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Friday Crunch is here! Friday Crunch is here! We are ready to sit by the proverbial pool with a drink under the umbrellas in it. (Realistically, it will be the TV and a beer, while embodying fancy cocktails and a pool. The spirit is so powerful.) For now, on with the news! — Christine And Hey
The ukbusinessupdates.com Top 3
- Probably nothing to see here: For a few moments, cryptocurrency giant Binance had to temporarily suspend spot trading, deposits and withdrawals, Manic reports. As of this morning everything was back to normal.
- Away: Google removed hundreds of Kenya-focused loan apps from the Play Store following a new policy that required digital lenders to provide proof of license, Annie writes. We saw something similar playing out with the Indian government and app lending in February.
- Huge investment in EV: Ford is pushing the accelerator when it comes to electric vehicles and will produce a next-generation electric truck at its $5.6 billion Tennessee plant by 2025, Kirsten reports.
Startups and VC
Zigazoo, the startup known for its TikTok-like video-sharing app for kids, is launching a separate app aimed at Gen Z users, Lauren reports. The new app will take on the flagship name and be aimed at ages 13 and up, while the original kid-focused app is for Generation Alpha (ages 3-12) and has been rebranded as “Zigazoo Kids”. Previous users in the younger age category are automatically transferred to Zigazoo Kids.
WebAssembly (WASM for short) is an open standard that enables browser-based applications to run with near-native performance, Frederick reports. It’s also been extended to support non-browser environments, which is driving much of the recent hype around it. But like any emerging technology, it needs a stronger tooling ecosystem to realize its full potential, and Dylibso is raising $6.6 million to help developers bring the technology into production.
And here are six more, as we spin to get ready for the weekend:
Pitch Deck Teardown: Prelaunch.com’s $1.5 Million Seed deck
Image Credits: Prelaunch.com (Opens in a new window)
Earlier this week, Haje Jan Kamps interviewed Narek Vardanyan, CEO of Prelaunch.com, to get his take on how hardware startups can validate products before they go to market.
In a follow-up, he analyzed the pitch deck for Prelaunch.com’s $1.5 million seed round, which showed investors how the company makes money from its product projections:
- Cover slide
- Summary slide
- Market Context Slide
- Problem slide
- Solution slide
- Problem with the existing solution slide
- Product slide 1
- Slide results
- Product slide 2
- Product slide 3
- Product slide 4
- Vision slide
- Value prop dia
- Scroll traction and stats
- Business model and pricing slide
- Shifting market trends
- Why move now
- Team slide
- The Ask Slide
- Contact us slider
Three more from the TC+ team:
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Big Tech Inc.
Remember when we discussed yesterday that Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon was reportedly taken into custody? Good, Kate has an update and it seems that Kwon was quite naughty, including fleeing to Dubai with forged documents. Both the US and South Korea are seeking Do Kwon’s extradition to face multiple charges. It is not yet known where he will end up.
Now let’s wrap up our TikTok coverage from yesterday. It seems that CEO Shou Zi Chew failed to impress the convention audience. We did learn some new things: Sara reports that the social media giant scans public videos to determine the age of users. Chew also denied that there was any espionage when ByteDance employees monitored journalists. Taylor has more on that.
And we have five more for you:
- On the other side of the pond: Natasha L has a few overseas government news items. The United Kingdom’s antitrust watchdog said new evidence “provisionally allays” concerns regarding the UK’s supply of video game consoles linked to the antitrust investigation of the Microsoft-Activision deal. And the French parliament voted for biometric surveillance at the Paris Olympics.
- Up, up, but not away: Blue Origin has released a report on the launch anomaly that occurred six months ago and promises to fly again “soon,” writes Devin.
- Cancel at any time: The Federal Trade Commission is proposing a new rule to make it easier to cancel free trials and subscriptions. Aisha has more.
- Test, test 1, 2, 3: Battery swap provider Gogoro plans to scale in new markets through B2B partners, such as Foodpanda in Singapore, Rebekah reports.
- 800,000 problems and AI is not one of them: The Allen Institute for AI created a database of 3D models of everyday objects for its AI to play with — 800,000 virtual props to be exact, Devin writes.
