To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s greatest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3:00 p.m. PST, Subscribe here.
Hello everyone and welcome back to Daily Crunch on December 28th, 2021!
I hope you all stay dry, warm, and safe as we near the end of another strange year. I haven’t heard from Alex how his vacation is going which hopefully means he’s having a great time and Playing way too much Crusader Kings III.
Alex should be back next week. In the meantime, I’m trying to summarize the top stories from the last day or so half as well.
The TechCrunch Top 3
- WTF is .xyz ?: Did you notice the sudden surge of “.xyz” domains in the wild? Wondering why? Anita Ramaswamy has a great overview of the history of .xyz, its growing role in the web3 world and how Google / Alphabet might have started the trend.
- Black Girls Code CEO suspended: What’s up at Black Girls Code? Why was Kimberly Bryant, the nonprofit’s CEO and co-founder, suddenly suspended? Natasha Mascaren has spoken to many stakeholders to get answers.
- ‘The Matrix: Resurrections’ is a bad movie, but …: I still haven’t seen the new “Matrix” (I have a toddler walking around so it’s rare to see a movie without songs and / or animated dogs) so I can’t vouch for Devin’s headline, but I know Appreciate it that he found a diamond (the movie’s view of our relationship with tech) in what he otherwise thinks is gross (everything else.) spoiler warnings, btw.
Startups / VC
- Where New Zealand startups want to win: The startup scene in New Zealand is exploding – literally. Where else could New Zealand win besides missiles? Rebecca Bellan spoke to investors in the area and was able to keep track of four industries.
- Religious apps are attracting investors’ attention: I will never cease to be amazed at Connie Loizos’ ability to spot trends that I would never have noticed. This time around, it’s a huge surge in investment in belief-centric apps – from $ 6.1 million in 2016 to $ 175 million this year. Connie sat down with the founder of one of these apps (Hallow) to gain insight into the landscape.
How to get to the “have” of SaaS. heard
Credit: Andy Roberts (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Software as a Service has leveled the playing field for startups for the past decade, but when it comes to venture capital, the winners still won all of them.
Sean Fanning, a VP of OpenView’s investment team, says companies with outstanding growth often take the bulk of VC investments, leaving the underperforming companies to compete for leftovers.
In a detailed article Fanning shares three tactics used by SaaS companies with an attractive Enterprise Value-Revenue (EV / R) multiple:
Continuous execution against large and growing market opportunities.
Use of a business model that enables rapid growth (ie product-oriented growth).
Strong unit economy that supports high free cash flow margins in the long term.
(TechCrunch + is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams move forward. Here you can sign up.)
Big Tech Inc.
- Even more companies are leaving the personal CES: Large companies continue to drop out of the Consumer Electronics Show due to COVID concerns. Following announcements from Intel, T-Mobile, Google, Amazon, Twitter, and others last week, the latest are AMD, OnePlus, MSI, and Procter and Gamble.
- Dutch supervisory authorities are calling for changes in the App Store: It seems like South Korea has started something global with its App Store legislation back in august. The Netherlands is the latest country to tell Apple to change its in-app purchase requirements – although in this case, oddly enough, they focus specifically on dating apps?
TechCrunch experts
Credit: SEAN GLADWELL / Getty Images
TechCrunch wants you to recommend software consultants who have experience in UI / UX, website development, mobile development, and more! If you are a software consultant, pass this opinion poll together with your customers; We’d like to know why they enjoyed working with you so much.
