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About a decade ago, Donghwan Kim helped his cousin, a ceramist, look for sales channels, like flea markets, to sell his ceramics. But they had a hard time locating a suitable platform, so after about a year, Kim decided to create a marketplace for handmade goods himself in South Korea called Backpackr.

Today, Backpackr, which operates handmade marketplace calledidus, has raised a $16 million (20 billion won) extension to its Series C financing, two-and-a-half years after its first Series C, which was $24 million (about 30 billion won).

The startup is now valued at approximately $240.1 million post-money, according to sources familiar with the situation. Backpackr said it has raised a total of $56.8 million since its 2012 inception but declined to disclose its valuation. Returning investor Altos Ventures led the extension along with Stone Bridge and new investors Axiom Asia and Vanderbilt University.

The new capital will help Backpackr make a foray into Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines, in the second quarter of this year with an ambition to become the Etsy of Asia, Kim said in an interview with TechCrunch. Backpackr also plans to use the proceeds to invest in R&D to advance its artificial intelligence–powered search and recommendation system, as well as hire additional employees.

The startup intends to sell products made in South Korea overseas and bring handmade products made in Southeast Asia to South Korea via its platform. Other countries like Japan and the U.S. are on its radar for the following destinations, according to Kim. Backpackr will have to compete with other handmade marketplaces in Asia like Japan-based Minne and Creema, Taiwan-based Pinkoi and Singapore-headquartered Carousell. The market size of Asia’s handmade products is projected to reach $307.8 billion in 2027, up from $149 billion in 2021.

The company not only has idus as a primary business but also operates a crowdfunding platform called Tumblbug which it acquired in 2020. Backpackr also has launched a Patreon-like creator subscription service, Steadio, to connect artists with their fans, Kim said. Backpackr’s model is to aim for a one-stop-shop platform for its creators, which is the company’s key differentiator, Kim pointed out.

“We want to make it a one-stop-shop platform for creators, letting our users (creators) open their own internet boutiques selling their craftworks, including handicrafts and anything homemade like bakery, soap, candles, jewelry, fragrances, bags, furniture, home decor and art, help them crowdfund for their products and connect the creators with fans to offer online or offline classes,” Kim told TechCrunch.

Backpackr, which had about 60,000 creators as of November last year, says it surpassed $804 million in gross merchandise volume in November and passed a break-even point in the second half of last year, though it still posted loss-making in the fiscal year of 2022. The outfit expects to generate profits this year, Kim said.

Korean handmade goods marketplace Backpackr gears up to expand into Southeast Asia by Kate Park originally published on TechCrunch

Hello and welcome back to Max Q! We’re hitting the ground running at TC HQ, and it seems the space industry is, too — there was a lot of news, which means a lot to get to in this issue! Read on for more.

In this issue:

A catch-up with Impulse Space
SpaceX kicks off 2023 launch with Transporter-6
News from Momentus, the Indian Space Research Organization and more

Impulse Space will hitch a ride on SpaceX’s Transporter-9 for first mission later this year

In-space transportation startupImpulse Spacewill head to orbit aboard a SpaceX rideshare mission later this year, as it seeks to prove out its orbital maneuvering and servicing technology for the first time.

While there’s always major pressure before an inaugural demonstration, there will likely be more eyes on Impulse’s mission than usual. That’s not least because the startup is headed by Tom Mueller, SpaceX’s former head of propulsion, a formidable engineer who led the development of the Merlin engine that powers the Falcon 9 rocket — the very rocket Impulse will use to reach space.

Impulse will first send its first orbital service vehicle to space to test its propulsion, payload delivery and hosting, software, communications and maneuvering capabilities. That spacecraft, called Mira, will hitch a ride on SpaceX’s Transporter-9 rideshare mission in the fourth quarter of this year, the company announced today.

Startups go to space for the first time on SpaceX’s Transporter-6 mission

SpaceX launched more than 100 payloads to orbit on a Falcon 9 last Tuesday, the sixth mission of its small-sat rideshare program. But while the rocket company is now an old hand at launches — SpaceX just completed a record year with 61 launches in 2022 alone — for a handful of space startups, Transporter-6 marked a milestone.

Those startups includeLauncher, which is conducting its first space tug mission;Magdrive, which is providing an inaugural in-orbit tech demonstration; andEpic Aerospace, which also launched a space tug for the first time. Transporter-6 also carried satellites for Planet Labs and Spire Global, as well as other payloads for scientific, research and commercial customers.

More news from TC and beyond

Blue Originmay have left up a job description for a secret space tug project for a little too long… Ars Technica got wind. (Ars Technica)
Intuitive Machineswill fly a rover for Japan-based robotics company Dymon on its second mission to the moon. The Yaoki rover will head to the lunar south pole on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander sometime in the latter half of this year. (Intuitive Machines)
Iridium is teaming up with Qualcomm to bring satellite connectivity to several new smartphones running Android this year. (The Washington Post)
ispace’sHAKUTO-R Mission 1 lunar lander successfully executed its second orbital controlmaneuver, keeping it on track to reach the moon sometime this spring. (ispace)
John Deereis finalizing a satellite partner, as the agriculture machinery company looks to create its geospatial data product for farmers. (CNBC)
Microsoftand theIndian Space Research Organizationhave signed an MOU to give Indian space startups free access to the technology behemoth’s cloud tools. (TechCrunch)
NorthStar Earth and Spaceclosed a $35 million Series C for its space-based space situational awareness constellation. The round was led by Cartesian. (NorthStar)
SpaceXis raising $750 million at a $137 billion valuation, with Andreessen Horowitz likely leading the round, according to emails. (CNBC)
Virgin Orbitis looking at a launch date as soon as January 9 for its inaugural mission from the United Kingdom (and the U.K.’s first space flight, ever). (SpaceNews)
Voyager Spacelanded a new partner for its private space station, Starlab: Airbus Defense and Space.Airbus “will provide technical design support and expertise” for the space station, which Voyager says will launch in 2028. (Voyager)

Max Q is brought to you by me, Aria Alamalhodaei. If you enjoy reading Max Q, consider forwarding it to a friend.

Max Q: Hitting the ground running by Aria Alamalhodaei 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.

Welcome to the beginning of the week. My thumb got smashed in my standup waffle iron while I was cleaning it this morning, so it can only get better from there, right? Anyway, here’s what’s in store for today. — Christine

The TechCrunch Top 3

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…: Vista Equity Partners has plans to take Duck Creek Technologies private. The private equity firm announced its plan to acquire the insurance software company for $2.6 billion. Paul has more.
This is a Releaf: Nigerian agritech Releaf bagged $3.3 million in additional capital as it launches new technology for food processing, starting with oil palm, Tage reports.
The Superscript was on the wall: London-based Superscript, a small business insurance provider, raised $54 million amid a particularly hard year for the sector, Paul writes.

Startups and VC

Attention has our attention. The company raised $3.1 million to continue developing its technology, which combines artificial intelligence with natural language processing to help sales reps sell faster by automatically filling in customer relationship management forms and drafting follow-up emails, Catherine writes.

Here’s four more for you:

Git smart: XetHub raises $7.5 million for its Git-based data collaboration platform, Frederic reports.
Footloose and fancy free: TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelioare building a business empire and will see the fruits of their labor in May when their new footwear line launches, Sarah reports.
Raising big bucks: Venture capital deployment has slowed down, and now there is talk that the same might happen for VC funds. However, if anyone can raise additional money, it’s perhaps Khosla Ventures, which I wrote announced its intent to raise nearly $3 billion across three new funds.
“Checkout” this company’s strategy: FLIK secured $1.1 million in pre-seed funding to provide a unified checkout solution so that sellers in Southeast Asia can have more control over data, Catherine reports.

5 cloud trends to track in 2023

Despite the downturn, Gartner estimates that global IT spending will reach $4.6 trillion this year, a year-over-year increase of 5.1%.

Josh Berman, president of C2C Global, has identified five trends that cloud technology startups should keep in mind as they create product, fundraising and hiring plans for the new year.

“The promise of these technologies is too significant to ignore,” writes Berman.

Two more from the TC+ team:

Capital cometh: Mary Ann talked to five companies that bootstrapped their way to big businesses before answering the VC knock at the door.
You are what you eat: “If you’ve been seeing a slew of new alternative meat and animal products popping up in your grocery store, Lisa Feria is at least partially to thank,” said Tim in his interview with the plant-based-foods investor on how she remains bullish on this sector.

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.

Lauren takes us streaming service by streaming service to show us what each has up its sleeve in 2023. However, if you’re trying to get Disney+ Basic on Roku, you may have to wait a little longer.

And we have five more for you:

Apple has been busy: Its mixed-reality headset could arrive this year, Romain reports. Meanwhile, Lauren writes about Apple Maps teaming up with parking app SpotHero to give users access to 8,000 parking options, and Aisha tells us why iOS 17 may have fewer major changes than initially planned.
Row, row, row your boat, gently down the anime stream: Lauren details the anime streaming services you need to try in 2023.
Truck porn: Stellantis has us drooling over all of the flashy features stuffed into the Ram 1500 Revolution EV truck. Kirsten has more.
Up, up, and away: Get ready to see Virgin Orbit attempt the first orbital launch from British soil, Devin reports.
Q&A: Virginia senator Mark Warner spoke to Brian about cybersecurity, Musk’s Twitter and legislating killer robots.

Daily Crunch: In an all-cash transaction, private equity firm buys insurtech startup Duck Creek for $2.6B by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

I can’t get it out of my head: A honkingly big Caterpillar sign that read, “JOIN US AS WE BUILD A BETTER WORLD.” The digital recruitment billboard at CES 2023 followed promos for an autonomous compactor and excavator, and proceeded another callout: “CHECK OUT OUR BIG AUTONOMOUS TRUCK .”

I did, and boy was it ever.

A “better world” could mean anything in corporate-speak, but in this case, the company is talking specifically about sustainability — and using aspirational language to distance itself from a fossil-fueled role in carving up the earth. Like Caterpillar, many of the exhibitors I saw as I walked the tech-show floor seemed to be rinsing their brands via earthly taglines, stock photos of crops and sunbeams, plastic trees and/or AstroTurf. I find this sort of thing especially distracting now that climate is my main beat, and that’s unfortunate, because there was still lots of intriguing climate (and adjacent) tech on display this year, tucked in among the vague evocations of nature.

When I arrived in Vegas my colleague Ingrid asked if the show would feature mostly adaptive tech (for coping with the consequences of climate change) or mitigative tech (for direct emission cuts). I saw a mix of both, but much of what caught my attention skewed toward adaption. And to that end, this year CES practically overflowed with portable batteries and solar gear for campers and preppers alike. Really, there was no escape.

Highlights included EcoFlow’s “whole-home” backup power box and Jackery’s new solar generator, but I’m sure it’s not a leap to say we should expect more gear like this in the coming years — as more people cope with climate anxiety and extreme weather events alike.

There was a ton of conservation-geared tech, too. Moen debuted a smart sprinkler with soil sensors and Rachio announced a $100 smart hose timer, both aiming to help lawn-havers save water and lower their bills.

For farmers, Meropy showed off its crop-watching robot, which rolls over fields on legs that look like giant hairbrush bristles. “The idea is to provide information to farmers to help them reduce the amount of chemicals they put on the plots,” co-founder and CEO William Guitton said in an interview with TechCrunch. Meropy’s bots weigh 15 kg (about 33 pounds) and pack cameras that “scan over and under the foliage,” Guitton said.

Along similar lines, John Deere showcased farming equipment that’s also supposed to reduce fertilizer use. Plus, Samsung announced washing machine tech that’s intended to save energy and halve microplastic pollution, while AMD highlighted energy efficiency gains in its new chips.

As for emissions mitigation, Schneider Electric made some waves with a smart-home system that’s centered around solar and energy storage. Schneider executive Jaser Faruq told TechCrunch he hopes the firm’s app will offer a “much more interesting, fulfilling experience for customers to feel like they’re in control of their power.” Ideally, the system will help users conserve energy and reduce their reliance on fossil fuel-powered grids, Faruq added. Some of the company’s energy-storage tech reminded me a lot of Tesla’s, which is no coincidence; Faruq previously worked in Tesla’s power storage and solar energy division.

No Traffic, a company that automates and surveils intersections, also caught my eye. When I asked if its name represented a goal or was just aspirational, co-founder and CEO Tal Kreisler told me it originally started as “kind of a joke,” because when people ask how long it takes to travel through perpetually busy areas — like from San Francisco to Palo Alto — you might sarcastically say, ‘with no traffic, it should take like 20 minutes.’”

Kreisler said the company’s goal is to smarten up intersections so municipalities can prioritize whatever they want — be it cars, buses, micromobility or pedestrians. That includes timing lights to reduce traffic, so ideally fewer cars are left idling on city streets, but really No Traffic’s scope is broader than its name implies.

If you count electric cars and e-bikes as mitigative climate tech (as I typically do), then read my editor Kirsten’s story on how electric-vehicle tech stole the show this year. The eye-catching announcements included Mercedes-Benz’s plan for a “global” EV charging network as well as the debut of Icoma’s bizarre suitcase motorcycle. I can’t speak to the need for transforming e-bikes with screens, but it’s nice to see automakers throw more weight behind EV charging infrastructure, which is burdened by unreliable chargers and environmental racism.

Unfortunately, Mercedes plans to focus on cities, so it probably won’t help quench rural America’s charging deserts.

And though they aren’t brand-new, I enjoyed the colorful shields on Swedish brand Cake’s Makka Prism e-bikes. Aren’t they kind of cute?

How companies at CES are taking on climate change (or pretending to) by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch

The Federal Communications Commission regulate lots of industries and practices relating to telecommunications and the internet, but it is now cementing its role as a space regulator by voting to create a brand new bureau specializing in the topic.

Bureaus are the divisions of the agency that handle different areas of industry: media, wireless, consumer, etc, as well as enforcement and the like. They’re full of specialists who research and produce the rules and advisories promulgated by the FCC.

The newly minted Space Bureau will handle all business relating to satellite approval, orbital communications, and space debris, among other things. These are things the agency was already doing, but now they’ll have a new, more effective organization to do them in.

“The satellite industry is growing at a record pace, but here on the ground our regulatory frameworks for licensing have not kept up. We’re working to change that,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement.

The current International Bureau is being cannibalized to form it, but it sounds like more of an upgrade than a dissolution. Although the FCC voted unanimously today to form the new bureau, it will need additional approvals from Congress and some other formalities before it is final, but you can bet that they’re already shifting the desks around and powering up new chat channels.

Here’s how the FCC put it in their order:

Under this reorganization, the Space Bureau will promote a competitive and innovative global telecommunications marketplace via space services. The Space Bureau will do so by undertaking policy analysis and rulemakings as well as authorizing satellite systems for the purpose of facilitating the deployment of satellite services, streamlining regulatory processes and maximizing flexibility for operators to meet customer needs, and fostering the efficient use of spectrum and orbital resources. The Space Bureau will also serve as a focal point for coordination with other U.S. government agencies on matters of space policy and governance, and will support the Office of International Affairs for meetings with other countries, international organizations and foreign government officials that involve space policy matters.

It may seem a little strange that the FCC regulates space, but it actually makes a lot of sense. The agency is in charge of regulating transmissions, especially inter-state ones (which makes it the natural regulator for internet stuff), and satellites transmit a lot of data. In fact with hundreds or thousands more going up every year they’re probably one of the fastest-growing sources of data transmissions.

While the likes of the FAA, NASA, and the Pentagon have their fingers in this pie as well, when it comes to making sure orbital platforms don’t interfere with each other or surface communications, the FCC is the right tool for the job. (Though how far that job extends is an open question.)

But until recently space was a pretty small niche in their work. Now they’re fielding satellite approval applications from hundreds of companies and research centers, administrating spectrum for networks of comsats thousands stong, and trying to make sure all this wireless traffic doesn’t drown out anything important. Then there’s the whole space debris thing, which is another story. But also important.

At any rate it makes perfect sense for the FCC to build out a space-focused bureau that, as part of its work, negotiates and cooperates with other countries — the old International Bureau’s job. We’ll hear more about

FCC moves to form Space Bureau as its role in regulating orbit intensifies by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch

YouTube will begin sharing ad revenue with Shorts creators on February 1, the company revealed on Monday. To prepare for the upcoming change, YouTube is starting to roll out new terms for all creators in the YouTube Partner Program. Creators need to accept the new terms by July 10 to remain in the program.

The major change to YouTube’s Partner Program will allow creators to earn money from ads that are viewed between videos in the Shorts Feed. Although the new revenue sharing model will replace the YouTube Shorts Fund, the company says it expects the majority of its Shorts Fund recipients to earn more with the new Shorts revenue sharing model. As previously announced, creators can apply to the program if they meet a new Shorts-specific threshold of 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views over 90 days.

As part of the new terms, creators need to accept specific monetization modules. The first module is called the “Watch Page Monetization Module” and allows creators to earn money from ads served on their long-form videos and YouTube Premium. The next module is called the “Shorts Monetization Module” and lets you earn money from ads that play between Shorts in the Shorts Feed and YouTube Premium. The last module is called the “Commerce Product Addendum” and is for features like Channel Memberships and Supers.

YouTube recommends that creators accept all of the modules to unlock their full earning potential on the platform. Creators that make Shorts and have accepted the new Shorts Monetization Module will become eligible for Shorts ads revenue sharing on their Shorts views starting next month.

As for how exactly the Shorts revenue sharing will work, it’s a bit complex due to music licensing. Each month, revenue from the ads appearing between Shorts will be added together and used to reward monetizing Shorts creators and cover the costs of music licensing. A portion of the total revenue will be allocated to the creator pool based on views and music usage across all watched Shorts. If a creator uploads a Short without music, all of the revenue associated with its views goes toward the creator pool. If a creator uploads a Short with music, the revenue based on its views will be split among the Creator Pool and music partners based on the number of tracks used.

Next, the creator pool is allocated to creators. YouTube explains that it will allocate revenue to monetizing Shorts creators based on their share of total Shorts views in the Creator Pool. If a creator got 5% eligible views out of all Shorts uploaded by monetizing creators, they will then be allocated 5% of the revenue in the creator pool. Creators will keep 45% of their allocated Shorts revenue. For instance, if a creator is allocated $1,000 from the creator pool, they will be paid $450.

It’s worth noting that non-original Shorts are not eligible for revenue sharing. Non-original Shorts are those that include unedited clips from movies or TV shows, re-uploaded content from other creators on YouTube or other platform, or compilations with no original content added. Shorts that receive artificial or fake views, such as from automated clicks or scroll bots, are also ineligible for revenue sharing.

With these upcoming changes, YouTube Shorts is poised to becomeTikTok’s biggest competitor. If creators can make more money via YouTube Shorts than on TikTok, they’re incentivized to make original content for the YouTube platform. No short-form video platform has quite figured out how to share ad revenue up until now, which gives Shorts a notable leg up on the competition.

YouTube rolls out new Partner Program terms as Shorts revenue sharing begins on February 1 by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch

If there’s anything Stardew Valley fans want, it’s more Stardew — and that’s now the case for anyone playing the cozy life sim on iOS or Android.

The game is available on just about every platform out there (personally I play it on the Nintendo Switch, which is perfect) but Stardew’s mobile fans were left waiting for a major content update that hit consoles back in 2021. Over the weekend, Stardew Valley patch 1.5 rolled out for the game’s Android and iOS ports, bringing a ton of new stuff to do with it.

The update is no small thing. If you haven’t played yet, fair warning that there are probably a few spoilers in here if you like to discover the quaint game world’s secrets organically.

Patch 1.5 adds a lot, but some of the most notable additions are a new beach farm layout, a slew of new NPCs and enemies, ostriches (because ostriches), and a whole new location — Ginger Island. The full list of new 1.5 content can be found here, but why spoil it for yourself?

This last content push is likely it for the game, which has sold more than 20 million copies since launching in 2016. Stardew Valley’s creator Eric Barone is already at work on Haunted Chocolatier, his next hit indie game to-be. There’s no expected release date yet, but Barone started working on the game back in 2020, so a launch in late 2023 or some time in 2024 might not be off the table.

Something interesting that sets Stardew’s success apart from a lot of other hit games is that its hype has only snowballed over the years: In 2022, years after its launch, the game was selling faster than it did closer to its debut. That’s likely due to the massive amount of word-of-mouth love out there for Stardew’s charming world and the impressive depth it offers for a game that’s ostensibly a farming sim.

Stardew Valley’s big update is now available for iOS and Android by Taylor Hatmaker originally published on TechCrunch