daily crunch: alphabet shuts down loon
Alphabet has discontinued its internet balloon initiative, Apple is potentially preparing a redesigned MacBook Air, and Google is considering withdrawing its search engine from Australia. This is your Daily Crunch for January 22, 2021.
Key development: Alphabet ceases Loon operations
Alphabet has announced the closure of Loon, the project focused on delivering high-speed internet access to underserved and remote regions through the use of high-altitude balloons.
Loon initially began as a project within Alphabet’s X, the company’s division for experimental ventures, before becoming an independent entity in 2018. Despite achieving some successful implementations, the project ultimately proved unable to establish a financially viable and sustainable business model.
“Although we secured interest from numerous potential partners, we were unable to reduce costs sufficiently to create a long-term, self-sustaining enterprise,” stated Alastair Westgarth, CEO of Loon, in a company blog post. “Pioneering groundbreaking technologies always carries inherent risks, but that does not diminish the difficulty of sharing this news.”
Major technology companies
Reports suggest Apple is planning a slimmer and lighter MacBook Air featuring MagSafe charging capabilities — The anticipated release of this new MacBook Air is potentially slated for late 2021 or 2022.
Google is threatening to remove its search engine from Australia as it actively opposes proposed digital news legislation — Google is intensifying its efforts to lobby against draft laws that would require it to compensate news publishers for their content.
Cloudflare introduces complimentary digital waiting rooms for organizations administering COVID-19 vaccines — This initiative aims to assist health agencies and organizations involved in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in maintaining a fair, equitable, and transparent online queuing system.
Startups, financing, and venture capital
Dating Group acquires ‘slow dating’ application Once for $18M to broaden its portfolio — Once currently boasts 9 million users, supplemented by an additional 1 million users from its related application, Pickable.
MotoRefi secures $10M in funding to accelerate growth in the auto refinancing sector — CEO Kevin Bennett recognizes the opportunity to serve the substantial market of Americans holding a collective $1.2 trillion in outstanding auto loans.
Emortal, supported by Vint Cerf, aims to safeguard your digital legacy against data degradation — Emortal is a startup dedicated to helping individuals organize, protect, preserve, and transfer their “digital legacy,” shielding it from becoming inaccessible over time.
Insights and analysis from Extra Crunch
An overview of VC investments in Asia and Europe during 2020 — The most successful companies are experiencing significant growth.
End-to-end operators represent the future of consumer-focused businesses — VC firm Battery has been monitoring the evolving shifts in consumer purchasing habits over the years.
The evolution of Drupal from a student project to a billion-dollar success story — Two decades ago, Drupal and Acquia founder Dries Buytaert was a university student at the University of Antwerp.
(Extra Crunch is our subscription service designed to help founders and startup teams succeed. You can learn more and subscribe here.)
Other news
The UK restarts privacy reviews of adtech and anticipates platform audits — The U.K.’s data protection authority has resumed an investigation into adtech practices, which have been the subject of numerous complaints under GDPR since 2018.
The Boston Globe will consider requests to anonymize articles about individuals — This is similar to the EU’s “right to be forgotten,” but may be less contentious.
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