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Xingsheng co-founder and CEO Yue Lihua. Photo by Xingsheng.

China’s Hottest Grocery Startup, Worth $8 Billion, Wants to Build an Online Version of Costco

By Yunan Zhang · Mar 25, 2021 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Yue Lihua’s background is as far from Silicon Valley as you can get: The founder of one of China’s hottest startups grew up in a poor village, located in a remote corner of rural China. He was one of seven brothers and sisters whose parents ran a modest grocery at a time when private enterprise was just emerging in the communist... Yue Lihua’s background is as far from Silicon Valley as you can get: The founder of one of...

Screen grab of “Dragon Ball Super” from Crunchyroll.

Sony’s Hopes of Countering Netflix in Anime Market Delayed by Antitrust Probe

By Josh Sisco and Jessica Toonkel · Mar 24, 2021 9:35am PDT

Sony Pictures’ hopes of countering Netflix and Amazon in the increasingly popular market for the Japanese-style animated videos known as anime has hit a snag. The U.S. Justice Department has extended its antitrust review of Sony’s proposed $1.2 billion acquisition of anime-streaming service Crunchyroll from AT&T’s... Sony Pictures’ hopes of countering Netflix and Amazon in the increasingly popular market...

An employee uses a facial recognition device as she swipes her badge to enter the assembly line area at a Pegatron factory in Shanghai in 2016. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple Forbids Facial Scanning of Employees—But Not Factory Workers

By Wayne Ma · Mar 24, 2021 6:01am PDT

Apple says privacy is a “fundamental human right,” and shielding people’s privacy is the cornerstone of the company’s public relations fight against rivals such as Google and Facebook. But those privacy concerns don’t necessarily apply to the workers who make its products. Apple recently told its manufacturing... Apple says privacy is a “fundamental human right,” and shielding people’s...

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian at an event in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

Google Cloud Caps Sales Commissions as Losses Mount

By Kevin McLaughlin · Mar 22, 2021 6:01am PDT · 7 comments

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian at an event in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

Google Cloud Caps Sales Commissions as Losses Mount

By Kevin McLaughlin · Mar 22, 2021 6:01am PDT · 7 comments

Last year, Google lost $5.6 billion on its cloud computing business—real money even for one of the most wildly profitable companies on the planet. Now it’s taking a new approach that could help it stem a bit of that flood of red ink. Thomas Kurian, chief of Google’s cloud computing unit, recently reintroduced a cap on the... Last year, Google lost $5.6 billion on its cloud computing business—real money even for one...

Zach Perret, CEO and co-founder of Plaid, speaks during the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit in Salt Lake City in 2020.

Altimeter to Lead Plaid Deal After Scrapped Visa Merger

By Kate Clark, Berber Jin and Josh Sisco · Mar 18, 2021 5:11pm PDT

Plaid, the financial technology startup whose planned sale to Visa fell apart in January, is raising about $600 million in a funding round that could value it at between $10 billion to $15 billion, according to four people close to the company. Altimeter Capital, a hedge fund turned VC firm that has bought stakes in some of Silicon... Plaid, the financial technology startup whose planned sale to Visa fell apart in January, is...

Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta. Photo by Bloomberg.

Instacart Eyes Fourth-Quarter Public Listing, International Expansion

By Alex Heath and Amir Efrati · Mar 18, 2021 10:27am PDT

Grocery-delivery app Instacart has been among the biggest beneficiaries of Americans being stuck at home during the pandemic. But its executives don’t want future buyers of its stock to worry about what happens when that ends. The company, which hopes to become a major challenger to Amazon by selling a wide variety of products from retail... Grocery-delivery app Instacart has been among the biggest beneficiaries of Americans being stuck...

Signage for Bumble's IPO at the Nasdaq market in February. Photo by Bloomberg.

After Bumble’s Stock Pop, Chinese Dating App Soul Seeks Billion-Dollar IPO

By Yunan Zhang · Mar 16, 2021 10:49am PDT · 1 comment

A Chinese dating and social chat app called Soul is preparing for an initial public offering likely to value the company at $1 billion or more, riding a wave of interest after the recent success of U.S. dating app Bumble and a rush of Chinese startups tapping red-hot capital markets. Soul, which masks users’ profile pictures and matches... A Chinese dating and social chat app called Soul is preparing for an initial public offering...

