Author : zebethcontrol

Amazon starts delivering layoff notices to thousands of employees • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 16, 2022Posted in Daily Crunch, Startups, Venture, venture capitalNo Comments

To get a roundup of ZebethMedia’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Hello, and welcome to your…checks the top right of the screen…Wednesday. Several of our ZebethMedia colleagues headed to Miami today for the TC Sessions: Crypto event tomorrow. Given the past week, it will no doubt be an interesting event. There’s still time to get tickets. Now, let’s get to some news! — Christine The ZebethMedia Top 3 Even Amazon is not immune: Instead of “no shave November,” we need a “no layoff November.” Who’s with me? Brian writes that following rumors of layoffs, Amazon started making them this week. He also has information from the company’s hardware head, who was able to provide further details. Productivity nerds, assemble!: SigmaOS raised $4 million to develop a Mac browser where you can put your tabs in groups on the left side of the screen, Ivan writes. Ultimatums never work, right?: I guess we’ll see. In Elon Musk’s case, he reportedly sent a late-night email to Twitter workers posing sort of an “Eat Me,” “Drink Me” situation related to their future employment at the social media giant, Amanda writes. One makes you larger and one makes you smaller, but it’s not clear which is the right choice. See also Alex’s story in the TC+ section. Startups and VC Venture capital firms continue to close new funds as they decide their next moves. I wrote about Fiat Ventures, which has a new $25 million fund focused on fintechs, while Connie has details about Bling Capital’s $212 million that will be essentially split between seed-stage and follow-on opportunities and two coasts. And now here’s four more for you: How to turn user data into your next pitch deck Image Credits: James Neil (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Investors might enjoy listening to a well-rehearsed founder’s story, but sharing the right customer data “can definitively power up a pitch deck,” says David Smith, VP of data and analytics at TheVentureCity. “Investors need to see that you’re not being blindsided by easy wins that can go up in smoke within weeks, but are using hard data to build a sustainable company that will endure, and thrive, with time.” Three more from the TC+ team: ZebethMedia+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Big Tech Inc. Having been married for 20 years, I’ve completely avoided the whole online dating scene, but I have heard from friends that it’s tough out there. Most people are looking for commitment, but hey it’s 2022, and not everyone is ready for that. Hinge, which touts itself as “the dating app designed to be deleted,” recognizes this and has added a new feature that makes it easier for those seeking non-monogamous relationships. Lauren has more. It is indeed the end of an era: Evernote, the note-taking and task management app, has agreed to be acquired by Bending Spoons, a company you probably just opened up a new tab to do a Google search on. Kyle has the details. And we have four more for you:

Tatum is building a robot arm to help people with deafblindness communicate • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 16, 2022Posted in accessibility, Hardware, robotics, Robotics & AI, Tatum RoboticsNo Comments

Precise numbers on deafblindness are difficult to calculate. For that reason, figures tend to be all over the place. For the sake of writing an intro to this story, we’re going to cite this study from the World Federation of the DeafBlind that puts the number of severe cases at 0.2% globally and 0.8% of the U.S. Whatever the actual figure, it’s safe to say that people living with a combination of hearing and sight loss is a profoundly underserved community. They form the foundation of the work being done by the small robotics firm, Tatum (Tactile ASL Translational User Mechanism). I met with the team at MassRobotics during a trip to Boston last week. The company’s 3D-printed robotic hand sat in the middle of the conference room table as we spoke about Tatum’s origins. The whole thing started life in summer 2020 as part of founder Samantha Johnson’s master’s thesis for Northeastern University. The 3D-printed prototype can spell out words with American Sign Language, offering people with deafblindness a window to the outside world. From the user’s end, it operates similarly to tactile fingerspelling. They place the hand over the back of the robot, feeling its movements to read as its spells. When no one is around who can sign, there can be a tremendous sense of isolation for people with deafblindness, as they’re neither able to watch or listen to the news and are otherwise cut off from remote communication. In this age of teleconferencing, it’s easy to lose track of precisely how difficult that loss of connection can be. Image Credits: Tatum Robotics “Over the past two years, we began developing initial prototypes and conducted preliminary validations with DB users,” the company notes on its site. “During this time, the COVID pandemic forced social distancing, causing increased isolation and lack of access to important news updates due to intensified shortage of crucial interpreting services. Due to the overwhelming encouragement from DB individuals, advocates, and paraprofessionals, in 2021, Tatum Robotics was founded to develop an assistive technology to aid the DB community.” Tatum continues to iterate on its project, through testing with the deafblind community. The goal to build something akin to an Alexa for people with the condition, using the hand to read a book or get plugged into the news in a way that might have otherwise been completely inaccessible. In addition to working with organizations like the Perkins School for the Blind, Tatum is simultaneously working on a pair of hardware projects. Per the company: The team is currently working on two projects. The first is a low-cost robotic anthropomorphic hand that will fingerspell tactile sign language. We hope to validate this device in real-time settings with DB individuals soon to confirm the design changes and evaluate ease-of use. Simultaneously, progress is ongoing to develop a safe, compliant robotic arm so that the system can sign more complex words and phrases. The systems will work together to create a humanoid device that can sign tactile sign languages. Image Credits: Tatum Robotics Linguistics: In an effort to sign accurately and repeatably, the team is looking to logically parse through tactile American Sign Language (ASL), Pidgin Signed English (PSE) and Signed Exact English (SEE). Although research has been conducted in this field, we aim to be the first to develop an algorithm to understand the complexities and fluidity of t-ASL without the need for user confirmation of translations or pre-programmed responses. Support has been growing among organizations for the deafblind. It’s a community that has long been underserved by these sorts of hardware projects. There are currently an estimated 150 million people with the condition globally. It’s not exactly the sort of total addressable market that gets return-focused investors excited — but for those living with the condition, this manner of technology could be life changing.

Service 1st Financial sells “home comfort-as-a-service,” gets $20 million in funding from Series B, debt • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 16, 2022Posted in Climate, EC Food Climate and Sustainability, heat pumps, hvac, leasing, StartupsNo Comments

Let’s face it, most people aren’t early adopters, especially when it comes to their homes. Take the kitchen, for example, where many people still buy gas cooktops despite induction’s superiority. It’s not because everyone’s busy charring peppers over an open flame — it’s because they’re slow to adopt changes. When it comes to heating and cooling, that’s a problem for the climate. Together, they account for about half of all energy use in U.S. homes. Heating is a particular challenge since only 40% of homes use electricity; the rest burn natural gas, propane, or some other fossil fuel. When the old furnace is dying, its replacement is usually more of the same. To reduce reliance on fossil fuels, switching to electric heat pumps is going to be key. “If your trusted contractor — who you call to come into your home to help figure out what to do with your system — doesn’t offer a heat pump, you’re just not going to buy one, right?” Anuj Khanna, founder and CEO of Service 1st Financial. That gap between what contractors offer and what’s needed to electrify households is part of the reason Khanna founded Service 1st Financial, which offers what he calls “home comfort as a service.” The company is announcing a $5.85 million Series B today that includes a $15 million subordinated debt facility, ZebethMedia has exclusively learned. Khanna said he expects the Series B to close “before year end.” The equity investment was co-led by S2G Ventures, which also led the subordinated debt facility. Other investors were not disclosed. The company offers leases that allow homeowners to pay for their HVAC systems over time while coupling them with maintenance plans for the life of the contract, which typically lasts 10 years, at which point the homeowners can opt for a new system. “The home comfort industry is this old-school, slow-to-change industry that’s still just selling product,” Khanna said. He said that’s at odds with broader market trends that suggest people are now comfortable buying services instead of products. HVAC contractors do offer annual service plans, but typically just cover basic maintenance, which Khanna said is the market’s attempt to boost customer retention. “They hope that you stay on that plan long enough that they eventually get the next replacement sale,” he said. “The problem is it doesn’t actually serve the intended purpose. And it’s not a great customer experience because every time a contractor is generally in that home, they’re then trying to sell something else to the customer. And that’s not what customers want — they want their system maintained so it never breaks.” Khanna was inspired to found Service 1st Financial after leaving his last job at a private equity firm. There, he led an investment into a large home services company owned at the time by Lennox, the HVAC systems manufacturer. He said during his time on that investment, there was “no discussion whatsoever at the contractor and consumer level going on about sustainability.” Once the company was turned around, the PE firm sold it to Enercare, a Canadian company. In Canada, a leasing model is more common, Khanna said, and Enercare used the purchase to bring that business model to the U.S. “I was kind of sitting on the sidelines doing some other things in my career, and I said, ‘You know, there’s a massive opportunity here.’ Consumer purchasing behavior is changing,” Khanna said. He founded Service 1st Financial in 2019 with his own money and an investment from Thayer Street Partners. Today, the company has customers in 25 states. Khanna said that his company’s portfolio is about 32% heat pumps, which is about double the national average of about 15% of all homes, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Inflation Reduction Act, which offers tax credits for heat pumps, is expected to supercharge the market. Khanna said lease originations are already up 80% year over year, and growth could hit 400% next year. In addition to expanding geographically, he said the funding round would also go toward building a learning management system to help train HVAC contractors. More partnerships could be on the table, too. This summer, the company announced a partnership with HVAC manufacturer Fujitsu, and it has another in the wings. Service 1st holds its lease contracts in a special purpose vehicle, Khanna said, which is also the recipient of the subordinated debt facility. The SPV also has a debt facility with Forbright Bank, a lender that focuses on decarbonization. The debt subordinated facility allows the startup to “use our equity for extremely high ROI initiatives at the parent to continue to grow and scale the business,” Khanna said. He added that S2G was interested in the subordinated debt facility because of Service 1st Financial’s lessee’s “extremely low default rates and very strong credit quality.” Khanna said that his company has been approached by utilities interested in having Service 1st Financial run their energy efficient programs, moving them away from selling discounted items and toward a service-based model. “Their focus is on electrified heat pumps. Can we incentivize the purchase of electrified heat pumps through a service-based model that can allow homeowners to replace those systems every 10 years or so?” he said. It’s a very different model than U.S. utilities are used to, but they’re finally interested in testing something new. “I think this is where the Inflation Reduction Act is causing some organizations that typically take a long time to make decisions to move very quickly,” Khanna said.

Upside’s cell-cultured chicken is first to receive FDA blessing for its production method • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 16, 2022Posted in cultivated meat, Food and Drug Administration, Startups, Upside FoodsNo Comments

In a major first, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration just offered its safety blessing to a cultivated meat product startup. It completed its first pre-market consultation with Upside Foods to examine human food made from the cultured cells of animals, and it concluded that it had “no further questions” related to the way Upside is producing its chicken. “At this time, this is the only human or animal food product for which the FDA has completed an evaluation,” the agency confirmed to ZebethMedia via email. Before you get too excited, the FDA noted that the pre-market consultation “is not an approval process,” but that it did agree with Upside’s safety conclusion about its products. Still, it’s an historic milestone for cultivated meat companies that are trying to scale their products. Indeed progress around the world has been slower than food entrepreneurs might like. Singapore was the first nation to approve cultured meat products for sale, with Eat Just being the first, and really only, company to sell its lab-grown chicken there. As Upside Foods explains, the company will now work with the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to secure the remaining approvals before its cultivated chicken can be sold to consumers. The company didn’t provide a timeframe for when that will happen, but says that “more details on the timing of the launch will follow.” The FDA and United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) say these requirements include facility registration for the cell culture portion of the process, a manufacturing inspection and for the food itself to receive a mark of inspection from the FSIS before it can enter the U.S. market. This includes making sure it is properly regulated and labeled, the agency said. “We are already engaged in discussions with multiple firms about various types of food made from cultured animal cells, including food made from seafood cells that will be overseen solely by the FDA,” the FDA said in a written statement. “Our goal is to support innovation in food technologies while always maintaining as our priority the production of safe food. Human food made with cultured animal cells must meet the same stringent requirements, including safety requirements, as all other food.” While Upside’s chicken product is now deemed safe, is it practical price-wise? As we’ve previously reported, making cultivated meat products is expensive and the scale is not yet close to meeting the demand for meat around the world. What is evident is that there is a lot of activity going on in this space. Just this week, Meatable unveiled its hybrid approach of lab-grown meat and plant-based proteins to be able to move faster to market. Meanwhile, Vow, another cultivated meat startup, announced a rather large Series A round — $49.2 million — and is tapping into that existing Singapore network to get its exotic meat products, like kangaroo and alpaca, into restaurants. One thing’s for sure, the FDA making a definitive move for Upside Foods will hopefully be a “rising tide lifts all boats” moment for the cultivated meat industry. Synthesis Capital’s co-founder and partner Rosie Wardle, who was part of UPSIDE’s $400 million Series C round earlier this year, seems to think so. She said via email that Synthesis sees this “as one of the most important milestones for the future of the food industry to date.” Especially as the cultivated meat method is estimated to cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 96% via less water, land use and energy over the traditional way of using animals to make meat. “Our own research indicates that alternative protein growth will continue exponentially through the late 2020s and early 2030s, with the sector reaching dominant market share in around 2035,” Wardle added. “The FDA approval for cultivated meat is a significant step in that direction, and we believe this announcement will have an overwhelmingly positive impact on the broader alternative proteins market.” We’ve reached out to Upside Foods for comment and will update the story with any responses.

This robotic dog can walk over just about any terrain • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 16, 2022Posted in carnegie mellon university, Hardware, Robotics & AI, uc-berkeleyNo Comments

Quadruped robot developers like Boston Dynamics have taken great pains to develop systems capable of traversing all manner of terrain. For the right price, you can pick up a robotic dog that can take a kick, get back up and get back on its way. A team comprised of researchers at Carnegie Mellon and UC Berkeley have developed their own system for teaching these sorts of robots to make their way over tough ground. The list includes stairs, curbs and uneven and slippery terrain. Rather than relying on the more standardized method of using cameras to map the world in front of them, the team trained the roots using simulators: four thousand virtual clones were sent on their way across all manner of different terrain. Image Credits: CMU The researchers say the method allowed them to effectively reproduce six years of walking experience in a single 24-hour period. The data collected in the simulations was then fed into a neural network and loaded on the robot. With the on-board learning, the system can react to its environment in real time and adjust its legs accordingly. The team claims that the system can bring down the cost of robots substantially. “This system uses vision and feedback from the body directly as input to output commands to the robot’s motors,” researcher Ananye Agarwal said in a post tied to the research. “This technique allows the system to be very robust in the real world. If it slips on stairs, it can recover. It can go into unknown environments and adapt.” Assistant professor Deepak Pathak says the system works in similar ways to real animals like cats. “Four-legged animals have a memory that enables their hind legs to track the front legs. Our system works in a similar fashion.” In additional to being able to climb stairs nearly its own height, the system is also able to operate in the dark, though the vision system is still required for improved performance.

Apple TV+ to launch ‘MLS Season Pass’ subscription on February 1 • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 16, 2022Posted in apple tv, major league soccer, Media & Entertainment, Sports, streaming serviceNo Comments

Today, Apple announced the launch date and price of its upcoming subscription service for Major League Soccer (MLS) fans, “MLS Season Pass.” Starting February 1, 2023, subscribers in 100+ countries and regions can get MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app for $14.99 per month during the season or $99 per season. Notably, Apple TV+ subscribers that sign up for MLS Season Pass only have to pay $12.99 per month or $79 per season. Viewers can stream MLS games on the Apple TV app on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, game consoles, set-top boxes, and the web. The company claims that the new subscription service will bring the league to its “biggest worldwide audience ever.” MLS Season Pass will likely be a great option for cord-cutters as it features all live MLS regular season matches, playoffs, hundreds of MLS NEXT Pro and MLS NEXT games, and the Leagues Cup match. Plus, there are no blackouts, the company says. So, soccer fans in over 100 territories will get to watch teams in or out of market. For comparison, ESPN+ streams up to 350 out-of-market MLS matchups for $9.99/month. Apple users can tune into the live game anytime and watch it from the start, so they don’t miss their favorite team. Games on MLS Season Pass will feature English and Spanish broadcasters. Canadian games will have commentary in French. Also, during match days, Apple will live stream an exclusive show on MLS Season Pass so viewers can watch game replays, highlights, and analysis. MLS 2023 regular season is set to begin on February 25 and will open with the Los Angeles FC against the LA Galaxy. During the “MLS is Back” opening weekend, Apple TV users don’t need an MLS Season Pass subscription since all these matches will be available to stream for free. Fans can expect to learn the league’s full 2023 schedule in mid-December. “We could not be more excited to bring our fans MLS Season Pass, a new home for all MLS matches and a wide variety of league and club content they can’t get anywhere else,” said Don Garber, MLS’s commissioner, in a statement. “We have the most engaged and passionate fans in sports, and now they’ll have every match everywhere with MLS Season Pass.” Apple’s announcement comes on the heels of the company closing a 10-year deal with MLS, a significant move pushing Apple further into the live sports streaming space. Apple TV+ currently only offers Friday Night Baseball games. As more media companies bid for sports streaming rights, Apple needs to be more aggressive with its live sports offerings. Reports have circulated for months that Apple may be the front-runner for NFL’s Sunday Ticket package. “There isn’t a more perfect time to introduce MLS Season Pass, coming off the heels of the most dramatic MLS Cup in history and with MLS as the fastest-growing soccer league in the world,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services, added. “We’re counting down the days to February 2023 when fans everywhere can enjoy MLS Season Pass on billions of devices — all with no blackouts.”

Iran-backed hackers breached a US federal agency that failed to patch year-old bug • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 16, 2022Posted in CISA, iran, Log4j, Security, us governmentNo Comments

The U.S. government’s cybersecurity agency says hackers backed by the Iranian government compromised a federal agency that failed to patch against Log4Shell, a vulnerability fixed almost a year ago. In an alert published Thursday, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that a federal civilian executive branch organization (FCEB) was breached by Iranian government hackers earlier in February. CISA did not name the breached FCEB agency, a list that includes the likes of the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Treasury, and the Federal Trade Commission, and CISA spokesperson Michael Feldman declined to comment when reached by ZebethMedia. CISA said it first observed the suspected activity on the unnamed federal agency’s network months later in April while conducting retrospective analysis using Einstein, a government-run intrusion detection system used to protect federal civilian agency networks. The agency found that the hackers had exploited Log4Shell, a critical zero-day vulnerability in the ubiquitous open-source logging software Log4j, in an unpatched VMware Horizon server to gain initial access into the organization’s network with administrator and system-level access. This compromise happened even though CISA had ordered all federal civilian agencies to patch their systems affected by the Log4Shell vulnerability by December 23. Once inside the organizations’ network, CISA observed the threat actors installed XMRig, open-source crypto mining software that is commonly abused by hackers for mining virtual currency on compromised computers. The attackers also installed Mimikatz, an open-source credential stealer, to harvest passwords and to create a new domain administrator account. Using this newly created account, the hackers disabled Windows Defender and implanted Ngrok reverse proxies on several hosts in order to maintain their access in the future. The attackers also changed the password for the local administrator account on several hosts as a backup should the rogue domain administrator account get detected and terminated. It’s not clear for what reason the hackers targeted the U.S. federal agency. Broad access to an organization’s network can be used for both espionage as well as launching destructive attacks. CISA, which has not attributed the breach to a particular advanced persistent threat (APT) group, shared indicators of compromise (IOCs) to help network defenders detect and protect against similar compromises. CISA also said that organizations that haven’t yet patched VMware systems against Log4Shell should assume that they’ve already been breached and advises them to start hunting for malicious activity within their networks. The agency also urges organizations to keep all software up-to-date, implement , and prevent users from using known compromised passwords.

