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It\u2019s that time of the week, folks: Week in Review (WiR) time. If you\u2019re new to WiR, it\u2019s the newsletter where TechCrunch recaps the week in tech that was. We get it \u2014 you\u2019re a busy person. We all are. So what better way to catch up on what\u2019s happened than in a summarized, bullet-point form? We can\u2019t think of one \u2014 and trust us, we\u2019ve tried.<\/p>\n
If you haven\u2019t already, please subscribe<\/a> to WiR so that you never miss a new edition. And make note (if you haven\u2019t) of TechCrunch\u2019s upcoming events, including the startup-focused Early Stage<\/a>\u00a0in Boston on April 20 and our mega-conference,\u00a0Disrupt<\/a>, in San Francisco on September 19\u201321.<\/p>\n With the call to action out of the way, let\u2019s get on to the news!<\/p>\n Tragic\u00a0killing:<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>Bob Lee, the creator of Cash App and the former CTO of Square, was killed this week in a fatal stabbing in San Francisco. Romain<\/a> writes that, before joining MobileCoin, Lee worked at Google for the first few years of Android, focusing on core library development. He then joined Square, the payment company that later became Block, and was an investor in startups, including SpaceX, Clubhouse, Tile and Figma.<\/p>\n Twitter sends doge soaring:<\/strong><\/a> On Monday, Alex<\/a> wrote that Twitter added the symbol for the cryptocurrency dogecoin to a place of prominence on Twitter.com, which had the effect of sending the value of dogecoin skyrocketing. Not coincidentally, Twitter CEO Elon Musk is currently embroiled in a lawsuit relating to the cryptocurrency \u2014 a suit in which Musk\u2019s lawyers called dogecoin<\/a> a \u201clegitimate cryptocurrency that continues to hold a market cap of nearly $10 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n Gen Z embraces Fanfix:<\/a> <\/strong>More and more Gen Z users are hopping on the content creation train in an effort to earn a living beyond the typical 9 to 5 gig. However, given the recent<\/a> drama<\/a> surrounding<\/a> major social media apps, many creators are getting\u00a0worried<\/a>. Lauren<\/a> reports that\u2019s why an increasing number of Gen Zers are jumping on Fanfix<\/a> \u2014 a Patreon competitor that only allows clean content and enables influencers to earn money directly from their followers.<\/p>\n A long-promised treadmill arrives:<\/strong><\/a> Startup Virtuix \u2014 which has long been promising a mass-market omnidirectional treadmill, raising more than $1.1 million on Kickstarter and $35 million from investors to bring it to market \u2014 has finally begun shipping a home version of its product. Brian<\/a> reports that the $2,595 Omni One features some upgrades to Virtuix\u2019s original, limited-production-run model, including a new tethering arm, and comes bundled with a customized Pico Neo 3 headset.<\/p>\n Breaches at Western Digital:<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>Data storage giant Western Digital confirmed that hackers recently exfiltrated data from its systems during a \u201cnetwork security incident,\u201d Carly<\/a> writes. The California-based company said in a\u00a0statement<\/a> on Monday that an unauthorized third party gained access to \u201ca number\u201d of its internal systems on March 26. Western Digital hasn\u2019t confirmed the nature of the incident or revealed how it was compromised, but its statement suggests the incident may be linked to ransomware<\/a>.<\/p>\n Android apps gain deletion option:<\/strong><\/a> Ivan<\/a> reports that Google this week announced a new account deletion policy for Android apps, providing apps that offer account creation an easy way to delete the account as well. Set to be enforced beginning sometime next year, the move follows Apple, which implemented a similar policy last June for apps on the App Store.<\/p>\n A publisher-focused alt to Twitter:<\/a> <\/strong>Post<\/a>,\u00a0a Twitter alternative of sorts<\/a> that\u2019s rethinking how publishers should engage with social media, has opened its doors to the public. Sarah<\/a> reports that the startup, like others in this space, gained ground\u00a0in the wake of Elon Musk\u2019s\u00a0acquisition<\/a> of Twitter as many began to look for a new place to read and discuss the news or share their own thoughts with their followers. But Post doesn\u2019t want to be just another Twitter clone.<\/p>\n SpaceX hype machine:<\/strong><\/a> More and more hype is building for the first orbital flight test of Starship, SpaceX\u2019s ultra-heavy launch system. The hype started to reach a crescendo this week as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released an air traffic advisory<\/a> identifying April 10 as a primary launch date. But the FAA has yet to issue the all-important launch license to SpaceX, Aria<\/a> writes \u2014 a final regulatory green light that\u2019s a nonnegotiable step before the company can conduct the test.<\/p>\n TechCrunch ain\u2019t just a wellspring of well-reported written pieces (how\u2019s that for forced alliteration on a Friday?) \u2014 it\u2019s a podcasting machine, too, wouldn\u2019t ya know. On Equity<\/a>, the team talked about Y Combinator\u2019s demo day as well as\u00a0Q1 numbers, deals of the week and venture activity in Latin America. TC\u2019s Found<\/a> podcast highlighted\u00a0The Nudge, a text-based app that helps users make the best plans in their city. Chain Reaction \u2014 which was nominated for a Webby Award<\/a> (voting<\/a> closes April 20, by the way) \u2014 interviewed Arianna Simpson, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, about the firm\u2019s focus on crypto investments. And TechCrunch Live<\/a> dove deep into Oma Fertility, a company that\u2019s raised over $70 million to radically improve in vitro fertilization.<\/p>\n TC+ subscribers get access to in-depth commentary, analysis and surveys \u2014 which you know if you\u2019re already a subscriber. If you\u2019re not, consider signing up<\/a>. Here are a few highlights from this week:<\/em><\/p>\n Favorites from YC\u2019s Winter 2023 Demo Day:<\/strong><\/a> The TC crew rounded up a few of their top picks from Y Combinator\u2019s Winter 2023 batch, including firms developing comics software, meat-based plants and Tesla spun-out heat pumps.<\/p>\n Climate tech slowdown:<\/strong><\/a> Tim<\/a> writes about the slowdown in climate tech deal-making, which is occurring as investors anticipate a recession in the coming months. Climate tech\u2019s resilience up until now has led some to call it the ultimate \u201crecession-proof\u201d investment. Tim explores whether that\u2019s still true.<\/p>\n A glum Q1:<\/strong><\/a> Alex<\/a> writes about how the global venture capital market shrank in Q1 2023 \u2014 and would\u2019ve been even worse were it not for a few mega deals. The dip in funding implies that the current startup investing downturn may not turn course anytime soon.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nmost read<\/h2>\n
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