On Our Weekly "Virtual Route 66": On the Prowl

 

We welcome you to September here in our Visions Property.

For this week, our team pulled together some #RandomThoughts from Estonia along with Thoughts from the team at the Information while on our "Virtual Route 66" Route.

We look forward to the continued privilege to serve. 

Greetings from Estonia, August has been a busy month for e-Residency! We published several insightful blog posts and uploaded some great videos to our growing YouTube channel. Keep scrolling to read, watch, and learn more! Sincerely, The e-Residency Team   Ready to be an entrepreneur?  Interested in launching your own business? Learn how to become an entrepreneur with eight key tips on how to get started, from finding the right product to writing your business plan. Read our top tips for entrepreneurship on the blog. e-Residency and esports: a perfect fixture! E-resident Kofi Sika Latzoo is an esport lecturer and founder of GameCampCities, the first 360 communications agency dedicated to Africa’s gaming industry.  In this article, Kofi provides a fascinating take on how e-Residency can support gamers, team managers, and content creators across the sector. Do you live near Sofia, Zagreb or Ljubljana? Apply for e-Residency now and you can opt to pick up your digital ID kit at a mobile pickup point in one of these three cities!  Learn how to receive your kit at these pickup points on the blog. Celebrating e-Residency as a shared identity Picking up your e-Residency kit is a big milestone. Your digital ID allows you to start a business and join our flourishing community. It’s no wonder so many e-residents take to social media to celebrate. Read how e-residents connect over their shared identity. Opening a business in Spain or Estonia? Do you live in Spain? Are you researching the best way to run your business? Look no further than Estonia. E-resident and freelance journalist Maya Middlemiss recently looked into how e-Residency can help entrepreneurs in Spain overcome paperwork and complicated rules. Read her comprehensive comparative guide on the blog. Two years ago, Spanish e-resident Mercedes Gil picked up her e-Residency kit at the Estonian embassy in Madrid. Since then, she has never looked back, founding the online part of her international Montessori school as an Estonia company. Read how Gil’s love for education and Estonia’s ‘digital-first mindset’ is a perfect match. Watch our new four-part video series to help get started with e-Residency The first two videos are already up on Youtube. Subscribe to our channel if you haven't already and stay tuned for videos on Business Banking and Cross-Border Taxation next month. Welcome our new Marketplace members:  Respuesta Jurídica are expert business advisors on e-Residency, particularly combined with Spanish tax and legal aspects if you operate from Spain. Morawski & Partners specialise in international legal & business consulting and cross-border transactions. Located in Warsaw, Poland. New Normal specializes in providing company liquidation assistance exclusively to e-resident companies. Open call to join Tehnopol Startup Incubator's new batch! The number 1 business incubator in the unicorn factory - Tehnopol Startup Incubator - invites all early-stage startups to apply for the new batch in September.   With decades of experience empowering founders, our common goal is to take your startup to the next level! Over 450 startups have passed our programs and raised over €25M first round investments with our help. Now, it’s your chance!   What you'll get?  6-part practical training program    Personal dedicated key-mentor    Partner deals worth €30k (Amazon, Deel, Miro, Notion, Stripe etc)   A supportive community, with valuable contacts and exclusive events   Opportunity to participate in international training and development programs    Workspace in Tehnopol's modern open office   What we expect?  No monthly fee, only 2% of your equity in exchange for the program   An escalating technological business idea   A motivated team with the necessary skills   An MVP or prototype to be further developed   The ambition and will to work and truly conquer the world   You must register your company in Estonia (Startup Visa, e-Residency)   Your startup's success is our common goal - build a successful business, raise your first investment, and become the next rising star with our support!   Find out more at www.startupincubator.ee/en and apply now as registration ends on 5 September 2022! APPLY FOR E-RESIDENCY!

