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Hello, Crunch Bunch!
Have you remembered to drink water today? You cannot live on coffee and Red Bull alone. Take care of yourselves, handsome but parched startup nerds. We care about you and we want you to prosper!
Okay, with that out of the way, let’s get into the news! — Christine and hi
The ukbusinessupdates.com Top 3
- What are you collecting?: Collectibles, such as trading cards, are big business, and eBay got a big boost in this area with its next move to acquire TCGplayer, a trading card marketplace, for up to $295 million, Aisha reports. She writes, “The company’s latest acquisition shows eBay sees greater potential in trading cards as the company notes that the deal provides a way to ‘maintain its position as a desirable platform for trading card sellers’.”
- ‘Surge’ ahead: Jagmeet has the meager of the 15 Indian and Southeast Asian companies selected for Sequoia’s seventh Surge cohort.
- Not sure if the ‘Flow’ is going up or down: We all know by now that Andreessen Horowitz gave Adam Neumann $350 million for his new venture, Flow, which buys up rental properties in an effort to create a community effect. Timo, Dominic-Madori and Amanda give three different views on why both venture capitalists and founders have “misunderstood America’s housing problems”.
Startups and VC
There was a lot of news last week about ex-WeWork boss Adam Neumann raising more money to do what he does today, but Connie brings us a story of how things could be different in “The Anti-Adam Neumann.”
Accelerators can be a bit disappointing, but hi Miko, who went through the Disney technology accelerator, announced this week that it’s launching in 140 countries with Disney and Pixar content. It’s a dream partnership for any startup, so it’s nice to see it work for them.
Feed your mind:
- Another step towards the singularity: manish and Kylea report that John Carmack, the game developer who co-founded id Software and served as the CTO of Oculus, is working on a new venture. Keen Technologies has raised $20 million from Sequoia.
- Strategic Salaries, Simplified: Anita reports that Complete is helping startups think about the “why” and “how” of workers’ compensation, raising $4 million in a round led by Accel.
- This slot machine is amazing – I keep winningCSI, founded in 1965 and believed to be the maker of the first modern ATM systems, agrees to be acquired for $1.6 billion, reports Kylea.
- Casting even more zen: Brian reports that podcasting recording platform Zencastr is adding editing and distribution tools in an effort to become a full-service podcast offering.
- Do you have what they came up with this time?: The kale came from within, puns hi about the new Click & Grow hydroponic setup for the home. But then he got all cranky about how expensive these things are, and spent a few weekends? build his own hydroponic system, and wrote a guide on how to build one yourself. You know, in case your to-do list wasn’t quite distressing enough.
4 Ways Founders Can Increase Their Revenue During Tough Times
Image Credits: Stewart Waller (Opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Turning one-time customers into repeat buyers becomes increasingly important during a recession. Acquiring a new user is an uphill task, but finding ways to reduce friction is an easy way to increase a customer’s lifetime value.
A survey found that nearly 60% of consumers abandon the shopping cart before making a purchase due to password issues.
If you’re trying to recalibrate online sales, this guest post from TC+ includes formulas for calculating Lost Lifetime Value (LTV) due to customer churn on a monthly and annual basis. “In times of recession, you need to make it easier, not harder,” said Ari Jacoby, CEO and co-founder of Deduce.
(ukbusinessupdates.com+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams move forward. You can register here.)
Big Tech Inc.
Coincidentally, three self-driving news items came in around the same time, and Rebecca was there to deliver the goods. So at the same time that Tesla says it will increase the cost of its full self-driving beta software to $15,000 in North America, YouTube has pulled a few videos from its site where Tesla drivers are running the controversial software with their kids in the driver’s seat. Meanwhile, the government there in the UK said that self-driving car manufacturers, not the drivers themselves, will be liable for accidents when the car is in autonomous mode.
