TC Daily Newsletter 07/20/16 Dollar Shave Club's investors can now afford a billion shaves, Twitter makes some moves as its harassment problem grabs the spotlight, and Hyperloop One is heavy-handed in the wording of their countersuit: all this and more in The Daily Crunch for July 20, 2016. 1. Unilever pays big for the razor service, knowing the blades are where you make all the money Dollar Shave Club was almost a punchline when it launched back in 2012, but all the laughter, it is happening en route to the financial institution now that DSC has been acquired by international consumer packaged goods titan Unilever. The all-cash deal came together quickly after Unilever originally suggested a partnership. It's a smart move for a consumer packaged goods company, since subscription is likely to be an increasingly popular way to get standard consumables. 2. This bot will act as your financial conscience Who knows how much you spent on ride-sharing last week? Trim knows. The company launched a chatbot that keeps track of your regular spending, and lives in either your SMS or Facebook Messenger. It'll send you proactive alerts, or you can chat with it to find out about specific spending habits. Trim and the bots like it beg the question: How many future chatbots will be focused on subtly judging us? 3. Twitter bans a troll, but still needs to do more Oh, Twitter – so good for so many things, but so bad at so many others. Following the disgraceful treatment of Ghostbusters and SNL star Leslie Jones on its network, Twitter has finally banned infamous Twitter troll Milo Yiannopoulos for life. It's a tiny step relative to what Twitter has to do from a broader product perspective to prevent dangerous and destructive harassment. And sorry, but blue checkmarks aren't the answer, either. 4. Japan has to wait a little longer for Pokemon Go Pokemon wanted to Go in Japan, but an email leak made it stop instead. It was originally intended to go live in the home of Pokemon today, but an internal comms leak from location sponsor partner McDonald's has delayed the official debut. McDonald's separately confirmed it will indeed be working with Niantic on Pokemon Go, but revealed only that players could expect this to arrive "soon." 5. The inevitable Hyperloop One countersuit hits Like a Hyperloop looping back around, Brogan BamBrogan's lawsuit against Hyperloop One's Pishevar brothers was bound to boomerang. Hyperloop One officially filed their countersuit in an L.A. county court yesterday. The claim makes the hyperbolic claim that BamBrogan "manufacture[ed] a rebellion" within the company. The question used to be whether Hyperloop tech was more spectacle than science, but now the main show is primarily personal drama, which isn't good for anybody. 6. Fly the world like there's no tomorrow Fly now, pay later: Microloans are the new funding vehicle for people who just want to take some time to "find themselves" after college. And you don't even need a good credit score! But interest is steep – some back of the napkin math reveals it's at about 80 percent APR. That yoga retreat can wait. 7. Uber for trucks nets fresh funding Transport trucks on demand: That's the premise of CargoX, a Brazilian startup that raised $10 million in a Series B round led by Goldman Sachs. It's rare to see an 'Uber for X' pitch that actually seems appealing these days, but this one was strong enough to convince Uber co-founder Oscar Salary to put in some money. Trucking and delivery make sense as the next major area of investment for a two-sided marketplace looking to decrease underuse of inventory on both sides. |
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