The Information

Samsung QLED televisions on display at the company's Digital Plaza store in Seoul. Photo by Bloomberg.

Samsung’s Peacock Standoff with NBCUniversal Shows Power of TV Makers

By Jessica Toonkel · Jan 15, 2021 6:00am PST · 5 comments

As streaming TV becomes the default viewing option for Americans, the makers of streaming devices are taking the place of cable operators as gatekeepers, deciding what streaming services will be available to viewers. Increasingly the gatekeepers include not only Roku and Amazon but smart TV makers such as Samsung. NBCUniversal is learning that... As streaming TV becomes the default viewing option for Americans, the makers of streaming devices...

Snap's Ben Schwerin on stage at the virtual Snap Partner Summit 2020. Screengrab via YouTube

Snap Names New Content Leader in Push to Counter TikTok

By Alex Heath · Jan 14, 2021 6:24pm PST

Snap has promoted executive Ben Schwerin to be its new senior vice president of content and partnerships, a move that signals the company’s ambitions to compete more aggressively with TikTok and to cut more deals with media companies and app developers. As part of the change, Chief Strategy Officer Jared Grusd, who previously oversaw... Snap has promoted executive Ben Schwerin to be its new senior vice president of content and...

Zapier founders from left to right: Mike Knopp, Bryan Helmig and Wade Foster. Photo courtesy of Zapier

Sequoia Buys Shares in Elusive Startup Zapier at Multibillion-Dollar Valuation

By Kate Clark · Jan 14, 2021 2:44pm PST · 11 comments

Zapier isn’t a household name outside Silicon Valley, but the world’s top venture capitalists have long been trying to own a piece of the booming enterprise software firm. The problem for investors was that Zapier, whose software automates personal computing tasks, didn’t need their money. It raised just $1.3 million in... Zapier isn’t a household name outside Silicon Valley, but the world’s top venture...

Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, in 2016. Photo by Bloomberg

Telegram Founder in Talks to Raise Debt Amid App’s Explosive Growth

By Alex Heath and Cory Weinberg · Jan 13, 2021 11:04am PST

Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, in 2016. Photo by Bloomberg

Telegram Founder in Talks to Raise Debt Amid App’s Explosive Growth

By Alex Heath and Cory Weinberg · Jan 13, 2021 11:04am PST

Telegram in the past week experienced a sharp influx of new users who flocked to the private messaging app after rival WhatsApp changed its privacy policies and Facebook and Twitter took a harder line on President Donald Trump and users promoting violence. That growth comes with mounting costs. The Dubai-based startup, which has yet to generate... Telegram in the past week experienced a sharp influx of new users who flocked to the private...

An advertisement for Tencent's WeChat Pay displayed outside a restaurant in Hong Kong last September. Photo: Bloomberg

Tencent Ramps Up Consumer Lending as Rival Ant Group Struggles

By Wayne Ma · Jan 13, 2021 6:00am PST

Chinese tech giant Tencent is planning a big new push into consumer lending in China just as its archrival, Alibaba affiliate Ant Group, is reeling from a regulatory crackdown. Tencent, already a force in payments through its hugely popular WeChat messaging app, is working with a consortium of investors to form a consumer finance company, a... Chinese tech giant Tencent is planning a big new push into consumer lending in China just as its...

Facebook's Menlo Park, Calif., campus. Photo by Bloomberg

Following Trump Ban, Facebook Tells Employees to Avoid Wearing Company-Branded Apparel

By Alex Heath · Jan 11, 2021 5:40pm PST · 5 comments

Facebook on Monday told employees to avoid wearing or carrying company-branded clothing and other items in public following the company’s suspension last week of President Donald Trump’s account and its more recent crackdown on content mentioning “Stop the Steal,” an online movement that falsely claimed the presidential... Facebook on Monday told employees to avoid wearing or carrying company-branded clothing and other...

AWS CEO Andy Jassy and WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar. Photos by Bloomberg

WarnerMedia Extended AWS Deal to Win Key HBO Max Concession

By Jessica Toonkel · Jan 8, 2021 9:54am PST · 5 comments

For six months after WarnerMedia launched HBO Max, the growth of the high-profile new streaming service suffered because the company couldn’t reach deals to distribute the service on popular streaming devices, including those made by Amazon. The impasse was so paralyzing that John Stankey—CEO of WarnerMedia’s parent company,... For six months after WarnerMedia launched HBO Max, the growth of the high-profile new streaming...

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti. Photo by Bloomberg

BuzzFeed Has Held Discussions With Rascoff’s SPAC

By Ross Matican and Jessica Toonkel · Jan 8, 2021 6:00am PST

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti. Photo by Bloomberg

BuzzFeed Has Held Discussions With Rascoff’s SPAC

By Ross Matican and Jessica Toonkel · Jan 8, 2021 6:00am PST

BuzzFeed has held discussions with at least one special purpose acquisition company, Spencer Rascoff’s Supernova Partners Acquisition Co., in a sign that it is actively exploring going public, say people familiar with the situation. BuzzFeed’s interest comes as Group Nine Media has launched its own SPAC to raise $200 million for... BuzzFeed has held discussions with at least one special purpose acquisition company, Spencer...

Hipcamp campers at a site in Maryland last year. Photo: AP

Hipcamp, ‘Airbnb of the Outdoors,’ Raises $57 Million

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 7, 2021 9:45am PST · 1 comment

Hipcamp, a VC-backed startup that offers people places to stay or pitch a tent in rural areas, closed a $57 million funding round that values it at more than $300 million, according to financial filings, more than double the valuation of its last major financing in 2019. New investors in the round include Index Ventures and Mary Meeker’s... Hipcamp, a VC-backed startup that offers people places to stay or pitch a tent in rural areas,...

Syndio CEO Maria Colacurcio. Photo provided by Syndio

Pay Equity Startup Raises $17.1 Million in Round Led by Bessemer

By Nick Wingfield · Jan 7, 2021 8:46am PST · 1 comment

Most subscription software companies aren’t at the white-hot center of social justice movements, but one that is—Syndio—has seen a surge in corporate customers, including Coinbase. Syndio’s product identifies employee pay disparities based on gender, race and ethnicity. Now Syndio is taking advantage of the growth in its... Most subscription software companies aren’t at the white-hot center of social justice...

Guards at the U.S. capitol try to stop pro-Trump mob from entering a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. Credit: Bloomberg

After Capitol Violence, Some Facebook Employees Call For Ban of Trump

By Alex Heath · Jan 6, 2021 6:07pm PST

Facebook temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from posting on the site after dozens of the company’s employees asked CEO Mark Zuckerberg to suspend or ban his account. Trump had falsely claimed in a video post on Wednesday that the election was “stolen” and praised rioters who had earlier stormed the U.S. Capitol. For an... Facebook temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from posting on the site after dozens of the...

A Grab taxi. Photo by Bloomberg.

Grab’s Fintech Unit Raises $300 Million As Asia’s Tech Wars Intensify

By Juro Osawa · Jan 6, 2021 6:53am PST

A Grab taxi. Photo by Bloomberg.

Grab’s Fintech Unit Raises $300 Million As Asia’s Tech Wars Intensify

By Juro Osawa · Jan 6, 2021 6:53am PST

Grab, the Southeast Asian $15 billion ride-hailing and food-delivery giant backed by SoftBank and Uber, is accelerating its expansion into financial services with a new fundraising by its fintech subsidiary. Grab is betting on growing demand from the regions’ rising class of merchants and consumers. The unit, Grab Financial Group, has... Grab, the Southeast Asian $15 billion ride-hailing and food-delivery giant backed by SoftBank and...

Hinge Health co-founders Daniel Perez (left) and Gabriel Mecklenburg. Photo courtesy of Hinge Health

Hinge Health Valued at $3 Billion by Tiger Global, Coatue

By Kate Clark · Jan 5, 2021 3:27pm PST · 3 comments

Hinge Health, which sells virtual physical therapy sessions for customers with back and joint pain, has raised a financing round led jointly by Coatue Management and Tiger Global Management at a valuation of $3 billion, or seven times its last financing in April, according to two people familiar with the matter. The San Francisco–based... Hinge Health, which sells virtual physical therapy sessions for customers with back and joint...

Cameo CEO Steven Galanis. Photo: Courtesy of Cameo

Cameo to Seek Funding as CEO Eyes Expansion

By Alex Heath · Jan 5, 2021 9:01am PST

Cameo, a service that lets fans pay celebrities to create personalized video messages, plans to raise more venture capital in the coming months and potentially buy smaller tech startups, according to CEO Steven Galanis. The four-year-old startup, last valued at $300 million, also plans to introduce new money-making features such as subscriptions... Cameo, a service that lets fans pay celebrities to create personalized video messages, plans to...

Workers at a Pegatron Corp. factory in Shanghai, China in 2016. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple Took Three Years to Cut Ties With Supplier That Used Underage Labor

By Wayne Ma · Dec 31, 2020 6:01am PST · 2 comments

Seven years ago, Apple made a staggering discovery: Among the employees at a factory in China that made most of the computer ports used in its MacBooks were two 15-year-olds. Apple told the manufacturer, Suyin Electronics, that it wouldn’t get any new business until it improved employee screening to ensure no more people under 16 years of... Seven years ago, Apple made a staggering discovery: Among the employees at a factory in China...

Starburst CEO Justin Borgman. Photo courtesy of Starburst.

Investors Pay High Price for Starburst Data at $1.6 Billion Valuation

By Kate Clark · Dec 23, 2020 12:28pm PST

Starburst CEO Justin Borgman. Photo courtesy of Starburst.

Investors Pay High Price for Starburst Data at $1.6 Billion Valuation

By Kate Clark · Dec 23, 2020 12:28pm PST

Enterprise software startup Starburst Data is raising a Series C financing at a post-money valuation of up to $1.6 billion, tripling the value of its private stock from six months ago despite relatively small revenue, according to an updated company charter. Andreessen Horowitz had been in the running to lead the round, two people familiar with... Enterprise software startup Starburst Data is raising a Series C financing at a post-money...

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, center, at a conference last year. Photo by Bloomberg

Buoyed by Video Success, Zoom Explores Email, Calendar Services

By Kevin McLaughlin · Dec 23, 2020 6:01am PST · 4 comments

Zoom Video Communications has had an astonishing rise in 2020, emerging as the go-to service for work meetings and family get-togethers during the pandemic. Now the company is considering whether it could replicate its success in video in an even more competitive market: corporate email. The company has begun developing a web email service and... Zoom Video Communications has had an astonishing rise in 2020, emerging as the go-to service for...

China Renaissance founder Fan Bao. Photo by Bloomberg.

Amid IPO Boom, China’s Top Tech Dealmaker Raising $2.5 Billion for Investment Funds

By Juro Osawa · Dec 23, 2020 2:29am PST

China Renaissance, the boutique bank launched by influential tech dealmaker Fan Bao, is in talks to raise about $2.5 billion for two new investment funds that largely will target private tech companies, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The size of the funds shows how successful initial public offerings by Chinese tech startups and... China Renaissance, the boutique bank launched by influential tech dealmaker Fan Bao, is in talks...

Ironclad co-founders Jason Boehmig, CEO (L) and Cai GoGwilt, CTO (R). Photo provided by Ironclad

Mary Meeker’s VC Firm Bond Invests in Ironclad at Nearly $1 Billion Valuation

By Kate Clark and Ross Matican · Dec 21, 2020 12:21pm PST

Ironclad, which develops software that helps companies such as Dropbox and Mastercard create and manage business contracts, has raised at least $100 million in a Series D funding at a post-investment valuation of more than $950 million, or more than double its valuation from a year ago, according to several people familiar with the deal. Bond,... Ironclad, which develops software that helps companies such as Dropbox and Mastercard create and...

Hopin founder and CEO Johnny Boufarhat

How Johnny Boufarhat Built the Fastest Software Startup ‘Unicorn’ in History

By Zoë Bernard · Dec 18, 2020 6:01am PST · 7 comments

Hopin founder and CEO Johnny Boufarhat

How Johnny Boufarhat Built the Fastest Software Startup ‘Unicorn’ in History

By Zoë Bernard · Dec 18, 2020 6:01am PST · 7 comments

In the annals of venture capital, Hopin, which enables businesses to host events online, is a unicorn among unicorns: It might be the fastest business software startup to reach a private “unicorn” valuation of $1 billion, let alone the $2.1 billion it reached last month—just under a year after it was founded. Hopin owes that... In the annals of venture capital, Hopin, which enables businesses to host events online, is a...