Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.

The app economy in 2023 hit a few snags, as consumer spending last year dropped for the first time by 2% to $167 billion, according to the latest “State of Mobile” report by data.ai (previously App Annie). However, downloads are continuing to grow, up 11% year-over-year in 2022 to reach 255 billion. Consumers are also spending more time using mobile apps than ever before. On Android devices alone, hours spent in 2022 grew 9%, reaching 4.1 trillion.

This Week in Apps offers a way to keep up with this fast-moving industry in one place with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and much more.

Do you want This Week in Apps in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here: techcrunch.com/newsletters

Top Stories

State of Mobile 2023 arrives, consumer spending slows

Data.ai’s anticipated review of the app ecosystem, “State of Mobile 2023,” arrived this week, finding that consumer spending on apps has been hit by the same macroeconomic forces impacting the broader economy. That led to a first-time drop in consumer spending after years of record growth. However, there are some bright spots in the report’s findings. For starters, it seems that non-game apps are more resilient than games in a down economy. Though consumer spend on mobile games dropped 5% to $110 billion, spending on non-game apps increased 6% to $58 billion — driven by streaming subscriptions, dating apps and short-form video apps.

The data also indicated that despite the tightening of wallets, consumer engagement on mobile continues to grow. Across top mobile markets, consumers were spending 5 hours, 2 minutes per day in 2022 using their apps, up 9% from 2020. That’s remarkable, given that 2020 was the onset of the COVID pandemic, which tied everyone to their phone and rapidly changed consumer behavior. However, there is a caveat to this news: Much of mobile users’ time is monopolized by three app categories, which accounted for half the time spent on mobile: Social Media/Communication (19.5% of total time); Entertainment/Short Video (17% of total time); and Entertainment/Video Sharing (12.7% of total time).

In addition, while mobile ad spend growth will also slow alongside the economy, it will not decline. Data.ai is forecasting that mobile ad spend in 2023 will hit $262 billion, up from $336 billion this year as short video apps drive growth. TikTok, for example, became the second-ever non-game app to top $6 billion in all-time consumer spending, the report noted.

The first category — Social Media/Communication — includes WeChat, WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger, Telegram, LINE and Discord, while the Entertainment and Short Video category is where you’ll find TikTok as well as Kwai, Vido Video, Baidu Haokan and Snack Video. The last category of Entertainment and Video Sharing includes long-form video like YouTube, YouTube Kids and bilibili.

One finding that jumped out at me is that TikTok this year lost its No. 1 position on the Top Charts by Downloads to Instagram, the Meta-owned social app that has been desperately trying to clone TikTok’s feature set with Reels. Data.ai’s report indicated that Meta had a bit of a comeback this year, with Instagram bumping TikTok on downloads, though TikTok remained No. 1 by consumer spending. However, in terms of real-world use, TikTok is much further down the charts.

In 2022, the top four non-game apps by monthly active users were all owned by Facebook. In order, they were Facebook, WhatsApp Messenger, Instagram, then Facebook Messenger. TikTok was No. 5. Amazon, which was No. 5 last year, slipped to No. 7 while Telegram moved up to No. 6 from No. 7 in 2021. Twitter, Spotify and Netflix rounded out the charts.

The report delves into other interesting trends related to specific categories of apps (some of which we may get into later), but one particular area of interest to us involved the detailed habits of Gen Z consumers. Unlike the top apps used by older generations, which tend to be more utilitarian and practical (think Amazon, eBay, Walmart, The Weather Channel, Waze, Ring, PayPal and others), Gen Z is still devoted to video apps, user-generated content and mindfulness apps, data.ai said. (Ah, youth!) They also have a preference for Meta’s Instagram over Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Netflix and Spotify.

Another trend driven by younger users was the rise of BeReal, a more authentic photo-sharing app that prompts users once a day to take candid photos of themselves and what they’re doing. Data.ai found that no other social app added more new users in the U.S. over the past five years than the 5.3 million users BeReal gained in August 2022. But the firm suggested BeReal may struggle to grow engagement since the app only asks people to use it for brief periods. However, in speaking with those close to the company, we understand BeReal is purposefully trying to build a non-addictive social app — it just doesn’t know how to monetize that sort of creation.

Another app category driven by Gen Z trends is friend-finding, which includes apps like Yubo, Hoop, Bumble (for its BFF feature), Live Talk and others.

Meanwhile, in terms of gaming, the Gen Z demographic showed a preference for party, simulation and shooters, and counted Roblox as their No. 1 app. If there’s any wonder why Meta is spending billions trying to develop a virtual gaming landscape with Horizon Worlds, just look at Roblox’s growth and traction among the younger demographic. “Creative Sandbox” games like Roblox as well as Minecraft saw a global increase in time spent last year, up 25% from 2021 to 2022.

A few other interesting highlights:

The most-searched iOS App Store keywords in the U.S. for entertainment apps were, in order: netflix, disney+, hulu, HBO max, paramount, paramount+, amazon prime, peacock tv, prime video and tubi. Maybe Netflix will be okay after all.
Genshin Impact reached $3 billion in in-app purchases in Q2 2022.
Game publishers in China drove a third of consumer game spending.
Crypto apps’ downloads fell in 2022, even as other fintechs grew.
Average MAUs among the top five neobanks in the U.S. climbed from 1.4 million in 2020 to 2.2 million in 2022. Chime is the market leader in both active users and user engagement.

Consumers spent nearly 110 billion hours in shopping apps in 2022, up 9% globally. Cost-conscious shoppers drove growth.
Total time spent in social apps climbed 17% year-over-year to over 2 trillion hours on Android phones in 2022. The U.S. accounted for more than one-fourth of social app consumer spending.
Sports betting app downloads hit 4.3 million at the start of the 2022-2023 NFL season, up 8% year-over-year from 2021.
Language learning apps saw 31% year-over-year growth as travel returned post-pandemic.
Consumer spend in dating apps grew 12% year-over-year in 2022, and 91% year-over-year compared to pre-pandemic spend.

Apple let scammy “ChatGPT” apps flood the App Store

What, no I mean, what is going on with App Review? For years, Apple has been caught off guard at times, allowing violative apps to slip through its review process to be published on the App Store until users or the media called out the mistake.

But in the case of the scam “ChatGPT” apps that flooded the App Store over the past couple of weeks, one has to wonder if Apple is even paying attention at all. ChatGPT’s maker OpenAI doesn’t offer a public API, so that should have been a red flag to reviewers about any app claiming a ChatGPT or OpenAI connection in its name or description, then charging money for access. One app, called “ChatGPT Chat GPT AI With GPT-3,” even managed to reach the Top Charts in the productivity category in multiple countries as a result of consumer demand for ChatGPT and Apple’s inattention. (The app was removed shortly after reporters, including ourselves, reached out to Apple for comment. Apple never answered our emails.)

Google Play had the same problem, but frankly, consumers expect more from Apple’s App Store. In fact, Apple’s argument against antitrust concerns, like its ban on sideloading and third-party app stores, has to do with the safety and security of its users. Apple says only it should be trusted to keep consumers safe. But surely that means Apple should also be protecting consumers from scam apps and subscription scams. But it is not.

And while no system is perfect, it seems like the apps that are at the top of the App Store’s charts — or those that quickly moved up the charts for unknown reasons — should go under an additional review by Apple, just to make sure they’re playing by the rules. Developers have long argued that Apple should be cracking down on apps with high-priced subscriptions or those that are charging users for basic utilities or otherwise free features — in other words, the apps that are profiting from scamming users. If it did so, a subscription-based app that appeared to be charging for access to a free service with a non-public API wouldn’t have made the cut.

These things aren’t hard to spot either — third-party app intelligence services can parse customer reviews for negative sentiments and keywords, so surely Apple could implement a system of its own, if it wanted to. In the case of the scammy ChatGPT apps, customer reviews called the apps fake and non-functional, warning others not to get scammed. Where was Apple on this issue? Until the media coverage, it was quietly collecting its cut of the scammers’ subscription revenues.

In other App Store news, activist investors have pressured Apple for more insight into app removals, the FT reported, but their interest lies in wanting a better understanding of when Apple acquiesces to foreign governments’ requests. The company will begin including additional information in its Transparency Report about whether removals are related to local laws and how many apps were pulled in each country.

Goodbye, Instagram Shop. Move over, Reels.

Instagram announced this week it will simplify its in-app navigation after years of confusing changes designed to push various products like Instagram Shop and Reels. The company said, starting in February, it will return the Compose button (the plus sign “+”) to the front and center of the navigation bar at the bottom of the app and it will remove the Shop tab entirely.

As a result, the Reels button will now move over to the right of Compose, losing its prime spot.

The earlier changes that had pushed Reels over Compose had been fairly controversial as Instagram users felt as if the company was forcing them to use the app’s new products at the expense of the overall user experience. Instagram defended the changes in prior years as a way to introduce users to its new products. But in more recent months, there’s been increased backlash over how far Instagram has deviated from its original mission. Even the Kardashians criticized the app for “trying to be TikTok.”

Instagram said shopping on Instagram will continue to be supported despite the removal of the tab. We’ll see.

Weekly News

Android Updates

Google is working to fix a Google Play issue impacting missing app changelogs, according to an Android Police report.
The latest stable release of the official IDE for building Android applications, Android Studio Electric Eel (2022.1.1), arrived. The release includes updates and new features that cover design, build & dependencies, emulators & devices, and IntelliJ, Google said.
Google released the Extension SDK to developers, bringing features like the Android 13 Photo Picker API and AdServices APIs to Android 11 and up.

Apple News

Second developer betas for iOS 16.3, iPadOS 16.3, watchOS 9.3, macOS Ventura 13.2 and tvOS 16.3 have arrived. One notable change impacts the new Emergency SOS feature. The “Call with Hold” option is renamed to “Call with Hold and Release,” as now the call to emergency services won’t go through until users let go of the buttons they press down to start the SOS call. More here. The change may be an attempt to address issues over mistakenly triggered calls.
Seems like Apple pushed Flickr to update its SafeSearch filtering. The company said it updated the feature so it won’t return results for “bad words” when it’s enabled in order “to act in compliance with Apple’s policies.”
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that iOS 17 is going to be a smaller release with fewer changes as Apple focuses on its mixed-reality headset.
Apple Maps now lets businesses update their listings and tout promotions via a new Apple Business Connect portal. No plans yet for any sort of Maps ads offering, however.
In a year-end review, Apple announced it has now paid out a record $320 billion to app developers since 2008 — a number that reflects the revenue apps have generated, minus Apple’s commission. The company now has more than 900 million paid subscriptions across Apple services, with subscriptions on the App Store driving a “significant” part of that figure, it said.

Gaming

Google and Nvidia shared concerns with the FTC as to how Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal would give it an unfair advantage in cloud, subscription and mobile gaming.
JioGames, part of Reliance Industries’ telecom platform Jio, announced a 10-year strategic partnership with France’s Gamestream.The latter will assist JioGames in bringing cloud gaming to “1.4 billion” Indians by helping scale the JioGamesCloud platform. JioGames’ titles can be played on Android, web (PC, Mac and iPhone), and Jio’s set-top boxes.
Roblox could be coming to a new platform: Meta Quest. Sources told The Verge that Roblox will be expanding its VR footprint — it already works on Rift and HTC’s Vive — by releasing to Meta’s Quest, which doesn’t require a PC to play.
Stardew Valley’s big update,patch 1.5, finally reached iOS and Android users. The update, which arrived on consoles in 2021, includes a number of new features and changes, including a new beach farm layout, new NPCs and enemies, ostriches (!!) and a new location called Ginger Island.

Twitter Drama

Twitter’s API began experiencing issues that are impacting third-party Twitter apps like Tweetbot, Echofon and Twitterrific. The app makers confirmed the problems have been causing log-in issues for users and their apps no longer work.
Online publishing platformMedium, originally created by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams,announced that it’s embracing the open source Mastodon platform by creating its own instance to support its authors and their publications. Access to the instance will be offered through a Medium membership, which means in a way, it’s the first paid instance to come to Mastodon.
Twitter’s Blue subscription,which is the new way to be verified and get your checkmark — degrading the value of checks in the process! — rolled out to Japan. Users can subscribe for ¥980 (around $7.40) per month on the web and ¥1,380 ($10.42) per month on iOS, a bit lower than U.S. prices of $8 per month on the web and $11 per month on iOS.
Twitter made the algorithmic timeline the default and renamed it the “For You” feed.(Eye roll). You can now swipe between the For You feed and a chronological timeline, as well as lists.

Entertainment

TikTok is alpha testing a Talent Manager Portal with select talent agencies. The service would allow creators’ agents and reps to oversee, execute and analyze brand deals their clients are being offered.
Apple Music and the Apple TV apps quietly launched on the Microsoft Store— a few months after Microsoft said the apps would be coming to Windows 11.
YouTube will begin sharing ad revenue with Shorts creators on February 1, and will update its YPP terms to reflect this. (Take that, TikTok!)

Etc.

Failed discount movie tickets service MoviePass is trying for a comeback with funding from crypto backers, Animoca Brands.
Google added emoji reactions to Meet video calls, starting on iOS and web, with Android to follow. The feature was announced last year.
Not so super. Tata Group’s super app Tata Neu is expected to meet only half its sales target in its first year — $4 billion versus an $8 billion target. The app had been modeled on successful apps like Alipay and WeChat.
Tinder and other Match dating apps will introduce tips on how to avoid romance scams. Someone watched “The Tinder Swindler,” apparently!

Government & Policy

TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, met with senior European Union lawmakers to answer a number of questions including privacy, data protection, DSA compliance, child safety, Russian disinformation and the transparency of paid political content. The inquiry follows what’s expected to be increased regulatory scrutiny of the app, including possible oversight by the European Commission.
After being fined $400 million by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission over how Instagram handled minors’ accounts and data, Meta announced it would remove the ability for advertisers to target teen users by gender. The company will also end personalized ad targeting to users under 18 based on in-app activity, like who they follow on Instagram and what Facebook pages they like.
New Jersey and Ohio have now joined 20 other U.S. states in banning TikTok on government-owned devices over security concerns.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to block a lawsuit filed by WhatsApp that challenged the alleged mass phone hacking by Israeli spyware maker NSO Group.The spyware maker had argued the suit should be dropped because it was acting on behalf of a foreign government, but the Supreme Court rejected this claim.

Funding

A Twitter rival called ‘T2’ raised its first outside funding, with $1.1 million from a group of high-profile angels including Bradley Horowitz, Rich Miner and the former CEO of Wikipedia, Katherine Maher. T2 founder Gabor Cselle has sold startups to Twitter and Google previously.
Payments technology platform Butter Payments raised $21.5 million in Series A funding led by Norwest at a ~$100 million valuation. The company leverages AI to help end accidental churn.
Kakao Entertainment, which publishes apps for popular animated shows and novels, raised $930 million from Saudi Arabia’s PIF and Singapore’s GIC.
A company developing a cognitive behavioral therapy platform for ADHD, Inflow, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Inflow’s self-help app offers daily exercises and challenges focused on habit development, mindfulness techniques, community support and more.
Social crypto wallet app The Easy Company raised $14.2 million in seed funding. The iOS and Android app offers an Instagram-like experience for showcasing NFTs.

Layoffs

Tokyo-based news aggregator SmartNews laid off 120 people in the U.S. and China, with plans to implement a voluntary workforce reduction in Japan.
Fintech for kids Greenlight, which lets kids use a debit card and app with parental monitoring, laid off 104 employees — or more than 21% of its total headcount of 485 employees.
Crime-reporting app Citizen laid off 33 employees, including at least 10 engineers. The app uses public police blotters to notify users about verified incidents in their area, but also allows users in select markets to upload their own reports and livestream.
Right-leaning Twitter alternative Parler’s parent company laid off 75% of staff and chief execs, leaving Parler with just 20 employees. Kanye, as many expected, didn’t actually buy it.

This Week in Apps: ChatGPT app scammers, Instagram revamp and a consumer spending slowdown by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch

W

elcome to the TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter. It’s inspired by the daily TechCrunch+ column where it gets its name. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here.

Are VCs really sitting on record amounts of cash waiting to be deployed into new startups? I wish. But if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. — Anna

Record levels, but…

A recent guest post on TechCrunch+ wondered whether “record levels of dry powder [will] trigger a delayed explosion of startup investment.” The question relied on a postulate: That venture capitalists have raised plenty of funding that remains to be deployed.

The idea that dry powder has reached record levels is commonly shared, and it is backed by data.

The mirage of dry powder by Anna Heim originally published on TechCrunch

Venture capitalists may control capital, but one currency that they’re always in search of is an elusive, evolving one: deal flow. Betting early on the next big startup is enough to cement the entire return of a fund (and then some) — and help that plucky investor make a name for themselves.

This reality makes Afore Capital’s latest product launch appear all the more benevolent. The venture firm, which just closed a $150 million fund in May 2022, is launching what it describes as a common application for pre-seed startup founders. Similar to the well-known undergraduate college admission application, a startup Common App would allow founders to seamlessly pitch multiple investors using the same basic form and pitch deck — all at once.

Here’s how it works: Afore Capital has an accelerator-like program, Afore Alpha, that offers a standard pre-seed deal to founders. The application includes questions about the founding team, pitch deck, recent wins, inspiration and, interestingly, whether the startup has applied to or interviewed at Y Combinator for the firm’s internal benchmarking process.

Those accepted land a $1 million lead investment via a $10 million post-money SAFE, a deal that Afore notes is five times more capital and five times the valuation that accelerators like YC and Techstars offer.

Now, the same founding teams that apply to Afore’s program will automatically have their application blasted to 30-some investors in the venture firm’s network. The cohort, which Afore dubs as pre-seed experts, includes Trail Run Capital’s Allison Barr Allen, The New Normal Fund’s Allison Pickens, Night Ventures’ Em Herrera and Cambrian Ventures’ Rex Salisbury.

Is it time for a Common App for startup founders? by Natasha Mascarenhas originally published on TechCrunch

Amazon is quietly piloting a new tier for its Prime membership in India, providing customers with access to popular benefits such as free two-day delivery and ad-supported Prime Video in standard definition at a lower price.

The new tier, called Prime Lite, is currently available to select customers at a discounted annual price of $12 (999 Indian rupees). This is a cost-effective alternative to the regular Prime membership, which is priced at $18 (1499 Indian rupees) per year, or $2.20 (179 Indian rupees) per month. [H/T OnlyTech]

Amazon’s Prime membership has been available in India since 2016. It was priced at $12 a year for some time, though the company increased its pricing to $18 in December 2021. In the U.S., the Prime subscription is available at $139 per year or $14.99 per month.

Amazon has listed the benefits of its Prime Lite membership on its Indian website and included the new tier in its terms and conditions page.

The new offering comes just weeks after Amazon launched Prime Gaming in India. The gaming-focused service is complementary to Amazon Prime and Prime Video subscribers.

The company did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.

Amazon quietly tests even cheaper Prime membership in India by Jagmeet Singh originally published on TechCrunch

After updating its iOS app to display both algorithmic and chronological timelines side-by-side, Twitter is rolling out this update to the web interface.

Earlier this week, the company renamed “Home” (algorithmic timeline) and “Latest” (chronological timeline) to “For You” and “Following”. The “For You” timeline now appears first in both the iOS app and the web.

While you have to swipe between these timelines on the phone, you have to click on the timeline tabs to switch between them on the web. The good part is that at least in the web version, Twitter seems to remember users’ choices. So even if a user closes the tab or the window and reopens Twitter, they will see whatever timeline you selected earlier.

Twitter said in its announcement that this view is coming to the Android app soon, too. Algorithmic timeline for everyone!

One advantage of the new web view is that if you use Twitter lists, the revamped interface makes it easier to jump from one pinned list to another. Earlier, the only way to access lists on the web was to through More > Lists.Quite tedious.

On Friday, third-party Twitter clients started experiencing massive issues with users of many apps being unable to access content or log into their accounts. Developers of these apps said that they tried to contact Twitter but didn’t hear back. At the time of writing the issue is still persistent.

Twitter brings its “For You” and “Following” dual-timeline view to the web by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

Sealed built a business around predicting energy use and getting homeowners to ditch fossil fuels. So, naturally, the company’s first acquisition is a startup that tracks energy on a granular level.

Sealed did not disclose the terms of the deal, but said in a statement that scooping up Burlington, Vermont-based InfiSense would help it “cut home energy waste.”

Headquartered in Manhattan, Sealed finances and oversees electrification upgrades, such as replacing oil or gas heaters with electric heat pumps and insulation. Ridding homes of fossil fuels can lower energy bills, cut household emissions and improve your health. You may have seen this topic in the news recently, because potential stove regulations are now the latest flashpoint in a culture war over clean energy.

To that point, InfiSense’s sensors and software monitor air quality in addition to energy use in buildings, and Sealed plans to share this sort of air-quality data with customers down the line.

Sealed is unique in covering installation and weatherization costs upfront. Instead, it charges a fixed fee based on the energy its machine learning algorithms predict homeowners will save over time. If Sealed underestimates a homes’ energy use, it eats the cost — hence the need to hone those predictions.

The “lifeblood of our company is our ability to predict people’s energy usage over time, and that relies on great access to data,” co-founder and CEO Lauren Salz said in a call with TechCrunch. Currently, Sealed’s algorithms rely on monthly energy data from utilities, but buying InfiSense will give it “access to a deeper level of data from customers,” Salz said.

Sealed plans to install InfiSense’s sensors in some of its customers’ homes, but Salz said it won’t require them. The data Sealed gathers will inform its predictions as well as enable it to offer curious customers an up-close look at their energy usage and air quality.

Sealed buys sensor startup InfiSense to fuel energy-saving services by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch

Last night, at an industry event hosted in San Francisco by this editor, venture capitalist Alfred Lin of Sequoia Capital sat down for a fireside conversation about the evolution of his storied investment firm, which has enjoyed a largely unblemished record of stunning success — a record since marred by its roughly $200 million investment in the crypto currency exchange FTX.

The investment, once a source of pride for the firm, has tarnished not Sequoia but also Lin, who led the deal on behalf of Sequoia, was the firm’s point of contact with CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for a year-and-a-half and who spoke thoughtfully yesterday about how he feels today about a bet gone so wrong.

Asked, for example, whether looking back, there were signs that Lin sees now that he missed earlier, he answered after a pause: “I thought [Bankman-Fried] was very smart . . . he answers questions very logically and very succinctly. Could we have spotted any tells? I don’t know. There’s what I know today and what I knew at the time. If I knew at the time, we wouldn’t have invested. So today, I think the thing that gets me to reassess is . . . it’s not that we made the investment. It’s the year-and-a-half working relationship afterward, and I still didn’t see it. And that is difficult.”

If it was particularly challenging for Lin given that just a year earlier, he topped Forbes’s annual Midas List, he didn’t say so. But he suggested that experience remains disturbing to him because Bankman-Fried seemed to seize on what the venture industry sees as one of its greatest strengths.

Explained Lin, it’s “a trust business. And yes, we need to trust and verify, and we try to verify what we can. But we start from a position of trust, because if we don’t trust the founders that we work with, why would you ever invest in them?”

Lin had a lot more to say about FTX, including whether he has sympathy for Bankman-Fried. He defended Sequoia’s decision to manage its positions in its portfolio companies well past the point that they go public.

Lin also confirmed during the event that in a gesture to its limited partners, Sequoia last year reduced its management fees on two funds that it rolled out a year ago — a $950 million ecosystem fund that it uses to back other managers’ funds and a $600 million crypto fund. Lin said that rather than charge its backers on committed capital, which is standard in the industry, it is charging them management fees on their committed capital alone. (On that front, he said that just 10% of the crypto fund has been deployed, adding that Sequoia remains “long-term optimistic” about crypto.)

Lastly, Lin shared his views regarding how generative AI — one of the buzziest areas of interest for the venture industry right now — is changing the opportunity for both VCs and investors.

Full video of the conversation follows.

Sequoia Capital’s Alfred Lin in his first public interview since the implosion of FTX (video) by Connie Loizos originally published on TechCrunch

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PST, subscribe here.

The team who went to CES is back at their desks. If you missed the barrage of stories — or simply couldn’t stay on top of them — Brian wrote up an amazing CES 2023 debrief. Give that a skim, and you’ll be safe in the knowledge that you didn’t miss anything major as you grab your favorite easy chair and a book to settle in for the weekend. — Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

Slasher movie, but IRL: Tesla is reducing its prices again, this time for U.S. buyers, by as much as 20%, Kirsten reports. This new lower base, which dips below $55,000, “is important because it allows buyers to qualify for the $7,500 federal tax incentive,” she writes.
Claws out: Fintech startup Mayfair debuted its high-yield APR for businesses, buoyed by $10 million in funding from investors like Tiger Global. Mary Ann has more on how the company is able to offer such a high interest rate.
If A then B: Manish writes about Google warning India that if its antitrust ruling is allowed to stand, it will pose a threat to national security and cause Android device prices to rise in the region.

Startups and VC

It seems like SPACs aren’t completely dead yet, as World View, a company developing stratospheric balloons for Earth observation and tourism, is heading to the public markets, Aria reports. The company announced Friday that it would merge with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Leo Holdings Corp. II in a deal worth $350 million, as it seeks to build out what it calls “the stratospheric economy.”

And we have five more for you:

E Ink leaves monochrome behind: Harri writes that E Ink’s latest color displays have her dreaming of electronic paper magazines.
Twitter rival raises moneys: Twitter rival T2 raises its first outside funding — $1.1 million from a group of high-profile angels, reports Ingrid.
Layoffs in crypto: Manish reports that Crypto.com cuts 20% of jobs amid “unforeseeable” industry events.
Layoffs in crime reporting: Amanda reports that crime reporting app Citizen lays off 33 employees.
Layoffs in fintech: Jagmeet reports that Greenlight, a kids-focused fintech startup, lays off 104 employees to optimize expenses.

You’re not going to grow into your 2021 valuation

Many, if not most, of the founders who are attached to their 2021 valuations are living in a fantasy, according to Jeremy Abelson and Jacob Sonnenberg of Irving Investors.

For this TC+ post, they worked out “the simple math behind how long it will take companies to price their IPO at a flat round to their previous 2021 valuations.”

Companies with 75% YoY growth “can entertain the discussion,” but “if you are growing sub 30%, there is a strong chance that growing into your 2021 valuation is impossible.”

Three more from the TC+ team:

The right funds, the right way: Carlos Antequera shares 4 tips to find the funding that fits your business.
Much strategery: Becca asks whether it makes sense to raise a structured round over taking a valuation cut?
Crypto chaos continues: Crypto in for a “choppy year” of slow capital deployment, investors share with Jacquelyn.

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!

Big Tech Inc.

Are you scooting around Paris right now? Well, this could be your last time. Romain has a lengthy look at how scooters in Paris are at a crossroads as the city ponders whether to put the brakes on renewing contracts with three companies. As Michael Scott said, “Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy one.”

Meanwhile, Sarah and Kirsten paired up on a scoop that Tokyo-based news aggregator SmartNews laid off 40% of staff in the U.S. and China.

And we have five more for you:

The tweet is on: Ivan writes that Twitter users are reporting that third-party apps on the site are facing issues. Meanwhile, over at Twitter alternative Mastodon, Medium launches its own community. Sarah has more.
A little bit of history repeating: Devin writes that President Biden’s call to “unite against big tech abuses” sounds kinda familiar.
Layoffs in robotics: Alphabet’s robotics division is letting people go, Brian reports.
If you like clickety-clack on your keyboard: Frederic reports that Keychron gets it right with its Q10 Alice-style keyboard.
Do you hear what I hear?: VALL-E’s quickie voice deepfakes should worry you, Devin writes.

Daily Crunch: 2 Tesla models qualify for EV tax credits after company marks prices down by 20% by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

Somewhere hidden amid the thousands of flashy displays and exhibits at CES 2023 in Las Vegas was the newly upgraded 2023 Bugatti electric scooter.

TechCrunch never saw it. Did anyone?

Luckily, details and images of the 2023 model, a 10% larger, more premium electric scooter, have now been released into the world.

Bugatti, through a partnership with tech accessory company Bytech, launched a $1,200 electric scooter in 2022. The two companies paired up again for a second-generation scooter that is beefier, equipped with new features and colors, and has larger “self-repairing” tires.

The 2023 scooter is 10% larger than its predecessor and is equipped with an 36-volt/15.6Ah battery and an electric motor with a maximum output of 1,000 watts, according to the companies. That battery and motor combo allows the scooter to handle up to an 18-degree incline, max speed of 22 miles per hour and can cover 35 miles on a single charge, according to the company. (That’s up from the 22-mile range in the previous model).

No word yet on the pricing for this bigger second-generation model. Perhaps, this is one of those “if you have to ask” moments.)

The overall expanded size extends to a larger deck area for standing and a 10-inch tire (the previous one was 9 inches) with a pneumatic tubeless design that comes with a built-in glue repair mechanism that repairs potential tire punctures. (The technology sounds a lot like tubeless tires used in bicycles. The tires can be filled with a sealant that is released and coats the interior if there is a puncture.)

The new Bugatti scooter now has passcode protection, a touchscreen that displays speed, rider mode, battery life and headlight operations. The scooter is equipped with leather handle grips and comes in three colors, including a new yellow and black design that gives homage to Bugatti founder Ettore Bugatti (apparently his favorite color combo) and the W16 Mistral roadster, which has a similar color scheme.

At the end of those leather handles are two small LED lights. For added safety and visibility, the turn signals are synchronized and displayed on the accompanying MIPS certified helmet.

Bugatti’s new electric scooter is bigger with W16 Mistral vibes by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch

Investment giant BlackRock announced Friday it is taking a minority stake in, and leading a financing round for, venture-backed fintech startup Human Interest.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Human Interest’s digital retirement benefits platform allows users “to launch a retirement plan in minutes and put it on autopilot,” according to the company. It also touts that it has eliminated all 401(k) transaction fees. The startup told TechCrunch previously that it works with “every kind of SMB” — from tech startups to law offices, to dentists to dog walkers, to manufacturing firms, to social justice nonprofits.

The San Francisco–based company has raised a total of $336.7 million in funding since it was founded by Paul Sawaya and Roger Lee in 2015. The Rise Fund, TPG’s global impact investing platform, led a $200 million round for Human Interest in August 2021 that propelled it to unicorn status. Other backers include SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Crosslink Capital, NewView Capital, Glynn Capital, U.S. Venture Partners, Wing Venture Capital, Uncork Capital, Slow Capital and Susa Ventures, among others. Since the initial closing of that round, Human Interest said in a blog post that it has seen has over 400% growth in the number of customers and revenue. At the time of that raise, execs told TechCrunch that the company was targeting a traditional IPO sometime in 2023, hoping to have “$200 million+ in run-rate revenue before going public.” In August of 2021, it was at “tens of millions of run-rate revenue, and adding millions of new revenue each month, according to execs.

“BlackRock has an amazing team focused on providing high-quality retirement saving and investment options. We are excited to work with BlackRock to find ways to bring retirement within reach of millions of additional workers in the coming years,” said Jeff Schneble, CEO of Human Interest, in a written statement.

“We look forward to helping Human Interest close the access gap,” said Anne Ackerley, head of BlackRock’s Retirement Group, in a statement.

Want more fintech news in your inbox? Sign up here.

BlackRock acquires minority stake in SMB 401(k) provider Human Interest by Mary Ann Azevedo originally published on TechCrunch