Spotify Tickets rollout lets concertgoers buy passes for live gigs

TechCrunch Newsletter [TechCrunch logo]( [The Daily Crunch logo]( By [Christine Hall]( and [Haje Jan Kamps]( Wednesday, August 10, 2022 Hello, Minnesota! We’re back with another City Spotlight on September 7, where all eyes are on Minneapolis. [Burnsy]( wrote up [a teaser of the event]( for you. Because you read this newsletter and we love you, [you can sign up completely for free here](. Okay, we’ll be honest; it’s free for everyone. But you do read Daily Crunch, and we do love you. So we’ve got that going for us, like the big happy family we are. — [Christine]( and [Haje]( [ image] Image Credits: Rubberball/Mike Kemp / Getty Images The TechCrunch Top 3 - [Cutting out the middle ticket vendor](: Move over Ticketmaster and Eventbrite, Spotify has a new website that sells certain live music tickets directly to account holders, [Ivan]( writes. - [Quite a run already](: We’re not quite sure how long it should take a company to reach $100 million in annual recurring revenue, but if you are cloud security company Wiz, and it takes only 18 months to reach that milestone, we pay attention. [Ron]( has more. - [Nikola’s new CEO](: Electric truck maker Nikola has found its next CEO in current president Michael Lohscheller, who will move into the position on January 1 following Mark Russell’s retirement, [Jaclyn]( writes. The company has had some struggles, so we’ll keep an eye on this one for you. [Siemens Xcelerator]( Sponsored by [Siemens AG]( [We take the complexity out of digital transformation and make it simple with Siemens Xcelerator.]( [Learn More]( Startups and VC QED Investors, a U.S. fintech-focused venture capital firm, has [made its first African investment](. The firm deployed a rumored $50 million into TeamApt, a Nigerian fintech that provides business payments and banking platforms, [Tage]( reports. Looks like LongHash ventures are on a roll, [Jacquelyn]( reports, as it launches its second fund, [weighing in at $100 million](. The firm is investing in startups that are supporting web3 infrastructure. The second fund is substantially larger than the first fund, which came in at $15 million. - Who will guard the guardians: [Carly]( reports that [DNSFilter acquired Guardian, an iOS firewall app](. The goal is to build taller walls to help users better hide from web threats. - Like paperwork, but smarter: Expedock uses AI to digitize freight paperwork and categorize it into existing logistics management tools, and [today it closed a $13.5 million Series A](, [Kyle]( reports. - From warmer coffee to colder vaccines?: [Brian]( reports that smart mug maker Ember just made an interesting move, launching a [a life sciences company](, with sensors that can track whether something shipped cold stays cold in transit. - I’ll wax lyrical about you on Friday: Beauty and wellness scheduling tool[Boulevard raises $70 million](, reports[Ingrid](. - So, who owns this?: [Haje]( has been taking a closer look at AI-generated art and is curious if [copyright law is going to get interesting]( in the near future. [How to conduct a reduction in force: Planning, execution and follow-up]( It’s hard to argue with “measure twice and cut once,” especially when it comes to laying off employees. Few managers have overseen a reduction in force, which is why Nigel Morris, co-founder and managing partner of QED Investors, has been sharing a five-page document with his portfolio company CEOs to give them guidance. “We broke the process down into three parts: planning, execution and follow-up,” he writes in a TC+ post that condenses the advice he’s giving the founders he works with. “The unavoidable reality is that while you’ll need to conduct the RIFs in an organized manner that is grounded in strong business rationale, there is always an overarching need to deliver the message with empathy and respect.” (TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead.[You can sign up here](.) [Read More]( [How to conduct a reduction in force: Planning, execution and follow-up image] Image Credits: Pulp Photography / Getty Images (Image has been modified) Big Tech Inc. [Jagmeet]( wins “Big Tech headline of the day” for his story, [Snapchat+ arrives in India and it costs just 62 cents](. The social media channel joins others in launching a paid version in India at a fraction of the cost it charges globally. Meanwhile, [Manish]( brings us more news from India that the country is putting some [guidelines in place]( for more lending app transparency and consumer controls. [Brian]( continues to be our Samsung guru with more from the electronics giant, including the [new version of the Galaxy Buds](, the [latest additions to the Galaxy Watch]( and a look at the [new foldable products]( coming out later this month. The next time you go into Whole Foods, stick out your palm. [Lauren]( reports that Amazon is expanding its [palm-scanning payment technology]( to 65 more locations. Grocery tech is a hot topic these days, so look out for some TechCrunch+ love for the industry this week. - Tipping a hat to open source: [Ron]( brings news from the Black Hat USA conference that a group of security companies are teaming up to [launch an open source product]( so that companies like them can share data between security tools. - Here comes the sun: [Ford will begin buying solar energy]( from DTE Energy,[Jaclyn]( writes. - Cashing in: [SoftBank plans to reduce its stake in Alibaba]( to 14.6%, [Rita]( reports. - All eyes on Malaysia: The country is getting a boost from some big tech. First, [Ivan]( reports that[ Apple Pay launched]( there, while [Kyle]( unveils that Malaysia is one of the [upcoming regions for Google Cloud](. - Exit stage left: Looks like [Deliveroo will be getting out of the Netherlands](. [Natasha L]( reports that the region accounted for less than 1% of the food delivery company’s gross transaction value, making the cost “too much to try to increase usage in the market to boost its positioning.” [Â]( Again, we had a number of stories from yesterday that seem to still be on readers’ minds, so let’s dig in to a few: Elon Musk was having an “okay” good day. [SpaceX’s Starship hit a milestone](, [Aria]( writes, but [Rebecca]( reports Musk [sold nearly $7 billion in Tesla shares](, perhaps because that $44 billion check to Twitter is going to bite. Meanwhile, there were layoffs for [Microsoft](, [iRobot]( and [Hootsuite](. And [Coinbase’s earnings]( were as expected, [Jacquelyn](, [Alex](, and [Anita]( write. [Read more stories on TechCrunch.com]( Newest Jobs from Crunchboard - [Senior Software Engineer at Siemens Healthcare (Hoffman Estates, IL, USA)]( - [Software Developer at MedLab2020, Inc. (Irvine, CA, USA)]( - [Full Stack Developer - Remote at TheoremReach (Madison, WI, USA)]( - [Network Architect at Earthjustice.org (San Francisco, CA, USA)]( - [Engineering Manager, Subscriptions (The Atlantic) at The Atlantic (New York, NY, USA)]( [See more jobs on CrunchBoard]( [Post your tech jobs]( and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( [Flipboard]( [View this email online in your browser]( [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Service]( | [Unsubscribe]( © 2022 Yahoo. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103