IByju delays $1B acquisition payment, lays off workers – TechCrunch

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Greetings on this Hump Day. We’ve got one housekeeping item for you: We need your vote on what roundtable sessions you’d like to see at Disrupt. And if you didn’t get a chance to read Becca’s piece on what venture capital deal terms look like in this environment, she and Natasha break down the story in today’s Equity podcast.  — Christine

TechCrunch Top 3

• Hits keep coming: Byju’s capital woes are spilling over into its ability to make payments for a $1 billion acquisition of physical coaching center provider Aakash, Manish reports. This follows layoffs at WhiteHat Jr. online learning platform Toppr.
• What’s the deal with these layoffs: And if this has ever confused you, AlexThis is despite the fact that it has little to do in the economic correction we saw in 2020. Instead, it was triggered by a terrible public market.
• Extra extra, readAll about it!: If Snapchat+, its new paid subscription program, was a topic that had you shivering, don’t worry. IvanSnapchat+ is now available. It costs $3.99 per Month for all the new features.

Startups and VC

Remember the name Memomi the next time you shop for glasses in Walmart or Sam’s Club. Memomi is being acquired by the retail giant. It uses augmented reality technology to allow you to virtually try on eyewear. Sarah reports. Walmart isn’t revealing any future plans for applications, but it sounds like this is just the beginning of what the company might do in the virtual space.

Despite this crazy time, it’s nice to readHere’s a list of venture studios that are accelerating their growth, rather than slowing it down. Here, AnnieAdanian Labs is highlighted by her. She writes that the company plans to grow 300 African businesses in the next five years.

Here’s what else we saw today:

• You’ll want to remember her name: Have you met Debut Capital’s Pilar Johnson? If not, you will be. Dominic-Madori’s profile on Johnson, an investor who, she writes, is “one to watch.”
• Yes, more layoffsAs Carly writes, cybersecurity was “once the VC darling,” and even though breaches are still very much a problem, the industry is not immune to what’s going on out there in the tech sector. Also coming in hot are reports of layoffs at Modsy and Niantic.
• Physicians have their own wingperson: Regard, an L.A. startup you might remember as HealthTensor, brought in $15.3 million in Series A funding to give physicians a “medical co-pilot” they can turn to for help in recognizing about 50 different common medical conditions, Catherine reported.
• Let’s all get along: FredericHelios, an Israeli startup that received $5 million in new funding, was the subject of this article. It’s helping developers understand how their code interacts with other applications using open source observability tools.
• The data must be analyzed in some way: Zing Data hopes to be that method. Ron wrote about the company’s $2.4 million seed round that puts all that data analysis on your mobile device.
• “The tax code is a turnoff”: We’re not sure any truer words have been spoken. A company called April, which raised $30 million, is taking a stab at personalizing and autofilling tax filings so it isn’t so…yeah, Kyle reports.
• Amazon, it’s time to move onPlease enjoy my story on Nautical Commerce which received $30 million in Series A funding to democratize the way that all businesses can create a marketplace.
• Getting animated: Tage reported on Kukua’s $6 million round, which will build on its “edutainment” offering for children.
• Another fund: Ingrid spins a delightful yarn about Entrepreneur First’s $158 million raise that it will convert into an evergreen fund for backing entrepreneurs.

Five ways to seize the opportunities presented by recent chaos in adtech

Image CreditsJeffrey Coolidge/Getty Images

This year, TikTok’s ad sales juggernaut is expected to triple to more than $11 billion, trouncing the combined revenue of Twitter and Snapchat.

According to Alex Song, CEO and co-founder of data science company Proxima, this upheaval in media technology stocks is creating benefits for early-stage startups, “because forced innovation makes for a more competitive environment.”

In a TC+ guest post, he shares five strategies “for capitalizing on the turbulent advertising environment.”

TechCrunch+ (our membership program) helps founders get ahead.Sign up here.)

Big Tech Inc.

Let’s start off with some car news, shall we? JaclynWe wrote about Hyundai revealing its IONIQ6 EV sedan. It looks pretty sharp — I may have to add this to my “next car wish list.”

Now we’re going to Tesla. Tesla laid off around 200 Autopilot workers and closed the San Mateo, California office. Rebecca reported. And in case you’re wondering, Elon Musk still hasn’t tweeted yet, as of publication.

Chat and Meet are now the new default for Gmail’s redesigned interface, Ivan writes. You no longer have to manually enable these features. Don’t worry, there is a revert option if you prefer the classic view. But why would anyone want to?

Delta and Misapplied Sciences are working on some technology in Detroit that will have the airport’s flight information display begin providing personalized gate and destination information, Frederic writes. You must try it if you are a Delta customer.

Snapchat might not allow anonymous social apps anymore — and for good reason — but SarahThere are reports that new apps such as NGL and Sendit have found a home at Instagram. I guess now they are Meta’s problem.

Here are some more news: