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

Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington. Photo by Bloombrg.

The Downside of Tech’s Neverending Remote Work Shift

By Martin Peers · Sep 9, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Is remote work going to end up as standard across tech, simply by default? Microsoft today followed Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon in delaying, again, plans for a full reopening of its offices. Unlike those companies, each of which set January as the next planned reopening target, Microsoft has given up forecasting a date. Instead, it... Is remote work going to end up as standard across tech, simply by default? Microsoft today...

Konstantin Richter, CEO and Founder of Blockdaemon. Photo courtesy of Blockdaemon.

Blockdaemon’s Big Backer; Binance.US Hires a President

By Hannah Miller · Sep 9, 2021 3:35pm PDT

Today, my colleague Berber Jin and I wrote about new funding rounds for startups that make it easier for companies to engage with cryptocurrency trading and blockchain technology. Blockdaemon is raising fresh capital from SoftBank at a valuation of $1.2 billion, while Alchemy, which helps companies develop and manage blockchain-based apps, is... Today, my colleague Berber Jin and I wrote about new funding rounds for startups that make it...

Photo: Whatnot. Illustration: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

Live-Shopping Startup Whatnot Raising at $1.5 Billion Valuation

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 9, 2021 2:38pm PDT

Whatnot is raising new capital at a valuation of $1.5 billion, according to a person familiar with the deal. It’s the third round of funding this year for the live-shopping startup and triples its valuation from the last round, according to an estimate from data provider PitchBook. Existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz are... Whatnot is raising new capital at a valuation of $1.5 billion, according to a person familiar...

Konstantin Richter, CEO and Founder of Blockdaemon. Photo courtesy of Blockdaemon. Art by Mike Sullivan.

SoftBank Values Cryptocurrency Startup Blockdaemon at $1.2 Billion

By Berber Jin and Hannah Miller · Sep 9, 2021 12:42pm PDT

Konstantin Richter, CEO and Founder of Blockdaemon. Photo courtesy of Blockdaemon. Art by Mike Sullivan.

SoftBank Values Cryptocurrency Startup Blockdaemon at $1.2 Billion

By Berber Jin and Hannah Miller · Sep 9, 2021 12:42pm PDT

Cryptocurrency startup Blockdaemon is raising new capital that will value the company at $1.2 billion including the investment, said a person familiar with the matter. SoftBank Vision Fund 2, the $30 billion venture fund of SoftBank Group, is leading the investment. Los Angeles–based Blockdaemon manages hardware and software to help... Cryptocurrency startup Blockdaemon is raising new capital that will value the company at $1.2...

Anthony Levandowski. Photos by Bloomberg, Pronto.ai (truck). Art by Mike Sullivan.

Q&A

In First Post-Pardon Interview, Anthony Levandowski Explains Startup’s Pivot to Mining

By Amir Efrati · Sep 9, 2021 12:07pm PDT · 1 comment

If Donald Trump had won reelection last fall, Anthony Levandowski, one of the most prominent developers of self-driving cars and trucks, would currently be in prison as Inmate No. 25728-111. Instead, on the last day of his presidency Trump pardoned Levandowski, thanks to several people Levandowski knew who were close to Trump adviser Peter... If Donald Trump had won reelection last fall, Anthony Levandowski, one of the most prominent...

Photo of Facebook's Ray-Ban Stories glasses (with Wayfarer frames). Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Facebook’s Smart Glasses—A Fashion Statement Raising Tech Questions

By Mathew Olson · Sep 9, 2021 9:00am PDT · 1 comment

They’ve arrived: today, Facebook and EssilorLuxottica are releasing Ray-Ban Stories, a line of smart glasses that let users take pictures, record video, listen to audio and take phone calls. They aren’t lacking in features for a $299 pair of smart glasses, but they’re not really on the bleeding edge in wearable tech either.Facebook and... They’ve arrived: today, Facebook and EssilorLuxottica are releasing Ray-Ban Stories, a line of...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Facebook Develops New Machine Learning Chip

By Wayne Ma · Sep 9, 2021 6:01am PDT

Google, Amazon and Microsoft have all been hiring and spending millions of dollars to design their own computer chips from scratch, with the goal of squeezing financial savings and better performance from servers that handle and train the companies’ machine-learning models. Facebook has joined the party too, and is developing a chip that... Google, Amazon and Microsoft have all been hiring and spending millions of dollars to design...

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son stands next to a robot. Photo by Bloomberg.

SoftBank Leads $220 Million Round Into Chinese-German Robotics Startup Amid China Worries

By Shai Oster · Sep 9, 2021 4:48am PDT · 1 comment

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son stands next to a robot. Photo by Bloomberg.

SoftBank Leads $220 Million Round Into Chinese-German Robotics Startup Amid China Worries

By Shai Oster · Sep 9, 2021 4:48am PDT · 1 comment

SoftBank is leading a $220 million round into Agile Robots, a startup based in Munich and Beijing that says its systems will be deployed by Foxconn, the assembler of iPhones, to help build smartphones. The company will be worth about $1 billion after the fresh capital, according to a person familiar with the matter, as investors look to... SoftBank is leading a $220 million round into Agile Robots, a startup based in Munich and Beijing...

Outside a Whole Foods store in Berkeley, Calif. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Finally Fesses Up on Cashierless Whole Foods Plans

By Martin Peers · Sep 8, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Ever since Amazon opened its first Amazon Go cashierless convenience store to the public at the start of 2018, its executives have been brushing off questions about whether they planned to introduce the same technology to Whole Foods. Sometimes those brushoffs were outright denials, like in this New York Times account, while other times... Ever since Amazon opened its first Amazon Go cashierless convenience store to the public at the...

Koji’s Annie Morita Photo: Morita Editorial

Creator Economy

A Startup Building an App Store for Creators Hires Apple App Store Ex-Exec

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 8, 2021 4:00pm PDT

Koji, one of a group of fast-growing startups that offers landing pages that creators can connect to their social-media bios, is taking a cue from two very large companies—Apple and WeChat—by offering a web store of smaller, web-based apps created by outside developers. To further those aims, it has hired Annie Morita, a former Apple executive... Koji, one of a group of fast-growing startups that offers landing pages that creators can connect...

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. Photo by Bloomberg

What Coinbase’s SEC Troubles Mean for Crypto Startups

By Hannah Miller · Sep 8, 2021 3:03pm PDT

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s disclosure that the Securities and Exchange Commission has threatened to sue the cryptocurrency exchange over its upcoming Lend product shows that regulators are ready to act on their concerns about the crypto industry. It doesn’t bode well for similar crypto lending platforms such as BlockFi, and ones that... Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s disclosure that the Securities and Exchange Commission has...

The invite image for Apple's next event, which has also been incorporated into an AR teaser. Image: Apple

Apple’s AR Hype for New iPhones; Facebook Readies its Ray-Bans

By Mathew Olson · Sep 8, 2021 11:00am PDT

The invite image for Apple's next event, which has also been incorporated into an AR teaser. Image: Apple

Apple’s AR Hype for New iPhones; Facebook Readies its Ray-Bans

By Mathew Olson · Sep 8, 2021 11:00am PDT

Today marks a small anniversary for Apple: it’s been one year since the company started hiding augmented reality teasers in the invites for its events. Monday brought yet another one of those simple, lightly interactive AR experiences inviting people to next Tuesday’s event, which will probably focus on the next version of the iPhone.Facebook... Today marks a small anniversary for Apple: it’s been one year since the company started hiding...

The Whoop smartwatch. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

The Electric Flash Analysis: A Silicon Battery in a New Smartwatch Could Transform the EV Market

By Steve LeVine · Sep 8, 2021 9:00am PDT · 2 comments

Today at noon ET: The Electric Presents: Making the Forever Battery. In my second Live Chat, I'm delighted to welcome Sila Nanotechnologies CEO Gene Berdichevsky, who has news he wants to break. For a decade and a half, Berdichevsky has helped lead development of some of the world’s most important commercial batteries. ... Today at noon ET: The Electric Presents: Making the Forever Battery. In my second Live...