Vice CEO Nancy Dubuc. Photo by Bloomberg

Vice, BuzzFeed Facing Valuation Cuts in SPAC Deals

By Jessica Toonkel · Mar 16, 2021 6:01am PDT · 2 comments

Vice CEO Nancy Dubuc. Photo by Bloomberg

Vice, BuzzFeed Facing Valuation Cuts in SPAC Deals

By Jessica Toonkel · Mar 16, 2021 6:01am PDT · 2 comments

Media firms such as Vice and BuzzFeed are likely to go public by merging with special purpose acquisition companies in the next few months—but unlike SPAC deals in bubbly industries like electric vehicles, the deals are likely to be done at valuations below what the media firms have fetched in the past. Vice Media is in talks with at least... Media firms such as Vice and BuzzFeed are likely to go public by merging with special purpose...

Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla. Art by Mike Sullivan

Khosla’s Lawsuit Against Lime Shows Ugly Side of Aborted Acqui-Hires

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 15, 2021 12:48pm PDT · 2 comments

It would have been an unremarkable transaction: Electric skateboard pioneer Boosted was running out of money in late 2019 and tried to sell key assets and transfer some employees to Lime, a scooter rental firm, for $30 million in Lime’s stock. The deal would have helped Boosted’s biggest financial backer, Khosla Ventures, recoup some... It would have been an unremarkable transaction: Electric skateboard pioneer Boosted was running...

A worker at a picking station at an Amazon warehouse. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Expands Effort to ‘Gamify’ Warehouse Work

By Paris Martineau and Mark Di Stefano · Mar 15, 2021 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

At dozens of Amazon warehouses every day, employees go about their regular work routines, plucking the items from shelves that make up customer orders and dropping them into plastic bins. They get paid, of course, but some of them are also vying for digital rewards that allow them to buy virtual narwhals, dinosaurs and other electronic pets. ... At dozens of Amazon warehouses every day, employees go about their regular work routines,...

Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos. Photo by Bloomberg.

In Reversal, Netflix Discussed Selling Shows to TV Networks

By Jessica Toonkel · Mar 12, 2021 12:34pm PST · 1 comment

Netflix has made a name for itself as the exclusive home for its original series like “The Queen’s Gambit,” “Stranger Things” and “Firefly Lane.” But in what could be a major departure in strategy, the streaming giant in recent months has explored licensing some of its movies and series to other TV... Netflix has made a name for itself as the exclusive home for its original series like “The...

Tencent's Chief Strategy Officer James Mitchell, a key figure in Tencent's investment portfolio. Photo by Bloomberg

Tencent’s Investments Got $120 Billion Boost From 2020 Rally

By Wayne Ma and Juro Osawa · Mar 9, 2021 6:01am PST · 3 comments

Tencent's Chief Strategy Officer James Mitchell, a key figure in Tencent's investment portfolio. Photo by Bloomberg

Tencent’s Investments Got $120 Billion Boost From 2020 Rally

By Wayne Ma and Juro Osawa · Mar 9, 2021 6:01am PST · 3 comments

It’s the kind of track record that would make any Sand Hill Road venture capitalist jealous. Tencent, best known for its WeChat messaging app, is one of the world’s biggest and savviest tech investors, holding stakes in a range of companies including Snap and Meituan. Previously unreported internal data reviewed by The Information... It’s the kind of track record that would make any Sand Hill Road venture capitalist...

Art by Mike Sullivan

How Katerra’s Facade Crumbled

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 4, 2021 6:00am PST · 6 comments

Not much was going right early last year at SoftBank-backed construction startup Katerra. Money was drying up, and board meetings sometimes erupted into shouting matches. Anxious about missing financial forecasts while the company was trying to raise more money from investors, at least one Katerra employee told others in its relatively small but... Not much was going right early last year at SoftBank-backed construction startup Katerra. Money...

Facebook vice president Dan Levy has said the company is acquiring Kustomer because more businesses are interacting with their customers on Facebook apps. Photo courtesy of Facebook.

