We’re less than one month away from hosting our first Startup Battlefield pitch competition in the Middle East and North Africa. Holy smokes, we’re so excited to showcase the region’s most promising early-stage startups at TechCrunch Startup Battlefield MENA 2018 on October 3 in Beirut, Lebanon.
We’ve selected the participating startups, and their founders are hard at work honing their pitches for the big day. There’s just one thing missing — you! Come to Beirut Digital District in Lebanon for an action-packed day of competition, networking and celebration. A spectator pass costs $29, and you can buy your tickets right here.
If you’ve never attended our premier startup pitch competition, here’s how Startup Battlefield works. The participating teams will compete in three preliminary rounds — up to five startups per round. They’ll have just six minutes to wow the judges with a live product demo and pitch. The judges, distinguished technologists and investors, follow each pitch with a six-minute, no-holds-barred Q&A.
At most, five teams will be chosen to move into the final round where they will pitch a second time to new judges, who follow up with more probing questions. All the judges confer, and they will choose one outstanding startup to lay claim to the Startup Battlefield MENA 2018 championship, a US$25,000 no-equity cash prize and a trip for two to Disrupt San Francisco in 2019 — where they get to compete in that Startup Battlefield (assuming the company still qualifies to compete at the time).
And that’s not all: TechCrunch has just announced its first batch of speakers who will be joining us in Beirut. It is a regular who’s who of the MENA startup and technology scene, so you don’t want to miss what they have to say.
It’s fast-paced, think-on-your-feet action, and it all takes place in front of a live audience (we’re looking right at you) of startup fans, tech enthusiasts, investors and media. It’s a great opportunity to see the future of tech unfold — who knows, these startups may grow into tomorrow’s tech titans. It’s also the perfect event for serious networking with like-minded entrepreneurs.
TechCrunch Startup Battlefield MENA 2018 takes place in the Beirut Digital District in Lebanon on October 3. Don’t miss out on the fun, the excitement and the business opportunities. Buy your ticket today.
Source: TechCrunch
It’s that time again, folks, time to say goodbye to a social media service from days past.
Following the shuttering of Klout earlier this year, now Path, the one-time rival to Facebook, is closing its doors, according to an announcement made today. (Yes, you may be surprised to learn that Path was still alive.)
The eight-year-old service will close down in one month — October 18 — but it will be removed from the App Store and Google Play on October 1. Any remaining users have until October 18 to download a copy of their data, which can be done here.
Path was founded by former Facebook product manager Dave Morin, and ex-Napster duo Dustin Mierau and Shawn Fanning . The company burst onto the scene in 2010 with a mobile social networking app that was visually pleasing and — importantly — limited to just 50 friends per user. That positioned it as a more private alternative to Facebook with some additional design bells and whistles, although the friend restriction was later lifted and then removed altogether.
At its peak, the service had around 15 million users and it was once raising money at a valuation of $500 million. Indeed, Google tried to buy it for $100 million when it was just months old. All in all, the startup raised $55 million from investors that included top Silicon Valley names like Index, Kleiner Perkins and Redpoint.
Facebook ultimately defeated Path, but it stole a number of features from its smaller rival
But looks fade, and social media is a tough place when you’re not Facebook, which today has over 1.5 billion active users and aggressively ‘borrowed’ elements from Path’s design back in the day.
Path’s road took a turn for the worse and the much-hyped startup lost staff, users and momentum (and user data). The company tried to launch a separate app to connected businesses and users — Path Talk — but that didn’t work and ultimately it was sold to Korea’s Kakao — a messaging and internet giant — in an undisclosed deal in 2015. Kakao bought the app because it was popular in Indonesia, the world’s fourth-largest population where Path had four million users, and the Korean firm was making a major play for that market, which is Southeast Asia’s largest economy and a growing market for internet users.
However, Path hasn’t kicked on in the last three years and now Kakao is discarding it altogether.
“It is with deep regret that we announce that we will stop providing our beloved service, Path. We started Path in 2010 as a small team of passionate and experienced designers and engineers. Over the years we have tried to lay out our mission: through technology and design we aim to be a source of happiness, meaning, and connection to our users,” the company said in a statement.
Thanks Aulia
Source: TechCrunch
You don’t need the military to pull off an attack of the drones. They’re capable of incredible destruction and now available to everyone.
Source: CNET
Traffic analytics company Inrix looked at freight and safety data to consider where robo-trucks could make the biggest impact.
Source: Wired
Meet Arthur.
Source: CNET
Another tech billionaire will scoop up a major news outlet. Meredith Corporation, which acquired Time Inc. in January, announced today that it has agreed to sell its eponymous magazine to Salesforce.com co-founder Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne Benioff for $190 million in cash.
Meredith said in March that it planned to sell Time, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Money as part of its goal to save $400 million to $500 million over the next two years and increase the profitability of its remaining portfolio of publications. In its announcement today, the company said it will use proceeds from the sale of Times magazine to pay off debt and expects to reduce its debt by $1 billion during fiscal 2019.
Meredith’s acquisition of Time Inc. was controversial because it received financial support from Koch Equity Development, the private equity fund run by Charles and David Koch, known for backing conservative causes.
The Benioffs, who are on the other side of the spectrum as supporters of progressive politics, are purchasing Time magazine as individuals. In other words, Salesforce.com, where Benioff serves as chairman and co-CEO, and other companies are not involved with the deal. Marc Benioff told the Wall Street Journal that he and his wife will not be involved in Time magazine’s daily operations or editorial decisions and added that “we’re investing in a company with tremendous impact on the world, one that is also an incredibly strong business. That’s what we’re looking for when we invest as a family.”
Other tech billionaires who have purchased major publications include Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who bought the Washington Post in a personal capacity five years ago and Laurene Powell Jobs, whose philanthropic organization, Emerson Collective, acquired a majority stake in The Atlantic last year. (While Jack Ma was a driving force behind Alibaba Group’s acquisition of the South China Morning Post in 2016, that acquisition was made by the company, not Ma.)
Despite being one of the most famous and iconic news brands in the U.S., Times magazine has (like other print publications) struggled to cope with falling circulation and revenue as it invests digital properties.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the magazine’s editor in chief, Edward Felsenthal, said “we’ve done a lot to transform this brand over the last few years so that it is far beyond a weekly magazine” and added that its business is “solidly profitable.”
Source: TechCrunch
Magazine purchase to be separate from Salesforce operations.
Source: CNET
Sorry alien watchers, the mysterious closure of the Sunspot Solar Observatory is not part of a massive FBI conspiracy.
Source: CNET
Amazon’s massive growth in recent years has led to an internal black market where some employees are paid for insider data or illicit services to help merchants gain an edge. Amazon is determined to root out this corruption.
The post Amazon aims to crack down on employees who sell confidential info to merchants appeared first on Digital Trends.
Source: Digital trends
Here’s how to watch television’s biggest night—even if you don’t own a TV.
Source: Wired