Cosmose, a platform that analyzes foot traffic in physical stores, gets $15 million Series A

Cosmose, a platform that tracks foot traffic in brick-and-mortar stores to help companies predict customer behavior, announced today it has raised a $15 million Series A. The round was by Tiga Investments, with participation from returning investors OTB Ventures and TDJ Pitango, who co-led Cosmose’s seed round last year. The company said its valuation is now more than $100 million.

The Series A will be used for product development and geographic expansion, starting with Southeast Asian markets this year, followed by the Middle East and India. Chief executive officer Miron Mironiuk, who founded Cosmose in 2014, said its goal is to break even and generate profit by 2021.

Cosmose has offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York and Warsaw, where is software engineering team is based. Most of the stores its tech is currently use in are in China and Japan, and its clients include companies like Walmart, Marriott, Samsung, and LVMH.

As companies try to recover from the impact of COVID-19, Mironiuk said Cosmose’s platform has helped clients make decisions about when to reopen stores and what kind of inventory to stock, and how to increase revenue. For example, ‘some shops wanted to connect with customers who used to shop in their physical locations and encourage them to buy online,” he said. “Hotels in Japan were focused on promoting their in-house restaurants to local residents to make up for the lost revenue.” The company is also working with Boston Consulting Group on a report called “COVID-19 offline retail recovery traffic in China” for publication next week.

Mironiuk said that a PwC audit of the platform’s accuracy completed in December 2019 confirmed its ability to track customers within 1.6 meters of their location in a store, and that its data ecosystem now comprises of more than one billion smartphones and 360,000 stores. Cosmose’s plan is to grow that to two billion smartphones and 10 million stores by 2022.

The company offers three main products: Cosmose Analytics, which tracks customers’ movements inside brick-and-mortar stores; Cosmose AI, a data analytics and prediction platform to help retailers create marketing campaigns and increase sales; and Cosmose Media, for targeting online ads.

Cosmose does not require hardware installation, which means no regular maintenance is required after Cosmose maps a store, and helps it differentiate from rivals.

There are other companies that also analyze foot traffic in brick-and-mortar stores, including RetailNext and ShopperTrak, but being tracked might alarm customers who are concerned about their privacy. Mironiuk said all of the smartphone data Cosmose AI gathers is anonymized, so the company doesn’t know who shoppers are. The platform uses alphanumeric IDs called OMNIcookies, does not collect personal data like phone MAC addresses, mobile numbers, or email addresses, and follows data privacy laws in each of the countries it operates in. It also allows shoppers to opt-out of tracking.

In a press statement about the investment, Raymond Zage, the CEO and founder of Tiga Investments, said “I was attracted by the strong results Cosmose is already achieving for some of the world’s recognizable brands, while simultaneously ensuring user privacy is protected. Cosmose team is saving stores while enhancing consumer experience.”

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Poco X3 is officially arriving on September 7

Qualcomm and Poco announced the new X3 phone will be the first with Snapdragon 732G chipset, and now we know exactly when it's coming - September 7 at 12 noon UTC. The brand confirmed the date on its social media pages and revealed it will be an online launch event. Interestingly enough, the phone is called Poco X3 NFC and the moniker also appeared at the Bluetooth SIG website, where the device with model number M2007J20CG was certified. This raises the question of whether the company will have another version of the X3 without near-field communication. Poco X3 NFC on...

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Samsung Galaxy M51 launching in India on September 10

The Samsung Galaxy M51 announced yesterday will debut in India on September 10 at noon local time. The Galaxy M51 is powered by the Snapdragon 730 SoC and runs Android 10-based One UI 2.0 out of the box. It has 6GB RAM and 128GB of expandable storage. The M51 is built around a 6.7" FullHD+ Super AMOLED display having a punch hole up top in the center for the 32MP selfie camera. Around the back, it has an L-shaped quad camera setup, comprising a 64MP primary, 12MP ultrawide, 5MP macro and 5MP depth sensor units. The biggest highlight of the Galaxy M51, however, is its massive...

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Apple alum’s jobs app for India’s workers secures $8 million

Javed, a middle-aged man, worked as a driver before losing that job earlier this year as coronavirus spread across India, prompting New Delhi to enforce a nationwide lockdown and temporarily curb several business activities.

There are millions of people like Javed in India today who have lost their livelihood in recent months. They are low-skilled workers and are currently struggling to secure another job.

An Apple alum thinks he can help. Through his app startup Apna, Nirmit Parikh is helping India’s workers learn new skills, connect with one another, and find jobs.

Parikh’s app is already changing lives. Javed, who could barely speak a few words in English before, recently posted a video on Apna app where he talked about his new job — processing raisins — in English.

In less than one year of its existence, Apna app — available on Android — has amassed over 1.2 million users.

The startup announced on Tuesday it has raised $8 million in its Series A financing round led by Lightspeed India and Sequoia Capital India. Greenoaks Capital and Rocketship VC also participated in the round.

In an interview with TechCrunch last week, Parikh said that these workers lack an organized community. “They are daily-wage workers. They rely on their friends to find jobs. This makes the prospects of them finding a job very difficult,” he said.

Apna app comprises of vertical communities for skilled professionals like carpenters, painters, field sales agents and many others.

“The most powerful thing for me about Apna is its communities — I’ve seen people help each other start a business, learn a new language or find a gig! Communities harbinger trust and make the model infinitely scalable,” said Vaibhav Agrawal, a Partner at Lightspeed India, in a statement.

The other issue they struggle with is their skillset. “An electrician would end up working decades doing the same job. If only they had access to upskilling courses — and just knew how beneficial it could be to them — they would stand to broaden their scope of work and significantly increase their earnings,” said Parikh.

