct listing.

Instagram pushes algorithmic feeds further with ‘suggested posts’
Facebook is testing a future Instagram feed that mixes posts from suggested accounts alongside posts that users actively follow. It’s a major rethinking of the platform’s mechanics and showcases how Facebook is looking to lean more heavily on Instagram as a home for the company’s revenue generation.

Facebook’s VR advertising test isn’t going so well
Last week, I talked about how regulators should be eyeing AR/VR regulations after Facebook announced they would begin testing advertising in virtual reality. Well, this week the one game developer Facebook was partnering with to test ads pulled out of the program after a backlash from fans.

Image Credits: Drew Angerer / Getty Images

Extra things

Some of my favorite reads from our Extra Crunch subscription service this week:

Seed is not the new Series A
“..Such an influx of capital and interest has upended many structures and long-held norms about how startups are funded. Venture funds continue to grow and must write larger checks, but ever-higher valuations force many firms to hunt for opportunities earlier. The VC alphabet soup has been spilled, making A rounds look like Bs used to, and the Bs seem like the Cs of old…..”

5 companies doing growth marketing right
“The race to grow faster is more pressing than ever before. When you consider the speed with which venture capital funds need to return dollars to their investors and that consumer acquisition costs have increased by 55% over the last three years, forward-thinking entrepreneurs and growth marketers simply must make time to study their competition, learn best practices and apply them to their own business growth..“

Reform you startup’s meeting culture
“One way to save everyone significant time (and win lots of friends) would be to just get rid of all meetings, but a well-prepared and well-run session can expedite communication and get a team closer to its goals. Unfortunately, most meetings are lazily planned and poorly run, imprisoning attendees and halting productivity.”