Techmeme: China imposes new restrictions on offshore IPOs that use variable interest entities (VIEs), aiming to close a loophole used by tech and other industries (Bloomberg)

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December 27, 2021, 8:10 PM

Top News

Khadeeja Safdar / Wall Street Journal:

Profile of Gloo, which has ~245M profiles on Americans and is used by 30K+ churches, or 10% of US churches, to target ad campaigns at people facing a crisis — A small company called Gloo mines online data for people who might be receptive to evangelizing and church outreach — Struggling with grief?

Tweets: @hypervisible, @benjaminpdixon, @anthony, @amywebb, @brianstelter, @patiencehaggin, @antoniogm, @dannydougherty, @tonyajoriley, @bethblackshire, @evilgalprods, @uhactually, @tpcarney, @zoebritton, @ryanburge, and @verambergen

Kieran Press-Reynolds / Insider:

A TikTok moderator sues the company for an unsafe workplace that gave her PTSD; her lawyer says TikTok stopped her from working a day after the suit was filed — - A TikTok content moderator is suing the company, alleging it did not provide a safe workplace.

More: Gizmodo, PetaPixel, New York Post, and The Verge

Tweets: @hypervisible, @louisathelast, and @carnage4life

Leah Nylen / Politico:

An overview of the efforts by Google, Apple, and Amazon to offer their technology and services for connected cars — When Ford announced that starting in 2023 its cars and trucks would come with Google Maps, Assistant and Play Store preinstalled, CEO Jim Farley called the partnership between …

More: 9to5Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, and Slashdot

Tweets: @aaronbuley, @hypervisible, @chelseycolbert, @aricohn, and @tombamonte

Joanna Glasner / Crunchbase News:

Most VC-backed startups that went public via a SPAC in 2021 have seen their stock drop; Metromile, View, Owlet, and Clover Health are among the worst performers — The overwhelming majority of venture-backed companies that went public via special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs …

Tweets: @bigblackjacobin and @martinsfp

Balaji Srinivasan:

Exploring the concept of mirrortables, where a company's cap table is mirrored on-chain with Ethereum and ENS or other Web3 tools, to streamline angel investing — Mirrortables are to cap tables what stablecoins are to fiat currencies. They streamline and internationalize the logistical mess of angel investing.

Tweets: @balajis, @brian_armstrong, @balajis, @kskgroup2017, @arpitrage, @ericbahn, @akothari, @vjgtweets, @chrisalbon, @kevinweil, @scottbelsky, @carnage4life, @punk6529, and @balajis

Eric Ravenscraft / Wired:

A critique of much-hyped crypto-based virtual real estate projects, such as Decentraland, which are often buggy, empty, and lack moderation tools — The “real estate of the future” is plagued by buggy software, empty servers, and huge opportunities for abuse.

Tweets: @malwarejake, @dlberes, @matt_on_tech, and @agraylin

Robert Stevens / Decrypt:

OpenDAO airdrops SOS token for users of OpenSea's NFT marketplace; the token, unaffiliated with OpenSea, is up ~10x in two days as watchers debate its prospects — In brief — SOS is an airdrop from OpenDAO, distributed to people who have spent money on OpenSea transactions.

Wall Street Journal:

PitchBook: nearly 340 startups have privately raised money at $1B+ valuations in 2021, more than triple the total from 2020 — SPACs and venture capitalists are plowing money into startups at record rates, looking past worries about lofty valuations — Investors are defying a share-price slump …

Tweets: @julianklymochko, @amrithramkumar, @maxjacobsedison, @eliotwb, and @kushkatakia

David McCabe / New York Times:

A look at OneTrust, BigID, TrustArc, and other startups helping companies navigate the internet's increasingly fragmented rules and privacy regulations — Companies have sprouted up to help others navigate the varied laws around the world governing websites.

Tweets: @paulnemitz, @dmccabe, @nytimesbusiness, @jeffjarvis, and @jkosseff

Joe Williams / Bloomberg:

A look at the growing competition in the call center tools market between Genesys, AWS, Salesforce, Microsoft, and others, often focused on AI-driven automation — Customer support has become a crowded battlefield in enterprise technology as software vendors from Microsoft Corp …

Tweets: @joepwilliams31

Bloomberg:

China imposes new restrictions on offshore IPOs that use variable interest entities (VIEs), aiming to close a loophole used by tech and other industries — - Rule would hit new listings via the so-called VIE structure — China has stepped up scrutiny of foreign tech listings

More: CNN, Reuters, and Financial Times

Kalyeena Makortoff / The Guardian:

Gibraltar mulls letting blockchain firm Valereum acquire its stock exchange to add cryptocurrency trading, risking reputational damage and diplomatic sanctions — Territory's financial sector risks reputational damage and diplomatic sanctions if complex regulations of crypto hub fail

More: CNET

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From Mediagazer

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

Arkansas PBS severs ties with the PBS network, the first state public TV system to do so since Congress cut CPB funds, citing the annual $2M+ membership cost

Sam Roberts / New York Times:

Arthur L. Carter, who started a Connecticut newspaper in 1981, bought and sold The Nation, and founded the New York Observer in 1987, has died at 93

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:

Disney's Zootopia 2 surpasses $1B at the global box office, the fastest PG-rated film to do so after just 17 days in release

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More News

John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:

Democrats, eager to rein in social media and other internet platforms, urge Biden to focus on tech regulation, before Republicans can retake the House or Senate

More: PYMNTS.com and New York Times

Tweets: @tyler, @amyklobuchar, @adamkovac, @wsj, and @wsjpolitics

Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:

Meta acquired synthetic data startup AI.Reverie in August, consolidating it into Reality Labs and terminating its US Air Force contract worth up to $950M

Tweets: @adamhrv, @shashj, @aandgshow, and @aandgshow

Financial Times:

Sources: Didi bans current and former employees from selling shares indefinitely; Didi has lost ~60% of its market value, or ~$38B, since its NYSE IPO in June

More: Reuters and Bloomberg

Daniel Michaels / Wall Street Journal:

Inside China's Logink, an expansive digital network for tracking global sea cargo that experts fear could give Beijing a commercial or strategic advantage

Yang Jie / Wall Street Journal:

While unable to meet analog chip demand, Texas Instruments hesitates to expand production capacity because of the industry's history of boom and bust cycles

Tweets: @aparanjape, @pastynome, @jbathgate, and @scottlincicome

Kyle Stock / Bloomberg:

A look at sidewalk delivery robots serving students across US college campuses, an ideal proving ground with pedestrian-friendly designs and eager consumer base

Tweets: @humanprogress, @citylab, and @citylab

Earlier Picks

Silicon Canals:

Proxymity, a UK-based digital investor communications service for real-time virtual proxy voting and automated shareholder disclosure, raises a €27.5M Series B

More: GlobeNewswire News Room, BusinessCloud, and Finextra

Sneha Shah / The Economic Times:

Research: Indian startups raised a record ~$36B in 2021, up from ~$11B in 2020; SoftBank invested $3B+ and Tiger Global was among the most active investors

Tweets: @gagan_arora1, @ettech, @ettech, and @omkar_raii

Dan Taylor / Tech.eu:

Berlin-based Pliant, which offers digital corporate credit card management and accounting software, raises an €18M seed led by Alstin Capital

More: EU-Startups

Jane Zhang / South China Morning Post:

Chinese app stores had 2.78M apps in October 2021, down from 4.52M in December 2018, a 38.5% drop amid the government's new data laws and clean-up campaigns

Financial Times:

Q&A with Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison: copycat features from big rivals have not impacted the company “in any real way” and making money is not a pressing concern

Tweets: @carnage4life, @chrismatyszczyk, @edzitron, and @psb_dc

Ari Paparo Dot Eth / @aripap:

[Thread] For media and advertising, Web3's focus on decentralization and tokenization solves few, if any, problems and is the last thing ad tech needs

Tweets: @antoniogm, @antoniogm, @randfish, @adamsinger, @film_girl, @jubiweb, @mandestin, @livepaola, @craw, @dustinwstout, @davlgd, @levie, @zachweinberg, @bznotes, @tkawaja, @dhruvapandey, @ghadjia, and @averyj