Day by day Crunch: ‘Copy-from-China’ social media app Lemon8 squeezes its manner into US high 10

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Good day, and welcome to your Friday. Did the week drag on, or did it go by shortly for you? Or possibly you had at the moment off. Irrespective of, I’m right here to deliver you all of at the moment’s techy goodness. The lesson for at the moment: “Don’t ever leak data.”

Oh, and help our colleagues over on the Chain Reaction and Found podcasts: They had been nominated for a Webby, so please support them with a vote by April 20. — Christine

The TechCrunch High 3

• That’s one a-spicy application: ByteDance’s newest hit, Lemon8, which some describe as a cross between Instagram, Pinterest and Amazon, is now sitting among the many high 10 apps within the U.S. Nevertheless, Rita says Lemon8 is extra like one other app referred to as Xiaohongshu and discusses why ByteDance might have taken one other web page from the China playbook.
• Get your unicorn horn ready: You’re going to want a TechCrunch+ subscription to learn this subsequent one, however I promise, it’s value it. Alex went unicorn IPO looking and got here again with a listing of names, saying, “The primary group of upcoming potential unicorn IPOs is shaping up effectively.”
• In a galaxy far, far away: Should you’re a Star Wars fan, Disney+ will debut a brand new sequence referred to as “The Acolyte” in 2024. Aisha writes that this storyline takes place on the finish of the Excessive Republic period earlier than the occasions of the principle Star Wars movies.

Startups and VC

Everybody wants some good competitors to get the creativity flowing. Kyle, Devin and Manish teamed up to take a look at Anthropic’s $5 billion, four-year plan to take on OpenAI. Going by the corporate’s pitch deck, the trio describe the enterprise mannequin that can take Anthropic there and the traders behind it.

Wrapping up the week, as talked about yesterday, there was a bunch of us watching Y Combinator’s Winter 2023 Demo Day. Synthetic intelligence and open supply had been big buzzwords on Day 1, whereas Day 2 had us wondering if crypto is again and why accountants are all of the sudden getting lots of love.

VCs to recommerce startups: Let’s pop some tags

Picture Credit: Kinga Krzeminska (opens in a new window) / Getty Photographs

Thanks largely to Gen Z’s curiosity in sustainable purchasing, recommerce is hovering to new heights, and VCs are in search of the come up.

Since Etsy went public in 2015, corporations like Poshmark, The RealReal and thredUP adopted swimsuit, attracting much more traders to the sector. Final yr, VCs flowed roughly $6 billion to resale platforms, writes Brian Schwarzbach, an investor with Cathay Innovation.

In a submit for TC+, he explores three recommerce areas attracting VC funds and shares “some meals for thought for founders constructing startups on this (re)rising house.”

TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup groups get forward of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% low cost on an annual subscription!

Massive Tech Inc.

Typically issues don’t go as deliberate. In India, its central bank decided to press pause on plans it had for a rival to the nation’s dominant cost system, Unified Funds Interface. Manish writes that the challenge, referred to as New Umbrella Entity, had made some traction, attracting curiosity from giant corporations and monetary establishments, and alluring bids in 2021 for licenses to function new retail cost and settlement programs throughout India. Nevertheless, the challenge simply did not have that sizzle and pop that the Reserve Financial institution of India was in search of.

Catch a falling iPod and put it in your pocket…Harri experiences on Apple’s patent application for what looks to be a teeny, tiny iPod that may do all of it: music, movies and books, no smartphone or smartwatch wanted. Although undecided how one can learn on one thing that small. I suppose we’ll see.

And we’ve got 5 extra for you: