When in 2010, former VC Michael Kim set out to raise a fund that he would invest in a spate of micro VC managers, the investors to which he turned didn’t get it. Why pay Kim and his firm, Cendana Capital, a management fee on top of the management fees that the VC managers themselves…
Read MoreMonth: July 2020
Facebook shuts down Hobbi, its experimental app for documenting personal projects
Facebook’s recently launched app, Hobbi, an experiment in short-form content creation around personal projects, hobbies, and other Pinterest-y content, is already shutting down. The app first arrived on iOS in February as one of now several launches from Facebook’s internal R&D group, the NPE Team. Hobbi users have now been notified by way of push…
Read MoreLyft’s self-driving test vehicles are back on public roads in California
Lyft’s self-driving vehicle division has restarted testing on public roads in California, several months after pausing operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Lyft’s Level 5 program said Tuesday some of its autonomous vehicles are back on the road in Palo Alto and at its closed test track. The company has not resumed a pilot program that…
Read MoreTransferWise to offer investment products but has ‘no plans’ to become a bank
TransferWise, the London-headquartered international money transfer service recently valued at $3.5 billion, has secured an additional license with U.K. regulators to enable it to offer investment products in the future. This will mean that U.K. customers who have money deposited in a TransferWise multi-currency or so-called “borderless” account will be given the option to make…
Read MoreElementary Robotics is making its quality assurance robots commercially available
Two years and more than $17 million after it first began working on its robots for quality assurance, the Los Angeles-based Elementary Robotics has finally made its products commercially available. The company already boasts a few very large initial customers in the automotive industry, consumer packaged goods and aerospace and defense, including Toyota, according to…
Read MoreNASA pays out $51 million to small businesses with big ideas
NASA has announced its latest batch of small business grants, providing more than 300 businesses a total of $51 million in crucial early-stage funding. These “phase I” projects receive up to $125,000 to help bring new technologies to market. The Small Business Innovation Research/Technology Transfer programs help entrepreneurs and inventors transition their work from lab…
Read MoreSkygauge’s innovative tilting rotor drones are up for pre-order, with deliveries in 2021
I have had a few occasions to see Skygauge’s drones in-person, primarily on visits to Asia. The Canadian team is involved in HAX’s program and has spent time working out of their Shenzhen offices. In fact, they competed at our last hardware battlefield in the city late last year. To a person, everyone I’ve spoken…
Read MoreDfinity demonstrates its TikTok clone, opens up its ‘Internet Computer’ to outside developers
Dfinity appeared in 2018, amid the flurry of investments in the blockchain space. It raised $102 million in funding at a $2 billion valuation in a round jointly led by Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain Capital, along with other investors, including KR1. I must admit that at the time it appeared for all intents and purposes…
Read MoreFacebook bans ‘violent network’ of far-right boogaloo accounts
Facebook took action to remove a network of accounts Tuesday related to the “boogaloo” movement, a firearm-obsessed anti-government ideology that focuses on preparing for and potentially inciting a U.S. civil war. “As part of today’s action, we are designating a violent US-based anti-government network under our Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy and disrupting it on…
Read MoreWhat 👁👄👁.fm means for Silicon Valley
Ravi Mehta Contributor Share on Twitter Ravi is a consumer tech leader who was most recently Chief Product Officer at Tinder. Previously, he was a product leader at Facebook, TripAdvisor and Xbox. He writes about scaling products and teams at http://ravi-mehta.com. In 36 hours, a diverse group of young entrepreneurs and technologists raised more than…
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