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1. Another high-flying, heavily funded AR headset startup is shutting down

In an email obtained by TechCrunch, Daqri — which built enterprise-grade AR headsets — told its customers that it’s pursuing an asset sale and will be shutting down its cloud and smart-glasses hardware platforms by the end of September.

Daqri is the latest heavily funded, enterprise-focused augmented reality startup to struggle or shut down recently, with Osterhout Design Group unloading its AR glasses patents earlier this year and Meta selling its assets after it ran out of cash.

2. Apple introduces a ‘grace period’ for lapsed App Store subscriptions

Previously, any lapse in payment could cut off the customer from an app’s subscription-based features. Now, Apple says developers will have the option to offer a “grace period,” giving Apple more time to collect payment.

3. SmileDirectClub makes its debut on the public market

Teeth-straightening company SmileDirectClub rang the opening bell at Nasdaq yesterday, marking its first day of trading as a public company.

4. Element AI raises $151M on a $600-700M valuation to help companies build and run AI solutions

Element AI has built an artificial intelligence systems integrator of sorts, designed to help other companies develop and implement AI solutions.

5. Walmart’s Vudu adds Family Play feature so viewers can skip sex, violence and substance abuse

Vudu viewers can turn filters on and off for sex/nudity, violence, substance abuse and language. In the first three instances, Vudu will skip the relevant scenes, and in the case of strong language, it will mute the dialog.

6. Sidewalk Labs spins out urban data-gathering tool Replica into a company

The Replica tool grew out of Model Lab, a project started two years ago to investigate modeling as a way to address urban problems — specifically the fact that public agencies don’t have all the information needed to understand the connections between transportation and land use.

7. How the Valley can get philanthropy right with former Hewlett Foundation president Paul Brest

When he was named president of the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Brest applied the rigor of a legal scholar, not just to his own institution’s practices, but to those of the philanthropy field at large. (Extra Crunch membership required.)

Source: Tech Crunch

Ready to squeeze every bit of opportunity out of Disrupt SF this October 2-4? With more than 10,000 attendees, networking might seem like quite the daunting task. Which is why we’ve got your back with TechCrunch’s attendee networking platform, CrunchMatch, that helps you to zero in on the people and connections that matter most to your business. Don’t have your pass to attend Disrupt SF yet, you can grab yours right now and still get some great savings.

All people who have Innovator, Investor and Founder pass types will be able to access CrunchMatch through the TechCrunch Events app which means you can use it to find and set up meetings with people that you are specifically looking to connect with at Disrupt SF. It’s where you’ll find founders looking for developers, investors in search of hot startups to add to their portfolio, technology service providers eager for new customers, founders looking for marketing help — the list is endless.

How does it work? You create a profile listing your specific criteria, goals and interests. CrunchMatch (powered by Brella) works a bit of algorithmic magic to find like-minded startuppers and will suggest matches and, subject to your approval, propose meeting times and send meeting requests.

How effective is CrunchMatch? In 2018, the program facilitated more than 3,000 meetings. And Yoolbox — makers of a portable wireless charger — says the connections it made through CrunchMatch helped Yoolbox increase its distribution.

You’ll be able to access CrunchMatch through the TechCrunch Events App. After you sign up, you’ll identify your role (developer, service provider, founder, etc.) and the type of people you want to connect with at Disrupt. CrunchMatch will get to work and do the rest.

You’ll find 10,000 tech founders, investors, developers, engineers and startup fans at Disrupt SF this year. CrunchMatch will help you cut through the noise, network efficiently and save you a whole lotta time and shoe leather. Disrupt SF is right around the corner so don’t forget to grab your pass to attend.

Source: Tech Crunch

Vudu, the streaming service owned by Walmart, announced a new feature today that will make it easier for viewers to avoid sex and violence in movies.

Anyone who’s watched an R-rated movie on broadcast television or on an airplane is probably familiar with films that have been “edited for content,” but Vudu’s new Family Play option give viewers more control over what they find objectionable.

Specifically, they can turn filters on and off for sex/nudity, violence, substance abuse and language. In the first three instances, Vudu will skip the relevant scenes, and in the case of strong language, it will mute the dialogue. The feature is already supported in more than 500 films.

At an advertiser event in May, Vudu leaders suggested that they will stand out from the other streaming services by creating content that can be watched by entire families, with Senior Director Julian Franco declaring, “We’re not just going to be programming for Williamsburg and Silver Lake.”

It sounds like Vudu has similar ambitions for all its original content. In a blog post today, Vice President Scott Blanksteen wrote:

With so much content available and more people watching, what if we could also be a streaming service that provides a great, safe viewing environment for families? What if we could provide our customers the flexibility to ensure that content and the Vudu experience are appropriate for everyone in the family to watch, including the youngest of viewers – kids?

A streaming service called VidAngel ran into legal trouble (and eventually declared bankruptcy) a couple years ago when it tried to sell movies that were edited to be family friendly. However, where VidAngel was operating independently to decrypt and edit DVDs, Vudu told Variety that it’s working with the movie studios.

Vudu also says it’s partnering with advocacy group Common Sense Media to provide ratings and reviews “from a parent’s perspective,” and to create a kid-friendly viewing mode. And it’s launching its first original series today — a remake of “Mr. Mom,” with new episodes streaming every Thursday.

Source: Tech Crunch

Another consumer finance business is lining up investors for its largest cash infusion yet.

Affirm, founded by PayPal’s Max Levchin, is said to be raising as much as $1.5 billion in a combination of debt and equity, according to people with knowledge of the company’s fundraising activities. Josh Kushner’s New York venture capital firm Thrive Capital is said to be leading the financing, with participation from the San Francisco outfit Spark Capital.

Sources familiar with Affirm, which gives consumers an alternative to personal loans and credit by financing online purchases at point-of-sale, presume the round will be made up largely of a line of credit from a large financial institution, known as a warehouse facility.

Affirm recently raised a $300 million Thrive-led Series F round in April at a valuation of $3 billion. Fintech companies focused on payments and lending, however, require a vast amount of capital to sustain operations. Those capital requirements coupled with the frothiness of the venture capital market justify this additional cash infusion.

To date, Affirm has raised $1.03 billion in funding from Ribbit Capital, Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and more, according to PitchBook. Fellow fintech ‘unicorns’ Brex, Stripe, SoFi and Kabbage, for context, have collectively raised roughly $5 billion in debt and equity to date.

Affirm offers installment plans to online shoppers, a method of delayed payment historically reserved for large purchase like vehicles or luxury electronics. Using Affirm, consumers can create personalized installment plans for purchases as small as a pair of sneakers sold by StockX or as large as a diamond engagement ring from Diamond Nexus, for example.

Affirm, serving as an alternative to a credit card charge, requires no paperwork, minimum credit score or income. The company, however, makes money the same way as a credit card provider, with interest rates for Affirm’s loans falling between 10% and 30%.

Affirm’s fundraising efforts come as more and more companies are devoting ample resources to consumer and B2B lending. Affirm, doubling down on the opportunity in B2B, spun out a new financial services business focused entirely on business lending earlier this year. The company, Resolve, provides a “buy now, pay later” option tailored to B2B sales flow.

“Traditional B2B financing is slow, inaccurate and limits a business’s potential for growth because of an over reliance on email, call centers, faxes and manual invoicing processes,” Resolve wrote in an April press release. “Today, many companies offer a standard net 30-day payment plan only to their best and longest tenured customers, leaving others in need of financing to rely on credit cards or installment loans.”

Meanwhile, companies like Stripe and Square are making a concerted effort to explore other financial frontiers, with the former launching a lending tool as well as a corporate credit card this month. Square, for its part, recently introduced a new debit card, called the Square Card, allowing businesses to withdraw and spend money they’ve collected through Square payments.

Venture investment in fintech companies headquartered in the U.S. is poised to reach new highs this year. In the first eight months of 2019, $10.5 billion was funneled into the sector, following a record high of $11.6 billion in 2018. Globally, fintech investment is increasing, too, with nearly $20 billion deployed this year, per PitchBook.

