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Christine is back from a week of making the world a better place, and now she’s here to help make this a better newsletter as well. Huzzah! — Christine and Haje
The TechCrunch Top 3
- Where there was once sunshine has now faded to darkness: Thousands of Solana users found their wallets were drained of collectively around $8 million, Rita and Carly write. The hack is only affecting “hot” wallets, the pair report. Industry experts say this may have been a privacy key compromise. We’re sure there will be more on this later.
- Ping finds itself in familiar territory: Ping Identity, a public enterprise identity management firm, has agreed to be acquired by the private equity firm Thoma Bravo, Ingrid reports. This is not Ping’s first exposure to PE involvement. It was majority-owned by Vista Equity, which retains a minority stake in the company. Thoma Bravo has been on a buying streak lately, also picking up both SailPoint and Anaplan this year.
- Trading places: We go back to Rita, who writes about Salesforce taking a look at its presence in China. Among the changes are the closing of its Hong Kong office and the acceleration of Salesforce’s relationship with Alibaba, which includes helping companies establish a social commerce presence.
Startups and VC
L’Attitude Ventures announced today that it has closed on its first institutional fund, raising more than $100 million from several financial services heavyweights, including a “strategic anchor investment” from JPMorgan Chase, Mary Ann reports.
Playstudios, a publicly traded mobile gaming platform and developer, is venturing into the web3 world with a new blockchain division and investment fund. The gaming entity announced a $10 million investment vehicle, Future Fund, to back companies building rewarded play options, Jacquelyn reports.
Keepin’ the startup train rollin’:
- Computer says maybe: Kyle reports that customer service tech company Aisera lands $90 million to automate customer service requests with the power of machine learning.
- A vault for your digital trinkets: Imagine paying millions of dollars for a JPEG of a monkey just to have it stolen from your digital wallet. Upstream’s new vault could help keep your digital treasures a bit safer, Anita reports.
- From straps to treadmill: In today’s episode of the Equity podcast, Natasha M and Alex ponder if it is time to jump on the venture treadmill for companies that have been bootstrapping so far.
- Pay $5, get paid: Kyle reports that startup ZayZoon charges employees $5 to get paid sooner.
- Y minimator: Citing downturns and funding climate, Y Combinator narrows cohort size by 40%, writes Natasha M.
Dear Sophie: How long am I required to stay at my current job after I get my green card?
Dear Sophie,
I’m a software engineer currently on an H-1B. My employer sponsored me for an EB-2 green card, and my application has been approved, but I’m still waiting for a decision on my application to register for permanent residence.
I want to leave my employer and do something completely different. Can I transfer my green card to another employer in a different field and position, or should I stick it out in my current position until I receive my green card?
If I should stick it out, how long should I stay with my current employer after I receive my green card?
— Craving Change
Dear Sophie: How long am I required to stay at my current job after I get my green card?
(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)
Big Tech Inc.
Uber and Omio join forces in the UK so that users can book trains, coaches and bus travel, Natasha L reports. The ride-hailing giant sees this as a way to not only get into longer distance travel, but also to capture, or recapture, travelers moving between different forms of transportation. In other Uber news, it appears the company has now concluded its partnership with Indian food delivery firm Zomato, Manish writes.
Staying over in India for a moment, Manish also reports that the government is withdrawing its personal data protection bill. This was some legislation that privacy advocates and tech giants were not fans of, mainly because they felt it restricted how they managed sensitive information while also enabling the government to more easily access the same information.
Speaking of partnerships, Ticketmaster and TikTok now have one to provide users with a new way to discover and purchase event tickets, Aisha writes. This feature is initially for certain creators who can search for Ticketmaster events and add destination links to their videos. Ivan also reports that ByteDance might be gearing up for a global launch of TikTok Music.
You may also want to “byte” into these:
- When fan fiction hits too close to copyright home: Amanda takes a look at what happened when two TikTok stars set out to cash in on their love of “Bridgerton,” only to find that Netflix, who was once okay with it, now is not.
- Live “shopping” and let die: Live shopping is still an up-and-coming way of e-commerce in the U.S., but Facebook has decided to shutter its live shopping feature to instead focus on Reels. You have until October 1 to host any new events, Aisha writes.
- Pokémon-palooza: Amanda also gives you a look at the new Pokémon that just dropped.
- Google’s next phase: Remember when Google said it was going to merge Duo and Meet a few months ago? Well, Frederic writes that Google is entering the next step in that merger with an app update that changes the Duo logo to the Meet one.
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