Techmeme: Decentraland says it sold a virtual real estate plot for $2.4M in crypto to Tokens.com subsidiary Metaverse Group, claiming it to be its largest transaction (Elizabeth Howcroft/Reuters)

Top News

Sources: Apple taps TSMC to mass produce 4nm 5G modem chips for the iPhone in 2023, in an effort to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm — U.S. company aims to cut reliance on Qualcomm for key components — Apple plans to adopt TSMC's 4-nanometer chip technology for its 5G modems as it seeks to cut reliance on Qualcomm.

CoinDesk:

Indian government submits a bill to ban most cryptocurrencies and aims to create a framework that would facilitate the creation of a CBDC — While the bill might be the same as the draft submitted in January, expectations had grown that the government would submit a final version that would be accommodative to crypto.

New York Times:

Adam Mosseri agrees to testify about Instagram's effects on teenage users before a Senate Commerce subcommittee during the week of December 6 — Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, has agreed for the first time to testify before Congress, as bipartisan anger mounts over harms to young people from the app.

Jon Porter / The Verge:

Twitter updates its iOS app to avoid timelines refreshing and causing tweets to disappear, after rolling out the update on web last week — ‘It should stay put!’ — Twitter has updated its iOS app to prevent those annoying situations where tweets disappear as you're trying to read them, the company has announced.

More: CNET, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, KnowTechie, iPhone in Canada Blog, and iMore

Tweets: @twittersupport and @jasonhirschhorn

Reuters:

Chinese state media says a regulator told Tencent to submit any new apps or updates for inspections through December 31; Tencent says its apps remain functional — Tencent Holdings' (0700.HK) apps remain functional and available for download, the company said on Wednesday in response …

More: South China Morning Post, Financial Times, thegamer.com, and Game Developer

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Brisbane-based Simpro, which offers work management tools for employees in the field, raises $350M and acquires productivity tools ClockShark and AroFlo — Field service management, which refers to the management of jobs performed in the field (e.g., telecom equipment repair), faces continued challenges brought on by the pandemic.

More: PR Newswire, Reuters, FinSMEs, SiliconANGLE, and PYMNTS.com

The Verge:

Samsung says it will build a ~$17B, 1,200+ acre chip factory in Taylor, Texas, roughly 30 miles from its Austin facility, operational in H2 2024 — Creating 1,800 jobs in the city of Taylor — Samsung officially announced a new advanced chip-making plant in Texas, that's estimated …

Peter Grant / Wall Street Journal:

CB Insights: real estate tech startups have raised $9.5B during 2021 so far, topping the record $9B invested in the “proptech” sector during 2019 — Venture capitalists and other investors poured $9.5 billion into sector through mid-November — Growing landlord demand for better data …

Thanks:@keithswiader

Nikkei Asia:

Japan's top banks and 70 other companies are preparing to trial a new digital currency, backed by bank deposits, for large business transactions in H2 2022 — Top lenders and NTT join test of vehicle for business transactions — A consortium of over 70 Japanese companies look to launch a digital currency as early as 2022.

More: Reuters and Cointelegraph

Mimi Billing / Sifted:

Denmark-based podcasting and audio tech startup Podimo raises a $78M Series B led by 83North and Highland Europe — Companies in this sector have traditionally had difficulties in monetising audio content. Sweden's Acast introduced advertising as a way to pay the podcast's creators for their content.

More: Tech.eu, EU-Startups, Variety, and Silicon Canals

See also Mediagazer

James Marson / Wall Street Journal:

How Belgian police infiltrated messaging service Sky ECC in February and March, gaining access to a billion messages and facilitating arrests and drug seizures — Criminals thought encrypted Sky ECC cellphones were impregnable, but cops tapped a billion messages, yielding arrests and drug seizures

Tweets: @kimzetter, @drewharwell, @marson_jr, @keegan_hamilton, and @shelbyholliday

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

CoreStack, which offers companies AI-powered cloud governance software, raises a $30M Series B led by Avatar Growth Capital, bringing its total funding to $45M — The news: Seattle-area startup CoreStack raised a $30 million Series B round led by Avatar Growth Capital.

More: FinSMEs, Entrackr, CoreStack, The Economic Times, Livemint, VCCircle, Business Standard, Business Wire, and Seattle Business Journal

Sneha Shah / The Economic Times:

Indian used car marketplace Spinny raises a $285M Series E led by ADQ and Tiger Global at a $1.75B post-money valuation, after raising $108M in July — The company's valuation of $1.5 billion pre-money has nearly doubled since it raised $108 million from Tiger Global and others in July.

More: TechCrunch, Entrackr, Tech in Asia, Entrackr, VCCircle, and Inc42 Media

Jordan Pearson / VICE:

ConstitutionDAO's organizers say the project has run its course and will shift its Discord channel into read-only mode in two weeks — The attempt by crypto fans to buy a copy of the Constitution has been defined by chaos since it failed. Now, it's dead. — Jordan Pearson

More: The Block, The Verge, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Blockworks, and CoinDesk

Tweets: @constitutiondao, @carnage4life, @jamesrbuk, @sadalsvvd, @gabrielayuso, @motherboard, @twobitidiot, @carnage4life, and @sarthakgh

Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:

Apple delays the release of its digital ID feature in the Wallet app for iOS and watchOS until early 2022 — Apple recently updated its website to indicate that an upcoming iOS 15 and watchOS 8 feature that will let you add your driver's license or state ID to your iPhone and Apple Watch …

More: Macworld, CNET, BBC, USA Today, KnowTechie, SlashGear, TechCrunch, NFCW, Pocketnow, Neowin, PhoneArena, MacDailyNews, Laptop Mag, O'Grady's PowerPage, Tom's Guide, Cult of Mac, The Verge, Pocket-lint, iMore, iPhone in Canada Blog, Appleosophy, 9to5Mac, and AppleInsider

Tweets: @joannastern, @maxwinebach, and @rsgnl

Jennifer Elias / CNBC:

Internal email chain shows over 600 Google employees have signed a document opposing Google's vaccine mandate, which Google says it firmly stands behind — - Several hundred Google employees have signed and circulated a manifesto opposing its widened Covid vaccine mandate, according to internal communications viewed by CNBC.

More: San Francisco Business Journal, New York Post, Newsweek, Washington Examiner, Insider, and Forbes

Tweets: @caseynewton, @ericnewcomer, @jenn_elias, @wexler, @caseynewton, and @stevekovach

Elizabeth Howcroft / Reuters:

Decentraland says it sold a virtual real estate plot for $2.4M in crypto to Tokens.com subsidiary Metaverse Group, claiming it to be its largest transaction — A patch of virtual real estate in the online world Decentraland sold for a record $2.4 million worth of cryptocurrency …

More: Slashdot and The Block

Vikas Sn / Moneycontrol:

India-based Dream Sports, which runs online fantasy platform Dream11, raises $840M led by D1, Tiger Global, and others at an $8B valuation, up from $5B in March — Dream11 spent heavily on advertising and promotions during the fiscal, in a bid to capitalise on the surge in mobile gaming in the country

More: The Economic Times, The Economic Times, Livemint, Tech in Asia, and Business Standard. Thanks:@tsuvik

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