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Brrrr, it’s cold in here, there must be some hiring freezes in the atmosphere.: It’s been a whole week of layoffs and hiring freezes, as you’ll see later in our trade show newsletter. So it’s perhaps no surprise that after telling Tesla employees to take him to the office, Elon Musk is now known to have told executives to freeze the hiring of salaried workers. The news not only did a number on Tesla stock, it also gave President Joe Biden some fodder for his jobs report.delivery guys are not good: Delivery startups, once the “spoiled” of venture capital investing as Kyle put it, found their groove when none of us could go places in the last 2 years. But it seems that the faster the delivery times, or the promise of it, the more certain companies failed to, well, deliver. Sources say that the correction is yet to come.“Inflation, layoffs, and supply chain issues, wow!”:That was Ron’s assessment of what’s going on out there. However, as he found out while listening to Salesforce’s first-quarter performance call, CEO Marc Benioff revealed that his company didn’t see the quarter down like other companies did.
Startups and VCs
Sometimes, you come across companies that speak with a forked tongue. I’m not saying that’s the case for Blackbaud’s self-proclaimed ‘social good’ cloud provider business, but it’s definitely a bit off putting to have had the NRA as a client since 1997, as Devin reports. A propos to call bovine excrement when we see it; The A-Team (Amanda and Anita, obvz, that other A-Team has a lot less finger-on-the-pulse credibility) argue that maybe we should cool it down with the ‘girlboss’ moniker. But wait, there’s more:
Bad contractor, no customer data for you: Kyle reports that Reco, a company that uses AI to map a company’s data sharing, announced today that it has raised $30 million.You turn me to the right, baby, to the right, like a startup, baby, to the right: Mate hosted one of our favorite TechCrunch’s City Spotlight sessions this week, exploring how 10-year-old startup Olive ended up turning around 27 (!) times before accelerating the company into a $4 billion valuation.Bosch cleans: Famous for its hand tools and washing machines, and less famous (but extremely well known in the industry) for its automotive components, the 135-year-old company Bosch just announced it has a $295 million corporate venture capital fund to invest in climate, IoT and autonomous vehicles, Harris reports.French fries for the dip: South Korean AI chipmaker Rebellions just received a $50 million investment from Pavillion Capital, Kate reports.Yes please AI: As Pinterest sets its sights on improving the online shopping experience on its platform, the company announced this afternoon that it will acquire the AI-powered shopping service for fashion known as The Yes, Sara reports.moar layoffs today: Both social app IRL and Insurtech firm PolicyGenius cut 25% of their respective workforces as the Great Belt Tightening of 2022 continues.
Black Founders Matter pushes venture capitalists to commit to diversity
Image credits: Marceau Michel In an interview with new TechCrunch reporter Dominic-Madori Davis, Marceau Michel, founder and managing partner of the Black Founders Matter VC Fund, discussed a new initiative to drive diversity in tech. “It’s about changing the power dynamic in venture capital,” he told TechCrunch. “You have to start with who is left behind and bring them to the starting line.” Under the 25 by 25 Pledge, investors would promise to direct 25% of their funds to the female founders of BIPOC by 2025. “If a fund doesn’t want to make this commitment… the question is why,” Michel said. “The status quo just doesn’t hold up anymore. Keeping people who look like us out of the picture just doesn’t work.” (TechCrunch+ is our membership program, helping startup founders and teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)
great tech inc
Microsoft said it foiled a plan by a Lebanon-based hacker group, believed to be working with Iranian intelligence, to allegedly attack Israeli organizations. The group, called Polonium, was creating Microsoft OneDrive accounts and then using them to attempt the hacks. The CEO of Amazon’s consumer division, Dave Clark, said he would leave the company in July after 23 years with the company. It’s unclear why he’s leaving after taking on the role just two years ago, but Clark tweeted that “it’s time for him to build again.” In news about new features: You may have missed these gems from yesterday, but Coinbase surprised us by announcing that it was freezing its hiring process. Initial reports said the company was rescinding offers to new hires that had already been accepted, but those people hadn’t started yet. Now we are getting word that their jobs are safe. Don’t worry, we’re on it and hope to clear this up soon. Next, General Motors’ autonomous vehicle unit Cruise can now charge for self-driving robotaxi rides in San Francisco. And we take a look at a report that shows how difficult it is to get an app to the top of the App Store.
