Month: January 2023

At ZeniMax, a Microsoft-owned gaming studio, 300 quality assurance (QA) testers have voted to unionize. This marks Microsoft’s first official union in the U.S., as well as the biggest gaming union in the country.

Union organizing has been on the rise in the video game industry, particularly among QA workers. In 2022, QA testers at Activision Blizzard have successfully formed unions at Raven SoftwareandBlizzard Albanythrough the Communication Workers Alliance (CWA), which will also represent ZeniMax’s union. But while Activision Blizzard has attempted tostall union organizingat every turn, Microsoftpledged in June that it would not stand in the way of employee organizing. So, by earning a majority of votes in favor of unionization, Microsoft will officially recognize ZeniMax Workers United, according to the CWA. Microsoft has not yet responded to a request for comment.

“Microsoft has lived up to its commitment to its workers and let them decide for themselves whether they want a union,” said Communications Workers of America President Chris Shelton in a statement. “Other video game and tech giants have made a conscious choice to attack, undermine, and demoralize their own employees when they join together to form a union. Microsoft is charting a different course which will strengthen its corporate culture and ability to serve its customers and should serve as a model for the industry and as a blueprint for regulators.”

ZeniMax includes subsidiaries like Bethesda Softworks and id Software, which produce franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Doom and Fallout.

Zachary Armstrong, a senior quality assurance tester II at id Software, told TechCrunch last month that the unit is organizing to fight for better pay and conditions.

“QA testers are consistently placed at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to game development, to the point that we’re not even considered game developers.” Armstrong said. QA workers rigorously test all facets of video games to identify and resolve problems that impact user experience. “That’s reflected in our pay, and that’s reflected in our work, especially with regard to crunch.”

In the lead up to deadlines, QA testers may be expected to work unsustainable hours to get a game ready for public eyes — this is referred to as “crunch.” The QA testers who unionized at Activision Blizzard have also raised concerns about the expectations of crunch time. Before announcing their intent to unionize, the Raven Software QA testers went on strike to protest layoffs affecting 12 contractors — before those contracts were terminated, the QA testers had been working overtime for five weeks straight.

The next step for the union at ZeniMax is to negotiate their contract with Microsoft.

“Before us is an opportunity to make big changes and bring equity to the video game industry,” said Victoria Banos, a senior QA audio tester, in a statement. “We want to put an end to sudden periods of crunch, unfair pay, and lack of growth opportunities within the company. Our union will push for truly competitive pay, better communication between management and workers, a clear path for those that want to progress their career, and more.”

Microsoft now has its first official union in the U.S. by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch

As readers know, we have fun with headlines on this site. But clearly, so do all of you. As part of our end of the year coverage, the Equity podcast team asked listeners to write a headline that represents 2022 in tech. Listeners showed up, with the brutal, the real and the holy-moly-yes-that-happened-this-year-how-could-you-forget.

Our recap episode of this wonky, 12-month-long roller coaster is now live wherever you find podcasts. We feature a ton of your answers in the episode, but some were so good that we feel like they deserve to be in a story of their own. So, buckle up and read on if you’re just in the mood for some tweet-sized recaps after a saga of a news cycle:

Natasha’s favorites:

“Mofos Unhinged” by Isa Watson, founder and CEO of Squad
“We came, we saw, we did not conquer” by Snigdha Sur, founder and CEO of The Juggernaut.
“Adrenal Fatigue and the Case Against Billionaires” by Martha Shaughnessy, founder of The Key PR.
“Just put up a roller coaster gif and call it a day” by Tate Hackert, president and founder of Zayzoon.
“Whiplash” by Eric Bahn, co-founder and GP at Hustle Fund VC.
“Crypto burns just as well as paper money” by Madison Campbell, founder and CEO of Leda Health.
“2022 is the year everything became a Rorschach test” by Phil Libin, the CEO and co-founder of All Turtles and Mmhmm.
“Went fast and broke everything” by Pearl Tempest Consulting.
“And you thought having to stay home sucked” by Morgan Oliveira, food entrepreneur.

