Twitter users vote for Elon Musk to step down / Epic Games to pay $520M to the FTC / EU ministers agree on gas price cap

Plus, Jan. 6 Committee refers former President Donald Trump to DOJ for criminal investigation.

Inside.com Part of   Network December 19, 2022

Elon Musk ran a Twitter poll on Sunday asking his more than 120 million followers on the platform if he should step down from the CEO role. Musk added that he would abide by the result of the poll. In a later tweet, Musk told his followers they should be careful of what they wish as they might get it. More: More than 17 million users participated in the Twitter poll, with 57.5% voting “yes” that Musk should step down as CEO and 42.5% voting “no.” The poll came following pushback on a now reversed Twitter policy where the social media platform said it would ban users and accounts that share the links of rival platforms on Twitter. Under the policy, users would be banned from Twitter if they share links to rival platforms like Mastodon, Post, Jack Dorsey’s new venture Nostr, and even Linktree or if they share their usernames for these platforms. Musk later apologized for the policy, adding that future major policy changes would be decided through a vote. In a later Tweet, Musk said no one who could keep Twitter alive wanted to be CEO of the platform, noting there would be no successor if he stepped down from the role. Musk said Twitter has been on a fast lane to bankruptcy since May. On Friday, it was reported that Musk is seeking additional funds for Twitter. Musk was pictured in Qatar on Sunday at the World Cup finals game between Argentina and France.

Epic Games, the developer of the Fortnite video game, has agreed to pay $520M to settle with the FTC over allegations that the company violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Epic Games is also accused of tricking users into making unintended purchases. More: Epic Games will pay two fines: a $245M fine against Fortnite’s in-game store and refund systems and a $275M fine to address the child privacy allegations. The FTC claims that Epic Games made efforts to appeal to children using music, celebrities, and brand partnerships. The FTC said it took Epic Games two years after the launch of Fortnite to introduce parental controls on the game. The agency claims children were bullied, threatened, and harassed, including sexually, through Fortnite. In a statement on Monday, Epic Games said it has addressed many of the FTC concerns, including eliminating its pay-to-win and play-to-progress features.

EU energy ministers have agreed to put a cap on natural gas prices if they rise above €180 ($191) per megawatt hour for three days. The policy aims to protect EU citizens from surging energy prices as winter comes. The price is expected to take effect starting Feb. 15. More: Should natural gas prices go above €180 ($191) per megawatt hour for three consecutive days, a market correction mechanism will kick in to limit prices for certain natural-gas contracts for a period of 20 working days. The agreement will apply to month-ahead, three-month-ahead, and year-ahead derivative contracts. The policy is expected to get pushback from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which runs the largest market in European natural-gas futures from the Netherlands. Last week ICE said it would move its natural gas market outside of the EU if the bloc pursues the policy. On Monday, an ICE spokeswoman said the exchange was reviewing the details of the announced price cap to see if the firm can continue operating a fair and orderly market in the region.

The European Commission said it found Meta breached EU antitrust law by distorting competition in the markets for online classified ads. If found guilty, Meta faces a fine of up to $11.8B, or 10% of the company’s global annual revenue. More: The commission began probing Meta in June 2021 over Facebook’s possible anticompetitive conduct. The commission claims that Facebook pairing its Marketplace service with its social media platform gave the company a significant distribution advantage. The commission argues that the tie-up gave users no choice but to utilize Facebook Marketplace. According to the commission’s vice president in charge of competition policy Margrethe Vestager, Meta’s practices would be illegal under EU competition rules.

Defense contractor L3Harris Technologies is buying Aerojet Rocketdyne in a deal valued at $4.7B. Aerojet manufactures engines used in missiles like the Javelin. The company also develops products that power NASA’s rockets and the U.S. military’s hypersonic systems. More: Earlier this year, federal regulators blocked Lockheed Martin’s proposed $4.4B acquisition of Aerojet over antitrust concerns. According to sources, L3Harris will pay $58 a share for Aerojet, beating out other bids from General Electric and Textron. L3Harris makes various products, including military radios, top-secret space hardware, and air-traffic control systems. Aerojet has experienced several delays in its missile production, including a recent fire at a supplier’s facility. Earlier this year, the Pentagon raised concerns about the shrinking number of suppliers within the rocket motor sector, noting this could stifle innovation and price competition and leave the military vulnerable to supply disruptions.

Binance's U.S. operations, Binance.US, has agreed to buy the crypto assets and customer deposits of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital for $1.02B. FTX had initially planned to acquire Voyager's assets after winning an auction for them. FTX's bid was valued at roughly $1.42B. The deal was part of a bailout effort for Voyager. More: Voyager filed for bankruptcy in July following the collapse of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC). 3AC owed Voyager more than $650M at the time of its collapse. Voyager had more than 1.7 million users at the time of its bankruptcy filing. Binance.US operates as an independent legal entity and has a licensing agreement with Binance.com. The crypto industry has lost more than $2T in value since the start of this year.

Quick Hits No more waiting weeks to find a therapist. Sign up with BetterHelp, and you can get matched with a therapist in less than 48 hours. * Disney’s shares fell nearly 5% on Monday, hitting a 52-week low after James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” fell short of box office expectations during its opening weekend. The film generated $134M at the domestic box office; analysts had expected $175M. The Jan. 6 House committee voted unanimously to refer former President Donald Trump to the DOJ for criminal investigation and potential prosecution for trying to overturn the 2020 election. Argentina won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar on Sunday after defeating France in a penalty shootout. The game ended with a final score of 3-3 and Argentina leading 4-2 in penalties. It is estimated Qatar spent more than $200B on the World Cup.  Activist group Follow This has called on BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, and Chevron to cut down their carbon emissions more aggressively by the end of the decade. *This is sponsored content.

Upcoming Events January 07 - AMA with TripActions - Corporate Travel and Expense Management Solutions w/ Ram Bartov (Watch Here) January 07 - AMA with Security Compass - Building Secure Compliant Software for the Public Sector w/ Jay Ryan (Watch On Demand) January 07 - AMA with Smallstep - Secured Distributed Systems of the Future w/ Mike Malone (Watch On Demand) January 07 - AMA with Synthesis AI - Synthetic data for more efficient and ethical model development w/ Yashar Behzadi (Watch On Demand) January 07 - AMA with Teamflow - Sales Development Representative Management + Career Development w/ Joshua Garrison (Watch On Demand) January 07 - AMA with Gun.io - Building and managing software development teams w/ Deividi Silva (Watch On Demand) January 07 - AMA with LinearB - Improving workflow for developers w/ Ori Keren (Watch On Demand) January 10 - Inside Startups Coffee Break (Register Here) January 17 - Inside Marketing Coffee Break (Register Here) January 31 - Growth Summit 2023 (Register Here)

Vanessa Omeokachie is a writer for Inside.com; she writes the daily Inside Business newsletter. Her interests include finance, technology, and entrepreneurship. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending concerts and music festivals, traveling, and exploring.  Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or on LinkedIn. Editor Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords.

767 Bryant St. #203, San Francisco, CA 94107 Copyright © 2022 Inside.com

Did someone forward this email to you? Head over to inside.com to get your very own free subscription! You received this email because you subscribed to Inside Business. Click here to unsubscribe from Inside Business list or manage your subscriptions.

                                                           

Autograph lets go of "dozens" of employees / Axelar debuts $60M fund / Helm.ai raises $31M

Plus, Virgio valued at $161M after Series A

Inside.com Part of   Network December 19, 2022

Hey, Insider! Want to be featured in next week's' newsletter? Answer our weekly question: Why do you think it's important to support startups over big businesses? Share your response here.

NFT startup Autograph let go of "dozens" of employees in marketing, HR, and creative roles, which it blamed on macroeconomic conditions. Autograph users can purchase sports-related NFTs on its platform. Autograph was co-founded by Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady. More: Autograph has raised $205M since its inception in 2021, according to Crunchbase. It raised $170M at an undisclosed valuation in January. Business Insider notes Autograph has 124 employees. Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, served on Autograph's board but left at an unknown date. Zoom out: Brady is among a list of celebrities who were included in a lawsuit that was filed in November following the collapse of FTX, which caused consumers to lose $11B collectively. Web3 startups saw their venture funding decline from $6B in Q3 2021 to $3.3B in Q3 2022.

Helm.ai, a startup that develops software for advanced driver assistance systems, autonomous driving and robotics, raised $31M. The Series C round pushed the company's valuation to $431M. More: The funding round was led by Freeman Group. Brandon Freeman, the founder of the Freeman Group, is joining the Helm.ai board of directors as part of the Series C round. Just in 2021, Helm.ai raised $26M in venture funding, mainly from Honda Motor Co., Goodyear Ventures, and Sungwoo Hitech. Helm.ai developed software that can train neural networks without needing large-scale fleet data, simulation, or annotation.

Today, Axelar, a proof-of-state blockchain company, launched its Axelar Ecosystem Startup Funding Program to help grow and sustain startups building decentralized applications and protocols. The $60M funding initiative includes backing from more than 15 investors.  More:  Investors include Blockchange, Chorus One, Collab+Currency, Cygni, dao5, DCVC, Divergence Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, Lemniscap, Morningstar Ventures, Nima Capital, Node Capital, North Island Ventures, Rockaway Blockchain Fund, and SCB 10X. The investment will help grow Web3 by incentivizing startups to build decentralized programs rather than centralized ones.  Earlier this year, Acelar debuted its Axelar Grant Program, which helped jumpstart 50 early-stage startups, 33% of which went on to raise pre-seed or seed funding.

Mangomint, a startup that offers a SaaS tool for salons, raised $13M. The startup streamlines the booking experience for the beauty industry, from spas and massage parlors to piercing and tattoo studios.  More: Mangomint recently had 200,000 monthly appointments in 1,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada. OpenView Venture Partners led the Series A round. The startup is helping companies with the labor shortage, which began due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mangomint streamlines booking, point-of-sale, employee payroll, and customer relationship management.

The fashion-startup Virgio is now valued at $161M after a $37M Series A round. Prosus Ventures, Alpha Wave, and Accel co-led the round. More:  The fashion producer is looking to build a "global fashion brand."  Virgio combines the manufacturing and purchase process to afford customers bigger discounts and free shipping.  As a result of its novel production method, the startup has decreased lead times from an average of 8-10 months to 1 month.

Oyin Solebo is set to join the ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator Program as its managing director. The Lagos-based division was announced earlier this year and will be run in partnership with ARM Labs. Solebo joins ahead of the division’s inaugural accelerator cohort, which commences in Jan. 2023.  More: The program is aimed at supporting fintech and proptech startups serving the African region.  In its inaugural year, the program will back 12 startups.  Solebo co-founded Movemeback, an organization that connects African startups with overseas talent.  She is an MBA graduate from London Business School and had a stint as an investment associate with Goldman Sachs.  She is tasked with scaling the Techstars accelerator program in Africa.

Quick Hits: No more waiting weeks to find a therapist. Sign up with BetterHelp, and you can get matched with a therapist in less than 48 hours.* AWS selected Cyber Legends, an interactive learning platform for kids, to join its EdStart accelerator program.  Sanjay Gupta, country manager and VP for Google India, announced that the firm would focus on backing women-led early-stage startups in India. The firm will invest in startups through its $10B India Digitization Fund.  SoftBank-backed virtual reality startup Improbable is cutting 10% of its workforce as it focuses on achieving profitability in 2023.  Australian grocery delivery service YourGrocer shut down operations on Friday last week. The company failed to raise $1M in financing from the crowdfunding platform Birchal.  German cybersecurity firm VMRay secured $34M in Series B funding led by Tikehau Capital.  *This is sponsored content.

Upcoming Events: January 07 - AMA with TripActions - Corporate Travel and Expense Management Solutions w/ Ram Bartov (Watch Here) January 07 - AMA with Security Compass - Building Secure Compliant Software for the Public Sector w/ Jay Ryan (Watch On Demand) January 07 - AMA with Smallstep - Secured Distributed Systems of the Future w/ Mike Malone (Watch On Demand) January 07 - AMA with Synthesis AI - Synthetic data for more efficient and ethical model development w/ Yashar Behzadi (Watch On Demand) January 07 - AMA with Teamflow - Sales Development Representative Management + Career Development w/ Joshua Garrison (Watch On Demand) January 07 - AMA with Gun.io - Building and managing software development teams w/ Deividi Silva (Watch On Demand) January 07 - AMA with LinearB - Improving workflow for developers w/ Ori Keren (Watch On Demand) January 10 - Inside Startups Coffee Break (Register Here) January 17 - Inside Marketing Coffee Break (Register Here) January 31 - Growth Summit 2023 (Register Here)

Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot.  Jigney Pathak is a Business Researcher at Inside who loves technology, finance & sports. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration with a finance specialization & has previously worked at Salesforce. Courtney Rawlings is an Inside Research Analyst living in Los Angeles, California. She has returned to her hometown of LA after spending several years working at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is completing a Ph.D. in Art and Architectural History.  Martin Ruiz-Cantu is a Business Researcher at Inside.com. He has a Master's in Global Business and Finance from Georgetown University. He previously worked at HSBC and the World Bank. He is passionate about finance, startups and tech.   Editor Vibha Chapparike is a Freelance Writer & Editor at Inside.com. With her post-graduation in Management and Finance completed, Vibha is expanding her knowledge in venture capital, business, startups, and technology. She has had a career in public relations and communications. An ardent reader and writer currently residing in Singapore, you can follow Vibha on Twitter @VChapparike.

767 Bryant St. #203, San Francisco, CA 94107 Copyright © 2022 Inside.com

Did someone forward this email to you? Head over to inside.com to get your very own free subscription! You received this email because you subscribed to Inside Startups. Click here to unsubscribe from Inside Startups list or manage your subscriptions.