Competition in the fintech space has accelerated growth and innovation, as consumer-friendly, frictionless tools permeate the conservative and highly-regulated finance industry.

Following a year of fintech mega-rounds, we expect to seem a series of fintech initial public offerings as soon as next year. Affirm, Robinhood, Stripe, SoFi, Coinbase, we’re looking at you.

Source: Tech Crunch

Oh, be still my heart.

It’s not The Office reunion special/season/complete series everyone wants, but it’ll do for now: Jenna Fischer (Pam) and Angela Kinsey (… Angela) are setting up to release a podcast together.

Called “Office Ladies” (though I hope “Party Planning Committee” was at least in the running), they’re going to rewatch the show and talk about one episode each week.

It’ll be produced by the podcast hub/app Stitcher, but the company says it’ll also be on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and “anywhere podcasts are available.”

Despite having wrapped up in 2013, The Office is wildly popular right now. Much of this popularity seems to stem from it being available (and repeatedly bingeable) on Netflix, where it’s reportedly the service’s most watched show. This wave of popularity, swirled together with the stars’ own nostalgia from rewatching episodes they shot roughly a decade ago, seems like a setup for a pretty solid podcast.

The first podcast is set to ship on October 16th of this year. Alas, at one episode per week, that’ll only let them get through about a quarter of the series’ 201 episodes before it leaves Netflix in 2021 for whatever NBC’s streaming thing is going to be called.

If they’re having any of their co-stars make guest appearances, none have been announced yet — but if so, Jenna and Angela, just remember: Creed might need some editing.

Source: Tech Crunch

Sex, despite being one of the most fundamental human experiences, is still one of those businesses that some advertisers reject, banks are hesitant to financially support and some investors don’t want to fund.

Given how sex is such a huge part of our lives, it’s no surprise founders are looking to capitalize on the space. But the idea of pleasure versus function, plus the stigma still associated with all-things sex, is at the root of the barriers some startup founders face.

Just last month, Samsung was forced to apologize to sextech startup Lioness after it wrongfully asked the company to take down its booth at an event it was co-hosting. Lioness is a smart vibrator that aims to improve orgasms through biofeedback data.

Sextech companies that relate to the ability to reproduce or, the ability to not reproduce, don’t always face the same problems when it comes to everything from social acceptance to advertising to raising venture funding. It seems to come down to the distinction between pleasure and function, stigma and the patriarchy. 

This is where the trajectories for sextech startups can diverge. Some startups have raised hundreds of millions from traditional investors in Silicon Valley while others have struggled to raise any funding at all. As one startup founder tells me, “Sand Hill Road was a big no.”

A market worth billions or trillions?

Source: Tech Crunch

In little more than three weeks, San Francisco will be all aglow with TechCrunch’s Disrupt SF (October 2-4) at the Moscone Center. If you’re a part of the startup scene, or plan to be, there is a long list of reasons why you should join the event. (And there is a pass priced for most every pocketbook!) Here are five reasons why:

#1 The people you’ll meet.  At nearly 8,000 attendees last year, Disrupt SF was TechCrunch’s biggest event ever but thanks to the CrunchMatch platform for attendees, meeting a potential (and relevant) investor, founder, employer or business partner is never more than a few taps away. Last year, CrunchMatch delivered almost 1400 1:1 meetings alongside tons of organic networking that happened on the show floor and during sessions. 

#2 Watch, Work, Network. With the two Disrupt stages running concurrently, there’s always lots of content to take in – check out the agenda here. Pick your sessions, then take a break to take that call or tackle the inbox in one of the many comfy seating areas around the floor. Need a quiet place to take a meeting? There are several semi-private meeting rooms you can book. Stretch your legs in Startup Alley, where hundreds of startups are arrayed in categories, including ecommerce, SaaS, robotics and biotech, or line-up a few meetings through CrunchMatch. Days at Disrupt are guaranteed to be some of your most productive days this year. 

#3 The Speakers. No matter your angle on the startup scene, TechCrunch’s editors have have produced an impossible (and highly diverse) speaker line-up. 

• There corporate titans include Spiegel (Snap), Benioff (Salesforce), Levie (Box), van Dijk (Naspers), and Hewson (Lockheed), Vestberg (Verizon)
• The vast VC line-up counts the likes of Bannister (Founders), Gouw (Aspect), Dixon (a16z), Royan (Mithril), Krane (GV), Lee (Sequoia), Quinn (Spark)
• The technologists / entrepreneurs span the gamut of tech from CRISPR to AI to robotics to security, to enterprise and mobility, including Thrun (Kittyhawk), Haurwitz (Caribou Biosciences), Altman and Brockman (OpenAI), Moll (Auris), Adkins (Google), Isakowitz (Aerospace Corp), Henderson (Slack), VanderZanden (Bird).

#4 Startup Battlefield. TechCrunch’s signature startup competition brings to the big stage 20 incredible early stage companies that you’ve never seen before. The company names are under wraps until the end of the show but there’s a reason why Ashton Kutcher, Marissa Mayer, Alfred Lin (Sequoia), Ann Miura-Ko (Floodgate), and Mamoon Hamid (KPCB) were eager to step in as finals judges. The 857 contestants to date have pulled in $8.9 billion and produced 111 exits. That Cloudflare IPO this week? They launched at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2011 at Startup Battield.

#5 The Extra Crunch angle. Many of the top speakers at Disrupt will appear on the new Extra Crunch stage, so named for TechCrunch’s new sub subscription service aimed at helping founders move faster up the curve. On the Extra Crunch stage, it’s the same drill plus we’ve added in time for them to take questions from the audience.

• Want tips for that Y Combinator application? Michael Siebel, YC’s CEO will share his.
• Wondering how to go from a zero to a billion dollar SaaS business? Neeraj Agrawal (Battery Ventures) has the plan  from his investments in AppDynamics, Bazaarvoice, Guidewire, Marketo, and others.
• Intent on building an open and high functioning company culture? Hear from the legendary Ray Dalio, head of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, and author of bestseller Principles.

We know that’s a lot but it’s just the start. Disrupt SF is one tech-focused startup event you have to experience in person. Don’t want for the FOMO to hit and get your passes to attend Disrupt SF this October. 

Source: Tech Crunch

Water is not uncommon to find in our galaxy in ice or gaseous form, but liquid water is quite rare — and liquid and gaseous water on an Earth-like exoplanet? That’s never been observed… until now. Astronomers spotted this celestial unicorn, called K2-18 b, using the venerable Hubble space telescope.

K2-18 b is a “super-Earth,” a planet with a mass and size approximately like our own. Not only that, it exists in its solar system’s “habitable zone,” meaning a range of temperatures where liquid water can continuously exist. It’s about 110 light-years away in the constellation Leo.

Of course there are many super-Earths, and many planets in habitable zones, and many planets with water — but they’re never one and the same. This is the first time we’ve found the trifecta.

Researchers used past Hubble data to examine the spectral signature of light shining from K2-18 b’s sun through its atmosphere. They found evidence of both liquid and gaseous water, suggesting a water cycle like our own: evaporation, condensation, and all that.

To be clear, this is not an indication of little green men or anything like that; K2-18 b’s red dwarf sun is absolutely bombarding it with radiation. “It is highly unlikely that this world is habitable in any way that we understand based on life as we know it,” the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Hannah Wakeford told Nature.

Too bad — but that wasn’t what scientists were hoping to find. The discovery of an Earth-like planet with an Earth-like water cycle in the habitable zone is amazing, especially considering the relatively small number of exoplanets that have been examined this way. The galaxy is full of them, after all, so finding one with these qualities suggests there are plenty more where K2-18 b came from.

This discovery is an interesting one in another fashion: It was done, like lots of others are these days, by performing after-the-fact analysis on publicly available data (from 2016 and 2017), and the analysis used open-source algorithms. Essentially both the data and the methods were out there in the open — though naturally it takes serious scientific effort to actually put them together.

Two papers were published on K2-18 b, one from the University of Montreal and one from University College London. The former appeared on preprint site Arxiv yesterday, and the other was published in the journal Nature Astronomy today.

Source: Tech Crunch