Alex’s favorites:

“Goblin Mode” by Samantha McGarry, an EVP at Inkhouse PR. How can we not give a moment for a word-phrase that, frankly, we’ve all embodied in recent months.
“BeReal-istic about valuations” by Roger Johnson, a PR whiz at Method. Johnson is also a fan of the Great British Baking Brouhaha, and is therefore ever in our good graces.
“Fund a round and find out,” by Dan Gray of Equidam. Fuck around and find out has long been a useful phrase to keep in one’s pocket. This particular variation is very 2022.
Alex Kondrad of Forbes had a similar take, offering up “2022: The Year That Fucked Around And Found Out.”
“ farewell to all that” by Chris Messina, well known for his creation of the hashtag. Here Messina brings together a vibe, and the leading emoji of the year in a single tweet. Nice.
“Grimes’ ex boyfriend becomes most important Republican” by Paul Griffiths, an investor and general Twitter bon vivant. While some folks are still pretending to be confused about Musk’s politics, Griffiths is not whacking a circle around a shrub.
“The year that men got away with literally everything” by Leslie Feinzaig, an investor and writer. She has a point.
“Back to Reality, Oops Here Comes Gravity” by Luba Lesiva, an investor and one of our favorite Twitter users. We are always here for the meeting point of venture capital and rap lyrics.
And finally, “Crypto down, AI up, Biden exists, Twitter is a mess, all of the above are overvalued” by Justin Mitchell of SoFriendly, who tried to get the entire year into just a few words. Well done!

Mary Ann’s favorites:

“Reversion to mean. Mean funding. Mean interest rates. Mean cost control. Mean bosses” by Simon Taylor, self-proclaimed Fintech Geek
“How about we let ChatGPT choose the headline for 2022…” by Shannon K. Wilsey, VC, healthcare comms.
“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked” by Gregg Wallace (quoting Warren Buffet), VC, Building Ventures
“Abracadabra: smoke and mirrors be gone” by Kim Hong,
“2022, a return to the United State of WTF?!?” by Dan Taylor, scribe, Tech.Eu
‘The shit show that was 2022’ by Jodi Echakowitz, CEO of Boulevard PR
“Revaluation Nation” by Kelly Soderlund, Sr. Director of Comms at TripActions
“Goblin Mode” by Jordan French, Executive Editor of Grit Daily News
“fucksake” by Karl Deeter, founder of Online Application

Here’s how you described the tech industry’s 2022 in a headline by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch

The “Pineapple Express” that dropped several inches of rain over the Bay Area last week left the ground saturated. The next storm front expected to arrive tomorrow is expected to bring disruption and destruction on a massive scale.

It’s a decent metaphor for our startup ecosystem: Just as there aren’t enough sandbags in San Francisco to keep everyone’s house dry, rising interest rates, skittish investors and looming economic uncertainty are poised to bring valuations down even further in 2023.

“In a culture where growing valuations are worn like a badge of honor, founders may fear that taking a down round would render them Silicon Valley pariahs,” writes Holden Spaht, managing partner at private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

Full TechCrunch+ articles are only available to members
Use discount code TCPLUSROUNDUP to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription

In a TC+ column, Spaht encourages entrepreneurs to revisit the operational and fundraising tactics they leaned on in the bygone era of cheap money.

“The funding route you take has enormous consequences for the future of your company, and so it shouldn’t be clouded by ego or driven by media appetites,” he says.

Cutting back is always an option, but not every company is in a position to bootstrap or freeze hiring, which is why Spaht suggests exploring “trade-offs” like convertible notes.

Everyone gets wet when it rains, but accepting a down round allows founders to keep building, “and you have the benefit of resetting expectations of value in a challenging market,” writes Spaht.

Happy new year!

Walter Thompson
Editorial Manager, TechCrunch+
@yourprotagonist

How to make the most of your startup’s big fundraising moment

No matter the size, investments are a sign of validation for any startup.

However, “when you see other companies raising hundreds of millions of dollars, it can be easy to think no one will be interested in hearing about your startup’s much smaller round,” writes Hum Capital CMO Scott Brown.

In his marketing playbook for early stage startups, Brown explains how founders can use fundraising announcements to maximize media interest, comply with SEC guidelines and align more closely with investors to “get the most bang for their buck.”

How to protect your IP during fundraising so you don’t get ripped off

Most investors won’t sign a non-disclosure agreement before reviewing your pitch because your idea is probably not worth stealing.

That’s not an insult, just a statement of fact.

The odds are low that you’re the first person to come up with an idea, and an NDA could create legal hassles for VCs who interact with hundreds of entrepreneurs each year, many of whom are trying to solve the same set of problems.

“Not all concepts developed by startups are legally protectable,” writes Alison Miller, trial lawyer at Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP. “The next best thing founders can do is to signal as much as possible that pitch materials shared with funders are confidential.”

Six climate tech trends to watch for in 2023

Tim De Chant looked back on his reporting from last year to sketch out his predictions for where he believes climate tech is heading:

Software to deploy and manage renewable power
Direct air capture
Green hydrogen
Home renovation contractor software
Critical minerals mining
Fusion power

“Will 2023 be the inflection point that marks the start of exponential growth? I suspect we’ll know more around this time next year.”

Redefining ‘founder-friendly’ capital in the post-FTX era

Could the FTX debacle have been avoided if investors had taken a more active interest in the company’s operations?

Given the chilly climate for late-stage fundraising and widespread economic uncertainty, “it’s time for the startup community to redefine what ‘founder-friendly’ capital means and balance both the source and cost of that capital,” writes Blair Silverberg, co-founder and CEO of Hum Capital.

In a TC+ guest post, he weighs the relative benefits of active versus passive investors, breaks down the basics of debt financing, and shares advice “for founders seeking a better balance of capital and external expertise for their businesses.”

High-growth startups should start de-risking their path to IPO now

It sounds counterintuitive, but in this chilly fundraising environment, late-stage startups need to plan to go public when the market opens up.

“While some companies delay their IPOs, others can play catch-up and prepare for the time when the open market itches to invest again,” writes Carl Niedbala, COO and co-founder of commercial insurance broker Founder Shield.

In a detailed TC+ article, he looks at why “sensible companies are de-risking their public path,” which sectors are best positioned, and perhaps most notably, which benchmarks startups can use to tell if “an IPO is in their future.”

What to look for in a term sheet as a first-time founder

Most financing contacts between early-stage startups and investors take the form of a SAFE note, also known as a simple agreement for future equity.

Legally binding, the document establishes both a company’s valuation and deal terms. “Once you get the term sheet, the game has really begun,” says James Norman, managing partner at Black Operator Ventures.

To help first-time founders better understand “what to ask for” and which red flags to avoid, Connie Loizos interviewed Norman, along with Mandela Schumacher-Hodge Dixon, CEO of AllRaise, and Kevin Liu of Techstars and Uncharted Ventures.

Dear Sophie: Do employees have to stop working until they get their EAD?

Dear Sophie,

One of our employees is on an H-4 visa and has an Employment Authorization Document. It’s been five months since he filed to renew his EAD, which will expire next month. Is there any way to expedite this process? Does he have to stop working if he doesn’t receive his new EAD card before his old one expires?

Because it’s taking so long to get EAD cards, we’re worried about another of our employees, who has an L-2 visa with an EAD scheduled to expire early next year.

In addition, the H-4 visa employee wants to visit his family in India because it’s been more than three years since he last went. Will he and his family be able to return to the U.S. after four weeks?

— Mindful Manager

TechCrunch+ roundup: Normalizing down rounds, 2023 climate trends, term sheet basics by Walter Thompson originally published on TechCrunch

Intel is taking a more subdued approach to CES these days — forgoing a splashy event staged in a big hotel showroom in the wake of Covid-19, and a wider change in PR strategy after years of making bullish investments in next-generation tech like drones and moonshots like Volocopter and using them as showpieces at those events. Remember the year when Intel imported a whole Volocopter aircraft on to the stage, and placed its then-CEO into it, for its “first US flight”?

Yet the Vegas mega-show remains a key moment for Intel. It’s not just a bellwether for the state of the consumer electronics industry, but it’s an important marketing opportunity as a swathe of consumer electronics companies size up and buy in components for their devices. Today, the company unveiled a host of news related to processors and computer specifications using them, including a new 13th generation of its Intel Core processor, an all-new 24-core processor, the i9, and — addressing the fact that there is over-penetration of computers among business and developed world users — a new N-series specifically for what it describes as “entry-level” education and mainstream laptops, desktops and edge-native applications.

