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Netflix’s new feature lets subscribers kick devices off their accounts • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Media & Entertainment, Netflix, streaming serviceNo Comments on Netflix’s new feature lets subscribers kick devices off their accounts • ZebethMedia

Want to kick your ex off your Netflix account without having to change your password? A new Netflix feature will make that possible. Today, Netflix is launching “Manage Access and Devices,” which allows account owners to remotely log out of devices they don’t recognize or no longer want signed in. The addition could help Netflix push more freeloaders to become subscribers as they’re kicked off the service, where they may have been logging in without the account holder’s knowledge. The new feature follows other recent launches also aimed at limiting account-sharing, like Profile Transfer, which arrived amid a broader crackdown as Netflix faced subscriber losses. To remove devices from an account, Netflix subscribers can go to their “Account Settings” and find the “Manage Access and Devices” option which displays the users’ most recent devices, as well as the type of device (Roku Smart TV, Android phone, etc.), the IP address, and the exact time and date when the device last access the subscriber’s Netflix account. After a subscriber selects “Sign Out” on an unfamiliar device, Netflix recommends a password change for extra security, but this is not required. Going forward, account owners will receive new login notifications via email. The feature is available, starting today, to all members worldwide on the web, iOS devices, and Android devices, Netflix says. Being able to manage who accesses a Netflix account will be especially helpful for those subscribed to Netflix’s cheaper plans, “Basic” and “Basic with ads,” which only allow one supported device at a time. (Standard members can simultaneously watch on two supported devices, and premium members can stream on four supported devices, for comparison.) Netflix has been cracking down on password sharing in recent months. During its earnings call with investors last month, Netflix detailed how it would monetize password sharing by launching an “extra members” feature in early 2023. This feature charges account holders an extra fee for sharing outside their household, and was previously tested in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru. The “Profile Transfer” feature encourages those sharing another subscriber’s account to move to an account of their own while keeping their data intact, including custom recommendations, viewing history, and their watch list. “With the busy holiday season just around the corner, many of our members will be on the move and watching Netflix wherever they are traveling to see family and friends. Logging in to your account while at a hotel or even your friend’s house is easy and intuitive, but lots of people then forget to log out,” wrote Charles Wartemberg, Netflix’s Product Manager for Product Innovation, on the company’s blog.

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LF Europe’s Project Sylva wants to create an open source telco cloud stack • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in cloud, Enterprise, Europe, linux foundation, open source, telco, telecommunicationsNo Comments on LF Europe’s Project Sylva wants to create an open source telco cloud stack • ZebethMedia

The Linux Foundation Europe (LF Europe) — the recently launched European offshoot of the open source Linux Foundation — today announced the launch of Project Sylva, which aims to create an open source telco cloud framework for European telcos and vendors. This is the first project hosted by LF Europe and is a good example of what the organization is trying to achieve. The project aims to create a production-grade open source telco cloud stack and a common framework and reference implementation to “reduce fragmentation of the cloud infrastructure layer for telecommunication and edge services.” Currently, five carriers (Telefonica, Telecom Italia, Orange, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom) and two vendors (Ericsson and Nokia) are working on the project. “There’s a whole bunch of Linux Foundation networking projects already that have taken telecommunications into the open source era,” Arpit Joshipura, the general manager for Networking, Edge and IoT at the Linux Foundation, told me. “All those projects are under what is called the [LF] Networking foundation. […] So whatever that work is that is done by the telcos, Sylva is going to leverage and build on top of it with these European vendors to solve EU specific requirements. Those are security, energy, federated computing, edge and data trust.” At the core of Sylva is a framework for a compute platform that can be agnostic to whether a workload is running on the telco access network, edge or in the core. The project aims to build a reference implementation, leveraging all of the work already being done by LF Networking, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (the home of Kubernetes and other cloud-native infrastructure projects), LF Energy and others. All of this, of course, is done with a focus on the EU’s goals around security, data privacy and energy management, but even though the project has this EU focus, the overall ambition is broader and goes well beyond the European Union. Many of these regulations, after all, will make it to other markets as well. “Linux Foundation, Europe allows us to focus more on specific regional requirements, but without those siloes and fragmentation that foster that techno-nationalism, if you want to call it that, by really being able to foster local collaboration and then, pushing that stuff upstream gives us this amazing conduit to go across borders,” explained Gabriele Columbro, the general manager of the Linux Foundation Europe. The vendors joining the project all argue that they are doing so in order to reduce fragmentation as the industry moves to a cloud-centric model and to enable interoperability between different platforms. “The Telco Cloud ecosystem today is fragmented and slowing down our operational model transformation. Despite a transition to cloud native technologies, a real interoperability between workloads and platforms remains a challenge,” said Laurent Leboucher, group CTO and SVP, Orange Innovation Networks. “Indeed, operators have to deal with a lot of vertical solutions that are different for each vendor, leading to operational complexity, lack of scalability and high costs. Sylva, by providing a homogenous telco cloud framework for the entire industry, should help all the ecosystem to use a common technology, which will be interoperable, flexible and easy to operate.”

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Bootstrapping basics, fintech’s future, tech employers gain advantage • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in EC roundup, Fintech, immigration law, Startups, tech layoffs, Venture, venture capitalNo Comments on Bootstrapping basics, fintech’s future, tech employers gain advantage • ZebethMedia

Are you planning to play League of Legends during your next investor pitch? (If so, reading this probably isn’t a good use of your time.) For founders who are interested in building on their own, maintaining control and staying off the fundraising treadmill for as long as possible, investor/entrepreneur Marjorie Radlo-Zandi sets out five basic principles for bootstrapped founders in her latest TC+ article. It’s not for everyone: self-funded companies will ask more from their employees than larger operations that offer free lunches and other perks. At one bootstrapped startup where I worked, I was asked to defer part of my salary — after I was hired. Full ZebethMedia+ articles are only available to membersUse discount code TCPLUSROUNDUP to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription Radlo-Zandi covers the basics with regard to hiring, managing expenses and shaping company culture, but she also urges self-funders to tamp down expectations and take a measured approach: “Don’t be tempted to hop on a plane at a moment’s notice to meet potential customers in glamorous locations or for meetings in far-flung locations,” she writes. “Your bootstrapped business likely will not survive such big, optional financial outlays.” Bootstrapped founders face longer odds, but if they can drive growth and reach product-market fit, “fundraising will be that much easier.” Thanks very much for reading, Walter ThompsonEditorial Manager, ZebethMedia+@yourprotagonist The power pendulum is swinging back to employers, isn’t it? Image Credits: AOosthuizen (opens in a new window) / Getty Images More than 120,000 tech workers have lost jobs so far this year, according to layoffs.fyi. And with more than a fifth of those layoffs taking place in November, many from well-capitalized public companies, it’s easy to see why Continuum CEO Nolan Church believes this is the beginning of a wave. “Over the last 12 years, the pendulum between who has power between employees and employers has drastically swung toward employees,” he said last week on the ZebethMedia Equity podcast. “Now, we’re in a moment where the pendulum is swinging back.” Answers for H-1B workers who’ve been laid off (or think they might be) Group of young adults, photographed from above, on various painted tarmac surface, at sunrise. Sophie Alcorn, an immigration law attorney based in Silicon Valley, estimates that 15% of the people recently laid off from Bay Area startups are immigrants, 90% of whom are H-1B holders. If you’re a visa holder who’s been laid off, your first priority is to “figure out your last day of employment, because that’s when you need to start counting the 60-day grace period,” says Alcorn. “You either get a new job, you leave, or you figure out some other way to legally stay in the United States, but you have to take some action within those 60 days.” Nearly 80% of venture funds raised in just two states as US LPs retreat to the coasts Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / ZebethMedia After the pandemic began, there was a lot of buzz about how venture capital was shifting away from its roots in San Francisco and New York to make inroads into the Midwest. But after an extended slump in public markets led so many investors to sit on the sidelines, data show that “most funds outside of the two largest startup hubs… are feeling the frost from potential LPs,” reports Rebecca Szkutak. “So far this year, 77% of capital has been raised in just California and New York. In 2021, those states raised 68% of the year’s totals.” Preparing for fintech’s second decade: 4 moves your firm must make now Image Credits: Emilija Manevska (opens in a new window) / Getty Images According to consultant Grant Easterbrook, fintech startups that hope to succeed over the next few years must be prepared to go up against: Major banks and financial service providers with loyalty programs and “super apps.” Emerging DeFi protocols “that can offer financial products that involve real-world assets.” Banking, invoicing, lending, payments, accounting packaged as “embedded financial products.” Multiple countries issuing their own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). “Your firm will need a very strong value proposition to compete with all four types of competitors,” writes Easterbrook, who shares his ideas for navigating the next decade of fintech in a TC+ guest post.

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YouTube Shorts begins testing shopping features and affiliate marketing • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Apps, Commerce, YouTube, YouTube ShortsNo Comments on YouTube Shorts begins testing shopping features and affiliate marketing • ZebethMedia

YouTube is adding shopping features to Shorts, its TikTok-like short-form video product, the company confirmed to ZebethMedia on Tuesday. The new shopping features allow users to purchase products as they scroll through Shorts. The news was first reported by the Financial Times. The company is starting to introduce shopping features on YouTube Shorts with eligible creators in the United States who are currently piloting the ability to tag products from their own stores. Viewers in the United States, India, Brazil, Canada and Australia can see the tags and shop through the Shorts. YouTube says it plans to continue to bring tagging to more creators and countries in the future. YouTube is experimenting with an affiliate program in the United States that allows creators to earn commission through purchases of recommended products in their Shorts. The company says the test is still in its early days and that it plans to gradually expand the experiment to more creators next year. “We firmly believe YouTube is the best place for creators to build a business and shopping is a piece of that,” a spokesperson for YouTube told ZebethMedia in an email. The news comes a few weeks after YouTube announced that creators will take a 45 percent share of ad revenue starting next year. In early 2023, creators will be able to apply to the company’s Partner Program if they meet a new Shorts-specific threshold of 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views over 90 days, after which they will earn 45% of ad revenue from their videos. YouTube’s Shorts has topped 1.5 billion monthly users, but despite this success, YouTube’s quarterly ad revenue declined 1.9% year over year and missed expectations, per Alphabet’s quarterly earnings report released last month. YouTube likely sees the new shopping features as a way for it to broaden its revenue streams amid a slumping advertising market. Over the past few years, YouTube has been working to transform its platform into more of a shopping destination with product launches like shoppable ads and the ability to shop directly from livestreams hosted by creators. Given these moves, it makes sense for YouTube to bring shopping to Shorts too. YouTube isn’t the only digital giant to bet on the future of shopping, as TikTok and Meta have also invested in the space. Last week, TikTok quietly began testing TikTok Shop in the United States. TikTok Shop allows users to buy products directly through the app. Prior to this expansion, the feature was only available in the United Kingdom and parts of Southeast Asia. Earlier this year, the company also began piloting TikTok Shopping in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada in partnership with Shopify. Meta-owned Instagram allows creators to share products in livestreams and in its shopping tab, which lets users scroll through recommended products and make purchases. Brands are also able to make their profiles shoppable through product catalogs.

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More fertility benefits • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in digital health, kate ryder, maven, Startups, women's healthNo Comments on More fertility benefits • ZebethMedia

Maven, a women’s health clinic and benefits platform, has had no shortage of macroeconomic plot twists: from investors questioning its market size to the still on-going pandemic to, most recently, the startling overturn of Roe v. Wade. But CEO and founder Kate Ryder stays optimistic. “This is a massive industry that’s full of entrenched interests and misaligned incentives and then there’s the government and the regulators. But I think that the change is afoot,” she said in an interview with ZebethMedia. “There’s a lot of stuff to be done here, but I think employers are actually recognizing it for the first time, we see it being prioritized – because we wouldn’t be growing if not.” Indeed, the startup’s growth is impressive: Maven’s employer-paid benefits suite currently covers 15 million people, five times as many people that it covered since August 2021. Amid an environment where many late-stage companies are struggling, Maven’s user growth has unsurprisingly attracted fresh investor interest. The company announced yesterday that it has raised a $90 million Series E led by General Catalyst, which just announced a $670 million healthcare focused fund over the summer. Other investors in the round include CVS Health Ventures, La Famiglia, and Intermountain Ventures, as well as existing investors Sequoia, Oak HC/FT, Icon Ventures, Dragoneer Investment Group, and Lux Capital. Investors also increased Maven’s valuation from $1 billion to $1.35 billion. Lux Capital’s Deena Shakir said that Maven’s financing, “despite the current macro environment” reflects an “extraordinary long-term potential.” “Regardless of Roe-related regulatory or recessionary reservations, one thing is clear: women’s health is population health, and companies like Maven have a more important role than ever to play in helping to advance human health and health equity through technology,” Shakir told ZebethMedia. Ryder notes that the $90 million round is definitely not being put “aside for a rainy day,” saying that “one one hand, we’re having more rigor in our budgeting and spending process like every company, but the new capital we’re investing in growth.” Maven declined to share what new products are in the works, but Ryder did hint that they are building for the market demand for a better fertility and maternity bundle of benefits; “not only on the reimbursement side but also the clinical outcomes.” Maven is also working to support the Medicaid side of its business, and is continuing to invest in health equity that “attacks from of the social determinant issues.” Maven launched its first Medicaid population this year. For example, Maven launched with Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield this year and it is able to be offered as a free benefit to families who are enrolled in the plan. Scale has brought the ability to spin up programs with fast impact. For example, within six weeks of launching a menopause program, over 1.2 million lives were covered across 150 employers. Additionally, Maven’s network of providers offer on average 5,100+ appointment slots every week; all factors that help play into the reason that the startup has a 96% client retention rate. The challenge ahead of Maven, similar to any digital health clinic looking to have the biggest impact, is its ability to serve the most complex medical issues for high-risk, diverse patients. Ryder notes that the whole industry is getting more into value-based contracts – a model in which providers only get paid based on patient health outcomes – which means that startups need to continue to deliver and put the money where their mouth is. In this case, let’s see how a new round at a higher valuation helps Maven do exactly what they say the industry wants.

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After key privacy and security departures last week, Twitter names ‘acting DPO’ • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in DPO, Elon Musk, GDPR, Privacy, Social, TwitterNo Comments on After key privacy and security departures last week, Twitter names ‘acting DPO’ • ZebethMedia

Following a flurry of resignations of senior Twitter privacy and security staffers late last week, the social media firm has informed its lead data protection regulator in the European Union that it has appointed an “acting” replacement for one of those positions: The key role of data protection officer (DPO). The abrupt departures of Twitter’s CISO Lea Kissner; chief privacy officer (and DPO) Damien Kieran; and chief compliance officer Marianne Fogarty immediately raised questions over its ability to meet regulatory requirements under new, norm-trashing broom, Elon Musk — who only completed his $44 billion takeover at the end of last month. A company that’s processing personal data at the scale Twitter does is obliged, under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), to at least have a DPO — at a bare minimum. Twitter also has a 2011 consent decree with the FTC that requires it to submit regular reports on how it’s living up to ongoing commitments to safeguard user data — so the sudden departure of senior privacy and security staffers immediately set alarm bells ringing. Including at the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), Twitter’s lead data supervisor for the EU’s GDPR. A meeting between the DPC and Twitter followed hard on the heels of the trio of resignations — arranged last week and taking place yesterday — and at this meeting the DPC said Twitter informed it that it has appointed an existing employee, Renato Monteiro, as its “acting DPO”. Monteiro has been employed at Twitter for two years nine months, per his LinkedIn profile — starting in Match 2020 in São Paulo, Brazil, as a Data Protection Counsel Lead for Latin America, before relocating to Twitter Ireland this summer to take up a role as director for international privacy and data protection lead — managing privacy and data protection teams in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, North and South America and APAC. It is not clear why Monteiro has only been named “acting” DPO — or whether his appointment is intended only as a stop-gap while a full replacement is sought, or not. Since Musk took over Twitter, the company has stopped responding to press enquiries so it is not possible to obtain confirmation via an official channel. But Musk appears to have a penchant for appointing ‘acting’ rather than actual job titles, as well as for playing with absurd job titles (such as initially christening himself “chief twit“, after he fired and took over from the actual CEO; followed by Musk becoming “Twitter complaint hotline operator“, seemingly as a commentary on users responding negatively to his early product decisions and other changes). One question that’s likely to arise, therefore, is whether Monteiro is being invested with the full responsibilities and duties required by the DPO role under GDPR — and, if not, whether an ‘acting’ framing will pass muster with EU regulators or not. At the time of writing the DPC had not responded to our question on this point. But we’ll update this report if we get a response. Last week, the Irish regulator told us that in addition to using Monday’s meeting with Twitter to seek information from it about the DPO situation it planned to discuss a wider concern — to ask whether the business is still claiming its main establishment (for GDPR purposes) in Ireland. This structure is important because it enables Twitter to participate in the GDPR’s one-stop-shop (OSS) mechanism — which sets up the DPC as its lead data supervisor for EU data protection issues and means complaints made elsewhere in the bloc are typically funnelled via Ireland — allowing the US-based company to streamline its GDPR compliance and shrink regulatory risk. However, given all the drastic changes accompanying Musk’s takeover of Twitter — including, reportedly, standard privacy and security review processes being dispensed with — doubts are being cast over whether Twitter can still credibly claim main establishment in Ireland, as we reported yesterday. The DPC’s deputy commissioner Graham Doyle declined to provide an update on its questioning of Twitter’s main establishment status following yesterday’s meeting — saying only: “We continue to engage with Twitter.” Other EU data protection agencies are likely to be watching developments on this front exceedingly closely. A spokesperson for France’s CNIL told ZebethMedia it will be approaching the DPC to discuss the nature and “possible consequences” of changes reported to have taken place at Twitter since Musk took over. Although the regulator also told us that, at present, it does not have “sufficient information” to question the application of the OSS. “Until now, the evidence available to the supervisory authorities has led them to consider that Twitter’s principal place of business in the EU was in Ireland, which made the DPC the lead authority. The CNIL intends to approach the DPC to discuss about the nature and possible consequences that the changes mentioned in the press are likely to have on the role and status of Twitter’s Irish establishment,” the CNIL’s spokesperson said. “At this stage, the CNIL does not have sufficient information to consider that the application of the one-stop shop system is in question.”

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MadKudu lands $18M led by Felicis for its lead scoring platform • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in felicis, product-led growth, Venture, venture capitalNo Comments on MadKudu lands $18M led by Felicis for its lead scoring platform • ZebethMedia

It’s hard to get ahead when you’re just trying to stay afloat. But startups weathering the downturn with fewer employees and a smaller budget are finding ways to survive and move forward by relying on a 15-year-old twist on software adoption called “bottoms-up” SaaS. The idea, dating back to the enterprise social network Yammer, is that new software tools can find their way into a company by landing first in the hands of employees. In a financial downturn especially, the model is attractive because it doesn’t rely on a massive (expensive) salesforce but rather a groundswell of interest. Yammer, a kind of social network for enterprises, kicked off the wave when it was founded in 2008. Something similar is happening now, though the wave has been renamed “product-led growth” or PLG, and one startup that fits the mold is MadKudu, an eight-year-old, Paris- and New York-based company behind a customer data  platform product. Founded by Sam Levan and Francis Brero, who met at a since-acquired predictive marketing platform, they realized more data science was needed to help sales reps sift through thousands of product users to identify who is ready to buy. According to the company, Levan was able to show soon after that growth teams could double their free-to-paid conversion rate within weeks and got to work on developing tech that would give other organizations “data science superpowers” to discover revenue opportunities, including those with severely limited engineering resources, which, these days, is a lot of startups. Asked for metrics in an interview with ZebethMedia last week, Levan declined to share anything concrete but said that MadKudu has been growing its numbers by “5x over the last 12 months.” He also mentioned a lot of customers whose brands readers will recognize, including Dropbox, Cloudera, Amplitude, Plain, Unity, and Miro. Levan also said the traction the company is seeing led to a flurry of term sheets recently that resulted in a new $18 million Series A round that the early-stage firm Felicis led, joined by BGV, Alven, Techstars, and numerous individual investors. (The company has now raised $27 million altogether.) Niki Pezeshki, a general partner at Felicis who led the deal, meanwhile suggested that he would have been remiss not to notice MadKudu. “I think in the span of a week or two, we had two separate board meetings where the go-to-market head or the CRO said that they had just implemented MadKudu and that it was making a really, really positive change for their go-to-market strategy, especially around PLG. And when you hear that from two different members of high-performing companies, you definitely take notice.” Indeed, for now, MadKudu remains very focused on lead scoring that helps salespeople understand which leads are valuable and which would be a waste of time to chase. Levan claims that by analyzing the product usage data of its customers to find patterns in their users’ activity, MadKudu now has the “largest PLG data set in the world.” Going forward, Levan said last week, the idea is to use its fresh capital to triple its 35-person team by next year — including to beef up on customer success and support staff —  and to invest more time and attention into improving the user experience. That includes spending time on creating educational programs that can help market leaders better understand what PLG is all about and how to fully realize the potential of MadKudu’s product specifically. “We already have the best technology out there,” said Levan, without sounding completely obnoxious. Now he just wants more people to use it. Pictured above, from left to right, MadKudu founders Sam Levan and Francis Brero.

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Space in Los Angeles • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Space, TC Sessions: Space 2022No Comments on Space in Los Angeles • ZebethMedia

ZebethMedia Sessions: Space is back! Happening December 6 — our third dedicated space event. This is a live, in-person event featuring the most influential people in the space industry, across the public, private and defense sectors. This year saw the commercial space industry undergo a lot of change, including significant consolidation and new entrants in the orbital private launch category and a renewed focus on public-private partnerships in the realm of national defense. It was a year of expansion in some cases and of contraction in others, including in the realm of venture spending on the sector. We also saw dramatic changes to international relations, threatening even our long-standing cooperation with Russia on orbital science. We’re thrilled to be hosting Thomas Zurbuchen of NASA; Frank Calvelli, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisitions; Carolyn Mercer of NASA; and many more. In addition to the firesides and panel discussions on the main stage, the event will also include networking, startup exhibits and the chance to connect with attendees from around the world. It’s a packed day already, but we’ve got some extra surprises in store, so keep an eye on the website over the coming weeks for more great speakers and sessions we’re adding. Backing Big Bets in Uncertain Times with Jory Bell (Playground), Mark Boggett (Seraphim Capital) and Emily Henriksson (RootVC) With VC spend cool in general, and particularly when it comes to space-related startups, what are the current priorities of investors who have backed space startups in the past? If we’re settling in for a relatively long economic downturn, what should startups expect from private space capital looking ahead to 2023? Looking to Startups to Help Secure Space with Frank Calvelli (U.S. Air Force) The commercial space sector has succeeded in driving down the cost of space-based technology while massively increasing its capabilities. The U.S. defense apparatus has traditionally favored legacy industry partners, but it’s shown a growing interest in turning to startups and new space companies to secure the space domain for the U.S. and its allies, and we’ll hear why and how from Frank Calvelli, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisitions and Integration. Gearing Up the Next Generation of Scientists, Explorers and Robots with Carolyn Mercer, NASA As Chief Technologist of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Carolyn Mercer has her finger on the pulse of countless projects to explore and understand our planet and solar system. As priorities and methods shift in the Artemis era, Mercer can speak to how tech helps us move forward, and what NASA’s unique insights and well of talent can put it to use. ZebethMedia Space Pitch-off with Jory Bell (Playground), Mark Boggett (Seraphim Capital), Tess Hatch (Bessemer Venture Partners), Emily Henriksson (RootVC) The industry’s brightest entrepreneurs will take the stage in front of a live audience and a panel of industry experts, pitching revolutionary technologies. Space Workforce 2030: Inspiring, Preparing and Employing the Next Generation with Steve Isakowitz (The Aerospace Corporation) | Sponsored The dawning space age offers enormous opportunities to explore new frontiers, grow the economy on orbit and strengthen our security. Making the most of this momentous time calls for an innovative workforce that can leverage diverse experiences and perspectives to solve the hard problems we’ll encounter. The Space Workforce 2030 pledge is a first-of-its-kind effort launched earlier this year that is bringing together more than 30 of the country’s leading space companies to work collaboratively to increase diversity across our industry to build a vibrant workforce for the future. Hear from space leaders about the work they’re doing to inspire, prepare and employ the next generation of scientists and engineers and how you can play a part in supporting this vital mission. Asking and Answering Humanity’s Biggest Questions with Thomas Zurbuchen (NASA) After 6 years heading up NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Thomas Zurbuchen is a familiar face to anyone who has followed the agency’s many interplanetary and orbital missions. Now ready to move on to his next chapter, Zurbuchen will speak to how NASA, its mission, and the science it performs are changing — but more important than ever. Striking a Balance in Dual Use with Awais Ahmed (Pixxel), Pete Muend (National Reconnaissance Office), and Melanie Stricklan (Slingshot) As commercially developed space technology becomes increasingly common in government and defense operations, companies face the question of how closely to embrace that side of the industry. How can startups and growing companies better understand and navigate the complex world of dual use? Building Out Commercial Operations in Orbit with Steve Jurczyk (Quantum Space), Col. Joseph Roth (US Space Force) A new crop of companies are working on establishing permanent commercial operations in orbit and on the moon. But they likely won’t be able to do it without partnerships with government and defense. We’ll talk to leaders from Quantum Space, ispace and the United States Space Force about how these partnerships can foster a thriving orbital economy.

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YC, Khosla-backed Atmos lands $12.5M to design custom dream homes • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Atmos, Khosla Ventures, real estate, Startups, VentureNo Comments on YC, Khosla-backed Atmos lands $12.5M to design custom dream homes • ZebethMedia

Atmos, a startup which has built an online marketplace that teams up homebuyers with builders and land developers to design and build custom homes, has emerged from stealth today with $12.5 million raised in Series A funding round led by Khosla Ventures. Founded in 2018, San Francisco-based Atmos touts that with its tech, homebuyers are able to select land, design a home within their budget and approve the design using 3D tech. It then teams up buyers with a “vetted builder partner.”  The startup aims to give buyers more options as the nation faces a persistent housing shortage and during a time when mortgage interest rates have more than doubled since last year. Atmos claims it can also help builders by providing them with ready-to-go buyers as opposed to building on spec (without committed customers) in an uncertain market. It also says it can help land developers by allowing them to go direct-to-consumer. Existing backers Bedrock, JLL Spark, YC and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman participated in the financing along with new investors real estate brokerage Keller Williams, Duke Angel Network, Bain Capital co-chairman Stephen Pagliuca and Figma CEO and co-founder Dylan Field. The company previously raised nearly $2 million in March 2020. It participated in Y Combinator’s summer cohort that same year, and then raised an additional $4 million led by Khosla. “On Demo Day, we got a term sheet from Khosla,” said Nicholas Donahue, CEO and co-founder of Atmos. “Within two weeks, we’d accepted it.” Atmos says its technology allows buyers to see “exactly what can be built on any specific lot depending on the size, shape and development requirements.” First, it assists buyers with getting a survey and soil test, and then designing a home based on their individual preferences. Once a builder is solidified, construction can begin. “We’re trying to put more of the design process online,” Donahue said. “We also onboard partners as well as gather certain local data such as zoning requirements and typography.” It also checks to make sure construction would not violate any HOA restrictions before a buyer wastes too much time on a project. The average cost of building a home through Atmos is about $225/square foot. So for a 1,500-square-foot home, that comes out to about $337,500. That’s cheap or expensive, depending on which market you’re building in. Certain selections such as whether a buyer chooses to build a one-story ranch home or a two-story house can impact costs, Donahue adds. So far, the startup has built six homes and is “working on a few dozen more,” he said. It makes money by charging a 5% service fee on the cost of construction to homebuyers “for due diligence, design, and project management.” It also charges a $20,000 flat fee to builders for finding, vetting and servicing a client, as well as handling any of the pre-construction services they would otherwise have to handle. Eventually, Atmos has its sights on what it describes as other emerging tech markets such as Denver, Austin, Portland and Salt Lake City. Unlike fellow Khosla portfolio company Homebound, which raised $70 million earlier this year and describes itself as a “tech-enabled homebuilder,” Donahue says Atmos is focused more on the pre-construction of a home. “We’re more design-oriented, and focus more on the process that someone goes through to create the house,” he told ZebethMedia. “My belief is that more people would build if it was just simpler and less ambiguous, and they had the ability to design a home that is unique to them.” He believes Atmos’s biggest differentiator compared to other startups in the space like Welcome Homes is that it offers “more flexibility” and freedom in the design phase. Interestingly, unlike most startups that raise capital, 26-person Atmos does not plan to use its new funds to hire in this market, according to Donahue. It’s focusing on building out its marketplace. “You have all of these, like builders and developers that are functioning in a very hot environment … that ended up purchasing tons of land on which they usually choose to go spec instead of working with a client to build custom,” he said. “We see opportunity to help them unload some of their over-leveraged assets.” Khosla Ventures partner and DoorDash co-founder Evan Moore gained experience in the real estate space having helped the Opendoor team pre-launch to lead product. He told ZebethMedia via email that in his prior work, he spoke with many families buying tract homes, which are “the massive subdivisions of homes that all look the same.” “Many wanted to build a home custom to their own needs, but couldn’t figure out where to start, and couldn’t get certainty of timeline or price,” Moore said. “It was clear to me then that if someone could provide a trustworthy, transparent process, more people would build custom homes… I think in the coming years it’ll seem obvious that one should be able to find available lots, design homes that work on those lots per local regulation, and start your build — all online.”

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