Apna is addressing this gap in multiple ways. In addition to establishing a community, and rolling out upskilling courses, the startup allows users — most of whom are first time internet users — easily generate a virtual business card. The startup then shares these profiles with prospective employers. (Some of the firms that have hired from Apna app in recent weeks include Amazon, Big Basket, and HDFC Bank.)

In the last one month, Parikh said Apna has facilitated more than 1 million job interviews — up more than 3X month-on-month. During the same period, more than 3 million professional conversations occurred on the platform.

Parikh said he plans to use the fresh capital to expand Apna’s offerings, and help users launch their own businesses. He also plans to expand Apna, currently available in five Indian cities, outside of India in the future.

There are over 250 million blue and grey collar workers in India and providing them meaningful employment opportunities is one of the biggest challenges in our country, said Harshjit Sethi, Principal at Sequoia Capital India, in a statement.

“With internet usage in this demographic growing rapidly, further catalysed by the Jio effect, apps such as Apna can play a meaningful role in democratizing access to employment and skilling. Apna has built a unique product where users quickly come together in professional communities, an unmet need so far,” he added.

A handful of other players are also looking for ways to help. Last month, Google rolled out a feature in its search engine in India that allows users to create their virtual business card. The Android-maker also launched its jobs app Kormo in the country.

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Everybody is racing to an IPO — even Laird Hamilton’s young “superfood” company

This one is unusual: Laird Superfood, a five-year-old, 100-person, Sisters, Ore.-based startup that was cofounded by famed surfer Laird Hamilton and which makes plant-based packaged beverage products, filed today to raise up to $40 million in an IPO.

We’d reported on this company early last year in large part because it had attracted backing from WeWork, the co-working company that famously made a number of bets that were very afield from its business (including a maker of wave pools) before suffering a major meltdown last fall.

In fact, according to Crunchbase, WeWork Labs provided Laird Superfood with a whopping $32 million — the bulk of the $51 million it has raised altogether, per Crunchbase. (WeWork founder Adam Neumann has said that he surfed with Hamilton in Hawaii.)

At that time, WeWork’s investment was the strangest thing about the business, a largely direct-to-consumer business that makes “superfood” coffee creamers, beverage supplements that include “performance mushrooms,” Peruvian coffee beans, and an assortment of other things, like teas and hot chocolate.

This IPO may be even more curious. Founded by Hamilton and another surfer, Paul Hodge, the company is very young to be going public by today’s standards (biotech startups notwithstanding). The company booked $19 million in sales for the 12 months ended June 30, but it lost $9 million over that same period and at the rate it is spending money, including on sales and marketing, it will see a net loss of $10 million this year.

Management says it has $13.1 million in cash on hand and investments. It would have more if it hadn’t spent $7.5 million buying back Series A-1 preferred shares in November 2019 that were purchased for twice that price. (The investor that sold its shares was also relieved of its commitment to fund another $10 million. It’s easy to imagine this was WeWork, but we don’t know this.) Because of that outlay, the company actually probably did pretty well last year; it just can’t state it that way.

Still, we’re a little intrigued by this one. The only outside shareholder that owns more than 5% of Laird Superfood is Danone Manifesto Ventures, the corporate venture arm of the global food and beverage company. It owns 13.4% of the company. Why wouldn’t Danone, which looks to have invested $10 million in the business in April, just buy out Laird Superfood outright?

It could be that there’s much more than meets the eye here (or is reflected in its S-1). We’re certainly not opposed to companies trying to go public much sooner than has been in the case in recent years. We’re just wondering if this food company is completely baked.

Either way, the decision to go public is certainly becoming an increasingly common one, given how hot the market has been despite the pandemic. According to Renaissance Capital, 27 companies joined the IPO pipeline last week alone.

Hamilton owns 13.2% of the startup. Hodge meanwhile owns 6.4%. Canaccord Genuity and Craig-Hallum Capital Group are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were included in the filing.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 and S20 FE benchmarked with Snapdragon 865

Samsung’s got two smartphones in the pipeline expected to arrive very soon. The Galaxy Z Fold2 was announced at Unpacked last month and we began seeing leaks of the Galaxy S20 FE (Fan Edition) more recently. On Monday, benchmark results for both devices have appeared on the Geekbench database. Korean variants of Samsung Galaxy S20 Fan Edition and Galaxy Z Fold 2 with Snapdragon 865 SoC appears on Geekbench database#SamsungGalaxyS20FanEdition #Samsung #GalaxyS20FanEdition #GalaxyS20Lite #SamsungGalaxyZFold2 #GalaxyZFold2 pic.twitter.com/ydJn23qxNm— Venkatesh Babu.G (@smartvenkat95) August...

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Walmart+ launches Sept 15, offering same-day delivery, gas discounts and cashierless checkout for $98/yr

Walmart today officially unveiled its new membership service and Amazon Prime rival, which it’s calling “Walmart+.” The $98 per year service will combine free, unlimited same-day delivery on groceries and thousands of other items, with additional benefits, like fuel discounts and access to a new Scan & Go service, similar to Walmart-owned Sam’s Club, that will allow members to check out at Walmart stores without having to wait in line.

The service will be available starting on September 15, 2020 nationwide, reaching over 4,700 Walmart stores, including 2,700 stores that offer delivery. Members can choose to pay the $98 per year after a 15-day free-trial period, or they can pay $12.95 on a month-to-month basis.

At launch, the new program promises more than 160,000 items for same-day delivery with no per-delivery fee on orders totaling $35 or more. This is the same value proposition that Walmart’s existing “Delivery Unlimited” program offers today. With the launch of Walmart+, “Delivery Unlimited” members will be moved to the rebranded and expanded service.

