Monday, August 1, 2022

Daily Crunch: Did Bolt Mobility bolt? The startup left equipment and confused customers in its wake

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Monday is here, and we are excited to throw ourselves into another week of summertime tech news. Apropos summer — as the VCs stop answering their phones in favor of drinking elderflower lime martinis, playing pickleball, spelunking in the Bitcoin mines, and kite surfing (I can only assume that’s what VCs do for their summer break), it gives us tech reporters a bit more time to go deeper on some of the stories and companies that have been itching our curiosity nerve.

In my distant past as a startup founder, long before I became a writer at TechCrunch, exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt turned out to be a huge moment for my first startup. As an early-stage startup founder, you know that the hustle is part of the game; if your company doesn’t have the budget to attend, you can apply to be a volunteer and attend that way. Don’t miss the volunteer FAQ to see if this is a good option for you!  — Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

Startups and VC

The regulatory environment surrounding crypto is shifting in the US as the SEC takes aim at major players in the web3 world, promising to shake up business as usual with aggressive action. David Nage discusses how regulatory scrutiny is impacting venture investment in web3. It’s a great conversation with Lucas and Anita on this week’s episode of Chain Reaction, for you podcast fans!

Oui Capital, an Africa-focused VC firm based in Lagos and Massachusetts, announced today that it has completed the first closing of its $30 million second fund, Tage reports. The firm seeks to strengthen its presence on the continent.

More more more:

Build a solid deck for your quarterly board meetings

Conceptual still life with low risk and rising; build a deck for board meetings

Image Credits: Hiroshi Watanabe (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

Board meetings are great for getting feedback on your progress and your plans for the future, but what’s the best way to tell them what’s going on?

According to Ridge Ventures partner Yousuf Khan, often the best and simplest way to “ensure you’re providing board members with the information they want to see is to just ask them.”

“Reaching out to your board not only helps provide a sense of direction, it also gives you the opportunity to build your relationship. People appreciate the opportunity to weigh in,” he says.

Khan also lays out seven tips for building a presentation to give your board updates on your progress, plans, the product and financials.

(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Big Tech Inc.

Hyundai is considering acquiring the South Korea–based lidar-free autonomous mobility platform 42dot. A spokesperson of 42dot told Kate that the startup is in talks, but cautioned that terms, including stake size and deal valuation, haven’t materialized yet.

In one of the head-scratchiest moves in a while, Spotify announced it will introduce a Play button and a Shuffle button at the top of albums’ playlists to make it easier to play the music the way you like, Sarah reports. Plot twist: the separate buttons are only available to paid subscribers. As Sarah concludes, “Streamers may be disappointed to find out that what should be an app update in favor of better usability is oddly being sold to them as a reason to upgrade.”

A few more:



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