Techmeme
December 10, 2021, 1:25 AM

Top News

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Meta opens its VR social platform Horizon Worlds to all adult users in the US and Canada, after announcing a private beta in September 2019  —  Facebook's first stab at the metaverse is Roblox meets the OASIS  —  More than two years and a company rebrand later, Meta is finally opening …
WABetaInfo:
WhatsApp begins a limited test of Meta's Novi digital wallet in the US, letting users send and receive USDP within a chat  —  Today, WhatsApp is finally announcing a small pilot program to some people in the US, that can finally use the Novi digital wallet within WhatsApp!
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Epic v. Apple emails show Microsoft offered to bring triple-A, Xbox-exclusive games to iOS if Apple let its xCloud game streaming service into the App Store  —  Remember when Apple pretended like it would let cloud gaming services like Microsoft xCloud and Google Stadia into the App Store …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Google says it will release Google Play Games in 2022 as a native Windows app that brings Android games to Windows 10 and Windows 11  —  Google Play Games comes to PC next year  —  Google is planning to bring Android games to Windows PCs next year.  A Google Play Games app will be available in 2022 …
Jonathan Bell / Wallpaper*:
A look at the working processes at Apple's design team, led by VP of industrial design Evans Hankey and VP of human interface design Alan Dye  —  Global exclusive!  Led by Evans Hankey and Alan Dye, the Apple Design Team holds enormous sway over our evolving relationship with technology.
Angel Au-Yeung / Forbes:
Cher Scarlett, a leader of #AppleToo, says she is no longer withdrawing her NLRB complaint against Apple after it failed to execute a settlement in good faith  —  Former Apple engineer Cher Scarlett is no longer withdrawing her complaint with the National Labor Relation Board alleging …
Eli Tan / CoinDesk:
Palm, which helps companies and brands create NFT projects, raises a $27M Series B led by Microsoft's M12  —  Microsoft's venture arm is leading a $27 million bet on NFT studio Palm.  —  The funding will be used primarily to scale the company's operations with a slew of new hires, a representative of the studio told CoinDesk.
Packy McCormick / Not Boring:
Replit, a browser-based IDE for cross-platform collaborative coding, raises an $80M Series B led by Coatue at an $800M valuation  —  Replit Raises $80M Series B to Bring the Next Billion Software Creators Online … Hi friends 👋,  —  Happy Thursday!
Politico:
Italy's competition authority fines Amazon €1.13B for abusing its market position and harming competitors in e-commerce logistics; Amazon plans to appeal  —  Italy's competition authority announced Thursday it was slapping a €1.13 billion fine on Amazon for abusing its dominant position …
Bloomberg:
Coinbase launches a DeFi yield product for non-US customers in over 70 countries, after US regulators effectively killed plans for its Lend program in September  —  - U.S. regulators effectively shut down Lend program earlier  — Holdings to be deposited into the Compound Finance protocol
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
HashiCorp closes up 6.49% in its Nasdaq debut, after raising $1.2B in its IPO at a $14B valuation  —  - Shares of HashiCorp debuted on the Nasdaq on Wednesday under the symbol “HCP.”  — HashiCorp software helps engineers set up computing infrastructure in public clouds and on-premises data centers,
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Boston-based conversational AI startup Posh Technologies raises a $27.5M Series A led by Canapi Ventures to fuel call center automation  —  As call volumes skyrocketed during the pandemic, contact centers turned to AI to help distribute the workload.  But even before the pandemic …
Riley de León / CNBC:
Brazilian neobank Nubank closes up 14.78% in its NYSE debut, giving it a $47.6B market cap, after raising $2.6B in its IPO  —  - Brazilian fintech company Nubank made its market debut Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange and is now trading under the ticker symbol “NU.”
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Tim Berners-Lee's Inrupt, which aims to “reshape the internet” by letting users control their data, raises Series A led by Forte Ventures, source says for ~$30M  —  Tim Berners-Lee's startup, Inrupt, has raised about $30 million in its Series A financing round, a source familiar with the matter said.
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Celigo, whose integration platform lets companies automate business processes, raises a $48M Series C led by OMERS Growth, bringing its total funding to $80M+  —  Companies continue to add apps to their technology stacks as the pandemic drives digital transformations.
Frank Chaparro / The Block:
Crypto derivatives market Paradigm, which focuses on large trades, raises a $35M Series A at a $400M valuation led by Jump Capital and Alameda Research  —  Quick Take  — Paradigm is raising $35 million in a fundraise led by Jump Capital and Alameda Research.
Elizabeth M. Renieris / CIGI:
A look at Cardano, a controversial blockchain project led by Ethereum cofounder Charles Hoskinson that aims to build a national ID system for Ethiopia  —  There are countless examples of the dangers posed by national ID schemes, including from Kenya, Uganda, Pakistan, India and elsewhere.
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
In a letter, Sen. Warren asks the US DOJ and SEC to investigate whether Meta executives knew the company inflated a key metric measuring an ad's potential reach  —  Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to the DOJ and SEC, after Sen. Maria Cantwell sent a letter to the FTC
Sylvia Varnham O'Regan / The Information:
Meta has moved its artificial intelligence group to the Reality Labs unit, shifting the AI team's focus towards metaverse-related efforts  —  Facebook parent Meta Platforms has moved its artificial intelligence group to the Reality Labs unit developing augmented and virtual reality products …
Tweets: @alexeheath and @amir

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