The tech billionaire wants to allow Donald Trump back on the platform. Also: Coinbase reports a drop in sales and Apple is discontinuing the iPod.
Musk criticizes Twitter for banning too much fundamentally legal content from the platform.
Stanislav Kogiku/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Good Morning! While you slept, work continued elsewhere in the digital scene.
The top topics:
The DSA is intended to ensure that illegal content such as hate speech is removed from the Internet more quickly. It also aims to ensure that harmful disinformation is shared less and fewer counterfeit products are sold on online marketplaces. Meanwhile, in an interview at the Financial Times' Future of the Car summit, Musk said he would reverse Donald Trump's Twitter ban: "I think that was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country .” [More at Handelsblatt, Wall Street Journal, CNBC and Techcrunch]
Today you can read on Gründerszene: Gethenry successfully rents e-bikes to delivery services such as Gorillas, Flink and Lieferheld. The startup usually rents out its e-bikes for twelve to 36 months. With new millions in the seed round, it is now developing its own bikes. [More at start-up scene]
And here are the other headlines of the night:
Coinbase's revenue shrank 27 percent year over year in the first quarter. This is due to the low trading volume amid the collapse in cryptocurrency prices: trading volume fell by 8 percent from the same period in 2021. While the number of monthly trading users rose 51 percent year-over-year to 9.2 million, that number fell 19 percent from last quarter. Shares of Coinbase closed 13 percent lower ahead of the Q1 earnings report, taking the stock to an all-time low. Shares fell another 15 percent in after-hours trading. [More at CNBC and The Information]
Apple is discontinuing the iPod. The iPod Touch is the only version of the portable music player that is still sold. According to Apple, it will be available until stocks last. The latest version of the iPod Touch was introduced in 2019. Since its introduction in 2001, the iPod has taken on many competing music players. The iPod became less popular since smartphones became mainstream and the iPod experienced a lack of updates. [More at Reuters, Axios, Wall Street Journal and CNBC]
The roughly $1 billion venture arm of private investment platform Republic is reportedly in talks to raise $700 million for two new crypto-focused funds. These are a $200 million flagship venture fund and a $500 million crypto fund. The venture fund will set aside 20 percent of its capital for investments in cryptocurrency tokens, while the other 80 percent will go to equity investments in Web3, fintech, and deep tech. Republic Capital has invested in over 100 companies since its inception in 2019. [More at Techcrunch]
Investment: Chainalysis, which sells crypto fraud tracking services, has closed a $170 million Series F round, according to The Information. The New York company is valued at $8.6 billion. Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and an existing investor led the round, according to an insider. The new fundraising comes amid a sharp cryptocurrency sell-off. Faire, which has built a marketplace connecting retailers with indie brands, has raised an additional $416 million in an expansion of its Series G funding. With the additional capital, Faire is now valued at $12.59 billion, according to the company. This brings the total of Series G funding to $816 million. [More at The Information and Techcrunch]
Our reading tip on Gründerszene: Investments in the German startup scene are booming. German VCs distributed around 17 billion euros last year. We tell you which German VCs invest most frequently in startups. [More at start-up scene]
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Happy Wednesday!
Your Gründerszene editors
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