 |  | | Saturday, January 25, 2020 • By Walter Thompson | |
| | | As the first person to read Extra Crunch coverage before it’s published, I get to study great reporting about the technology that’s shaping our world. Here’s a little of what I learned this week: - the challenges of creating fully automated vehicles are daunting, so lidar manufacturers are looking outside the auto industry for opportunities to diversify;
- SaaS companies use a wide variety of funding methods, each crafted to suit a specific company’s needs — and there’s a lot of variation;
- an LA-based space startup is using 3D metal printing to create a new class of launch vehicle that’s 10 times larger than their competitors’ — the CEO says it’s "a totally different payload class."
To find a digest of stories published earlier this week, check your inbox for the Wednesday newsletter, or visit the site. Thanks for reading, Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, Extra Crunch Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Chesnot / Getty Images | | At one point, Big Blue posted 22 sequential quarters of falling revenue, a mind-boggling testament to how hard it can be to turn around a juggernaut. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Bloomberg | | At CES, TechCrunch reporter Devin Coldewey met with executives and knowledgeable types at several companies to hear their take on the sector's transformation over the last couple of years. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images | | Notably, consumer fintech adoption in the U.S. lags well behind much of Europe, where regulation has sparked an outpouring of innovation in digital banking services. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Daniele Carotenuto Photography | | One Medical's expected valuation matches secondary-market transactions in the firm's equity, and, at the upper-end of its proposed IPO range, represents a solid boost to its final private valuation. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Gen Sadakane/EyeEm / Getty Images | | I don't qualify for an E-2 investor visa. Is there any way I can pull off moving to the States and growing my company over the next two to three years? — Hopeful in Hamburg Read more | | | |
| |  | | Out of a number of emerging space startups racing to be the next to launch, LA-based Relativity Space has a unique approach that may set it apart from the crowd. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: tunart / Getty Images | | How much is too much too early? What amount of capital raise is typical for comparable peers? How capital-efficient are the best-in-class companies? Read more | | | |
| |  | | Given that public SaaS companies have managed to crest their prior highs and have been rewarded for doing so with several days of flat trading, you might think that there isn't much room left for them to rise. Not so, at least according to Atlassian. Read more | | | |
| |  | | The investment bank won't take companies public that don't have at least one board member from an underrepresented group, but it needs to go further. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: imaginima / Getty Images | | Founders can't afford to wait until the midst of a downturn to figure out their game plans — that would be like initiating swim lessons only after getting dumped in the open ocean. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Getty Images | | "I don't think the cycle is going to end this second. But where we went from a growth-at-all-costs mentality, boards are now saying, 'let's find a balance between top line growth and capital efficiency — let's figure out a path to profitability.'" Read more | | | |
| |  | | We’re digging into the latest with Apple’s antitrust issues, Tencent’s plan to leverage WeChat to fend off the TikTok threat, AppsFlyer’s massive new round, the booming subscription economy, Disney’s mobile game studio sale, Pokémon GO’s boost to tourism, Match Group’s latest investment and much more. And did you see the app that lets you use your phone from within a paper envelope? Read more | | | |
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