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Showing posts from September, 2020

eFounders unveils its next batch of enterprise SaaS startups

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Since 2011, European startup studio eFounders has launched 27 companies with a focus on software-as-a-service companies trying to improve the way we work. Some of them have been quite successful, such as Front and Aircall . And the company is working on its next batch of startups. “We're particularly inspired by the new wave of productivity tools, that is ever more collaborative and flexible,” eFounders co-founder Thibaud Elziere said in a statement In exchange for financial and human resources, eFounders keeps a significant stake in its startups. Ideally, startups raise a seed round and take off on their own after a year or two. Here’s what’s coming up from eFounders. Canyon Canyon is a product for legal teams that want to ditch Word, PDF documents and emails. It starts with a central hub to hold all your drafts and documents. This way, you can track progress, get the latest document version and see the context around a document. Given that it is tailored for legal teams

Allbirds CEO Joey Zwillinger on the startup’s $100 million round, profitability, and SPAC mania

As people spend less time out and about and more time daydreaming about when a vaccine will arrive, lifestyle shoes are only gaining traction. One obvious beneficiary is Allbirds , the San Francisco-based maker of comfortable, sustainable kicks that launched in 2016 and quickly became a favorite in Silicon Valley circles before taking off elsewhere. Though the company saw its business slow this year because of the pandemic, its products are now available to purchase in 35 countries and its 20 brick-and-mortar stores are sprinkled throughout the U.S. and Europe, with another outpost in Tokyo and several shops in China. Investors clearly see room for more growth. Allbirds just closed on $100 million in Series E funding at roughly the same $1.6 billion valuation it was assigned after closing on $27 million in Series D funding earlier this year, and blank-check companies have been calling, says cofounder and CEO Joey Zwillinger. He talked with us  earlier this week in a chat that has

Trump campaign senior advisor Brad Parscale is 'stepping away' from the campaign. He was hospitalized over the weekend after threatening self-harm.

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Brad Parscale, 2016. J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo Brad Parscale, a senior adviser to Donald Trump's campaign, said he was "stepping away" from the campaign on Wednesday, Politico reported.  Parscale was involuntarily detained by police this weekend after his wife called 911 and said he pulled out a firearm and threatened to harm himself. According to a police report, his wife Candice also told officers that Parscale was physically abusive.  She told Politico her statement to police was "misconstrued." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories . Brad Parscale, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump's campaign, announced he was "stepping away" from the campaign on Wednesday, Politico reported. "I am stepping away from my company and any role in the campaign for the immediate future to focus on my family and get help dealing with the overwhelming stress," Parscale said in the Wednesday statement. The announcem

Trump administration move could slash wages for over 200,000 farm workers

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Migrant farm laborers with Fresh Harvest working with an H-2A visa rest in their company dormitory on April 28, 2020 in King City, California. Brent Stirton/Getty Images The US Department of Agriculture published a notice on Wednesday announcing plans to stop conducting a wage survey of farm workers. Daniel Costa, an expert at the Economic Policy Institute, told Business Insider the move could allow the Trump administration to slash wages for migrants. Farm workers, an "essential" labor force during the pandemic, could see their wages drop from an average of just under $13 an hour to, in some states, as low as $5.15 an hour. "This administration is using 'essential' as a euphemism for 'disposable,'" Elizabeth Strater, an organizer with the United Farm Workers union, told Business Insider. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .   Migrant farm workers are already some of the lowest-paid laborers in the United States. Now t

Indian startups explore forming an alliance and alternative app store to fight Google’s ‘monopoly’

Google, which reaches more internet users than any other firm in India and commands 99% of the nation’s smartphone market, has stumbled upon an odd challenge in the world’s second largest internet market: Scores of top local entrepreneurs. Dozens of top startups and firms in India are working to form an alliance and toying with the idea of launching an app store to cut their reliance on Google, five people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The list of entrepreneurs include high-profile names such as Vijay Shekhar Sharma, co-founder and chief executive of Paytm (India’s most valuable startup ), Deep Kalra of travel ticketing firm MakeMyTrip, and executives from PolicyBazaar, Sharechat and many other firms. The growing list of founders expressed deep concerns about Google’s “monopolistic” hold on India, and discussed what they alleged was unfair and inconsistent enforcement of Play Store’s guidelines in the country. The conversations, which began in recent weeks, escalate

Twitter took down a network of 130 fake accounts in Iran that tried to spread disinformation during the US presidential debate

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Filip Radwanski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Twitter removed around 130 fake accounts based in Iran that tried to "disrupt the public conversation" during Tuesday's US presidential debate, the company announced Wednesday. Twitter said the FBI alerted it to the accounts, which ultimately "had very low engagement and did not make an impact on the public conversation." Twitter is still investigating the network and plans to release more details at a later date. Intelligence officials have warned that Iran is seeking to spread online disinformation around the US elections, though most say Russia poses a far larger threat . Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories . Twitter said in a tweet Wednesday that it had taken action against approximately 130 fake accounts, likely based in Iran, that attempted to spread disinformation during the US presidential debate on Tuesday. "Based on intel provided by the @FBI, last night we

Google says the Pixel’s Soli radar and Motion Sense will return

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Image: Google Google’s $799 Pixel 4 had built-in radar. The new $699 Pixel 5 does not — it ditches the sensor-laden forehead of its predecessor entirely in favor of thinner bezels and a hole-punch camera, like the $349 Pixel 4a before it. The result is more screen, but Google’s “Motion Sense” gestures and its answer to Apple’s Face ID are totally gone. But Google hardware boss Rick Osterloh tells The Verge that the Project Soli radar and gestures will return. “They’ll be used in the future,” he says. They were just too expensive for the phone that Google wanted to build this time. (He didn’t say whether they’d appear in a new phone, specifically; a recent FCC filing suggests they might come to a new Nest thermostat as well.) And let’s not get started... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2ELqNyq via IFTTT

The just-announced Pixel 5 has somehow already been unboxed

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The Pixel 5, Google’s latest Android flagship, was just announced today, and someone on YouTube has already posted an unboxing video of the new device ahead of its release ( via 9to5Google ). What’s in the box is fairly standard — there’s the phone itself, as well as a charger, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a USB-C to USB-A converter. The YouTube user who has the phone, who goes by the name Sergiu, does power it on, giving us a look at the phone’s 6-inch 2340 x 1080 OLED screen and 8-megapixel hole-punch selfie camera. Sergiu doesn’t use the phone all that much in the video, though, sticking mostly to the phone’s home screen. Sergiu also zooms in on back of the Pixel 5, showing the phone’s aluminum back, fingerprint sensor, and square... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3jjLssD via IFTTT

American Airlines to begin furloughs for thousands of workers on October 1, but says it will reverse layoffs if Congress reaches deal on COVID-19 relief

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Employees watch as American Airlines Flight 903 prepares for take off from Miami in 2016. Joe Raedle/Getty Images American Airlines will begin furloughing 19,000 employees on Thursday as Congress fails to reach a deal on a COVID-19 relief bill, CEO Doug Parker announced to employees. The federal Payroll Support Program (PSP) under the CARES Act passed by Congress in March expires on October 1. The House was set to vote on a $2.2-trillion stimulus package on Wednesday, but the vote was delayed in a last-minute attempt to negotiate a deal with the White House. "I am extremely sorry we have reached this outcome," Parker wrote in the letter to employees. "It is not what you all deserve." "It is a privilege to advocate on behalf of the hardworking aviation professionals at American and throughout the industry, and you have my assurance that we will continue to do so in the days ahead," the CEO continued. Adding, "We are not done fighting." Pa

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin says any bipartisan stimulus deal will include more $1,200 direct payments for Americans

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks at a White House press conference. Reuters Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said any bipartisan stimulus agreement would include another round of $1,200 checks for Americans. "We have reached an agreement that if there is a deal, there are direct payments similar to last time that are in the package," he said of talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Millions of $1,200 federal checks were sent to individuals earlier this spring. A stimulus deal would likely carry a price tag that's $1.5 trillion or above, and its unclear that Senate Republicans long resistant to spending would back a plan of that size. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories . Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday evening that any stimulus agreement will contain a second round of $1,200 direct payments to American taxpayers. In an interview on Fox Business, Mnuchin reiterated the Trump administration's opposition to the $2.2 tr

Facebook will ban ads that wrongly claim election victory

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook will ban ads that wrongly claim victory in the US presidential race. The news comes a week after the company announced it would reject ads from Donald Trump or Joe Biden claiming a premature win on November 3rd. The policy covers ads that claim legal forms of voting — like voting by mail — will corrupt the outcome of the election. It also bans ads that claim rampant voter fraud could alter the results of the election. This is a real concern for the 2020 race. Due to mail-in voting, the electoral process is expected to take longer than in years past, and the official results likely won’t be announced on November 3rd. Experts worry that because more Democrats are expected to vote by mail than Republicans , Trump could declare an... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/3ihHOOB via IFTTT

Marketing shakeup at Red Bull after Black Lives Matter controversy

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Hi! Welcome to the Insider Advertising daily for October 1. I'm Tanya Dua, a senior advertising reporter at Business Insider, filling in for my colleague Lauren Johnson while she's away this week. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Send me feedback or tips at tdua@businessinsider.com. Today's news: Red Bull's marketing shakeup, the nine main ways creators earn money, and why Molson Coors is making and distributing Topo Chico hard seltzer with Coca-Cola. Red Bull CEO Dietrich Mateschitz Jan Woitas/Picture Alliance via Getty Images Red Bull laid off marketing staff and named a new CMO after internal controversy over Black Lives Matter Red Bull has laid off around 50 people in recent weeks and named a new CMO in Ken Turner, reports Patrick Coffee.  The employees affected were mostly in its culture marketing teams that oversaw projects tying the energy drink brand to hip-hop music and breakdancing culture. The shakeup follows

Next debate, we ought to hand the job of moderator over to a mother. Moms are used to dealing with tantrums and bullies.

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Moderator Chris Wallace tried to keep order during the debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images The first 2020 presidential debate was a chaotic mess filled with yelling, constant interruptions, and unintelligible cross-talk. Melissa Petro, a New York-based freelance writer with two small children, says that next time around, we should give the job of moderator to a mother — "assuming there's one out there with some room on her plate." Mothers know how to confront bullies, institute moral behavior in others, and lead by example, she writes. We need a grown-up in the room — and studies show that women's participation in peace negotiations leads to more successful outcomes. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories . Thirty minutes into the exchange between President Trump and Democratic candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden, I fell asleep on the sofa, a pile of unfolded laundry at my feet.  As the moth