Google's Mountain View campus. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google’s Answer To Overheated Job Market: Demanding Proof of Rival Offers

By Sarah Krouse · Sep 8, 2021 6:01am PDT · 7 comments

Google has a message for job candidates who say rival companies are offering them higher pay: Prove it. In a competitive market for talent in which some technology workers are soliciting employment offers from several companies, Google recruiters increasingly take the unusual step of asking candidates for written proof of what rivals are... Google has a message for job candidates who say rival companies are offering them higher pay:...

Photo by Bloomberg

ByteDance in Talks to Borrow Up to $5 Billion to Fund Overseas Expansion

By Juro Osawa · Sep 7, 2021 11:30pm PDT

TikTok owner ByteDance is in talks with banks to borrow up to $5 billion in a syndicated loan to refinance debt and pay for overseas expansion, people with knowledge of the matter said, as the path to an initial public offering appears unlikely this year. ByteDance plans to use more than half of the money to refinance its existing debt to take... TikTok owner ByteDance is in talks with banks to borrow up to $5 billion in a syndicated loan to...

Steve Martin and Martin Short, two of the stars of Hulu's New "Only Murders in the Building"

Disney Threatens Hulu’s Success With Price Hike

By Martin Peers · Sep 7, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Steve Martin and Martin Short, two of the stars of Hulu's New "Only Murders in the Building"

Disney Threatens Hulu’s Success With Price Hike

By Martin Peers · Sep 7, 2021 5:00pm PDT

It may be time for a consumer price index just for video streaming. Disney’s Hulu is raising its price by $1 a month, the company revealed today, just six months after Disney jacked up the price of its flagship Disney+ service by the same amount. Both price bumps followed a similar move by Netflix late last year. If this reminds you of the cable... It may be time for a consumer price index just for video streaming. Disney’s Hulu is raising its...

Illustration: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

What TikTok’s Growing Threat to YouTube Means

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 7, 2021 4:00pm PDT · 2 comments

TikTok’s rise is often seen as a major threat to Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram. And for good reason. Instagram head Adam Mosseri has talked about how TikTok is ahead and he’s laid out plans for making Instagram’s home screen look a lot more like the short-form video app. But the way TikTok is rattling YouTube has generated less... TikTok’s rise is often seen as a major threat to Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram. And for...

El Salvador President and bitcoin enthusiast Nayib Bukele. Photo by Bloomberg

Bitcoin Drops After El Salvador Rollout; The NFL’s Crypto Ban

By Hannah Miller · Sep 7, 2021 2:39pm PDT

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts have been wishing each other “Happy Bitcoin Day” as El Salvador officially adopted the digital currency as legal tender on Tuesday, the first nation to do so. But the occasion hasn’t been that joyous for owners of bitcoin. The price of the digital currency fell as much as 17% on Tuesday, to just under $43,000, after El... Cryptocurrency enthusiasts have been wishing each other “Happy Bitcoin Day” as El Salvador...

Zach Lieberman, a developer, wearing Snap's AR Spectacles. Photo by Snap

Snap’s Newest AR Hire; The Questions Raised by Police VR Training

By Mathew Olson · Sep 7, 2021 11:01am PDT

Snap is continuing its AR hiring spree—helping bring a clearer picture of its AR strategy into focus. What we’re learning is that Snap wants its camera and AR tech to be spread widely across the hardware ecosystem.Nishad Pai, most recently a business development and partnerships executive at Adobe, is joining as Snap’s Global Head of Platform... Snap is continuing its AR hiring spree—helping bring a clearer picture of its AR strategy into...

Tech IPO Scorecard: Why Monday.com Soared and Sprinklr Flopped

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 7, 2021 6:00am PDT · 6 comments

Tech IPO Scorecard: Why Monday.com Soared and Sprinklr Flopped

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 7, 2021 6:00am PDT · 6 comments

Forget all the talk about high-profile consumer initial public offerings like Robinhood. Most of the best-performing tech IPOs of this year are enterprise software firms, such as Monday.com, a project management software firm that has soared 160% since its June IPO, and Couchbase, a database provider whose stock has doubled since its July... Forget all the talk about high-profile consumer initial public offerings like Robinhood. Most of...