The breadth here is intentional: Intel made its name decades ago for its revolutionary approach to computer processors, which helped usher in a new generation of smaller devices, but it has arguably met some very stiff competition at the higher end of the market, and some would say missed the boat on mobile years ago. These new releases aim to address all of this: providing leadership in the bigger processing race of tomorrow but also hoping for a role in the making of devices for the mass market of today, not least after announcing in September 2022 that it would sunset its iconic Celeron and Pentium processor brands.

“The 13th Gen Intel Core mobile processor family delivers unrivaled, scalable performance for leadership platforms across all laptop segments,” said Michelle Johnston Holthaus, executive vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group at Intel, in a statement. “With our industry-leading technologies and unmatched global partner ecosystem, people can expect a high-caliber mobile experience in new and unique form factors so they can game or create from anywhere.”

The 13th generation Intel core mobile processor family being unveiled today is spearheaded by the i9-13980HX, which is Intel’s first 24-core processor designed for laptops. Intel claims it is now the world’s fastest mobile (that is, laptop) processor clocking up speeds of 5.6 gigahertz (GHz) turbo frequency and 11% faster and 49% faster performance respectively for single-purpose and multitasking usage. As a measure of what the race is like in processors today, this is less about Intel really setting a new bar as much as it is about keeping up: it notes in a disclaimer that it’s worlds-fastest claim is only valid as of December 2022.

The 24 cores are divided up into 8 Performance-cores and 16 Efficient-cores, it says, and also are complemented by 32 threads and “enhanced Intel Thread
Director” with memory support of up to 128 gigabytes total covering two classes of SDRAM, DDR5 (up to 5,600 megahertz) and DDR4 (up to 3,200 MHz). The state of features today expected by consumers in these devices is laid bare too with a wide range of other support including superfast Wi-Fi 6E (Gig+) support; Bluetooth LE Audio and Bluetooth 5.2 support for faster speeds, multiple devices and lower power consumption (so critical given earlier Bluetooth does drain battery); Thunderbolt 4 support for 40 gigabits per second transfer speeds; and more.

The H-, P- and U-series mobile processors are addressing IoT, “enthusiast” and thinner devices. Intel says that more than 300 models from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Razer, Republic of Gamers, Samsung and others are going to be released this year based on the them.

All of the processors in the 13th generation will also include a Movidius vision processing unit (VPU), built in collaboration with Microsoft to integrate closely with its Windows Studio Effects to handle processing of more AI-based tasks to speed up overall CPU and GPU performance of machines. That collaboration is a notable mark of how hardware and software have had to tie up closer to evolve, and how hardware is becoming increasingly a software play, for more complex applications and faster speeds. Without its own chip-based vertical strategy in-house, Microsoft is an obvious partner.

“Together with Intel we continue to innovate to deliver powerful PC performance and experiences with Windows 11 and all of the products Intel is announcing today,” said Panos Panay, EVP and product head for Microsoft, in a statement. “We’re excited for customers to benefit from substantial optimizations, like improved Windows support for Intel Hybrid Guided Scheduler, and meaningful new experiences, like with the Intel Movidius VPU unlocking a new era of AI acceleration, starting with Windows Studio.”

Intel is describing its new N-series chips, meanwhile, as a direct replacement for the Penium and Celeron lines. “Purpose-built” for the education segment, entry-level computing and IoT edge-native applications, this also means that they will be marketed as more cost-effective and aimed and overall lower-priced and lower-specced devices, while being more modern than the previous generations and being a more evolutionary product for the company.

With new Gracemont-based cores, Intel 7 process technology means 28% better application performance and 64% better graphics performance at the peak compared to the older (now sunset) processors; up to 10-hours of HD video playback (if nothing else is being used) with better camera and display support as well as upgraded WiFi and Bluetooth (they are based also on the i3 tech). Intel said that some 50 new ChromeOS and Windows designs from Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and ASUS are due to be launched this year based on these chips.

