Techmeme: A look at the growing world of virtual HQs on services like Branch, Gather, and Huddle, which are using spatial tech to create a metaverse dedicated to work (Natasha Mascarenhas/TechCrunch)

Top News

GoDaddy confirms some of its staff fell for a social engineering scam, after hackers changed the email and DNS records for a number of crypto trading platforms — Fraudsters redirected email and web traffic destined for several cryptocurrency trading platforms over the past week.

More: Gizmodo, Engadget, and Slashdot

Tweets: @briankrebs, @stilgherrian, @eastdakota, @quinnypig, and @film_girl

Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:

A look at the growing world of virtual HQs on services like Branch, Gather, and Huddle, which are using spatial tech to create a metaverse dedicated to work — ‘The future of transportation is no transportation’ — In retrospect, 2019 feels like the working world's last dance with spontaneity.

Tweets: @nmasc_, @drorpoleg, @zck, @azeem, @rossdawson, and @joshelman

Khari Johnson / VentureBeat:

Canvas, which develops machine learning-powered robots for installing drywall at construction sites, emerges from stealth with $19M in funding — Canvas, a company that uses machine learning to install drywall at construction sites, emerged from stealth today.

More: San Francisco Business Journal, Wired, and RoboticsTomorrow.com News

Christine Hall / Crunchbase News:

ClosedLoop.ai, which is developing AI-based tools to help hospitals predict factors like patient readmission and appointment cancellations, raises $11M Series A — Even before a patient walks into the doctor's office, ClosedLoop.ai aims to predict whether that patient may be admitted …

More: Austin American-Statesman, Austin Business Journal, FinSMEs, VentureBeat, Built In Austin, and ClosedLoop.ai. Tweets: @crunchbasenews

FinSMEs:

CAIS, an alternative investment service that also offers an AI-powered training system for independent financial advisors, raises $50M Series B from Eldridge — Cais, a NYC-based alternative investment platform, raised $50M in Series B equity funding. — Eldridge made the investment …

More: Reuters, CAIS, and sjo3ekt.js

Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:

LA-based Credit Key, which offers a B2B buy-now, pay-later service for e-commerce merchants, raises $33.85M Series A from Greycroft, Bonfire Ventures, others — Bringing the buy-now pay-later model that transformed companies like Klarna and Affirm into billion dollar businesses …

More: Credit Key and FinSMEs

Nick Statt / The Verge:

A year in, Stadia's free-to-play and added phone support are great, but it needs a successful Cyberpunk 2077 launch to be seen as a true console alternative — Firing up a big-budget modern video game inside a Chrome browser window for the first time feels like you're tapping into some arcane magic …

More: Android Authority, Redmond Pie, and BGR India

Tweets: @nickstatt, @nickstatt, and @starfire2258

Forbes:

Profile of Vishal Garg, CEO of Better.com, who is fighting lawsuits that accuse him of fraud and misappropriation of funds at previous business ventures — The $4 billion fintech startup is hurtling towards an IPO. But its volatile leader is fighting multiple lawsuits that could complicate his ambitions.

Tweets: @forbes, @forbes, @edzitron, @noah_kirsch, @forbes, @kenwattana, @kerrydolan, @zoeschiffer, and @alexrkonrad

Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:

Fourteen states and DC released their contact tracing apps so far, with CA and others to follow, but adoption has been uneven due to politicization of COVID-19 — Exposure notification technology, now available to more Americans, shows promise — Covid-19 contact-tracing apps from Apple Inc …

More: Gizmodo. Tweets: @dseetharaman, @marcelsalathe, @c_althaus, and @jason

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

A look at Google Pay redesign as an all-encompassing money app with P2P payments, personal finance insights, deals, and banking services, rolling out in the US — Today, Google Pay for both Android and iOS is relaunching with a giant array of new features.

More: 9to5Google, VentureBeat, Fintech Today, iLounge, FinLedger, NFCW, and One Degree. Tweets: @brianmcc

Damian Radcliffe / ZDNet:

Report: in the Middle East, $704M was invested across 564 different startups in 2019, compared to only $15M in five venture deals in 2009 — The coronavirus is having an impact, but the Middle East's startup scene is showing some unexpected trends. — At the end of last year, the Middle East's startup scene was on the up and up.

More: New.blicio.us. Thanks:@damianradcliffe

TechCrunch:

a16z closes two new funds totaling $4.5B, focused on early and later-stage investments, bringing total assets under management to $16.5B — Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has closed a pair of funds totaling $4.5 billion, the firm confirmed in a blog post this morning.

More: Andreessen Horowitz, FinSMEs, FinLedger, PitchBook, and Crunchbase News

Tweets: @a16z, @anneleeskates, @mikebutcher, @bencasnocha, @andrewchen, @shaig, @sub8u, @stevesi, @danielsunread, and @abrams

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