In addition to delivery savings, the new Walmart+ membership will include fuel discounts of up to 5 cents per gallon on any fuel type at nearly 2,000 Walmart, Murphy USA and Murphy Express stations nationwide. Walmart+ members will enable the discounts by using the Walmart mobile app, either by scanning a QR code or entering a PIN at the pump. Further down the road, the program will expand to include Sam’s Club fuel stations as well.

Image Credits: Walmart

The Scan & Go membership perk, meanwhile, lets Walmart+ members pay without having to wait in checkout lines — a nice perk to have amid a pandemic, where time in store means time exposed to potential carriers of the novel coronavirus. Using the Walmart app, customers scan scan items as they shop, then pay for them using Walmart Pay for a touch-free checkout experience.

Walmart two years ago had tested cashierless Scan & Go technology in its stores, but killed the program due to shopper theft. Arguably, fewer people will use Scan & Go because it’s a paid service, which could help store staff better combat the earlier problems.

Image Credits: Walmart

As with “Delivery Unlimited,” the Walmart+ orders are picked by in-store staff then handed off to partners like Postmates, DoorDash, Roadie and Point Pickup for delivery. Not owning the end-to-end experience can cause issues for consumers, however — especially because a poor delivery experience can damage Walmart’s reputation, or because customer service issues can’t be always dealt with directly when a middleman is involved. Walmart has also seen partners come and go, as delivery services ended their relationship with Walmart over the costs involved.

Walmart claims its new program is not a Prime rival. But it could encourage some number of Prime members to make a switch.

“We’re not launching Walmart+ with the intent to compete with anything else. We’re launching it with the needs of customers in mind,” explained Walmart Chief Customer Officer Janey Whiteside.

“Of course, I hope that brings in more customers and makes them more loyal, but when you’re as big as Walmart is — and serving as many people as we are — this is about really doubling down with the customers that we have and getting more share of wallet and more share of mind,” Whiteside added.

Prime is a much more expansive program. For comparison, Prime offers tens of millions of products for two-day delivery, over 10 million for one-day delivery and over 3 million for same-day delivery on orders of $35 or more. Walmart+ is focused more specifically on same-day delivery, as Walmart.com already offers free one-day or two-day shipping on orders of $35 or more without requiring a membership fee.

Prime today also offers a huge array of other perks — like access to free music, video, audiobooks, Kindle books and more. Walmart+ does not.

Still, for many customers, the value in Prime is rooted in its promise of speedy delivery. But at the same time, Amazon has tested the limits of its customer loyalty by steadily raising Prime’s subscription price over the years to now $119 when paid annually, or $12.99 per month. Walmart+ undercuts Prime at $98 per year or $12.95 per month while largely catering to the online grocery shopper — a target market that has rapidly grown during the pandemic. Walmart recently reported the pandemic helped drive its own e-commerce sales, fueled  by online grocery, up 97% in the past quarter.

Image Credits: Walmart

Meanwhile, Amazon’s grocery strategy since its 2017 purchase of Whole Foods has yet to be streamlined. Amazon today continues to offer two different online grocery services, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods, with a varying array of pickup and delivery options, potentially leading to consumer confusion.

That said, the pandemic has led to massive sales increases for Amazon and Walmart, along with other essential retailers like Target, with all involved reporting stellar earnings in recent quarters.

Walmart’s plans for a new subscription program had previously been reported and a placeholder website has also been live for some time. In August, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told investors on the company’s earnings call that it was readying the launch a membership program that would be centered around delivery. He noted also at the time how Walmart’s existing “Delivery Unlimited” subscription, launched last year, would serve a “great base of an offer” for the broader program, but didn’t offer a launch time frame.

Earlier reports said the service would include other perks, like access to more grocery time slots, promotional deals and eventually a Walmart+ credit card. The retailer declined to speak to its plans, only saying that Walmart+ benefits would expand over time.

“As is the case with any great membership offering, these benefits are not intended to be static. We will continue to leverage our assets and scale to bring solutions at unprecedented value, all while holding true to the everyday low prices that customers know they can always expect from Walmart,” Whiteside said. “In the future, we will be leveraging our wide-ranging strengths to add additional benefits for members in a range of both services and offerings,” she added.

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Motorola announces One 5G for the United States

On Monday, Motorola is announcing a new midrange 5G smartphone. The Motorola One 5G is essentially a rebranded Moto G 5G Plus headed to the US market with a unique ring flash. The company doesn’t yet have an exact price point, but it promises the phone will cost under $500. The Moto One 5G comes with the same specs as the G 5G Plus. It has a total of six cameras: four on the back and two in the front. One of the selfie cameras is a 16MP f/2.0 camera and the other is an 8MP ultra wide shooter for wide selfies. Around back, the main camera is a 48MP shooter, an 8MP ultra-wide, a...

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Samsung Pay Card launches in South Korea with discounts

Previously only available in the UK and the US, Samsung's Pay Cards can now be acquired in South Korea as well. In a collaboration with MasterCard, Samsung is finally able to bring its physical card to its home country. Everything can be managed within the Samsung Pay app - from transactions and payments to security-related options. The Samsung Pay card now offers a 1% discount for offline purchases and 1.5% for online transactions. But until December 31 this year, the card will offer 0.5% additional discount for Samsung Pay-related payments and 2% for online shopping sites. And if...

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Gillmor Gang: Platforming

 

Much was made during the Republican Convention of the lack of a party platform. The media characterized this as a capitulation to the Cult of Trump phenomenon, but the questioned begged was: so what? If you’re running as a candidate to disrupt the status quo…. But beneath the media framing, an important question emerges. What exactly is the platform we need to emerge from the toxic situation we find ourselves in?

For months, if not years, the technology industry has been working on a new platform to succeed the previous one. Mobile would seem to be that fundamental shift from the desktop world of Windows and PCs. The twin dominance of powerful phones by Google and Apple has created a new language of notifications and streaming video perfectly timed for the devastating pandemic. Our devices are now the front lines for managing the struggle to stay alive for our loved ones, the economy, and our future.

Zoom is of course the poster child for all that it enables, and certainly what it doesn’t. The notion of work from home is more likely a question of what is home and what’s the difference with work? The routines of life are congealing around the interactions with phone, watch, iPad, laptop, and TV. When I wake up, the first dive is for the notification stream built up overnight from overseas and then the East Coast. The rhythm varies from day to day: intense on Monday as the weekend cobwebs dissipate, more issue oriented through the middle of the week, and finally a thank-god-it’s Friday feel. Email, text messages, media updates, and work calendar reminders.

And then there’s the outline of the new platform — live streaming notifications from what some call citizen media, or the influencer network, or the loyal opposition. That last one refers to the decline in trust of the mainstream media. Maybe it’s just me, but the cable model of host-driven cyclical repetition of the headlines, talking heads, and medical ads adds up to a trip first to the mute button and eventually the off switch. Which plugs me right back into the notification stream and a new contract with us based on whether we click on the link or even allow the notification in the first place.

And these new voices are networks of one or a few, broadcasting on a global reach pastiche of cloud services that begin with the ubiquity of Zoom and its click and you’re there ease of on boarding. Then there are the key networks of record as it were: Facebook Live, Twitter/Periscope, YouTube, and maybe LinkedIn if you’re Brent Leary and got an early invite. There’s a whole bunch of streaming accelerators like Restream and StreamYard and Just Streams (I made that up) to use software and a dash of hardware to do what it took many thousands of dollars and cables just a few years ago. Right now it’s early days, but soon you’ll be seeing something that looks like the media it’s replacing as the OG buys in.

Don’t believe me? Just look at how streaming has disrupted the television industry. Or the music business. Or the reemergence of podcasting and newsletters. Or how messaging is growing rapidly as a preferred digital commerce and marketing channel. The pandemic has certainly had a devastating effect with the loss of theaters, events, and travel that drive so much of our economy and the emotional underpinning of our lives. But as we learn to respect the power of the virus to force this digital wave of transformation, we fuel the winners that emerge from a new hybrid blend of evolution and adaptation.

Technology has often been seen as impersonal and cold to the touch. But now we should be making friends with robots for touchless shopping, At the beginning of this Gillmor Gang session, Frank Radice seemed stunned by the administration’s takeover of the symbols of our Washington monuments for political purposes. By the end, he seemed more hopeful of a different result. We have more ways now of making our voices heard, broadcasting our own names in fireworks above and beyond the fake news and suppression. Our platform: suppress the virus, not the vote.

__________________

The Gillmor Gang — Frank Radice, Michael Markman, Keith Teare, Denis Pombriant, Brent Leary, and Steve Gillmor. Recorded live Friday, August 28, 2020.

Produced and directed by Tina Chase Gillmor @tinagillmor

@fradice, @mickeleh, @denispombriant, @kteare, @brentleary, @stevegillmor, @gillmorgang

For more, subscribe to the Gillmor Gang Newsletter and join the notification feed here on Telegram.

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ZTE Axon 20 5G and its under-screen selfie cam star in a short video

The ZTE Axon 20 5G will be unveiled later today, September 1, but you can have a peek at the phone right now – check out the video below to see it in action. Of course, the unique feature of this phone is the one you can’t see, the first under-screen selfie camera on a mass produced phone. The video shows both a white background as well as moving images and there are no visible artifacts – no dimmer area, no place where the animation looks funky. ZTE talked about how the screen and camera work to achieve this seamless integration and included a camera sample to show off the image quality...

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Apple mistakenly approved a widely-used malware to run on Macs

Apple has some of the strictest rules to prevent malicious software from landing in its app store, even if on occasion a bad app slips through the net. But last year Apple took its toughest approach yet by requiring developers to submit their apps for security checks in order to run on millions of Macs unhindered.

The process, which Apple calls “notarization,” scans an app for security issues and malicious content. If approved, the Mac’s in-built security screening software, Gatekeeper, allows the app to run. Apps that don’t pass the security sniff test are denied, and are blocked from running.

But security researchers say they have found the first Mac malware inadvertently notarized by Apple.

Peter Dantini working with Patrick Wardle, a well-known Mac security researcher, found a malware campaign disguised as an Adobe Flash installer. These campaigns are common and have been around for years — even if Flash is rarely used these days — and most run unnotarized code, which Macs block immediately when opened.

But Dantini and Wardle found that one malicious Flash installer had code notarized by Apple and would run on Macs.

The malicious installer was notarized by Apple, and could be run on the latest versions of macOS. (Image: Patrick Wardle/supplied)

Wardle confirmed that Apple had approved code used by the popular Shlayer malware, which security firm Kaspersky said is the “most common threat” that Macs faced in 2019. Shlayer is a kind of adware that intercepts encrypted web traffic — even from HTTPS-enabled sites — and replaces websites and search results with its own ads, making fraudulent ad money for the operators.

“As far as I know, this is a first,” Wardle wrote in a blog post, shared with TechCrunch.

Wardle said that means Apple did not detect the malicious code when it was submitted and approved it to run on Macs — even on the unreleased beta version of macOS Big Sur, expected out later this year.

Apple revoked the notarized payloads after Wardle reached out, preventing the malware from running on Macs in the future.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Apple told TechCrunch: “Malicious software constantly changes, and Apple’s notarization system helps us keep malware off the Mac and allow us to respond quickly when it’s discovered. Upon learning of this adware, we revoked the identified variant, disabled the developer account, and revoked the associated certificates. We thank the researchers for their assistance in keeping our users safe.”

But Wardle said that the attackers were back soon after with a new, notarized payload, able to circumvent the Mac’s security all over again.

Apple macOS security protections can easily bypassed with ‘synthetic’ clicks, researcher finds

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Equity Monday: What if no one gets to buy TikTok?

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest big news, chats about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here, and myself here, and don’t forget to check out last Friday’s episode.

This weekend was a welcome reprieve from last week’s insane news cycle inside the world of technology and money. If you are still catching your breath from the Great IPO Wave of last Monday, we feel you. Here’s what we got into this morning:

• The TikTok sale could be in trouble, this time due to China changing its rules on sales of tech firms that have certain algorithms. TikTok parent company Bytedance intends to comply with the rules, but what impact the news could have the sale of the social service is unclear as of yet, though the developments are not good if you were in favor of a deal.
• American tech shares are set to rise once again after setting records last week.
• Equity is back on YouTube, hell yeah!
• From the weekend: Medium’s growth in both traffic (pageviews) and income (paying subscribers) is super impressive according to its latest reporting. And the publishing platform and media company is doubling-down on product to fend off upstarts like the popular Substack. Per a Bloomberg report, tech IPO fundraising could set a record in 2020. And, to ground us in a macro-economic sense, Chinese banks are being forced to take a profit hit to support other companies.
• In the funding round domain, Semalytix raised €4.3 million in Series A funding according to TechCrunch for its pharmaceutical-AI service. And India-based Eruditus raised $113 million for its executive-focused education service. That’s a lot of money, but like we’ve been saying, edtech is hot.
• And, finally, will there be enough horns for all these hot SaaS rounds that are getting done in a blur today? What if SaaS revenue multiples slip by 20%? Then what? When deals go so fast that due diligence suffers, the hangover can last a bit.

And that is the week’s Monday ep, thanks for sticking with through our super-busy week last week. Whew!

Equity drops every Monday at 7:00 a.m. PT and Thursday afternoon as fast as we can get it out, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.

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Samsung starts mass production of 16GB LPDDR5 DRAM chips

Samsung announced that it kicks off production of the world's first 16GB LPDDR5 DRAM for mobile devices. And it's the first to use the 3rd generation 10nm 1z process based on the EUV technology. It has allowed Samsung to bring down the thickness of the chips by 30%. The new 16GB LPDDR5 DRAM memory requires only eight chips to do so whereas previously, eight chips were required to make a 12GB package. This means that even though thinner, the new generation DRAM packs more capacity as well. In terms of performance, the 16GB package outperforms the 12GB LPDDR5 solutions by 16% - 6,400...

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Google launches Google Kids Space, a ‘kids mode’ feature for Android, initially on Lenovo tablets

Streaming services have built-in kids’ profiles, so why not devices? Google today is responding to parents’ demand for a better way for their children to interact with technology with the launch of the new “Google Kids Space,” a dedicated kids mode on Android tablets which will aggregate apps, books, and videos for kids to enjoy and learn from. The feature will launch first on the Lenovo Smart Tab M10 HD Gen 2, but Google aims to bring Kids Space to more devices in time.

The concept is somewhat similar to Amazon’s FreeTime, Amazon’s own well-built system for parental controls and access to approved and curated children’s’ apps and media. But in Google’s case, its new kids’ mode is building on top of the company’s earlier efforts focused on designing a safer, more controlled Android experience for families with children.

These efforts began with Family Link, a series of parental control features that’s now built into the Android OS. Family Link already allows parents to set screen time limits, engage content safety filters, set privacy controls, and more. Google then expanded into kids’ app curation with the launch of a Kids tab in Google Play where it can showcase “teacher-approved” mobile apps and games.

Image Credits: Google

The new Kids Space leverages Google’s earlier work in evaluating Android apps for its “Play” tab, and has expanded its curation to now include other types of quality content. For example, Google worked with publishers to make popular children’s books free of charge in Kids Space, and at launch offers over 400 free books in the “Read” tab for users in the U.S.

In the Kids Space’ “Watch” and “Make” tabs, Google is pulling in creative content from YouTube Kids that encourage off-screen activities.

Image Credits: Google

The feature is ultimately meant to be a selling point for Android devices and a way to lock families into the Google ecosystem. This differentiates it from Amazon’s FreeTime, which only partially has this aim. Amazon’s FreeTime is largely meant to a subscription offering, and it’s one that works across platforms — including Amazon devices like Fire tablets and Echo smart speakers, but also on iOS and Android devices. Google’s Kids Space, meanwhile, is only designed for Android.

Google Kids Space is initially available on on the Lenovo Tab M10 HD Gen 2. The company said it worked with Lenovo to ease the setup process for parents and to ensure that Kids Space is a pre-loaded feature. Google says it aims to bring Kids Mode to more Android tablets soon.

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Realme X7 and V3 pass 3C certification in China

A pair of upcoming Realme phones passed through China’s 3C and revealing their charging speeds and not much else. The first listing is for the Realme X7 which bears the RMX2176 model number. It’s expected to launch tomorrow in China alongside Pro and Special versions and we’ve seen most of its key specs leak so far including its 65W SuperDART charging. The phone is also expected to come with a 120Hz AMOLED display and 1,200 nits of brightness. Realme X7 certification Moving on to the second listing which reveals a device bearing the RMX2200 model number. This is speculated to be...

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Oppo patent shows a clamshell foldable with the screen on the outside

Well over a year ago Oppo demonstrated a prototype foldable phone at the MWC, however nothing came of it. Since then multiple patents have surfaced, revealing various designs that the company is experimenting with. The latest design to crop up is a clamshell, kind of like an inverted Moto RAZR, and it has an interesting feature – angle detection. The phone is designed to fold with the screen remaining outside. Folded, it’s fairly compact and squarish, but doesn’t need an external screen like the RAZR. It’s more similar to the RAZR rather than the Galaxy Z Flip as one half is slightly...

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Rocket Lab returns to flight with a successful launch of a Capella Space satellite

Rocket Lab is back to active launch status after encountering an issue with its last mission that resulted in a loss of the payload. In just over a month, Rocket Lab was able to identify what went wrong with the Electron launch vehicle used on that mission and correct the issue. On Sunday, it successfully launched a Sequoia satellite on behalf of client Capella Space from its New Zealand launch facility.

The “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Optical” mission is Rocket Lab’s 14th Electron launch, and it lifted off from the company’s private pad at 11:05 PM EDT (8:05 PM PDT). The Sequoia satellite is the first in startup Capella Space’s constellation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites to be available to general customers. When complete, the constellation will provide hourly high-quality imaging of Earth, using radar rather than optical sensors in order to provide accurate imaging regardless of cloud cover and available light.

Rocket Lab clear to launch again after first mission failure attributed to electrical fault

This launch seems to have gone off exactly as planned, with the Electron successfully lifting off and delivering the Capella Space satellite to its target orbit. Capella had been intending to launch this spacecraft aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket via a rideshare mission, but after delays to that flight, it changed tack and opted for a dedicated launch with Rocket Lab.

Rocket Lab’s issue with its July 4 launch was a relatively minor one – an electrical system failure that caused the vehicle to simply shut down, as a safety measure. The team’s investigation revealed a component of the system that was not stress-tested as strenuously as it should’ve been, and Rocket Lab immediately instituted a fix for both future and existing in-stock Electron vehicles in order to get back to active flight in as little time as possible.

While Rocket Lab has also been working on a recovery system that will allow it to reuse the booster stage of its Electron for multiple missions, this launch didn’t involve any tests related to that system development. The company still hopes to test recovery of a booster sometime before the end of this year on an upcoming launch.

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Xiaomi Mi Watch Revolve (aka Color) and Mi Band 5 coming to India

Xiaomi is reportedly preparing to launch its first smartwatch in India, the Mi Watch Revolve. It will be joined by the company’s latest smart band, the Mi Band 5. The watch is actually the Xiaomi Mi Watch Color rather than a new model. It seems that “Revolve” will be the global name for the time piece not just for India. The elevator pitch for the watch is a 1.39” AMOLED display, stainless steel body, 14-day battery life and a MIUI-customized version of Wear OS. It launched at CNY 800 in China, which translates to INR 8,600 or so (not accounting for local taxes). The Xiaomi Mi...

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SpaceX successfully launches its first polar orbit mission from Florida

SpaceX performed a milestone first polar orbital launch of a satellite from its East Coast launch facility at Cape Canaveral on Sunday. The Falcon 9 mission carried three payloads, including a SAOCOM-1B synthetic aperture radar satellite which was flown on behalf of the Argentine space agency, and two small satellites for clients Tyvack and PlanetiQ.

The launch took place at 7:18 PM EDT from Florida, and used a first stage booster that SpaceX previously flew on two separate commercial resupply missions on behalf of NASA for the international Space Station, as well as one of SpaceX’s recent Starlink internet satellite launches. SpaceX also recovered the booster again with a controlled landing back at their landing site at Cape Canaveral.

This was originally set to be one of two launches that SpaceX was going to perform on Sunday – both from the same launch facility, though at different pads. That would’ve been a historic first, but weather earlier in the day meant that the first mission on the schedule, a Starlink launch, was cancelled and will be rescheduled.

SpaceX would ultimately like to be launching at a cadence that would include multiple launches per day, and this would’ve been a great test of its ability to operationalize that ambition. Considering how aggressive the company has been with its Starlink launches, however, it seems likely we’ll encounter another opportunity for a double launch day at some point in the future.

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Semalytix picks up €4.3M to build the world’s largest patient experience data set

Semalytix, a Bielefeld, Germany-based startup that offers pharmaceutical companies an AI-powered data tool to better understand real-world patient experiences, has raised €4.3 million in Series A funding.

Leading the round is venture capital firm btov Partners, with participation from existing investor Fly Ventures and several unnamed angels. Semalytix will use the injection of cash to expand its business development with pharma companies and the wider healthcare market.

Founded in 2015 as a spin-out of research group Semantic Computing, Semalytix pitches itself as a data and A.I. analytics startup that wants to bring more real-world evidence to the development of new drugs and treatments. Its flagship product, dubbed “Pharos”, is a patient research tool that pulls in and cleans up various unstructured public data — such as blogs, forums, social media etc. — and then applies algorithms to deliver real-time patient insights into unmet needs, treatment experience and how severely a disease impacts the lives of those who suffer from it.

“Our vision is that we help make patient insights a real Northstar KPI in drug development,” Semalytix co-founder and CEO Janik Jaskolski tells me. “Due to new regulatory initiatives (and public pressure), pharma needs to demonstrate patient-centricity in drug development, [and] include the patient perspective into decision making and produce evidence that their treatments provide value in the real world. For patients, that value usually doesn’t consist of, for example, having their blood sugar lowered by an additional 3%. Instead, they care about improving their quality of life, being able to play longer with their kids or simply having an easier time going about their everyday tasks”.

However, Jaskolski argues that such patient insights and related evidence is difficult to obtain. “If asked, a patient will often tell a different story about how a disease impacts their life and what they need to improve it, compared to what a doctor would say. Which is why we don’t analyse physician or hospital data. Instead, we are looking at already existing public data that patients share online, in their own authentic voice, all around the world”.

