Techmeme
August 2, 2021, 9:45 AM

Top News

Jon Porter / The Verge:
YouTube trials Premium Lite subscription for €6.99/month, offering ad-free viewing across all major platforms, currently available in Europe  —  Currently being piloted in parts of Europe  —  Google is piloting a more affordable premium subscription tier for YouTube …
Reuters:
Square says it's buying Australia-based buy now, pay later service Afterpay for $29B in an all-stock deal, paying a 30% premium on Afterpay's last closing  —  U.S. fintech company Square Inc (SQ.N) said on Monday it had agreed to purchase Australian buy now/pay later giant Afterpay Ltd …
Greg Ahlstrand / CoinDesk:
Square reports Q2 revenue of $4.88B, up 143% YoY; Cash App's bitcoin yearly revenue was $2.72B, up 200%, as Square's bitcoin holdings had a $45M impairment loss  —  Cash App's bitcoin gross profit rose to $55 million, Square said in its Q2 letter to shareholders.
Olivia Solon / NBC News:
Female journalists and activists share how they were targeted and harassed by authoritarian regimes through hack-and-leak attacks using the Pegasus spyware  —  Ghada Oueiss, a Lebanese broadcast journalist at Al-Jazeera, was eating dinner at home with her husband last June when she received …
Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech:
A now-deleted tweet by an Intel executive suggests Thunderbolt 5 could double the bandwidth of existing Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 connections to 80 Gbps  —  An executive visiting various research divisions across the globe isn't necessarily new, but with a focus on social media driving named individuals …
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Zoom agrees to pay $85M and bolster its security practices to settle a class action lawsuit over alleged user privacy violations and Zoombombing  —  Zoom Video Communications Inc (ZM.O) agreed to pay $85 million and bolster its security practices to settle a lawsuit claiming …
Heather Somerville / Wall Street Journal:
Non-VC funds invested in a record 42% of tech startup funding deals in Q2 2021; H1 '21 US startup funding was $150B, with FY 2021 on pace to double 2020's total  —  Hedge, mutual and pension funds are investing heavily, leading to higher valuations and more leverage for company founders
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Bangalore-based online learning startup Unacademy raises $440M led by Temasek at a $3.44B valuation  —  Unacademy has raised $440 million in a new financing round as the Indian online learning startup looks to expand into multiple additional categories.  —  Temasek led the Bangalore-based startup's …
Emmanuel Akinwotu / The Guardian:
Analysis: Nigeria is second only to the US in bitcoin trading volume, hitting $2.4B in May from $684M in Dec. 2020, as the government tries to curb its use  —  As leaders around the world grapple with cryptocurrencies, what happened when the African country tried to ban them?
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Estonian ride hailing startup Bolt, formerly known as Taxify, raises $713M at a ~$4.75B valuation, led by Sequoia, Tekne, and Ghisallo  —  - Estonian ride-hailing start-up Bolt has raised $713 million in fresh funding to push into the rapidly-growing online grocery delivery industry.

Sponsor Posts

Clay:
Turn any GTM idea into reality  —  Clay helps GTM teams combine AI agents, enrichment, and intent data to move faster and turn insights into action.
Soxton:
AI-powered law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
Zoho:
Introducing Meeting Co-Host support in Zoho Calendar  —  Because smooth meetings shouldn't depend on just one person.  You've planned your meeting down to the minute.  The agenda is clear, the invite is sent, and everyone's joined on time.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
Elon Musk's Mega-Merger + We Test Google's Project Genie + What's Next for Moltbook Creator
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Jeff Bezos Used To Be In Love with The Washington Post. What Happened?
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Cheeky Pint:
Elon Musk on Space GPUs, AI, Optimus, and his manufacturing method
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Great Chat:
Is building in public over?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Access:
Where AI video is headed next, with Synthesia's Victor Riparbelli
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Special Edition: Key findings from the Microsoft AI Diffusion Report
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:45 AM ET, August 2, 2021.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Politico:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:
Brent Lang / Variety:
Maya Wolfe-Robinson / The Guardian:
Stitch / The Verge:
Kyle Chayka / New Yorker: