The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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Recent Editions

Yoni Assia, chief executive officer of eToro Ltd. Photo: Bloomberg.

EToro to Abandon Deal to Go Public via SPAC Merger

By Maria Heeter · Jun 30, 2022 1:48pm PDT

Online brokerage EToro and the special purpose acquisition company that agreed to take it public are planning to let the deadline for their merger pass without closing the deal, according to a person familiar with the matter. EToro is joining other tech and media companies that have backed off SPAC deals that would take them public amid a tech... Online brokerage EToro and the special purpose acquisition company that agreed to take it public...

Nate CEO Albert Saniger. Art by Mike Sullivan

Coatue-Backed Shopping Startup Lays Off 20% of Staff After Exaggerating Tech Capabilities to Potential Investors

By Malique Morris · Jun 30, 2022 11:49am PDT · 1 comment

Shopping startup Nate, which touted its use of artificial intelligence–powered checkout technology while it was actually relying on overseas workers to power transactions, has laid off at least 30 of its nearly 150 employees, according to an employee who was at an internal meeting to inform the laid-off workers. The previously unreported... Shopping startup Nate, which touted its use of artificial intelligence–powered checkout...

A Pokemon Go stage presentation from Niantic in 2018. Photo: Bloomberg.

Layoffs at Unity and Niantic; Croquet.io’s Web-First Metaverse Vision

By Mathew Olson · Jun 30, 2022 11:00am PDT

Forget the euphemistic term “belt-tightening.” News yesterday of layoffs at Unity and Niantic, affecting around 4% and 8% of their respective workforces, has demonstrated starkly how the present economic downturn is making things tougher for companies building toward the metaverse and resulting in real pain for employees. The recent turmoil and... Forget the euphemistic term “belt-tightening.” News yesterday of layoffs at Unity and Niantic,...

Bloomberg Beta partner Roy Bahat. Photo: Roy Bahat.

Bloomberg VC Arm Adds $150 Million to Investing War Chest

By Kate Clark · Jun 30, 2022 10:00am PDT · 3 comments

Bloomberg Beta partner Roy Bahat. Photo: Roy Bahat.

Bloomberg VC Arm Adds $150 Million to Investing War Chest

By Kate Clark · Jun 30, 2022 10:00am PDT · 3 comments

Roy Bahat, head of venture firm Bloomberg Beta, has a sticker on his laptop that reads TTFM—a quippy acronym for “take the f–ing money.” It’s the advice Beta’s founding partners—Bahat, Karin Klein, a former SoftBank vice president, and James Cham, a former Bessemer Venture Partners vice... Roy Bahat, head of venture firm Bloomberg Beta, has a sticker on his laptop that reads...

TuSimple headquarters in San Diego. Photo by Bloomberg

Makers of Self-Driving Trucks Face a Long Haul to Profitability

By Juro Osawa · Jun 30, 2022 6:00am PDT · 6 comments

The frustrated co-founder of robotruck pioneer TuSimple demanded answers from his executives at a tense meeting in late January. The company, which went public last year and rode the global tech boom to a $15 billion market capitalization, was facing a relentless sell-off. It had hoped that its first driverless truck run, an 80-mile trip from... The frustrated co-founder of robotruck pioneer TuSimple demanded answers from his executives at a...

Sequoia Capital global managing partner Doug Leone. Photo: Bloomberg

Sequoia Capital Targets $2.25 Billion for Two U.S. VC Funds

By Kate Clark · Jun 29, 2022 5:57pm PDT

Sequoia Capital, defying the tech market sell-off that’s chilled startup fundraising, is asking investors to commit money to two new U.S.-focused funds, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm behind Airbnb and DoorDash expects to dedicate $1.5 billion to a U.S. growth fund... Sequoia Capital, defying the tech market sell-off that’s chilled startup fundraising, is...

Uber's San Francisco office. Photo by Bloomberg.

Uber’s Blast from the Past

By Martin Peers · Jun 29, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Get ready. We may soon be taking a trip down memory lane for Uber, revisiting the era of co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick. That will come via the trial of the company’s former chief security officer, Joe Sullivan, on three counts of wire fraud as well as a count of obstruction of justice, among other charges. The charges relate to his... Get ready. We may soon be taking a trip down memory lane for Uber, revisiting the era of...

Three Arrows Capital Co-Founder and CEO Zhu Su. Photo: Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

What’s Next After the Three Arrows Meltdown

By Aidan Ryan · Jun 29, 2022 3:12pm PDT

Three Arrows Capital Co-Founder and CEO Zhu Su. Photo: Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

What’s Next After the Three Arrows Meltdown

By Aidan Ryan · Jun 29, 2022 3:12pm PDT

Hopes of a near-term recovery in crypto prices have all but vanished. Now, all eyes are on liquidity crises playing out at crypto lending firms like Celsius and BlockFi as well as the crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.The latest: Sky News reported on Wednesday that a court in the British Virgin Islands has ordered the liquidation of Three... Hopes of a near-term recovery in crypto prices have all but vanished. Now, all eyes are on...

Chart: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

Substack Joins Lists of Creator Economy Layoffs (Chart); FCC Snipes at TikTok

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 29, 2022 2:31pm PDT

Substack on Wednesday said it was laying off 13 employees, or 14% of its total workforce, citing an uncertain macroeconomic outlook. The newsletter subscription site is just the latest creator economy startup to cut workers, as our latest chart shows. The list ranges from celebrity video shoutout app Cameo to fan texting app Community to online... Substack on Wednesday said it was laying off 13 employees, or 14% of its total workforce, citing...

Mojo Vision CEO Drew Perkins wearing an AR contact lens prototype. Credit: Mojo Vision.

A New Milestone for AR Contacts; Snapchat’s Subscription Service

By Mathew Olson · Jun 29, 2022 11:00am PDT

My time with Mojo Vision CEO Drew Perkins was limited, so I didn’t have time to ask him if he had seen this year’s The Batman, where the title character makes regular use of AR contact lenses to augment his nighttime detective work. As the first person to wear a functional prototype of Mojo’s in-development AR contacts—a major milestone for Mojo... My time with Mojo Vision CEO Drew Perkins was limited, so I didn’t have time to ask him if he had...

Art by Haejin Park

A Girl Killed Herself. It Took TikTok Six Months to Remove Her Account.

By Amy Challenger · Jun 29, 2022 9:05am PDT · 5 comments

Nina is the name I’ll use for the girl who loved my 16-year-old son. Until recently, when he wanted to think about her, he could still find her videos on TikTok, including the ones she posted under a false name while she was a patient in a psychiatric hospital. He could see her smeared makeup and tears. He could watch her zoom in on the... Nina is the name I’ll use for the girl who loved my 16-year-old son. Until recently, when...

The People with Power in Amazon’s Retail and Operations Teams

By Paris Martineau · Jun 29, 2022 6:00am PDT

The People with Power in Amazon’s Retail and Operations Teams

By Paris Martineau · Jun 29, 2022 6:00am PDT

This Friday, Doug Herrington will replace Amazon’s Dave Clark as CEO of the e-commerce giant group previously dubbed Worldwide Consumer, which served as the center of power for Amazon’s retail and operations businesses over the past few years of explosive growth. Under Herrington, the group will look quite different—thanks to a... This Friday, Doug Herrington will replace Amazon’s Dave Clark as CEO of the e-commerce...

A prototype nine-seat electric jet made by Eviation, an Israeli company. Photo: Courtesy Eviation

The Electric: A Search For a Powerful New Battery To Help Electric Planes Fly

By Steve LeVine · Jun 29, 2022 4:00am PDT

Save the date: For three centuries, Prussian blue has been the hue behind some of the world's most famous paintings, including Gainsborough's The Blue Boy and Picasso's Blue Period works. Now, it's the material in one of the most inventive new batteries. For the next Live Chat With The Electric, I'm excited to welcome Colin Wessells, CEO of... Save the date: For three centuries, Prussian blue has been the hue behind some of the world's...

Ben Silbermann. Photo by Bloomberg.

Pinterest’s Tardy CEO Shakeup

By Martin Peers · Jun 28, 2022 5:00pm PDT

What timing! No one could say they were surprised that Ben Silbermann is stepping down as CEO of Pinterest—that’s something we’ve expected for a while. After all, while he and his co-founder, Evan Sharp, built the business into a public company worth $13 billion—even after the stock plunge of recent months—Silbermann lately has been grappling... What timing! No one could say they were surprised that Ben Silbermann is stepping down as CEO of...

Pinterest co-founder Ben Silbermann, who will be replaced as CEO by former Google exec Bill Ready. Photo: Bloomberg.

Creator Economy

Pinterest Bets Big on Commerce With CEO Hire; A Science Creator Shuns YouTube Ad Share

By Mahira Dayal · Jun 28, 2022 3:37pm PDT

Pinterest co-founder Ben Silbermann is stepping down from the CEO role after more than a decade leading the company. E-commerce executive Bill Ready, who led commerce initiatives at Alphabet’s Google, will replace Silbermann. Prior to joining Google, Ready was the chief operating officer at PayPal. We already knew commerce was top of mind... Pinterest co-founder Ben Silbermann is stepping down from the CEO role after more than a decade...

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. Photo: Bloomberg

Coinbase Pulls Back Its Startup Investing as Others Weigh Options

By Aidan Ryan · Jun 28, 2022 12:11pm PDT · 2 comments

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. Photo: Bloomberg

Coinbase Pulls Back Its Startup Investing as Others Weigh Options

By Aidan Ryan · Jun 28, 2022 12:11pm PDT · 2 comments

Investors are fleeing crypto as the markets collapse. So will big crypto companies keep pumping money into startups to help the fledgling industry stay afloat? So far, the data is mixed. On one hand, industry giant and once prolific investor Coinbase has been tapping the brakes. Its venture arm, Coinbase Ventures, invested in just eight... Investors are fleeing crypto as the markets collapse. So will big crypto companies keep pumping...

Screenshots from NBA All-World. Credit: Niantic, HypGames, NBA, and NBPA.

Niantic’s Shot at Mixing AR and Basketball; HTC’s Metaverse Phone

By Mathew Olson · Jun 28, 2022 11:00am PDT

If you squint, sports fandom doesn’t look all that different from video game fandom. In each, people have their favorite players (or larger-than-life characters), there are stats to pore over endlessly. Anyone with an impulse for collecting things can likely be drawn in by either pastime. It’s easy to see, then, how Niantic ended up landing an... If you squint, sports fandom doesn’t look all that different from video game fandom. In each,...

From left: Brooke Hainey & Keith George, co-founders of Cortina; Bennett Carroccio, co-founder of Canal; Conner Sherline, founder of Disco.

Startups to Watch

Three Startups That Help Online Retailers Cut Out Facebook Ads

By Malique Morris · Jun 28, 2022 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Direct-to-consumer brands that rely heavily on Facebook and Instagram ads have been reeling ever since Apple’s 2021 privacy changes made it harder and more expensive to land new customers. But a small group of e-commerce software startups is looking to help DTC sellers work together to showcase their goods in new ways—without... Direct-to-consumer brands that rely heavily on Facebook and Instagram ads have been reeling ever...

Sam Bankman-Fried. Photo by Bloomberg.

Who Else Will FTX Founder Rescue?

By Martin Peers · Jun 27, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Has there ever been a more aptly named entrepreneur than Sam Bankman-Fried? Not only is his FTX turning out to be a lender of last resort for crypto lenders such as BlockFi and Voyager Digital, both of which are caught up in a chain reaction of missed margin calls triggered by the crypto slide, but it could also emerge as a savior for Robinhood.... Has there ever been a more aptly named entrepreneur than Sam Bankman-Fried? Not only is his FTX...

TikTok was the lead sponsor of VidCon this year, edging out YouTube. Photo: Kaya Yurieff

Lessons from VidCon on Surviving the Downturn; MrBeast’s Advice to Creators; Charli D’Amelio on Being Dethroned as No. 1 TikToker

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 27, 2022 2:11pm PDT

TikTok was the lead sponsor of VidCon this year, edging out YouTube. Photo: Kaya Yurieff

Creator Economy

Lessons from VidCon on Surviving the Downturn; MrBeast’s Advice to Creators; Charli D’Amelio on Being Dethroned as No. 1 TikToker

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 27, 2022 2:11pm PDT

A looming recession did little to damper the buoyant mood at VidCon, the annual conference for creators, their fans and industry professionals, which wrapped up on Saturday in Anaheim, Calif.. Attendees schmoozed at cocktail parties and stood in hours-long lines to be lowered via a harness into a giant pool full of soft plush toys called... A looming recession did little to damper the buoyant mood at VidCon, the annual conference for...