Kenya’s Twiga dismisses in-house sales team, affecting 21% of it employees • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 16, 2022Posted in kenya, Startups, TwigaNo Comments

Kenya’s B2B e-commerce food distribution platform Twiga has laid off 211 of its full-time employees following restructuring that has eliminated the company’s in-house sales team. The laid-off staff make up 21% of the over 1,000 employees mainly in Kenya, where it links farmers or agricultural producers and fast-moving consumer goods manufactures to retailers. The agritech’s CEO and co-founder Peter Njonjo told ZebethMedia that the laid-off trade development representatives were given the option of working for the company as independent agents with pay based on the customers they acquire and sales they make. The representatives signed up vendors and were in charge of customer relations, gathering market intelligence and promoting products to clients. In the current proposition, the agents will carry out similar duties. Reports also state that Twiga has limited its staff travel allowances as part of its cost-cutting measures. “Twiga recently launched a new optimized sales agents’ program … where current Trade Development Representatives (TDRs) will transition from permanent employees into independent agents on a 100% commission basis,” said Twiga in response to a ZebethMedia inquiry, adding that the transition of the TDRs was made in line with labor laws and that impacted employees were granted the first right of refusal to transition to the new model. The company says it plans to create 1,000 opportunities through the agent model by the end of next year’s first quarter. “This transition creates an opportunity for entrepreneurship open to former sales agents and the general public. The benefit of this transition is that it allows for higher earnings based on the effort and enterprise of the agent. This model has worked with other businesses like insurance and banking that have transitioned fully into Independent Agents in Kenya.” Twiga, co-founded by Njonjo and Grant Brooke in 2014, joins the growing list of startups in Africa and across the globe downsizing amid a slowdown in VC funding, which has made capital for operations and growth hard to access. The changes come exactly a year after Twiga raised $50 million in series C round to scale in Kenya and expand to neighboring countries. The round was led by Paris- and Nairobi-based family office and private equity firm Creadev as TLcom Capital, IFC Ventures, DOB Equity and Goldman Sachs’ spinoff Juven made follow-on investments. They also recently launched Twiga Fresh, an addition to its private label through which it will farm and distribute its own agricultural produce to traders and to deal with traceability challenges, stock outs and price volatility — which have made it hard for the company to deliver on its promise of affordability and food security.

FTX exposure hits market makers and funds • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 16, 2022Posted in Crypto, EC Blockchain, EC Cryptocurrency, enigma, FTX, hedge funds, WintermuteNo Comments

