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Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch on December 1st, 2021! Yes, we made it to the last inning of the year, which means the news cycle is going to slow down and we all have some time off? To the right? Probably not, but in alternative good news, Brian Heater’s robotics newsletter is coming out tomorrow. It’s called Actuator and it will kick back as much as possible. Grab it here! -Alex
Ariane Cornell from PS Blue Origin is coming to TC Sessions: Space 2021!
The TechCrunch Top 3
- China can ban foreign IPOs: Big news from a leading startup market as coverage suggests the Chinese government may block a method by which domestic tech companies are listed on overseas exchanges. Alibaba and others have deployed the tech that opens the door to further economic and technological decoupling between China and the rest of the world.
- Match agrees with Tinder co-founders: Allegations that “IAC and its then-subsidiary Match Group manipulated financial data” to underestimate Tinder as it incorporated into the larger company were settled at more than $ 400 million. That’s a real bucket of ducks.
- Taxpayers’ money to support Chinese surveillance? In a critical report, TechCrunch’s Zack Whittaker writes that “at least three US federal agencies, including the military, have purchased Chinese-made video surveillance equipment that the federal government banned its use.” Not good!
Startups / VC
Before we dive into a bevy of discreet startup news, another 3D printing company is going public! Via a SPAC! This time it’s Essentium from Austin. Keep in mind that Desktop Metal previously went public through a SPAC. The stock traded as high as $ 34.94. It’s worth $ 6.08 per share today.
- From coaching to SaaS: Coaching corporate employees is big business, but at its core it remains a human game. That means modest margins. Sounding Board is transitioning from the coaching world to the coaching software industry, which helped it win a Series B worth $ 30 million. Jazz Venture Partners led the way, a company I’d never heard of before.
- Butter wants to cut the barrel: To avoid making an extensive butter / churn joke that would surely be trimmed before this newsletter reaches you, suffice it to say Butter, a startup, is in the anti-churn game. Yes, butter doesn’t want you to have to stir all by yourself. See? Impossible to avoid. Regardless, the company just added $ 7 million to its accounts to help companies avoid lost revenue due to payment problems.
- What is AI good for? A lot, it turns out. Our own Devin Coldewey has notes on how AI shows promising signs as a solution to both protein production and math. Startups, watch out!
- Speaking of AI, Harrison.ai from Sydney has raised $ 129 million (AUD) for his work on building medical technology with artificial intelligence.
- Goalsetter takes on the financial education of young people: To be clear, most people are bad with money. This is for a number of reasons, including the simple fact that financial literacy in the US is weak at best. The children-oriented financial platform Goalsetter wants to work on this topic by linking children’s access to allowances and the like to learning about money.
- Republic buys Seedrs: Republic supports trading in private market stocks in the United States. Seedrs helped UK companies with crowdfunding equity rounds. Thanks to a $ 100 million deal, the American company will now own the European group.
- Would you like a Gras credit card? Buying legal cannabis is an ordeal in the United States, thanks to historically racist laws and neo-Puritan forces. Separately, SuperNet has developed a credit card that works for and with pharmacies. A small step, but a welcome one.
- Nuro + 7/11 = autonomous deliveries in California: Yes, another week, another piece of news about a small self-drive service that comes out. While I’m not sure if Slurpee Delivery is the real killer app for autonomous delivery, I wouldn’t try this for any reason other than promoting more of it.
- And if you need more, the equity crew recently looked at founder, CEO status and when a company could outgrow its progenitor as chief executive.
How to Implement a Reinforced Marketing Strategy
Photo credits: AaronAmat (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Every blog post, tweet, and Instagram story is an opportunity to explain to customers (and the board of directors) how the company is creating value or staying one step ahead of the competition.
But quality will always beat quantity when it comes to content marketing; The Googlebot may be hungry for new links, but prospects demand expertise and insight.
“Marketers need a new action plan that puts creativity over quantity, audience over engine, and connectivity as the top priority,” says Lindsay Tjepkema, CEO of the audio and video content marketing platform Casted.
(TechCrunch + is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams move forward. You can sign up here.)
Big Tech Inc.
Today is the day! Yes, it’s Spotify Unwrapped 2021, which means we spent the afternoon posting on Twitter all about our excellent music tastes. TechCrunch offers more about the innovations here.
And yes, even more from Amazon:
TechCrunch experts
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TechCrunch wants you to recommend growth marketers who have expertise in SEO, social media, content writing, and more! If you’re a growth marketer, share this survey with your customers. We’d like to know why they enjoyed working with you so much.
If you’re curious about how these surveys affect our reporting, read this article on TechCrunch + by Marjorie Radlo-Zandi, “4 Key Strategies for Success in International Expansion”.