IoT is also getting addressed with these new N-series chips, which will be appearing, Intel said, in devices used in retail signages, kiosks, point of sale systems, portable medical imaging devices, office automation equipment like copiers, and in safety and security devices.

In addition to the chip news, Intel has also continued iterating on its laptop and portable computing specifications, this year with new developments called Intel Evo.

These are based on the new 13th generation processor and focus on extended battery life to improve both the speed of charging but also how long devices can run unplugged; improved performance for videoconferencing and other video and collaboration applications; and better bridging between laptops and other keyboard computing and mobile handsets and tablets, which it’s terming “Intel Unison.” Again, in the endgame of vertical integration, this was an essential move for Intel, in an environment where those who do still use laptops are always doing it in complement with handsets, something that device makers are keen to make as easy as possible, not least to lose those users as customers of the former products.

Intel Evo will also work with hardware made by accessory providers, covering Thunderbolt 4 docks, monitors, storage and wireless headsets, mice, keyboards and other access points. Whether those will ultimately feel like gimmicks or buggy hardware that no one ultimately uses remains to be seen: at the end of the day, the easiest and most foolproof tools tend to win the day.

Intel unveils high-end 13th-gen 24-core processors plus N-series workhorse to fill the the Pentium and Celeron gap by Ingrid Lunden originally published on TechCrunch

Downturn be damned — last month, Union Square Ventures announced that it had raised a $200 million climate fund, less than two years after raising its first climate fund.

The new fund is certain to add fuel to climate tech as 2023 kicks off after a banner 2022. Nine months ago, it seemed unlikely that the market would repeat the red-hot performance of 2021, during which $44.8 billion was invested across 1,130 deals, according to PitchBook. When the final tallies roll in, it’s possible that 2022 matched or exceeded those figures.

For USV’s general and limited partners, there were many reasons to raise a new fund. Notably, the firm’s existing limited partners were interested in another climate fund for the impact — and because they are looking for a safe investment, said Mona Alsubaei, a member of USV’s investment team.

“A lot of investors, including GPs and LPs, are moving away from where it’s risky,” she told TechCrunch. “If you look at climate, it addresses some of the core issues with the market downturn right now, including energy, food and minerals. If you invest in climate, you invest in those.”

Here’s what USV plans to do in 2023 with its $200M climate fund by Tim De Chant originally published on TechCrunch

Nvidia’s on demand cloud gaming service, known as GeForce Now, is headed to select Hyundai, BYD and Polestar electric vehicles, the company said Tuesday ahead of CES 2023 in Las Vegas. The announcement, while lacking details on timelines or vehicle models, is notable because it marks the first time Nvidia is expanding its GeForce Now service beyond phones, smart TVs and computers and into cars.

Nvidia’s in-car games offering comes as automakers sink more resources into so-called “software-defined vehicles,” in hopes of finding new sources of revenue beyond building, selling and financing cars, trucks and SUVs. While Tesla was the first to pioneer in-car gaming and recently added Steam games to its vehicles, other automakers have picked up the pace. A number of automakers, including Stellantis, announced at CES last year plans to add Amazon Fire TV streaming into upcoming vehicles. In October, BMW partnered with AirConsole to bring games to its BMW 7 series EVs this year.

One can see the appeal of integrating such entertainment with newer vehicles, particularly for electric vehicles. Have to wait 30 minutes to charge your car? Put your feet up and stream some Wheel of Time. Got hyper kids in the back of a long car ride? Distract them with Cyberpunk 2077 or The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Automakers and suppliers may also be looking towards to a future when driving tasks become more automated.

Danny Shapiro, Nvidia’s VP of automotive, told TechCrunch customers could stream games into stationary vehicles that are connected to WiFi or even cars in motion if there’s a high bandwidth connection. To make this happen, Nvidia leverages its large network of servers and partner networks around the world to enable game-playing in the cloud. Games are essentially being played on a server in one of Nvidia’s data centers and then streamed to someone’s device.

“It’s like Netflix but interactive,” Shapiro said in a recent interview. “It’s not just buffering content and sending it down. Somebody would have a gaming controller, and those button clicks are transmitted to the server. The game is played, rendered and then streamed back to the device. So there’s a lot of technology we’ve developed to basically reduce the latency and enable somebody to play a game in the cloud with the exact same experience as they would expect on their PC or running on their local TV.”

Hyundai, BYD and Polestar all rely on Nvidia’s Drive platform for infotainment and autonomous vehicle development, but GeForce Now is hardware agnostic, said Shapiro.

GeForce Now features more than 1,000 titles from leading PC game stores like Steam, the Electronic Arts app, Ubisoft, Epic Games Store and GOG.com, as well as free-to-play games like Fortnite, Lost Ark and Destiny 2, according to Nvidia.

Nvidia helps Hyundai, BYD, Polestar join the in-car gaming revolution by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

Simulators have been a godsend when it comes to testing robots. Real-world testing is lengthy, expensive and potentially dangerous, so anything you can do to work out as many kinks as possible ahead of time is a big win. Isaac Sim has thus far proven a success for Nvidia, as the chipmaker has looked to aggressively enter the world of robotics and automation, while roboticists search for a way to run simuations of real life working conditions.

Today at CES, the company announced some key improvements to the system. Accessible via the cloud for robotics developers every where, the system is adding a very important piece of the puzzle: humans. Well, virtual humans. After all, for all of the talk about robots replacing human jobs, the two are going to be working side by side for the foreseeable future.

“To minimize the difference between results observed in a simulated world versus those seen in the real world,” Nvidia notes, “it’s imperative to have physically accurate sensor models.”

People shouldn’t be considered obstacles, exactly, but it’s important to hue to as close to that first Asimov law as possible. Humans in the sim are tasked with same sort of roles you’d find human workers filling – stuff like pushing carts and stacking packages. Robots need to do their job without colliding with their much softer coworkers.

The system is also adding the ability to render real time sensor data, built atop Nvidia’s RTX tech. That includes lidar simulation with ray tracing to better simulate different lighting conditions and the impact of reflective materials. Different existing robots and warehouse parts can also be added in, to properly recreate the setting for fulfillment systems.

Isaac Sim supports ROS 2 Humble and Windows, as well as existing Isaac ROS software. The new platform features are available to use starting today.

Nvidia’s robot simulator adds human coworkers by Brian Heater originally published on TechCrunch

Mercedes Benz is joining the metaverse. Or at least its assembly facilities are.

The automaker is one of Nvidia’s latest customers to use Omniverse Enterprise, a software platform used to build and operate metaverse applications. Nvidia said Tuesday ahead of the official kickoff of CES 2023 that Mercedes will use Omniverse to design, plan and optimize its factories. Specifically, Mercedes is preparing to manufacture its new electric vehicle platform at its plant in Rastatt, Germany.

Using Omniverse, the automaker is able to build a digital twin of the factory and simulate new production processes without disrupting existing vehicle production. Nvidia says having a virtual workflow will let Mercedes quickly react to supply chain disruptions and reconfigure the assembly line as needed.

Danny Shapiro, Nvidia’s VP of automotive, told TechCrunch Mercedes has already been working with Nvidia to test out autonomous vehicle technology in simulation.

“Now what they’re talking about is using our Omniverse technology, bringing that down to the production level, and creating a digital twin of the entire factory,” said Shapiro. “So modelling all the vehicles going through the assembly, all the robots, all the factory workers, and being able to design and plan the production and the assembly plant before it is actually live. And so this is helping them streamline, moving over from an existing A class production into a new generation vehicle.”

A complete factory simulation could help automakers assess potential bottlenecks, create more ergonomic working conditions or determine where a robot might fail to complete a task before the facility actually starts production. Shapiro said Mercedes plans to scale this strategy to its factories globally in the future.

Mercedes likely won’t be the only automaker doing so. As we recently predicted, automakers in the coming years will rely on digital twins for everything from designing vehicle interiors to making factories more efficient to crash testing cars.

Shapiro noted that automakers can use Drive SIM, Nvidia’s simulation platform, to collaborate on vehicle design in virtual reality. In the future, he expects automakers to use simulation to create retail experiences and offer virtual walkthroughs of cars from a customer’s home.

