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| | | I’m not smart enough to envision all of the potential effects the pandemic will have on society, but a narrow focus on a single issue helps me wrap my brain around some of the implications. With that in mind, our latest VC survey gathered responses from six investors in proptech and real estate to learn more about the long- and short-term impacts COVID-19 is having on these sectors. “Once the immediate adjustments are made, there will be winners and losers,” said Andrew Ackerman with Dreamit Ventures. Businesses will always require office space, “but the WeWorks of the world are in for tough times as struggling startups and small businesses look for cheaper (or free) options.” To get a sense of these opportunities and hazards, we reached out to: - Christopher Yip, RET Ventures
- Nima Wedlake, Thomvest Ventures
- Stonly Baptiste, Urban Us
- Merritt Hummer, Bain Capital Ventures
- Micah Kotch, Urban-X
- Andrew Ackerman, Dreamit Ventures
According to Baptiste, “real estate and proptech, in many ways, will never be the same, especially for startups.” Thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch. Have a good weekend, and stay safe. Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) / Getty Images | | Ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft have seen their share prices rebound from 52-week lows, but personal mobility company Lime is reportedly cutting its valuation so it can raise emergency funds. At best, “scooters appear headed for a pothole,” writes Alex Wilhelm. Read more | | | |
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| |  Image Credits: | | The unveiling of the Masked Singer may attract more viewers, but 500 Startups’ Demo Day has its own drama, surprises and crowd-pleasing moments. Alex Wilhelm, Natasha Mascarenhas, Jonathan Schieber and Greg Kumparak spill the tea on their favorite startups in 500’s current cohort. Read more | | | |
| |  | | “I think the venture industry as a whole is going to get, you know, kind of resized over the coming years,” says Chris Douvos, managing partner at boutique fund manager Ahoy Capital. Because he has nearly 20 years of experience, Connie Loizos reached out to get his thoughts about what a pullback in funding from big institutions might mean. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Joern Bielewski / "Vincent" | | A baseball trading card printed more than a century ago once sold for $3.12 million, but now that we’re living in a digital age, the market for collectible goods is shifting to virtual spaces. Given that the global collectibles market is $370 billion, the new medium of digital collectibles is making inroads with consumers — and speculators who are driving up prices. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: gonin / Getty Images | | Instead of using VC Twitter as a barometer to measure optimism in the venture community, Senior Editor and daily columnist Alex Wilhelm collected anonymous stories from founders who are fundraising during the pandemic. His findings? “Deals were kaput and few (if any) investors are writing checks,” and “while the investing market had slowed, it was still moving some, if only a little.” Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Talaj / Getty Images | | We interviewed more than 20 top real estate VCs last fall to find out which trends and topics excited them. Since then, COVID-19 has flipped the sector on its head, so we reached out again to six of them to gather their thoughts on the current landscape. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Getty Images | | About four years ago, B2B platform Udaan was using free cloud credits from Microsoft India to spin up its business. Today, the company is valued at about $2.7B after raising nearly $900M from investors like Lightspeed and Tencent and is one of Microsoft India's biggest clients. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Tom+Hall/EyeEm / Getty Images | | If you want to build quality links, start with quality content. Give people strong reasons to link back to your site: develop content using credible methodologies, channel emotion, and master the art of tangential content. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Bill Oxford / Getty Images | | Advertising is the first line item companies look at when it’s time to cut costs in uncertain times. Managing Editor Danny Crichton studied search engine results for more than 100 U.S.-based tech unicorns to see how many are dialing back their Google Ad spending and found that “keywords have fallen off a cliff.” Read more | | | |
| |  | | Eran Zinman (co-founder and CTO) and Roy Mann (CEO) of project-management company Monday.com swung by TechCrunch HQ to chat with the Equity podcast crew about their business and growth. Put on your headphones and listen to their conversation in full or read an excerpt of the interview on Extra Crunch. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Drew Angerer / Getty Images | | Many companies that enable remote work are seeing a boom, but “these are truly historic times for the enterprise darling” known as Slack, writes Alex Wilhelm. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: SOPA Images / Getty Images | | More than 35 million people have had to cancel or change their plans to attend an event in recent months. Many of these were founders who were expecting to attend conferences where they’d share a handshake that would change their lives forever. But no one’s shaking hands these days. Founders should use this pause to re-assess processes and strategies; what’s the actual ROI on attending a conference, and what’s the opportunity cost? Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Getty Images | | As more private companies put satellites in low-earth orbits, astronomers and casual skywatchers have noticed that these man-made objects interfere with what were unobstructed celestial views. There’s no international regulations or industry consensus on how to address what many consider to be light pollution, but some startups are developing “smart telescopes.” Can this new technology keep pace with plans to blanket the skies with internet-beaming satellites? Read more | | | |
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