Technology

Twitter CEO defends himself from activist investors, Google takes additional coronavirus precautions and a fizzy drink maker raises $30 million. Hereyour Daily Crunch for March 6, 2020.

1. Twitter CEOweak argument why investors shouldn&t fire him

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey spoke yesterday at a Morgan Stanley conference, where he delivered remarks (also shared via Twitterinvestor relations account) that responded obliquely to activist investor Elliott Managementefforts to pressure Twitter into a slew of reforms, potentially including replacing Dorsey with a new CEO.

Among other things, Dorsey said he might not spend six months a year in Africa after all, claimed the companyreal product development is happening under the hood and offered an excuse for deleting Vine before it could become TikTok.

2. Google recommends Washington State employees work from home, citing coronavirus risk

The software giant has not closed its Washington offices outright, nor is it planning to make an official statement regarding the recommendation, but the news certainly points to a broader trend of serious precautions around the novel coronavirus outbreak. The move follows a similar decision by Lyft, which sent home employees in its San Francisco office.

3. Spindrift, maker of fizzy drinks, has raised $29.8M

Spindrift, founded in 2010, is up against big players, like the beloved and decades-old LaCroix, another sparkling water brand. The company differentiates itself by emphasizing &real fruit& in its drinks — think cucumbers from Michigan, strawberries from California and Alfonso mangoes from India.

4. Airbnb and three other P2P rental platforms agree to share limited pan-EU data

The European Commission announced that it has reached a data-sharing agreement with vacation rental platforms Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia Group and Tripadvisor — trumpeting the arrangement as a &landmark agreement& which will allow the EUstatistical office to publish data on short-stay accommodations across the EU.

5. SaaS companies flirt with correction territory as another wild week comes to a close

Stocks are set to fall further today, likely forcing shares in SaaS and cloud companies down yet again. After two wild trading weeks, the high-flying tech category is off over 9% from recent highs before the bell this morning, putting it close to correction territory. (Extra Crunch membership required.)

6. Mark Cuban backs ChatableApps, developer of a hearing assist app that removes background noise

The company has built a smartphone app that provides hearing assistance by removing background noise in near real time. Alongside auditory neural signal processing researcher Dr. Andy Simpson, the companyco-founders are Brendan O&Driscoll, Aidan Sliney and George Boyle — the original team behind the music discovery app Soundwave.

7. Pex buys Dubset to build YouTube ContentID for TikTok - more

Pex is a royalty attribution startup that scans social networks and other user-generated content sites for rightsholders& content, then lets them negotiate licensing with the platforms, request a take-down, demand attribution and/or track the consumption statistics. Dubset, meanwhile, has spent 10 years tackling the problem of getting remixes and multi-song DJ sets legalized for streaming.

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Postmates announced today it would be adding a &non-contact delivery option,& for those concerned about COVID-19 exposure from workers bringing them food. Instacart set up something similar earlier this week, announcing sales were 10x higher this week over last due to coronavirus concerns and rolling out the &leave it at my door& option for customers concerned about coronavirus.

This flu-like virus has already infected nearly 100,000 people worldwide, killing thousands, including one man so far in the Bay Area, the hub of Silicon Valley and the startup world.

Similar services starting offering this contactless option in China last month, where COVID-19 took a stronghold and started spreading from Wuhan. The majority of stores in the area had closed shop, leaving delivery as most peopleonly option. The contactless measure seemed aimed at keeping everyone safe and minimizing exposure.

While plenty of customers have praised this effort, not everyone is pleased, believing this move is just passing the buck to low-wage workers.

Postmates counters this argument, telling TechCrunch the move is beneficial to both customers and couriers. &Community health and safety is paramount at Postmates, and we have shared precautionary CDC guidance with our Postmates,& a Postmates spokesperson told TechCrunch. &Customers have an option to designate the drop-off of item without contact; and we&ll continue to encourage employees, merchants and consumers to follow preventative measures. While we are operating with business as usual, we are tracking the situation closely and will help provide the resources necessary to mitigate increased risks.&

Instacart mentioned similar sentiment, telling Techcrunch, &Our goal is to continue to work with and serve the entire Instacart community safely, while also ensuring our customers have access to uninterrupted delivery and pickup services for the groceries and household essentials they need.&

For those who like this option and want to use it, just order as normal on Postmates. You&ll then be prompted to select your delivery preference before checking out. The option is similar with your Instacart order.

While we&ve so far only heard this option is being offered by these two delivery startups, we&re likely going to see more contactless rollouts as coronavirus fears continue to change our shopping habits in the next couple of months.

Startup accelerator Y Combinator announced today that it has moved its demo day online, citing a &growing concern over COVID-19,& or coronavirus. The demo day has historically drawn crowds of Silicon Valley elite, journalists and both national and international venture capitalists to watch more than 100 startups come out to the world.

&While we won&t be able to recreate every aspect of Demo Day, we&ll try our best to create an amazing experience for our founders and investors,& Y Combinator said in a blog post. Y Combinator30th annual demo day will be pre-recorded and released to investors on Monday March 23, per the post.

Thanks to a mix of history and glamour, demo day is the culminating day of a YC startupaccelerator experience. Ita big audience full of check writers and fast typers, and at the least, they&ll get a tweet or a couple of sign-ups. The move to remote, in some way, dims that excitement.

Brianne Kimmel, the founder of Work Life Ventures, noted that as investor demand for YC companies has grown, &the dozen or so breakout companies get funded weeks before demo day.& Kimmel attended YC2016 Winter batch, and attended the past four demo days as an investor.