Semalytix’s AI claims to be able to identify, read through, and summarise millions of online patient journeys in a highly scalable way. The AI is also able to turn this data into online target populations for different diseases and covers 11 different languages. “It does so by applying WHO, FDA, and EMA inspired algorithmic research instruments to make the analysis transparent and scientifically meaningful for pharma,” adds Jaskolski.

Image Credits: Semalytix

Meanwhile, although electronic health records, patient registries, and similar data sources are already receiving much attention from startups, Jaskolski argues that the largest source of unstructured patient data that exists today is being overlooked and yet holds a lot of potential to “improve patient care, identify new therapeutic opportunities, inform clinical trial development, and even help accelerate development of novel therapies for rare conditions”.

Semalytix’s business model is a tried and tested one. The startup sells enterprise licenses for access to its platform. A company can buy a license for 12 months or more for specific diseases. “Each license enables disease specific sub-group analyses, assess populations and create cohorts based on the severity of different disease burdens, treatment experiences, and quality of life,” adds the Semalytix CEO.

“Over time, we want to include more and more diseases into the platform and provide a unique patient data stream to pharma but also to the payer and regulator side of healthcare”.

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Realme C15 hands-on review

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Samsung sells its LCD plant in China to TCL for $1.8 billion

Samsung Display has sold its LCD plant in Suzhou, China, insiders reveal. The main buyer is the local company CSOT which is owned by TCL, the conglomerate that also builds the alcatel smartphones. The (former) Samsung complex in Suzhou, China The total deal is worth $1.8 billion - 60% of the plant will be owned by CSOT, 10% by its parent company TCL, while the rest 30% will be handed out to the Suzhou government. The plant produced 27% of Samsung Display’s total amount of LCD panels, with most of them being for monitors and TVs. This step is a confirmation to earlier reports that...

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Now streaming on Netflix globally: Select original shows and movies to non-subscribers

Over the past year, Netflix has attempted to expand its appeal in part by making a title or two free to non-paying users in select markets. Now the American giant is extending this test to users across the globe — with a larger free catalog.

The on-demand video streaming service is currently offering select Netflix Original movies and TV shows including “Stranger Things”, “Murder Mystery”, “Elite”, “Bird Box”, “When They See Us”, “The Two Popes”, “Our Planet”, and Grace and Frankie” to non-paying subscribers across all the nearly 200 nations and territories where it is operational.

“We’re looking at different marketing promotions to attract new members and give them a great Netflix experience,” a Netflix spokesperson told TechCrunch in a statement.

Users do not need to create an account to view these free shows or movies, Netflix says. The free viewing, first spotted by blog OnlyTech, is accessible only through web browsers. On a support page, Netflix says Android users can access this offer through their mobile browser as well — but iOS users can’t.

This isn’t the first time Netflix has tested making a title free to non-paying users. The streaming giant, which had over 151 million subscribers at the end of second quarter this year, has previously made “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” available to users in the U.S.

It also made “Bard of Blood”, a show it produced in India, free to users in the country. It also made talk show “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj” available to users for free on YouTube. The company had initially planned to make only first two episodes free on YouTube.

But this is the first time Netflix is making so many shows and movies (10, to be exact) available to non-paying users across the globe. The company has not shared how long it plans to run this experiment.

Speaking of India, the streaming giant has run several experiments in the country, one of the largest entertainment markets in Asia. It has explored making the service available for a few cents for the first month for new users, and is currently testing several affordable plans.

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Sony Xperia 5 II stars in massive leak, then stops by Geekbench

Sony’s Xperia 5 II is all set to debut on September 17 and has been leaking left and right in the past weeks. The latest entry in the rumor mill is the phone’s Geekbench test run which reveals the expected - it’s powered by a Snapdragon 865 with 8GB RAM and runs Android 10. The listing shows the phone will bear the Sony SO-52A model number and it manages 909 points in the single-core run and 3,323 in the multi-core department. These numbers are in the upper echelon of Snapdragon 865 powered phones and could imply Sony has done some overclocking to the CPU. Xperia 5 II Geekbench run...

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Chan Zuckerberg Initiative backs Indian education startup Eruditus in $113 million fundraise

Mumbai-based Eruditus, which works with top universities globally to offer more than 100 executive-level courses to students in over 80 nations, said on Monday it has raised $113 million in a new financing round as it looks to further scale its business to reach more learners.

The Series D financing round for the 10-year-old startup was co-led by Leeds Illuminate and Prosus Ventures. Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and existing investors Sequoia India and Ved Capital also participated in the round, which brings Eruditus’ to-date raise to over $160 million. Eruditus is now valued at over $700 million, a person familiar with the matter said. Avendus Capital was the financial advisor to Eruditus on this transaction.

Eruditus maintains a tie-up with over 30 top-tier universities including MIT, Harvard, Columbia, Cambridge, INSEAD, Wharton, UC Berkeley, IIT, IIM, and NUS. The universities and Eruditus work to develop courses that are aimed at offering higher education to students. These courses cost anything between $5,000 to $40,000.

There’s no shortage of startups that offer similar courses to students for free or at the price of a cup of coffee. At a conference last year, Ashwin Damera, Eruditus co-founder and chief executive of Eruditus, said his startup provides a range of additional offerings including tailored learning and tracks the outcome of the course in a student’s life.

The startup, which has offices in six countries and employs over 650 people, said it has enrolled 50,000 students in the past 12 months.

Eruditus is the second startup that Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has backed in India. Its first investment in the country, Byju’s, also operates in the edtech market. (In fact, it’s grown to become the most valued edtech startup in the world.)

“Eruditus serves as a critical innovation partner for top universities as they expand online course offerings in response to workforce needs and market demand,” said Vivian Wu, Managing Partner, Ventures, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, in a statement. “We’re excited to support the growing partnerships between U.S. universities and those in India, China and Latin America that are making truly high-quality education accessible to a broad and diverse range of students.”

Eruditus said it will use the fresh capital to partner with more universities and expand in emerging markets. It said it also wants to invest in developing career-ready courses to help the workforce acquire the skills they need to survive in the post-pandemic world.

“Eruditus’ goals are a great match for ours — democratizing access of quality resources for a much broader audience. The value of the teachings of the great institutions has been rationed to those who can physically and monetarily access their facilities. Eruditus unlocks those assets and enables those institutions to help a whole new cohort of learners around the globe,” said Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Investments for India at Prosus Ventures, which has invested in six edtech startups including Byju’s.

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Realme celebrates 45 million users around the world

It was late July when Realme announced some impressive results, including the number of global smartphone users - 40 million. Just five and a half weeks later the company has added 5 million to the tally to reach another milestone - 45 million users. The milestone announcement in Chinese The announcement was made on Weibo just a day ahead of the unveiling of Realme X7 and Realme X7 Pro. With both phones looking impressive inside and out, the number of users is likely to grow even higher. Realme already revealed it is going for the ambitious plan of reaching 50 million smartphone...

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Samsung Galaxy M51 officially debuts with 7,000mAh battery

The Samsung Galaxy M51 has been a subject of a number of leaks for the last month or so and with the teaser from last week from Samsung, we were expecting the handset to make an appearance in India first. But to our surprise, the phone went official on Samsung's official German website. Of course, the rumors were right all along so the specs aren't necessarily a surprise. The centerpiece feature of the phone is the humongous 7,000 mAh battery promising more than two days on a single charge with support for 25W fast charging. The chipset behind the wheel is the Snapdragon 730, although...

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Some of the brightest minds in Europe are joining us at Disrupt

TechCrunch Disrupt is right around the corner. And this year, we’re trying something different — we’re taking Disrupt virtual. That’s why we’re excited to announce that we used this opportunity to invite a slate of incredible European speakers to join TechCrunch on our virtual stage on September 14-18.

It represents a great opportunity to learn more about the European tech ecosystem. And if you’re already familiar with the area, it’s a good way to discover what everyone’s thinking on the current situation and where we’re heading.

Available at a time that works best for you, catch these sessions Sept 15-18th from 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM CET. Immediately after each interview, join the speakers for a live Q&A. So come with your questions!

Let me introduce briefly all the speakers we’ve lined up for the special European corner of Disrupt.

Sophia Bendz has been in the news lately. A few years ago, the former global director of marketing for Spotify decided to transition from seasoned operator to venture capitalist. She worked with VC firm Atomico for a while but announced this summer that she is joining Berlin’s Cherry Ventures to focus on seed investments. The move shouldn’t surprise anyone given that Bendz has also been a very active angel investor with 44 deals over the past 9 years.

Carolina Brochado has worked with some of the most successful VC firms and is also on the move. She was made a partner at Atomico in 2016 and took everyone by surprise when she left for SoftBank Vision Fund in 2018. The well-respected investor has now decided to join the growth fund team at EQT.

Suranga Chandratillake spent many years in Silicon Valley working on blinkx, an intelligent search engine for video and audio content that went public and achieved a peak market capitalization in excess of $1 billion. He moved back to the his home country to join Balderton as a General Partner in 2014.

Sophie Hill has been busy building Threads Styling. She’s redefining luxury fashion e-commerce with a radical model. The startup uses a strong editorial strategy to send you recommendations through your favorite chat app on your phone. You can talk with human shopping assistants on WeChat, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram and iMessage. And this no-store e-commerce play has been working really well.

Hussein Kanji is a founding partner of London-based VC firm Hoxton Ventures. In just a few years, Hoxton Ventures became a well-known name with deals in Darktrace, Babylon Health and Deliveroo. Prior to Hoxton Ventures, Kanji worked for Accel, Microsoft and several Silicon Valley-based companies.

Tunde Kehinde is the co-founder of Lidya, a startup that uses AI to lend capital to small companies in fast-growing economies. The startup currently operates in Lagos, Warsaw and Prague. He was also the co-founder of Jumia Nigeria, a company that is now publicly listed in the New York Stock Exchange.

Mette Lykke co-founded one of the biggest fitness and training app out there, Endomondo. She led her company all the way to an acquisition by Under Armour. For the past three years, she’s been the CEO of Too Good To Go, an app with a mission of reducing food waste worldwide. Restaurants and supermarkets can sell the surplus food that would otherwise go to waste through the service. And the startup managed to attract more than 23 million users.

Ilkka Paananen is the co-founder and CEO of Supercell, the Helsinki-based mobile gaming studios that have released super hits, such as Clash of Clans, Hay Day, Boom Beach, Clash Royale and Brawl Stars. The company managed to reach 100 million daily players across its games. When Tencent bought a majority stake in the company, it valued Supercell at around $10.2 billion.

Guillaume Pousaz is the founder and CEO of Checkout.com. While Checkout.com has kept a low profile for many years, the company raised $380 million within a year and reached an impressive valuation of $5.5 billion. It wants to build a one-stop shop for all things related to payments, such as accepting transactions, processing them and detecting fraud.

If you want to hear from one, two or maybe all of the speakers above, join us for Disrupt 2020. The conference is scheduled to run from September 14 through September 19. Buy the Disrupt Digital Pro Pass or a Digital Startup Alley Exhibitor Package today and get access to all the interviews on our main stage, workshops over on the Extra Crunch Stage where you can get actionable tips as well as CrunchMatch, our free, AI-powered networking platform. As soon as you register for Disrupt, you will have access to CrunchMatch and can start connecting with people now. Use the tool to schedule one-on-one video calls with potential customers and investors or to recruit and interview prospective employees.

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