“We think about this whole lifecycle of a digital twin, from design to engineering to manufacturing to retail,” said Shapiro, nodding towards a potential announcement in the automotive retail realm in the coming months.

Mercedes to use Nvidia’s digital twin tech to modernize its factories by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn and Nvidia announced Tuesday ahead of CES 2023 a partnership to develop automated and autonomous vehicle platforms.

Under the two-part partnership, Foxconn will become a primary supplier of electronic control units for automakers. Those ECUs, which are an essential component for all modern vehicles, will be built with Nvidia’s Drive Orin system-on-a-chip (SoC), a supercomputing AI platform that supports autonomous driving functions. As part of the partnership, Foxconn agreed to build its own branded electric vehicles with the Drive Orin ECUs and Nvidia’s suite of sensors like cameras, radar, lidar and ultrasonics (called Drive Hyperion) that are needed for highly automated driving capabilities.

Foxconn didn’t respond in time to clarify which future vehicles would feature Nvidia’s tech; the company has not yet built its own vehicles and is in the process of manufacturing EVs for Fisker and Lordstown Motors. The electronics manufacturer most well-known for making Apple’s iPhones recently unveiled two EV concepts — a pickup and a crossover hatchback. Details about the vehicles when first unveiled were scant, but Foxconn’s partnership with Nvidia signals that the cars will be built with autonomous driving capabilities.

Nvidia said the partnership will allow it to leverage Foxconn’s manufacturing capabilities to scale Drive Orin. At the same time, Foxconn’s use of the Drive Hyperion architecture and the Drive Orin SoC will allow the new automaker to speed up its time-to-market and cut production costs.

That’ll be a necessary for any company, including Foxconn, that is new to building vehicles. While the company has plenty of experience manufacturing consumer electronics, one need to only consider the spate of struggling EV startups that have popped up in the past few years.

And in 2023 and beyond, automakers aren’t just building cars — they’re building supercomputers on wheels. Best to outsource where they can.

Last year at CES, BYD and Lucid Motors said they rely on Nvidia’s self-driving toolkit for their cars current and future advanced driver assistance systems.

Foxconn’s EVs will be built with Nvidia’s self-driving toolkit by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

Economic uncertainty, market volatility, rising interest rates, inflation and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict affected the M&A market the third quarter of 2022 to the point that deal volumes declined across the globe. Most experts agree that a recession is here or likely imminent, and even if one is not, it still is a scenario that companies must prepare for.

That said, while private equity deal activity declined only by a bit in Q3, when compared to the years prior to COVID, it actually increased slightly. As for Q4, there was already chatter, particularly in the lower U.S. mid-market, that deal volumes might increase due to the rush to close deals before the year ended.

As private equity firms continue to pursue deals, they should look to their due diligence firms and operators to ensure extra steps are taken to accurately assess and vet potential acquisition targets given the economic climate and the possibility of a recession.

Due diligence providers will need to go beyond their standard reporting checklists and expand their assessments of three key areas:

Cash flows;
Strength of the customer base and third-party vendors;
Accounting and financial reporting software.

If the COVID-19 pandemic spurred a focus on reallocations and prompted a closer look at EBITDA and gross profits, a recession will call for a deeper focus on cash flows and the potential for surviving ongoing market swings.

Cash flow analysis

It has become important for any due diligence provider to stress test a company’s ability to sustain losses and maintain sustainable liquidity and cash.

While conducting a cash flow analysis is not standard practice for due diligence providers, it should be now. Analyzing a company’s cash flows will help providers determine whether it is ready for a deal ahead of a recession. During a recession, a capital-intensive company would inevitably see its cash flows being strained to pay its debt load, and it’s likely to need more cash to carry out operations. The company would likely be in a negative cash position. Whether it be due to inherited debt or lease commitments, a cash flow analysis can help PE firms anticipate and prepare for such possibilities.

A cash flow analysis should begin by evaluating sales by discounts, returns and allowances, all related to cash, and evaluate for seasonality. It should then do the reverse for vendors and suppliers when evaluating purchases and operational expense transactions.

3 ways PE firms can ensure relevant due diligence for M&A targets ahead of a recession by Ram Iyer originally published on TechCrunch