US tech giants take on antitrust control, Spotify has a mixed quarter and fitness start at home Tempo raises money. This is your daily crisis of July 29, 2020.
The Big Story: Technology CEOs Face CongressAmazon Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook of Apple, Facebook Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai all appeared remotely this afternoon before the antitrust subcommittee of the House's judiciary.
Different representatives seem to focus on very different issues: Republicans have repeatedly reiterated the question of whether large technology platforms are suppressing conservative views, while Democrats seemed more concerned about potentially anti-competitive behavior.
For example, citing the newly revealed emails sent by Zuckerberg to other Facebook executives, representative Jerry Nadler said: "Facebook saw Instagram as a powerful threat that could steal business from Facebook so that it would not compete with it, Facebook bought it. " And Rep. Val Demings (like Nadler, a Democrat) suggested that Google was responsible for "effectively destroying anonymity on the Internet".
The giants of technologySpotify users are streaming again, but advertising revenues continue to be affected by the COVID crisis - In its latest revenue report, Spotify said it increased its monthly active users by 29% to 299 million.
Google One now offers free phone backups of up to 15 GB on Android and iOS - Google One is Google's subscription program for purchasing additional storage and live support and is getting an update.
Samsung is reportedly considering an agreement with Google that will depigonize Bixby - according to Reuters.
Startups, financing and venture capitalMirror's competitor Tempo collects a $ 60 million B-series - The news comes almost exactly one month after Mirror, one of the main competitors of the San Francisco-based company, was acquired by the fitness brand Lululemon for $ 500 millions.
Remitly raises $ 85 million at a valuation of $ 1.5 billion, says money transfer business has increased - CEO Matt Oppenheimer told us that customer growth has increased 200% over a year ago.
Los Angeles consumer rental service, Joymode, sells to New York retail investment company, XRC Labs - Joymode founder Joe Fernandez will continue as a startup consultant as he moves to steer his business to focus on retail partnerships.
Extra Crunch tips and analysisHow to schedule Series A fundraising - During our Early Stage event last week, Emergence Capital's Jake Saper said that finding the right time to raise funds requires a micro and macro strategy.
Investment in AI startups drops to a minimum of three years - A new CB Insights report shows historically strong but falling investment rates for AI startups.
Where is voice technology going? - One of the biggest stories of emerging technology is the growth of different types of voice assistants.
(Reminder: Extra Crunch is our subscription program, which aims to democratize startup information. You can sign up here.)
All the restWalmart launches its own voice assistant, "Ask Sam", initially for employee use - The tool allows Walmart employees to search for prices, access store maps, find products, view sales information, check email and more.
Hummer EV is shaping up to be GM's electrical response to the Ford Bronco and Tesla Cybertruck - GM has just launched its first look at the vehicle, announced before COVID, at the Super Bowl.
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