Facebook’s $1 Billion Kustomer Acquisition Faces Extensive Antitrust Review

By Josh Sisco · Mar 3, 2021 11:07am PST · 2 comments

Facebook’s planned purchase of a startup called Kustomer is the kind of deal that would barely have raised an eyebrow among antitrust regulators a few years ago. The company is small and sells customer service software, far outside Facebook’s core social media and virtual reality businesses. But now that U.S. regulators are... Facebook’s planned purchase of a startup called Kustomer is the kind of deal that would...

Brex co-founders, Pedro Franceschi (left) and Henrique Dubugras (center). Photo courtesy of Brex

Brex Valuation Could Reach $8 Billion in New Funding Round

By Kate Clark · Feb 26, 2021 3:09pm PST

Brex is raising a new round of capital that could roughly triple the financial technology startup’s valuation to $8 billion, according to a person close to the company. The new financing follows Brex’s application for a banking license and would add to a string of large deals in the fintech sector. Tiger Global Management, a hedge... Brex is raising a new round of capital that could roughly triple the financial technology...

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan. Photo by Bloomberg

Zoom Executives Have Discussed an Expansion Into Contact Center Market

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 25, 2021 6:00am PST

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan. Photo by Bloomberg

Zoom Executives Have Discussed an Expansion Into Contact Center Market

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 25, 2021 6:00am PST

Zoom Video Communications’ pockets are full of cash after a $2 billion secondary offering of its shares last month. But where will it spend the money? One possibility: an acquisition of one or more companies in the contact center market, a fast-growing software business that helps companies field customer service requests through phone,... Zoom Video Communications’ pockets are full of cash after a $2 billion secondary offering...

Hony Capital founder and CEO John Zhao. Photo by Bloomberg.

SPACs Spread to China as ByteDance Investor Hony Capital Preps Listing

By Juro Osawa · Feb 24, 2021 6:38am PST

The SPAC boom is spreading to China. Hony Capital, a major private equity firm which has investments in companies such as TikTok owner ByteDance and WeWork’s China unit, is preparing to list a special purpose acquisition company in the U.S. That will make it one of the first Chinese private equity giants to jump on the global SPAC... The SPAC boom is spreading to China. Hony Capital, a major private equity firm which has...

Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, unveils Apple's sign-in button in 2019. Photo by AP.

Apple’s App Sign-in Button Becomes Hot-Button Issue in U.S. Antitrust Probe

By Josh Sisco · Feb 23, 2021 1:25pm PST · 1 comment

More and more iPhone apps are offering people the option of signing up by using information stored with Apple, adding to the array of quick sign-in formats that let people skip typing in their email address and other details. But how Apple is implementing this option—requiring it on all apps that offer sign-in options from other firms like... More and more iPhone apps are offering people the option of signing up by using information...

An image from the upcoming Disney movie 'Soul'. Photo courtesy of Disney

Data Reveals 40% of Disney+ Subscribers Are in the U.S.

By Wayne Ma and Tom Dotan · Feb 23, 2021 6:01am PST · 1 comment

Disney’s flagship video-streaming service, Disney+, has quickly emerged as the only true competitor to Netflix, signing up nearly 100 million subscribers globally after 15 months, about half as many as Netflix has accumulated after a decade. Now, previously unreported internal data obtained by The Information shows just how reliant Disney... Disney’s flagship video-streaming service, Disney+, has quickly emerged as the only true...

Katana's Kristjan Vilosius (from left to right), Priit Kaasik and Hannes Kert. Photo provided by Katana

As Shopify Surges, So Are the Software Startups Riding Its Coattails

By Mark Di Stefano · Feb 22, 2021 3:00pm PST

Katana's Kristjan Vilosius (from left to right), Priit Kaasik and Hannes Kert. Photo provided by Katana

As Shopify Surges, So Are the Software Startups Riding Its Coattails

By Mark Di Stefano · Feb 22, 2021 3:00pm PST

Shopify’s stock has more than quadrupled since shoppers began flocking at the start of the pandemic to the online stores of the smaller merchants Shopify serves. And now investors are getting interested in business tool startups that piggyback on Shopify. In the latest example, a small Estonian startup, Katana, has raised $11 million in... Shopify’s stock has more than quadrupled since shoppers began flocking at the start of the...