Snap Planning 20% Layoff By Mark Matousek | Source: The Verge   Snap is planning to lay off around 20% of its employees starting Wednesday, The Verge reported on Tuesday. The teams that will make the deepest cuts include the team that’s working on integrations for third-party developers and Zenly, a location app Snap acquired in 2017, according to The Verge’s report. Snap reportedly has more than 6,400 employees, up from 5,661 at the end of 2021. Snap will also reorganize its ad sales team, The Verge reported, though the report didn’t specify the extent to which that reorganization will involve layoffs, voluntary departures or internal personnel moves. Two high-ranking executives who oversee Snap’s advertising strategy, chief business officer Jeremi Gorman and ad sales vice president Peter Naylor, are leaving the company to join Netflix, The Verge also reported on Tuesday. Snap’s planned layoff comes as the social media firm’s share price has plunged more than 75% this year amid a slowing online advertising market. While this would be the first large layoff at a major social media company this year, a number of other tech firms, including Coinbase, Robinhood and Peloton, have made similarly deep cuts in recent months.

Apple’s Chief Privacy Officer to Leave For Law Firm By Wayne Ma | Source: Bloomberg   Apple’s head of privacy is leaving the company for a law firm, Bloomberg reported. The departure comes amid Apple’s efforts to promote privacy as a defining feature of its products. Jane Horvath played a major role in ensuring that Apple’s products were compliant with privacy laws and Apple’s own internal rules over privacy. Bloomberg said she took the title of chief privacy officer last year after holding other senior roles in privacy since 2011 and that she’s heading to the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. That private firm has represented Apple before, most notably in its fight against Epic Games. Related Articles • Inside Apple’s Decision to Blow Up the Digital Ads Business

Elon Musk Cites Fraud in Second Termination Notice to Twitter By Becky Peterson | Source: The Information   Elon Musk has added a recent whistleblower report to his stated reasons for not wanting to go ahead with his deal to acquire Twitter. Lawyers representing the billionaire tech executive filed a second notice to terminate the $44 billion acquisition on Tuesday, accusing Twitter of committing fraud by making misleading statements or omissions in the original merger agreement. The letter included allegations made public last week by former Twitter Chief Security Officer Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, who claims he was fired after notifying Twitter’s executive leadership that Twitter lacked sufficient protections for sensitive user data. Allegations of fraud may be the one escape hatch left for Musk, who first sent a letter to terminate the Twitter deal on July 8. The parties are scheduled to go to trial at the Delaware Chancery Court in October to determine whether Musk is legally obligated to follow through with the acquisition. Twitter shares traded down just 1.3% to $39.51 on Tuesday, suggesting that investors expect the trial to go on as planned.

CrowdStrike Revenue Rises 58% as Security Giants Largely Escape Broader Slowdown By Amir Efrati | Source: The Information   CrowdStrike, the no. 2 most valuable cybersecurity stock, said Tuesday that its revenue grew 59% to $535 million in the July quarter, blowing past an earlier forecast the company had made. The results show the relative strength of security software compared to other types of enterprise software whose sales have slowed. CrowdStrike projected 50% growth in the current fiscal quarter, which ends in October. The modest slowdown in growth could be one reason the company’s stock was flat in after-hours trading, which would preserve its $45 billion market capitalization. CrowdStrike’s rival Palo Alto Networks, which is three times bigger by revenue, last week posted more moderate growth of 27% in the July quarter. Both companies continue to be cash machines, with free cash flow margins of 25% to 32%. As Austin-based CrowdStrike competes with Palo Alto Networks and tries to become the first $100 billion cybersecurity stock, it has been playing catch-up in Israel, where it is seeking to invest in or acquire more startups, The Information reported on Monday. Israelis have co-founded many of the world’s biggest cybersecurity firms, including Palo Alto Networks. Related Articles • CrowdStrike CEO Plays Catch-Up in Israel as He Hunts For Security Deals

U.S. Regulators to Inspect Alibaba’s Audits After Washington’s Deal With Beijing By Juro Osawa | Source: Reuters    U.S. regulators have selected Alibaba Group and other U.S.-listed Chinese companies for audit inspections starting next month, Reuters reported. The move comes after Washington and Beijing last week reached an agreement to allow U.S. accounting regulators to inspect China-based audits. The deal could prevent Alibaba and other New York-listed Chinese companies from getting delisted from the U.S. For the past several months, U.S.-listed Chinese companies have faced potential delisting risks due to the two governments’ disagreements over new auditing requirements for those companies.

Gopuff Seeks $300 Million Credit Line By Maria Heeter | Source: The Information    Gopuff is in talks to take out a $300 million credit line as the SoftBank-backed delivery startup’s initial public offering plans remain on ice, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The revolving loan would give Gopuff access to fresh cash as its customer order growth slows. The Philadelphia-based startup has tried to slow cash burn by slashing staff and shuttering warehouses. It had about $1.5 billion left in cash after burning through around $400 million in the first quarter of 2022, the Journal reported. Gopuff raised more than $2 billion in venture funding from investors including SoftBank, D1 Capital Partners and Luxor Capital last year, and more than tripled its 2020 valuation to $15 billion. But the startup delayed an IPO it had been targeting for later this year after a collapse in valuations for high-growth tech firms. Last fall, discussions led by Gopuff’s founders about raising $1 billion in fresh funding fell through due to investor concerns about Gopuff’s cash burn, The Information previously reported. Related Articles • Gopuff Founders’ Ambitions Falter as Startup Bleeds Cash

DataRobot Shakeup Continues as Four Board Members Depart By Kevin McLaughlin | Source: The Information    Four members of DataRobot’s board of directors stepped down last week, in the latest sign of an ongoing leadership shakeup at the artificial intelligence startup, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The departures include Chuck Robel, independent director and chair of DataRobot’s audit committee, who joined in December 2020, and software industry veteran Jit Saxena, who joined in 2016. Two members who joined DataRobot’s board last October: Sigal Zarmi, senior advisor at Morgan Stanley, and James I. Cash, a former professor at Harvard Business School, are also leaving. DataRobot has updated its website to reflect their departures. “We’ve made the decision to streamline the Board of Directors as part of a broader organizational restructuring to focus on our strengths—innovation and delivering value for our customers—and position DataRobot for long-term sustainable growth,” said a DataRobot spokesperson. The board changes come more than a month after DataRobot CEO Dan Wright resigned amid controversy after The Information reported in mid-June that he and other senior executives sold $32 million worth of stock last year when the company’s private valuation peaked at $6.3 billion. Four other DataRobot executives stepped down earlier this month.

Baidu’s Revenue Drops as China’s Economic Slowdown Hurts Tech Giants By Juro Osawa | Source: The Information   Chinese search giant Baidu’s revenue for the second quarter fell 5% as ad sales dropped amid China’s sharp economic slowdown due to Covid-19 lockdowns. Baidu’s Nasdaq-listed stock plunged 6.5% Tuesday after the quarterly results came out. Baidu’s revenue decline reflects the harsh business climate facing China’s biggest internet companies. Earlier this month, Alibaba and Tencent reported their first quarterly revenue declines since they became publicly listed companies. Shanghai’s draconian lockdown in April and May, triggered by a surge in new Covid cases, crippled China’s commercial and logistics hub and severely hurt consumption, creating massive challenges for most businesses. Baidu said its revenue from online advertising dropped 10% in the second quarter. One bright spot was the company’s revenue from artificial intelligence software and cloud computing services for corporate clients, which rose 31%.

Shopping App Nate Making Fresh Round of Job Cuts By Malique Morris | Source: The Information   Shopping startup Nate is in the process of cutting around 30 staffers, according to an internal memo sent on Tuesday viewed by The Information. The embattled company previously cut 20% of its roughly 150 person workforce in June, citing macroeconomic conditions such as supply chain constraints and inflation. Nate did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nate, which charges shoppers a $1 fee to make a purchase from any retailer’s website in just a couple of taps, has struggled to populate shoppers’ information automatically on retailers’ checkout pages and did not disclose its heavy reliance on manual data entry to at least some potential investors. It also had trouble gaining traction with shoppers, and a $50 “Nate cash” promotion it rolled out late last year backfired when users signed up for multiple new accounts. Nate’s imminent round of staff cuts will mostly affect employees in the UK, where many of the company’s engineers are based. The cuts are part of a broader restructuring the company began in June to rein in costs. Apart from layoffs, cost reductions included slashing marketing spending, ending a $20 new-user promotion and cutting contract engineering workers, the memo said. Nate, founded in 2018, has landed backing from well-known venture capital firms, including Coatue Management and Forerunner Ventures, which collectively invested more than $50 million in the startup. Its most recent equity funding round in June 2021 valued the company at around $307 million, according to PitchBook.

Amazon Backer Madrona Adds Managing Director, Plans Palo Alto Office By Kate Clark | Source: The Information   Seattle-based venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group has hired Karan Mehandru, who previously spent over a decade at Trinity Ventures, as a managing director. Mehandru will lead the firm’s first Silicon Valley office in Palo Alto as part of his appointment. Mehandru left Trinity Ventures in 2020 for New York–based hedge fund Steadfast Capital Management where he launched a VC unit focused on software investments. At Steadfast, he led investments in Zapier, whose software automates personal computing tasks, and online investment management service Wealthsimple, among others. Madrona’s investments to date include Amazon, which the firm first backed in 1995, as well as Redfin and Snowflake. Tom Alberg, who co-founded Madrona and led the Amazon investment, died earlier this month at the age of 82.

Meta Settles Cambridge Analytica Lawsuit From Users By Wayne Ma | Source: The Information   Meta reached a settlement with users over allowing third parties such as Cambridge Analytica access to private user data, according to a court filing dated Friday. The terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed but the two sides asked for a 60-day stay of the lawsuit in a California court. While Meta may have settled its case with users, it still has to deal with a lawsuit from the Washington, D.C., Attorney General’s office. Meta also settled a similar case with the FTC in 2019 by agreeing to pay $5 billion.

Chinese Chip Maker SMIC to Spend $7.5 Billion on New Factory By Juro Osawa | Source: The Information   Chinese chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, known as SMIC, said it would invest $7.5 billion in a project to build a new factory in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin. The latest investment plan by mainland China’s largest contract chip manufacturer comes at a time when the U.S. and China are both ramping up their efforts to beef up their domestic semiconductor industries. Washington recently passed a bipartisan bill known as CHIPS and Science Act, which will provide more than $50 billion in government funding to beef up domestic chip production in the U.S. The move by SMIC is in line with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s policy goals that include the development of key homegrown technologies, especially chips. The company said in a statement that the new Tianjin factory will have a production capacity of 100,000 12-inch wafers per month.

China Shuts World’s Largest Wholesale Electronics Market to Stem Covid By Shai Oster | Source: Reuters   Chinese authorities have shut down the world’s largest wholesale electronics market to stem a new outbreak of Covid-19 amid China’s strict zero tolerance policy. The closure of Huaqiangbei, a sprawling market located across the border from Hong Kong in the city of Shenzhen which has thousands of stalls selling components to manufacturers covering everything from microchips to headphones, could spell more delays for the global electronics supply chain. Meanwhile, China is ratcheting up already tight controls in Beijing and nearby northern cities, according to Bloomberg, as its gears up for a key political meeting this fall, the 20th Party Congress, a once-in-five- years meeting where President Xi Jinping is widely expected to renew his term as head of the Communist Party for a precedent-breaking third, five-year term.

SpaceX and T-Mobile Partner on Global Cell Service By Becky Peterson | Source: The Information   SpaceX and T-Mobile announced a new plan Thursday to use the rocket company’s satellite constellation technology Starlink to expand cellular service to “dead zones” by the end of next year. The plan would bring text messaging and phone services to areas where T-Mobile and other service providers have not been able to reach using cellular towers alone due to land use restrictions or the difficulty of the terrain, the companies said in a press release. The first stage of the plan is to bring coverage to “practically everywhere” in the continental U.S., Hawaii, parts of Alaska and Puerto Rico. The program is set to launch in beta in late 2023 following additional satellite launches for Starlink, according to the companies. The announcement is a positive sign of traction for SpaceX’s Starlink, which has lagged behind CEO Elon Musk’s growth projections since it became commercially available in the U.S. in late 2020. And it gives T-Mobile an edge on its cellular rivals, Verizon and AT&T. But there could be some strategy behind the timing of the announcement. Tim Farrar, an analyst covering Starlink, sees the plan as “half-formed” given Starlink’s need to get approval for the plan from the Federal Communications Commission. He said it’s likely that SpaceX felt some pressure from Apple, which is expected to announce a satellite text-messaging service at its next iPhone launch event on September 7. “The only possible conclusion is that this was designed to pre-empt next week’s Apple announcement with Globalstar,” Farrar tweeted Thursday.

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