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NBA champion Kyle Kuzma looks to bring his team mentality to Scrum Ventures | TechCrunch

May 8, 2024 5:07 AM0


Kyle Kuzma is a lot of things. He’s a forward for the Washington Wizards NBA team and a 2020 NBA champion. He’s also a style icon — depending on who you ask — and an angel investor. Now he’s an adviser at a venture fund too.

“I’m part of a new generation of the NBA,” Kuzma told TechCrunch in a phone interview. “For me, I’ve always been a hustler and somebody that is very interested in business and doing things just to set up my family’s generational wealth. I think getting into venture is only going to take that to a different stratosphere.”

Kuzma, 28, joined early-stage-focused Scrum Ventures in March as an adviser to help with the firm’s sports and entertainment fund, which is targeting $120 million. The partnership started in January when Kuzma’s agent, Austin Eastman, was connected to Scrum managing director and partner Michael Proman. Kuzma said he was impressed with Scrum’s team. Proman said the positive sentiment was mutual.

“The thing about Kyle is, I personally didn’t really even understand how extensive his interests were in the venture space until after getting introduced,” Proman, a former NBA employee on the business development team, said. “Kyle is really interested in understanding the venture playbook but more so from the venture side.”

Proman said Scrum’s sports fund, where Kuzma will be helping, is a little different than other sports-focused VC funds, because it focuses on tech that could be useful to athletes or enterprise sports customers and is also applicable to other industries. Ozlo Sleepbuds is a good example. The company makes earbuds to help people sleep better. While sleeping well is incredibly important for athletes, it’s important far beyond professional sports too. Scrum participated in the company’s $6 million seed round earlier this year.

Scrum’s broad approach to sports tech makes Kuzma a good adviser, as opposed to another NBA player, Proman said, because Kuzma has already invested across several sectors. Kuzma started angel investing in 2020 and has built up a portfolio that includes soda alternative Lemon Perfect, which has gone on to raise an additional $67.8 million in venture capital; consumer data company, Surf; and watch marketplace, Bezel.

“His investment portfolio is pretty diverse; it’s not just your classic sports tech,” Proman said. “There are a lot of folks out there that want to invest into what they do 24/7, and while they may be great at providing insights and analysis of those technologies, in many cases those aren’t venture-backable technologies.”

Kuzma said he plans to be a hands-on investor, and while he knows a name like his could be a marketing boon for the companies he works with, he said he doesn’t just want to rest there and would rather use his status to help companies expand their network using his connections. He also thinks his experience playing basketball makes him a good fit as a VC because he’s used to working in a competitive environment where you don’t succeed unless you work as a team.

“I bring a competitive nature,” he said. “When you play sports at the highest level like the NBA, you are playing chess and not checkers. We are smart; we are not just athletes. We are not just people that play sports and not do anything else.”

Kuzma’s presence has already proved beneficial for the firm, Proman said, as working with an athlete like Kuzma has led to an uptick in inbound interest in the firm. Good inbound interest — he clarified.

Kuzma isn’t the first NBA player to get involved with venture capital. Kevin Durant’s family office, 35V, invests heavily in startups. Steph Curry is the anchor LP of Penny Jar Capital. Former players like Andre Iguodala and Michael Redd have taken more formal roles in the industry, too, by launching firms of their own, Mosaic and 22 Ventures, respectively. Kuzma is the latest NBA player to dive into venture, but he likely won’t be the latest for long.

“Joining Scrum Ventures is really exciting for me,” Kuzma said. “I want to further my portfolio and just my reach in the VC world. As athletes, they always tell you to diversify your portfolio as much as you can. This is the next iteration of me as an entrepreneur.”


Software Development in Sri Lanka

Robotic Automations

Diddo’s new funding will bring its shoppable TV API to streaming platforms | TechCrunch

May 2, 2024 10:21 PM0


Diddo is an API for streaming services and other platforms to integrate shoppable videos, enabling consumers to buy their favorite characters’ clothing and accessories directly on their screens. The company announced Wednesday that it raised $2.8 million in seed funding.

