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1. Visa is acquiring Plaid for $5.3 billion, 2x its final private valuation
You can compare what Plaid does to Stripe — but instead of facilitating payments, Plaid helps developers share banking and other financial information more easily.
Plaid raised $250 million at the end of 2018, with both Mastercard and Visa quietly participating in the round. So Visa must be pretty happy with how the startup has developed since then.
2. Google wants to phase out support for third-party cookies in Chrome within two years
The fact that Google will drop support for these cookies — which are typically used to track users across the web — doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise, given the company’s announcements around privacy in Chrome. But this aggressive timeline is new.
3. Disney+ was the most downloaded app in the US in Q4 2019
Following the app’s mid-November launch in the U.S., Disney+ was downloaded more than 30 million times in Q4 2019 — according to a new report from SensorTower, that’s more than double the downloads for the runner-up, TikTok.
4. Spotify and Warner Chappell end dispute in India, sign global licensing deal
The announcement marks the end of the companies’ litigation before the Bombay High Court, where Warner Music was seeking an injunction to prevent Spotify from using its music in India. Spotify ended up launching in India anyway, but without a number of Warner Music titles.
5. The robot homecoming is upon us
Home robots have already had a few false starts, including some high-profile flare-outs like Anki and previous CES darling Kuri. But Darrell Etherington argues that between slow-burn categories and the sheer volume of newer products, it now seems certain we’re on a path that will lead to robots becoming common household items. (Extra Crunch membership required.)
6. Atrium lays off lawyers, explains pivot to legal tech
Moving forward, the Justin Kan-founded startup will focus on its software for startups navigating fundraising, hiring and collaborating with lawyers. Atrium also plans to ramp up its startup advising services, and it’s doubling down on its year-old network of professional service providers that help clients navigate day-to-day legal work.
7. Disrupting Space: A new event from TechCrunch
The show will be held at Gateway Sheraton Hotel in Los Angeles on June 25, right in the neighborhood of America’s most powerful players in space, including Boeing, Northrop, Lockheed, Raytheon, Teledyne, The Aerospace Corporation, the U.S. Air Force and, of course, SpaceX.
Source: Tech Crunch