&While the entire early stage ecosystem comes together at YC demo day — many investors are there to network and support the companies they&ve backed well before the founder presents on stage,& Kimmel said. Many other major tech events are being cancelled as well, including SXSW.

Kimmel invested in Tandem before demo day last year, and has already invested in Accord, a project management platform, ahead of this yeardemo day.

Beyond digital presentations, YC has said it will &provide additional written background information on each company and access to their decks.& It also will provide software to help investors and founders arrange one-on-one meetings.

Seth Bannon, a founding investor at Fifty Years and previous YC graduate (S12), said &the face to face human element is incredibly important, as founders try to gauge if they want to partner with an investor for the next tens years and vice versa.&

&At Demo Day you can have hundreds of those quick face to face interactions in hours. That said, I think this is the right decision for YC,& Bannon told TechCrunch. &The safety of founders and the broader community is most important. Good on them for making a really tough decision.&

Chris Woodward, the CEO of Handle (YC W19), said that &while not being able to meet investors in person at demo day could be seen as a blow to the current batches by some people, I see it as a potential opportunity for them to set longer meetings with investors post demo day.&

Other tech conferences have cancelled or moved operations online in an effort to protect against the new coronavirus. Earlier today, Jason LemkinSaaStr postponed its annual conference to September 2020. Another accelerator, 500 Startups, will be live-streaming its separate demo day. YCdecision to post pre-recorded videos is an attempt to bring deal access to investors, without shutting down all operations.

&For 15 years, startup investors have supported every new batch of YC companies, and we know the same will be true for this batch,& the post said.

Tesla has received government approval to produce the long-range rear-wheel-drive version of its Model 3 vehicle at its Chinese factory, according to documents posted Friday on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology website.

Reuters was the first to report the story.

Tesla started producing a standard-range-plus rear-whee-drive version of the Model 3 at its Shanghai factory late last year. The first deliveries began in early January. This approval allows Tesla to add another variant to its Chinese portfolio. Eventually, Tesla plans to manufacture the Model Y electric vehicle at the China factory.

The move is notable because Tesla discontinued production of the long-range RWD Model 3 in the U.S. and now only offers that variant as a dual-motor all-wheel drive. It also appears to be a shift from Teslainitial plan to sell a more basic version of the Model 3 in China.

The standard-range-plus Model 3 can travel 276 miles on a single charge, according to TeslaChina website. The company hasn&t posted a range on its Chinese website for the longer-range variant.

Tesla struck a deal with the Chinese government in July 2018 to build a factory in Shanghai. It was a milestone for Tesla and CEO Elon Musk, who has long viewed China as a crucial market. And it was particularly notable because China agreed for this to be a wholly owned Tesla factory, not a traditional joint venture with the government. Foreign companies have historically had to form a 50-50 joint venture with a local partner to build a factory in China.

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Attending is awesome, but attending and exhibiting at Disrupt — for free — is even better. What magic is this? No hocus-pocus required. Simply apply to our TC Top Picks program. Applying is also free, and iteasy to do. However, earning that coveted Top Pick designation — not so easy.

TechCrunch editors have a keen eye for the qualities that translate into serious startup success. They&ll thoroughly review every application and then choose up to five stellar startups for each of the following categories:AI, Biotech + Healthtech, Enterprise/SaaS, Fintech, Mobility, Retail + E-commerce, Robotics + Hardware IOT, Security/Privacy, Social Impact + Education, Space.

Pro tip: Keep the phrase &up to five& in mind. If the editors feel only three startups fit the bill for any given category, they&ll stop at three.

Now that you know how to apply, lettalk about why you should apply. Every Top Pick startup receives a free Startup Alley Exhibitor Package. As a Top Pick VIP, you&ll strut your impressive stuff for a full day in a prime location in Startup Alley, our exhibition floor. The package also includes three complimentary Founder passes to Disrupt SF 2020 — bring your crew and make the most of your time at the show.

Thousands of people, including investors and tech media, pour through Startup Alley, and everyone wants to know who made the Top Pick cut. You&ll reap invaluable exposure to potential customers, partners, mentors and again…investors. Who doesn&t love investors?

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We record the interview, edit the video and blast it across our social media networks. Ita valuable marketing tool that you can use long after Disrupt ends.

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TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2020takes place on September 14-16 at Moscone West. Take a chance and apply to be a TC Top Pick. If you&re not quite there yet, thatOK. Come to Disrupt and learn from the best minds in the startup ecosystem. Buy an early-bird ticket here and save up to $1,800.

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Chinese gaming giant Beijing Kunlun has agreed to sell popular gay dating app Grindr for about $608 million, ending a tumultuous four years under Chinese ownership.

Reuters reports that the Chinese company sold its 98% stake in Grindr to a U.S.-based company, San Vicente Acquisition Partners.

The app, originally developed in Los Angeles, raised national security concerns after it was acquired by Beijing Kunlun in 2016 for $93 million. That ownership was later scrutinized by a U.S. government national security panel, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reportedly told the Beijing-based parent company that its ownership of Grindr constituted a national security threat.

CFIUS expressed concern that data from the appsome 27 million users could be used by the Chinese government. Last year, it was reported that while under Chinese ownership, Grindr allowed engineers in Beijing access to the personal data of millions of U.S. users, including their private messages and HIV status.

Beijing Kunlun had agreed to sell the unit by June.

Little is known about San Vicente Acquisition, but a person with knowledge of the deal said that the company is made up of a group of investors thatfully owned and controlled by Americans. Reuters said that one of those investors is James Lu, a former executive at Chinese search giant Baidu.

The deal is subject to shareholder approval and a review by CFIUS.

A spokesperson for Grindr declined to comment on the record.