The collapse of FTX is swiftly draining money from the crypto economy: Information reviewed by ZebethMedia indicates that market makers and funds that lost money on the exchange, until recently one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, are more numerous than previously anticipated — and some might be in conversations with creditors soon. Dozens of market makers and fund managers in an invite-only Telegram chat responded to a poll titled “my/my firms [sic] current exposure to FTX.” ZebethMedia reviewed the results from the 147-member chat, dubbed “FTX creditors private.” Among the 70 respondents, 66% said they lost $25 million or less, 7% indicated that they lost between $25 million and $50 million, 6% lost $50 to $100 million, and 1% reported FTX-related losses of between $100 million and $500 million. The remaining 20% declined to provide a sketch of their potential losses, according to private documents reviewed by ZebethMedia. Who is in the cohort? “Anyone who was a big player was on FTX,” a source close to the matter said. “You couldn’t have a credible market-making business if you weren’t on that platform.” There are a few members of the chat who have spoken publicly, but the majority of the firms in the group have not gone public with their losses, the source said. “There’s a lot of funds out there who haven’t reported what they lost. There’s going to be a lot of contagion.” If the FTX collapse is anything like what happened with crypto exchange Mt. Gox (which was hacked and then filed for bankruptcy), what will result will be a long, drawn-out court case in which depositors try to recoup their losses. But some members of the chat are also exploring opportunities to sell claims of their FTX accounts. Individuals in the chat asked others if they’ve been able to sell their accounts over the counter, according to messages seen by ZebethMedia. Enigma Securities is looking to buy claims of individual or company accounts, according to group members. Enigma is a Financial Conduct Authority-registered crypto asset facilitator for liquidity, banking relations and custody solutions. “Enigma is looking to buy claims >10m via a Dutch auction as soon as this week. I can make an intro if anyone is interested,” one group member wrote on Tuesday.

More reasons than ever to go to TC Sessions: Crypto • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 16, 2022Posted in Crypto, TC Sessions: Crypto, TC Sessions: Crypto 2022No Comments

We can’t think of a more exciting moment in time to host TC Sessions: Crypto — it opens tomorrow, November 17, in Miami. The past two weeks have been a wild roller-coaster ride — to say the least — and there’s not a better place to unpack everything that’s happened. Be in the room: Buy your pass right now to see and hear the latest developments and analysis live and in person. It’s also the perfect place to recalibrate expectations about what the future of the cryptoverse might hold. You’ll hear directly from leading experts like: Devin Finzer, co-founder and CEO, OpenSea Nikil Viswanathan, co-founder and CEO, Alchemy Changpeng (CZ) Zhao, founder and CEO, Binance Need more reasons to attend? Listen up. It’s seriously now o’clock for founders and developers to make sure you know how to keep your dream funded, secure your work and ensure that you can continue to grow at scale. Check out just some of the day’s panel discussions, and be sure to check out the full agenda. Keeping the Web3 Dream Funded, with Chris Ahn (Haun Ventures) and Tom Schmidt (Dragonfly) Crypto’s on Fire but Devs Are Still Building, with Nikil Viswanathan Securing Web3, with Pratima Arora (Chainalysis), Kathleen Breitman (Tezos) and Pascal Gauthier (Ledger) But wait, there’s more! You’ll learn plenty from our partners, who offer a range of essential topics: Bringing DeFi to the Masses: How Do We Make DeFi a Seamless, Easy Reality for Millions of Users Who Aren’t Crypto Experts? with Zenobia Godschalk (Swirlds Labs) and Mina Khattak (Worldpay). Sponsored by Hedera. Creating a True, User-Led Metaverse, with Chris Jones (MetaJuice), Natalia Mazzuchelli (ImmutableX) and Alex Mogul (Republic Crypto). Sponsored by MetaJuice. Keeping It Legal, with Wilson Sonsini attorneys Amy Caiazza, Jonathan Chan, Neel Maitra and Scott McKinney. Sponsored by Wilson Sonsini. Robo-taxis in the Metaverse with Siraj Raval (Polygon Technology). Sponsored by Polygon. Someone Stole Your Bitcoin…Now What? with Connor Murray (Bitcoin Association for BSV and True Reviews). Sponsored by Bitcoin Association for BSV. The Future of Finance with Colin Butler (Polygon Technology). Sponsored by Polygon. On top of all that, connecting with great colleagues and developing new business relationships is one of the best ways to weather uncertain times. You’ll have time to meet old friends and make new connections at the expo hall, during breakout sessions, in the networking zone or over drinks at our after party. TC Sessions: Crypto takes place on November 17 in Miami. This is one of the most pivotal points in crypto history: Don’t miss your chance to hear the current analysis and learn what you need to do — now — to keep your crypto dreams on track. Buy your pass today and be in the room tomorrow! Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TC Sessions: Crypto? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.