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On a recent winter morning in New Delhi, Rajan Anandan and Pieter Kemps were pacing on the floor of a five-star hotel, quizzing a group of over two dozen young startup founders about their goals. One founder set eyes on getting the most downloads in the mobile gaming category. Another pledged to reach an annual recurring revenue of $100 million in a few years. “When you think about how big you want to get, don’t think about $100 million or $200 million in revenue,” Anandan told the gathering, now fully silent. “Doesn’t matter what company you’re building; that’s not thinking big enough at all. There’s no enduring company on the planet that is a $100 million revenue company. An enduring company is one that generates $100 million in free cash flow a week,” he said. The Sequoia partners spent the next two hours walking founders through over a dozen slides, emphasizing that consistent growth over a long period of time — even if not skyrocketing quarter over quarter — can conjure trillio...

On a recent winter morning in New Delhi, Rajan Anandan and Pieter Kemps were pacing on the floor of a five-star hotel, quizzing a group of over two dozen young startup founders about their goals. One founder set eyes on getting the most downloads in the mobile gaming category. Another pledged to reach an annual recurring revenue of $100 million in a few years. “When you think about how big you want to get, don’t think about $100 million or $200 million in revenue,” Anandan told the gathering, now fully silent. “Doesn’t matter what company you’re building; that’s not thinking big enough at all. There’s no enduring company on the planet that is a $100 million revenue company. An enduring company is one that generates $100 million in free cash flow a week,” he said. The Sequoia partners spent the next two hours walking founders through over a dozen slides, emphasizing that consistent growth over a long period of time — even if not skyrocketing quarter over quarter — can conjure trillio...

Una Brands , a Singapore-based e-commerce aggregator, has raised $30 million in pre-Series C financing just five months after announcing its $30 million Series B funding  that was raised in September of last year.  Northstar Group, a regional private equity firm, is the sole investor in Una Brands’ latest round, which involves a mix of equity and debt, though Una Brands declined to break out how much equity versus debt the newest round involves. It also declined to disclose its valuation when asked. The company has now raised more than $100 million in total funding since its inception in 2021, and says it will use the new capital to continue developing its platform and buying up more direct-to-consumer brands in categories like home and living, mom and baby, and beauty and personal care.  Una Brands has differentiated itself as an Asia-focused e-commerce aggregator capable of operating brands across all channels, such as Amazon, Shopify, Shopee, Lazada and Tokopedia...

Una Brands , a Singapore-based e-commerce aggregator, has raised $30 million in pre-Series C financing just five months after announcing its $30 million Series B funding  that was raised in September of last year.  Northstar Group, a regional private equity firm, is the sole investor in Una Brands’ latest round, which involves a mix of equity and debt, though Una Brands declined to break out how much equity versus debt the newest round involves. It also declined to disclose its valuation when asked. The company has now raised more than $100 million in total funding since its inception in 2021, and says it will use the new capital to continue developing its platform and buying up more direct-to-consumer brands in categories like home and living, mom and baby, and beauty and personal care.  Una Brands has differentiated itself as an Asia-focused e-commerce aggregator capable of operating brands across all channels, such as Amazon, Shopify, Shopee, Lazada and Tokopedia...

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PST, subscribe here . TikTok just can’t dodge the watchful eyes of the watchmen: Earlier this year, Taylor reported that a string of universities banned TikTok from devices . Last week, Paul reported that the European Commission threw the kibosh on having TikTok on work devices , and today, Amanda reported that Canada followed suit for its government devices . The bans are coming down over concerns that China-based TikTok can be used to spy on its users. — Christine and Haje The TechCrunch Top 3 Raise the roof : Continuing to work remotely in 2023 remains a hotly contested issue in today’s workplaces. What if we told you that Gable can give your company better remote working options? Still with us? Okay, Haje writes about how Gable raised $12 million to not only show your remote employees a nearby workplace, but also show them if any of their colleagues are there s...

To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PST, subscribe here . TikTok just can’t dodge the watchful eyes of the watchmen: Earlier this year, Taylor reported that a string of universities banned TikTok from devices . Last week, Paul reported that the European Commission threw the kibosh on having TikTok on work devices , and today, Amanda reported that Canada followed suit for its government devices . The bans are coming down over concerns that China-based TikTok can be used to spy on its users. — Christine and Haje The TechCrunch Top 3 Raise the roof : Continuing to work remotely in 2023 remains a hotly contested issue in today’s workplaces. What if we told you that Gable can give your company better remote working options? Still with us? Okay, Haje writes about how Gable raised $12 million to not only show your remote employees a nearby workplace, but also show them if any of their colleagues are there s...

Waymo will begin testing its autonomous Jaguar I-Paces without a human safety operator in Los Angeles in the next couple of weeks. This is the company’s next step on its path to commercializing robotaxi services in its second California city. To start, only employees will be able to hail rides in the driverless robotaxis. While Waymo has been mapping several LA neighborhoods, including Downtown, Miracle Mile, Koreatown and Westwood, since 2019, the company will start its rider-only testing in Santa Monica before gradually ramping up. Services will be available “outside of traditional rush hour times,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch. The Alphabet-owned self-driving technology company first announced plans to launch a 24/7 robotaxi service in LA back in October. A month later, the California Department of Motor Vehicles granted Waymo a modification to its existing driverless testing permit so it could expand beyond San Francisco and into Los Angeles. At that time, the DMV also grante...

The FTC, fresh off announcing a whole new division taking on “snake oil” in tech , has sent another shot across the bows of the over-eager industry with a sassy warning to “keep your AI claims in check.” I wrote a little while ago (okay, five years ) that “AI Powered” is the meaningless tech equivalent of “all natural,” but it has progressed beyond cheeky. It seems like just about every product out there claims to implement AI in some way or another, yet few go into detail — and fewer still can tell you exactly it works and why. The FTC doesn’t like it. Whatever someone means when they say “powered by artificial intelligence” or some version thereof, “One thing is for sure: it’s a marketing term,” the agency writes. “And at the FTC, one thing we know about hot marketing terms is that some advertisers won’t be able to stop themselves from overusing and abusing them.” Everyone is saying AI is reinventing everything, but it’s one thing to do that at a TED talk; it’s quite another to cl...

Chris Rock is a widely beloved comic; he’s also a savvy entrepreneur. Though Rock might have talked with media outlets about being assaulted by actor-producer Will Smith last March during the Academy Awards — he could have also chosen to sue Smith — he instead stayed mum, turning “the slap” into material for his first tour in five years. Now, Rock is taking that material to a much broader audience courtesy of Netflix, which is airing Rock’s newest set live from the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore this coming Saturday, March 4, at 10 pm Eastern time. It’s a big deal for both Rock and Netflix. Netflix, which began experimenting with an ad-supported tier in November and began cracking down on shared password use earlier this month, has a lot riding on the evening, given it will be the first live-streaming event in its 25-year history. (As reported by TC’s Lauren Forristal, Netflix confirmed in May of last year that it would roll out a live-streaming capability that center on unscript...

The FTC, fresh off announcing a whole new division taking on “snake oil” in tech , has sent another shot across the bows of the over-eager industry with a sassy warning to “keep your AI claims in check.” I wrote a little while ago (okay, five years ) that “AI Powered” is the meaningless tech equivalent of “all natural,” but it has progressed beyond cheeky. It seems like just about every product out there claims to implement AI in some way or another, yet few go into detail — and fewer still can tell you exactly it works and why. The FTC doesn’t like it. Whatever someone means when they say “powered by artificial intelligence” or some version thereof, “One thing is for sure: it’s a marketing term,” the agency writes. “And at the FTC, one thing we know about hot marketing terms is that some advertisers won’t be able to stop themselves from overusing and abusing them.” Everyone is saying AI is reinventing everything, but it’s one thing to do that at a TED talk; it’s quite another to cl...

Chris Rock is a widely beloved comic; he’s also a savvy entrepreneur. Though Rock might have talked with media outlets about being assaulted by actor-producer Will Smith last March during the Academy Awards — he could have also chosen to sue Smith — he instead stayed mum, turning The Slap into material for his first tour in five years. Now, Rock is taking that material to a much broader audience courtesy of Netflix, which is airing Rock’s newest set live from the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore this coming Saturday, March 4, at 10 pm Eastern time. It’s a big deal for both Rock and Netflix. Netflix, which began experimenting with an ad-supported tier in November and began cracking down on shared password use earlier this month, has a lot riding on the evening, given it will be the first live-streaming event in its 25-year history. (As reported by TC’s Lauren Forristal, Netflix confirmed in May of last year that it would roll out a live-streaming capability that center on unscripted...

Hello and welcome back to Max Q! Today we’re thinking of the four astronauts heading to the International Space Station. See you guys soon! In this issue: Artificial gravity space station startup Vast makes its first acquisition Relativity Space sets a launch date News from Momentus, United Launch Alliance and more Vast acquires Launcher in quest to build artificial gravity space stations Vast Space , a company that emerged from stealth last September with the aim of building artificial gravity space stations in low Earth orbit, has acquired space tug startup Launcher. The acquisition, a first for Vast, will give the company access to Launcher’s Orbiter space tug and payload platform and its liquid rocket engine, E-2. Under the terms of the deal, Vast will also absorb all of Launcher’s talent, including Launcher founder Max Haot, who will join as president. The deal could be a big accelerator for Vast; the company’s founder, billionaire crypto pioneer Jed McCaleb, said Vast w...

Hello and welcome back to Max Q! Today we’re thinking of the four astronauts heading to the International Space Station. See you guys soon! In this issue: Artificial gravity space station startup Vast makes its first acquisition Relativity Space sets a launch date News from Momentus, United Launch Alliance and more Vast acquires Launcher in quest to build artificial gravity space stations Vast Space , a company that emerged from stealth last September with the aim of building artificial gravity space stations in low Earth orbit, has acquired space tug startup Launcher. The acquisition, a first for Vast, will give the company access to Launcher’s Orbiter space tug and payload platform and its liquid rocket engine, E-2. Under the terms of the deal, Vast will also absorb all of Launcher’s talent, including Launcher founder Max Haot, who will join as president. The deal could be a big accelerator for Vast; the company’s founder, billionaire crypto pioneer Jed McCaleb, said Vast w...