Diddo was founded in late 2022 by Rishi Nair, Ryan Sullivan and Pamela Chen, and started as a Google Chrome extension built for Nair’s and Sullivan’s mothers who are “Selling Sunset” fans and wanted to dress like their favorite reality TV stars. Now, the company has developed an API that uses proprietary computer vision AI technology to identify products in TV shows and movies. The AI also pulls comparable products so shoppers can buy lower-priced dupes if, for instance, Kim Kardashian’s $700 Balenciaga T-shirt is outside of their price range.

The funding round was led by Link Ventures, with participation from Neo, Dante D’Angelo (Valentino), Erica Lockheimer (LinkedIn), Camille Ricketts (ex-CMO of Notion), an unnamed Disney exec and Scott Forstall, who is known for leading the Apple team that created iOS, among others.

The new capital will support product development and expand the company’s eight-person team. The company recently hired Rob Sussman (also a Diddo investor) as COO; he’s the former Sundance CFO and executive vice president of MGM+ (formerly Epix).

Diddo has signed deals with 12 companies so far, including Dailymotion, Mux, the Highlights App, social sports platform PlayersOnly, film and TV collective The Big Picture, fashion brand Blair New York and more. The company also revealed that it’s actively in talks with Hulu and another streaming giant.

Image Credits: Diddo

Diddo says its API stands out from competitors due to its computer vision technology, which sits within a platform’s video player.

“We’re the only company that’s doing it so far,” Nair told TechCrunch. “These companies don’t have to send their video outside of their ecosystem. That’s a huge deal because all these media companies [think] it’s a non-starter if they have to send their video outside the API to run the computer vision. So, what we’ve been able to figure out is setting our computer vision within their video ecosystem so that we can go fully from video ingestion to commerce capabilities without leaving.”

One of the challenges about this, however, is that running computer vision over a video that is being watched by millions of users simultaneously is “incredibly tolling on the end user’s device,” Nair said. “In order to avoid this issue, we have decided to build out the product with a time-stamped approach to documenting the products. By this, we run the computer vision once over the video, where it identifies all of the products found within the content and puts them in a time-stamped database. Because the products in on-demand content do not change, we only need to run it one time on our side and require nothing from the streamer or the end user.”

Image Credits: Diddo

Additionally, no QR codes are required (like Peacock’s Must ShopTV feature), and products are not presented as intrusive advertisements (see Roku’s shoppable ads), so users aren’t removed from the viewing experience.

With Diddo, people can view all items in an interactive storefront after the episode has finished. They then complete the purchase through a native checkout capability, which includes integrations with major e-commerce services, such as Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento and Salesforce Cloud. Diddo also collects user data on which products people are interested in to recommend similar items to them in the future.

Diddo takes a 4% to 6% fee on all purchases made on the platform.

The recent funding round follows Paramount’s partnership with AI-powered shoppable technology Shopsense AI. The streamer debuted its new mobile shopping experience on April 7. Last week, Amazon’s Prime Video and Freevee released a free, ad-supported channel for shoppable livestreams.

Amazon brings its ‘Amazon Live’ shoppable livestreams to Prime Video and Freevee


Software Development in Sri Lanka

Robotic Automations

Epic Games says it will bring Fortnite to iPad after EU dubs iPadOS a 'gatekeeper' under DMA | TechCrunch

April 29, 2024 10:57 PM0


On the heels of the EU’s decision to designate Apple’s iPadOS as another digital “gatekeeper” under its Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulation, Fortnite maker Epic Games confirmed it will bring its popular battle royale game to the iPad later this year. The company had previously announced Fortnite would return to iPhones in the EU as a result of the DMA, which forces Apple to compete with alternative app stores, like Epic’s Game Store.

In a post on X on Monday, Epic Games praised the EU’s decision around the iPad and said that it was moving “full steam ahead” to bring Fortnite to the Epic Games Store in the EU “soon” and iPads later this year.

The rivalry between Epic and Apple has been ongoing for years, after Epic sued the tech giant over its alleged anticompetitive conduct over its App Store and commission structure. Though Apple largely won that case, as the court ruled the tech giant was not a monopoly, it did have to allow developers to direct their customers to other ways to pay from inside their apps — a point for Epic that had a wider impact across the developer community.

Later, when Apple revealed its plan to comply with the EU’s DMA, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called out Apple’s new rules a form of “malicious compliance” that were “full of junk fees” and vowed to fight them. Apple responded by terminating Epic Games’ developer account, dubbing the game maker a “threat” to the iOS ecosystem. Shortly after the EU began investigating Apple’s decision to kill Epic’s account, Apple reinstated it.

Whether or not Epic Games will be able to bring Fortnite to the iPhone and iPad as planned still remains to be seen, given Apple’s responses so far. However, it does signal Epic’s intention to compete with Apple via its own games store across Apple’s top platforms.




Software Development in Sri Lanka

Robotic Automations

Voltpost wants to bring curbside EV charging to a lamppost near you | TechCrunch

April 20, 2024 12:33 AM0


If you own a single-family home, driving an electric vehicle can be a transcendent experience. Every morning, when you wake up to a world full of possibilities, your car will be fully charged and ready to take you wherever you need to go.

But EV life isn’t nearly so rosy if you don’t have access to a garage or a driveway.

Many EV owners in big cities are forced to rely on public fast chargers. Some people have taken to stringing cables from their homes to the curb, which can pose safety hazards. Some cities, like Cambridge, Massachusetts, have formalized the practice, allowing people to receive permits to install wheelchair-friendly cable protectors that span the sidewalk. It’s an experiment that emulates some of the convenience that single-family homeowners enjoy, but it’s a temporary solution, at best.

The lowly lamppost might be a better option: They’re everywhere, and they have all the wiring needed to make curbside charging seamless. One startup from New York City, Voltpost, has been working on a product that retrofits existing street lampposts to enable EV charging. On Thursday, it introduced its lamppost charger after a year of design and development.

The device is essentially a shroud that covers the lower part of the pole, containing all the electronics and cables required to charge two to four EVs at Level 2 speeds. It’s not fast charging, but it’s more than enough for most people to top off overnight.

An illustration of the main components of Voltpost’s lamppost charger. Image Credits: Voltpost

Voltpost’s charger docks at hand level on the lamppost shroud, and the retractable cable has an anchor eight feet up to keep it off the ground. The design is modular, the company said, to make repairs and upgrades easier. Charge station managers get access to custom software that will allow them to control pricing and remotely monitor the devices.

As is the case with just about every EV charger network, there’s an app to oversee charging sessions, including payments. Drivers can also use it to reserve chargers, an interesting twist on “dibs” or “savesies” that will certainly be a convenience for drivers but could cause some friction among neighbors.

Voltpost said its chargers are quick to install, taking an hour to complete the process in a test with the New York City Department of Transportation. It also said that it has projects in various stages of development and deployment in New York, Chicago, and Detroit. The startup most recently raised a $3.6 million seed round in July.


Software Development in Sri Lanka

Robotic Automations

Watch: NASA needs your help to bring rocks back from Mars

April 19, 2024 4:22 AM0


NASA’s decision to scrap its $11 billion, 15-year mission to Mars to bring back samples could create a startup feeding frenzy, TechCrunch reports. Describing its plans as too slow, and too expensive, NASA is going back to the drawing board, with an eye on getting the space industry to help. Sure, you might worry that NASA can’t manage its own mission on a timeline and budget that it deems acceptable, but the chance for a deluge of dollars to engulf the startups working on making space more accessible could prove a massive boon.

Startups are not all social media apps, enterprise software and NFT-based online games. There are a good number focused on the bits-and-atoms side of the technology fence, even if the idea of building advanced hardware without a software element is all but unthinkable. Ergo, hardware startups are really working both sides of the digital divide at the same time.

But space startups are not worried about it. Looking at recent TechCrunch space headlines, we can see that Dark Space is working on a way to clear space debris; True Anomaly’s working on landing on the moon; Varda Space’s work to manufacture drugs in space and bring them back to Earth seems to work, so it raised $90 million more; Orbital Fab wants to refuel satellites; the list goes on and on.

So, the NASA money might have a bunch of startup-sized buckets to drip into, and I am here for it. Yes, I am a gigantic science-fiction dweeb, but I am still nothing short of dizzy with hype for our future as a species in space. To that end, if any startup that works with NASA on the Mars rock mission needs a human to send up there to check on the dials and such, I’m your guy. Hit play, let’s have some fun!


Software Development in Sri Lanka

Robotic Automations

Sprinto raises $20M to bring automation to security compliance management | TechCrunch

April 17, 2024 3:43 AM0


Sprinto, a security compliance and risk platform, has raised a $20 million Series B round to build more automation into its compliance management platform and widen its customer base to include the wide gamut of companies that operate digitally but aren’t tech-first.

Compliance with frameworks such as SOC 2, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ) has become crucial for companies across sectors to ensure data security and privacy, but compliance management remains a cumbersome process for most businesses, as it requires teams to maintain records frequently and regularly monitor data flows.

Sprinto is working to automate this aspect of security compliance management, which involves vendor risk management, vulnerability assessment, access control, evidence collection and other filing tasks. The company’s platform connects directly with its customers’ HR, IT, and engineering systems via over 160 integrations and has baked-in support for popular frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), HIPAA, PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), and CIS. Sprinto uses a mix of AI, GPTs and its own internal large language model to offer efficiencies in compliance management. The company said it aims to focus more on bringing intelligence to the platform by bolstering its R&D.

“Our goal is to help companies build trust and grow their business using the trust they’ve built,” Sprinto’s co-founder, Girish Redekar, told TechCrunch.

The all-equity Series B funding round, which takes the company’s total capital raised to $31.8 million, was led by Accel. Existing investors Elevation Capital and Blume Ventures also participated.

The market for automated compliance management solutions already has players such as Vanta and Drata, which Sprinto considers its key competitors. However, Redekar said Sprinto primarily focuses on automating the entire compliance management process and helping businesses build trust.

Redekar founded Sprinto with Raghuveer Kancherla after their startup Recruiterbox was acquired by the private-equity firm Turn/River Capital in 2018. The co-founders were familiar with how difficult and onerous a problem compliance can be, and they set out to address that problem with their new startup.

Sprinto employs about 200 people, and Redekar said it currently has more than 1,000 customers across 75 countries, but a majority of its client base is in the U.S. and Europe. It plans to expand its presence in both these markets by attracting traditional businesses that have deployed tech but are not natively a tech company.

“The largest opportunity is in companies that are digitally native; they are not necessarily tech-first, but are tech-enabled. Increasingly, every company is a digital company in one way or another. We are really focused on growing that market,” Redekar told TechCrunch.

Redekar did not disclose the startup’s valuation, but Ravi Adusumalli, co-managing partner at Elevation Capital, said Sprinto has grown over 20x since it raised its Series A in 2021. Redekar said the company’s ARR rose 3x from 2022 to 2023, and is projected to double in the coming year.

“We are able to go a mile beyond just checking a box where you can show to an auditor that we do this, but we actually want to make you more secure. We want to do it more continuously. And we want to be able to build tools that help you demonstrate what you’re doing to external stakeholders,” he said.

The startup plans to utilize the fresh funding for product R&D and to cater to new businesses. Redekar said the plan is to scale its current intelligent automation by four times in less than 12 months.

“Sprinto is doing an incredible job of helping companies focus on their core business by making compliance low-touch, automated, and efficient. With a deep understanding of the product and a sharp focus on execution, Sprinto has been on a rare growth trajectory. We are thrilled to partner with Girish, Raghuveer, and their team at Sprinto in their mission to ensure that compliance becomes a driver of growth for businesses,” said Shekhar Kirani, partner at Accel, in a prepared statement.


Software Development in Sri Lanka

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