Month: January 2023

Google is finally rolling out emoji reactions to people using Google Meet for video calls starting today. The company said that this feature will be first available on iOS and the web with Android support coming soon. The search giant first announced this feature last year, but it is reaching users just now.

Users can click or tap on the smile icon on the bottom pane to post a reaction emoji — with support for different skin tones — on the video call. When users react with an emoji, you will see a small badge on the top-left corner of their tile on the web. If there are many people reacting at one time, you will see a stream of reactions on the left-hand side — just like comments on a live video.

While the reaction feature is turned on by default, the meeting host can choose to turn it off for a particular call. Google said that the feature rollout will begin starting today and will be available to everyone in the next few weeks.

Along with emoji reactions for Meet calls, Google is also rolling out a Workspace update for chats that easily lets people start an individual or a group conversation. The earlier version of Chat prompted people to “Start group conversation” when they started typing names. Now, Google is removing that option completely.

Rather, users can simply type and select multiple names to start a group chat. And by typing in one name, they can start an individual chat.

“With this update, users can create Chat conversations in one consistent and intuitive way, whether with one person or a group,” the company said in a blog post.

The new group chat creation feature is rolling out to end-users starting today spanning across the next few weeks.

Google is finally rolling out emoji reactions for Meet video calls by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

Kano Computing (“Kano”), the venture-backed company best known for its DIY computer kits and software for teaching coding and STEM skills to kids, is spinning out its creative software suite and online community platform as an independent business.

The move comes as the U.K. company has been shifting its focus away from its build-your-own PC roots in pursuit of profitability and longer-term sustainability.

Founded out of London in 2013, Kano has brought various products to market through the years designed to teach the building blocks of computing to children. This includes its flagship Raspberry Pi-based modular PCs, as well as accessories such as the Harry Potter Coding Kit replete with a physical magic wand which works across most platforms.

Kano has raised some $45 million in funding through the years, from notable backers including Microsoftwhich worked with Kano to develop a Windows-based PC back in 2019, representing a notable departure from its Raspberry Pi roots. However, the company has apparently been struggling these past few years, shelving plans to bring Disney-branded products to market and announcing a round of layoffs as part of a “restructuring effort.”

At its most recent financial year end, Kano reported a pre-tax loss of £10.1 million ($12 million) — an improvement on the previous year’s £16.8 million loss, but a loss nonetheless. And although it’s still possible to buy some of its older products of yore through Amazon, it’s clear that Kano has been moving away from the products it became known for, toward a suite of “Stem”-branded consumer devices spanning audio and video.

STEM sells

A little more than a year ago, Kano partnered with Kanye West to launch Stem Player, a music device that lets users isolate and remix individual elements of songs.

But with West demonstrating his antisemitic colors on more than one occasion, Kano revealed back in November that it was cutting ties with the rapper, though it continues to sell the Stem Player sans West’s involvement. And earlier this week, Kano unveiled the Stem video Projector, while teasing plans for all manner of new products spanning everything from food to clothes.

With Kano heading in a new direction, this has left a core part of its business in limbo. Kano World has been an integral part of Kano’s offering pretty much since its inception — through an online account, users can create games, animations, and art, share them with the Kano community, remix other users’ work, participate in challenges, and more.

The platform was designed to bring a little fun and utility to its build-your-own computer kits, though it could be used independently of Kano’s hardware.

Going solo

Moving forward, Kano World will be going solo as a standalone business entity led by CEO Ollie Dotsch, who was formerly head of sales and education at Kano Computing.

Dotsch started his new role back in August, just as Kano World was formally incorporated. According to a U.K. Companies House filing, Kano World has three main shareholders, including Kano cofounder and CEO Alex Klein who holds a plurality of shares, Dotsch himself, and Kano Computing.

In a Q&A with TechCrunch, Dotsch explained that after leading the sales of Kano’s Windows-based PCs through to their eventual sell-out in early 2022, he floated the idea of spinning out Kano World with CEO Klein and the company’s board, cognizant of the fact that Kano was shifting its focus.

“Kano Computing is now working to grow the Stem business,” Dotsch said. “The Stem focus would have left Kano World with little to no budget, resources or attention to grow it into the product and business we believe it can and will be. Now on our own, we can fundraise, build a team and dedicate ourselves to the success of our vision to empower the creative genius in all young people to create, and not just consume.”

For now, Kano World constitutes a team of just three and is funded entirely by its three main shareholders, with plans afoot to seek new funding “in the coming months.” And besides its equity stake, Kano Computing will also serve as an incubator of sorts in the short term, serving up office space in its East London HQ.

“Extracting Kano World from Kano Computing is complex and will take time, but we’ve already started progressively and, once complete, leaving both companies stronger than before,” Dotsch said.

If nothing else, Kano World is striving to retain at least some of the original “creator and maker” ethos of Kano, albeit with a focus purely on the software side of things. Moreover, it can be perceived as a positive step that Kano has elected to give Kano World a chance to thrive on its own, when it may have been easier to let it slowly die inside Kano, or pull the plug on it in its entirety.

“In this environment, it made more sense for Kano World to grow outside of Kano Computing, than in[side],” Kano Computing’s co-founder and CEO Alex Klein said in a statement. “Kano World has had many exciting iterations over the years, even attracting the attention of Mark Zuckerberg who shared a post using the platform with his kids. This spin-off is the logical next step to deliver new joyful creative experiences for young people around the world.”

As before, Kano World offers two of its three creative tools — Kano Code and Make Art — for free, including access to some of the beginner challenges. Those who sign up to a premium subscription, which costs $10 per month or $100 per year, can accessPixel Motion and a broader array of challenges.

Without giving too much away, Dotsch said that they are actively working on building out the social community side of the platform and its creative software suite, with premium users able to access new products first.

The new Kano World company intends to double its headcount to around six people by the end of February, according to Dotsch, with subsequent hires planned in the software development and creative realm.

As it shifts focus from DIY computer kits, Kano spins out its creative software suite as a standalone business by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch

With our mysterious, unsustainable, and psychological attachment to pets, combined with a boom in pet ownership since those lonely pandemic times, means veterinary practices have come under increasing pressure.

Pet ownership has increased (56 to 70% US household penetration in the last 35 years). But, there are not enough vets.

To meet demand, a vet currently needs to see over 32 patients a day and by 2030, the U.S. will need nearly 41,000 additional veterinarians on current trends.

Just like doctors, vets spend a lot of their day on admin, while legacy systems are creaking under the weight of the new work.

This antiquated sector has become a ripe arena for tech companies. Rhapsody was bought by Chewy in H2 2022. Vetspire was bought by Pathaway/Thrive (Vet group). And ezyVet was bought by Idexx in H1 2022. And that’s just to name a few

We covered Digitail, a startup which grew out of Romania, automates the admin for veterinarians, back in 2021 at their seed round.

The startup has now closed a $11 million Series A funding round led by Atomico. They join previous investors byFounders, Gradient, and Partech. Atomico Principal Andreas Helbig joins the Digitail board as part of the investment. Allison Pickens (former COO of Gainsight) is joining as an angel with her new fund new-normal.ventures.

Digitail will use the funding to further scale operations across US and Canada, as well as develop the product.

The SaaS solution combines a Practice management platform, a ‘pet parent’ app for pet owners, and a Data Hub providing medical and business insights to veterinarians.

It claims veterinarians are able to see 2x as many patients using the software.

Digitail was founded in 2018 by Sebastian Gabor (CEO) and Ruxandra Pui (CPO), who had previously founded the development studio and IT consultancy ITGambit together.

Gabor told me the company started 2022 with $150k in ARR and ended Q4 2022 by passing $1M in ARR with over 700 animal hospitals worldwide using Digitail PIMS on a daily basis. He claims there are currently over 1.4M pet profiles in Digitail in more than 10 countries.

He says he was inspired to create Digital after having to completely restart his dog’s vaccination plan following a mis-scheduled appointment.

US pet care is estimated to grow from $118 bn in 2019 to $277 bn by 2030.

Our obsession with pets means startups aimed at Vets are booming, as Digitail shows by Mike Butcher originally published on TechCrunch