Techmeme
December 16, 2021, 12:10 PM

Top News

Reddit:
Reddit confidentially files its S-1 with the SEC for an IPO; the number of shares to be offered and the price range have yet to be determined  —  Reddit, Inc. today announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission …
Henry Mance / Financial Times:
Interview with Nick Clegg, Meta's VP of global affairs, on moving from politics to Meta, the impact of Haugen's leaks, and the decision to ban Trump  —  Nick Clegg may be available in Berlin.  He has a slot in Paris.  He'll make time for lunch in Brussels.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Memo: Apple delays its return to corporate offices to a “date yet to be determined”, after previously setting a February 1 return date  —  - Company had planned to bring corporate workers back by Feb. 1  — Delay comes in response to rising Covid-19 cases, new variant
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Tanya Basu / MIT Technology Review:
Meta says a woman was groped on its Horizon Worlds platform on November 26; an internal review says she should have used its “Safe Zone” tool  —  Last week, Meta (the umbrella company formerly known as Facebook) opened up access to its virtual-reality social media platform, Horizon Worlds.
Project Zero:
A deep dive into an NSO zero-click iMessage exploit, captured in the wild by Citizen Lab and one of the most sophisticated Google's Project Zero has seen  —  We want to thank Citizen Lab for sharing a sample of the FORCEDENTRY exploit with us, and Apple's Security Engineering and Architecture …
Reuters:
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Apple releases Swift Playgrounds 4, which lets users develop apps on their iPads and upload finished apps to the App Store  —  Apple announced that it has officially released Swift Playgrounds 4.  The tech giant first announced the upcoming launch of the new software at WWDC earlier this year.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Indian edtech company Byju's is in advanced talks to go public via SPAC on the NYSE, raising around $4B and valuing it at about $48B  —  - Education startup is discussing deal with Churchill Capital  — SPAC merger could value Byju's at more than $40 billion
Dan Primack / Axios:
Source: grocery delivery service Gopuff, which recently launched in London and NYC, raised $1.5B in convertible notes at a ~$40B valuation  —  Gopuff, an instant delivery platform for everyday items, has raised $1.5 billion in new funding at around a $40 billion valuation, Axios has learned.
Gillian Tan / Bloomberg:
Stocktwits, a social network used by traders and investors, raises $30M, source says at a $210M valuation, led by Alameda Research and says it has 1M MAUs  —  Stocktwits, a social-media platform used by day traders and other retail investors, raised $30 million in a funding round led by Alameda Research Ventures.
Washington Post:
An in-depth look at the events surrounding the deadly tornado that hit an Amazon warehouse in Illinois, leaving six dead, as workers sheltered in restrooms  —  A woman told 911 that one of the people sheltering with her had been ‘bent in half’ by rubble.  A driver detailed his frantic flight to safety.
Christine Hall / TechCrunch:
Brazilian e-commerce startup Olist, which connects small sellers to large marketplaces, raises $186M Series E at a $1.5B valuation, after $80M Series D in April  —  Olist, a Brazilian e-commerce marketplace integrator, confirmed it is now valued at $1.5 billion after securing $186 million …
More: Reuters
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon says it will reduce its Alexa skills commission from 30% to 20% for developers who earn less than $1M per year, starting in Q2 2022  —  Amazon is joining other tech giants by lowering its cut of developer revenue generated by voice apps, known as Alexa skills, which run on Amazon's smart speakers and other Alexa-powered devices.
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Elementary, which uses AI to automate product inspections in factories, raises a $30M Series B led by Tiger Global, bringing its total funding to $47.5M+  —  While it might not be the first example that comes to mind when thinking of AI applications, AI systems are increasingly being used in the manufacturing sector.
More: TechCrunch
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Dialpad, an enterprise voice, video, and contact-center service, raises $170M led by Iconiq at a $2.2B valuation, up from $1.2B last year  —  Cloud communications platform Dialpad has raised $170 million in a round of funding led by Iconiq Capital, valuing the company at $2.2 billion — roughly double its valuation on last year.
Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:
Denver-based Gtmhub, which helps companies track objectives and results, raises a $120M Series C led by Index Ventures, bringing its total raised to ~$160M  —  Denver-based software startup Gtmhub announced this morning that it has closed a $120 million Series C. Index Ventures led the round …

Sponsor Posts

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Featured Podcasts

The Upstarts Podcast:
Runway's Cris Valenzuela: Building The Hollywood-Friendly Video AI That OpenAI Couldn't
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Hard Fork:
OpenAI's Big Reset + A.I. in the Doctor's Office + Talkie, a pre-1930s LLM
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'Food and Beverage Director', With MG Siegler
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Access:
What happens when AI runs a store
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
Why Blockbuster Failed
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

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Earlier Picks

Rest of World:
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Dan Primack / Axios:
Wall Street Journal: