Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for August 20, 2021. The week is over, but we have no work to catch the torrent of technology, startups, and venture capital news. Today our software companies are investing in hotels, profitable scooters, home rowing machines, and TikTok toe radios? Oh, and apparently Elon is building a robot.
- China violates its data privacy rules: for companies, not the state; don’t expect the CCP to start respecting privacy anytime soon. But for companies in the country, a strict new law called the Personal Data Protection Act is coming into effect from November 1. According to TechCrunch, the new rules will require “app developers to tell users how or why their information is not used, such as the ability not to be targeted for marketing purposes or to market based on personal characteristics.”
- Microsoft supports Oyo: TechCrunch recently reported that Microsoft may support Indian hotel upstart Oyo. It was a wild story, because it doesn’t seem so understandable. Well, the deal is done. Microsoft has invested $5 million in the company, valued at $9.6 billion. Significantly, this is a slight discount from the company’s old $10 billion valuation. An IPO next to OYO, we assume.
- Bird shows improvement in scooternomics: American scooter company Bird is going public through a SPAC – more here – and we’ve seen the company’s recent financial performance. In short, a shake-up of its operating model has improved its economy, even if the company still has a long way to go towards real profits.
- Breef wants to connect brands and agencies: how we usually expect this is the life of this startup, not Brief, but we are more mature than that. Instead, we’ll notice that the Greycroft-backed company has raised just $3.5 million, and that involves teams at boutique agencies with larger, longer-term deals with brands that most freelance platforms offer.
- Cardiomatics fixes what Tin says: Yes, Cardiomatics is an electrocardiogram-reading automation company, as you might guess from its name. And it loaded his accounts with just $3.2 million. The company helps “offer ECG analysis without the need to send patients to specialist hospitals with GPs and minor exercises,” TechCrunch reports.
- Alerzo raises $ 10.5 million to digitize Nigerian economy: Nigeria’s expanded startup scene has received another boost today with the latest round of allergies. The “B2B e-commerce retail” startup wants to help bring the country’s informal economy online. According to TechCrunch, that part of the Nigerian economy is worth about $100 billion.
