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

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Howdy, and welcome to your Friday. Did the week drag on, or did it go by rapidly for you? Or perhaps you had right now off. Irrespective of, I’m right here to deliver you all of right now’s techy goodness. The lesson for right now: “Don’t ever leak knowledge.”

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

The TechCrunch High 3

• That’s one a-spicy utility: ByteDance’s newest hit, Lemon8, which some describe as a cross between Instagram, Pinterest and Amazon, is now sitting among the many prime 10 apps within the U.S. Nonetheless, Rita says Lemon8 is extra like one other app referred to as Xiaohongshu and discusses why ByteDance could have taken one other web page from the China playbook.
• Get your unicorn horn prepared: You’re going to want a TechCrunch+ subscription to learn this subsequent one, however I promise, it’s price it. Alex went unicorn IPO looking and got here again with an inventory of names, saying, “The primary group of upcoming potential unicorn IPOs is shaping up effectively.”
• In a galaxy far, distant: In case you’re a Star Wars fan, Disney+ will debut a brand new collection 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 primary 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 tackle OpenAI. Going by the corporate’s pitch deck, the trio describe the enterprise mannequin that may take Anthropic there and the traders behind it.

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

VCs to recommerce startups: Let’s pop some tags

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

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

Since Etsy went public in 2015, firms 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 put up 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 possibly can join right here. Use code “DC” for a 15% low cost on an annual subscription!

Huge Tech Inc.

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

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

And we’ve 5 extra for you: