Challenger bank raises funds for massive assessment, Instagram adds Live Rooms, and Google updates Workspace. This is your daily crisis of March 1, 2021.
The big story: Klarna valued at $ 31 billion
The Swedish challenger bank and the BNPL (buy-now-pay-later) service raised $ 1 billion for a post-monetary valuation of $ 31 billion. Klarna has announced that it will commit 1% of the capital to “the main sustainability challenges in the world”, with the official launch of the initiative on April 22 (Earth Day).
For its BNPL business, Klarna both integrates with a variety of retailers and has created its own shopping app, where users can browse all stores that support payment through Klarna. The company is active in more than 17 countries and has more than 250,000 business partners.
The giants of technology
Instagram is launching ‘live rooms’ for live broadcasts with up to four creators – Previously, the app only allowed users to live stream with one other person, like Facebook Live.
Twitter rolls out vaccine disinformation warning labels and strike-based system for violations – Company says if needed, it will attach notices warning users that content “may be misleading” and cross-referencing information health checks.
Google Updates Workspace – Probably the highlight here is that you can now use Assistant in combination with Google Workspace.
Startups, financing and venture capital
Autonomous drone maker Skydio raises $ 170 million, led by Andreessen Horowitz – Skydio’s new capital follows its expansion in the corporate market last year.
Clue Gets FDA Clearance to Launch Digital Contraceptive – Digital Contraceptive to Offer Users Statistical Ovulation Prediction as a Birth Control Tool.
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck explains why the company needs a bigger rocket and why they’re going public to build it – Rocket Lab packed a ton of news on Monday: It’s made public via a PSPC merger, and it is also building a new, larger vehicle called Neutron.
Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch
Why Your Organization Needs Product Principles – Vice President of Design Ethan Eismann writes that at Slack, every process and feature has been designed with the primary goal of making Slack a work tool that feels human.
Justworks ‘Series B pitch deck is perhaps the most wonderfully simple deck I’ve ever seen – On Extra Crunch Live, Bain Capital Ventures’ Matt Harris and Justworks CEO Isaac Oates sat down to explain how they resolve disagreements and more.
As Coinbase seeks to list, Robinhood is riding the crypto boom – Coinbase isn’t the only company profiting from a crypto rebound.
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Everything else
EU to offer ‘digital pass’ for COVID-19 vaccination / testing status to help safer travel – President Ursula von der Leyen said today the planned digital tool will target provide proof that a person has been vaccinated.
Walmart Drops $ 35 Minimum Order on Its 2-Hour ‘Express’ Delivery Service – The move appears designed to directly challenge Amazon.
Listen to Uber, Facebook and Netflix talk about diversity, equity and inclusion at TC Sessions: Justice – We’ll dive into the myth of the pipeline problem, as well as the idea of impostor syndrome and much more.
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