Monday, April 22, 2024

Image Credits: Toru Hanai/Bloomberg / Getty Images

Hello, and welcome back to TechCrunch PM. I hope you are well-rested from the weekend because we have a long list of stories to go through. We of course have the latest on Tesla, as well as a surprise from Amazon and some laughs from Rippling founder Parker Conrad. Also check out the Oura ring at your nearest Target and learn why Informatica is not for sale.

TechCrunch Top 3

What Tesla's earnings might say: We already know Tesla's first-quarter earnings will be unimpressive, so Rebecca Bellan and Kirsten Korosec dissect what the electric vehicle plans to do about it. Read More

Amazon pulls California drone delivery: We don't have all the details on why Amazon is ending its drone delivery operations in Lockeford, California, most importantly the "why," but we do know that drone delivery in College State, Texas, will continue. Read More

Parker Conrad's new lease on life: Following the news that Rippling, a workforce management software company, was closing on $200 million in new funding at a $13.4 billion valuation, our editor-in-chief spoke with founder Parker Conrad to discuss turnover. Particularly its new office lease in San Francisco and why Rippling is going AI free. Read More

Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: Oura/Target

Ring it up, Target: That's right, the nationwide retailer is getting the Oura smart ring. Read More

It's retro: Who needs all those pixels when you can make whatever picture you take look like a Polaroid? The Mood.camera app will turn your iPhone into the "way back machine." The fun comes when there is no live preview feature — you see the same thing as you see in the default camera app. Read More

Hydrocarbons are heating up: General Galactic, a stealthy new startup, hopes its approach to making methane from carbon dioxide will let it drive prices down for so-called e-fuels. Read More

Informatica holds up a stop sign: The data management software company wants us all to know that it is not for sale. To Salesforce or anyone else. Read More

Pomelo raises $35 million: The company is specializing in "send now, pay later," which combines international money transfer with credit. That strategy attracted some big backers, and now Pomelo wants to expand to Mexico. Read More

It's your lucky day, third-party headset makers: The mixed-reality operating system that powers Meta Quest headsets can now be used by third-party device makers. And three major tech players are in front of the line to develop new devices that run the software. Read More

TabaPay acquires Synapse: Banking-as-a-service startup Synapse has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and its assets will be acquired by TabaPay. It's another knock on BaaS, which has had quite a couple of years. Read More

EU probes TikTok … again: The European Union is particularly interested in whether the video-sharing platform is breaking the bloc's Digital Services Act, an online governance and content moderation framework. Access to the TikTok Lite app is likely to be suspended in the interim. Read More

The fediverse is about to get spooky: Substack rival Ghost confirmed it will officially join Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube and Flipboard in the fediverse this year.

On the pods: Today's Equity is jam-packed with talk about tech earnings, the ongoing EV wars and how it feels like venture capital has its head in the clouds. Listen here

"Calgon, take me away!": Therapeutic headbands and eye mask-like medical devices have long had benefits on a number of chronic issues. Now meet Neurovalens, a Belfast-based startup that for over a decade has been developing technology to deliver noninvasive electrical stimulation of the brain and nervous system. The good news is its second head-mounted treatment device was cleared by the FDA. Read more

Another breach: We learned that in March, India's largest audio and wearables brand boAt had a data breach that compromised the data of more than 7.5 million customers. The company is investigating amid a sample of the data being uploaded on a known cybercrime forum. Read more

Become a Startup Battlefield 200 company: Apply today to join peers at October's TechCrunch Disrupt event in San Francisco. Read more

Around the web

Another '90s clothing icon filed for bankruptcy. Express, which I describe as an "edgier" version of The Limited (yes, I just gave away my age bracket), filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday. The retailer's portfolio includes Bonobos and UpWest, and as part of the filing, Express will close 95 Bonobos and all of the UpWest locations, according to CNBC. All may not be lost, however, as WHP Global, a brand management firm, is considering acquiring Express.

Meanwhile, billionaire Mark Cuban has something to say about Bitcoin. Forbes has more.

And Kroger and Albertsons are very eager to merge. So much so that they have agreed to sell 160 more stores, just under 580 now if you are keeping score at home. The Wall Street Journal reports that this latest move will hopefully appease the Federal Trade Commission, which sued Kroger to block the transaction.

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TechCrunch Minute

Tesla's Cybertruck recall, layoffs set the stage for its Q1 earnings: Tesla layoffs didn't do the electric vehicle maker's share prices any good. However, that seems to be the least of its worries. The company decided not to build a cheaper EV, opting instead to build robotaxis in a move "that some consider to be technologically premature," Alex writes. Now with the mass recall of its Cybertruck, it's not exactly the recipe content investors are looking for. Hit play and let's chat!